This was supposed to be posted...2 months ago! Haha! But stuff happens. I got busy and all that. Agh! But Alhamdulillah, it is done. It was also late cause I was trying a new writing style, based on Norman Patridge's. And I was trying to break away from standard 20-24 minute regular Sentai episode format and extend it to 40 minute like-format, since I've been watching a lot of Doctor Who lately.
Oh! Also, I will add and rewrite some parts of the past chapters, to retcon some new stuff of season 2!
Credits to Oreichalcos for beta reading and being my editor.
Enjoy!
EPIC 5: THE RED WIND
Princess Luna gasped just like Hyde had the day before. Her wings shot out in anger and her eyes locked with the newcomer's. "You!" Everypony else looked at her in confusion.
The alien let out a chuckle. "Looks like your wounds have healed."
The night princess refurled her wings, trying to hide her clearly bandaged belly from him. She gritted her teeth in scorn, eyes glaring straight at the alien.
"First," he said, rubbing his claws together. "Let me compliment you for being able to fight against us, Goseigers."
Everypony there glared at him, tensing up into their fighting stances in case he attacked. How did he know who they were? More importantly, how did Princess Luna know him?
"Are you the one behind all these attacks? The one making everypony suffer?" Alata said venomously, teeth clenched.
That question was answered with laughter from the alien. "Of course not! The one who rules over us Warstars is….Lord Mons Drake!" He paused for a moment before he continued. "My name is Dereputa of the Meteor."
"Dereputa…of the Meteor." Luna repeated quietly.
"Don't forget it! Be sure to scream it with your dying breath." With those arrogant words, the alien crossed his claws and channeled energy into them, generating a large fireball. "Because this is the end of the line..."
Luna's eyes widened in fright. She knew what was to come. Closing her eyes, her horn surrounded them with a field of blue energy. That was when Dereputa released his fireball. Despite her strong magic, Luna's wound had affected her powers. The shield was strong enough to protect them, but the force managed to blow the group back slightly. Luna was pushed even further back, gasping for air. Her vision became blurry and, as her head began to spin, unconsciousness overwhelmed her.
"Princess Luna!" Moune called out as she and the rest went to check up on her.
The alien scoffed at the sight. His red eyes gazed upon the fallen princess. "Pathetic..." Dereputa muttered under his breath. Crossing his claws once more, he attempted another fireball. Alata sprang into action, galloping into a full charge at the alien.
"What the?" Dereputa looked at the incoming red pony in disbelief. For a pony his size, Alata was fast. He body-slammed the alien with all his might.
"You want a fight?" Dereputa said and swiped at Alata. Barely, the Skick dodged the blades. However, Dereputa managed to get an opening and kicked his face. His cheeks swelled up as the pain of the kick burned into them.
With a satisfied grin, Dereputa lunged for another attack. Alata looked up at his body and spotted something on his stomach. Swiftly, he got up and gave a good buck to that spot, just as his leg was about to be sliced. Alata hissed as the claw managed to cut into his skin. Dereputa returned a moan of pain as he covered his stomach. Blood trickled onto the ground from both.
"Damn you!"
"Alata!" Hyde, Eri and Moune said in unison as they trotted towards him. Agri and Twilight helped Luna up onto her hooves. With everypony busy, Dereputa chose this time to teleport away. The Night Princess shook her head dizzyingly. Letting out a gasp, she and the others quickly went over to the fallen Skick pony.
"I'm...alright..." Alata said, wincing. Blood continued streaming down from the wound.
"We'd better get him inside." Twilight suggested.
The once quiet hallways of the Warstar's ship were disturbed by the sound of metallic clanks. Dereputa slowly made his way through, stumbling every now and then, clutching the wound on his stomach. Blood trickled from it, leaving a trail of red upon the floor.
Making his way into the ward, he searched through the cupboards for something to no avail.
"Looking for this?" A familiar voice spoke suddenly from behind. Dereputa quickly turned to the voice, which revealed itself as Bladerun, with a bottle of bio foam balanced on his hoof. His usual creepy smile plastered on his face.
"Give me that!" Dereputa quickly grabbed the bottle and began to spray the bio foam over his wound.
"Looks like you couldn't control yourself." Bladerun said. "Hope Lord Drake doesn't hear anything about this."
"He'd better not!" Dereputa replied angrily.
Guardia's home...
Three knocks came from the door. "It must be her." Eri thought.
"Welcome, your Highness!" Eri said politely as she gave a polite nod, which earned the pink pony a warm smile from the princess. Eri then looked back up to her. "Come on in!"
Celestia nodded as she entered the house without losing any of her grace.
"Morning, girls!" Eri greeted the other two ponies which they returned. "And morning, Spike!" she said to the baby dragon.
