Disclaimer: I know what I own, but the question is do you? Because I remember that I own my character and concepts, yet someone left these other properties lying around, so I thought I could play with them. My apologies for thinking I could do so. -;

So I heard Rapidfyrez had this OC Tournament going on. I figured that it might be the thing to get me back into writing stuff for the site again. I really had fun writing this piece. It was like getting back into the swing of something you thought you were too handicapped to do (no offense to anyone meant of course!).

This story also contains some spoilers for my future adventures involving the Guardians of Dimensions. Still, I hope they at least draw the right attention and give you an entertaining collection of words to read. Is this any good? Maybe, maybe not! At the very least, I hope you enjoy it for what it is. Now let's get this show on the road!


The Calling-Enter Kulalu

Prologue: It All Started As An Ordinary Day…


The shinning crystal towers normally gave off a benevolent shine that displayed the magnificence of the city. That wasn't the problem. Pegasi and ponies adorned in armor ready for battle ran through its streets, armed to fight and busy providing cover for other of their ranks to help the crystal civilians find shelter to be safe from the battle ensuing around them. That wasn't the problem either. There were swarms of changelings flying through the skies above the city, flittering like bees defending their hive. They weren't the problem either oddly enough. No, this was a world where they were not the invading force of a tyrant, but rather the subjects of a loving empress. No the problem was with the force they were fighting to hold back from further occupying the Crystal Empire. Infestations of creatures ranging from short humanoids of many colors and sizes to larger brutish yet cartoony looking fighters were running rampant throughout the cityscape. Despite their many appearances, the common factor among their kind seemed to be the mark of what appeared to be a barbed musical note in the shape of a heart that was present on their person somewhere.

These creatures were known as the Unsung. They were malevolent beings that caused bedlam and destruction to the worlds they invaded. It was not entirely clear what they ultimately wanted to accomplish only that it involved spreading misery to the worlds as a whole. Fortunately they had once tried to take this world before and thus its defenders were more than ready to face these monstrosities with no hesitation. It would make any equestrian proud to know that the guard alone was enough to face these invaders and not need to resort yet to more extreme methods that seemed.

While the kingdoms own defenses were holding strong against this onslaught, they were not fighting alone. They had a force for good on their side; one that had made it its mission to face the threat of these creatures. They were tough, courageous, vigilant, and the pinnacle example of any force that took the oath to be defenders of the many dimensions. They were also one of the most ragtag groups anyone probably laid eyes on. They were the Guardians of Dimensions (or G.O.D. for short) and they were here to help save the world.

O

"ORBUS PUNCH!" shouted a small robot that could have been mistaken for a puppet. He had a black and white head with only and eye on the white half of it. The rest of his metal gears and parts were mostly silver or gold in hue.

The Unsung Paladin he punched, appearing like a cartoonish facsimile of a medieval knight went flying back and knocking over a great deal more Unsung Soldiers in the process.

"Good punch, Orbus! I believe he felt that one!" said a tall robot with a Scottish accent. He appeared to be made of gears and different metals of a silver, gold, and copper tone. He gave the impression that he was more like a butler than a fighter, yet he clearly had no problem shooting at the Unsung with a gear adorned gun while jumping in the way to take a hit for a nearby guard pony or changeling.

"You better believe it, Klank." A tiny robot declared while lifting his tiny noodle-like arms as if he were flexing for a fitness magazine. "I don't work out these big guns for nothing!"

Klank humored his mechanical friend. "Aye, you certainly make sure to 'work those curls for the girls' as the humans say."

"Enough foolishness! Let's finish this already!" cried a voice. The two robots turned to face the newcomer, only to find a face that was familiar to them.

It was a woman of slightly taller than the norm height with a brown hat, a white long sleeved buttoned shirt with a brown vest and black tie over it, as well as a pair of tan slacks that were covered by her black boots. She seemed to be of Asian descent, but neither machine was fooled by this human disguise, for both knew her true form. In truth, she was Machine Beast Tamer Keris a female robot (with a rather *ahem* buxom appearance) who once served as an officer and tamer of the Machine Beasts for King Bacchus Wrath. Two them, she was just Keris: a female who was skilled with a whip and enjoyed using it, especially at times on Klank.

