Destiny is but a meaningless concept for some as they can bend it to their will; life gives those people purpose, purpose with which to act and allow themselves to surpass every expectation... Only if they are strong enough of course.
Once upon a time a great magician summoned a creature from the darkest pits of existence and it nearly killed him, after returning it to its rightful place the means to summon such a creature were locked away, now a new mission forces a young lady to use the same methods as the wizard to ensure a bodyguard for each of her friends in a dangerous new venture. Only that the “beasts” that she summons are not what she hoped for… or so she thinks.
No one is really in control of their own lives, in an instant everything falls apart and you can´t help but watch helplessly as everything you knew crumbles; sometimes you are gifted by destiny itself a reprieve and it all turns out for the best.
But every once in a while there are those that are given the ability to change their own path, to do what is unthinkable and take fates reins and change everything, all of them also have to endure pain and heartache like no other being should be submitted to in one or a hundred lifetimes.
The Wheels of Destiny are fickle, and the pain they submit those with the ability to change the future trough is but a test to see if they are worthy of such a gift, if one does not astray from their resolution it is then that you are allowed to carry on as you wish. Alas even fewer individuals manage such a feat.
Now seven of such weavers are willing to put their own chosen to the test, they stand in front of each other above the planet of Versel looking down on the country known as Equestria in front of them the image of six young mares named Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle; The weavers of fate just stood analyzing them.
One stood tall, a beautiful visage, a flowing dress covered in different gems and star like diamonds floating around her; another stood short, proud, clad in an elegant suit, jacket and hat, sporting a determined look in its eyes; The third was one of the 3 oddities in the group (if a human were to judge) green coloration, with a long neck and shelled exterior that glowed in a wide array of colors, he stood with arms limp and several weapons floating around him; the fourth weaver was again odd, a spider like creature of blue body and green tendril like legs; the next inclusion sported a colorful garment that clung tightly to its body, he sported a cheeky grin and it erupted in a diversity of powers; a sixth stood still humanoid made of light in its contour with the vastness of space both giving the illusion of emptiness and filling the feminine contour it sported; the last looked like a horse with wings and horn, made out of pure energy.
The entities formed a circle and the equine talked to its peers: "My little ones have grown beyond my expectations, and at the same time they are about to be threatened by those that fear their new found powers, I would have wished for them to have grown a little more before such peril appeared but it seems that I cannot prolong the inevitable".
6 images appeared before the rest of the weavers, young men in attires filled with several designs, this images the horse like being begun to analyze and he spoke: “So young, yet they are yet to realize their full potential… I hope that their respective skills match the dangers they are about to face.
the first image was of a young chubby boy barely entering his teenage years, using a pink shirt and slippers, in where his bellybutton should be was a pink gem; the next was a wimpy looking kid clad in a suit and tie, a pair of gauntlets clad in orange fire and a similar looking flame in his forehead; a turtle humanoid, taller than the other 2 and sporting a blue mask, belts and a pair of straight katana like swords strapped to its back; a young looking boy with brown skin using a black and red skin tight suit with a web pattern; next was a boy with wide eyes, spiked, messy hair, using a black and white jumpsuit with red pouches; the last was a youngster of both dark skin and hair, using a blue coat and white mask.
"I would like to remind you all how precarious our situation is, most of you have mortal and immortal beings, that trough one means or another can enter different universes and planes of reality, please make sure that by no means they know where they are being sent, if that fails at least make sure they do not interfere, mortals have the annoying tendency of meddling at the worst possible moment" the shorter of the group said.
"Even when I am not completely convinced that won't be for the best Primo, I will make sure that none will interfere" The female-esqe entity shared.
"You and I both know that it is not an impediment for the dark defender AΩ, the only one that could reach them sooner would be one of yours Kameryu, we better hope that they are as clueless as we need them to be" the mass of muscles in colorful attire replied.
"Let them, I think the chaos and strife that comes from that could ultimately help all our chosen and the world they are traveling Super, what do you think Great Weaver?" the gem surrounded lady asked the arachnid.
"Please Lucy, focus, if we make a false move not only ours but many other universes will fall" the blue and green creature spoke I have enough in problems with my weaving and threads to make much of anything, and still I have to prepare for when the successors appear" it sighed "Geraldheim, I will follow this plan, while I prepare everything so she will follow after him"
"I will make sure that the elements find her once she arrives, her arrival can wait until after this incursion, I am contacting others so the next chosen arrive." horned one said.
"That leads me to another point my friend" Primo said. "Is this Twilight Sparkle near as good as Starswirl once were?"
"Worry not, she has become as powerful as he was, and she managed to out-think him in the ritual, now I just need you all to have your chosen ready for battle the moment they enter, I fear that an attack might happen when she is at her weakest and the ritual even with the changes she has made it will still be taxing"
"If even you can't say when they will be in danger then I fear it will be worst than I thought" Lucy conceded. "Let us not wait any longer, my chance will pass if I stay any longer"
With a nod all the figures banished in a flash leaving the equine to ponder about his six fate changers, now he could do nothing, being unable to weave the paths they needed to take, he just hoped that the choices they were to going to make from here on out allowed them to survive, for this six were just the first move in a much larger game.
As the endgame approached for several worlds the time remaining drew to a close; ‘This better buy us the time we need, else the remaining chosen might not appear when they are needed’ he thought to himself as he gazed at the images of his own six path makers, the females that had swept all his expectations aside, he watched them for what seemed like an eternity and then he too vanished to the ether.
Peace; such an easily disrupted state, you do not have to do much to upset it; a famine here, economic backlash there, religious fundamentalism, racial profiling, it can be disrupted by even some of the core emotions in any sentient beings existence: Greed, fear, rage.
That is what Twilight Sparkle had gathered in the few weeks after the avatar of chaos incarnate had escaped his prison, followed by his subsequent recapture when she and her friends had wielded the items known as ‘the Elements of Harmony’ foolishly she had thought that the worst was in the past.
Reality could not be farther from the truth; after word of their exploits had reached the world, fear began to spread, threats arrived each week, extremist groups where afraid that such power was in the hooves of young inexperienced and sometimes hostile.
Now Twilight stood inside a shielded barn stepping into a carefully designed summoning circle with her best friends in an attempt to bring them what she could never offer them by herself, safety.
“Twi” the brash Pegasus named Rainbow Dash complained not for the first but in Twilights mind the last time if she had anything to say about it. “This is by far the dumbest thing you have ever thought”
Rolling her eyes the purple unicorn spoke. “Thanks for the vote of confidence Dash; you should really be a motivational speaker”
“Don´t listen to her Twilight, she is…”
“Don´t Rarity, she is just…” *sigh* “Dash for the last time, if we are going to be travelling emissaries then we are going to need protection, protection that I doubt the Royal Guard can provide and that is final! No more complaining, no more fussing and certainly. NO MORE WHINING! Got that?” the young mage said as she stepped closer to the rainbow maned mare.
Said mare just hunched over, looking embarrassed. “Twi; I know that you are worried and everything, but is it necessary to do such a thing? We ARE the elements of Harmony”
“And yet Discord managed to manipulate us, Nightmare Moon was too awestruck to do anything and if you need reminder that she moved both the SUN and the MOON! Without any effort, the elements are just tools we use and win against ultimate evils, in this case we can´t rely on them, and I doubt even you can take on dozens of ponies, let alone other species that might want to hurt us”
The purple unicorn just stood in a set position scrawled upon the floor of the barn (1) “Please put yourselves into positions” at the same time she levitated a large crystal above the pattern, this was specifically enchanted by the unicorn so it would provide enough energy to her spell.
___------
Outside the barn a large group of this worlds inhabitants gathered under the ever growing shade the orchards trees gave, they didn´t spoke for their instructions were clear, by any means necessary.
The shield would be though to destroy but not impossible and it was far away enough as to not warrant any unwanted attention by neither the residents nor the guards stationed nearby, all was set they just needed to wait until the ritual was complete so their chances would improve.
The leader of the group looked at a single yellow filly running in the distance. “Bring her” one of the thugs at his disposal; a tall Minotaur of brown coloration looked at him. “Leverage, we don´t want to fail and she is sister of the mare of honesty, if she is to surrender to something, it would be to her sister in peril. And no we won´t kill her, but she does not need to know that”
Reluctantly the brown mass of muscles ran after the youngster, the others just stood at a side waiting for the moment to strike.
___------
Twilight Sparkle started chanting in a low voice, the crystal that floated above them began to shine and hum a little; the pattern drawn on the floor began to pulse in several colors and a bubble encased each and every mare standing over it; the humming started to intensify as well as the light that came from the crystal.
In a flash a large amount of energy crossed through every mare, making their eyes turn white and their coats to light up; a large portal appeared before them, its rim a veritable array of colors and inside it was a swirling cloud of thaumatic energy which flashed once.
___------
Sawada Tsunayoshi was feeling incredibly unlucky; it had been just a few days ago that he had received the complete Sky Ring of the Vongola and he was eager to forget that it had happened; Unfortunately Reborn had other ideas for this day, now he was following Verde, the lightning Arcobaleno trough his laboratory alongside his personal trainer; Arcobaleno of the Rain, Colonello.
“I still don´t know why I have to be here” Complained the young Japanese boy for the second time in the day (2) “I was supposed to meet Haru later today for a picnic to celebrate my recovery”
“Hey kid I know how much not being with the girl you like sucks but Verde asked for your presence” Colonello said from Tsuna´s side “Maybe this will end soon enough-kora and we will be able to run all the way to the park”
“THE PARK IS ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE TOWN!!!”
“The perfect exercise for a young boy recovering from life threatening injuries-kora” the baby said with a resolute nod.
Tsuna just lowered his head in defeat.
“Shush you two” the green haired baby said. “We have arrived”
At this a pair of giant metal doors opened revealing a capsule like machine with to handles on the inside. “This is the flame collector” the scientist said with pride.
Tsuna and Colonello stared at the machine without much interest and the baby spoke. “So… why are you going to use it for? Besides the obvious”
“Ah! Yes well you see I have started to analyze the energies given by the Bovino family´s ten year bazooka” At this Tsuna shivered a little “And I have a theory that if I were to infuse a different kind of flame into the shell it would end up creating a different effect, so far the infusion of other flames via indirect means has yielded negative results because the flames wither fast”
“So you thought that using a direct source would yield better results” Colonello said getting an affirmative nod from Verde. “That’s it Tsuna we´re getting the hell outta dodge-kora!” both of them did a 180 turn ready to depart.
“Wait” Verde called. “If you do this for me then I promise that I will not seek the help of your friends Tenth!”
Tsuna stopped mid-step and turned to face the green haired infant; as far as Tsuna was concerned Verde´s idea was dangerous at best, he also knew that if he stepped outside none of his friends or allies would help on such an endeavor… then again they were trusting and naïve to a fault, maybe they wouldn’t help him… knowingly that is.
Tsuna took a deep breathe. “Fine” he knew that Verde will always pay his debts in full. “But you are to ask neither Vongola nor their allies to help you with this experiment after I am finished”
“I swear it Tenth.” Tsuna sighed in relief and walked to the machine. Colonello wanted to stop him but one look at the young Japanese boy and all complaints died in his throat. Verde handed a bottle with a few pills to the successor of the Vongola Famiglia “The process is simple; you will stand inside the machine and will place your hands on the stands after you take one of those “Dying Will” pills”
Tsuna looked at the pills recognizing them immediately as the pills used by a friend before the inheritance battles started, they were used instead of the normal bullets Reborn would shoot at him, Sawada thanked heaven for that little miracle and put the bottle into his pocket. He took one pill, pulled out his mittens and put them on, once the pill took effect the mittens transformed into a pair of dark metal gloves embroidered with an X at the back of the hands, he raised his hands to his forehead which had an orange flame and they immediately caught fire.
Once inside the capsule he prepared to feed it the energy needed, above him a shell of the aforementioned bazooka lowered connected to the pillars he now gripped. “Let´s begin; I have somewhere else to be”
Verde didn´t say anything he just pressed a button and the capsule closed itself. “Begin” was all that Tsuna needed to hear and he started to feed the flame of the sky to the machine, in his desperation he poured a heavy amount of energy to the machine, the shell started to crack and heat in an uncontrollable manner, before he could even say anything a bright flash of light enveloped him and the machine exploded in a shower of glass and fire.
Verde and Colonello stepped out of their cover and glanced at the destruction in front of them. “We are in trouble-kora” Verde just nodded calculating how long it would take him to build a space ship for 2 babies and what point of the known universe was safe for them to hide into.
Reborn was going to be PISSED!
-_-_-_-_-_-
The barn flashed once and the assailants stood outside some of them getting restless. “When are we gonna strike?”
The leader sat patiently “Until it is finished; we come in too soon and they might still defeat us”
The inside of the barn flashed once more.
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
A man garbed in black with a bat like cape crouched over the roof of a warehouse of Dakota city, waiting for his backup to arrive; truth be told, he felt he didn’t need it but it was safer to bring someone along in case it hit the fan, and in this line of work, it often did. His waiting gave fruit as he saw the sparks that flew off of a metal plate; a metal plate that belonged to the hero of Dakota city: Static Shock.
He had met the young Virgil when he helped him track down two Femme Fatales that had fooled a friend of the boy to do the dirty work for them, in the end the girl was saved and she had joined the ranks of the new Teen Titans and she could still carry on with her normal life. Recently the Justice League asked him to refill the power batteries on their space station and had helped them battle and defeat the supervillain: Brainiac, not once but twice.
“Hey Batman, how´s it going?” the electrical superhero greeted, the Dark Knight had begun to like the kid so he felt safe to ask for some help. “What are we doing tonight?”
Batman suppressed a smile and looked at a side. “I have been following an old nemesis of mine called Ra´s Al Ghul to this warehouses, he appears to be planning to do something to the city but I haven´t found out what exactly; only thing I know is that he has a stolen warp tube technology and he is planning on testing it soon”
“Then we better stop him before he-” the electric hero tried to say but a deep and imposing voice cut him off.
“Does any harm to my city” both heroes turned down to see that at the entrance of a nearby alley a man garbed in a green and golden cloak surrounded by 4 men of varying heights and body types clad in black clothes; one of them had a weird gun strapped to a metal backpack. “Or something along those lines; you heroes are all alike, nothing original to say” the man looked at the both heroes before him. “I always thought you were more careful with who you ask help to, Detective”.
Both heroes lowered to the floor wary of the man in front of them. “Be careful Static, those guys are trained assassins, the very best of the best; do not underestimate them” the Batman whispered to the young hero before addressing his nemesis. “What are you planning Ra´s? You know that using tube tech is unstable if messed with”
The head of the Demon chuckled deeply until he started laughing loudly. “Detective, what do you do to an ingrown toenail? You remove it of course!” the old man replied with an uncanny natural tone.
Virgil got upset and fearful of the man even after having just met him moments ago. “What are you implying?” he managed to say without stuttering.
“This machine once I have it made to its full size it will move these wretched citizens that hurt this beautiful planet; and it will finally be time for mother nature to heal itself!” the man said with a flair.
The air began to smell like ozone, the hairs in the head of Ra´s al Ghul began to shift and his skin prickled; looking back at the heroes he saw that the young black hero was outputting a massive amount of energy. “Where?” the boy asked; rage filling the words that escaped his throat; not missing the beat Ra´s answered without showing any fear. “Where else boy? The people in those buildings shall become fuel for our mighty sun to burn, what else would we use those leeches for? That way the chosen ones shall serve as this planet´s protector!”
´I have made a miscalculation´ was the first thing that Ra´s Al Ghul had in mind after taking a look at the young hero once more; ´thankfully I have an insurance´. “What are you planning to do boy? Attack me and save your city? Do you really think it will be that easy?”
The electrons in the vicinity gathered and started to shock all men around Static, even the ever inflexible Batman was starting to become afraid of what might happen if this carried on. “Always have been that way, always will be” Power exploded from within him. “HEAR THAT OLD MAN?!”
Ra´s laughed softly. “It would have been, UNTIL YOU FACED ME!” on queue 4 more men leaped from the shadows and started attacking Static Shock, their garments were made of insulating material, Batman jumped and attacked those, Static defended himself with metal bars and a manhole that laid nearby.
The man with the gun took aim at the heroes. “Take care of the Detective, he is the biggest threat” The grunt nodded and pulled the trigger, the weapon gathered energy and began to buzz and there was a sudden change in the atmosphere, a change that Static felt, he glanced at a side and in an impressive use of his abilities, he rushed in front of Batman and shot a huge amount of energy to the machine.
The tube tech gun was overloaded and the grunt lost control of the machine, it fired to the open sky and began to open a portal that got out of control and began sucking air and trash to the air. “It overloaded!” Batman yelled over the noise of air being sucked into the portal.
“What can we do?”
“You need to get near it and use a manhole to gather as much energy as possible, but you will need to do it fast, or else the portal would take you as well!” Virgil nodded and floated as fast as possible and began his task.
Suddenly as soon as the electric hero got near the portal it expanded and enveloped the young hero sucking him slowly, he looked at the Dark Knight. “Gear, Permafrost and Rubber-band, tell them to carry on with my work!”
In a flash it was over, no hero, no portal, no evidence; Batman was the only one left in that dark alley, contemplating how once again he had failed to save someone he cared about. And once more in his life, he fell to his knees in utter defeat.
-_-_-_-_-
In the far reaches of space, above one of the many interpretations of planet Earth, sat the beautiful Lucy, looking at her chosen, waiting, presenting herself with an incredible dilemma… “How the HECK! am I going to transport him away from here?” contemplation was not really her strong suit. “I should have asked for help”
She felt a third ripple in the fabric of reality. “Dammit! Now I am glad I´d asked for the last turn”
-_-_-_-_-
Below the city of New York, even deeper than the smelly sewers, there lays a maze of underground caverns dug by the once terrible ´Foot Clan´ where they experimented on humans, even deeper in the earth the ancient Y'Lyntians lived in an underground city and it was in this chamber that 5 warriors found themselves in an information gathering and experimentation mission.