After that warm welcoming greeting, everypony gathered around in the living room, with Celestia sitting in front of them. Twilight's horn glowed with a radiant pink light as she levitated a heavy book out from her saddlebag. A familiar book. The book landed on the table and Celestia's magic took hold over it. The book glowed with magic as it flipped page by page.
"First of all, I am very proud of you, my fellow subjects," Celestia said with an elegant and reserved voice. "Especially from what I've heard from you, Hyde," Her face turned somber, eyes still gazing at the colt. "I'm sorry to hear about your situation..."
Hyde nodded with a slightly saddened expression.
"Nevertheless, what I'm here for is to explain the new Headders."
Everypony leaned closer, interested in what the princess had to say about their new discovery.
"During the time of the Great War, the Guardias had built far more than just five Gosei Machines."
"H-How many are there?" Agri asked.
"The record says that there were many...But..." She cupped her chin with her hoof, rubbing it. "Many were destroyed. However, some survived in spirit, even after their bodies were destroyed. As you can see here." Celestia turned the book over, allowing the group to take a look at the images.
The next day…
The summer wind blew softly, carrying a few dry leaves in its wake. Judging from the orange trees, summer was almost over, and autumn was about to take its place. On the dirt path trotted three little fillies, wandering back into town. Somehow, all three of them were covered in tree sap and pine needles. One of them was a unicorn, carrying a wagon full of broken equipment with her tail. Her white coat was stained with dirt, much like the other two. The middle one was a pegasus, with an orange coat and a purple mane and tail. The one up front was an earth pony, yellow fur with a red and tail mane, her cute red bow stained with dirt.
The Cutie Mark Crusaders were about to turn around a corner when they heard laughter from behind. It was Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, much to their dismay.
"Well well well, what we have here? A bunch of dirty fillies?" Diamond Tiara said.
"Yeah, dirty and blank!" Silver Spoon said. Both of them broke to a laughter and said, "Dirty blank flanks!"
The crusaders expressed annoyance, and ignored them. So they buried those words under their hoofsteps as they continued to walk, leaving them behind as they stared at the ground.
"Oof!" Applebloom bumped into somepony. Her actions made the others stopped in their tracks. She rubbed her nose gently.
"Oopsie!" A voice said to them, which belonged to none other than Eri.
The three looked up and saw a magenta pony with a purple mane, tied up in a ponytail.
"W-We're sorry miss..." Sweetie Belle apologized on their behalf, hoping not to get the stranger angry.
"Aww, it's OK! It was my fault too!" Eri replied with a smile, much to the CMC's surprise. She then realized that the three were covered in tree sap. "Why are you girls covered in-?"
"It's a long story..." Scootaloo answered quickly.
"No, it's not!" Applebloom said. "We were tryin' to get our cutie marks by being stunt ponies but..." She moved her rump, showing her blank flank. "Still nothin'..."
"And then that pine tree exploded and this happened..." Sweetie Belle explained. Scootaloo just sighed.
"I see." Eri said cluelessly. Then she tapped her chin with her hoof. "I know, why don't you come with me? Let me clean you guys up and we can talk about it some more!"
The CMC were surprised and scared. Their parents always told them not to follow strangers, especially those who invited them to anything.
"Don't worry, I won't hurt you," Eri said. She picked up her bag of goodies in her mouth, and turned around. She then turned her head to them. "Ell, com alonn."
The three fillies looked at each other, still unsure. But seeing nothing better to do, they followed her.
Spike wiped the wound on Alata's left leg gently, cleaning off some dried blood and washing the cloth in the stream behind him. Despite being in pain from the cut and the salty water, Alata was too deep in thought to notice.
"Why...I don't understand...Why do they plan to kill us all?" He thought. The alien's words still lingered in his mind. And he didn't like it. He still remembered the fight last night. That alien was formidable, much more so than the lesser aliens they'd fought so far. And he said that the Warstars have a ruler, Lord Mons Drake. Somehow he felt terrified to imagine his strength.
He then focused on Dereputa again. His eyes wondered around. Something flickered in his mind.
"How can I beat somepony-no, someone that strong...?"
"There!" Spike said suddenly, interrupting his thoughts. He just finished wrapping his leg with the cloth. "All done!"
"Thanks, Spike!" Alata said in gratitude, looking over his newly wrapped wound.
The sound of hoofsteps approaching caught their attention. Alata's sister was the cause of it; she was happily trotting along the dirt path, carrying a bag in her mouth. Both him and Spike smiled as they walked towards her. Eri however was surprised to see them there.