"I thought you would be enjoying yourself, Keris." Orbus quipped as he flew onto her shoulder. "You have plenty of opponents to whip into shape."

"Humph!" She frowned while simultaneously using her whip to smack a few enemies away, while also ensnaring Unsung to toss into others. "This is barely a workout worth my time. I haven't even found a need to let loose into my proper shape."

"Oh I bet Klank is upset about that! Aren't you Klank?"

"Um, well, that is to say-Hey is that the queen!" He pointed immediately behind them.

"Hah! I'm not falling for that one again!" Orbus exclaimed before crossing his arms. "Every time I hear those words 'Hey is that whatever-whatever' it's never 'whatever'."

"Too bad, Orbus. I would have given you a kiss to make Shiny here jealous." a feminine voice joked.

"Huh!?" Orbus quickly turned his head to see who was standing there behind them. Low and behold, it was the regents in charge standing there with slight grins on their faces while also armed for battle.

The one who made the joke would be considered an odd one if you did not know her. Once she was appeared as a pink alicorn who was designated as Cadance the Princess of Love. After the events of her wedding, she now appeared as a more insectoid looking alicorn with a spring green body, a gnarled horn, a crown like crest on her head, and small holes along her hooves that were in the shape of hearts. Her wings were also no longer the feathered type, but rather the grand pair of a monarch butterfly. They were blue, like her main and tail, except her hair had strands of pink added in. This was Queen Chysalis, one of the ruling regents of the Crystal Empire.

Next to her was a unicorn stallion with white fur, and a blue mane and hooves. He wore a purple and gold armor set with the six pointed star emblem of his house in the front. He also had a magenta glowing aura surrounding himself and a drawn sword which was held with a grip of telekinetic magic. Despite the weapon, he seemed to prefer fighting off the Unsung with walls of shield magic that he would use to either knock them away, or box them in until they were crushed. This unicorn was Shining Armor, the other ruling regent of the Crystal Empire, and the husband of Chysalis.

"-Sigh- I've told you, Chryssie. Just because I won't kiss you when I have my Life Aura on, doesn't mean I don't want too. It just makes it awkward that you keep trying to when I'm in the middle of fighting."

"But you taste like Raspberries when you do!" She wined. "It adds flavor to the love."

No one knew what to say to that.

"Um, perhaps we could discuss this when we are not in the middle of a battlefield?" Shining asked, realizing that they were getting stares from everyone, and quite possibly the Unsung as well.

"Ugh! Fine! But this isn't over! I will get my fill of Raspberry flavored sweetness before this day is over!" She cackled as she charged into the fray, laughing in glee at the thought of how much love she would get to eat when all was said and done.

Klank was impressed at how well Shining took seeing his wife go straight into the fight.

"Normally a knight would show a slight bit of hesitation at seeing their queen go to battle."

"ROOOAAARRR!"

The now formed dragon breathed greenish flames down upon the Unsung as they tried to flee, only to find themselves making larger piles that provided bigger targets to burn to ash. Their efforts to escape were further hindered by Shining conjuring wall to trap them into one place.

"Yeah, well most knights aren't married to a Princess of Love who is also a Changeling Queen that can transform into a gigantic dragon."

"Touché." Klank replied as he readied his gun to get back into the fight. Still, whatever score he accumulated was shattered by the numbers Chrysalis was currently burning through.

It appeared that the queen had this battle well in hand. That is until the Unsung just seemed to stop in place. This seemed like an odd choice for them to do, especially since it made them more vulnerable, but to the three members of G.O.D., they knew what this meant.

"Uh-oh!" Orbus shook in dismay. "Looks like they decided to stop goofing off!"

The Unsung seemed to start shaking in place until they all simultaneously started to float up above the limits of the crystal building around them.

"My, she is certainly getting better with that." Klank complimented, knowing who the cause of this was.

"Yep, nobody can take on our Ace!" Orbus agreed.

"Still, I think it's time you lent a hand here, don't you think Orbus?" Keris smiled. Orbus caught on to her meaning and seemed to dance on her shoulder in excitement.

"Oh boy!" Orbus knew what this meant. "It's time to bring the BIG finale!"

He floated of Keris' shoulder and into the hands of Klank. As he did, he withdrew his arms, legs, and head into his body as he pullout out a handle for Klank to grip in his right.