The leader: Leonardo; The strong: Raphael; The genius: Donatello; The partying dude: Michelangelo; and finally their master and father: Splinter. All walking leniently taking their time, with neither monsters nor the ancient dwellers making any kind of trouble; that way they could take their time.
“Amazing my sons” Their father started. “And you say that you have known of this place for several months?” he softly glared at them. “An excellent training ground and you failed to tell me?”
The four humanoid turtles tried desperately to look innocent to no avail. “Well, let´s get started then; and no complaining” his sons sighed in defeat as their mission transformed into a training session in the span of a second.
Hours passed and the 4 turtles were already exhausted but one last match was afoot, Splinter: their teacher and father. VS. Leonardo: the eldest son and leader of their group.
It was a match between sword-masters; it had been going for 10 intense minutes and to one that had never seen such a match it was one of the most impressive fights ever, to the other turtles however…. This was a monthly ritual so they were just resting.
“My son, you have improved a lot after your last match” the Sensei dodged a wide swing from Leonardo and stopped a few with his own sword. “But you should also know that real fights are different from sparring matches and there are things you must do to win” His tail swung and sand reached his son´s eyes. “Like cheating!” finally the old master swung his body in a double kick that sent his son flying against a wall.
The wall crumbled and the leader of the group landed hard on the ground. “I´m alright!” he said from behind the wall; and took his time to stand up and sheath his swords, and took a long look at the room he had landed; A room filled with runic symbols and crystals and machines. “Donatello, you better come here“ He didn´t manage to finish his sentence. A flash of light by one of the crystals the room powered the room and a blinding light covered the room.
Once the light show was over the rest of the turtles and their master entered the room. “LEO?!” his brothers yelled as they entered. And no evidence on where their brother was.
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
“DAMMIT!” Lucy yelled “Come on kid!! You need to reach your destination FAST!” her desperation was getting the best of her. “Should´ve started doing this earlier.
Another ripple in reality. “I KNOW I KNOW!”
-_-_-_-_-_-_-
Izuku Midoriya, once a student of the renowned ´Yuuei Hero Academy´ but as of right now he is at the end of a month long recovery break because of injuries sustained in the world renowned ´Sports Festival´
“Izuku my love!” his mom bellowed from the first floor. “Dinner is almost ready, I just need soy sauce if you could be a dear and bring it from the store I would be much grateful”
Izuku smiled; it had been bad enough to have her so worried at his injuries all the while he was in bed, and even worse when she had caught him doing exercises when he wasn´t supposed to. But Izuku had a mission and an incredible burden. “Sure mom I ´ll be right back”
But mom didn´t need that kind of burden, this was the price of his resolution. “While you are there, buy something nice for your girlfriend!” Izuku missed a step halfway through the stairs and fell all the way to the lobby landing with a resounding ´UF!´. “IZUKU!” a girl yelled and kneeled beside him.
In his daze Izuku recognized her as Ochako Uraka his friend from the Yuuei academy; the only one who had visited him more than 3 times a week while in his bedridden state “Hey Uraka” he said awkwardly noticing a slight blush from her face. “I apologize; my mom got the wrong idea about…”
She stopped him. “It´s no problem, I might have gotten the same idea if I was in her place” somehow her cheeks got even redder. “I mean…”
An awkward silence filled the air and Izuku´s mother entered the room as to change the mood. “Well, are you not going to the store?” both teenagers got up in a split second. “I also left some extra so you can bring a cake, we are celebrating your full recovery and I already made enough for the 3 of us so don´t take long”
Both apprentice heroes left in a hurry as to avoid any more awkward situations; halfway to the store they started to take a more leisurely pace. “So…” Uraka started. “It´s great to see you up and running again Izuku!”
“Ye - Yeah! It´s great to be better” another awkward silence permeated the air around them. “U-Uraka…” said Izuku clumsily and the girl asked him what was it that he wanted, in a soft tone.
“I wanted to thank you for coming to see me; it was great to know that you were there for me, I didn´t really saw you guys all that much”
“Well with homework and hero exercises taking up most of our daily routines we barely have time for ourselves, but for you… I had to make time” she ended in barely a whisper.
Izuku heard it and blushed, for a brief moment he looked at his friend, she was courageous, friendly, and now more than ever beautiful beyond measure and in the blink of an eye Izuku leaned and kissed her, a kiss that Uraka accepted.
It had been just a few seconds, but the kiss felt like it had lasted for several hours once they separated they looked at each other, breathless. “How disgusting” a voice startled them, a voice that Izuku recognized; the leader of the ´Villain Alliance´ that attacked them during the first days of training in the academy: Black Mist
“You are truly a disgusting being”
Midoriya stepped in front of his friend.
“And now you are trying to protect her, foolish and ultimately futile” he snapped his fingers and 3 more supervillains appeared from the shadows. “It seems to me that we have you surrounded, surrender now Izuku Midoriya, don´t make us hurt you”
The young hero looked at the gathering of villains; his mind raced to think of a way out without making himself useless; he glanced at a side and saw an electric transformer and he took action.
“Sorry Uraka” before she could even reply he increased the size of his arm and threw the young heroine high to the air, using just half his strength allowed him to just feel numb rather than having it broken. In a sudden leap he reached the electric post and broke his middle finger to make it fall and to leap himself the distance between him and ´Black mist´.
Izuku grabbed black mist by the throat. “It seems that you have made a miscalculation once again” he smiled, an insufferable, cheeky and cocksure smile that only an insufferable hero can make. “You should have taken me when I was in the hospital, now you are going to regret it” the other villains were dumbstruck and failed to notice the falling transformer.
It reached the ground and the electrical discharge reached both youngsters, Midoriya being virtually unharmed because he was wearing his training boots which where insulated, the villain and his portal not so much; suddenly the teleportation hole overloaded and it increased in size, Midoriya on pure reflex launched the villain out of reach of the portal but he was enveloped by it.
Once it disappeared the villains took their leader and scrambled, they didn´t wanted to be caught by heroes and their means of transport was out for the count. And their target was missing in action, things couldn´t get worse.
Floating away from the scene, in direction of his friend house, Urakara cried the loss of his new boyfriend.
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_- -_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
In the confines of Canterlot Castle the regent sisters of Equestria felt a powerful shift in the magical energy of the atmosphere. The eldest sighed in contemplation the youngest just stared at the quaint little town named Ponyville. “Dos Thou really think it necessary?” she glanced at her sister and saw no response. “She is amazing for re-creating the means of summoning but is she powerful enough to link the creatures she summons forth to them?” again no visual answer.
After mere moments the alabaster Princess answered. “Even if I had forbid it, she would have done so, it´s due time she takes risks and I am amazed that it hadn´t come to this extremes until now” a new ripple in the energies of the world was felt by the two god like entities.
“Let us hope this is enough for them to survive” both sisters sat at the balcony feeling the cool breeze flowing around them.
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_- -_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
In other part of the multiverse, inside an old loft a group of avengers called ´The Ultimates´ where giving a final goodbye to a man that had travelled from another dimension, Peter Parker started to step into the portal and looked back.
Looking at his counterpart from another dimension he told the young boy in the black version of his costume. “Don´t let anyone clone you. Seriously; and only date one girl at a time.”
The amazing Spiderman started counting with his fingers. “And – and if you find out a guy named Doctor Octopus is going to marry my Aunt May – stop it. And once you beat up the bad guy leave the crime scene as soon as possible because they´ll try to make you clean it up”
Miles Morales also known as the Spiderman started to make mental notes. “And wash your costume, like, daily, because it WILL get funky and people will make fun of you”
“Finally never, EVER, lend money to any one named Wolverine, or Mockingbird; You´ll never see it again” he sighed deeply. “Thanks for everything and take care” he waved goodbye once more and stepped through the portal, and he disappeared into his dimension.
The other heroes looked at the now powerless device on the floor and started moving about, taking the infamous villain ´Mysterio´ to captivity, meanwhile a few S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, their leader: Nick Fury and 3 heroes remained in the loft, Tony Stark, also known as ´Iron Man´; Steve Rogers: ´Captain America´; and the afore mentioned new ´Spiderman´: Miles Morales.
Miles was mingling about the room looking at the network of computers connected to the dimensional portal device with mild interest, Iron Man looked at him. “Let it out kid” Miles looked at him surprised. “I know you have a question, even with your mask on, come on and ask away”
Miles looked at the machine once more and took off his mask. “How do you think he does it?” now it was Stark´s turn to look puzzled. “I mean…” Miles hesitated a second. “How does he put up with villains that will go to such extents as to travel to different dimensions so as to get rid of him?”
Tony was ready to answer but Captain ´America´ (3) beat him to it. “He does because he suffered a great loss early in life and that loss gave him wisdom and a drive to do what is right! He wasn´t just some child eager to play with his new powers” all the agents stopped what they were doing, some looked uncomfortable, other were already wishing for a supervillain to attack the city and dispel the super beings from this location, the remaining were wondering the last time they had updated their will.
Before the situation could get any more stressful, Nick Fury stepped behind the Captain and grabbed his shoulder. “Cap. We need to talk” Steve Rogers looked at him from over his shoulder and complied not without giving a glance at the young new hero.
Miles looked more than a little abashed and followed the Captain with his eyes until they stepped outside. “Did I do something wrong?” the boy asked the armored man.
Antonio Stark with all his wit and intellect was as surprised as the rest of the people in the room, in the very few decades of his life he could effectively count with one hand the amount of instances he had taken more than 10 seconds to answer to a question out of pure surprise. Now he counted, this was the first time it had taken him 15 solid seconds to answer one simple question to someone who had recently hit puberty.
“Don´t worry kid, he always had been someone hard to get along with, Cap is so tight that if you stuck a lump of coal up his ass, in two weeks you'd have a diamond; in the meantime, care to help me out a bit?”
“I am going to be punished for not coming home early, might as well make the most out of this night” Miles said as he pulled his mask above his head.
“Atta boy! That´s the spirit!” Tony said as he clapped his metal gauntlets. “Now please pull those energy conduits from the machine and help carry it to the containers”
“You want me to carry heavy stuff for you?”
“Only if you want me to have a cover story as for why you are arriving so late to your house”
“OK BOSS!” yelled the young half Hispanic boy. “You got it!”
Stark chuckled and began mingling with the other systems that were around the impromptu base of operations and detected a bit of programming that looked really fishy, he tapped the line of code in his holographic-display and all of the sudden the machine powered up. “Oh no…”
He turned around as fast as he could and tried to launch himself at the boy moving around the portal but an explosion stopped him, a vortex of six colors surrounding a white vortex of energy appeared and pushed away all the agents in the room.
All the people on the room crawled away from the device, all except the boy that was the closest to it, who also happened to be enveloped by the energy from the portal, the vortex started to swallow the boy and in the last moments of the portal´s burst Captain America, Nick Fury and Iron Man saw how the boy was swallowed whole and the machine exploded in a shower of shrapnel and sparks.
Once the air settled; the one eyed man closed the distance between him and the millionaire. “WHAT DID YOU DO STARK?!!”
Tony just stared at the space that once occupied the young hero and for the second time in that day he failed to answer immediately. “I don´t know”
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_- -_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
The outside of the barn was surrounded by the group of shady individuals looking to the flashes of light that emanated from the inside of the building. “Be ready, as soon as the light disappears we strike”
A final flash appeared from the barn.
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_- -_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
In the confines of a mountain range, in a secret armory of the once leader of the Crystal Gems: Rose Quartz; there stood six figures and a feline; an adult male by the name of Greg Universe, a girl named Connie Meshawaran, the pink Lion… Lion. The last figures though were the ones more interested in being in the room.
Garnet: the de-facto leader, calm, precise and the most level headed of the group; Pearl: elegant, fluid, intelligent and incredible high strung; Amethyst: short, on temper, stature and attention span, easy going and fun to have around; The last of the figures was a boy no more than 12 in age, he was a mix of half alien and half human DNA, his name: Steven Quartz Universe.
“I hope we can get something here to help us with earth´s defenses” said the young boy.
“Worry not Cutie Pie” Garnet reassured him. “I think that at the very least we can give something to the Human militia, we could use their support and it is due time that we fight together as a team rather than doing thing by ourselves”
“So long as there are no more of those training robots” said Steven in a whisper. As he placed his hand on the control pedestal and it hummed.
Connie (Steven´s special friend) walked up to him. “Remember what we discussed Steven, so long as you don´t ask for it, we won´t have to worry” she got closer to his ear. “Besides…” Steven could feel her warm breath; a few of the present were getting blushes. “I have been wanting to…” she got her face away from Steven´s “DO THIS!”
Suddenly Steven got attacked by a barrage of fingers all over his body tickling him which had the effect of making all kinds of weapons and assorted things to appear or disappear; in between bouts of laughter he managed to ask her what her problem was. “This is for making me worry and trying to make me think you didn´t like me”
As Steven held his laughter back and tried to reply to Connie but was interrupted by Pearl screaming out loud. “What is it Pearl?”
Pearl just pointed at the pedestal that occupied the dais; it was a platform of multiple colors that had a pedestal with an indentation for a blade and two holes shaped like a pair of feet. “What- is that?”
“I don’t know Steven” the slender gem said ignoring a comment of that being a first. “But it seems to be like one of the warp stream bases we use, but why would Rose keep something like this?”
Steven took his hand off of the pedestal and walked over to the base and examined it. “I don´t know Pearl; If it was just a warp pad, then why hide it here?” Steven became contemplative. “MAYBE THIS PAD ACTIVATES A SUPER WEAPON!”
“What are you talking about Steven?”
“Well Amethyst think about it” Steven started to say. “If it was a Warp pad why does it seems to need my mom´s sword? Maybe I can activate it and see if it can help us, and if it’s dangerous we just pull the plug and that’s it; what do you say?”
The Crystal Gems began to ponder about it and Steven´s father approached him with a worried expression. “Son, ehhh; do you really think this is a good idea; I mean all this magic stuff is dangerous and I wouldn’t want to lose you”
The boy looked at his dad. “Dad” he said in a low and calm voice. “Even if it’s dangerous, I have already made my mind, I want to protect you, and Connie, and Beach City. Remember that Lapis is at the bottom of the ocean holding Jasper in an underwater prison, there are hundreds of gem monsters we haven´t found and Peridot is out there just waiting to get in contact with the Gem home world so they can start a full scale invasion”
Steven held George´s hands in his´s own. “We need this more than ever, for all of our sakes” both of the males held their glances and Greg relented. “You are right Steven… ´sigh´ whenever you talk like that I am reminded of your mother, ´SNIFF´ where did my little boy go?”
“I am here dad, I am just trying to see things as how they are; besides I want to test this so we can go back home to one of your famous grilled dogs”
“You got it son!”
“Well Steven, I am glad to see you so resolved” Pearl said as she got close to him. “But you will not only need to fit the sword but stand in the foot holes as well, how are you going to do that?”
The boy lit up and smiled wide. “I won´t have to do it”
“Then who? Garnet?”
“Nope: Stevonnie will” the reactions to this statement were varied, from the confusion of his father to Garnet´s infectious grin.
“Steven” Connie said. “Do you remember what happened last time?”
“Sure, but this time it will only be for a few minutes at most. Besides: aren´t you curious about what that platform is for?”
“But how can you be sure this isn´t a home world warp stream?”
“I am not; buuuuuut! If it is a warp platform then it could lead to another secret armory, if it is in the home world then there is a chance the warp pad there is broken, and if it isn´t then it hasn´t been found or else the gems would have ended up here long ago and if it is broken then we won´t be able to leave either way”
Steven extended his hand. “So… what do you say Connie?”
“Wait a minute” Greg said. “Who´s Stevonnie?”
Steven looked at his dad. “It´s easier to show you”
Steven took his cellphone from his pocket, and turned it on to a certain tune; Connie took Steven´s hands and they started to move to the beat of the music, a random and somehow personal dance, their movements and cheer, it was as if there was no one else in the room, at the end of the impromptu dance Connie grabbed Steven by the waist and they both joined their foreheads and then… magic happened.
Steven´s quartz shone and both individuals began to shine in a pink and white light, two became one and now standing instead of the two youngsters was a tall teenage girl, with long curled hair and a toned form.
Steven’s father looked aghast. “YOU BOTH CAN FUSE?!”
Stevonnie just looked a little ashamed. “Guess I didn´t tell you, huh?”
A few explanations were given and soon enough Stevonnie found herself atop the pad, sword in hand, and the hamburger backpack strapped behind her, no other gem or person was with her. “I am ready”
All the others stood aside, worrying, some more than other. “Are you sure that you don´t want us up there?”
“Nah, I don´t think that will be necessary” she took Steven´s mother´s sword out of its scabbard and placed it carefully at the pedestal… it did nothing “Huh?” said Stevonnie and tried to place it again, several times. “Not even a buzz?”
“It was always a possibility, it´s not like you can write out a password on it.” Garnet said to the human fusion.
Stevonnie´s face lit up and her smile widened. “Maybe not write it…” the rest of the companions perked at this realization; with her simile widening the Gem-Human fusion uttered the catchphrase of the Universe family. “If every pork chop were perfect we wouldn't have hot dogs.”
Power surged from the pad, it lit up and the room to the point of forcing all the ones to close their eyes, the ground shook with the immense amount of power coming from the pad… and it all failed.
…… “Huh! At least it was cool” the fusion claimed while still holding the blade; Garnet on the other hand chuckled. “You knew this was gonna happen didn´t you?”
“Of course, it was the most defining vision I had, but now that you are in that form we can start training here” Stevonnie grunted. “Now, now; no complaining”
“I´m coming…” Stevonnie said as she tried to pull the sword out of the pedestal, once then twice and when it didn´t seem to budge. “GAAAARNEEEEEEET!!!”
It was then that the device lit up once more, and an array of lights and power that enveloped the fusion above it, with one final breath Steven disengaged the fusion and Connie shot away from the platform.
