Eternia: The Dark Years
Chapter 4
Ram Man stood in the middle of the Dinoreps village he looked up at the clock tower that stood at the village centre. There was still a slight mist on the marshlands around the village, with Moss Man's ability to manipulate the local plant life his fellow rebels were well hidden from view.
"Where are these tin cans?" grumbled Ram Man in to his communicator. The communicator was open and he knew Glimmer and the other rebels could hear his every word but in order to remain hidden from the approaching Horde no one would reply.
Ram Man had dealt with the Dinoreps only a couple of times over the past few years, he found them a hearty bunch who despite being in the shadow of the Horde's Fright Zone they never gave in to Hordak's terror tactics, so it was surprising to Ram Man how willingly the villagers evacuated the village. He had only one run in with the village elder who was reluctant to go and wanted his people to hide in the tunnels, but when Ram Man explained about the coming attack from the Horde was for the very same tunnels he relented.
Ram Man started to pace around the clock tower to relive some of the boredom that was starting to settle in. Suddenly he heard the sound of marching feet approaching the village.
"About time." said Ram Man as he pulled his battle axe from its holster on his back.
A troop of twenty Horde Troopers entered the Dinoreps village the lead Trooper immediately spotted Ram Man waiting for them at the centre of the village.
"You there!" called out the Horde Trooper as he approached Ram Man. "As of now this village is under Horde control. All property and civilians now belong to Hordak."
"I don't think so tiny," laughed Ram Man as he towered over the Horde Trooper. "I'm here to make sure you lot go home as scrap."
If the Trooper could look confused it would have.
"You are one man," said the Trooper as the rest of the Troopers gathered around, despite being robots Ram Man could hear some of then make a sound similar to laughter. "We outnumber you. What hope do you think you have."
The Trooper joined its fellow Troopers in laughing at Ram Man. Ram Man smiled back.
"You're right, I am only one man," said Ram Man. "But I do have something that none of you have."
The Trooper stopped laughing and turned back to Ram Man.
"And what would that be?" the Trooper sneered.
"A big flaming axe!!" roared Ram Man as he swung his axe down on the Trooper splitting it down the middle sending a shower of sparks through the air. Instantly the other Horde Troopers had their weapons levelled on him. Ram Man turned to them and smiled once more. "Next!"
From her hiding place within the marsh Glimmer listened to the confrontation going on between Ram Man and the Horde Troopers.
"Do you think we should go in there," said Bow from his hiding place. "He's going to need our help."
"Not yet," replied Glimmer. "Ram Man can handle these, I want to wait until they are totally committed to the attack. Then we'll attack while they are distracted."
A second Horde Trooper stepped up to Ram Man and suffered the same fate as the first one. Deciding to change tactic five Horde Troopers rushed Ram Man. Ram Man swung his axe smashing two Troopers to pieces, the remaining three reached out and grabbed hold of Ram Man's weapon arm.
Believing that Ram Man was at the disadvantage the other Troopers charged at Ram Man. As Ram Man was swamped in a wave of Horde Troopers he caught a glimpse of more Troopers entering the village.
"NOW!!!" Glimmer commanded through her communicator. The rebels burst from their hiding places and charged towards the village.
Suddenly the ground beneath their feet began to tremble and shake, the rebels began to loose their footing, some even tripped and fell. The ground then erupted in a shower of marsh water and rock. A metallic tower shot up out of the ground rising high above the heads of the rebels and started to crash downwards.
Glimmer leapt out of the way of the falling debris, using her powers over light she created a hard light shield to deflect debris away from the rebels. As Glimmer backed away from a large piece of debris that had fallen before her, her foot slipped and she fell backwards. Hitting the ground the wind was knocked out of Glimmer, dazed she looked up to see the giant metal tower rushing towards her.
Ram Man threw Horde Troopers in every direction, but with every Trooper he got rid of or destroyed three more showed up as replacement.
"A little help would be nice!!" Ram Man shouted in to his communicator.
Ram Man grabbed hold of one Trooper's shock staff and smashed it in to the Trooper's head, he then grabbed another Trooper by the arm and swung the Trooper in to three others smashing them to pieces. Ram Man turned to fend off another attack when a green energy beam blasted the nearest Trooper apart.
"This help enough for you big man?" called out Tri-Klops as he slashed at the Troopers with his sword and blasted them with destruction beams from his laser eye. In the background Ram Man could see his fellow rebels rushing in to attack.
"Not bad," replied Ram Man as he smashed his head in to the face of an attacking Horde Trooper. "But this fight is far from over, and if I remember when you were working for Skeletor you never really lasted that long."