"Aye, and let's make this a grand one to celebrate for days to come!" the Scottish sounding robot exclaimed as he pulled out Orbus' arm and began to swing him around like he was tossing a hammer. "Around, around, and away we go!"

Orbus flew a great distance up until he safely landed on the back of the now reverted Changeling Queen.

"Here, Chyrssie! A queen-sized gift fit for a queen!" Orbus giggled at his little joke. He then shot the energy beam that was produced by his Giant System to transmute her majesty into a gigantic version of herself.

"Oh thank you, Orbus. This is just what I needed!" her voice boomed through the air as she jumped and engulfed herself in green flames for another transformation. "Now to show these monsters why you should never think it's a good idea to attack here!"

Her transformation reached its epic conclusion as she achieved the form of a dragon even more massive and powerful looking than the last. With a mighty roar, she flew toward the gathered Unsung, only this time breathing out powerful streams of lightning, instead of flame. Still she would not be concluding this battle on her own, for two more individuals would be assisting with its conclusion.

O

On one of the roofs of a crystal skyscraper were the final members of this group. One was a young girl in her early teens that had short black hair with a white suit of clubs hairclip. She wore black lipstick and appeared to have black markings, possibly mascara, around her eyes that made them more distinct. She wore a leotard with long sleeves that was mostly white except for the portion near her right arm. She had a black suit of clubs above where her heart would be and also wore black boots. Tucked in her left arm was what appeared to be a tome bound in white leather with the cover appearing to be like the Ace of Clubs playing card. In her right hand however, was what appeared to be a silver handgun that she had pointing at her own head. She stared blankly at the multitude of Unsung floating helplessly in the sky in front of her with her eyes glowing in yellow spirals swirling into infinity.

"Good job, Ace! You have certainly improved by leaps and bounds since you started to get the hang of this." Said a voice behind her. "So, have you figured out how to take them out in one swoop yet?"

She did not turn to face the other person, not wanting to lose her focus. If she did, she would see a young man dressed in black, with a white squarish spiral on his shirt and a top hat. However, what stood out more about this gentleman was the mask he wore. It was half black and half white with a smile of the opposite colors painted on top. This was the world traveler, known by many names such as The Cosmic Clown, The Mischievous Madman, The Crazy Count, but mostly by his name: Kulalu. He twirled around an umbrella as he continued to watch the young girl utilizing her abilities.

"Look Ace, I know you don't like using it, but you got to stop being afraid of your power now."

Ace said nothing for a long while, before finally replying. "But if I use anything like Armageddon I could destroy this whole place."

Count Kulalu laughed at that as if she was kidding. He knew she was serious, but tried to convey to Ace that she was just worrying too much.

"C'mon Ace, I taught you to be better than that. You don't just think the end of the world and do it. You got to use your imagination! Think bigger!"

Bigger, huh? She could do that.

"Mothra/Battra: Cry of the Earth!"

She fired a round into her head, unleashing a clod of glowing shards that called upon two massive shapes. The shapes took the form of a pair of gigantic moths, one white and gentle looking, the other black, and appearing more violent. Together they caused a tornado that gathered all the Unsung while also blasting them with beams of energy that came from their antennae. Add in Chrysalis' attacks in her gigantic dragon form, and you hand all the Unsung destroyed in a matter of minutes!

The battle was finally over. Cheers rang out through the empire as the celebrated this victory.

Kulalu himself applauded at the victory thanks to Ace and the help of all of their friends today.

"Congratulations, Ace! That was a splendid spell!" He lifted his top hat to tip it to his younger teammate. "I tip my hat at you. Now let's go celebrate."

He threw his hat back on as he walked toward Ace, taking note of the now regular sized Chrysalis waving as she flew back toward the ground below. He waved back, noticing even Ace waved as well with a slight smile on her normally stoic face.

"So, how about we get some cake?" Kulalu asked as he opened his umbrella and grabbed hold of Ace as they jumped of the roof to join the others on the streets below.

"…I want ice cream, too."

The grin on Kulalu's mask widened at that. "Of course! Whatever you want, Ace. You've earned it today!"

She certainly did, as the cheers seemed to focus on the efforts of Ace alongside the queen. They landed safely on the ground and met up with everyone else. The celebration started soon after.

It was just another day in the lives of the Guardians of Dimensions.