She looked at him dead in the eye and whispered his name… in an instant the half gem boy disappeared from existence leaving the rest of his companions in a distraught state; the young girl fell on her knees. “STEEEVEEEEEEEN!!!” she cried and the room echoed her cries of despair.
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_- -_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
The barn shook and shone, the Elements of Harmony settled down on the floor slowly and they all fell to their knees and looked with hazed eyes to the center of the drawing, just below now powerless crystal; were 6 bipedal creatures all in different sized, shapes and colors, it was surreal and at the same time astounding.
“What the…” said the tall one in a blue coat. “Where am I?”
As Twilight Sparkle rose she heard a loud explosion coming from outside the barrier, which collapsed and once again an explosion broke through the barn walls sending the nearby girls tumbling together, bruised but otherwise unhurt.
A group of 2 dozen individuals appeared from the cloud of smoke and dust. “Excuse me” said a unicorn, apparently the leader. “It seems that the summoned creatures are not as overwhelming as thought. A shame really”
Leonardo and the other humans stood up coughing. “What the hell is going on?” said the humanoid turtle.
“It seems that I was mistaken, you can speak. Let me explain it then: these six mares used a spell to summon 6 creatures from another plane of existence in order to force them to be their familiars and protectors.”
Steven looked up to the mares in question and his eyes took a star shape. “OOH! OOH! OOH! I could be familiar? AWESOME!!!”
All the others in the room looked at him and stared for a few seconds before the leader talked again. “They would have forced you to heed their orders, to be at their beck and call; fortunately we have arrived to stop them from their evildoings, in short… we came to get rid of your problems” the leader said sporting a grin that unsettled the rest of the heroes.
Tsuna looked calmly at the ringleader, then to the mares behind him. “And by getting rid of them; you mean that you are going to kill them”
Steven looked aghast. “No…”
The leader raised his voice. “YES! How else shall you be free from their grasp?”
All the teenagers looked at each other and they nodded, Izuku looked to the big group of offenders in front of them and with the look of determination he stated. “I think that we pass on the offer, they are the only ones that can bring us back home”
“Is that your answer?”
Midoriya and the rest took poses and activated their powers or took their weapons out. “I speak for the rest when I say this. BRING IT ON!”
Miles Morales stood in place, his spider sense was blaring like an old wartime horn, his muscles flexed, his breath slowed and images flashed before his eyes, his own future vision, a gift that had come with his newfound powers was that of actual precognition, in his hallucination he saw the group of villains throwing weird objects at the heroes, once each hit its mark they exploded, and 4 of the 6 of them fell to a weapon they knew nothing about just leaving him and the youngest of the group who had a shield that appeared out of nowhere.
Reality came back quickly; it was just enough time to act, with the full strength in his lungs: “GET BACK, THEY STILL HAVE EXPLOSIVES!!!” all the heroes looked at the boy clad in black and heard the ruffling of the cloaks of their enemies. Spiderman jumped to the youngest of the boys and the one with injuries and grabbed them with his spider abilities to pull them to the where the mares and a small lizard laid.
Once all of them got close, Miles looked at the chubby boy. “THE SHIELD, NOW!!!”
Steven was confused, but in a moment he raised a flower bud made of magic and his mighty bubble shield gathered them all in a protective field. As soon as he put up the shield the explosives carried by the offenders hit its mark, the force of the explosions made the roof and the wooden floor to collapse making all the heroes to fall to the cellar.
With a loud thud all of the beings in the bubble landed hard at the bottom of the barn, all the debris falling above them, yet when darkness threatened to overtook them Static Shock created a little ball of electricity as a source of light. “So… I guess we are stuck here until they dig us up or the authorities arrive; Name´s Static Shock, hero of Dakota city and you are the ones that saved my life I suppose” he said to the mares in the shield. “Thanks”
“Saved your life?” asked the purple one which was answered by a simple ´long story´ “My names is Twilight Sparkle, I… am the one that adapted the spell to bring you here, here are my friends” she presented each mare and dragon. “I am sorry for bringing you all here, as you can see we are in deep trouble, I must ask you… who are the rest of you?”
“I suppose, we are your heroes now” he looked at the rest of the gathered beings. “Care to present yourselves?”
The turtle humanoid raised his hand, “My name is Leonardo, I´m 16 years old, I´m a mutant, and a turtle, besides being a ninja”
“So…” Rainbow Dash interjected. “You are a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle?” Leonardo nodded.
“Cool” the younger boys, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie said with a glint in their eyes… one of the boys had his pupils in the shape of a star somehow.
“I lead and strategize for my brothers as we fight evil and train under our master and father, Splinter”
“Good to hear we have a strategist on our side, got any ideas before they realize they can use their explosives to clear a way?” Static said.
“If they had any more they will wait until we are in their sights, they will be quick to dig us up from here so let´s make things short. Name, Powers and abilities, I work better knowing what every member of my team can do… let´s start with you Static, I guess electricity”
“Correct! Besides having thunder blasts, electrical currents, flash lights, I can also change the positive and negative charges of electricity so I can magnetize objects… though they have to be in my line of sight or I need to stand above them to work; I had a metal disk that I usually use to fly around but I think it was lost in the explosion”
“Here” Pinkie Pie said hoofing a little metal disk to the blue clad hero who accepted it with a thank you.
“See this is something my best friend gave me, it is a minimized version, and I only apply a current and…” said disk expanded to create a platform. “This way I can… HOW DID YOU COME BY IT?”
Pinkie just shrugged and Leonardo remarked how much time it had taken him to realize such a situation. “Ok, next would be you” Leonardo said to the chubby boy.
“I´m Steven Quartz Universe, I am a member of the Crystal gems, we fight the corrupted gems that plague the earth, I am also half human and half gem, My powers are creating my magic bubble shield, a magic shield that my mom used to use, I can transform a finger into a kitten and also I can fuse with other humans”1)
Leonardo took the childish explanation and decided that all questions could wait. “We´ll talk about the fusion later, now what about the sword?” The wood started to rustle and scratch above them.
Steven lifted the sword and put it on its scabbard “It´s my mom´s, but I barely have any training with it, it was my friend Connie who was trained to be a swordsgirl, she is really good with it”
Leo nodded and then asked the boy in with the flaming gloves. “Tsawada Tsunayoshi… And somehow I am speaking in English but that can wait, I am a student in japan and I can use the flame of the Sky that belong to the Vongola mafia family, I am the chosen in the succession line and between my abilities there are, fighting, using flames on my gloves and use them to burst, dash, float and fly”
“I´m Japanese as well” said the other boy with spiked hair. “I am Izuku Midoriya, I am a Superhero in training, and my power is called ´One for All´ it helps to partially grow my body parts and increases their strength”
“It hurts doesn´t it?” Midoriya looked surprised at Leonardo´s remark. “You have a broken finger and your leg has been shaking for a while, it might not be broken but it certainly is strained painfully”
Midoriya sighed. “Yes… before being transported I was fighting a group of supervillains and I had to sacrifice my finger in the bout”
“Commendable, though I think you and Steven will have to play defensive here with the ladies, not much use when you have no offensive capabilities” he nodded to Steven. “Or you don´t have mobility, no offense to you both”
“None taken” was their response.
“Now, you… Spider-boy I presume”
“Man!” the boy clad in black said rather defensively. “Spiderman, I became the successor of the name after the original one died at the hands of his greatest enemies; I have the proportionate strength, speed and agility of a genetically modified spider, I can climb walls, jump really high and I have a sixth sense called the ´Spider Sense´ with it I am aware of my surroundings even when I am not seeing what is happening and it tells me where the danger is and I can react accordingly… sometimes though I can predict what would happen a little bit into the future, it doesn´t always work but when it does it can save lives”
“No poisonous bite?” Spiderman stifled and hung his head, Leonardo took the hint. “Forgive me, I won´t ask again; on another note, I saw that you didn´t mention webbing so I assume that wasn´t part of the package” Spiderman denied with his head and the wood above them grew louder and shifted.
“Ok, first we move the girls, so we will need to create a hole in their defenses, Static, first you use a flash of light and Spiderman, you are with me, we will make a hole in their defenses that will allow Static to move the bubble and get them as far away from this place as possible, any suggestions?”
Twilight Sparkle raised her voice. “I can transport us away from here, I´ve had time to rest and I think that if it´s only Steven and us I can manage to get us away from here… though not by much”
Leonardo nodded. “Ok then, when the debris has been cleared Steven lowers the bubble, you teleport and we will get out by force, once Midoriya is out he will go to your side; Static, take Midoriya to the skies and deposit him where the girls transport, after that you and Tsuna are on airborne duty, try getting the feathers and ground them, Spiderman, you are with me on the ground, be careful, we don´t know how strong or resilient they are so be careful, hit them in the limbs and jaw”
He looked at the mares. “Anything I might have missed?”
Rarity spoke for the first time. “Careful with the unicorns, they might shoot you with blasts that will certainly destroy your swords if they are not designed to resist magic, and they might use levitation that can trap you unless you are stronger than them or if you can hit the tip of the horn it could take out their concentration, the Pegasus are resistant to lightning so are the gryphons, the Earth ponies and Minotaur are strong as can be and really hard to knock out” Leonardo thanked her.
The sound grew louder. “Lights out” ordered the turtle and soon enough light came from a hole in the debris and as if by clockwork, an explosion tore the wood and nails away from the shield, one became four, then more and more until there were no more, the smoke dissipated.
The leader of the group looked down on the heroes and smirked. “Give up, your shield can´t possibly be that resistant”
“IT IS!” all the present looked at Steven. “You wouldn´t believe what it takes to burst this thing, not even a roller coaster could dent it”
The villain was unimpressed2) “Even so… you have nowhere else to go, what are you going to do?”
Leonardo said in a low voice. “this” in a second, the shield popped and the heroes started, Static instantly flew with his metal disk, turned backwards and with a great burst of electricity the dish shone like the sun itself had ignited; being shaded by hoods ended up being counter-productive for the thugs as their eyes became severely blinded.
Twilight had gathered enough energy, in a bubble or space displacement energy the 6 mares, the young boy and dragon disappeared; Tsuna took Spiderman in his shoulders, and Static flew high with Midoriya hanging for dear life. Once they were high enough they realized that the girls were nowhere to be found, and that several airborne enemies had avoided the light show and were about to intercept them.
“This is not looking good Midoriya! I can´t see them!” daggers came from below their cloaks, either in talons or with bands attached to the front hooves. “Tell me you see them”
“How am I supposed to do so when we are looking at-” the thought died in his throat. “THERE!” he signaled the blue coated teen and to every other assailant around, all of whom rushed to the site with incredible speed, Static couldn´t fly that fast.
“Any other bright ideas?” chided Static to the boy that held on for dear life.
It took Izuku 3 second to answer “… Hang on”
“Huh?” before he could formulate a coherent question a burst of speed made them get to the point where Twilight had transported, he barely managed to stop his momentum before making a dent with his face on the ground; looking up he saw that Steven was dazed and somehow sooty.
He unceremoniously dropped Midoriya and heard a pained grunt, turning around he saw that Izuku had 3 more broken fingers, he immediately regretted his action. “Sorry for that!” he stepped down and helped the Japanese boy to his feet. “Sorry for that, it´s just that” Izuku held up his good hand.
“Don´t worry, heh; I almost broke your face so let´s call it even ok?”
Both boys nodded. “Help Steven up, I will keep them distracted”
“So, here they were” a third voice called. “Tough luck monsters, you will be gutted alongside those ponies”
Izuku and Static looked at the hawk-lion hybrid, exchanged glances and Izuku used his last good finger to throw a giant gust of wind pressure towards the gryphon making him fly through several trees until it hit a dead one at the center of a clearing… the gryphon wasn´t conscious any more “Nice shot” said the now un-dazed Steven.
Izuku on the other hand was in extreme pain. “AAAAGH!” he cried. The rest of the bad guys smile as they realized that flaw on the youngster; a pat on the shoulder let him know to step back.
“Sorry for the delay guys, but you´ll have to deal with me!” he heard as the bubble popped into existence; enemies rounded the young black boy and he prepared for the battle.
Inside the shield Izuku looked at the hero on the other side of the bubble with regret in his eyes, unable to help due to his injuries, he used his good hand to make a fist and hit the bubble in frustration. “DAMMIT! Why do I have to be useless when I´m needed it the most? Why do I have to be useless Deku once again?”
The mares and dragon took pity on him, but it was the half human boy who got close to him and sat. “I used to feel useless a lot too, the Crystal Gems would always take me with them and I would end up being sent back home because it will get dangerous… I felt useless; until less than a year ago I was finally able to fend off for myself” He gave the sword and scabbard to the Japanese boy. “Recently my friend Connie and I trained to fight together, she uses the sword I cover for her using the shield, and we fight back to back so we can support each other”
A thunderbolt signaled the start of the bout outside of the shield “The sword is great, but I can´t use it with only one hand, and I can´t move very well And I don´t know how to use it” the only response from Steven was sticking a finger in his mouth and salivating it earning him a few awkward glances from the rest of his companions in the bubble.
“My mom had magical healing tears that could cure anything, I have the same but it’s my saliva that does it, it can even heal your eyes if you use glasses” Twilight Sparkle cooed at the prospect of studying such magic. “I don´t want to stay here, even if you and I can´t fight together at least we can try”
Midoriya looked at Steven´s eyes and relented, he sucked the finger, immediately after swallowing; his fingers began to position themselves back in place, his leg felt relieved, his scars disappeared completely; Steven took the Japanese boy´s hands and placed them with the sword and guided Izuku´s body. “Widen your stance, keep your body lower, and as you defend and attack, balance is the key” even if short and lacking of any information they were both ready.
A cry came from outside, Static stood corralled by enemies and he sported a huge gash on his left shoulder. “COME ON, WE DON´T HAVE TIME!”
“Can you wait here for us?” Izuku asked the mares and dragon, they said yes3) “Let´s go!”
“Wait!” Said Twilight Sparkle “I have an idea”
After a quick plan Midoriya and Steven left the bubble from an opening below them, once outside the shield closed and they rushed to the battle.
Static had thought that fighting a few goons in this world wouldn´t be any different from back home, ´I should be socked for thinking like that´ he quickly had forgotten how fast they could fly, Talon was a snail compared to this mythical creatures; they were playing around no doubt, being that fast they should have taken his head in that instant.
“Hey guys how about we talk things out?”
“Sorry boy but you caught us in the mood, and you are a real disappointment; some familiar you turned out to be”
Any response Static had in his repertoire died as he heard two sets of feet running to him, he couldn´t believe it but there they were; he repressed a sigh of frustration before remembering that they were heroes as well; once they were huddled together back to back. “Great to see you guys… let me tell you that these thugs are FAST”
“Don´t worry, we will try and keep them off your back” Steven said. “Though I can´t keep more than one bubble at the time” Static felt something being shoved into his pocket.
From out of nowhere, every male shuddered as if they all had seen something cringe-worthy, “Weird” Static stated “what was that?”
“It doesn´t matter” Izuku said. “As long as Steven can keep them safe we can fight”
Static nodded and with that, the battle started for the 3 heroes; Static went airborne and 6 enemies flew up to meet him; a shout made him turn right and shot a bolt to a gryphon that flew near, shocking him with electricity, the damage made him drop his dagger and Static used his electric powers and took the blade in his right hand.
A Pegasus left and the other 4 equines kept Static busy; one of them got close and started swinging with his front legs and kicking with the rear ones; Static caught one with the knife and passed a current down his opponent´s body.
The gryphon from before cried and flew to meet him when Steven hit the avian on his head from below with his shield at the speed of a bullet finally knocking him out for good; Steve on the other hand… “WOOHOOO!” he fell like a rock, a rock with a purpose mind you as the Pegasus that Static had in his grasp was about to stab him and from out of nowhere Steven used him as a cushion.
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_- -_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
Izuku was having not that bad of a time, he had used 2 fingers only (One to send the human bullet upwards and another to take out a weird mix of lion and Pegasus) a thud told him that Steven was back “You alright?” a nod to him told him everything was fine; thunder was heard from somewhere and the chubby boy jumped to meet the bolt coming from a cloud that had wings suspiciously placed above it.
“Hey, not fair, you can create thunder from clouds?”
“Wrong you beast!” a pegasus yelled at him while attempting to stab the half-gem, Steven parried with his shield. “All clouds have thunder mana inside, you can kick any cloud and thunder would come out”
“Is that so?” a voice said from above them and a thunderbolt hit the baddie allowing Midoriya to sandwich the goon´s head between Steven´s shield and the pommel.
Looking up they saw a field of thunder and sparks, the air smelled like ozone, and the clouds in the sky began to gather darkening the sky, the Pegasus in the cloud, jumped out of it as the current became too strong.
Below Static; Midoriya was defending Steven from a dragon that was licking his lips and Steven covered for him when the dragon used his flames between that and the constant barrage of goons brought a never ending struggle, Midoriya had already used 2 more fingers one of which failed to hit its mark, the other had hit the dragon square in the chest but it only slowed him and took the air out of his lungs nothing else.
“GIMME THAT GEM!” shouted the green and orange dragon to Steven who was now defending. “It looks so tasty!”
Steven shuddered. “Dragons eat gems?”
“Yes we do, and yours looks tasty, once I finish with your flesh I will eat that gem as my dessert” the reptile said salivating and creeping out the boys in the process.
A gryphon attacked at full speed and managed to knock Steven to the floor distracting the dragon; Izuku took advantage and slashed the creature’s right eye garnering a howl of pain, Izuku took this to use his ´One for All´ in his left leg to propel himself at the avian foe trying to slash Steven.
The Japanese boy tackled the foe away from Steven and stamped him against a tree; Steven was quick to run to his new friend side. “Izuku, what are you thinking?”
