OLYMPIANS
Chapter 1: Go
THE JUNGLE was a wild place. It was late at night. Its pleasant looking nature was not to be mistaken for. The trap was set. The trap was used. It was made out of thick tree branches and piles and piles of leaves, thick, long leaves covering the outside of the environmentally made cage, the base of it made of roots and hard rocks, keeping the creature from escaping. Suddenly, the sound of a drawn-out, muffled, blood-curdling scream was heard by the trap-makers. The two, viscous, strong, fearsome lions, each with their claws sheathed. The scream has trailed off into a feral roar and the scratching of claws against the rock cage, and the two lions continued their patrol in front of the cage. The lions have a darker coat, unlike other lions, with deep, black manes, along with their underbelly. Behind them are skulls, killed and won by themselves through fierce battles. They approach the closed rock cage at the far end of the natural tree-made cave-like room, which reveals two more patrolling lions. The screams and growls become louder and more intense now; they come closer to the rock, being pounded hard enough to shake the ground. The very angry occupant is locked behind it, and only a small opening allows visual contact up-close between the two sides.
"The rock will hold?"
"It must!"
The hollering and banging become louder.
"The cat will be delivered to ShadowClan on schedule. Arzi and BrokenStar have commanded it."
The lions come closer the little opening,.
"And, if this thing gets loose?"
"Then, Scar, help us all."
They become closer to the small opening; another piercing scream, the rock cracks, causing the opening to become larger, the pieces of rock becoming looser and looser, breaking, and finally, crumbling to the ground, as two burning green eyes rise into view behind it. The guards take a few steps back, bracing themselves for anything and everything, and, they get it when one last yell rings out and the rock collapses to the ground, sending crumbles of it flying everywhere. The lions are stunned; total blackness within the cage; after a very long second or two, the eyes blaze up again, and their owner steps out into the light. The voice and eyes belonged to a lioness. Her fur color much lighter than the others, a peachy-orangey color, green eyes ablaze and claws sheathed, in better term, just plain boiling mad. The lioness speaks.
"Zengtha ru maka! Kek zengtha rof!"
She lunges at the lions, and, her fiery green eyes are the only thing you can see.
An angry, manacled lioness charging on with a steadily building roar in her throat. When she gets within striking distance of the four lions, a distant height mismatch becomes evident, with her on the short end of it. However, this does not stop her from swinging both sheathed paws in a wild roundhouse and knocking one of her captors to the wall.
"Zengtha ru maka! Kek zengtha ror!"
Another big swing dispatches two more; she then tries an uppercut against the one standing left, but he blocks it with his claws and tries a counterattack. He gets nowhere with it, but she slips in a hit that slices his claws into two and follows it with a kick to a head. The now senseless enemy is driven into an alarm on the side; as he slides down, roars and alarming sounds start up, triggered by the hit.
"Heska vo" she whispers viciously.
The tree starts to catch on fire, while the lioness runs out through the smoke and flame. An instant later, she has put a lot of distance between herself and the lions and made a beeline to the only place left she could go: making a beeline miles miles to from the jungle to the nearest city, not noticing the changes she just overcame.
It, too, was nighttime over Canterlot City Bay. Sirens wail in the distance; the street where the figure runs ducks into an alley. It is a bulging sack in his hands-a burglar on the run from the police. He looks back toward the mouth of the alley, just in time to see the squad cars race past; he looks at the sack and eyes it smugly and walks further along. Before he can get ten steps away, a shadow passes quickly over him:
"Huh?" he whispers.
With his free hand, he pulls out a crowbar and brandishes it uncertainly. He looks up to the sky and looks from one side, to the other, and back to the center. Something flashes down the rooftops on this last movement and resolves into a bird-a-rang, as the figure comes out from the dark. The burglar loses his hold on the crowbar when the projectile clangs to it.
"I don't want trouble, okay?" stammers the burglar as he backs up.
A black blur drops behind him, at the far end of the alley, and he turns this way to find a pair of pinpoint eyes staring at him from the shadows. The pair belong to a large crow, and flies off with a great chirping commotion. Throwing his arms to protect his face, the burglar stands his ground as more fly past.
"You should've thought of that before you committed crime."
The black blur advances implacably toward the burglar before sprinting at him. His high kick finds the chin and slides the burglar back five yards. The burglar runs back toward the interloper. The blur backs up a bit and blocks the wild punches arching toward his head before delivering a kick to the chest. Down goes the burglar, but the blur does not let it rest, he bounds up a wall and pushes away for a boost upward. This move carries him over the criminal's shoulders, and he grabs them for a solid body slam. Even this is not enough, as he grabs the human punching bag off the ground and throws him against the wall, where he slides down, half knocked-out. The burglar begins to talk.