O

So one again our heroes found themselves saving the day. After making sure that things would be alright for the rulers of the Crystal Empire (and helping to assure a rather distressed Alicorn Princess and her friends recently arriving by train that her Brother and the Empire was alright ) they said their farewells and made their promises to meet again. They then boarded their transport out of the world.

That method took the form of a train that had the appearance of a black steam engine with black cars that where coated with shining stars. This was the marvelous locomotive known as the S.T.A.R.L.I.G.H.T. (Special Train and Realm of Limitless Imagination Giving Happiness and Tranquility) and was the place these individuals considered home when they weren't exploring what the different dimensions have to offer. It ran steadily through the rifts between worlds on tracks that seemed to appear before it.

"Whew! Another battle, another world saved, and another kiss of thanks from a princess!" Orbus gleefully cheered as he grabbed a plate of cake from the fancily set table the five sat at. "Life is good for Orbus!"

Kalnk sat at his place at the table, with a nice cup of oil in his hand. "Aye, it's good to hear that, Orbus. However, how many times must I tell you that you can't eat cake?"

"Hey, I can dream Klank!" The tiny robot protested with cake smeared all over his little face in his poor attempts to eat it. This caused Keris and Ace to break into smiles as once again the little robot faled to admit that he just wasn't built with an eating function.

It seemed things were normal for the Guardians of Dimensions. That is, except for what Klank seemed to notice about Kulalu's activities.

"Is something wrong, sir?" He asked the Count who seemed to be paying more attention to his own compendium than the slice of cheesecake he would usually be eating with gusto.

"I've never seen the Unsung just attack a place like that. Normally, they have a more powerful member of their ranks target a specific person of the world and just go through their usual song and dance of trying to use their inner darkness to unravel the world." Kulalu pondered this while checking the pages of his compendium. "Yet this group seemed to be just attacking with no sense of direction. They didn't even go for the Crystal Heart."

"Do you think they were after something else?" Keris asked before taking a sip from a teacup.

"Who knows? Maybe there is something we overlooked when we-"

-THUMP!-

The train shook violently as if something crashed into the back of it. The sudden interruption wasn't enough to stop the train, but it was definitely enough to shake up its passengers in the dining car. The table was a bit messy, but fortunately no one was knocked out of their seats.

Kulalu was the quickest to get on his feet. "That came from the back of the train!"

At this, they all got up and rushed down the cars, to get to the end. Each quickly armed themselves whether it was Keris readying her whip, Kulalu holding out his umbrella, or even Orbus wielding a serving tray lid as a shield with a butter knife in his other hand. All of them were ready to fight whatever it could be. When they got to the final car however, they couldn't find anything there.

"No signs of any trouble." Kulalu remarked as he stepped into the last car, making sure to keep the others back as he explored it. "Maybe it was just a bit of turbula-"

Suddenly, the entire train seemed to shake violently with a great deal of force that threw everyone about the car interior.

"Everybody hold on!" Kulalu shouted as he spun around alone in the last cabin.

It seemed this one car was causing the entire train to violently shake. If it kept it up, the train might end up getting destroyed in the rift. Knowing they couldn't risk that, Kulalu did the only thing he could think of to remedy the situation.

"KLANK!" He shouted. "Pull the lever! If you don't we'll be knocked of the track and fly into the void!"

Klank gazed at the emergency lever that would separate the car from the rest of the train. "But-"

"JUST DO IT!" Kulalu Shouted again. He was holding tightly to his hat and umbrella as they tried to fly away from him in the turbulent motion. "I'll jump back onto the train before it gets away! Just pull the lever!"

Klank seemed to hesitate, but nodded as he hurried to pull down the emergency disconnect. The moment he did, the last car pulled away from the rest of the train. Only instead of just stopping in place on the track and giving Kulalu time to jump off like he planned, it vanished completely, taking Kulalu with it.

"Where did he go?"Keris asked in worry. Ace seemed to huddle near her, worry clear in her eyes.

Klank and Orbus looked towards one another, but at neither knew the answer to that.

"I don't know, but we'll find him." Klank promised trying to sound confident at that declaration.

That didn't do anything to alleviate their fear of never seeing the Crazy Count again.

