> Red Thunder > by Naturefang > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > From one life to no life (Old) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- It's funny you know? How I ended up as a fossil. I mean, all I did was buy a helmet for my costume at Comic con. - 65,000,000 years earlier - As I stood outside the convention I made sure my costume was in order. Dino blaster check, Tyranoo Staff yup, Totally-not-red-spandex and belt on, Morpher on my wrist, totally shit last minute helmet made from a paper-bag on my face. I could only hope that someone at the Toronto Comic con. had a better red Dino Ranger helmet for sale. As I walked around the floor of the convention a stall caught my eye for the fact that the only things for sale, were masks, crowns, and helmets. As I approached the strange stall the reason made some sense as I saw a man dressed as the Happy Mask Salesman from LoZ,OoT and LoZ,MM stand up and place one more helmet out at the back of the stall. You can probably imagine what I did when I saw it was the exact helmet I needed for my costume. "What's this! A Ranger without the proper head gear, that will not do." The man said well somehow never loosing that inhuman smile on his face. "Tell you what, I'll sell you the right helm for only $20.50 that's half the regular price." At the time I thought nothing of it and just payed him $25 and said he could keep the change. That changed after I put it on. No fan of Zelda could mistake the fact that what I heard next was undoubtedly the real deal. "Ha ha ha ha ha ha!" It was exactly the laughing you heard in Majora's Mask You've met a terrible fate, Haven't you? When I woke up, I couldn't move, and I still cant to this day. I was, however, able to somehow tell my body was stone, in my right hand a red gem. Something had happened to turn me into a fossil. I was physical dead, not but a human soul trapped in stone. > Wait, I'm alive? How. (Old) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- OK, so know on with the real story. Magic flares as I start to feel something new in my bones, without thinking I stand to take a defensive stance. "Who's their, I will fight!" is all I say before it hits me, I'm somehow not just a fossil anymore. "Calm down, Warrior, We mean thee no harm." I hear a feminine voice say as a women with hair like the night sky, and wings of midnight blue to match her regale fur approaches me from the direction of the blast. "We did not realize the red gem had a wielder sealed with it, t'is quite fortunate though, for thee could help with the current threat of the return of Sombra." "Hold on for a second, first of all HOW AM I ALIVE?! Last I cheeked I was a fossil, not alive is kinda implied for that." "Thou questions can be put to rest later Warrior, the threat of Sombra must first be stopped, will you help Our people?" OK dude just think, This lady obviously needs help, and you have never been one to stand by as others need help before. "Fine, I'll help you but you must promise me one thing first, I WILL get answers to ALL of my questions once this is over." "Very well warrior. We are Luna, Princess of the moon and diarch of Equestria, and We shall fight by thee's side, Drake." With that me and Luna suddenly appeared at a train station where seven others waited, six women in full armour of three differing styles and one teenage boy in street clothes with a small dagger. I then notice how his flesh differs from the rest of those hear and as I lift my hand to ask why, I notice mine dose as well. suddenly a word Luna said to me pops into my head. "Drake" somehow I'm not Human anymore. > Scales and a explanation on a train. (Old) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO MY SKIN?!" In hindsight I may have over reacted to finding out I had scales now. But honestly, if you had just spent as long as I did as a museum exhibit in waiting, You'd freak out at something else completely new to you to, right? "Why are thee yelling in a manner similar to 'Freaking out' as is the modern term?" Luna said with a look of honest concern on her face. "MY FLESH IS SCALY AND RED, WHY IS IT NOT JUST FLAT CAUCASIAN SKIN!?" Just keep yelling, eventually they'll figure out that something is wrong. "Excuse me princess, but I think your new acquaintance is having a panic attack." said one of the two in a light cloth armour, the purple one with the rune like symbols going up her two variations of what were probably Shaolin monk Hook Swords. When I heard this I just pointed at her and said "YES, ON THE DOT! THANK YOU STRANGE MONK LOOKING LADY!" One of the ones in a leather armour, the one wit a literal rainbow for hair, than preceded to ask the question of "Why? Did you just, like suddenly notice a thing you didn't before or something?" I just repeated myself, except replacing 'Strange