"Hey! This isn't your town! Aren't you supposed to be with-
"Just moved here. And from now on, I work alone."
The sound of something zooming overhead draws his focus away from the beat-down, and they both look up to see a bright green streak slicing through the night sky above the buildings. It trances an arrow-straight path parallel to the alley and disappears behind the buildings on the far side of the street. Well, after it dropped from sight, a muffled explosion is heard and the pale emerald glare plays up from ground level. The young hero's masked eyes narrow for a moment; he then regards the collapsed petty thief. The hero was now securely bound, hanging upside down and with absolutely no clue as to what has just happened to screw up his night. The young hero hoists himself over a wall at the dead end and is gone.
The pizza joint is at this corner. Smashed into pavement is a very large crater emitting thick clouds of green glowing smoke, the crash site of whatever just buzzed the block. Several curious onlookers have stopped their cars and gotten out for a better look. In the crater, the smoke dissipates to reveal a lioness at the center of the rubble. Her paws the become feet and hands, her snout becoming a nose, her eyes still ablaze. She is now wearing black armor undergarments that have metal-colored accents. She wears a white face-frame crown. Her arms and forearms are encased with thick rigid cuffs, connected at both ends. Her uneven cut long side bangs and hair are brown, her a bit lighter tail and ears still on her, whiskers, too. She also wears, over her black armor, a lighter brown short, sleeveless tank, with long, black feathers lined along the tank and a light brown mini skirt. She wears a yellow belt, the buckle being an outline of a cat's head. She wears light brown flat boots that come just over her knee. She also wears black feather bracelets and a black arm band right above her elbow; her eyes still burning green.
"Slopforn ivortmat!" She says while sliding down the slabs and advances scaring people off. "Slopforn! Ond gudshik zerrole!"
She growls at a fellow trying to hold his camera straight and take a picture; when the shutter clicks and the flash goes off, she recoils from the glare with eyes squeezed shut. A moment later, she reopens them, still blazing as strongly as ever, and starts swinging her arms very which way with a fresh yell. Most of the onlookers back-up even farther the they already have; she pounds the pavement hard enough to put a pothole in it, and everyone breaks for cover. The shackled newcomer charges; a yell, a flash, and she had rendered an unfortunate taxi fit for the junkyard with one blow. Other strikes ruin a bank of payphones, a bench, and a streetlight or two, and several pizza joint customers stare from the relative safety of the second-floor balcony as it trembles under their feet. When the assault finally stops, she stands quietly amid the havoc she has just wrecked in this end of Canterlot City. Next, she lifts her arms and strains to pull them apart, but with no luck. Evidently she had no malicious intent, but was simply just trying to get free of those enormous handcuffs. After a moment's rest, she looks toward the door of the pizza joint. There is a pillar there, supporting the leading tip of the balcony. She hurls herself at this and hits it hard enough to buckle and crack it; spectators at the railing can barely stay on their feet due to the resulting vibrations.
"Zop! Yark! Mensnef!" She swings at each word she says.
The column breaks farther and farther on each hit, and the last one causes it to give away significantly. With the support compromised the balcony fractures along the edge where it joins the rest of the building; the people here are thrown to the railing as it tilts towards the street. However, the combined effect of all these bashes on her manacles in nil. She catches her breath and raises her arms for one more swing; a bird-a-rang is in flight. The light glints off on wing, the girl rushes forward, determined to free herself or die trying, and the airborne weapon bangs squarely into the side of her crown and knocks her completely off balance. Stopping near the column she has just pulverized, she glares back toward the source with a threating little growl and a pair of eyes that could double as lighthouse beacons for their brightness. Across the street, standing on the roof of a parked car, is the spikey-redhead who stopped her cold. His arms tucked into his cape, which is draped around his shoulders; he throws it back and braces for action.
"Who are you?"
Instead of answering, she comes up into a leap that carries her all the way across the street, leading into an asphalt-wrecking downward swing. He jumps clear in the nick of time and touches down in a backward skid, but on roundhouse after another forces him to keep bobbing and weaving. As the fracas works its way down the street, a white-cloaked figure, its hood up, stands with its the back to the street, but with a glimpse of the young hero leaping high over the girl and sling a handful of grenades. These explode in her face, and the girl in the hood watches it all, and her impassive face is barely visible in the alley's and hood's shadows. Out in the street, the smoke from the boy's grenades cannot quite hide the luminous green pinpoints of the fighter within it. The column evaporates to expose her fully; the young hero's eyes suddenly bug out in surprise as he gasps softly. Hooking one foot under the chassis of a nearby car, she effortlessly kicks it up several feet so that it rotates to the point its nose to the ground. When it is an inch short of splattering its innards across twenty feet of asphalt, she boots it toward the boy, who throws himself flat to avoid catching it with his face. The car sails in low, level, lighting-fast trajectory down the block and explodes against the building at its end, and the boy stands up to eye the spot.