"Oh very funny," called back Tri-Klops as he hacked away at a group of Horde Troopers. "Keep that wit up and I may consider switching sides."
On the other side of the village the group of rebels led by Snout Spout and Clamp Champ raced in to battle against the Horde Troopers. As Clamp Champ attacked with his weapon clamp smashing any Trooper apart that got in his way, Snout Spout attacked with his fire axe or blasted the Troopers with a high pressure blast of water from his trunk.
"Lets thin this lot out a bit so we can start part two of Glimmers plan." said Snout Spout as he and Clamp Champ fought their way through the Horde Troopers towards the centre of the village.
"Yeah why should Ram Man have all the fun?" said Clamp Champ as he used his grapple clamp to crush a Horde Trooper. Suddenly the ground beneath their feet began to tremble. "Hey did you just feel that?"
"There's so much going on," replied Snout Spout. "Its hard to tell what's going on."
"How are you doing back there?" asked Ram Man as he slammed a Trooper to the ground.
Tri-Klops slashed at a group of charging Toopers.
"A lot better than you it seems." called back Tri-Klops.
"How so?" asked Ram Man as he continued to pound away at any Trooper within reach. "I'm turning these tin cans in to scrap!"
"But I'm doing it faster," replied Tri-Klops. "At my last count I've destroyed three Troopers for every one you have. And you started before I did."
"You know what they say about quality versus quantity?" said Ram Man. "Its all about…….!!"
Ram Man stopped as the ground beneath his feet began to tremble, even the Horde Troopers and the Rebels stopped briefly as the trembling grew larger. Suddenly the ground erupted send debris flying as a giant red metal claw burst from the ground. Ram Man and Tri-Klops could barely stay on their feet as a second claw burst from the ground. The two claw slammed down crushing anything in their way. With a huge grinding sound Ram Man saw a black metallic head begin to rise from the ground, as more of the dirt was pushed out of the way a huge cauldron shaped body emerged in to the light.
"By the Elders, we're in for it now." grumbled Ram Man as he watched the massive metal creature stalk the village on four metal legs.
"What do you mean?" asked Tri-Klops as he dispatched a group of Troopers. Then he turned to see what Ram Man was talking about. "Is that what I think it is?"
"Yep," replied Ram Man. "That's the Monstroid."
Duncan tried to put as much distance between himself and his escorts as he was allowed. His shoulder was on fire yet he refused to give the Doom Troopers the satisfaction of seeing him admit he was in pain after his confrontation with Hordak. Duncan soon entered the palace courtyard, sat in the middle was the Batmex that had killed She-Ra. The pride of Hordak was surrounded by an honour guard of Horde Troopers. The sight made Duncan sick. Forcing his attention away from the abomination he turned towards science dome. The science dome had been Duncan's second home, he had spent most of his time working in the specially designed lab creating weapons and vehicles for the Heroic Warriors. Duncan had planned on teaching at the science dome when he retired as Man-At-Arms and taking up being a part time member of the Heroic Warriors.
But that all changed after the fall of Eternia. Now the science dome was no longer used to teaching future students in the art of science, under the command of the Horde the science dome was assigned to Horde scientists and weapons masters such as Trap Jaw and Gadgette. Even his lab had been taken over, now his experiments were for the Horde.
Duncan place his good hand on the sensor pad at the side of the door, the sensor scanned his palm print and the door unlocked and opened. Slowly Duncan entered. The science dome was an hive of activity as slaves of the Horde worked on creating weapons for Hordak and his Horde, each group of workers were closely guarded by an armed Horde Trooper. Duncan passed several labs each former classrooms and each the same as the other, filled with slaves working under guard of a Trooper. At the centre of the science dome which had once been the main teaching lab sat Gadgette. The cybernetic Hordesman had originally been created to be an servant of Entrapta, however after Dylamug was destroyed during a battle with the Great Rebellion on Etheria Gadgette was upgraded to take over from Dylamug as the central commander of the Horde Troopers. As usual she was sat in her command chair in the centre of the lab. Thousands of hair-like cables stretched from her head and connected to the computer banks and work stations that were situated around the walls of the lab.
"Good morning," said Gadgette as she saw Duncan pass by. "I'm warming your lab up for you."
Duncan ignored Gadgette's taunting and continued to his lab. As Duncan entered his lab the lights came on and his computers powered up. As the door closed the two Doom Troopers took up positions inside the lab silently watching Duncan as he began his daily work.