“You needed help what else?” Izuku tried to get up but his spine snapped and his leg had a bone jutting out from the side
“YOU FOOL!” he yelled at the Japanese boy. “WHAT ABOUT YOURSELF? If you keep going like this you might die, it won´t be worth it if we had to sacrifice one of us in order to win” the young boy´s nose and eyes were wet and pained at the prospect of losing someone.
“Listen!” Midoriya grabbed Steven by the face. “We are heroes! And being heroes means that there will be times when sacrifices will have to be made, where I am from, all kinds of humans have superpowers and they often end up using them for evil, if they are not stopped people begin dying… I once found myself without powers and useless; this power, this is the form of my determination, if I can´t use to save someone, then what good is this power for?”
An enemy fell from the sky, it´s wings slashed.
Steven cleaned his face with his forearm while Izuku grabbed a little vial from his pocket. “I understand… but for me everyone is worth everything, if you die then we failed, please… promise me that you will not sacrifice yourself, I´ve almost lost my friends many times, I won´t allow you to do it too!” Izuku smiled at him and drank the vial of saliva; his injuries began healing though more slowly than before.
“OH GAG ME!” a goon yelled to the two “You should go get a room”
Steven was not alien4) to such an expression and smiled; he took out his cellphone and played an old rock tune and he got a little distance between him and his friends “Thrust me and don´t fight even if it freaks you, please”
Izuku nodded, unsure of what was going to happen, the beat of the silly song moved Midoriya and Steven, even the goons were stepping to the rhythm, the mares inside the bubble were starting to sing the lyrics with gusto; Steven started to spin like a top and Izuku moved his arms in a wide motion, his legs stepped widening his stance and at the climax of the song they bro-fisted.
Magic happened light enveloped the boys, Izuku shone white and red while Steven was solid pink; both figures of light melted and swirl, for a second or two it seemed as if both rejected each other; in the end a flash of light blinded the enemies and a imposing figure easily 2 and a half meters tall stood before the goons.
It used an amalgam of both boys outfits, a tight red T-shirt with big yellow star with a stylized A and M inside, wide Bermuda and a pair of black boots with pink stripes; his body proportions were another story all-together: wide shoulders, muscled limbs, medium hips, unkempt and curled hair that had a bald spot in the back of the head that contoured his face and had a round flesh nub in the middle of the contour, his belly sported a six pack that held the pink gem where the belly-button should be.
A flash of lightning shone and another foe fell, this one with brunt feathers and electricity making him spasm wildly.
The giant smiled wide, his face angular as if made out of plastic5). “Be aware evildoers, for I am the waitress of Justice and today´s special is knuckle sandwich!” he proclaimed in a deep voice.
EVERYONE6) groaned loudly and faced palmed/hoofed/pawed/clawed or otherwise, after it subsided there was one7) crucial question left to answer. “What´s your name?” asked Rainbow Dash, it caught the tall human by surprise and he stood to think about it for a few seconds, looking at his shirt he came up with a name “Alter Man”
The Dragon stepped forward “More like dead meat onc-” he was cut off as an elbow caught him in the forehead making him fly several meters in the air before he used his wings to correct his fly path.
“Tougher than I thought; I suppose that we can see if I have the necessary tools to get through that thick hide of yours” he took out Steven´s sword out of the scabbard and with the blunt side he all but buried another Pegasus in the rich soil of the orchard knocking the goon unconscious.
Another baddie approached from behind and the bald spot transformed into a face that smiled creepily. “Attacking from behind is cheating you know?” this new face said in a childish voice.
The female Pegasus reared and then fell unconscious and both face spoke in a conversation between both faces. “Huh, I thought she was made of sterner stuff”
“No matter, only one more enemy to take care off”
“Let´s see how much we have to hold back”
“Before he falls”
Both voices agreed in the last sentence. “LIKE THE REST!”
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_- -_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
The skies cleared as the thunder began gathering to Static; the young boy was absorbing the electricity as if his own, uncaring of how the supposed ´mana´ of the clouds could affect him, only 3 more enemies to deal with and then he could get going to support his new friends… ´Allies´ he reminded himself, ´We´ve just met´
Going on the offensive once again Static cut a path between him and the last 2 dragons that were keeping him company, minding himself of their tails, one had a blade like end that had sliced his coat and cut off a good chunk of his metal disk, the other had a rock like lump at its end that would have more than likely taken his head had he not seen it coming before.
Both Dragonesses8) inhaled a large amount of air and Static instead of avoiding the attack he gathered enough charge as to make the clouds behind the reptiles to shhot their lightning at the perfect angle to hit both of them square in the back, they fell to the ground with nothing as much as a scratch, on the ground they were engaged by the strange ´fusion´ Alter Man.
Static was surprised of the cheesy music Steven had played a while ago, but the Fusion of both boys, THAT had taken his breathe away. He didn´t really had time to finish that thought as the last Pegasus tried to impale him with his daggers; Static however dodged and as he did, he magnetized both blades when he flew by, mere inches away, now the evildoer was unable to separate both limbs and in his struggle the young hero charged an immense amount of electricity, enough to leave the equine soothed and twitching, both blades steamed as they heated and burned through the flesh.
Static cringed a little and unhooked both blades before the mythical creature fell over and landed on the ground with a loud *THUD* “Done!” the voice of the fusion yelled from the side of the shield bubble. “I am going to help Leonardo and the Rest, think you can tie these guys before they wake up?”
“Yes I can, I saw some rope around here so don´t worry” the tall hero nodded and then, using his combined powers, he leapt the distance between the place he had deposited the mares and the place the other 3 heroes were fighting.
As soon as he left though, the bubble popped and Static went to meet the mares. “Feeling better?” all of them agreed. “Can you gather them here? I am a bit tired after the exercise; and please don´t wander off, I don´t want to go rescue you”
While Rainbow gritted her teeth she and the rest obeyed and it wasn´t long before they had taken the group of baddies into custody; by the time they were done Leonardo and the rest were doing the exact same thing, Tsuna had dropped by and let them know that he would be helping them pulling the bulk of goons to where they were gathering them.
Static took that time to strike in a little conversation. “I must thank you guys once again, that potion from earlier really helped me”
“What potion?” Tsuna asked the black boy.
“It was during battle, I had a big knife wound in my shoulder and then Steven and Izuku came and secretly gave me a vial with a liquid which cured me almost instantly”
“A-hem, you see Static…” Twilight said sporting a sheepish smile and a slight blush9) “It wasn´t a potion per-se”
“No? Then what was it?”
“A-hehehe”
In the distance a Steven who had un-fused by then and was in enemy gathering task in the first battlefield, heard a yell in the distance “STEEEVEEEEEN!” he recognized Static´s voice instantly and he was not looking forward to that particular talk.
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_- -_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
Site of the barn, at the beginning of the battle: Enter the battle
Leonardo leapt with unnatural agility and skill for a turtle10); landing on the wreckage carefully he and Spiderman went full offensive as not many enemies were blinded by the light; Leo took on a Minotaur that was using a really heavy battle axe, he minded his step and in a wide swing from his opponent he managed to close the distance between themselves and sliced the half bull on both sides of the knees making the enemy cry in pain and fall backwards.
Leo avoided a blast that was aimed at his head; the sound the spell made was a giveaway on its directionality, the ninja major jumped and caught an earth pony mare in the temple as he avoided blast after blast of magic missiles, a cloud of smoke and dirt rising every time the missile hit the ground.
The ninja was doing great as none of the blasts hit him, but he got too carried away for he failed to notice the speeding Buffalo that rammed him from the side making him fly a dozen or so meters away, his ninjaken11) flew away from his grasp.
Once he landed on his feet Leo noticed he was surrounded by 9 enemies a dozen enemies, the other half dozen were busy keeping Tsuna at bay, his flames looked like they were doused; one of the enemies, a unicorn grabbed Leo by the wrist in his magic, another earth pony, a massive grey stallion ran at full speed on a course to hit the turtle.
Out of nowhere one of the swords came to life and sliced the horn that held Leo; the ninja taking this advantage ran up to the stallion who reared in his front legs ready to kick, the enemy launched his whole body weight in that single kick that failed to meet his mark but allowed Leonardo to place a counter kick to the equines crotch… every male around adverted their eyes when they heard one of the testicles pop from the force of the counter, it even made Spiderman to lose his camouflage out of the cringe of such an image.
Far away from the scene, every male in the vicinity of the battlefield felt a cold shudder run down thru their spines and crotch.
Leo jumped on one leg while chanting his disgust; he cleaned his foot on the soil for a few seconds before realizing that Spiderman was back; of course he had noticed that the spider teen was missing, and so did two other enemies now that he had the time to do a quick head count, Spiderman threw the sword back to his owner.
Spider man continued his assault on ground troops by attacking the buffalo; it was jarring to him because the quadruped barely seemed to register his attacks, Spiderman was using almost a third of his strength and that was dangerous for any normal human, what were these creatures made of?
The buffalo head-butted Miles making the boy stagger but just for a second as he increased his strength even more and used his head as well, forcing the buffalo back a few steps; his Spider sense blared and Miles jumped just in time to dodge a gryphon and attach his hand to the wings ripping feathers from the half avian foe.
Tsuna skidded near Spidey heavily bruised, his flames barely alive. “What happened to your flames?”
“I countered a spell with my flames, most of my flame is willpower but it seems that it is still fire, and they doused it” both boys’ dodged sword and lance strikes coming from earth ponies. “How the HELL Are they so good at using swords? They have no fingers at all”
“I climb walls, the one with a gem for a bellybutton is half mineral, and there is a giant freaking turtle leading the assault and THIS is what is bothering you?”
Tsuna dodged the sword and in a blink he threw the offender to the other teenager who used the defenseless stallion as a blunt weapon against his own aggressor. “… I really need to see a psychologist”
It was at that moment where Leo dropped from a leap kick to an enemy´s temple that dazed the earth stallion enough for Spiderman to kick again and knock him for good “Great to know that I´m not the weirdest one here, generally it´s the other way around” the teenage turtle had both swords in hand, one of them appeared to have been melted.
The teenagers carried on the battle until they were completely cornered and their enemies’ numbers was down to five: one unicorn, three earth ponies and one leopard-man that had been keeping them on their toes since the foes had reached the 10 enemy marks.
Out of nowhere an explosion of dirt and grass distracted all of the combatants, in the place of the blast, once the dust settled, stood a huge mass of muscle with two faces. “HEY GUYS!” the not quite human shouted. “We already defeated the other goons; I came here to see if you needed help”
All of the involved in the fight looked at the imposing creature, and it was Leonardo who made the connection. “Steven?!”
“Hahahahaha; not quite…” the rough face began to speak and it became a back and forth. “We are the fusion of two individuals”
“The union of our determinations”
“The amalgam of our willpowers”
“And the synchronization of our resolutions”
Both voices melted and shouted, and the huge man crossed his arms behind his back. “WE ARE TWO PEOPLE! I AM ONE PERSON! I! AM! ALTER-MAN!” Twin plumes of dust rose to the skies from behind the fusion. “AND I´M HERE TO TAKE YOU DOWN!”
Silence… that was the only result of such a display, utter and complete silence that was broken once the fusion spoke again. “Come on guys! That was an awesome intro! It only needed some music”
Finally everyone got out of their reverie and one of the enemies spoke. “I… just”
Leo spoke then. “Take out the leopard guy, he´s a real annoyance!”
Alter Man smiled and in the time it took to say ´YIPEE KAY AY´ the fusion was giving chase to the feline.
Leon leapt and kicked one of the earth ponies who began swinging a war-hammer; Leo took full advantage of his lack of maneuverability and dodged on time, what he didn´t expect was the equine´s weapon to be made of solid steel as he tried to cut through the shaft.
Spiderman took on the other 2 earth mares in a battle of hand to hoof combat; to his surprise they were a lot more flexible than normal horses, their stances changed from two to four legs and the angles in which they attacked reminded him of the late Peter Parker´s style: equal parts measured and wild.
He met each blow with one of his own, being extra careful of not to inflict too much damage on them in a childish effort NOT to harm the ladies that were fighting him; after two good blows to his stomach he began to remember that the battlefield was no place for doubts or high ideals and finally side stepped to the left and crossed both incoming blows with a quick twist of opponents.
When both enemies hit each other Spidey took stance and unleashed a flurry of punches and kicks upon the dazed mares, his strikes were lighting fast, and each met its mark; in the middle of the barrage Spiderman shouted fueled by the bombastic attitude of Alter-Man “MAXIMUM SPIDER!” after nearly 50 precise hits he finished both combatants with a haymaker making the mares fly off several meters across the field and land there unconscious.
“So cool” whispered Alter Man who stopped for a second in his chase of the feline opponent; he immediately took a step back as the enemy tried to slash him and then they continued their game of cat and mouse.
Tsuna had taken the unicorn as opponent measuring his enemy calmly now that he had taken the time to rest his flames a little bit; he kept the fact that they were back at full strength a secret, no need to tell the enemy he was holding back.
The unicorn shot controlled bursts of magic at the flying boy who kept barely dodging them; the unicorn became enraged that it was incredibly difficult to catch the wimpy looking creature.
Tsuna saw his chance when the unicorn began to take in a high amount of energy and with a burst of his flames he appeared before the unicorn surprising him with a kick to the neck that interrupted the spell, a knee to the lower jaw made the equine´s head whip backwards.
Finally Tsuna dashed backwards and then rammed his opponent with a flying double kick to his chest at full speed, not even pausing he kept using the flames in his hands as rocket boosters and dragged the poor sod across the field and right into a plow not far away from them.
It was there that Alter Man had finally caught the Leopard-man and knocked the nimble assassin out for good with a ram of his gigantic magic shield, not one to take chances he rushed and twisted the feline´s ankle just in case it got the bright idea to wake up.
Finally all the heroes gathered at the place that once had been the barn. “Ok I suppose that this is what you meant by fusing Steven”
The fused form began to glow and separated and both boys stood side by side, both of them completely unharmed and their clothes where impeccable.
“Yeah, it seems that I can fuse with humans, my friend Connie and I did so a couple of times in the past”
“Cool” was the general response from the boys around.
“Now I need you to bring the enemies here, we need to tag´em, tie´em and pile´em up for when the authorities arrive, Tsuna go back to where Static is and help him if he needs it. Steven, Midoriya, even though you helped us you had your orders and for that you both are dragging the ones that are farther away from here”
Both boys wanted to retort but they felt it was a punishment well deserved, after a while all the mares and supposed familiars gathered to wait for the guards to make their appearance.
In no time they saw in the distance a large group of flying carriages that would be taking them to their next destination.
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_- -_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
Far away from them, in a location secure enough not to be noticed, the lone Minotaur hid away as he made notes on the powers of each familiar; He knew they were going to fail but he never expected that they would do so in such an spectacular way; he also had a conscience and in good faith he could never let himself be an accessory to foal-napping.
Walking away he decided that news of the powers of each familiar was worth the shame of having retreated from the mission without even participating.
Canterlot Castle; four and a half hours after the end of hostilities at the: “Apple Family Farmstead” near the outskirts of Ponyville.
After what seemed an eternity of questioning1), misunderstanding and short healing and capturing spells all the Mares and the Familiars were on their way; due to the need to protect the mares and the fact that two of the assassins in the group were active members of the Royal Guard2) it was decided that Steven, Midoriya and Spiderman would go with Twilight Sparkle, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie3), the other three were on another flying carriage, it had taken two more hours they had managed to arrive at the garden of the immense castle.
In haste the humans and mares (and Spike at the rear thanks to Steven´s insistence and Spike´s lip licking) were escorted by the group of elite guards to the front door throne room. “What is it sir?” asked Twilight Sparkle.
“We have orders to not move from here ma´am; you may enter, the Princess will be with you shortly” the commander of the elite forces said as he took a vantage position at the front of the massive doors.
The group of would be familiars waited until their protected stepped inside the room so they could enter; the only one that stayed behind was Leonardo who stole a long glance at the guards, checking their expressions, sizing them up and checking for their trustworthiness.
With their expressions unreadable he stepped into the room and closed the doors quickly, he heard locks settle in place and started walking to the group waiting for him with raised eyebrows.
“Sorry, it seems that I was spacing out”
“Yer lying” The mare known as Applejack said to Leo who looked surprised. “I saw that you were checkin´ the guards”
Leo lifted his hands in a defeated fashion. “Alrigh´ you got me; I wanted to size them up a little, see how different they were from the others we fought”
Aj squint her eyes. “You certainly improved, but that ain´t the whole thru”
“A-Applejack; please would just let him be… please?”
Applejack relented at Fluttershy´s petition. “Sure, I guess I can let it drop”
“That is an important thing to learn Honest Applejack” a soft voice said from the throne part of the room. “Knowing not to press some-one for information until they are ready to share it, is by far one of the most important things to remember in any relationship, be it friendship or work relationship”
All the mares bowed to the imposing equine with horn and wings, an alabaster pelt and taller than any of the equines or most of them would be murderers they had defeated; the mares and dragon instantly bowed before the imposing mare before them.
“Princess Celestia” Rarity said as she bowed with the rest and that was the queue for the rest of the ones in the room to bow as well… except for Steven.
“You look so COOL!” the youngest of the group said in awe, his irises turning to the shape of a star. “Your wavy hair looks amazing, how do you manage to do it?”
Everyone raised their heads in haste and saw that Steven was at the heels of Princess Celestia and said princess looking at the boy with an amused expression, her mouth turned wry and finally she laughed, not a mocking laughter mind you it was more a laughter of joy.
She snatched up the child and placed him above her back and smiled at him. “Why thank you young familiar, it´s good to see that I can still be surprised” she looked at her student. “Please rise my student; I must admit that you keep on surpassing my expectations”
The princess looked at the familiars and without asking she transported all the present in the room to her own quarters; finely decorated and with ornate furniture and silk drapes, rugs of a thousand colors and pillows filled with the softest feathers4) in the center table a sphere that pulsed of a cloudy day; once settled upon the room and she scryed the room and applied a shield that acted upon the closed windows and doors overlapping just below the one she had set up before meeting them at the throne room and added a sound dampening spell.