"Hmm…stronger than she looks…" he says to himself.
He faces forward, eyes popping again; the girl pastes him hard across the jaw. A flash and he skids all the way to the trashed pizza joint, only to find her jumping in for another hit even before h can get to his feet. Nothing but air this time, as he dives away, pulls out his fighting staff, and extends it to full length. The time he is the one on the offensive, landing a head shot that propels his adversary into a car parked fifty yards or so away. He steps up; he brandishes the staff again, but it suddenly crumbles into his hands, having been shivered by that crushing hit.
"Huh?" he says astonished.
The supremely furious girl extricates herself from the fresh wreckage, then, throws the boy a little a malicious little smile while working her head around to loosen up her neck.
"Zota." She speaks.
And here she comes for another jumping strike. Before she can reduce the young hero's skull to powder, though, a very tall, muscular man, who appeared to not even be human, rams her broadside at full speed. The man, or whatever he appeared to be, had arrived at just the right moment, and he resumes human form and salutes the boy. He wears green/white outfit, white boots trimmed with green, and a white/green mask. He had a full face mask that covered his whole head, and, by how to shape was, it looked as if his ears were pointed. He was short, and looks very limp and looks as if he has no muscles at all.
"EX-Smart Guard member Muscle Man, sir! How can I help?" His eyes suddenly pop as he speaks. "Wowzers! You're Blue Jay, aren't you, sir?
He has let the salute slip in his excitement, but now reestablishes it.
"Well, you can start by not calling my 'sir'." Now named young hero, Blue Jay, says.
The smaller hero eyes have again gone as wide as saucers and are now shining with the purest admiration; sparkles hover around his smiling face, and that his hand is still plastered to his eyebrow.
"Well, let me just say that it's a real honor to be-"
"Muscle Man, was it?"
"Yes, sir?"
Blue Jay points off to one side; it was the girl, who has recovered from Muscle Man's charge and is straining to lift something over her head. She had picked up a bus, which she slings towards the two boys. They bolt in opposite directions and are replaced by a broad figure with a black hooded sweatshirt and pants. The buss hurtles squarely into his face; instead of being mashed into a hamburger, the figure catches it and digs in its heels. Slowly but surely, the vehicle is brought to a stop and lifted by the bumper. The movement exposes the figure in enough detail to allow a positive ID. Although the sweatshirt's raised hood casts the top half of his face in the shadow, the sleeves and red eye give it away. One swift heave dumps the bus off to one side, throwing up plumes of dust that clear to fully reveal him and the dark gray gloves he wears.
"Yo! Who's here messing up my neighborhood?" the figure speaks.
Muscle Man slides up. "She started it!" he says while pointing ahead.
The girl was standing amid the new stretch of debris and walking up after a moment's pause. The old resolve returns to her steps and face as she approaches, and she brings both arms up and delivers one thundering blow to the pavement; all three boys are nearly dumped flat by the tremors. Just behind her feet, as the hand ends of the restraints fall free at last, dented and smoking. Her legs tilt slowly to her face; the forearms of her cuffs are still firmly locked on. When she points her hands straight head, her claws slowly begin to sharpen. The trio starts in surprise, whereupon her, she starts to swing her hands back an fourth, trying to attack. One by one, the boys charge out of the haze, Muscle Man nearly getting his foot sliced off in the process. Now, her claws rip the surrounding buildings, parked cars, a neon billboard, and everything within at least half a mile. The final salvo has everything with smoke and flames, which drift away to expose her. After a few seconds to catch her breath, she slumps to her knees; Blue Jay has taken cover behind a smashed bus, now set on fire due to the claw barrage. Muscle Man and the one who stopped the bus are hunkering down as well.
"Girl's gonna wreck the whole city." The one in the sweatshirt says.
"I won't let her." Blue Jay says while socking his fist into his palm. "I won't lose this fight."
They come out running, but barely get ten yards down the street before a gray energy barrier springs up to stop them. The group turns around to see a screeching bird-shaped pops out as well. Another wisp rises from the sidewalk behind them and resolves into her form.
"Maybe fighting isn't the answer." She speaks. Her voice was very low and raspy. It was the girl with the cloak.
They turn toward her; her feet tilt up to her face. She glances off to one side and dispels the apparition; leaving Blue Jay with a clear view of the kneeling girl; smoke is still drifting up from her claws where they touched to pavement.