monk looking lady' with 'Girl with Smarties for hair' witch apparently confused the hell out of her. This basically kept going for the next hour, even continuing after we got on a train before the kid finally asked me what the lat thing I remember was and me answering with "Turning into a fossil about 65,000,000,000 years ago." "Thou were trapped as stone for how long!?" Luna said with a bunch of variations of the same thing from the rest of the group, except the pink one in the Gladiator looking plate armour with a Claymore on her back. "Ohhhhhhh,sothatmeansyourprobablylikenotfromthisdimensionandwerejustmindingyourownbusinessatsomesortofconventioninacitywithareeeeeaaaaalllllybigtowerandsawamansellingtheonethingyouweremissingfromyourcostumeanddressedupasavideogamecharacter,butwhenyouboughtithelaughedandyourealizedhewasactuallythatcharacterandblackedoutonlytowakeupasafossilandwaitforthatsuperduperuberlongtimeonlyforLunatoaccidentallyreviveyouasaDraconicversionofthefictionalcharacteryouweredressedupasandthenallthepanicattackstuffhappenedafteryoulookedatyourhandandsawyouhavescalesandareaDrakelikeSpikeright?" Somehow she manages to say all of this well she is smiling, and sticking out of Luna's hair. Before I can question how she did this, everyone else in the room says in unison, "Its Pinkie Pie, don't question it." "Well if I shouldn't question how she is clearly breaking the laws of physics, than maybe I can ask this, who are all of you and why do I feel like I know Luna and Pinkie's names from somewhere?" They all proceeded to introduce themselves starting with one Twilight Sparkle, the Monk looking woman from earlier. Next was Rarity, she was in a leather armour like Smarties, her fur was an alabaster, she had a strange lack of weaponry on her compared to the rest and I swear to you I saw her eyes flash a deep sanguine colour. Then Smarties told me her name was Rainbow Dash, whilst she did so she was fiddling with one of the daggers on her belt. forth was the quietest of them, she had yellow fur and long pink hair, Smarties (no I will not stop calling her that) told me she was there healer and that her name is Fluttershy, I had a strange urge to punch anybody who made Fluttershy cry in the face when she said that. now was the orange ones turn, she called herself Apple Jack, AJ for short, she was in full plate steel armour, except that she was wearing a stetson style hat in place of a helmet, and was sharpening the heads of her double headed Battle Axe with the care one would polish a family heirloom. Finally their was the kid, he said his name was Spike, and that he was like me in how he too knew nothing of the other Draconic races of the world, but he did know it was rare to meet a Drake, as we are apparently a lost race, with only 9 members known to be alive. 10 if he counted me and hearing that is when I apparently decided it was time to take a nap as I lost consciousness. > Learning what I can do (Old) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- As I come to all I feel is cold. Cold wind, cold ground, cold steal on my neck... wait what was that last one. with that my eyes snap open and I do a mental check of whats going on. First, I'm pined under a piece of steal, second the ground is covered in snow, third, a very angry looking smoke monster is starring me in the face. "The poor dear is over here Princess!" I hear Rarity yell out as the piece of the train we were riding is lifted of off me. "Are you OK darling?" "Why is there smoke that looks like somebody insulted his favourite hockey team starring me down?" and why was that the first thing I asked, why not 'How the fuck are you able to lift a giant ass piece of a train like its paper?' well I guess I can ask her that after we beat up the smoke guy. Before she can answer my question, a very familiar Claymore fly's past us and right through the smoke guy, somehow making the airborne ash bleed a strange black blood. As we look at Pinkie she waves at us, the Claymore somehow still on her back, and says "No time, just run, 5 kilometres this way!" she then proceeds to do just that. me and Rarity start to follow when suddenly the world slows to a crawl, and I find myself past Pinkie, who was a good 200 meters away when I started, before I rapidly stop, the two women staring at me in shock before I remember a key fact. The red Dino Ranger is a speedster, meaning I now have his powers, aka, I have super speed. In a flash I'm beside Rarity, with Pinkie beside me after I garbed her arm on my way past. "Hold on to your touks ladies. I'll get us their in a blink of an eye, oh and sorry about the whiplash in advance." and with that the world slows to a crawl once more as we move, picking up the rest of the group on our way to the destination. in what seems like a second to them all we are at the gates of