“Now we can talk freely” She said as she sat on the couch covered floor feeling little tugs at her hair coming from the young one sitting in her back. “First of all I feel it is fair to ask for your names”
All the familiars introduced themselves by name and species. “Glad to meet you all; I suppose my student and her friends introduced their own selves already”
“They did” Leonardo said. “Though I have a few questions myself, if you don´t mind that is”
Princes Celestia beckoned him to continue with his inquiry. “As far as I know the girls are under threat of assassination by at the very least 5 other nations if not more in this world” the princess looked at him with a poker face that could earn her the title of world champion. “What did they do to get that big of a prize on their heads?”
The princess didn´t visibly flinch at the question. “Fair enough” he motioned he student to the glass ball at the table and the young mare sat at the table and so did the rest of the attendees. “This sphere has been created to project memories and thoughts of all who touch it; a rare item whose original makers and process have been lost to time, in time each of you shall touch it and we shall see your exploits and abilities just so we can understand you a little better”
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_- -_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
All the young heroes nodded while Steven was dictating how cool it all looked while brushing Princess Celestia´s mane with a brush that Rarity had ´Just in case´ when Twilight touched the sphere with her hoof which created a link to the crystal ball and a hologram enveloped the whole room.
In the projection the heroes saw the dangers (most of them childish) of the mares, their encounters a reality warping abomination, the dethroning of a jealous princess, confronting creatures from myth and fairy tales; once it all ended the princess looked at the expressions of the ones in the room (Steven was awed and that was enough to make her smile, Midoriya and Leonardo were analyzing and making mental notes, Static was mildly impressed and Tsuna was curiously glancing back and forth between the images and the mares and Spiderman who still had his mask on was unreadable)
At the end of the presentation Leonardo spoke. “I can see why you would need a bodyguard detail; I guess that you want them to take advantage of the diversity that summoned creatures bring as opposed as of those coming from this world…”
“If we were to accept this endeavor we might get into real dangers…” Midoriya said carrying on were Leo had left. “I don´t want to be held up here, but I also know my duty as a hero; and that duty is to protect those that need me no matter where they are, if I turn my back on you now, knowing full-well what you are up against… I would never forgive myself; Count me in!”
Spiderman spoke up for the first time. “My predecessor once held himself under an oath, an oath that I wish to uphold if I am to be worthy of this uniform” for the first time in the day he took off his mask revealing a young dark skinned boy beneath the skin tight suit. “With great power comes great responsibility; that is the oath of the original Spiderman and under those words I swear that I will protect you; not only as Spiderman but also as Miles Morales”
“I left my city in good hands, and maybe they think I am dead so… what the heck! I´m in” Static said.
“My brothers are going to try like mad until they rescue me, and I can treat this as an extended training exercise; I will be honored to be your bodyguard” Leo said with a respectful bow.
“I will help too!” Fluttershy visibly flinched. “Tis way we can all be knights!”
“But you are so young!” the butter colored mare said. “Making you do this is unthinkable and out there you almost got killed, you are barely 12 and you almost died” Maternal instincts were overflowing.
“So? I am always getting in fights and saving the world” he saw the indecision in the mare. “I just need touch that thing and it will show my memories right?” he asked the Princess who nodded; he moved to hop down from the princess, before he could the flowing mane of the princess lifted him and deposited above the table where he touched the sphere (not before thanking the princess).
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_- -_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
He reached and held the orb which flicked erratically for a second before working properly and all present saw the exploits of the young boy; in the memories they saw the group of aliens called the Crystal Gems; their exploits and adventures, their lessons and misfortunes; It began with his childhood and when he moved with the Crystal Gems, when he met his girl-friend Connie, when they fused for the first time5), the time Lapis Lazuli created a tower that almost stretched to the stratosphere, when he met Lion for the first time up to the point he began his training in sword-fighting with Connie and Pearl; once it all ended all present were left in awe and amazement.
Fluttershy6) sat looking at the boy in a new way; Midoriya had something to say to the boy. “No wonder when we fused it didn´t even hurt to use ´One For All´ you are crazy strong, even for a child”
“Thank you” said Steven.
“I saw that you´ve never been to school” the boy nodded. “I can teach you a few things, I mean no one should go about without education; besides you also have magic and you will need to learn how to use it”
“Wait… are you saying?”
“Would you like to be my familiar?”
Steven almost bounced on the roof from the excitement. “YYYYYEEEEEESSS!” when he landed he began to chant ´YESYESYESYES´ while running around the lavender mare.
Mares and teens laughed at the display.
“Now!” Twilight said raising her voice and getting serious. “My spell was used only for summoning; it was supposed to allow us to understand those summoned and ask them to be our familiars and in case they didn´t wanted or they were too violent a return trip home was available… but that was only possible when the crystal was complete; now that is broken I will have to wait for a replacement and that could take months to create, in the meantime we can carry on with the ceremony”
“The other part of the familiar ceremony was to create a link with you; this link will allow each of us to summon you when we need your help and to boost your abilities in case you need it”
“Wait” said Spiderman. “Boost our abilities! How?”
“I don´t know… you see I found a bonding spell in the forbidden archives of the Canterlot library and the description in the scroll explained next to nothing about said boosting so it would have to be trial and error for the time being” she took a deep breath. “Now Steven, please step before me” Steven did so. “Now you must choose where I should place my hoof on; the place I place my hoof will create a mark of our bonding; so…. Where do you want it?”
Steven placed a hand under his chin and stuck out his tongue, after a while he lifted his eyes to the mare and took off his shirt and placed a finger above his gem. “This is my mom´s quartz” Rarity frowned a little. “I want it to be the symbol of our bonding just as it was the symbol of her rebellion”
Twilight nodded and placed her hoof above the gem and started to chant.
Contract of ultimate protection. Hear of my affliction. Drive away fear and harm. And make of him my protective charm.
Magic of crimson color enveloped the two individuals and unseen wind began to swirl around the room.
BY THIS COVENANT´S INCANTATION! THAT STEVEN HAS ACCEPTED! IF MY ENEMIES LOOK FOR A CONFRONTATION! LET THEIR INTENTIONS BE REJECTED!
The wind and magic picked both boy and mare as a rune appeared around the boy´s gem depicting the symbol at the mare´s flank and likewise did an image of the boy´s gem appeared at the mare´s shoulder and both Steven and Twilight started to chant
AS WE TAKE CARE OF EACH OTHERS SECURITY! WE WILL PROTECT THOSE WHO WE LOVE! WE SHALL RISE FROM THIS TERRIBLE OBSCURITY! AND PRAY FOR YOUR SOULS, TO THE STARS ABOVE!
The magic and wind gathered around the two tightly and an explosion of light sealed the union of both mare and familiar that gently lowered them to the ground.
“In light of this recent development let us make a rule of not do any more bonding before we see the rest of their exploits” Said princess Celestia with a fluffed mane because of the wind and motioned to Steven so he could brush her mane once again.
“Then if you don´t mind” Midoriya said lifting himself and holding the crystal ball with his hand.
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_- -_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
In a flash they all saw: A world once devoid of anything beyond normal abilities, that in the blink of an eye ended up gaining people which powers rivaled those of comic book heroes; They saw as only a small fraction of that population was left out of such a gift, Young Izuku was one of those children, with a promise to his mother he would strive to become a hero no matter what. Then after a faithful encounter with his favorite hero ´All-Might´ he gained an ability never heard of; an inherited superpower, and the secret that such a power conveyed.
The acceptance into the academy, his first fight against a supervillain team showed his limitations as a superhero, the sports festival allowed everyone to see his prowess as an analyst of dangerous situations and leadership potential.
The secret of the ´One for All´ lay bare to the spectators in the room, how it had become a danger and at the same time it was a legacy that he carried and that drove him even further to achieve his goal: to become the hero he promised his mother he would become.
Once he finished Static and Spiderman mentioned how oddly similar yet different his world was with theirs.
After a snack break (filled to the brim with cake) Leonardo was then looked upon by the rest. “You know” Miles said. “I am curious as to your backstory, you being a turtle and all” a chorus of yeah and you are right forced the mutant teenager to reach for the sphere reluctantly.
The crystal ball flickered once again but this time it affected the teenager in a way that was not intended; the images shown where not of the turtle… or so it seemed at the beginning.
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_- -_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
In the memories they encountered a man devoted to the training of deadly assassins from a clan that called itself ´The Foot´7) ruthless murderers and skilled at stealth, the man despised every waking moment he spent training them and so he made a bow to train his 4 sons to follow a path of righteousness and honor, where their abilities could be used to change the world for good and not evil. It was that bow that led to the murdering of his wife and forced the man to take his four sons to the wilderness.
They saw how the four were trained in different weaponry, the oldest son taking twin swords as his main weapon of choice; it felt as if they would be able to live life as their father intended… Destiny had the last laugh; the father and his children were discovered in due time by the infamous Foot clan.
The image shifted to a first person perspective of the eldest son in a flicker; even when the images were gruesome, the mares and teenagers never took their eyes off of what happened next.
The eldest son looked upon his brothers and father as they were forced to their knees, ninja executioners with raised swords above their heads; the father begged and the youngest child cried, the eldest kept his tears back; the leader of the group of ninjas, a man covered in armor that made him look like a demon motioned the executioners to kill the boys; the eldest saw as the heads of each of his brothers fell in succession leaving him for the end, making his father ´Hamato Yoshi´ suffer the agony of having to see his children dying; The oldest son began to tear up as the blade came down upon him and darkness enveloped his vision.
That darkness lasted seconds but it had felt as if hours had passed for the ones watching the memories; in a blink the memories began once more but this time gone were the four human children and in their stead crawled 4 newborn turtles.
Princess Celestia and Tsuna spoke at the same time tears streaking down their eyes. “Rebirth” the word broke the concentration of all of the gathered that now saw the turtle in a new light.
The turtles always were next to an old rat in a laboratory that had the name of ´StockGen´ one faithful day they were taken by a couple of ninjas that attempted to steal them and kill a teenage girl by the name of April; they were dropped into the sewers of the city of New York alongside a mutagen substance that mixed with the sewer water. The scene cut to more than a year later and they saw as the rat and the sea turtles had developed into humanoids, the rat seemed to be the most changed of them, wise and patient he trained the four brothers in the ancient art of the ´ninjutsu´
They saw as how the brothers fought against other mutant animals and robotic enemies; the new and improved ´Foot Clan´ and what seemed to be the rebirth of their ancient leader ´The Shredder´; April O´Neal and Casey Jones forming a bond of friendship with all the turtles, their injuries and ultimately the defeat of the Shredder at the hands of Leonardo and his brothers; the discovery of an ancient underground temple and the fight against an interdimensional ninja that Leonardo ended up defeating.
The light faded and the room grew silent; Leonardo fell to his knees, his mouth agape and his eyes filled with tears; he whispered two words, those words conveyed the pain and sense of betrayal he felt as the memories of a past life filled his mind. “He knew”; in a heartbeat all the mares and the young Steven enveloped him in a bone-crushing hug, eyes red and swollen from their crying.
The other boys in the room had to recover as well; once everything settled down once more Leonardo thanked them all, and asked for someone else to take the stand. Spiderman took off his gloves and held the sphere.
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_- -_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
In the memories they saw a young boy; obedient, easy going, kind hearted a good friend and naïve for he was barely an adolescent. It showed how he tried to look for the good in his criminal uncle and they saw a world filled with heroes that helped those around them.
In one visit to his uncle´s place Miles was bitten by a spider that had been altered genetically. Soon enough Miles discovered that he had developed strange abilities; the abilities of the ´Friendly Neighborhood Spiderman´ he could crawl walls, was super strong, and had a sixth sense for danger; at the same time he also developed different abilities, near invisible camouflage, a poison sting, and sometimes a future sight.
None of his abilities came with a sense of responsibility and he had heard of his father´s distaste for mutant and superhero figures; Miles hid his abilities until the original Spiderman died in battle, images of his death flashed before their eyes. In the wake of his new identity he fought against some of the original Spiderman´s not so… competent villains, due to Miles inexperience they were hard to beat.
In the rising of his career as a hero he was kidnaped by one of the many Spider themed superheroes and he met the leader of S.H.I.E.L.D.8) ´Nick Fury´; when the electric supervillain Électro´ woke from a coma Miles was the one to put him down with his venom strike and it was that moment that he was deemed worthy of using the name of Spiderman in Nick Fury´s eyes and so he send the once lover of Peter Parker ´Gwen Stacy´ to give Miles his new uniform.
Finally came the time his uncle showed his true colors and fought and threatened to expose him, in the middle of the battle one of the items his uncle was wearing ended up malfunctioning thanks to Miles´s venom strike; this ended up mortally wounding the older man. Time passed and the superhero work became harder and then, out of nowhere he met what seemed like an impostor of the original Spiderman: to everyone´s surprise it was a Spiderman, just not the one from his dimension. After helping defeat the villain known as Mysterio.
Once it ended the mares and the half alien boy crashed over him with teary eyes and promises that what had happened had been just an accident; Miles felt no need to correct them… He accepted their signs of affection.
“Static” said the ruler to the dark skinned teenager in blue cloak. “Mind sharing your story with us?”
“Ok princess, no problem” Static said as he rose to touch the sphere and the memories played flawlessly.
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In the memories they met young Virgil9), An all-around good boy, excellent student and good son, losing his mom at the age of nine he strived to be a good person, rejecting the idea of violence on the forms of bullying or gangs.
He was getting by his high school life without trouble until a couple of gang members helped get two bullies away from him, the price of such an action was at first a curse that became a blessing for he was forced to participate in a gang fight that was stopped quickly, in his haste he was caught in a cloud of mutating chemicals that granted him the power of electricity.
That cloud also gave several of the gang members and nearby teenagers powers as well, unlike Virgil however they started using his powers for their own purposes; Virgil unable to cope with all that evil created his own costume and started fighting the newly dubbed ´Children of the Bang´, in his adventures he fought alongside the greatest heroes of his world, saved several lives and became a beloved hero of his town.
After his memories of how he had arrived he was cheered upon a little and they finally had to look at the last boy in their roster; with no other choice he leaned over, and touched the stone.
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Sawada Tsunayoshi; only child of a father that spends most of his time away from the country and ad overbearing and rude mother, his daily life was met with insults and a really bad school life; bad grades and almost no real interactions between him and his fellow students made life pretty much miserable… that is for the one person that made everything bearable; Kyoko Sasagawa, his crush.
His life took a turn for the worst when a strange baby garbed in a neat Italian suit appeared at his household claiming to be a personal teacher, said teacher was unlike any other for he was there to educate him in the ways of the Mafia as he was the next in line to inherit the title of head of the most notorious family of the mafia in the world… The Vongola.
Trials awaited, and with the trials came friends and enemies alike; Gokudera, Yamamoto and Kyoko´s own brother, Ryohei came to his side as allies against the immortal Rokudo Mukuro and his gang of powerful characters; the times he spent training and meeting other strange babies known as the ´Arco Baleno´
Then came the news he had never expected to hear; the reason he became the next in line for the Vongola, his own grandfather was the ninth leader of the mafia family, so did his father, a fact that shocked as much as gave him great discomfort.
Not having another option he was trained to endure his ´Hyper Dying Will´ mode and the next battles proved to be the most difficult thing he had ever faced, friends suffered, children were hospitalized but in the end he persevered, the Vongola had their new successor… even when Tsuna wanted nothing to do with the mafia.
It finished in a flash of light and the room stayed silent, Princess Celestia had her head racing a thousand kilometers per hour just as she had learned to do through the tens of thousands of years she had lived and ruled.
The princess drew a deep breath. “I feel that we need to discuss some things before moving further into matters, so… who wants to have dinner?”
The other teenagers had to admit their own hunger but none of them spoke at the moment… except for Steven who had to tell Tsuna how cool he was with the childish mannerism that had the room laughing and relaxing in an instant.
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After a few awkward moments on what do the humans normally eat, dinner was well under way. “With increasing rise of Mafia families trying to gain power and territories in Manehattan I would like it if you could hold that information back; no need to let them gain any more momentum” the Princess said to the wild haired boy.
“No problem your majesty; I am not really pleased with that either I would like it if I were to never hear from the mafia ever again”
“I don´t know; looks perfectly fine with me” Miles said. “I mean; in my world they are really a bunch of criminals, your family at the very least look like they could become superheroes”
“I don´t want that either. What would happen when people start attacking my mom? Worst is that I have no way of hiding my identity like you and Static… *sigh* I wish none of those other guys had died before me”
“Not like you have a choice now; I mean look at me and the other ´children of the bang´ we came to have powers and so long as I can, I will keep on fighting for what is right”
Rarity changed the subject. “Well dears I do hope that you are free tomorrow, I would like to take some measurements” The humans (and turtle) looked at the marshmallow white mare. “I think it is certain that you all need clothes, not only your superhero suits” all but the turtle agreed to her reasoning. “In your memories I saw that you need many kinds of clothes and some sort of undergarments and it would not only be an honor but a challenge to create those clothes if you will allow me”
All the humans agreed wholeheartedly at the prospect of fresh underwear. “Ohohohoho! Thank you my dears I need to start designing so many outfits; bathing suits, ball suits, your superhero costumes! Oh my goodness; I MUST MAKE A REDESIGN! I can only imagine them…” she took pencil and paper and started drawing several sketches for each boy. “And your memories just gave me even more ideas; do not worry for I will stay true to your original designs”
The white mare unnerved the humans a little until Princess Celestia came to the rescue. “While generous Rarity might not be professionally prepared to create battle attires I know of somepony that is more suited to the task, I will see if she can instruct miss Rarity so both can implement an armor that can work well with your abilities; If that is okay with you”
It was an unspoken agreement as the teenagers fingered or looked at their thorn clothes or smelling the sweat that impregnated it. “Deal” all of them said.
