Prolouge. (Rewritten)
*Warning*
*Warning*
*-Hull damaged/
-Shield generator offline/
-Armor pierced/
-Weapons damaged/
-Pilot in critical condition!
*S.O.S to command and near by Slayers sent*
The mechanical voice blared over the coms. My eyes were heavy as the voice broke me from my unconsciousness and I barely was able to open them. I was almost blinded by the flashing red warning lights and the sparks that shot from my cockpit. A few sparks landed onto my left cheek and I jerked away from pain, but shouted out as a even worse pain erupted from the right side of my rips. With teeth clenched and one eye open I glanced over to my right to see what was causing my pain. My other eye snapped open and my pupils shrunk from shock. The entire right side of my cockpit was impaled by a strange grey colored object, almost like a bone of some sorts. My eyes traveled down and I could feel my breathing become raspy and painful as I saw what my condition was.
The entire right side of my body was bloodied and torn to shreds. My flesh hanged from my broken body armor and I could even see parts of my rip bones stick out of my sides. Unfortunately that wasn't it. Both my right limbs were crushed between the bone that had pierced the cockpit. I stared in shock and fear as my mind was still processing the damage to my own body. The pain was immense and only a groan escaped my throat as my eyes were glued to the grizzly scene of my own injuries.
*AHHHHHHH!!*
My attention was finally taken away from a static scream that roared from the coms. I looked up to my cockpits hud that was barely able to stay up, but I was able to make out image. A horrific image. I made out the figure of a Slayer, the mechanical suits that I and many other pilots operated. The Slayer had it's long barreled rifle raised up and was firing wildly in many directions. Hysterical screaming continued to blare from the coms and as he changed the direction of his rifle, I was able to make out an emblem of the head of an eagle that was on the shoulder of the Slayer. It belonged to the Gryphons.
*No! No! Get away, just die!*
His screams grew louder and more fearful. I was confused. Who was he fighting? What happened? Soon enough my questions would be answered. After a few more hysterical screams and pleas another figure emerged from behind him. Four long green boney arms towered over the Slayer, and as if someone pulled a trigger the arms shot down. Two boney hands grabbed the arms and the other two grasped the Slayers head. The Slayer struggled with his attacker for a few seconds, but it was clear who the victor was as the figure pushed and pinned the Slayer to the earth with a crash. Now that the figure stood atop the Slayer I was able to see it a bit better, but the damaged hud was still a little fuzzy.
It was a horrible creature with sickening green skin and a boney yet large body. The creatures hind legs were similar to it's four arms, but it had sharp black talons that had pierced the Slayers legs. It's head was smooth and no eyes could be seen, but as it pinned down the Slayer, it's head seemed to split open and reveal white jagged teeth. It threw back its head and let out a terrible high pitched shriek that vibrated the earth and my cockpit. After it's screeching had ended several more shrieks tore through the sky and the earth began to shake as the sound of several ground shaking steps approached the scene.
*No! No please! HELP! HELP!*
The pilot screams in terror as his Slayer desperately began to struggle beneath the creature, but it was all in vain. Soon enough a dozen more of the creatures came rushing into the scene and the sound of metal bending and breaking filled the air as they swarmed over the pinned Slayer. Chunks of wired parts and limbs were tossed around and the pilots screams were as desperate as ever. After a minute of the Slayer being dismantled the creature that had pinned the Slayer down tore a large cube like object from the swarm and held it with two hands as his other two attempted to pry it open. Soon a dreadful realization hit me as I recognized the large cube being the pilots cockpit. "Oh god no..." I whispered in horror as the sound of metal bending came to my ears.
As the cockpit was pried open I could see a blurry figure of a gryphon pilot. His screams blared over the coms as one of the boney hands grabbed the pilot and ripped him from the cockpit. The pilots wings flailed with panic in attempts to escape, but again his attempt to escape his fate was in vain. A creature from the swarm climbed over the others and grabbed one of the wings with a sickening crack coming over the coms and quickly followed up with a agonizing scream. I cringed from the screams and felt tears escape my eyes and blurred my vision. I shook my head as more of the creatures followed the screams while their heads began to split open to reveal their teeth.