Glimmer sank in to the marsh water as the weight of the tower pressed down on her light shield. Up close she could see that the surface of the tower wasn't smooth but was covered it tiny diamond shaped objects similar to the scales of a snake, the tower suddenly moved and Glimmer felt its weight shift on her shield. A small section of the tower's surface opened and four claws on extendable arms slowly emerged from inside, then a second set emerged farther down the tower's body and a third. The light shield began to falter and Glimmer feared that she was about to be crushed to death when several tree trunks burst from the marsh water, from the tips of the branches of the trunks sprouted dozens of bramble-vines. The vines twisted themselves around the tower, groaning under the strain the vines held the tower in place.
"Glimmer I'm not sure how much longer I can hold this thing," said Moss Man as his face formed on the bark of the trunk closest to Glimmer. Glimmer could tell that Moss Man was in incredible pain using the vines to hold on to the tower. "Hurry!"
Glimmer tried to move but found that her feet were stuck in the mud of the marsh.
"I-I-I can't move," said Glimmer panic creeping in to her voice. "I'm stuck."
"Ok don't panic," replied Moss Man through gritted teeth. "We'll work something out."
Suddenly the tower yanked itself to one side causing Moss Man to cry out as some of the vines snapped.
"Let me try to strengthen my light shield," said Glimmer. "Maybe I can…"
"There's no time for that," said Moss Man. "I'm loosing my grip on this thing. I can't hold on to it much longer."
"You don't have to," called out Bow as he raced across the marsh, without stopping he scooped up Glimmer and pulled her free. Over his shoulder he called back to Moss Man. "I've got her do what you have to."
Before Moss Man could say a thing the tower reared up in to the air ripping Moss Man from the marsh. Without his connection to the ground Moss Man was forced to return to his humanoid form. Watching from the ground Glimmer could see more of the tower, it now looked more like a serpent than ever especially its head which looked like a giant cobra. Its metal hood expanded on both sides of its head and its red eyes focused on the falling Moss Man. With a swift strike the metal serpent snatched Moss Man out of the air. Glimmer could help but scream as the serpents jaw snapped shut over Moss Man's body. Moss Man exploded in to a shower of leaves.
"Come on," said Bow as the serpent began to target the other members of the Rebellion. Attacking them with blasts from its hood or snatching them from the ground with its claws. "We have to get out of here fast!"
But Glimmer would not move.
The Monstroid tore through the Dinoreps village not caring who got I its way. It snatched up Horde Trooper and rebel alike and flung them in every direction.
"That thing is as much of a threat to the Horde Troopers as it is to us!" said Tri-Klops as the Monstroid snatched up Rebel and Horde Trooper alike.
"Try telling them that!" replied Ram Man as he smashed away a group of Horde Troopers that were charging towards them. Then out of the corner of his eye Ram Man saw Clamp Champ and Snout Spout fighting their way towards them. "Looks like back up is here."
"Where on Eternia did that thing come from?" said Clamp Champ as he and Snout Spout reached Ram Man and Tri-Klops.
"I guess it came from the hole in the ground." said Tri-Klops which earned a glare from Clamp Champ.
"Well this changes all the plans." said Snout Spout.
"Why should it?" asked Tri-Klops
"What do you mean?" replied Ram Man.
"We can still use the Tank Top," said Tri-Klops. "We use the Monstroid as a distraction, you get the Tank Top and go down in to the tunnels and bring them down. We can still stop the Horde getting to the Coridite."
"It may still work," said Snout Spout. "Let's do it."
On Snout Spout's command the four rebels split up. Snout Spout, Tri-Klops and Clamp Champ raced towards the Monstroid driving any Horde Trooper towards the metal creature in the hope that it would target them. Ram Man raced the other way knocking over any Trooper that got in his way.
Ram Man turned the corner of one house and headed towards the village storage barn where the Tank Top battle suit was hidden. As he reached the barn and opened the doors he was confronted by a group of Dinoreps.
"What are you doing here?" asked Ram Man "You were meant to get out of the village."
The small Dinoreps began to circle Ram Man their red skin seemed to glow with anger. Slowly each Dinorep produced a knife from behind their backs, a couple others grabbed pitchforks and waved them at Ram Man.
"Now come on here," said Ram Man holding his hands in the air so not to spook the Dinoreps. "We're here to help you, to stop the Horde taking over your village to use your tunnels to raid Coridite from the Wigets."
One of the Dinoreps stepped forward.
"What makes you think we want your help," snarled the Dinorep. "Hordak paid us handsomely for the use of our tunnels. There is no Coridite in the Wigets mines. We gave it all to the Horde."