Conversation kept going with the superheroes talking about their respective villains and encounters for a while when Twilight remembered that since the boys were a new species to Equestria they had to apply for citizenship, the princess declared that she would take care of that part as long as they were kind enough to fill in (Twilight filled Steven´s) a few forms she had conveniently lying around.
“Now that is taken care of” Princess Celestia said. “The next few weeks I would like for you to get checked by our medics and to place you under specialized training by some of my most thrusted soldiers so you know what to expect in the near future; now without further ado… let´s continue with the familiar ceremony”
“Midoriya” Applejack said. “I know somepony that might be able to help you with yer power problem, and farm work is a lot of exercise which shall be good for you all in case ya need training” With no real options Midoriya accepted the proposal.
Appraising all the boys in the room Rarity locked eyes with Tsuna. “Then I will take young Sawada under my roof”
Surprised at Rarity´s directness he had to ask. “Why?”
“Because you simply look outstanding in a suit and I realized that you desperately need to learn the proper way to woo a lady; believe me darling if you want to impress that girl Kyoko you must lern to present yourself” she said with a wry smile that left Sawada gulping a knot that wasn´t in his throat before.
“I will take Rainbow Dash then” Leonardo said taking the rest by surprise.
“Sorry but why would I; Rainbow Dash; Arguably the fastest, coolest and bravest” ‘Most modest’ said Twilight under her breath. “Pegasus in the entirety of Versel, consider you as a partner when Static Here! Is the one with thunder powers?”
“Because!” Leo answered. “You are reckless, hot headed and basically a knuckle head that needs to have serious training, I will not let anyone else have fail in the task on protecting you; you need a lot of patience and control or else you will die! End of discussion”
Rainbow immediately tried to hit him but the mutant turtle moved with reflexes of a true warrior and had her pinned down to the floor in a blink. “Once again, only for you; I will train you, do you understand?”
Reluctantly; more so than ever in her life, Rainbow Dash closed her eyes and with disgust flowing in her voice said. “I understand” the room fell silent as the mare was released from the grip and walked back to her seat.
As she plopped down on her seat Miles jumped and latched to the ceiling spinning to see where his seat was. “You are too slow!” the magenta mare known as Pinkie Pie was there pointing at him with her hoof, everyone in the room looked and raised their eyebrows.
Spiderman used his hand to see what was happening and felt something, he removed the something and saw that it was a sticker that had somehow the mare had placed in his back while barely alerting him of her presence. “It seems that you lose focus quite quickly, worry not Spidey matey, I will correct that”
It seemed that only Fluttershy was left with Virgil as a partner. “I suppose we can carry on with the ceremonies” Steven climbed on her back and tied her hair in a bundle quickly before the mares started to do their chanting.
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Once the ceremony had finished the mares and familiars took to the rooms they would share (‘Better get used to it from now’ the Princess had said.
Once inside Twilight told Steven to go to the shower and start running the water. “If you need anything you can call me and I will be there to help you”
Steven nodded and stepped into the bathroom, as soon as he was out of sight Spike spoke to the mare. “Twilight Sparkle!”
The mare shuddered as she knew that the use of her full name only meant that the young dragon was going to start talking seriously. “Yes Spike?”
“Don’t think that I didn’t notice the paperwork you filled before; why are you all using adoption papers for the boys? You all are barely 20 years old”
“Since the laws of underage protection services anyone below the age of 18 can be considered for adoption no matter nationality and (weirdly enough) extra-dimensional beings, extent of any law and with protection to their identities because of said laws”
Spike was having none of it. “And the truth is?”
Twilight flinched at the accusation, Spike was getting dangerously receptive. “During the letter you wrote at the farm I saw Steven and I had an epiphany; I wanted to try and raise a child… I know that Steven IS older than I would have liked but it seems like a good idea at the time”
He was still suspicious. “Besides, the Princess and I have been in discussion about doing this kind of experiment; you know how strict the laws are about single mothers, let alone homosexual ones”
“You and Pinkie”
“This way we get to prove that single mares or otherwise with an income can be allowed to adopt an infant, even those that are of different species” the mare said as she looked at the baby dragon. “Besides, wouldn’t you like to have a younger brother?” Spike perked at that. “Someone to teach about the goings and comings of life or the best places to eat a donut, or how to survive a Cutie Mark Crusaders Mining Expedition”
“UGH! Don’t remind me of that one again”
“Point is: Would you be willing to help me educate Steven while I device a way to get him back home?”
“Wait; you are not going to keep them?”
“That would be unfair Spike, I never intended for the familiars to be so young or for this to be a permanent summoning and I would rather have them home as soon as possible… Hey I don’t hear the water running.”
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Steven had entered the bathroom and disrobed before noticing the conversation coming from the other room, he listened with interest and mist formed in his eyes as the conversation went on, once he felt Twilight coming and climbed inside the tub and looked for something to have as an excuse and found it in the shampoo and soap bottles.
Twilight stepped inside the bath. “Having problem Steven?”
“Y-yeah! I don’t know what to use for my hair, would you help me out?”
“Of course Steven! Here let me see”
The bath wasn’t long with Twilight helping Steven and in less than 30 minutes they were already in their respective beds. “Good night Spike! Good night Steven!” the mare said as she turned off the lights.
“Night Twi!” said the young dragon.
“Good night…” Steven said and added in a hushed voice that only he could hear. “Mom”
Interlude 1: Short Time for Desperation and Sadness. (S.T.D.S.)
Interlude 1: Short Time for Desperation and Sadness. (S.T.D.S.)
Static’s Universe (Dakota Verse)
Diana of Themyscira: An unshakable warrior, a cheerful woman, a caring person and a brilliant warrior, princess of the amazons now stood at the Dakota city docks near the man known as Batman; she had fallen for the normally stoic and serious man; now he was a mess as he waited for their allies to complete an area scan where hours prior a teenage hero had died.
´Fool´ she scolded herself. ´Bruce needs me and thinking like this won’t help him’ decisively she spoke to the black garbed man. “What are you going to do Bruce?”
The man was startled by the sudden question and even behind his mask she managed to see resignation and pain. “Static… Virgil asked me to tell others to keep on with his legacy, I will call Robin and the Titans to train them and help them for the time being *sigh* then I have to tell his father and sister”
“If you want me to, I could go with you”
The man smiled at the goddess’s kindness. “It would help” he grabbed her hand and squeezed it for reassurance; they both met eyes and leaned forward for a kiss….
*BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP* the sound that came from one of the machines startled them, forcing them to jump aside. “Batman!” Shouted the Martian Man hunter to the hero. “I picked up something”
With a sliver of hope that he had clung to; Batman wished to at least recover the body of the youth. “It seems that the boom tube didn’t open a portal to the sun”
“Where?” he asked, hiding away his feelings.
“I can’t be sure… but unless the sun has developed magical energies then we will never be sure; but just to be safe I will get in contact with Dr. Fate and see what we can find” Batman thanked him and began to work as well, taking Diana with him.
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An hour passed and both heroes now stood inside the Hawkins household (Thanks to a teleportation spell granted by Zatanna) that more than startled the inhabitants of the house: Mr. Robert Hawkins and Sharon Hawkins, the closest family members of Static Shock.
After calming the two; Batman chose to speak carefully. “Mister Hawkins; *sigh* I am here to talk about your son, Virgil”
Mister Hawkins flinched at how the man had given the name so freely. “What about him” Asked the worried father.
“Do you know where he is?”
The father gulped loudly. “This morning I went to his room to wake him up but he was gone; I am ashamed to say I don’t know” his daughter grabbed his shoulder, he didn’t know if to support him or herself at what seemed to be the inevitable explanation. “Did he… do something?”
Before anyone could talk a knock came from the door and Shannon went to open it; outside her doorstep she saw Virgil’s best friend Richie Foley, Maureen Connor and her boyfriend Adam Evans all were present at her doorstep.
Before she could even utter a word, Wonder Woman appeared and instructed the teenagers to enter the house; once inside they all took seats and though surprised at the appearance of two members of the Justice League in the living room they held off the questions.
“What I am about to disclose…” Batman started to say. “Is information that; if it fell in the wrong hands, would result in a great number of innocent people getting hurt; I thrust you to keep this secret to yourselves…?”
And he narrated (to the surprise and displeasure of some of the people in the room) of the secret identity of the once straight A student; his bravery and the times were Batman had required his aid; it all led to the night before, how one of the greatest villain masterminds had used alien technology to activate a portal that would speak doom to the city and the sacrifice the young hero made. When he finished no one but the members of the justice league were in a state if distraught and shock.
In between the tears and sense of hopelessness, Mister Hawkins managed to utter a question. “Is my son dead?”
Batman was prepared for that question. “If you had asked me that question an hour ago I would have said yes; but it seems that a change in development has me thinking that your son could still be alive, and I would like to hold on to that thought”
A big weight was lifted from the older man’s chest. “I hope so…”
At that moment the princess of the amazon placed her hand above her ear. “Yes? *uhum* I understand, yes bring us there”
Before anyone could ask what was going on a disc made out of light appeared at their feet, the magical forces expanded and enveloped the people in the room; the next thing they saw was that their location had changed dramatically from a middle class house to that of a grand library that lead and ended nowhere and at the same time everywhere, staircases that twisted and seemed to melt, walkways that stretched for miles or ended a few feet away; it was madness.
And in the center of that madness walked the man known as Dr. Fate; the man used a golden mask and a cape that flowed with unseen energies. “Greetings my friends… and guests; I am truly sorry for the urgency but I supposed you would want to hear my conclusions”
The sorcerer walked through a pathway leading the rest of the people in his fortress. “Please don’t fall back; I don’t want to spend the next two days finding out where you have wandered off” the teenaged meta-humans and the older man ran to catch up to the heroes that were already leaving the room.
“When John said that the boom tube had remains of magical energies I didn’t doubt him; I had felt a strange twist in the fabric of reality and it came from a magical source, similar to the one I felt in Dakota city”
“Any idea what it was?” asked Wonder Woman.
“Not sure; I have been trying to locate it again but it seemed to have retrieved itself… whatever it was I am sure that it interfered with the portal that the boom tube opened, whoever it was that opened it must have young Static Shock of that I am sure”
“Then, my brother is alive!” young Sharon yelled with excitement.
“Of that I am sure… but many questions remain”
“Where does it lead, for starters?”
“You are correct Batman, but more intriguingly than where does it go is; who created it?” the man said as they reached a room with a circular gate at one end. “This is a door that can lead everywhere, my predecessors often used it to go to other realms instead of using their own energies; handy when you need a pizza from Central Park right before the Super bowl”
“Luigi’s Pizzeria?”
“As if you need to guess”
“Besides misusing ancient equipment, what is your plan?”
“The plan is to use the portal to scan the energies and see if we can pinpoint the signal’s origin; after that… we’ll eventually get to that”
“Us?” asked Princess Diana.
“I can’t be here all day long, I need food, and rest; comparing the remnants of the signal with each and every plane of existence and every planet is going to take months, scratch that, years to compare them if it was only me”
A second set of steps came from the hallway. “That is why I called for him”
A human like figure seemingly made out of gold stepped into the room. “Batman, Wonder Woman, Gear, Permafrost, Rubber Band, Mister and Miss Hawkins” the android greeted.
“Ladies and Gentlemen: I present you A.M.A.Z.O.”
“Thank you Dr. Fate” the android said being completely polite. “I analyzed the energy remnants and I can assure you that this kind of energy and spell weaving is nothing like I have seen in this reality. I will try and keep my senses open; if the magic energies appear once more then I will make sure to follow it to its origin”
Finally Virgil’s father spoke. “Please sir, I beg you; bring my son back”
A.M.A.Z.O. looked at the distraught parent with no expression and then he seemed to stand straighter. “Worry not, I will find him”
The three heroes took a step back and decided to carry on with their little tour. “I am surprised he agreed to do this” said Batman to the mystical man
“I told him that it was a challenge, and I was able to convince him” he opened a door that was a few staircases below the portal room. “And here is the other room you asked for”
Once inside Batman talked to the teenagers in the group. “Since Static will be out of the picture for now I have arranged for you all to be trained by the best team of teens this side of the world; the Teen Titans will be lending you help to work as a team and to protect the city, while I go off to chase Rah’s Al Ghul before he can implement his plan” after calming the teens and asserting his authority he crafted a plan to cover up Virgil’s absence. With all plans laid bare, the young heroes waiting to be trained and the search well under way… all that was left to do was wait.
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Tsuna’s Universe (Mafia Verse)
Verde was hard at work overlooking his computer for several signs and figures that his scanners had gotten; in a matter of hours the Ninth Vongola and every other important figure of the Mafia would appear and he needed to have all facts and explanations for this transgression. “Why did I force him to do this?”
It was then that his main computer beeped and showed him the last analysis made at the moment of the Tenth’s disappearance; they had to be wrong, those calculations had to be wrong, it was a mathematical impossibility… but at the same time they made so much sense, he just hoped Reborn would be able to understand.
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The members of the world regarded organization known as the Vongola stood before the Arco-baleno of Rain and Thunder. “Tell me Verde” The Ninth said with the utmost patience a distraught grandparent could muster. “Why shouldn’t we” he signaled to the men and women in the room “end your live right this instant? When you have clearly ended the life of my beloved grandson”
“Because his life hasn’t been ended in any fashion Ninth” Verde said with utmost calm and certainty with that insufferable cheeky all-knowing smile only he could pull off.
“Explain yourself!”
A screen appeared behind the baby filled to the brim with advanced mathemathics. “For the few of you that understand this figures, the implications of an equation seen here would most likely contradict all of your years of knowledge; for those not in the know let me tell you what this is: the equation here presented is that of a teleportation, not a simple transportation mind you, Inter-dimensional transportation!”
The few scientist and math doctorates in the room began to correlate the data and a few of them began to speak in loud enough voices how those calculations had to be wrong; but they weren’t.
“If you so gracefully allow me; I will gather the top scientists and researchers in the field of theoretical teleportation, and in a period of two years, I will give you results”
“Six months; and if you fail to yield any results then, be sure that I will personally carry out your execution” said the Ninth with the utmost seriousness, that was what Verde was counting on, time necessary to either bring back the boy or device a plan to escape. “You better not disappoint me”
And with that Verde started to work.
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Steven’s Universe (Gem Verse)
Mister Universe was having an awful day; first his son was involved in a magic accident, after it he had taken over on comforting young Connie Maheswaran over the loss while the gems started to fight between themselves, finally before it had devolved into more he finally put a stop to their bickering and pointed out that if they couldn’t find a way to get the portal working again then none of them would see Steven again; that had sufficed.
Now after dropping the inconsolable little girl at her home he had managed to add explain what he called ‘the whole gem thing’ to her parents; he gladly told the family about his time as a musician, how he and rose fell for each other, the video Rose Quartz had created for Steven (Glad that Steven had given him a copy) , the music video he made with rose, how he had tried fusion and failed and ultimately he told the parents of the girl why she was inconsolable (he was glad he had taken video of the fusion and the portal)
“So… let me get this straight” said Mr. Maheswaran. “That is the fusion of both your son and my daughter?” he said pointing at the screen where the recording of the past few hours played leading to the part where Steven separated forcefully from Connie leaving a screaming and crying little girl. “I will have to talk to Connie after this; I can’t believe she would hide so many things from us”
“Just like my Steven, she probably said nothing so you wouldn’t worry; Just like my Steven would… I really should have done more to stop Steven from messing with that magic stuff; but he is a gem, I always knew he would get into dangerous situations but now…” Greg Universe broke down in his seat into a mass of tears. “He is gone… gone and the only thing that I can do is wait here and hope for the best. What would Rose say if she were here? What if he is captured or worse?” the balding man fell to his knees clutching his eyes to stop the tears from escaping to no avail.
The Maheswarans tried calming him the best they could; while upset about many of the things said that past hour they at the very least understood as parents what it would feel like to lose your own child. “Worry not Greg” Officer Maheswaran said. “He will come back”
At that very moment Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl entered the homestead breaking down the door. “Greg!” yelled the lean one. “Do you have the recording here?”
Not taking into consideration the fact that it would have to be him who had to pay for the door he pointed at the T.V. in the room. “What is it?”
“Play it, please” Garnet said a little bit more composed than her partner.
In no time the video was rewound, a disheveled Connie and a sad Lion accompanied the group seemingly taking solace in one another; the video played and the parents turned to see their daughter with a frowning expression that lessened as they saw the state their daughter laid, finally the moment of the accident was displayed to the watchers…
Amethyst clutched her ears as the young boy was absorbed into the ether and nothing was left of him. “I knew it” the short gem said. “There was a horrible sound that came at the same time that stupid portal opened”
“What does that mean?” Asked Connie worried to no end by the loss of Steven.
“Many things Connie…” Garnet said. “But now we have something to begin the search for Steven”
Connie hugged the fused gem and thanked her for giving her hope; her father and mother smiled at her exuberance and understood that their daughter would be impossible to separate from this quest… they hoped to be able to give their daughter all the support she needed.
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Spiderman’s Universe (Ultimate Verse) 1)
“Give me more details about that portal; get me all the recordings my suit gave and the ones you have in your cameras” The inside of Stark tower was pure Chaos as Tony Stark had begun his research on the inter-dimensional device that had taken young Miles Morales away from their dimension. “Bring me Dr. Curt Connors, Sue Storm, T’challa, Reed Richards, Bruce Banner… ANYONE WITH EXPERIENCE IN INTER-DIMENSIONAL TRANSPORTATION, NOW!”
None could believe the state he was in, angered, focused, generally frustrated and they all knew why that was so and the only thing they could do was obey. “I can give you Sue Storm” said the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. Nick Fury to the man. “I can’t answer for the rest; maybe Banner but you know his expertise is not on this field of science”
“No but he can help me check some energy readings that I caught in the scanners; did you created a way to excuse Miles disappearance?”