*AHHHH! NO! PLEASE! STO-*
His screams were silenced as one of the creatures snatched the pilots head and crushed it before twisting and ripping it from his body. The rest of the creatures quickly followed along and started to tear the body apart. They fought over every inch of flesh and bone with hungry shrieks. I stared in fear, disgust and shock at the horrific scene. One of the smaller creatures that was unable to get a piece of the pilot let out a annoyed hiss and started to look around. Unfortunately its wondering eyeless head stopped on me and hissed. "Fuck!" I shouted in panic as it took a step towards my Slayer. I tried to get up from my cockpit, but I was painfully remind of my current condition as a bit of my flesh ripped from my crushed limbs. I screamed in anger, pain and frustration and looked around for any ways to save my life.
A yellow text soon flashed from the left side of my hud and showed the image of a Slayers sidearm pistol. I looked to my left and grabbed the control stick that controlled the Slayers left arm. I looked back to the hud and tested the arm to see if it was working. Thankfully it was still operating correctly and I directed the arm towards the holster on the left hip of my Slayer that held the sidearm. With the click of a button the holster released the sidearm and ejected the pistol into the Slayers hand. I lifted the sidearm up to see the smaller creature now crawling fast towards me. It pounced into the air and let out a high pitched shriek as it dived downs towards me. With a roar I placed my sights on the creatures head and pulled the trigger.
BAM!
Three months earlier.
With a yawn I raised my head from my desk and looked up to see a fellow student and teammate of mine, Henry Willis. He had short sandy blonde hair and blue eyes. Henry was at an average height of 5'6 and was somewhat scrawny. He wore the academies standard blood red uniform with a loosened tie. He never did like those things. I've know Henry for a few years now since we were partnered together into the same fire teams, and we've grown close as good friends.
"Yo, I see ya didn't get much sleep again," he chuckled and sat down in a desk next to me. "Bryson keep ya late for simulation?" I sighed nodded as I raised my head from the desk.
"Yeah, we were practicing long range combat. Bastard did not go easy on me," I mumbled and attempted to rub the tiredness from my eyes.
"Never does," he chuckled and leaned back in his seat. "Luckily I came here early though, if the teach would have saw ya nodding off again she'd take a high heeled boot to your ass," with a grin I rested my head in my right palm.
"Wouldn't want that," I said and glanced over to him with a raised eyebrow. "Why'd you come here early anyways? Not like you to be early," he shrugged and balanced a pen in his palm.
"Well we're almost done with this place so I thought 'why the hell not?," he smiled and put the pen down. "Think man, we'll be piloting actual Slayers and kicking some Vile ass," he said and looked to me. "As long as you and me got each others back, they don't stand a chance," I chuckled and nodded.
"Yeah, we got this," I said with a smile.
"Hey guys!" both me and Henry look behind us and see Megan Timber, another teammate that was part of both me and Henrys fire team, entering the classroom and walking through the rows of desk. Her usual smile was planted on her light brown skinned face and her right green eye was covered by her chestnut brown hair. She stood at the height of 5'5 and was pretty fit for such a lazy girl. She wore the same type of red uniform, but replaced the pants with a red skirt. I smiled and held up my free hand to give a wave.
"Yo, looks like you're happier than usual," Henry said. Megan walked to a desk in front of both of ours and sat down with a prideful look.
"Oh you have no idea. I finally beat the boss in Vile Hunter 3," both me and Henry eyes go wide and we look at Megan with amazement.
"What? How'd you beat that bastard?" Henry question with utter shock.
"Yeah, even with all three of us we couldn't beat that thing," I said with annoyance. Her smile grew to a cocky grin as she held the bottom of her chin and looked off into the distance to give a dramatic display.
"It was simple really," she said and snapped back to us with a single finger held up. "Ya just got to stock up on a loooot of health items and go for the groin," she said with a chuckle.
"That's it?" Henry asked with confusion. She nodded with the same smile. I shook my head and chuckled.
"Just go for the groin? Only a girl would come up with that," she chuckled and shrugged. She was going to say something, but a familiar voice entered the room and all of the students in the room shot to their desk.