She looked at them and saw something different on Alata's ankle. Her sharp eyes could easily detect it. The bandage; it was wrapped differently than yesterday. Eri put her bag down gently, attempting not to bruise anything and asked, "Did something happen?"
"Oh no," Alata replied. "The wound just reopened when I fell on my rump."
"Ooh...Does it hurt?"
Alata shook his head. "No. Well, slightly."
Umm, miss Eri?" A young voice politely interjected.
Alata and Spike were surprised to see three fillies standing behind Eri. Spike was less surprised to see them covered in tree sap.
"What are you guys doing here?" Spike asked as he went towards them to check. "And what happened this time?"
"You know them, Spike?" Eri asked.
Spike nodded. "Yeah, they call themselves the Cutie Mark Crusaders."
"Cutie Mark Crusaders?" Both Alata and Eri repeated.
"Yeah!" Scootaloo zipped forward and gave a proud posture. "It's a club we made to find our special talents and earn our cutie marks!" The young pegasus explained.
"Yeah...But so far we still got nothin'," Applebloom said with a sad tone, pointing at her cutie mark-less flank. Sweetie Belle gave the same expression.
"I see. Well, you're not the only one without cutie marks." Eri said
All three fillies gave her weird stares, confused by what she meant. Their confusions were quickly replaced with surprise.
"See?" Eri pointed at her blank flank. Alata did the same. They weren't surprised that the girls hadn't noticed yet. Ponies didn't usually stare at strangers' flanks. It wasn't polite.
"You guys have no cutie marks too? B-But you guys are grown ups!" Scootaloo stammered.
"Does it mean we won't get our cutie marks even when we grow up?" Sweetie Belle clutched her cheeks with her hooves and began to shake.
"No no no, girls. It's just that we haven't found our special talents yet, just like you." Eri explained. "Some ponies get their cutie marks late in their adulthood."
The CMC's mouths each formed identical 'o' shapes as a response.
Eri nodded with a smile. She then realized that they hadn't introduced themselves yet.
"Oh, pardon me. My name is Eri, Eri Skybolt! Nice to meet you!" Eri said cheerfully.
"Hi!" Scootaloo simply said.
"Howdy!" Applebloom said in her cowpony manner.
"Nice to meet you!" Sweetie Belle said politely.
"And this here," She moved aside, revealing Alata to them. "Is my brother, Alata."
The three fillies looked up at him, tilting their heads a bit. All of them then got up and went closer to the red pony, much to his confusion.
"Pardon miss Eri, but did you say this 'ere is your brother or yer sister?" Applebloom said, hoping not to be rude.
Eri covered her mouth, repressing a giggle. She knew this would come up. It happens every time they met somepony new.
"Yes, she said brother," Alata said. "Nice to meet you three!"
All three fillies blinked in unison when they heard that boyish voice came out of the 'mare's' mouth. They stared at him and he stared back with the same expression.
"Are you really a guy?" As Scootaloo said that, Sweetie Belle quickly covered her mouth. She looked at Alata with an awkward smile.
"Why yes, I am. Why does everypony keep asking me that in this country?" Alata said, looking at Eri and Spike. Eri continued to giggle while Spike just gave him a deadpan look.
"Anyway, I think you guys better clean up. Don't want you three to get a rash, now do we?" Alata said with a smile as he led them to the stream.
The CMC just smiled as they followed the nice pony. Sweetie Belle looked at her two friends and asked,
"What's a rash?"
"Lord Drake!" Dereputa said, walking towards his leader. "It's about time for me to bathe my body in the screams of ponies! Please, entrust this operation to me." He politely bowed his head.
"Hmm. Seems like you're feeling pretty confident, Dereputa." Mons Drake commented.
The red alien quickly replied, "Of course!" He swung his left claw gently, and said, "Come forth!"
"Yes sir!" A voice rang. The sound of screeching tires made itself heard. Someone then entered the room, though he looked more like a blur, circling around the three Warstars once before coming to a full stop. He rose up from his kneeling position and introduced himself.
"Hidou of the Body Master is here!"
The alien creature, just like its brethren, was insect like. He resembled a dragonfly.
Mons Drake eyed the Warstar. Apparently, he was amused. "Your mastery over your body is magnificent as always, Hidou."
Dereputa approached the soldier, before he turned to face his master again.
"Thank you, Lord Drake. We shall not fail!"
After cleaning up the three fillies, the group decided to go to the park to spend the afternoon.
"Wow!" Both Alata and Eri cheered. It was their first time here. They could see every kind of pony filling the space and sky. The sound of youthful laughter could be heard from every direction as young foals ran around, playing to their hearts' content. The older ponies were more passive in their approach. Some of them were relaxing while others were having conversations.