O

He didn't know where he was; only that it wasn't the S.T.A.R.L.I.G.H.T. and there was no cake. Or at least if there was, it was a lie! He appeared to be in some sort of dark and decrepit hallway, on a space station perhaps? Well, in any case, he was at least alive, which was good.

"Well, that wasn't the best idea I ever had." He straightened his clothing and hat. "Still at least I'm in one piece…wherever I am."

He nonchalantly spun around his umbrella as he looked around, but could see and hear no sign of life. There was only the sense of ruin and weariness embedded in these decrepit walls. This worried him, but he decided to not linger too much on it. He had friends to get back to after all. Suddenly an idea occurred to him that he was surprised he didn't think of before: He was a user of the power of imagination!

"I'll just make a doorway to get back." He raised his hand to conjure up a door using his powers of imagination. Only, nothing happened. So he tried again. Still nothing.

"C'mon! It's not that hard to imagine a door!" His voice strained with exertion for something that should be as easy to him as breathing. "It's….errrr!...something that opens and….errr!...then you are home! Arrgh! Why don't you appear-"

"Having a little trouble there?" said a voice echoing throughout the halls.

The voice was dark and aged like even time wore it away into something rough and disfigured. Immediately, Kulalu didn't like it for in his experience as a world traveler such voices meant you were a subject to someone's game.

"So…I suppose it's you I have to thank for my arrival." Kulalu cried out, while looking around for some sign of the voices source.

"Guilty as charged." The voice answered with no indication as to its source. The Crazy Count decided that whoever it was would like to remain anonymous for now, so he lessoned his search for the method the voice was traveling and just spoke back to it with his usual rebuttal for villain types.

"So….how can I help you, my good sir?" Kulalu sarcastically asked with his gleeful voice.

"Why you can help me by providing me with…some entertainment."

"Well I normally could provide a few good card tricks, some old fashioned prestidigitation, and maybe a musical number, but it appears SOMEONE-not naming any names or pointing any fingers-has decided to negate my imaginative powers. Again, not saying who, but that is not a very nice thing to do for someone you dragged from a decent cake he was sharing with his friends."

"HAHAHAHAH! You really are a clown! But that's not what I meant and you know it."

The masked man seemed to drop a bit at that. Now he was getting an idea as to what he was in for.

"-Sigh- Figures. Let me guess, this is going to be some life or death game where only if I win I get to see my friends again."

"More like a…tournament to the death…or a real Battle Royale, but you seem to get the gist of it."

"Right." He clenched his fists and the handle of his umbrella tighter, at hearing the joy in the being's voice at the mere mention of death. Having it in a tournament format suggested that others were dragged into this like he was. That meant that there was definitely a chance someone would get seriously injured, or even killed. If there was one thing he despised, it was entertainment at the cost of others. "And if I say no?"

"Then you can just go your merry way." The voice calmly stated, before breaking into more sinister laughter. "Oh wait, you can't! HAHAHAHA!"

Kulalu started laughing along as well.

"HaHaHAHaHAHA-You think I'm really just going to go along with this?" He crossed his arms as the expression on his mask morphed into a frown.

"Oh, does the Cosmic Clown think he can't handle having the lives of others in his hands?"

'Cosmic Clown?' the masked man thought this might be a clue of the voice's identity.

Kulalu knew that title some labeled him, but it was not as well known throughout the worlds as one would think. Whoever this was clearly had something against him that might have reached a personal level.

"Oh no! That part I can handle just fine. Yay….fighting to the bloody end….wooooh." He weakly cheered. "No, what I have a problem with is your sense of sportsmanship. I mean, here I am, dragged onto what I guess is a coliseum, pretty much powered down and you haven't even given me so much as a wooden sword."

"Hmm, I suppose I could grant you a boon. Never let it be said that I didn't give guests of the Caretaker a fighting chance for what little it did for them."

"See, there you go. Was that so difficul-" He stopped when he realized what the voice said. "Wait, did you say THE Caretaker?"

Now that worried him. In all his travels, there were few that Kulalu would make sure to stay clear of to avoid there malevolence. The Caretaker was definitely on that list of things to avoid when traversing the realms. He heard the tales about this being whispered among seedier sections of the universe. Older than is comprehensible, The Caretaker said to be legendary in its sadistic revelry in the pain and suffering of others. Specifically it loved to watch the suffering of those that found themselves in its arena, where sixteen poor souls were forced to fight if they wish to leave alive.