"Alright everyone, sit down!" I looked to the front of the class room and saw our teacher, Ms. Kelly. Her neutral expression showed no emotions as usual and her brown eyes scanned the class rooms students. Her golden yellow hair was tied into a bun, but a few strands dangled over her glasses. She wore a black dress suit and stood at a tall 6'1, just a few inches above me. She placed a few folders of papers and other things on her desk and as routine of everyday she just stared quietly at the class for a few seconds before clearing her throat and speaking. "Good morning everyone, I hope you are all ready for todays class because we will be reviewing old topics such as history of the station, the races that live here and the duties and benefits that Slayer pilots receive," she said and looked around the class. "Lets start with duties and benefits. Can anyone explain some?" the class was quite for a moment, but soon a hand had raised into the air.
It was David Greg, a fellow student and a member of another team. He had short black hair and green eyes that hid behind a pair of shaded glasses. His uniform was neat and freshly ironed. His height was at 5'8 and he had the same build as me physically. He cleared his throat and spoke. "Slayer pilots duties are to follow the councils commands without question and protect all the races that live on the station and any colonies that have ventured away from the station from the Vile. Benefits of course consist of free advance healthcare, housing, and a very high paying salary. These benefits were originally only given to human pilots, but after the sibling Empresses, Celestia and Luna of the Equestrian sector spoke up for the other races, the council members of humanity decided to allow other sectors to share these benefits and even govern their own sectors," he finished with a satisfied smile. Ms. Kelly nodded with approval.
"Correct David, I’m glad to see you haven’t forgotten your history,” she said and looked to the rest of the class. “Also, as David stated before, Slayer pilots, new and old, are given the role of protecting every sentient race that lives in or out of station Great Refuge. It is of course easier to protect this station, but protecting colonies that have set out from here are a much greater challenge. To make protecting these colonies easier, several military stations have been constructed on the borders that are called the ’frontlines’. There we fight against the infestation know as the Vile,” many of the students in the class clearly gave signs of discomfort, disgust or anger at the mere mention of the Vile. I glanced over to Henry and saw the mixture of hate and disgust in his eyes, but his face remained like stone as he listened to Ms. Kelly.
“Now, let us move on to the races that live in the other sectors of the station,” Ms. Kelly continued. “The founders of station Great Refuge is of course humanity that lives in sector one, the largest and well maintained sector of the station. There is also the Equestrians, or better known between to the other races as ’ponies’ that live in sector two. Their sector is more similar to ours then others, but the size is much smaller compared to our sector. Next is the Gryphons that live in sector three, who’s sector is much larger than the Equestrians, but not as well maintained. They struggle with overpopulation and have very strict laws that cause a few Gryphons to join colonial groups, or unlawful gangs that commit crimes within the sector,” she continued on to list more of the smaller races like the Zebras, Diamond Dogs, Yaks and Minotaurs. After going over the rest of the races we began to go over smaller parts of history that each race played a part in, but at this point I had started to tune it out. I had already known most of it by heart so I just spaced out until the bell to release classes rang.
I groaned, stretched my limbs and sighed as me and my teammates exited the class. Henry sighed and rubbed the back of his head. "Jeez, all we did was go over old crap we already knew," he complained.
"I didn't know about those benefits," Megan said as she walked between us.
"Still, that was nothing really new," he mumbled. I nodded and kept silent as we continued to walk to our usual spot in the court yard. Soon we entered the court yard to see that it was fairly filled with students and a few teachers that were taking a break. We walked to our bench and I was the first to plop down with a sigh. Megan sat to my left and Henry rest onto the top of the bench to my right. Megan took in a deep breath and sighed with a smile.
"Man, to think we're almost done with the academy. Just a few more weeks and we'll be Slayer pilots fighting the Vile and protecting all life," she said with a smile, but it was clear it wasn't her usual smile. There was worry in her eyes. I placed my hand onto her shoulder and gave a small smile.
"Hey, nothing to worry about Meg, we'll be fine," I said in my best encouraging voice, even though I didn't fully think that was true, I knew she needs to hear that. Henry slapped his hand on top of my head and chuckled as he ruffled my hair and leaned over my shoulder.
"Yeah, the Vile won't know what hit them!" he said with a large smile on his face while slowly getting deeper and deeper into my personal space. I growled and pushed his face away with both my hands.