As they walked through, a sudden growl broke the group's silence. It was Alata's belly. He gave a goofy smile, embarrassed. He didn't have breakfast yet. More little growls then followed, this time from the CMC members.
"I guess it's lunch time." Spike said, rubbing his hands together. From the beginning of their walk towards the park, he could smell the sweet aroma from the bag Eri was carrying. It must be either cupcakes, muffins, cakes or all three! That's what he thought and hope. Thinking about it already made him drool. He was pretty hungry as well.
"Well, let's find a nice spot to eat!" Alata said cheerfully.
The CMC gave a "Yay!" as a response.
Alata looked around till he spotted an oak tree not far from here. He gestured them to follow. Soon, the group reached it. The oak tree's leaves provided lots of shelter from the sun.
From the bag, Eri took out some muffins, cakes, cupcakes and some sweet breads. Soon afterwards, all the food was consumed, leaving just a few crumbs for the ants to pick up.
Spike gave a satisfying burp as he patted his stomach.
"That was so yummy!" Eri said.
"Yeah! I love those cupcakes!" Alata exclaimed. As he lied down on the grass, he saw the three fillies looking at him, or rather his leg.
"Mister, are you hurt?" Sweetie Belle asked worriedly, pointing at the bandaged ankle.
Alata just smiled. "No, not really." Of course, there was a bit of a lie in there, just so they wouldn't worry. Standing up, he softly stomped his hoof on the ground and then stood up on his two legs.
"Yosh!" With that, he jumped. In mid-air, he began to spin, much to the fillies' amazement. Alata could feel the air brushing against his body from all sides. His mane, a bowl cut of purple, bounced softly back and forth in a quick pace. And he landed on all four of his hooves. He cracked a smile, but the feeling of triumph was quickly replaced with a stinging pain. He bit his bottom lip. He tottered, almost falling. Almost. He managed to balance himself before anypony noticed.
"Wow! That was awesome!" Scootaloo said excitedly. She and her friends zipped towards the red pony with delighted faces.
"How did you do that?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"Well I-" He was cut off when another voice was heard.
"That was amazing!" A voice said, interrupting Alata. Trotting towards them was a mare. Her eyes were green in contrast to her fuchsia colour coat and her rosy colored mane and tail. On her flank smiled three sunflowers.
While Alata and Eri tilted their head at the newcomer, Spike and the CMC smiled at her and said in unison,
"Hello, Ms. Cheerilee!"
"Hello to you too, kids." She replied with a warm smile. Then she returned her attention towards Alata.
"As I said, that was amazing! I've never seen anypony jump like you before!" Cheerilee exclaimed. "How do you do it?"
"Well…." Alata's voice trail off. It was hard for him to explain stuff like this. "It's natural for me and my family."
Eri nodded in agreement. "Not just our family, but our whole clan!"
Cheerilee raised an eyebrow and repeated, "Clan?"
"Yes. My sister and I are from the Skick clan of Guardia."
Screams suddenly broke out. What happened next happened very quickly. Moving as fast as sound, a silhouette strode across the park, wrecking havoc in its path. Chairs, baskets and even ponies were flung away in every direction due to its force.
"Woah…..What was that?" Spike asked. Everybody looked over the chaos the silhouette left behind.
The silhouette cut through the park like a missile, and left. Not far from behind it, three particular ponies in colorful suits were giving chase.
Alata, Eri and Spike eyed each other, a plan quickly forming.
"Ok," Alata turned to Cheerilee. "Ms. Cheerilee, you better get these fillies to safety. We'll go to see if any other ponies need help."
Eri and Spike nodded.
"I'll go with you, Ms. Cheerilee." Spike said. This would be safer than sticking around, plus he could stop anypony else from going that way.
"Alright, just be careful," She gestured at the CMC and Spike to follow her. "Come along now."
The Skick ponies waited until the group had left the area and then transformed together.
The three Goseigers continued their chase on the silhouette, which lead them to an open field, though upon arriving, there was nothing. Gone.
"Where did it go?" Gosei Black asked, as he and the others searching the area.
Without warning, the silhouette appeared from behind them with a "Shaa!"
While the three managed to face it, they didn't manage to protect themselves. The thing cut through the group. Sparks flew from their suits as they were flung through the air and landed with a thud. They quickly recovered and looked up, and saw the thing as it revealed itself.
Standing before them was a dragonfly mutant creature. "A sharp entrance! And I sharply trampled you guys! I am called Hidou, of the Swift Run!"
Everypony tensed up in their fighting stance, preparing themselves for any attacks.
"I came here to do some wrecking so that Lord Drake can build a new base here!" Hidou said, gesturing his hands wildly, representing the area he wanted to demolish.