"Stand down." Blue Jay says.
"What do you think, you the boss or something?" the man in the sweatshirt says.
"Just give me a chance." Blue Jay replies.
He starts forward; the battle zone as he crosses to the kneeling girl. Once he has closed in to within a few feet, she hauls herself up and swiftly moves towards him with claws sheathed, spooking him to retreat several yards.
"Gokta!" She says.
Blue Jay speaks calmly. "Easy. My name is Blue Jay, and I don't want to hurt you." He eases his hand to his utility belt. "I just want to help."
He puts his hand to his belt, and the teen girl fighting machine holds him at a point-blank range. She is close to the end of her rope, judging by her increasingly shallow breathing. There is a sound of a tool being pulled out.
"Gotka!" she says while leaning in. "Gotka buhovna!"
Her claws are now almost to his face, but the steely vigilante does not even blink. What he does do is hold up a lock pick.
"It's okay. Look." He says.
Her high-voltage eyes look at him, and Blue Jay's, confidently smiling, raises his hand. She cools off, eyes and claws, as he gently pushes her arms down and puts the lock pick to work; for the first time, he can see every detail of the unsmiling girl, half shadowed by her crown. After a few seconds of tweaking, she looks down from Blue Jay and to his hands picking her cuffs. Finally the shackles fall free and thump down between the two pairs of feet. Blue Jay pulls one of his out of the way to keep the things from breaking his toes. The girl twitches her whiskers and massages her free wrists.
"There. Now maybe we can be-"
He gets no farther, as she drags him to herself with one hand and kisses him long and full on the lips, causing him to drop the pick. She then lets him go. Her eyes have stayed closed throughout the embrace; when she opens them again, the have resumed their glow. The next two things she does catch Blue Jay even more off guard than the kiss. One, she shoves him in the chest hard enough to drop him on his back. Two, she starts speaking English, somehow instantly learning it.
"If you wish not to be destroyed, you will leave me alone!" she says.
Despite the generous act, she is still nearly as fired up as she was at the start. She takes off, running at first, then twitching, swishing, and swinging her tail back and forth violently, gaining attitude to disappear into the night sky. Muscle Man, the girl in the cloak, and the man in the sweatshirt, equally puzzled, gather behind him; there is a long silence, which Muscle Man breaks.
He smiles at the one in the sweatshirt. "So…I'm Muscle Man. Who are you?"
Instead of responding, the man stands, shocked. "Well, whoever she was, the girl sure knows how to leave an impression."
"I think that we actually made a great impression. Crazy cat girl's gone, city's saved, mission accomplished! Right sir?" Says Muscle Man to Blue Jay.
Blue Jay just stares blankly at him under his mask. "Seriously. Stop calling me that."
"Roger." Replies Muscle Man as he puts his hand to his eyebrow.
"Looks like our work is done here." Says Blue Jay while walking off. "I appreciate the help."
"You're gonna track down the cat?" asks the girl in the cloak.
Blue Jay keeps walking. "I have to find out if she's a threat."
"More like find out if she'll give him another kiss." Says the one in the sweatshirt, as he turns to other way.
Muscle Man runs after Blue Jay. "Hey, sir! I mean, Blue Jay, do you maybe-"
"Sorry, I just went solo. Not really looking to join a team." Blue jay turns towards Muscle Man, and, after finishing his statement, begins to walk off again.
Muscle Man looks disappointed and rubs the back of his neck. "Need a sidekick?"
"Hey! Any of you wanna get a pizza?" Askes Muscle Man while turning the other way and shakes his arms back an fourth.
The girl in the cloak turns away from him and begins walking off. "I shouldn't."
"Just you and me then? Cool! I haven't really had anyone to hang out with since I quit the Smart Guards. This is gonna be fun! We can play video games, and-" He stalks off with the man in the sweatshirt until he stops and Muscle Man crashes into him.
He, then, takes off his hood and turns to face Muscle Man. He reveals mechanical parts on his face and robot pieces attached to his human skin, a red magnifying-glass-looking-thing instead of a right eyes. "There! Take a good long look! I had an accident, and, now, I'm a monster! Alright? I'm practically a robot!"
"Robot? Cool! You're like high-tech-man 2.0!" Muscle Man replies, not looking taken back or shocked by what he now sees in front of him. He climbs all over him and looks at his mechanical arm.
He just stares at him. "You're a strange, weird little dude, you know that?"
"Hehe. You called me 'dude'." Replies Muscle Man with a proud look on his face and eyes shut.
The man just puts his hood back on, walking off.
"Okay, so, see you later! Right? Dude? Dude?" says Muscle Man sadly, standing there in the middle of a torn-up street.