"Will you get off!" I shouted in annoyance. He gave his own growl and pushed against my face.
"Hey knock it off I was trying to help!" he shouted back.
"Your breath ain't helping at all!" he butted his head against mine and glared into my eyes.
"Huh!? I'll throw down for real ya know!?" I butted back.
"All right lets throw down!"
"Hahaha!" Henry and I stopped and looked over to Megan who was holding her mouth while laughing uncontrollably. Both I and Henry stared at her for a moment before turning to each other and smiling. Soon enough we joined in Megan's laughter and let each other go. Megan wiped a tear from her eye and shook her head. "My god, to think you jokers are gonna be Slayer pilots. I'm gonna have to keep an extra eye on you two," he chuckled. I shrugged with a grin laid back in the bench.
"Then I got nothing to worry about, as long as I got you two watching my back I'll be fine," I said and looked to both of them with a sincere smile. "I'll always watch your backs," Henry smiled and lightly punched my arm.
"Yeah, I know ya do Ryan," he said. "I'll always have yours too."
"Same here," Megan said with her smile. I nodded to both of them and looked out to the court yard. A few minutes went by and Megan and Henry began to talk strategy for Vile Hunter 3, but I just drowned them out for a bit. The games fun, but I'm not that into it. My eyes simply gazed around the yard and I soon notice a strange group enter the academies entrance. Three armored soldiers with long white capes and caring spear like rifles marched through the entrance. As I inspected them a bit more I spotted a symbol that was on their chest plated armor. Solar guards! What the hell are they doing here?
As if on cue to answer my question one of the guards moved and allowed me to see an unarmored purple Equestrian. She wore a navy blue female uniform, so she must belong to the Slayer academy in the Equestrian sector. She wore her purple hair in a ponytail and had a streak of pink and a darker shade of purple run through her hair. She stood at a simple height 5'5. She looked to be so engrossed with her surroundings as she looked around the academy with a huge amazed smile. She was even taking notes. Weird.
Soon though I spotted Ms. Kelly walking up to the Equestrians giving a slight bow and beginning to speak with them. After a minute Ms. Kelly gestured for them to follow her and they began to make their way towards the main faculty building.
"Strange..." I whispered to myself.
"What?" Megan asked. I shook my head and looked to her.
"Nothing, just spaced out for a sec," I said with a sheepish chuckle.
"Oh, alright then. Well It's about time we head to our next class. See you guys at lunch?" I nodded as we all rose from the bench.
"Of course," me and Henry said together. We all said our goodbyes and headed to our classes, but my mind was still stuck on those Equestrians. What are they doing here and why was Ms. Kelly talking with them? I sighed and shook my head.
"All this is making me even more tired," I mumbled with a yawn as I walked through the academies hallways. Scanning around the hallway I knew I was going to be late since most of the students had cleared the hallway. Rubbed my tired eyes and frowned. “Great, now I’m gonna get another lecture,” I mumbled as I turned a corner only to bump into something. There was a yelp and as I opened my eyes all I saw was a purple figure falling to the ground. I raised an eyebrow and looked down at what I had walked into. To my surprise, and somewhat shock was the Equestrian that had entered the academy with the Solar Guard escort.
She laid on the ground with clenched eyes and a pained expression. She slowly sat herself up with her left arm and winced as she rubbed her head. “O-ow, sorry. I wasn’t paying attention,” she said and opened her eyes to look up at me with a apologetic look. “Are you okay?” my eyebrow once again rose as a smirk came to my face.
“Me? I should be asking you that,” I chuckled and offered her my hand. She gave a small embarrassed smile and accepted my offer. I gently helped her up and she stumbled a bit before gathering herself. She brushed off her skirt and looked to me. “Thank you,” I nodded.
“No problem, sorry though, I wasn’t really paying attention either,” I apologized while rubbing my neck. She waved her hand and chuckled.
"How about we both take the blame then? I was to busy inspecting the academies hallways," I chuckled and looked around the hallways.
"Really? They're really that interesting?" she gave a sheepish smile and scratched her cheek.