Clapping his hands together, he began to run at super speed once again, though he did not attack the Goseigers directly.
"He's to fast to be seen!" Moune commented.
She and the others looked around, searching whilst regaining their fighting stances. They heard voices around them, encircling them like a predator preparing to strike. They huddled, hoping not to leave an opening for the creature.
Alata and Eri, now in their Goseiger forms galloped towards their comrades.
"Watch out, you two! There's an enemy moving so fast that he's practically invisible!" Gosei Blue warned.
Both Skick ponies jerked before they completely stopped. They too, began to look around.
The sound of "Sha!" repeatedly echoed.
While they continued gazing around, Gosei Red picked up the sound; the sound of blowing wind. His eyes widened as he turned towards the source, only to feel himself thrown in the air. His suit kicked up sparks.
Behind him, the Warstar stopped and turned to face the pony he hit.
"That's my way of saying 'Hi!'"
With that, the Warstar made his move again, running around the Goseigers in circles.
From his hiding place behind a tree, Dereputa had been watching. So far, he was unimpressed.
"Hmph! They're having trouble from just that?"
He saw them regroup and huddled, covering each other's back. However, Gosei Red caught his attention.
The red warrior, now clutching his sword, jogged on the spot momentarily as he prepares himself.
"Alright." He closed his eyes and started to concentrate.
"What are you doing?" Eri asked, wondering why her brother stood in silence with his sword in mouth. For a brief moment, she turned to see if the alien was coming towards her, before turning back to her brother, now with a more worried look. "Alata!"
Red's head turned slowly, as he tried to answer without breaking his focus.
"Trying to feel...the wind..."
"The wind?" Eri repeated.
Alata nodded. "I'm sensing the wind he makes when he moves. If we know where he will be…" He stopped in mid sentence upon hearing the sound of wind rushing. His eyes quickly opened and looked at his right. There. The red-suited pony moved with a sharp lunge. His sword was already in motion as he reached his target. The sword sliced into the alien's leg, causing him to tumble across the ground like a thrown rag doll.
"You did it!" Gosei Yellow complimented. "Just what you'd expect from a Skick!"
"Alright," Hyde and the rest tensed up in their fighting stances. "Now we know how to beat him."
Hidou knocked the ground with his hand like an angry spoilt child. "How dare you damage my prized leg!"
"Alright, we can finish this now!" Black said as he charged. The rest responded similarly and charged as well. Red went to rushed in as well but quickly caught himself. He sensed something else.
Before his eyes, a red figure appeared seemingly out of nowhere, knocking away the four other Goseigers like a bowling ball against a row of pins. Now it seemed to be coming towards him! Red attempted to attack with his sword to no avail as the figure was too quick.
The figure then stopped, and quickly unleashed multiple dark energy crescents from his left claw, sending them towards his enemies. Hidou quickly jumped up when he saw it. Sparks flew from their suits as the Goseigers took massive damage from the attack and flung into the air by the explosions it caused. They rolled onto the ground in pain.
As the smoke cleared up, Red looked up, and saw him. Dereputa, standing there, was staring straight at him and his team. Hidou landed next to him, tottering due to his injured leg.
Gosei Red struggled as he got up. From his impression, Dereputa was enjoying this. He tried to hide his pain, to stop the alien from laughing at him.
"Dereputa…." He completely recovered from the fall, sliding his hoof through his sword's handle. "Of the Meteor."
Laughter rang from the alien's mouth. "You intend to fight me?" The way he said it sounded more like an invitation than a question.
Red stood in silence, throwing his sword upwards. His mouth plate slide opened and quickly, he grabbed the sword in mid air.
A pregnant silence ensued. Nopony made a move. Both sides stared straight at each other.
"Come at me!" Dereputa said, rubbing his claws together.
This made Red bite his sword harder.
A soft chuckle escaped Dereputa's lips. With his left claw, he turned it slightly, letting the sunlight reflect into Red's visor.
The intense light caught him off-guard. With a battle cry, Gosei Red charged. During the charge, the wings that appeared during the Goseigers' transformation reappeared on Alata's back. That caught both sides by surprise. But they disappeared just as quickly.
Dereputa quickly regained his composure. His opponent was thrusting his sword forward, but he managed to block it with his claws. Looking at him straight through the tinted visor, he noticed that Red was wincing in pain. Of course, he knew why.
"Does the wound on your ankle throb?" Dereputa asked mockingly. With his tremendous strength, he pushed the little pony back before slicing into him with his other claw.
With an explosive spark, Gosei Red was belted backwards and landed with a powerful thud. Sparks of electricity flew from the cut on his right hoof. He winced at the stinging pain, forcing himself to stand again.