a city of jewels. "OK, we NEED to have a race some time. You ma be the only being that can keep up with me." OK I think Smarties is a smidgen argent. "We can talk of witch of thee is faster later Rainbow Dash, for now we must find find The Crystal Heart." "I'll hold Smokey's attention well you do that Luna. the rest of you pick witch of us you're going with because I do not think any of you are the kind to sit idle well others need help." man am I glad I practice this sort of stuff in my room back home before Comic con. after we had split the final groups were; Luna, Fluttershy, Twilight, and Spike as the ones heading out to fin the Crystal Heart, and Me, Smarties, Rarity, and AJ on smoke stopper duty. Pinkie had decided to go and see if anyone was in need of help in the city we had found. after we wished each other luck on our respective tasks my group head back out into the snow. "So whats the plan darling? How shall we stop this beast." "No clue, the plan is more to stall him, give Luna and the rest time to find this Crystal Heart in hopes it can stop him." "Basically, we all signed up to be a distraction then?" "Yes, yes you did. But hopefully we can find a way to at least keep that thing away from the city..." "Let me guess, just in case Pinkie was right on their being civilians, right sugar cube?" "Correct AJ, now I just hope I got more than the speed. otherwise this is gonna just look stupid." "DINO THUNDER, POWER UP!" > Dino Thunder Roar! (Old) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "OK, you just gained some serious awesome points, I mean you literally just did that!" apparently it worked, otherwise Smarties would not be saying something like that. I chose not to respond and instead took up a combat stance as smoke face came over the horizon, black blood still dripping from where Pinkies blade struck him. As the others noticed his approach, he seamed to shift. Turning into a black steel clad man, crown on his head, a Scythe of black crystal summons to his side. "Thou dare appose ME, even wounded as I am, you are all but children to me, a toddler compared to my hundred year rain a thousand years ago. I doubt even the trained drake in strange armour compares to my life span." Strangely Rarity seemed to take the most insult from his words, growing more impatient with each reference to how he was over a thousand years old. It actually got to the point where she charged him, a red glow trailing from her eyes. "You are but a sorcerer who used the lives of the citizens of the Crystal Empire to increase the span of your life. A retch of a being I would never even call a Litch with what you did to your people, for fear of insulting them by comparing them to you! So! Just! Die! As you should have in that battle a thousand years ago!" As she screamed at Sombra she slashed at him with claws that grew from her fingers, pupils turning to slits as irises became a sanguine, fangs extending from her eye teeth. Confirming the flash of red I saw in her eyes as we met to be a sign of her true nature. Vampire, of what kind I had yet to know. "No time to act all shock and aw at the sight of a vampire Red, lets get moving." Smarties said as she tossed a dagger at Sombra, landing a hit on his back as Rarity twisted him into its path. With a nod I drew my Dino Blaster, taking aim at his weapon to make sure it would not hit my new friends, as I pulled the trigger a second beam came form the direction of Rarity, she had backed of to let AJ have the room to swing her axe. Combat continued in this way, each of us taking turns fighting him up close wile the rest used range, for about an hour before we realized only one wound on his body had yet to heal from his magic. The spot where Pinkies Claymore had struck true. "How in tarnation is he healing all his wounds? And better yet, why leave the one that's slowing him down alone. It don't make a lick oh sense." "I believe it may be that he cant darling." Rarity said, her fangs somehow not changing her ancient in any form. "I suggest that we aim for his wound maybe?" Before I could say a thing, I felt a blade pierce my shoulder, black crystal dripping red in the sanguine fluid of life. As Sombra pulled his weapon out of me, my blood sprinkled its way on to the snow. but I did not scream, pain was not new to me. Blades had pierced my skin many times before, I had long lost the will to scream at such things a long time ago. but I did feel weaker, like a toxin was in my vanes, the signs of a cursed blade. this is what scared me. As I clutched the wound, my armour shattered, the injury breaking my morph. "Shit, avoid even a scratch from his weapon girls. I know a cursed blade when I feel one. his is most certainly a strong curse as well." With the warning made I started to fall as Smarties made a move to catch me just before I blacked out. > Wait I have what magic? (Old) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pain, my shoulder hurt and my body was burning. I really hate curses, had enough of them back home, at least I can get back up.