"Well no, I was juts seeing if the designs were any different from ours," she said and looked away with slightly flushed cheeks. "Unfortunately, there wasn't much difference," with an amused smirk, I lifted up my right arm and glanced at my watch. I was for sure going to be late, but I can at least give an excuse about helping a visitor. I looked back to the Equestrian and smiled.
"Hey, if you want I can show you around, help you see if there are any differences between our schools," my offer caught her attention and she looked around the hallway.
"A-are you sure? I believe your classes have already begun and I wouldn't want to intrude on your academics," I stifled my laughter, poorly by the way, and shook my head.
"No it's fine, trust me. I mostly sleep in my next class anyways," she seemed unsure and sighed before looking back to me with a smile.
"Okay, please show me around," with a nod I gestured for her to follow me. Once she was beside me we began to make our way down the hallways and towards our first destination. The arena. As we exited the building we were greeted by different paved paths that led to different buildings on the campus. After giving a quick glance to my right I spotted the large domed building in the distance. Even from this distance I could see the entrance and its two Slayer units flanking both sides of the entrance. I pointed to the arena.
"I'm sure you have an arena, right?" I asked as we began to travel down the paved path.
"Of course," she said with a nod, but placed her finger onto her chin as she looked towards the building. "Though ours is much more closer to the main building. Plus we have electric railways that transport us to and from each building," I glanced her way and chuckled.
"Railways? Man, Henry would love those. He always complain when we head to the arena, says it takes the fight out of him" she gave her own chuckle and nodded.
"A friend of mine is actually the opposite. She would rather race to the next building so she can get the fight into her, but it's mandatory to use the railways so she simply sits there impatiently," she said and shook her head with a smile. "I personally don't mind the railways, but now that I'm walking I have to say it's much more satisfying," she looked around her surroundings and nearly lost herself with the environment that followed every path. The landscaping staff have taken great pride in their work today from the looks of the freshly cut grass, watered flowers and neatly trimmed hedges. Even the small animals such as birds, chipmunks and squirrels were looking extra lively today as they went about their own business. I chuckled and shrugged.
"Yeah, it's a nice view. Relaxes the mind and all," she nodded and looked to me with a smile.
"Perfect place to study," I gave a chuckle and nodded. After a few more minutes of walking we grew closer to the arenas entrance and I could see my companion staring wide eyes at the two Slayer units on both sides of the entrance. Both had pitch black armor and held massive black tower shields. Behind those shields they both held long spears with curved blades on the tips. "The two Slayer units at the entrance is quite different from our arenas. Are they active?" I shook my head.
"No, these Slayers were damaged beyond repairs in a great battle against the Vile and were simply cleaned up and put here as an encouragement for students," I said and pointed to the Slayer on the right. "That one, if I'm correct, belongs to one of the creators of the Slayer units, Dr. Tomio," her eyes grew even wider as she pointed to the Slayer on the right.
"That Slayer belonged to Tomio!? The Dr. Tomio!?" she caught be a little off guard, but held up my hands and chuckled.
"That's what they told us," her eyes seemed to sparkle with amazement as he gave a exited squeal and stared at the Slayer.
"I don't believe it, the man responsible for giving us a way to fight the Vile actually piloted this Slayer? I'm almost tempted to inspect it closer," she said with drool threatening to run down her mouth. I placed my hand on her shoulder and shook my head.
"Not a good idea, they're put there as a monument so the teachers don't want anyone getting to close to them. Last guy who thought it would be fun to go for a climb ended up having a bean bag shot into, well his bean bag," she covered her mouth in attempt to hold her laugher and I chuckled. "Yeah, Henry wasn't walking right for weeks," that got a snort out of her and I laughed.
"Oh, that's horrible! I'm sorry for laughing at your friend but that sounds like an amusing story," I shook my head and smiled.
"Nah, it's fine. Had it coming if you ask me," I said and looked to the red sign above the entrance. "Damn, looks like the arenas in use right now," I looked around and spotted a few benches not to far away from the entrance. "Lets just sit for awhile," she nodded and we made our way towards the benches. I was the first to plop onto the bench and sighed as I stretched my arms onto the benches back. "Ah, that feels good," the Equestrian sat on the other end of my bench and straightened out her skirt with her own sigh.