A large shadow comes over Muscle Man as he looks up to see a butt-load of lions towering over him, on top of what looks light a large, floating, rock-made house. "Dude!" he calls out, again. The rock formation ends up on a peak of rock, on the side of a cliff, just over the bay. They wath
"Looks like cat girl has friends." The man says.
Blue Jay walks up to Muscle Man and the half-robot man. "Or, enemies."
They watch as a big lion with a pitch black mane, darker coat color, yellow eyes with a long, pink scar over his left one comes on top of the rock, speaking loud and clear for all Canterlot City to hear and see him. "Humans of this place, we come to your place hunting an escaped prisoner. A very dangerous prisoner. Do not interfere, and, we will leave your home with only minimum damage. But, if you attempt to assist her, your destruction will be absolute." The back of the rock opens to reveal many lions to come to hurdle themselves over the cliff to find to girl. The girl in the cloak hears this, too, deciding to join the group of these young heroes.
"That's a big rock." The robot-man says, still staring at the huge boulder.
Muscle Man replies and stares, too. "Yeah. And, those are some scary looking lions."
"They told us not to interfere." The girl in the cloak says.
The mechanical person turns and looks at Blue Jay. "And, you're still going after her, aren't ya?"
Blue Jay nods in response, still looking at the rock.
"Can we come, too?" Muscle Man asks, hope filling his eyes.
Blue Jay, smiling, looks to face the three other heroes. "I suppose I could team-up…just this once…"
The three other heroes smile as the four heroes begin their search for the girl. The one in the cloak stops, looks down, frowning.
"You in?" Asks the half-robot as the others wait for her answer.
"I shouldn't. Trust me. If you knew what I really am, you wouldn't want me around." She calls as she turns away.
The half-robot puts his hand on her shoulder, reassuring her with a smile. "I know enough."
The lions have now come to the city and begun their search, looking through cars, buildings, rumble, many more.
The four heroes are hiding in a dark alley during their search. Blue Jay is the first on the break the silence.
"Okay, we needs some way to track where-"
"She's near." The one in the cloak interrupts him.
The other heroes look confusingly at her. "I can sense things."
"I'll see if I can pick-up her scent." Says Muscle Man as the others watch him turn into the same weird-looking creature he had before, only this time, with a much larger nose, scoping the ground for her scent.
The half-robot rolls back his sleeve to reveal a tracking device. "There's a tracking device plastered into my arm. If she's around, it'll sense it."
"Good." Replies Blue Jay.
Muscle Man turns into human form to say something before turning back into the creature. "I got her scent!"
"I can hear her heart beat." Replies the half-robot.
The follow Muscle Man down the alley. They see at the back of the alley is the back of a video store, with a large circle cut out that must've been made by claws. The girl is in there eating all the snacks from the shelves.
"Uhh…" says Muscle Man "Those taste better without the wrapper."
The girl then stops eating, eyes still ablaze, turning toward the group with claws ready. The group steps back in surprise.
"It's okay! We're friends, remember?" Says Blue Jay to the girl, eyes wide with arms out, hands stretched.
The girl steps closer to the group, causing them to step back. "Friends? Why? For what purpose did you free me?"
"Just…trying to be nice…" Replies Blue Jay, backing-up.
The girl steps closer, ready to attack. "'Nice'…We do not have this word where I come from. The closest is 'Rutha': weak."
"Well, around here, nice means nice, and, if you want us to keep being nice, you better tell us why that big kitty cat took you prisoner." Replies that half-robot, pointing his finger at her.
The girl suddenly unsheathes her claws, her eyes going back to her normal state: emerald green, with the whites of her eyes being a lighter shade of green. "Not prisoner. I am…prize. The Outlanders deliver me to Shadowclan, to live out my days as their servant."
"And…Shadowclan is…?" Asks the one in the hood, as the rest of the group stops backing-up.
The girl looks up, opening her eyes. "Not nice."
"Then, you're not going with them. Not if I have anything to say about it." Replies Blue Jay walking up to the girl.
Muscle Man walks up towards him. "Umm…don't you mean 'we'"?
The wall exploded, pushing the group back. After recovering from the blow, they look up to see the lions where the wall was supposed to be. "Cease her!"