“My head, ow.” “Guys, I think what's his face is coming too!” Rainbow Dash yelled “Well tell him to hurry it along now! That smokey varmint’s getting a little hard to push back here!” AJ shouted from across the snow, trying her best to both attacking Sombra while avoiding his attacks. “Did anyone catch the name of the curse on that thing, because it hurts like someone injected basic solution into my blood.” I said as I stood up strait, clutching my shoulder to try and stop the pain, not that it actually helped. “Sorry Darling, but I’m afraid that Twilight’s the expert on magic, so the best I can give is a guess,” Rarity said as she came over to help me up. “But from the way you described it, it sounds like Bleak Rot.” “That sounds bad, is that bad.” Smarties asked, looking between me and Rarity. As I finally got back to my feet, and thanked the vampire for her help, I could not help but give the rainbow haired flyer a deadpanned stare. “If it’s anything like the curse of the same name from my home, very.” I couldn’t remember much about the curses back home, I was always better with runes than any other arcane art, I did know about that one. Anyone who had spent time studying arcaneism did. “Back home it causes the sufferer to slowly wither and rot while it keeps them alive, causing immeasurable pain. the few cures and counters included; amputating the source limb, paying an observed amount to a white mage for a counter, BEING a white mage and using the counter on your self, and finally death.” after the look of horror on Smarties face disappeared she looked at Rarity with a look of understanding, a silent conversation taking place between the two women and in seconds Rarity noded. “I may be able to remove the affected blood, but it will hurt…” before she could finish her sentence I gave her a negative shake with my head, feeling something I could not explain past an instinct. “I think my body is telling me it will pass, like the spell was unable to properly take hold.” as I said this, Sombra slammed his weapon into the ground, causing spires of stone to attempt to impale us. Once more this instinct told me I would be fine, so as the others jumped out of the way of theirs, I stood my ground, and stopped the ones headed for me with my bare hands, well claws now since I was a Drake, with no effort. Before I knew what I was doing, I tore the spire from the ground, spun it around in my hands, slammed it into the earth at my feet, opened my maw, and released a roar at the top of my lungs. “RRRRRAAAAAAAAAGGGHHH!!” As I did this I seemed to shake the ground I stood on, and still running on pure instinct, I once more felt the strange energy I did when Luna revived me but this time it was not in my bones, but my jaw. lowering my head I released the energy, sending a storm of acid flying towards the dark king. For the first time our foe spoke, uttering very little, but it was speech all the same. "What? An Earth Drake, impossible!" His voice was rough and scratchy, as if he had stones in his throat. He had abandoned his plate armor for his left arm as the acidic spray destroyed it, leaving his arm in only the mail he had on beneath. As he spoke I came back to my senses, a host of new things available in my head. I could feel the power of the earth at my feet, with all the new things I could feel I moved my mind into the state of perception it uses as I move at super speed. slowing my perception of time so I could think wile the world barely moved around me. I first needed to learn what my magic was, this took no time as I had heard Sombra say I was an Earth Drake. Once that was done I went over what I knew about Earth magic from my time studying arcaneism. Earth was the element of strength, a creature of Earth was more durable than any other, able to take blows from most weapons without getting a scratch. They could lie in wait submerged in the ground with out leaving a trace of their presence, it was how un-dead could seemingly pop out of the ground with no effort, and they had the ability to bend the battlefield into a weapon for their side as Sombra had already demonstrated with his last attack. As the world around me once more moved at a normal rate I let myself wear a smirk on my face. This was getting very interesting. > Daughter of Gensokyo (Old) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I quickly moved to get back into the fight, knowledge of what I could do with my new body from what I knew about Drakes at the forefront of my mind. Sombra brings his scythe down in a diagonal arc in an attempt to cleave me in twain, I countered with a palm strike to the jaw, throwing him off balance and followed up with a spray of acid from my maw to the blade of his weapon that caused the crystal to weaken and crack.   “Wha,” the voice of Smarties came in a confused tone from where she landed. “How did this get all the way out here?” In her hand was a tiny doll. It had blonde hair which reached just past the shoulders, and large, blue eyes. It also had a large, red ribbon tied into a bow in its hair, and a blue dress. The dress had some white parts on the skirt and shoulders as well as a red bow on the front of the collar. Finally, the doll had black shoes and white socks.   Sombra took advantage of this momentary distraction to retreat back to the wastes of the tundra, leaving us to return to the city.     Once in the city, I asked Smarties if I could take a look at the doll to see if it had any markings to identify the owner. As she handed it over, I heard a female voice speak a message in my mind. “If you are in need of help, don't hesitate to call for me. However, understand that under no circumstances will I ever kill anything. If I can be of assistance, just speak the words 'Daughter of Gensokyo' and I will be there to help in any way I can.”   “What’s a ‘Daughter of Gensokyo’?” was all I said before a hole opened in mid-air nearby. Looking at it, I realized that it was a portal. After a moment, a girl just a little shorter than me stepped through. She had shoulder-length brown hair, and had one red eye and one purple eye. She was wearing a white, shoulder-strap style dress, which had a blue electricity-style lattice pattern on the skirt, and had a ribbon wrapped around the waist, tied into a large bow on her back, the bow being half red, half blue. On her feet, she was wearing strange, sandal-like footwear, which had rectangular pieces of wood as the bottoms, and then each had two blocks of wood on the bottom making them look like small tables almost. One of them had a blue strap, the other had a red strap. She also had a larger version of the doll I was holding on her shoulder. Despite the strange appearance of her outfit, my eyes were drawn to the two small horns on her head, indicating she wasn’t human.   “I’m a little nervous,” she muttered to herself. “This is the first time I’ve been called. I don’t know what to expect.”   “A summon, strange,” I muttered under my breath in intrigue before Smarties, in an amazing feat of suspicion and speed drew one of her daggers and held it to the girl's throat before shouting in her face.   “What are you who are you and how the heck did you do that!?” all came out with no space to even lift a finger between each question.   The girl quickly raised her hands in the air in the ‘calm down, I won’t hurt you’ motion. Her first response, however, was to quickly answer all of Smarties’ questions. “I’m half-human, half-Yokai; my name is Alexandria Kijin; you used that doll there to summon me.” With that last part, she twisted her hand to point at the doll I was holding.   “Yet it has no marks of an enchantment,” I said in haste. “How could it be a focal point to draw you to this plane of existence without the proper magical structure built into the material! An enchantment is a complex thing that took me half my life back home to learn how to properly prepare a receiving object for, the process leaves very specific signatures depending on the material and type of enchantment!”   The girl supposedly named Alex lowered her arms slightly as she answered, an expression of slight exasperation on her face. “Ah? Something tells me you don’t know what Displaced or Tokens are…”   “NO! I was only just revived from 65,000,000 years as a fossil!” I yelled back, agitation clearly slipping into my voice as I felt everything I studied to be able to do for almost a decade, suddenly feel like it had been flipped on its head.   “I… won’t ask…” Alex said under her breath. She then glanced at Smarties before continuing. “But if you could please move your dagger away from my neck, I could explain everything to you.”   “HOW DO WE KNOW YOU DON’T WORK FOR SOMBRA!” she yelled before A.J. placed a hand on her shoulder.   “Calm down now, sugar. Y’all ‘re more worked up than a porcupine in a balloon store.” she said in a calm voice, her voice seemingly stealing all the aggression from Smarties the second she opened her mouth.   “Right,” she said as she backed off. “But I’m still watchin you!” she added with a glare and the ‘I have my eyes on you’ hand gesture.   Alex put her arms down and sighed in relief. “Thank you, my breath was a bit short from the fear.” She then looks at as, genuine confusion on her face and in her voice as she continues. “But, who’s this ‘Sombra’ person?”   “Oh, that’s the big evily mean smoke monster just there!” Pinkie said as she popped out of Alex’s little doll’s hair ribbon.   