If that was the case, then he knew were this speaker dragged him to. He was on S-6-S; a place that not even he dared to tread. Now that he knew, he would have to exercise absolute caution for who knew whatever else was dragged over her and trapped with him.

"So you've heard of him. Good. That makes this easier."

Kulalu said nothing in reply. He just nodded his head, knowing that the being was probably capable of watching him from anywhere on this station.

"So here is all you have to do: play the game, follow MY rules, and you'll find the way back home."

"That's it?"

"Assuming of course the other competitors don't end your life, then yes, it's that simple."

'So the other competitors might be forced to end each other permanently. Granted, they might be trapped as well in this little game, or even fighting for what they believe is right, but for all I know they might be the type that would do anything to enter this fight knowing they will get the chance to off someone for power.' Kulalu thought as he readied his umbrella. 'I may have to play for keeps if I want to get out of here. Hopefully it won't come to that.'

"Now for your gift!"

A light flicked on in the distance, casting a ray upon a box in the middle of the hallway. Kulalu cautiously approached it, and even went as far as to open it with the tip of his umbrella. As the lid swung up, he immediately had his umbrella open, ready to protect him from the explosion from a bomb. Only nothing seemed to occur.

He carefully looked over his umbrella, and gazed at the contents of the box. What he found was disconcerting to say the least. It seemed to be a handgun, made of black metal, with engravings of some language written along the barrel. A Suit of Club was engraved on the handle. Kulalu closed his umbrella and picked up the gun, inspecting it carefully. He knew what it really was. He he helped Ace make a similar thing after all.

"An evoker? You're giving me an evoker? After going through the trouble of negating my imaginative abilities, you are giving me a more focused, albeit limited way to use them. Why?"

It seemed nonsensical, until the Caretaker answered why he was granting this gift with sadistic glee.

"So you can call upon the power of those futile bonds you hold dear to you in that little black book you keep on you…But every time you use that evoker, you'll feel the pain of doing what it should be doing…Blowing your brains out!" The Caretaker cackled madly at the idea. "The best part is that it's as if those very beings you claim to cherish are causing you pain every time you ask for their help!"

So that was it. Whoever this person was knew of the compendium he carried on his person at all times, and found a way to twist its power and sentimentality it gave to him. More disturbingly, this villain came up with it just to provide more pleasure to one of the cruelest beings of legend. Whoever this was, they too were probably on that list of sadists.

Kulalu considered his situation carefully. So far, it did not have that many options or ideas as to who the voice could be. 'So in the end I have two villains I have to deal with for sure. Not sure who one is, other than that he wants me to suffer in a game held by one of the most sadistic beings in existence. Could be worse, I suppose. He had the power to drag me out of the rift. He could have just killed me instead of watching me squirm. At least I have a chance to get out of this alive. '

"I can deal with pain well enough. The question is can you deal with the fact that I'm coming after you when all is said and done?" Kulalu pocketed the evoker, and pointed his umbrella as he issued his challenge to the one running this ruin of a space station.

"By all means, try your best. It will make it even more gratifying when you fall and end up trapped here forever…Assuming of course you live long enough to do so!"

And with that, after giving off one last bout of laughter, the voice ceased to sound from the halls. This left Kulalu alone with only himself and his thoughts to accompany him. Still, he tried to pep himself up for what seemed to be a long task that needed to be accomplished.

"Klank…Orbus…Keris…Ace…I'm gonna fight, and while I know you aren't here, you will be fighting with me." He affirmed. The serious look on his mask then broke into his familiar smiling face. "When this is over, I'm taking us all on a long vacation, maybe to a beach or a lake. We could have a camp out and s'mores. That would be fun."

The Masked man leant his umbrella against his shoulder and began to march towards what he felt was the direction to go. Whether it was to victory, or doom, he couldn't really say, only that he hoped for the first more than the later.


To be continued…?


Can Kulalu gain a winning streak and stop the Caretaker's goals of watching competitors suffer for his enjoyment?

What will happen once the other competitors meet up?

Will they be willing to ally themselves with our Crazy Count, or will they go straight for the killing blow?

Will Kulalu see his friends again?

And who is this mysterious stranger that has dragged him into this situation in the first place?

Find out all this and more, next time on The Calling!