"I guess it does feel good to sit, I've been on my feet all day," I looked in her direction. She sat peacefully with her hands cuffed in her lap and looked around her surroundings with a wondering look. She seemed to be always inspecting something, no matter how big or small with the same level of attention to detail. It was actually a little cute, in a childish way. Soon she spotted me looking at her and smiled. "Yes?" I snapped out of it and cleared my throat as I felt my cheeks heat up a bit. Hopefully they weren't showing.
"Sorry, um... anyways, mind telling me why you're here?" I asked with a mixture of curiosity and embarrassment. This question seemed to excite her.
"Oh, well I'm actually here for a few reason. Personal reason is to see what the human academy is like and if it was different from ours," I raised any eyebrow.
"Well, from what you've seen so far, is it any different?" she shrugged.
"Only by a few details, yes, but it's just a larger version of our campus," I nodded my head.
"And the other reason you're here?" she sighed and bit her lip, as if she was trying to determine weather or not to tell me. Soon she sighed once more and spoke.
"I can't go into details, but I'm here to talk with the deans of this academy for a future plan our races have been planning for some time," this peaked my interest a bit, but I could see that she wasn't going to go into anymore details and sighed.
"A plan, eh? Sounds interesting," I mumbled and shrugged. "Well, I'm not training to be part of the councils so I'll let them do all of the planning," I said and grinned. As we sat in a moment of silence I was about to ask her another question, but I was cut off by a distant voice.
“Found her, she’s over here!” I looked passed the Equestrian and saw the Solar Guards from earlier jogging towards us. The Equestrian gave a small sigh and turned to face the guards with a sheepish smile.
“Musket, there you are! I was just looking for the restrooms and got lost,” she said with a nervous chuckle. The guards finally reached us and the tallest one sighed.
“Miss Sparkle, I know you’re curious about the humans academies, but we really don’t have the time to explore like you want. Please just follow us and let us do what we came to do,” the Equestrian have a disappointed sigh and nodded.
“Very well, you’re right Musket,” she said and looked back to me with a small smile as she rose from the bench. “Thank you very much for walking with me, I enjoyed your company very much," I nodded and leaned forward from my seat.
“It’s all good, by the way the names Ryan Lox,” I said and extended my hand to shake hers. She smiled and gladly shook my hand.
“Twilight Sparkle, but Twilight is fine,” with a nod I let go and tapped on the side of my head.
“Twilight, got it,” she chuckled and turned to follow the Solar Guard escort. Before she was to far away she looked over her shoulder and shouted.
“Hope to see you again Ryan!” with a smile I waved to her. Once she had gotten a far enough distance I sighed and leaned back in my seat with a chuckle.
"Well, class is almost over and none of the teachers have seen me, might as well relax till the bell," I said with relief. "Smooth as always Ryan, smooth as always," I chuckled and closed my eyes. Though before I could begin relaxing, a cracking noise came from behind me. I raised an eyebrow, opened my right eye and leaned my head back far enough for me to see what was behind me. My eyes snapped open and I felt my heart skip a beat. Glaring from above me was a truly horrifying beast with an aura of murder flowing from its very presence. Ms. Kelly! Sweat covered my body from fear and I felt the blood drain from my face. With a nervous, shaking smile I held up a hand. "H-h-hey Ms. Kelly, um... nice day, isn't it?" I chuckled nervously.
She slowly crack her knuckles and glared even hared at me with a vein nearly about to burst in her head. "So, you're not only skipping, but flirting with a visiting student from another sectors academy?" she asked with such trembling anger.
I shot up from my seat and franticly waved my head and hands. "No! No not at all! There was no flirting involved and I was just showing her around! I-I swear!" she responded by cracking her neck and walking around the bench. I would have stepped away, but fear sealed me to the ground and fate. I attempted to speak in hopes to save myself, but only a pitiful babbling escaped my mouth.
"Time for us to have a talk," she said with a blood thirsty smile. As she seemed to tower over me like a giant I felt tears threaten the corners of my eyes as I shook my head in denial. Soon she pulled back her fist of death and gave a sick, chilling chuckle before launching it towards me. I attempted to cover my face and let out a cry of fear.
"Not the face!"
*BAM!*
*POW!*
*CRASH!*
"MY FACE!!"