Alex turned to look and saw the horizon covered in smoke, the smoke cloud having evil-looking, green, glowing eyes within it. “Those eyes…” she said quietly with a small shiver. “Just looking at them fills me with an intense feeling of dread.”   “Try not to let it do that dear,” Rarity spoke up, her fangs retracted and eyes back to normal so as to not scare anyone. “He feeds on such emotions from those around him. Fear, Dread, Anger, Regret, any negative emotion you hold will only serve to make him stronger.”   Alex steeled herself with a deep breath before speaking. “Sorry, I’ll try not to let it get to me.” She then turned to me. “But, I think I should now explain to you what Displaced and Tokens are. It’d be best for you to know.”   “I think we can do that after the others find that Crystal Heart and put Smokie back in his kennel,” I said as I held up my left arm in prep to morph.   “DINO THUNDER, POWER UP!” A flash of light and an explosion behind me later, I strike a pose towards the fastly approaching cloud. "Tyranno Power, Red Ranger!"   Alex turned to face Sombra with a determined expression on her face. “Alright. It’s a deal: I help you to defeat Sombra, then you give me a chance to explain everything to you.” She then turned to look at the doll on her shoulder. “You ready for our first fight in another world, Shanghai?”   “You should know by now that I’m always ready to help you, Alexandria,” the doll Alex referred to as Shanghai responded with an innocent smile.   “How can a doll help?” I asked, firing off shots from my Dino blaster.   “Fairy,” Shanghai corrected me.   “Shanghai is a special type of Fairy,” Alex explained. “She can attack using my own power, which is helpful since I can't dodge and attack at the same time. So, I could focus on dodging while Shanghai attacks, or the both of us can focus on attacking simultaneously for extra firepower.”   “I wonder…” Rarity said as she let loose a volley of telekinetic bullets at the encroaching mass of smoke. “Shanghai darling, do you think it would be possible for you to learn new skills by borrowing power from those other than Miss Kijin?”   As Alex began throwing small shocks of lightning at the smoke cloud, Shanghai stopped to mull over Rarity's question. “I don't know,” she answered. “I haven't really thought to try.”   “Why not see what the power of an Earth Drake can do for you than?” I asked as I holstered my blaster holding out my arm as an offer.   Shanghai looked at Alex. “Go for it,” Alex said. “I find the idea interesting, so I'm curious to see where it leads.”   “Alright,” Shanghai responded with a nod. She then went airborne and flew over to me, grabbing my arm.   Just as Shanghai reached me, I felt the presence of crystals being summoned. Looking up my eyes widened in terror at the sight of THOUSANDS of the cursed scythes filling the sky. “Everyone, LOOK OUT!” > Displaced explained, and Sombra gone (Old) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Once I spotted the Scythes I moved as fast as I was able from a stand still, vaguely hearing two distinct booms of the sound barrier being broken. One from me, the other from Smarties' direction. Guess she really was fast if she could break the sound barrier from a standstill. Taking advantage of my sped up perception, I first grabbed hold of Shanghai and held her to my chest, then I looked around as I ran to see how the others were doing.   A.J. was deflecting every blow with the handle of her Axe and her gauntlets, Smarties was actually moving at what looked like a normal speed to me, deflecting what she was unable to dodge with a Sword Breaker in her left hand in proper Main Gauche form, Rarity was simply side stepping them and redirecting those she couldn't with a palm strike to the flat of the blade, and Alex was dodging with the skill of one familiar with such situations, even using the flats of blades as footfalls to help her be more agile in her movement.   Once I looked back up to my own situation, I realized I was led into a trap, me and Shanghai were surrounded in Scythes, and I had no way over them, so I stopped running and let time return to normal. “Oh no…!” Shanghai said, sounding scared. “We've been caught in a dead end… Now what will we do?”   Even with the helmet on, I am told you could hear the smirk in my voice as I placed her on my shoulder and dug my claws into the earth around me, and ripped it upwards into a cylindrical wall around us. “This, an earth barrier should help.” Just as I finished, the sound of a blade hitting stone echoed repeatedly around us, only one Scythe found its way to the top of the barrier and down the opening.   Shanghai then jumped from my shoulder without warning, and planted her feet on the ground in front of me. If we were in a less serious situation, I would have laughed at the sight of a 1-foot doll standing in front of me. She then stomped one foot forward and swiftly brought both her arms up, emphasizing the movements.   