“I told their parents that he was unfortunately taken by a supervillain when walking by, how the man known as Mysterio shoved him into a portal right before we caught him and how he is failing to cooperate; they took it hard but when they knew you were working your hardest to bring him back they gave me their eternal gratitude”
“Don’t take it, I need to find him first; bring here as many energy drinks and coffee you can consume without it giving you a heart attack! We will be here all year if necessary!”
Nicholas Fury stepped outside the room as to let the nerds work in their research, he understood nothing of it but he was sure Tony would be able to get some results; stepping outside he wondered how long it would take them to get results.
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_- -_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
Leonardo’s universe (TMNT Verse)
Walking through the alleyways of Manhattan was dangerous especially with the cover of the night; not for the four mutated animals that traversed it with the greatest haste, not caring if any living being saw them. “MASTER SPLINTER!” yelled the technical wiz named Donatello. “Where are you leading us?”
The father of the mutated turtles following him barely heard the question directed at him. “To see someone that can help us find your brother; now hurry, I don’t want to hear any more questions!”
The three turtles acknowledged their father’s words, they were in a hurry; with their brother gone to who knows what realm of existence or planet in the universe, and the room he had disappeared into working no more, there was no other choice but to ask for help... and it seemed that it was their father the only one who knew who to call.
Finally their master led them to a dead end in the middle of the city; once in front of the wall that abruptly ended the passage the master drew a few calming breaths; he took a piece of chalk from his robes and drew an strange symbol on the brick wall, once done with that he spilled some water to the floor and began chanting a mysterious tune, no more than a few seconds later the water rose and gathered above the symbols drawn on the wall, energy mixed with the liquid and finally a doorway the color of the aurora boreal opened for the mutants. “Quick, my sons!”
The mutants entered the portal and soon they found themselves in a grand city that was alien and familiar alike, with structures that resembled feudal Japan, but the few inhabitants that lived there all were from different makes, aliens and animals, machines and what appeared to be humans.
Wasting no time the four presented themselves to the Daimyo and begged for his help; since Splinter had been 2 times a former champion and an old friend it was not out of the question. “We will have to investigate the place where he vanished from; in the meantime we shall keep one of our judges with you as a means of communication”
Once back to their lair, the turtles began petering their master with questions about the place they had been and he gladly though reluctantly gave them the tale of the Battle Nexus.
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_- -_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
Midoriya’s Universe (Quirk Verse)
A distressed mother and a disheveled girl hung to each other’s arms looking for comfort while the authorities and heroes alike took their declaration. “I suppose this is all the police can do now, I will be coordinating the search for the boy from the office and I shall put up the word with other agencies across the world in case he was transported far away… if he is found I will make sure to contact you at Yuuei”
“I hope your research brings results; we don’t have the means to track the portal with the heroes we have, and since Black Mist disappeared we have no other choice but to look for his base of operations”
With that both officer and the hero named ‘All Might’ parted ways… “I hope you are safe Midoriya my boy… else I will be forced to take another apprentice and that is not an option now” he looked at the evening sky and traveled back to his home, hoping a few days rest would allow him to gain back some strength.
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Planet Versel. (Main Verse)
In the dead of night two princesses enjoyed the night sky. “It seems that the familiars are either more powerful or skilled than otherwise expected sister” said the taller alabaster princess.
“This we shalt see mine sister; we plan on meet them in a month’s time at the celebration thou nameth Nightmare Night” the younger said. “I thou could excuseth we, my form is still weeks into recovering itself” with that the younger disappeared into the shadows.
The eldest released a sigh at her sister’s sudden disappearance, she stayed for a few moments until she felt a presence above her; looking up she saw the Turtle familiar sneaking up in the shadows of her tower. “Impressive Leonardo, I could count with my hooves the amount of times someone has sneaked so closely to me and still have enough to count more”
From the shadows the familiar dropped and bowed. “I shall take that as a compliment” the princess motioned him to rise. “I apologize for eavesdropping; I needed to check the layout of the outside of the castle”
“Drop all pretenses with me please; you were checking defenses and possible threats, just like with my Elite Guard” she said in a non-nonsense tone. “That attitude needs to change soon; building thrust will be a must if you all are to work at your best”
“That I don’t doubt, but thrust must be built, not given freely”
“Young Steven would say otherwise” the ruler of the Sun said cracking a sincere smile.
Leonardo countered with a shrug and an amused chuckle. “That I don’t doubt; but he is still a child, I don’t think he is capable of mistrusting; which leaves me to another point, how will the public react to your student bringing 6 off world, underage creatures to your midst? Surely you have a contingency plan for that”
The smile faltered on Celestia’s face. “I suppose letting you know now won’t make much of a difference; you won’t be shown to the public, it is illegal to do so with your applications now in my possession and put into the system”
“What system?”
The princess drew a breath and told him of the plan her student and she had started, free to do so because she had cut off the sound from any unwanted listeners. “I hope that is not much of a problem Leonardo”
He whistled. “You sure know how to cover your bases”
“The fact that you all are underage helped, though I had hoped for older creatures to aid the ‘Elements’ after you showing me your skills I can rest a little better; they truly are in good hooves… or hands if you will”
Leonardo smiled and then jumped from the rail to the roof above. “I will be teaching Miles, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie and Tsuna how to fight barehanded… but if you could show me a good blacksmith, I would like to give directions on how to create the weapons we might be using in the future”
“You already know what to give them?”
“Looking at their skills I realized what would best suit them; Steven doesn’t need one, obviously, but my swords will need replacing”
“I will bring the best there is, worry not young Leonardo”
“By your leave” with that he blended into the shadows once again; something that amazed the princess because of his odd coloring and his belts being the color of the sky. “You know that he sensed you as soon as you approached? Silent Edge?”
From below the balcony a Pegasus with bat-like wings climbed. “Not only that, he managed to loose me when getting out the room, I swear I haven’t seen skills like those in a long time”
“He is trained in several martial arts, specifically the ones that utilize stealth heavily… I think he called it being a quote ninja end quote”
“I would like it so if we could study with him, his technique is outstanding”
The princesses’ stare hardened. “I won’t allow that”
The guard looked at her abashed. “But princess”
Her gaze and voice became even sterner to the point of being ruthless. “Even if I allowed it, he won’t teach you; he is set in his mission and that mission is protecting the Elements at all costs, you and every guard or military assets are to leave them alone as they train. I don’t think he will be able to train the others fully until he is left alone; one of the rules of war is to not let the enemy know what you are capable off”
The soldier understood the reasoning behind his liege’s words, and the underlying message. ‘I can’t trust my guard completely’ he cursed the traitors under his breath. “So it shall be done princess! By your leave”
She dismissed the soldier and went back to her private quarters; days like these always took out the best in her.
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_- -_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
Somewhere…
The dark remnants of what was once a great evil lurked in the shadows of an accursed land, floating seemingly aimlessly, the energy once known as ‘The Nightmare’ squirmed as it tried to locate a new host. Ever since its defeat at the mercy of the light, it had learned that a jealous little princess that loved her kingdom was not a suitable vessel.
Now it starved for a decent body, one that could be easily corrupted; possessing small animals and taking their life force barely allowed it to survive; it could not be helped though, once upon a time it had been a complete entity, a destroyer of worlds, a devastator, ‘the endgame’; those names meant nothing now.
Ever since arriving into this accursed dimension the once terrible creature weakened at the heavy amount of positive and magical quintessence in the atmosphere, such a disgusting place NEEDED to be terminated with the utmost ruthlessness.
What it had never counted on was the fact that a creature of different yet threatening power also lurked inside the planet’s own core, being weakened the Nightmare stood little chance against the prankster god and he in turn separated the once formidable entity into pieces; pieces that he carefully scattered throughout many realities.
It was glad to have left the princess just in time before it ended up being completely obliterated.
After what seemed to be an hour into its thoughts the entity finally saw a creature, what seemed to be a hyena with the complexion of a diamond dog… a creature of the wild lands if the creature recalled correctly. It seemed to be talking to a small group of creatures from many different races.
From what the abomination could gather they seemed intent on destroying the very same force that recently defeated it, and the way the hyena moved, talked, gazed… he was power hungry and the Nightmare could relate to that… yes, he was going to be a perfect host.
A month from the incidents at the ‘Apple Family Farmstead’
A bipedal turtle; using a light blue breast plate, metal arm and leg guards jumped away from a flying magic shield that bounced and then disappeared. ‘I would like to have met the genius that said ‘Expect the Unexpected’, I bet even he wouldn’t have been prepared for what I have been living so far’ a round of lightning flew up to him but he caught it with his sword and bounced it off to where it came from.
A young dark haired boy in a orange overall, white gloves, shoulder guards and a combination of mouth and neck plate that was forged to imitate the appearance of teeth appeared to bring the turtle support. ‘Having to take down powerful enemies is nothing new to me, but every time that happened I had my brothers at my side’ the young boy launched himself shoulder first at an amazing speed.
Unfortunately he was intercepted by a teenager using what appeared to be a gleaming white and black suit with metal guards added on all the limbs, completed with a helmet and protective visor, helmet and gauntlets had orange flames that kept him hovering. ‘I have to make do with what I have though, as my father would have said; ‘Take life as it comes. Run when you have to; fight when you must, rest when you can’ at this pace, we will only be able to rest once we are dead… I hate to admit it but that thought has crossed my mind several times’
The flaming youth spun and kicked at what seemed to be the air, as soon as his leg outstretched a boy clad in a tight fitting plated armor with a red spider and webbings on the torso and magenta eye protectors appeared above the ankle, balancing on it with both hands dropping to an axe kick that the other boy intercepted with his forearms.
‘Being a warrior I always guessed death would take me or my brothers one day, but when the lives that hang in the balance are from either complete innocents or guys even younger than you… I can’t describe the feelings of abject horror that comes with thinking that you will be responsible whether innocents either live or die not because you couldn’t save them, but because as a leader, you couldn’t prepare them enough’
A short boy with curled hair, sporting a mainly violet light armor with, an emblazoned golden star at the sternum, Gauntlets with pink diamonds shaped like six pointed stars at the back of both hands and a pink sword in his right hand and a transparent shield in his left jumped from the shadows.
Right by his side a dark skinned teenager using what appeared to be a tightly woven jacket that was dark blue with butter yellow trimmings on the outside, yellow with white trimmings on the inside; below that he was using a one pieced suit of mainly dark blue, yellow sides and boots and white gloves and light blue goggles, floating in what appeared to be a metal plate that was composed of seven smaller honeycomb plates.
‘In any other situation I would have never admitted that a month’s worth of training was anything but unacceptable… and I stand by that decision, they are not ready by any stretch of the word’
The electric teen used his energy to bring out a hooked blade attached to a chain which floated around him like a scorpion’s tail; the boy in the spider motif brought out a rope attached to a weighted, hard rubber ball; the boy with the orange overalls brought out two butterfly short swords, with incisions in the back of the blades allowing them to also function as sword breakers.
‘But all of us are heroes, we live for this and I don’t think for a second that any of us would back down from a challenge, these mares need help and we are glad to assist’
Six mares appeared, right next to each teenager; a pink and magenta mare next to the spider boy; a cerulean mare with rainbow hair floated above the turtle humanoid; a white mare of elegant royal purple hair walked forward from below the flaming youth; an orange mare with her hair tied with a band and using a Stetson walked to the wild haired youth with the faceguard; a butter yellow mare of pink mane and tail clung to the back of the dark skinned youth; finally the chubby boy jumped and landed above a lavender mare with a tri-colored mane and tail.
The lavender mare stepped forward. “It’s time to test out the ability boost; once you are ready, think of your adoptive son/familiar, shout their name and the activation phrase” they all nodded and each shouted the names of each familiar.
A flash of light enveloped all boys as they shone in the light of their respective adoptive mothers; when the light faded each boy had their own symbols pulsating with magic; Steven’s symbol; a violet six point star was encased in a runic circle and shone on his belly around his mother’s gem; Static’s symbol was on his back, two pink butterfly wings with cerulean veins, stretched and jagged at the edges with lightning bolts placed at the forewings.
In Tsuna’s neck three unusually carved diamonds surrounded in an orange flame that waved and glistened gave him a very threatening look; Miles had two light blue and one yellow spider appeared above his own spider symbol, their legs all moved at an unheard rhythm.
In Izuku’s right shoulder appeared a large red apple that sparked like a ruby and if one were to look closely it was made off several similarly colored apples almost like a piece of photographic mosaic; finally in Leonardo’s left shoulder appeared a peculiar looking sword, hilt made out of clouds and a blade made out of a lightning bolt that pulsated in the colors of the rainbow.
‘I have never been a religious being, either in this or my past life; but if there is someone out there listening, I beg of you… have mercy on all who crosses our paths!’
One month ago: Week one.
The next day breakfast was separated by petition of the princess, Leonardo and the other familiars took breakfast inside Princess Celestia’s private dining room while the Elements had it at the main dining hall, there both sides had their respective talks about their current situations as adoptees and adoptive mothers.
The teenagers were really upset about this particular development; for the exception of Steven and Leonardo (they both had similar opinions, the reasons behind the adoptions were for the greater good and both of them had never really gotten a mother figure in their lives) Midoriya saw the advantages of the system and agreed to play along, and even then, reluctantly so.
Virgil was the most vociferous of the trio that was against it, clinging to the memory of his late mother, he was the one that needed more convincing and after breakfast he had decided to give the idea a chance, if only to help set a precedent in this world. Tsuna was more in a resigned tone which worried the rest; finally Spiderman had taken some consideration and while still having a mother, he decided that once this was all over, his mother had nothing to worry about.
The mares on the other part were calmer for the exception of Rainbow Dash that was still sporting a sore ego from being essentially called a hindrance the day before and how easily she had been subdued by a turtle of all things; her friends could certainly understand that.
The reminder of the day was met by having Leonardo look into the weaponry each of the familiars and the mares would be given; that is when Princess Celestia had to step in…
“Impossible to do that Leonardo” the ruler said to all of them. “They are not allowed to use any kind of weaponry”
All the familiars looked at her slack jawed; Leonardo most of all. “Princess, you seem like a reasonable ruler; I beg to differ… they need weapons! They need protection”
“And that is why you are here for Leonardo, so you may teach some of them how to defend themselves, but weaponry is out of the question”
“Why?”
“Because good will ambassadors carry no weapons on their bodies, that is why there are bodyguards and escorts; I cannot allow them any and all type of weaponry, it would effectively defeat the purpose of their trip; I’m sorry but only physical and defensive training”
The ninja turtle groaned loud enough to be heard. “I suppose that you have someone responsible to train the rest?”
The princess shed her regalia with magic, the breast plate and crown were no more, her boots now were training mitts, and her barrel had a padded saddle. “First things first, this day we started late but come tomorrow, all of you shall start strength and conditioning exercises from 5 A.M. Sharp, followed by breakfast and then intensive battle training, by both Leonardo, Myself and a few others; this day however” her attire changed once more to her regalia.
She stepped to a door and a let a group of 2 doctors and 16 nurses to the room. “First comes the medical checkups” at first the teens were nervous about undressing (except for Steven and Leonardo… the former because he was raised mainly by the gems and had little interaction with humanity giving him zero shame to show himself, the latter was a turtle that walked around naked all the time) once it was ascertained that nudity was of little consequence in this world the rest too enjoyed the breeze.
After NOT giving blood samples (1) and having medical checkups, the teens started the physical tests which were met with mixed results; stamina wise they were above average to ponies, even the earth and wing variety. Strength wise Tsuna, Static and Leonardo were comparatively inferior by a significant margin; going to the Castle Pool the teens excelled in the swimming department, Leonardo wining by a wide margin, Tsuna being the slowest one of them all, though still faster and more resilient than a pony or several other species from Versel for that matter.
Throughout the many tests that came, they endured until finally it was time for the clothing measurements; Rarity alongside a few other mares and a stallion entered the room and started the long process of measuring, each and every one of the boys. Taking their original clothes as reference it was a good two hours before any of them was allowed to sit down.
The next thing they knew was that their clothes (washed) and food had arrived to make them feel better; the meal was pleasant and having their mares to make talk and meet them personally helped improve most of their moods… (Dash’s and Leonardo’s moods were not among those) After the pleasant meal Leo took the teens to the blacksmith the princess had prepared for them.
A brief explanation of the weapons and a few instructions on how they were made, Ingot (the blacksmith) promised to have them done by the end of the week, with 4 days until the weaponry arrived they decided to go back to their rooms to rest, until it was decided (by Steven) to go see the castle; the rest were actually really tired but they had to admit one thing after a few minutes consideration… they managed to get lost on their way back so exploring the castle became a necessity rather than a leisure.
Finally at dinnertime Spike appeared to save them as they went through their FIFTH turn to the palace gardens; there at dinner a few other things arose in their conversations, mainly the pills Tsuna had in his pocket, knowing how dangerous they were and the limited amount Tsuna had it was decided by the Princess to give one to her top teachers in her private school with the hope of replicating said pill.
With the prospect of not having his pills handy against having them experimenting with the pills, he just gave one. “They are far more dangerous than you imagine princess. This is the only one you are going to have; I don’t want to be held responsible for anything you might do with them”
“We already saw what would happen if ingested without care” the princess conceded. “Elemental Concoction is a responsible scientist and a pony of thrust; I know he will yield results with only one pill” she said reassuringly, as she wrote a note and with a whisk she made it disappear.
That day it all ended peacefully, the teens got to their respective beds and by the end of the week they had acclimated to the gruesome training regime they had been imposed… it seemed that Tsuna and Steven had to be coaxed more than the rest but they ended up catching up to the rhythm.
At the request of Applejack, Midoriya took private lessons with her brother on the control over his power and to pick up a potential fighting style; the first meeting opened Izuku’s eyes.
“Name’s Big Macintosh, ‘m glad to meet you Midoriya” said the massive red stallion to the superhero in training. “I will be training yah for this next week, sis told me ‘bout your problem, glad to be helping you”
Midoriya looked at the mass of muscles that towered him and most ponies he had met, taking into account that Applejack was easily 1.6 meters tall this guy could be 2 meters tall or more, threatening in his own way but with a calm aura, almost as if he was in a Zen mode just by standing there.