They start to charge in, but, the group was ready. The run towards each other, attacking. The robotic man: a punch to their back. Muscle Man: growing a horn and bucking them, taking about one-five lions out at a time. The cat-girl: Eyes ablaze, suddenly turning into a lioness, attacks with hits, claws, kicks, or whatever she can do, also taking about one-five lions out at a time. Blue Jay: taking out his collapsible staff, hits the lions with everything he's got, taking out many. The girl in the cloak: using her gray magic, she shoots bolts at the lions, also taking many out. There is a large explosion around the lioness, but, soon reveals to not been taking by the blow by the lions: instead, she was hovering above the smoke, tail swishing back and forth (much like a hovering device) throwing kicks and sheathed claws at the lions, causing a big, fiery explosion, knocking-out at least ten lions. The leader, however, survives the blow, taking a push to her back, knocking her down to the ground 20 feet below, leaving a large crack in the street. That's not all; after falling, the lion comes down, claws sheathed, ready to take a fatal blow to her. Taking a glimpse of this, Blue Jay, battling another with his staff, takes his staff, swiping it from the lion's side, knocking over the leader, leaving the girl unharmed. She looks up, in her human form, smiling a smile of gratitude, as well as thanks, to Blue Jay. The other lions recover and they both start to fight again. Meanwhile, the robotic man was fighting as well. They were pretty much trying to knock each other over. It wasn't 'til long the lion tripped him with his tail, sending the man down on his back. He was about the send a blow to the head, but, rolled over just in time. Though it hadn't gone to his half-robot half-human skin, I did get to his sweatshirt, as well as pants, tearing it so that you could barely even see it anymore. His face looked like it did before, as well as arm, and legs had all these robotic cords around them. His chest was like an iron chest plate, only it had much more detail, and, unlike all his other parts, his chest was 100% metal. His back was skin, but, he had a large, mechanic, engineer, high-tech backpack that who knew what had in it. He stood up, aiming for a punch, and got it. He lifted up the lion, and, threw it against all the other lions coming towards him, knocking them over. From behind, at least five were coming after him, as he turned around, almost given a fatal blow; he felt something over his shoulders: It was Muscle Man, sure enough, only, this time, he had wings instead of arms, and his feet were picking the metal man towards the sky. All the while, the one in the cloak was using her gray magic, the glowing light surrounding her hands, to defend herself. Her magic was strong enough to lift a street light and hit it against the lions and block them. The lions had given up. They ran towards the bay to reassemble inside the rock.
"I believe your expression is…'thanks'." Said the cat girl, eyes back to normal.
Metal Butt here was frowning, looking down at now his torn sweatshirt. "Aww, man! My suit!"
"So? You look way cooler without it!" Replied Muscle Man to him.
The half robot looked down at him, pointing his finger. "Yeah…like I'm taking fashion advice from the guy in the goofy mask…"
"Goofy? My mask is…cool…isn't it? Freaky girl?" Said Muscle Man, clearly sadden.
Both nodded 'no'.
"But…what about my secret identity?" said Muscle Man.
"What secret identity? You turn into…whatever it is you turn into." She said.
He pulled off his mask to reveal short, trimmed, black hair, and, sure enough, pointed ears. "Err…umm…na-umm…oh…"
"This isn't over." Said Blue Jay, walking up to them. "Now that we've interfered-"
The girl begins to talk. "Ariz will strike harder. It is only a matter of-"
"Fools!" They hear a low and loud voice from behind them. It was the leader lion, standing on the rock from the cliff, loud and proud. They turn around to look. "You attempted to assist her. Your incident will be punished. Your city shall be destroyed!"
A part of the large boulder begins to come off, flying over the city.
"Great." The girl in the cloak says sarcastically.
The boulder comes closer, ready to fire on any part of Canterlot City as if it deems unworthy of staying on the map.
"So, after trashing a pizza place and perfectly good video store, now we've managed to make a humongous wild lion mad enough to vaporize our entire town?" says Muscle Man.
The robotic man steps up. "Go, team."
"All the fault is yours! I commanded you leave me alone, but you insisted upon the being nice!"
"My fault?" yells Blue Jay at the aggressive cat girl. "You claw me, you kiss me-" sparks fly between their eyes as the give each other cold stares. "but, you never stop to mention that they have a colossal stone weapon?" A shouting match between the pair gets louder.
"We are doomed!" Muscle Mans says while turning to the half robot. "I can't believe I let you talk me into this!" "Say what?" yells the tin man to Muscle Man as he waves his arms back in fourth. "I was ready to talk before you-"
The mysterious hooded girl begins to concentrate as best as she can by this time, and, now, she speaks up.
"Shut up!"
Her yells echoes in the silent street and shuts everyone up very quickly. Four pairs of angry eyes turn her way for some moments before she comes up with any more words. She waves timidly.
"Hi."
Blue Jay is the next to speak.
"Look. It doesn't matter how we got into this mess. We're in it, and, we'll get out of it-together."
The cat girl nods grim in agreement. The metal hero, as well as the hooded girl, nods as well. Muscle Man's mouth has curved up into the mischievous smile. Blue Jay speaks.