The Dinoreps roared in laughter and Ram Man's temper began to rise.
"You mean you set us up?" growled Ram Man.
"Of cause we did," replied the lead Dinorep. "Can you imagine how much Hordak will give us for delivering his enemies in to his hands."
The Dinoreps began to slowly circle Ram Man their weapons raised ready to attack.
"You don't want to be doing this," said Ram Man as he slowly reached for his battle axe. "I usually make a rule about not fighting those smaller than myself." Ram Man then swung his axe downwards forcing the Dinoreps in front of him to scatter. "But if you twerps insist in getting in my way!"
The other Dinoreps rushed to attack Ram Man. Ram Man battered away any attacks from Dinoreps with pitchforks, however the others jumped all over Ram Man their attempts to stab Ram Man with their knives proving futile against his thick leather armour.
"Owwww!!" hissed Ram Man as one of the Dinoreps hanging off his weapon arm sunk his teeth in to Ram Man's exposed flesh.
Ram Man franticly shook his arm throwing two of the Dinoreps off but the one who had bitten him hung on with a death grip. The other Dinorep quickly scrambled around behind Ram Man's legs in the attempt to trip him up. However Ram Man was able to keep his balance. Finally shaking off the Dinorep on his arm Ram Man turned and threw himself at the group of Dinoreps. The entire storage barn shook under the thunderous foot steps of Ram Man as he charged at the Dinoreps.
"I gave you the chance to do this the easy way!" roared Ram Man as he lowered his head. "But I guess you'll just have to learn the hard way!!"
The Dinoreps began to look at each other neither one sure what to do about the enraged Ram Man, slowly one by one the Dinoreps began to break away from the group, once clear they started to run for the way out of the barn. Soon only the leader of the Dinoreps was left to face Ram man.
"Come back here!!" called out the Dinorep, his word braver than his voice sounded. "We can stop this lummox! We have to! For the Horde!!!"
"Somehow I don't think they believe you," hissed Ram Man who was now towering over the Dinorep. "Unless you want to put your money where your mouth is?"
The Dinorep slowly craned his neck back to look up at Ram Man. Deciding that he was now out numbered the Dinorep dropped his weapon and ran after the others.
"Thought not," said Ram Man dusting off his hands. "Now where is that battle suit?"
Ram Man went to the back of the barn where the Tank Top battle suit was hidden. As he approached the battle suit he noticed that several panels had been removed and the wiring inside had been pulled out.
"Oh you've got to be kidding me." groaned Ram Man.
"Glimmer we have to get out of here!!" called out Bow as he pulled on Glimmer's arm. "That thing is murdering us."
Glimmer remained stoic as she stared out over the battle filed. The metal serpent was attacking every rebel in its path with its blasters and claws. What made things worse was the fact that without Moss Man, the barricade of bramble-vines that he had erected in order to prevent any Hordesmen escaping or attacking from behind had now become the same obstacle for the rebels.
Even though Bow was right next to her his voice was drowned out as her focus was on the cries of the rebels as they were slain by the metallic monster. Bow reached out to grab Glimmer once more as his finger wrapped around Glimmer's forearm he was suddenly thrown to the ground. Looking up in surprise he saw that Glimmer hadn't moved and that she was still staring out at the battle. Then he noticed a faint glow under Glimmer's skin, slowly getting to his feet he carefully made his way over to Glimmer. As he got closer he noticed that the area was slowly getting darker, as the darkness grew so did the glow emanating from Glimmer. Reaching out once more Bow noticed a thin layer of light covering Glimmer's body, stepping around so that he stood in front of her Bow was stunned at what he saw. Glimmer's face was glowing so bright that her skin was almost transparent, the burn scar on her cheek stood out in bright red, her eyes were wide open and shone like twin suns going supernova even her hair seemed to glow.
"What is wrong with you?" asked Bow when he could finally find his voice.
Glimmer continued to stare at the battle as if Bow wasn't there. Bow began to speak again when Glimmer suddenly turned to him.
"Move," said Glimmer light spilling from inside her mouth. There was no emotion in her voice. "I have to stop this."
Without waiting for any reply Glimmer turned back to the battle. As if sensing Glimmer's presence the metal serpent stopped its attack and turned towards where Glimmer and Bow were standing. Letting out a metallic hissing noise the metal serpent flared its cobra like hood, inside the hood bow could make out several blaster ports. As the darkness continued to grow he could clearly by the red glow within the port that the blasters were charging for a release. Unsure of what to do Bow glanced over at Glimmer, her body was so bright against the darkness that surrounded them that it was almost blinding. Yet Glimmer continued to remain as still as a statue as she faced down the metal serpent.