Shanghai [Stone Wall]   To my surprise, Shanghai summoned a wall of stone in the Scythe's path at the last moment. There was the clang of crystal on stone as the Scythe was deflected by Shanghai's own Stone Wall. It seemed that Smokey wasn't trying very hard with this attack on the city, since the onslaught of Scythes ended and his cloudy form retreated back into the distance. Alex then came running over to us.   “Shanghai!” Alex said in surprise and awe. “How did you use this man's ability like that!?”   “Um…” Shanghai started, now floating in the air again. “Well, when he made a wall of rocks, I suddenly had a really strange feeling, and after that, I realized I was able to do the same thing on my own.”   Alex then scrunched up her face in thought. “Did you… somehow inherit the ability…?” Alex speculated quietly. “Judging by the context of the circumstances,” she continued. “It seems like you inherited that one particular skill after seeing it in use while in physical contact with the user… I had no idea you were capable of something so amazing Shanghai.”   Shanghai blushed in embarrassment. “I didn't know either,” she answered.   “Anyway,” Alex said, turning to me. “Now that Sombra has been deterred, I would like to explain Displaced and Tokens to you.”   “Just keep an eye out for the evil smoke wizard while you do it,” I said after I dismissed my helmet from the Morph, letting me stay ready for a fight whilst being able to have my face visible.   “Alright,” Alex started. “So, first I'll explain Displaced to you. Displaced are individuals that have been removed from their reality on Earth and inserted into a different dimension. That would make both you and I Displaced,” she explained.   “Simple enough, I knew some creatures like that back home, although we had a different term for it, we called them 'The Lost Ones' since they were lost from their home,” I said in return, glad I was a member of the magical world back on Earth, otherwise this would be hard to wrap my head around.   “Well, the similarity would depend on another factor,” Alex answered. “Another defining feature of a Displaced is that all of them take the form of a fictional individual once they've been inserted into a separate dimension.”   “That is definitely different from The Lost Ones, they were just that, lost, nothing more. They were still only themselves.”   “Well, that's about it for Displaced,” Alex said. “Next, I'll explain Tokens. You still have the miniature Shanghai doll from earlier, right?”   “Not right now, but I will when I De-Morph,” I said simply.   “Alright, what matters is that you know what I'm talking about,” Alex said. “That doll is an example of a Token. Every Displaced is capable of having a Token, but all Displaced start off without a Token. Tokens are items that a Displaced puts a portion of their essence into, then it's dumped into the void where it multiplies and is spread across the other dimensions for other Displaced to use. When a Displaced uses the Token of another Displaced, the owner of the Token is summoned to the user's dimension. The miniature Shanghai doll you found is my Token.”   “Fucking…. Sigh, why did it have to be Void Magic?” That explained it, Void Magic was foreign to my world, it ignores all the rules I grew up with. “Sorry about that, it's just, Void Magic is something my home never understood, it ignores all the rules of every type of magic we know of, even the ones of Chaos Magic, and those are pretty vague considering the nature of chaos, literally one rule, 'Only a god can rip holes between dimensions'.”   “Hmmm… well, I'm not sure if this 'Void Magic' is behind the functionality of Tokens, but I will say that there's more or less nothing known about the void itself,” Alex said. “Everything I know is that Tokens are thrown into the void to be distributed among dimensions, and a Displaced makes a very short trip through the void when summoned by their Token. That's it.”   “Then I think I know what I'll use as a Token, I just need a mold capable of holding molten metal and a chunk of gold, about the size of a bit from the harness of a horse.”   “Here!” Pinkie said after she walked up behind me. “I have more back home in Ponyville.” With that she handed me a literal Bit made of pure gold.   “Give me about an hour,” I said with finality, before walking further into town.     An hour later i walked back with a gold pendent in the shape of a very familiar logo in my hand on a leather strip for a string. “Now what do I do?” I asked.   “Well,” Alex started. “You hold it in both hands, and will your essence into it. While your essence is being transmitted into the item, you speak whatever message you want other Displaced to hear when they find your Token. Make sure to include a particular phrase they have to speak to properly summon you.”   “I guess I should go by the name of the character then, huh?”   “If you want to,” Alex answered simply.   “My name is Conner McKnight, Red Dino Ranger. If you seek the force of ages to help you save the innocent from whatever evil forces you face, then call for Red Thunder, and victory shall be ours forever more!” I said to the pendent in my hands. “Now what?”   “Now, I need you to stand back for a few moments,” Alex said.   “Okay…?” I said taking a step back.   Alex then closed her eyes, focusing intensely with her two hands held close together, palms inward, fingers upright and slightly curled. Gradually, electricity began to build up between her palms, reaching a rather high intensity in only several seconds. With a strained look on her face, Alex opened her eyes, her brows furrowed, and threw her hands forward.   Void Sign [Dimension Piercing Bolt]   An impossibly slim bolt of electricity shot from between her hands and seemed to strike a point in midair. The point that was struck suddenly split open, revealing a tear leading to what I can only assume is the void that she had mentioned. The tear was only just large enough to fit the pendant inside.   “Well then,” I muttered looking into the hole in reality. “Guess I just put you in the portal then huh.” With that I walked up to the tear and placed the pendant in the space, watching as it drifted away and split into an uncountable amount, two of which came right back through the tear.   Alex grabbed both as the tear closed and, after a moment with a confused look on her face, she handed one to me. “This is my first time helping another Displaced create a Token, so I don't know if this is normal, but… I guess the second one is yours? I'm not really sure what a Displaced would be able to do with their own Token though…”   “A spare for those you summon maybe?” I said as I placed the pendant around my neck.   “I guess that could make sense,” Alex answered. “Anyway, I'm not sure how the time dilation will work between my world and any other given world, so it's probably best if I return to mine now.”   “We can handle Sombra from here, Darling. Let her go home.” Rarity spoke up from behind me. “Fine,” I said as I summoned my helmet and placed it back on my head. “How do I send you home?”   “From the experience I had with the first Displaced I summoned, all it takes is for you to give me verbal permission to return to my world,” Alex responded.   “Well then, I'll see you later Alex,” I said holding my clawed hand out to shake hers, “and feel free to call me if you ever need 'The Force of Ages' on your side.”   Alex reached out and shook my hand without hesitation. “I'll be sure to call you if I find myself in trouble,” she said.   “Good working with you, and thank you for all the help, you can go back home now.”   Right as I finished speaking, a tear just like the previous one, but much larger, opened nearby. “I'm glad I was able to be of some assistance,” Alex said before walking over to the tear. Just before entering, she turned back to us, and both her and Shanghai waved to us. After that, she turned back around and entered the tear, which closed itself behind her.   “Speakin' o' that varmint Sombra,” A.J. spoke up, pointing towards the horizon. Sombra was walking up with a white Unicorn with a blue mane and a Pink alicorn with a mane of pink, yellow, and purple in his grasp, holding his weapon to both their throats with his magic.   “Return my kingdom to me, or they die,” was all he said before a pulse of power shot through the land, throwing him into the distance but leaving the rest of us all untouched.   “Guess Twilight and the others found the Crystal Heart,” Smarties said in a matter-of-fact tone. > Return and Re-wright > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hello! This is not so much a new chapter as me explaining where I've been, as well as notifying you all that, although I shall not delete the old chapters, I shall b re starting this story for the simple reason of wanting to expand on it from the beginning. I am honestly looking forward to getting back into writing this story and am genuinely sorry if you wanted to see me continue directly form where I left off, some changes are Inevitable, Such as the fact that I no longer think my friend Maziodyne uses this site any longer, so I shall unfortunately not be doing another crossover with Daughter of Gensokyo, as much as I wish I could preserve that. The new version of the story shall hopefully start with much longer chapters, have better world building, and focus on a slightly different cast. I shall leave this story here, but I shall be continuing on in a different direction starting next chapter.