"Come, on. We've got a city to save."
As soon as Blue Jay's last statement, the hooded girl uses her gray magic rises as a bubble to expose the five heroes inside the halls of the gigantic rock cave. Muscle Man shivers noticeably, not being used to this mode of transport. He speaks up.
"That dark energy stuff gives me the-"
He suddenly stops when noticing the hooded girl's slightly annoyed glare.
"Uh…" says Muscle Man nervously, smiling broadly, thumbs-up, and sweat drops off his head "…I mean, it's cool!" A nervous little laugh follows this.
Paw steps can be heard marching down another path through the boulder. They hustle away around another bend and Blue Jay pokes his head out from around it. The cat girl is the first out after him, then Muscle Man and the robotic man. The hooded girl emerges behind them all, but, does not follow. Tiptoeing as quietly as possible as he can, the changeling throws a look back at her over his shoulder while he follows the gang toward the end of the passage. The mysterious girl closes her eyes, dropping her head as if she has just lost all hope.
The robotic man speaks up from this. "Mind telling me why you're always by yourself?"
The hooded girl looks up to him. "You heard the kid. I don't exactly fit in."
He puts a hand on her shoulder. "He turns into muscle parts, half of me is robotic, and she's a cat. You fit in just fine."
The message seems to strike the right chord, and she allows him to ease her off along the passage after the others. Now, Blue Jay and the cat girl stop at another corner. He peeks around, as she begins to speak.
"I bring you…apology." He turns to her.
"Don't worry about it. I'm sorry I yelled, too." He says.
She smiles. "And, again, you are…nice. Where I come from, only my nee'uq has shown me such kindness."
"Well, things are different here." He says.
Both of their faces are plastered with blushes. Muscle Man's next words startle her out of the moment.
"Uh…guys…?" He points past her. "I think they know we're here."
They turn, and, what they see next alarms them: a patrol of charging warriors, and, rather angry ones at that. The tin man & hooded girl turn to face back where they came, and, another lion leaps into view with a roar. They come to see to lions guarding a tall rock. A lion comes out from the rock to see the situation.
One of them speaks. "King Arzi! The claw has reached full power."
King Arzi, the leader lion who has sent the patrol and attacks on the city, speaks. "Then, begin the scratching sequence."
The other lions do what was told. Long, sword-like coverings cover the tips of their tails as they prepare for battle.
"They human scum shall learn…" King Arzi says while standing up. "…it takes more than 5 juvenile creatures to defy the mighty King Arzi!"
The swords on the lions' tails grow larger, as well a sharper. They aim them at the gang of heroes. King Arzi smiles grimly at the destruction about to be unleashed. Blue Jay steps up.
"We're not 5 heroes." He says as the other four step up around him. "We're 1 team."
King Arzi ditches his triumphant smile in favor of an enraged growl and in a twinkling every spare deckhand is on the move. Blue Jay leads the charge for his side and gets in a first hit: a flying kick that nearly snaps a neck. The metal guy slams both fists to the floor, throwing out a sheet of energy to blast others off their feet. Next, Muscle Man, with large, kangaroo-like feet kicks two lions in the gut full force. The cat girl supercharged uppercut that sends her enemy crashing to the deck. Muscle Man turns to human form and then grows a massive tail, just in time to lash a lion with his heavy tail, then becomes himself again. Seeing his warriors getting pwned, King Arzi leaps in, smashing both colossal paws against the deck close enough to send him flying backward with a yell. The only thing that stops his momentum is a inconveniently placed wall; he slides down in, ending up on the floor with a heap. Here comes the lion King again, roaring and all set to beat him to a pulp-but, the hooded girl pops up from the floor and throws up a small, energy-force shield. One punch after another whumps into it as she backs up slowly toward the wall and her knees buckle, and he finally batters through the defense and prepares the flatten them both. One again he is foiled, this time by Blue Jay's leap onto his shoulders; the surprise attack leaves King Arzi stumbling backward past an underling who has locked up with the metal hero. After some moments, Blue Jay is wrenched free, along as hurled across the deck; he manages to turns the tumble into a flip and land in a crouch. It takes him only a fraction of a second to leap back into the fray and deliver a crushing left jab that rock King Arzi off his paws. Even before the latter can hit the floor, he is bashed in a different direction by a steel-soled spin kick, and, Blue Jay instantly starts into a new move for the heck of it. Now, it is his turn to be caught out when the massive tail wraps itself around him as he is hurled past the cat girl into the far wall behind King Arzi's rock. She voices a shocked gasp upon catching sight of him.
"Blue Jay!"