The serpent opened its huge mouth as a blaster cannon slid in to place, that too was now glowing with blaster energy. The serpent shifted its weight and lurched forward and fired its blasters. As the blaster energy lanced its way across the marshlands of the Dinoreps village Bow watched as Glimmer's calm face suddenly twisted in anger. Glimmer let out the most primal scream that Bow had ever heard and threw her arms in to the air. At first Bow feared that Glimmer had been struck down by the blasters, then he saw that they were being held back by a shield of light coming from Glimmer.
Ram Man held a bunch of wires in his massive hands, trying to figure out where the wires belonged inside the Tank Top battle suit.
"This is hopeless," grumbled Ram Man shoving the wires in to the opening where the Dinoreps had torn them from and slammed the panel shut over them. "I aint no egghead. Well I'll just have to do this the hard way."
Ram Man went around to the back of the Tank Top, opening the access hatch Ram Man climbed in to the battle suit which had been modified to fit his size. Ram Man hid the controls to activate the battle suit. The suit sputtered with power and view screen flicked to life, Ram Man focused on the screen that reported the suits systems to see what damage the Dinoreps had done.
The Dinoreps had managed to disable the targeting sensors for one of the cannons, the other sensor was knocked out of alignment and Ram Man didn't know how to correct it. The Dinoreps had also managed to damage the connection to the treds of the Tank Top so Ram Man couldn't use them to race in to battle. Thankfully the only other systems that were damaged were minor and Ram Man could operate the Tank Top without them, or so he hoped.
Hitting the controls to get the Tank Top moving the battle suits gears groaned as it took its first step out of the barn and in to the battle.
Rage filled Glimmer's face as her light shield held back the onslaught of energy directed at her from the serpents blasters. Bow shielded his eyes from the brilliant backwash from the attack, suddenly the light was absorbed in to Glimmer's body. As his vision began to clear Bow noticed that the area had grown dark, all except for around Glimmer. It was then Bow realised that the darkness that was surrounding the area was the result of Glimmer absorbing all the light in to her body as she had done with the energy blast from the serpent.
Glimmer gritted her teeth and snarled at the serpent, thrusting her arms forward the light around Glimmer pulsed and shot back towards the serpent. The light pulse shot along the serpents blaster energy right in to its open maw and down its throat. Bow stood amazed as the serpent's head exploded in a shower of light. The serpent's body started to convulse as the gaps between its metallic scales blew apart in a dazzling light display. With one last convulsion the remains of the serpent monstroid crashed to the ground.
Once the rebels realised what had just happened their confidence some even let out a cheer, but Glimmer felt no victory she glared down at the remains of the serpent. Bow slowly made his way over to Glimmer a wide smile on his face.
"I never knew you had that kind of power," said Bow reaching out to Glimmer. "You Ok?"
Glimmer turned on Bow, her face was still glowing with energy her mouth still scowling.
"This is no time to celebrate," hissed Glimmer pushing past Bow. "There are more of these monsters to destroy."
It was then that Bow realised that the darkness that had fallen over the area hadn't gone but it was flowing over Glimmer like a shroud as she headed towards the battle at the Dinoreps village.
Tri-Klops, Snout Spout and Clamp Champ were backed in to a corner, what little rebels that remained had started to break ranks and tried to flee the village or hide from the onslaught of the Monstroid. The Horde Troopers were also avoiding the attention of the rampaging monster machine, but where the rebels choices and resources were limited the Horde Troopers were not as a further wave of Troopers were heading for the village.
The Monstroid destroyed everything in it path, half the village had been levelled by the Monstroid's crushing claws any Dinorep that foolishly remained in the village were also struck down by the murderous machine, their reward for siding with Horde.
"I know its an honour to die in the hart of a battle," said Tri-Klops as he slashed at a group of Horde Troopers. "But I never imagined it would be like this or so soon."
"Like you had anything better to do today," said Clamp Champ as he too destroyed several Horde Troopers coming at him.
"Enough talk," commanded Snout Spout raising his axe. "If we are to die today then so be it! For Eternia!!!" Snout Spout then charged in to the swarm of Horde Troopers.
Staring at the charging Snout Spout, Tri-Klops turned to Clamp Champ and shrugged his shoulders.
"FOR ETERNIA!!!" cried both Clamp Champ and Tri-Klops as they charged in to battle.