"I can't lose!" He said, struggling over his new wound. Red was limping now, still wanting to fight. He inched closer with a slow and painful gait. Dereputa moved his left claw, about to attack again.
Then came sounds. Gunfire. Hot scorching lasers of four different colours fired over the fallen Red, and all four of them hit the steel clad body of the alien, making sparks fly from him.
Of course, Gosei Red knew this would happen sooner or later. He stopped in his tracks, looking over his shoulder and saw his comrades recovering from their fall. Then he turned back to look at Dereputa.
"Heh! Go train some more!" Dereputa motioned his claw softly in mid air, as if he was flinging away a piece of trash. Then he and Hidou disappeared in a blur.
"Wait!" Gosei Red hollered, tottering forward slightly. "Don't run!" He felt his energy draining. Not a moment too soon, his body glowed red and his suit dispersed into feathers made of light. Now, as Alata, the tired pony finally collapsed. His world darkened as his consciousness slipped away, only hearing sounds melting around him until those too began to grow quiet and fade away.
Alata was in his room, lying down in bed on his back, covered with his soft red blanket. He finally woke up a few hours after that fight. Moune was next to him as he awoke, wrapping the gash on his arm. Patches of scabby brown could be seen on his cherry red coat. Twilight was there as well, levitating a used cotton swab into the trash can.
"Does it hurt, Alata?" Moune asked, finally finish wrapping the gash.
"It's fine!" Alata said happily. Yet when he swayed his hoof around, he quickly pulled it back in pain.
"Alata, don't overdo it." Twilight suggested. She stared straight at the gash. She felt her stomach turning a little. She had rarely seen wounds in her life. It was the privilege of a student to only see photographs of such things. But ever since her new friends had begun to defend Ponyville, there had been a lot of wounded ponies.
She sat there as Alata chatted with his sister about nothing like an airhead. She made polite conversation even after he closed his eyes, 'just for a moment'. She remained there even after he stopped pretending and fell asleep.
At that time, the two aliens had safely retreated into a small cave carved into the side of the hill in the Everfree Forest. "What are we still doing here, sir?" Hidou asked. His misshapen fingers ran through the wound on his leg, spreading bio foam all over it. Within seconds, the wound closed with a hiss.
"Based off of Lord Drake's research, there was something in this cave," He turned to face Hidou and added, "We don't know what it was, but from the scale, it was something powerful. And something that powerful shall belong to the Warstars."
Hidou nodded, understanding every word. "And what do I do about those pony punks?"
"Make sure they don't get in the way," Dereputa said, his teeth bared in the dark as he grinned. "But leave the red one to me."
The next day, early in the morning…
"ART THOU READY?"
Princess Luna stood regally on the far side of the field. The Guardias easily heard her royal Canterlot voice from where they were standing. Eeyup, it was that loud. Despite getting used to modern language, she occasionally still talked like this when necessary. Like now.
Eri looked to her sides. Her cousins were already wearing their blindfolds and their Tensouders were hovering by their sides through their suit's magic.
"We're ready!" She said with a nod. Unlike the others, she was able to use some magic as GoseiPink thanks to Twilight's training. She was only a little better at using her blaster than the others and she could only move small things. But she was still proud. She concentrated and her own blindfold fastened itself over her eyes with a pink glow.
"Alright, here we go…" Luna said, now with her usual voice.
Her eyes went completely white with light.
Her horn glowed a beautiful blue and four tornadoes appeared, similar to the Skick Twistornado power. But these were blue rather than red. And from the size and the wind pressure, they were obviously more powerful. This was the clear difference between the Guardias and the Celestials. The tornadoes started moving, sailing towards the Guardias.
"REMEMBER, PAY ATTENTION TO THE WIND'S MOVEMENT WITH YOUR EARS!"
The Guardias nodded, their ears a little hurt from Luna's voice. Narrowly, they rolled away from the tornadoes' path. Eri, being the trigger-happy pony she is, fired the first shot when she turned. One of the tornadoes was hit and dispersed.
Far away, it was a bright and sunny day. Cheerilee had planned earlier to take the foals in her class away for a field trip, to begin their unit about the plants and flowers. But before that, Cheerilee brought them to meet a special guest.
"Fluttershy, oh Fluttershy!" Cheerilee called out upon reaching said pegasus' hut of a home. There was an "eep!" followed by the sound of animals hiding. While the foals' eyes wandered around, Cheerilee called out Fluttershy again.
"Fluttershy? It's me, Cheerilee."
"Oh, I'm sorry, Cheerilee. I forgot about the trip…" Fluttershy meekly apologized.
The older mare just chuckled. "So, are you able to come?"
Fluttershy nodded.