No time to worry about him further for the snarling King Arzi is on his way across the deck towards her. Warming up as she lifts off with her tail twirling in the air, she lets go with a paw of sheathed claws aiming towards him. He is lost under the glare for a moment, but, leaps out of it intact and madder than ever and bears her to the floor. The giant paw lifts her high, then, slams her down again; she struggles to break his hold for a moment, the squeezes off a body-blow claw strike that forces him to drop her. As he backs up cautiously from the one-time prisoner who has turned out to be far more trouble than she is worth, the robotic hero rushes across from a pile of unconscious lions. The bionic right lands a haymaker to the boss' jaw and the slugger lands in front of the cat girl so both can move in together. King Arzi takes a merciless flurry of high-octane punches to all his sore spots, but, even this is not enough to put him out of business. He comes back with a one-two-three combination that sends both aspiring pugilists across the floor toward the stoll-prone Blue Jay. The tin man's arm hits the floor, the panels of the built-in mechanic muscle parts are jolted open for a moment. Now, all three peel themselves up, the circuitry receiving special attention.
"Can you rewire that into some sort of weapon?" says Blue Jay
"I can try." Replies the tin man
Before any of them can react, King Arzi and the still-conscious lions have moved the corner them in. King Arzi has on a savagely grinning face. The next line draws his attention off to one side; the speaker is supporting Muscle Man.
The hooded girl speaks menacingly. "Get away from my friends!" She steps up. "Emoh Pleh Em!"
On the last word, her spell cause most of the flooring on the side to disappear in a mighty explosion and half of it goes out of control and plummets down Canterlot City Bay. The waves caused by its splashdown were demolished by it. The rest of the half of the boulder remained above the water. The half in the water begins to sink, as the remaining lions stand there in shock. The robotic hero, Blue Jay, and the cat girl straighten up; King Arzi gets up as well and whirls around. Muscle Man and the hooded girl find themselves in his broad approaching shadow, and, he extends his claws on one paw to full length, and, lifts that paw, all set to disembowel the youths. Once more, though, his masterstroke is stopped cold, in this case, by a brilliant black & white flash from behind that connects squarely with his side. Down he goes like a ton of bricks, exposing the other three in the background. The tin man's right arm is raised to point straight ahead, his hand replaced by the black laser-like shock wave. He was able to rewire-or hotwire-that analyzer into something with quite a bit more kick after all.
He powers down. "All right, I'm only going to say this once." He says while grinning. "Hell, yeah!"
The cliff, with the large, now 'O' shaped rock dug in. It is now the following morning; Blue Jay, Muscle Man, the robotic hero & hooded girl are on the edge of the cliff, staring at the shores below & the sunrise over the horizon. There is no other visible trace of King Arzi's invasion fleet.
The hooded girl stares at the horizon. "That's quite a view."
"Somebody outa build a house out here," Replies the tin man.
"Yeah, if you like sunrise & the beach," Says Muscle Man.
These words are aimed at the hooded girl, and, he digs an elbow into her side on the end of them.
"You know, you're kind of funny." She says laughing softy.
Muscle Man has stars in his eyes & his ears perk up. "You think I'm funny?" he says laughing. "Dude! I know some jokes!"
Those four last words are enough to unnerve her considerably, start a new sweat drop sliding down her temple, and, set one eyebrow twitching a bit. Back behind the group, a now-familiar light-brown boot plants itself.
"Please." She says.
The group turn toward the voice; this is the cat girl, with her light-brown outfit, darker brown accents, black armband on her right arm, no crown or under-armor, & a much sunnier disposition.
"I look…nice?" she asks as Blue Jay steps up.
"I still don't know your name." he says.
"In your language it would be…'Cat'…&…'Arina'." She replies slowly.
"Welcome to the world of humans…Catarina." He says.
"I thank you all for your bravery & help, and, I wish to ask permission…to remain here." She & Blue Jay stare at each other. "Where the people are most strange…but, almost most kind." They both look away, blushing a bit.
"You don't need our permission," Says the hooded girl.
"But, if you want our friendship, you've got it," Says Blue Jay.
"Guess we could all use some new friends," Replies the robotic man.
"Besides, we kind of made a good team," Says Muscle Man.
"I thought we might want to keep in touch-" says Blue Jay as he fishes in his belt. "-so, Ro-Bo & I designed these." He finishes finally defining the robotic hero's name.
On the last word, he holds his hands forth. Spread across his palms is 3 square blue devices. Muscle Man, the hooded girl, & Catarina each take one and run an impresses eye over them.
"Made 'em outta my own circuits," Says Ro-Bo.
"When there's trouble, you know who to call," Replies Blue Jay.
The waves lap gently against its shores beneath the cliff, and, the 'O' shaped boulder has begun to be a bit constructed on.