“H-hi… thanks for your help… how? How are you supposed to help me? I mean, you do seem to be quite strong”
The red stallion’s lip twitched forming a small smile. “Come” he stallion led the teen to the gardens where he had set up a row of apple trees and other assorted fruits. “What would you think it’s happen’ if ah kicked using my whole strength?”
“I don’t know… break your legs?” said the boy confused by the whole set up.
The stallion chuckled. And stepped to the three that was placed farthest from them, reared his legs and with what looked like to be a heavy effort he kicked the three that with almost no resistance broke in half and even flew for a good 30 meters away from the two.
Midoriya was speechless, how was it possible to contain so much strength? “How come you didn’t break anything?”
The stallion chuckled. “Always been strong, my Pa taught me how t’ control it and I’ll be teaching you the same tricks; follow me” once again the two travelled to an open area, there was a horseshoe game set up for them. “Watch me”
The stallion took one of the horseshoes and Midoriya looked with attention at the hoof that held it as it was thrown and landed perfectly around the metal stake with a satisfying *clink* “Now it’s your turn”
Izuku took one horseshoe and prepared to launch it, the post couldn’t have been more than 10 meters away from them, he took aim and launched the u shaped item, it swerved and landed 2 meters short of its intended goal; trying to do so two more times were met with similar results. “What is this supposed to teach me? That I have shitty aim? And how is this supposed to help my training?”
Another chuckle left the stallions mouth. “I told you to watch me, you didn’t”
“I watched you throw that thing!”
Big Macintosh moved his head from side to side. “You were looking at the horseshoe when I told you to look at me; now pay attention” Izuku did just that he looked at his trainer and saw in amazement how he didn’t just moved his leg to throw the horseshoe, he swayed his entire body; from withers to hoofs and even his head it twisted as he calculated with years of experience the right amount of strength needed for such a goal.
It landed perfectly. “I see” said the boy. “That is it right? To use just part of my power through my whole body; instead of using all my strength in one part of my body” A smile of satisfaction met both their mouths.
“By the end of this week ah will be leaving so I shall teach you how to have control with your strength; AJ shall be taking care of you after that, she shall teach you the apple family traditional kick” he hugged the boy with one leg and gave the boy a noogie. “Besides, we still have to give yah a proper party tah welcome you to the family, nephew”
Izuku smiled; maybe being adopted wouldn’t be so bad.
In the afternoons Pinkie, Dash and Spiderman worked with Leonardo in ninjutsu while at the same time working tirelessly to make sure they learned how to blend in the shadows and meditation exercises; Pinkie and Miles were adept on the first two, meditation was Pinkie’s weakness, Dash took the fighting style seriously fast but could not meditate for the life of her, let alone sneaking around which in turn frustrated Leonardo to no end; he was proud that Miles was taking meditation so well.
Tsuna and Steven were taken to a private trainer; a minotaur named Stone Fist that trained them in hand to hand combat techniques, Steven was having a good time training and Tsuna was making a good progress on the techniques as well, both boy’s strength and abilities impressed the half calf.
Weapon day was a LOT different, Leonardo had his left sword (Ninjaken) re-forged while his right sword was a brand new Katana, both majestically engraved with a variety of runes that would help him hold his own against a wide variety of spells and when it was mentioned the possibility of pegasi action, they were given the ability of storing and reflecting a limited amount of thunder as well as a rubber handle to avoid direct contact with electricity.
Static’s rope dart was actually a chain dart that allowed control and was immune to spells in general meaning that he was the only one that would be able to manipulate it; Midoriya was given two big butterfly daggers with incisions and carving on them; ‘With your great strength’ Leonardo said. ‘You will be able to break any blade coming your way and allows fast responses even in short range.
Steven had his sword so he was trained by a Pegasus named Swift Edge in the fine art of swordsmanship, since Steven had been trained by Pearl before, he was one of the teens with the most progress in the group; Spiderman was the one with the most progress of them all as he had an unfair advantage over the rest since he had incredible reflexes so mastering the meteor hammer was a thing of days (knowing how much strength to use was crucial and Izuku taught him the strength exercises taught by Big Macintosh)
Tsuna was given boots and arm guards, he seemed more adept at using his body than anything else, and any weapon heated too quickly in his hands for them to be useful at all.
Week two was uneventful and they had been given permission to leave as long as they didn’t leave the sight of the guards so Spike and the mares took them to a nice donut place; Steven was ecstatic when he entered and the rest smiled at his antics, it seemed that the presence of royal guards deterred any press members to bother them all until…
Steven sat beside his new mother and brother so was every other mare and teen, Leonardo was now on speaking terms with Rainbow Dash and they seemed to at least mutually respect each other; the rest was holding out far better than expected and that eased Steven’s mind, that and the sugary greasy threats that he was chewing ravenously.
“Steven…” said Twilight in a soft scold. “The donuts are not going to develop legs and run away… today, so why don’t you eat them more calmly?” she took a napkin with her magic and cleaned the young boy’s face.
After being cleaned the half gem smiled sheepishly at her. “Ok mom, don’t worry” he carried on with his donut until a couple of furry legs embraced him and he felt kisses all around his face making him blush and smile. “What’s going on?” he asked in between chuckles born out of joy at this level of attention.
Twilight put his face between her hooves so he may look to her eyes that began gushing out tears of happiness. “You called me mom” she whispered to the boy and her mouth formed a smile big enough to split her head in two.
Remembering what he did Steven’s blush deepened and he looked at her with his own watered irises. “I’ve wanted to say it to you for a while now… I hope you don’t mind”
“Never Steven, so long as you don’t mind if I call you names… honey”
Steven remembered how Garnet used to call him sometimes. “I prefer ‘cutie pie’ if you don’t mind”
She embraced him once again. “Whatever you want me to call you, my son” he answered the hug with one of his own.
A barrage of DAWW’S and OOOH’S couldn’t stop their moment and there was a little celebration there, the other teens were adamant but happy that one of them had gotten along so well with their legal guardian.
Week three saw no alteration to their itinerary except for the sudden introduction of the boost the mares could give their respective familiars; the first try was… a complete failure and since they had been under a lot of stress it was decided that the mares would have more time for themselves so as to give Twilight time to investigate the spell further.
Steven proposed to teach each of the boys how to play an instrument.
“You can teach us?” asked Tsuna. “I have only seen you play the ukulele since we’ve been here”
“My dad is a one man band; he taught me how to play the ukulele, the guitar, the bass, drums, harmonica, keyboard and keytar; apart from making lyrics and a little bit of art”
The other boys were impressed, they decided to take the classes because it would help them to unwind and there was little to do at the city.
Applejack wrote a few dozen letters to her family across the country and one to her immediate family telling them about the newest member of the family and wait for them to respond in kind… that was Monday
Friday:
Izuku (and everyone else but Pinkie Pie for that matter) stared slack-jawed at the immense congregation of apple themed ponies in the ballroom setting up what appeared to be a celebration of massive proportions. “And you only sent those letters on Monday?” asked Static to the equally shocked Applejack who answered with an unintelligible croak.
A little filly the size with a red bow on her hair ran at full speed and launched herself at the orange mare with a speed so incredible that they bowled over and hit Steven and Spike behind them as if they were bowl pins “I’m good” said both of them as Twilight helped them up.
The little filly hugged Applejack for dear life. “Settle down Bloom; it’s like you haven’t seen me in an eternity” the filly smiled wide and let go.
“I’ve missed you so much Applejack; now where is he?”
Applejack mock lied to her sister. “Where is who?”
The filly squint her eyes. “My new nephew, don’t play dumb”
It was then she was lifted onto the air by two soft limbs that immediately embraced her, looking up she saw a creature with a short muzzle and delicate factions. “Hey auntie” the creature said to her in a soft tone as he cradled her.
She immediately jumped from his arms and latched to his neck which caused him to lose balance and swing around making the infant laugh of excitement. “Name’s Applebloom, what’s yours?”
“Izuku Midoriya”
“What a weird name”
He chuckled “I suppose it is”
“Applebloom don’t go bothering the poor boy now!” said an older voice that belonged to a wrinkling green mare. “Name’s Granny Smith, Big Macintosh already told me about yah… Nice to see my first great grandson”
The boy chuckled and let the filly down with care. “Honor to meet you, sorry if you are not what you expected”
“Nonsense boy” the elderly mare said in a chipper voice. “I always knew that filly was going to end up adopting” Izuku blushed a little at the openness of his new great grandmother.
Applejack became flustered and bothered to no end. “GRANNY!” AJ yelled after hearing her grandmother.
“Between you an’ me boy, I’ve never seen her with a stallion before” his blush intensified two tones.
“That’s cause I always work at the farm, not cause I am a lesbian”
“Never seen her with a mare either” before Izuku could pass out from blood rush Tsuna made the save and pulled him away from the little family meeting and introduced himself as well as the other familiars and the mares that had adopted them.
Though his ordeal was not over, many other members of the apple family clan came to greet him as Applebloom had told them already who he was; the first two that met him were a muscular orange stallion a little shorter than Big Macintosh sporting a deep red mane and tail and a lean mare with pink fur and red mane and tail. “Seems that Granny got ahead of us; name’s blood orange” the boy gulped loudly and shook his hoof. “This is my wife; Pink lady, glad to meet our first grandson”
Midoriya bowed to the mare and she chuckled. “Now let me say this boy, you don’t seem that strong” Big Macintosh chuckled a little. “I don’t know if you can old yer own in the farm”
Izuku smiled. “Well if you want to know, Big Macintosh helped me to control my strength as you once taught him and Applejack taught me the apple family kick” he grinned. “If you want to I can show you just how strong I am”
The patron of the apple family squint his eyes, measuring him, maybe asking to himself, how could a two legged… whatever be so confident about his strength? “Want me to show you sir?” the boy said full of confidence in the lessons given to him by his new adoptive family.
“There” said the red stallion. “Let’s git yah started”
The group advanced to the gardens where two distinct trees lay, one was a dead log easily 3 meters in height and half a meter wide; the other was an apple tree that had ripe fruit ready to be picked. “Well boy, start with the log” the patron of the apple family indicated.
The teens started laughing at the stallion’s expense knowing full well what was going to happen; Izuku closed his arms around the log, his skin took on a reddish tint, and with ease he lifted the massive log, and then threw it up in the air a good 45 meters where it spun and finally landed upright in the young boy’s arms and he placed it down with the utmost care; he turned around. “Sorry, I didn’t wanted to launch it forward, I didn’t wanted to hit a poor bystander” he then walked to the apple tree leaving the stallion and every other pony nearby with eyes wide in shock.
For him this was the trickiest part, for several days he had learned with Applejack the proper way of kicking a tree so it would bring down its fruits, he hoped he had learned well. In a short rush he stepped in the distance required to reach the massive plant and turning his hips in a spin not unlike that of a ballerina he reached the bark with the bottom of his right foot at the center of the tree.
It shook and swiveled and the fruit came down, though since it had no buckets or barrel below, Twilight Sparkle summoned several shields which held the fruit until the buckets were placed below them; the Apple Family’s YEEHAW! Echoed in the city and mountains and finally the boy was accepted by the massive group as they held him up on their backs and entered the castle to start the celebration.
The orange stallion smiled with pride. “Applejack… he is perfect” Pink Lady and the group of teens and mares behind him guffawed, some of them rolling on the ground laughing and trying to keep air in their lungs for dear life.
“I know Pa… glad to make you proud” the orange mare said chuckling and she left to meet her adoptive son.
That evening was what you’d call magic in many regards.
Finally the fourth week had rolled over and the teen began training with their respective ‘mothers’ in case they had to fight back to back; that was the most difficult part of the whole month.
Even though they had a mutual understanding, most of the teens were un-comfortable with the mares they ended up with, and likewise with a couple of the mares:
Twilight and Steven had spent several days bonding and understanding each other they were by far the most ‘in synch’ couple in the group, their boost was a mutual exchange of magic techniques and Steven had a bigger magic reserve to fight or practice with and with the constant education given by Twilight after every meal Steven was advancing at a great pace in regards to basic education and magic.
After the ‘Apple Family Reunion’ Applejack and Izuku got along a lot better than he initially thought; the family was as gentle as they were numerous and their first attempts (along those of Steven’s and Twilight’s) were the most stable boosts; it granted him a huge muscle resistance and now he didn’t even broke a finger using his ‘Delaware Smash’
Leonardo and Dash’s attempts were the ones that lacked the most as they were barely looking at each other’s eyes; Tsuna was not far behind with his lack luster attempts using the synchro without ‘Dying Will’ if he were to consume one of the pills then the synchronization was flawed but passable; Static was in complete disagreement with Fluttershy as she had taken a more active role as an overprotective mother figure and Virgil was having none of it; Miles was better but lacked a lot when doing the synchronization as well.
That needed to change and FAST!
The teenagers and mares all were rounded in a training room; Steven, Twilight, Applejack and Izuku looking at the remainder of their group disapprovingly; “What are you going to do?” asked Rainbow Dash impatiently.
“The first thing we need to do” said Izuku as he crossed his arms. “Is address the situation you guys are in”
“Us?” asked the rainbow haired mare. “I am certainly not dragging us back in here”
Izuku lifted a foot crashed his foot against the damage resistant marble floor leaving a big crack in it; she became silent. “What you need to know right now” began Twilight. “Is that without all of you cooperating with each other the synching is useless and that goes to each and every one of you; you are all falling behind in what is supposed to be our preparation for when we set out onto the world 1020 million square kilometers, at the fastest speed we will get from our ships we will finish our routes in little less than a year and with your attitudes like that we will have to postpone it even more”
Every one of them flinched at the immense amount of territory they had to travel. “It’s not like we can help it” said Virgil in a defensive tone.
“Yes you can sugar cube; It’s just you don’t wanna” countered AJ. “I’ve seen yah guys in you’se trainings and you can work well with the other boys but you ain’t giving Fluttershy a chance”
Said yellow mare began raising her hoof but Applejack cut her off. “I know you wanna take blame but so far all I’ve seen is you giving your all and he just pushing you away; I just need to know why”
The black teen gritted his teeth and clenched his fists so much that Flutteshy was becoming afraid he would dig his fingernails in. “Because I can’t be like those two!” he shouted in anger. “I can’t just go and forget my mom ever existed, I will not give up her memory!”
Everyone was silent for a moment, then two and Steven stood up from his chair. “I never had a mom to begin with” said the half gem. “Twilight is kind of like my first mom right now”
Virgil looked at him in disbelief. “How can you say that? What about the Gems?”
“They’ve never really been my mother if I am being honest…” The mares and boys gasped at the declaration. “Garnet: she is caring enough but she is also kind of cold and too serious at times, she is someone I look up to, who I want to become; Amethyst is like a sister to me, rash, funny but at the same time too irresponsible to be called anything else; and Pearl… she has always been there to protect me but even I can see that sometimes, she can’t look at me for who I am, she sometimes thinks that I am my mother and everything she does she does it to get her approval or consent, she is also too overprotective and that makes me believe she is more of a nurse or nanny” he stopped to look at Twilight and Spike who was sitting further away.
Ever since I have been taking time with Twilight to study and bond with Spike… I have somewhat felt what it feels like to have a real mother, she cares, teaches me with patience, tucks me in… with her I have felt something that I have rarely felt with the Crystal Gems, and dad is dad and I know he does the best he can, that is why I wanted to do this as fast as possible; so I can go back home and greet them and tell them how much I care for them”
“Twilight adopted me, but that doesn’t mean that she will replace my family… she will join it, she will become part of my universe a universe that I want to expand ever outwards” he got close to Virgil and extended his hand. “And for me to do that, you have to begin to understand one thing… they are not here to replace our families”
Izuku stood up and extended his hand to grab the electric hero’s shoulder. “We decided to stay here not only because we were forced, but because they needed us, and look at you all, acting like children instead of trying to work things out, if we left that issue unresolved we will never be able to go back home.. Our families need us back”
Virgil looked up with a single tear threatening to leave his eye and Izuku carried on. “The only thing you need right now is to get to know each other”
Steven picked up the pace. “Will you give them a chance as well?”
Virgil smiled and took Steven’s hand in his own. “*heh* you are wiser than you let out”
Steven shrugged. “I was just telling the truth” the half gem replied as he took his hand away. “Will you want to be part of my universe as well?”
Virgil smiled. “I will be honored”
The rest of the teens concerns were more or less the same but Leonardo’s and Dash’s who were a little more reluctant than the rest but ended up working together in the end…
Today: end of training.
The boys had gotten out of the public bathhouse of the castle 2) after that they were directed to their rooms to change 3) it was peaceful and they were glad to have had a moment of peace; Steven had canceled band lessons for the day and was really excited to carry on with that day’s dinner.
They were pleasantly surprised to know that their dinner was not going to be on castle grounds but on the tow they had emerged, Princess Celestia called it ‘Pony Ville’ to which they all laughed but they had no qualms but the suddenness of the change of scenery.
After each of their new adoptive mothers gave each one a party attire to wear they had left once again via flying carriage to the town in question; Static had decided to fly using his new ‘honeycomb glider’ for a while and feel the air around him, Rainbow Dash decided to fly beside him; after 15 minutes he decided to get back to his carriage and rest until the arrival.
Just as the sun was setting they arrived at the center of the quaint little town the teens and mares had received a gratifying surprise for there was another huge party ready for every one of them to enjoy; at the center of the plaza a big white banner read ‘Thank you for saving our heroes and congratulations on becoming mothers’
Laughing Steven partook in the festivities with Spike at his side and he began talking with Applebloom (he had made fast friends with her at the castle) and the other two Cutie Mark Crusaders before going off to meet the rest of the foals; Leonardo had surveyed the area from the air so he got himself to the table were a huge pizza was calling his name; Static took part in a few dances while Tsuna and Izuku went to eat and drink from the tables as they were all introduced by each of their respective mares.