"Well, let's go then."
So that settled it. Cheerilee led Fluttershy out to where the children were waiting. Angel was looking straight at them with his bunny glare, as if they were hiding something. And the class looked back with their giant, curious eyes. It was rather mesmerizing.
"Class, I would like you to meet Fluttershy. She will be helping us with the trip!" Cheerilee said.
"Uh, hi…" She shyly greeted.
"Hi, Fluttershy!" the Cutie Mark Crusaders responded loudly. The others responded at their own pace. Fluttershy smiled awkwardly, remembering how loud little kids were.
"Well, let's get going then." Cheerilee said. After Fluttershy made a few last requests to Angel, all of them made their move together.
Multiple trots echoed as the ponies gait strolled into the forest at a steady gait. The forest was much safer in the morning than its nocturnal side. As they walked, there were more sounds. The sound of complaints. And of course, every pony knew where those came from. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, still the spoilt brats of the class.
"Agh! Why we have to take a field trip to the Everfree Forest in the first place?" Diamond Tiara whined, wiggling her dirty hoof.
"I know. Stupid field trip!" Silver Spoon pouted.
Then there came another sound. Not from the surroundings. It was a thump, and a moan. And it came from up ahead. While the foals were naturally curious, Cheerilee thought of ignoring it and continuing the trip elsewhere in the forest. But Fluttershy was worried. It could be a little woodland creature in pain. Before long, Fluttershy had dragged the whole group towards the direction of the noise. It became louder the deeper they went. They came down to a beautiful clearing. There was nothing much here except for a pond and a large tree. Then they heard the thumping again. Not far off, they spotted a pony and a baby dragon.
If Alata had more common sense, he wouldn't be doing this right now. But he was very determined. Lowering his body with his back turned, Alata jumped. Being a Skick, his jump was higher than any normal pony's. But his hooves suddenly got caught by one of the branches of the tree, and he fell flat to the ground.
Spike was there with him, watching to make sure he didn't go too far.
"But why do you even need to practice? You should be in bed! So should I!"
Alata smiled. With his body posture set in motion, he jumped again, and again his landing was anything but perfect.
"Umm…excuse me. Alata?" Fluttershy said as she approached the two. Everypony stood right behind her, looking at the stranger's antics. Alata noticed right before he landed on his back.
"Oww…."
"Is he from the circus?" Snails said. He was promptly ignored.
"Oh, my!" Fluttershy rushed towards him. "Are you ok?"
Alata rubbed his head with his hoof. "F-Fluttershy?" He got to his hooves and was dusting himself off. "What are you doing here?"
Those words went into her right ear and came out of the left. She was busy looking at him. Her gaze traveled from the bandaged gash on his forehoof to the one on his ankle.
"A-Alata, shouldn't you be in bed? You're hurt!"
"Who's hurt?" Cheerilee said worryingly, walking up to where Fluttershy was with the red pony.
Of course she remembered him. They met yesterday in the afternoon. His sister, Spike and the Cutie Mark Crusaders were at the oak tree having lunch. That's when she spotted his amazing jumping skills. She had never seen a pony backflip up that high before! And now he was here. Her curiosity was peaked.
"Oh my, you really are hurt! What were you doing?"
Alata smiled as he got up on his hooves and dusted himself off. "Training" was his simple reply.
The whole class walked closely next to their teacher. All of them looked at the red pony.
The Cutie Mark Crusaders walked forward next to Cheerilee. They recognized the nice pony and greeted him with flying tackles.
After the 3 were finally pried from his side, Alata decided to join the class trip. He needed the rest anyway. His wounds could open up again if he continued. The rest of the morning was spent finding interesting plants. And after that, they had to write reports about the trip, much to everypony's dismay. Especially Alata.
Later...
When Alata arrived home, he noticed that his cousins were not there. Gone. Empty. The ponies had left the building. Odd, considering that the sun had already set. A square piece of paper, lying conveniently on the dinner table, caught his attention.
"Dear Alata," He read. "Gone to the Princesses' castle to train ourselves to beat that Warstar. Make sure you rest up, don't strain yourself.
PS: I left some food for you in the kitchen. Love, Eri."
Alata pouted. While he knew the Warstar was still out there, and Dereputa with him, he didn't want to strain himself further for the time being. The wounds still hurt him every time he took a step. That jumping training earlier really didn't help. After all the things he had done today, it was time for him to eat and go to bed.
It was a cold night outside. Leaves churned in the wind that blew as soft as whispers. Hoofsteps in the town square-the sound of a pony walking on the cobblestone road. The plastic bag in his mouth gleams under the moonlight, revealing the dark shapes of the items inside.
At that moment, a sound erupted with the clanking of metal, somewhere in the shadows. The pony stopped in his tracks, but soon shrugged it off and continued. But as he continued, more sounds were heard. Like hoofsteps similar to his. He continued to walk, faster and faster. He couldn't help looking over his shoulder. But nopony was there.
Before long, something appeared in front of him. A large silhouetted figure, gazing at him with cold blue eyes-guess who?
"Hehe!"
The colt scream bloody murder, dropping his groceries. A bitten bread roll out onto the roadbed. Hidou's bug eyes glow menacingly, shining like an ice cold diamond. While it was dark and the clouds blocked off some of the moonlight, the colt could still see what was standing in front of him. And he knew, this is not a pony or a dragon or anything he had seen in his life.
"Another one." His raspy voice gave goosebumps to the pony-
And in that instant, the pony made a run for it.
"Oh no you don't!"
What came next was unexpected. Instead of chasing the poor soul, Hidou done something else. Slowly, his body opened. Literally. It opened up like those swinging door, coupled with a sticky sound like somepony stepped on a gum by accident. Transparent liquids ran down these 'doors' like glue.
And what was inside can make you loose your appetite. Dozens…no, hundreds of alien like insects hanging upside down like bats. They were no less large than a cockroach, but they are sure 20% more creepy looking.
The pony was already far, but not that far.
"After him!" Hidou commanded. One of the bugs flew out, and gave chase. And it was fast, though not as fast as the Warstar. For a second, it was quiet, nothing but the humming of the mutant bug's wings. Then there was a scream. Music to his ears.
So the Warstar commanded more of his minions to their dirty work. All of them flew out of his body, and the town was then swarmed with those creepy buggers.
Alata was still awake, staring out of the window, thinking. He could feel the night air blowing over his face. He'd been thinking lately, about this whole thing. Being a Goseiger, fighting monsters, and saving lives. All that sounded like something out of a comic book, but hey, it was life.
Sighing, Alata got up from his bed. The aching had finally died down now thanks to medicine and rest. The stairs creaked as he trotted downstairs. A name flashed into his mind-Dereputa. That alien was one powerful foe. And he thought about the words Dereputa said to him earlier yesterday.
"Train some more!"
Was that real advice? Or just an attempt to stop him from resting? As the clock of the main hall ticked down the remaining seconds of the night, he stopped thinking about that stuff. He just thought of taking a walk for some air and hopefully getting some sleep afterwards.
The shops were closed and the streets were empty. A much different sight than it was in the morning. He looked around, eyes wandering.
Then he came across the park. Everything was already the way it was. Now that was fast. Alata walked in. Up ahead, he saw the old oak tree. The old tree choked off the moonlight, casting a large shadow.
He trotted toward it and looked up at the tree in thought.
"Go train some more!"
Those words still lingered in his head. That's it. Instead of wasting time, he decided to do just that. Spotting the branch, he turned his back to it. He took a breath.
He jumped again.
For the sixth…the seventh….the eighth…
Unbeknownst to him, somepony had entered the park. It was Cheerilee. She was trotting happily, humming to herself. Halfway across the park, she stopped. She heard a thump. It was coming from the hill, at the oak tree. There was a feeling of deja-vu running through her at the moment.
"E-Excuse me?" She asked, her eyes searching the darkness.
The thumping stopped.
"Ms. Cheerilee?" Alata replied as he revealed himself from the shadows.
The mare looked straight at him, then towards the tree and then back to him.
"Are you practicing again?"
Alata nodded with a sheepish smile.
"You'll hurt yourself!" She said this the way she would to a young foal, somepony who wouldn't really understand speech. Something about Alata made her feel as if he was just a bigger student.
Alata tried to protest. "But I have to!", he said. But he had no way to justify it. He didn't want to lie unless he had to. And the truth was that he was training because an evil alien that wanted to hurt him said to do it. Yeah, he understood how little sense that made. So he tried to walk away. And the curious Cheerilee followed.
And that's the way the midnight walk went for Alata Skybolt, all the way from the front door of his house to the dirt path that led to Sweet Apple Acres. Tall, luscious apple trees covered the land as far as any eyes could see. In contrast with the greenness was the large red barn on the opposite side, with a smaller old fashioned house next to it.
"I see. But doesn't that hurt?" Cheerilee asked.
Alata shook his head. "Not so much. The aching has gone down a lot."
As they continued, Alata noticed. Cheerilee had been looking at him a lot. Dead straight, the way Dereputa had. This made Alata stop, which in turn made her stop too.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" Alata asked.
"Nothing….It's just that…I still can't believe you're a colt!" Cheerilee said, chuckling.
The red pony could only roll his eyes. "Trust me, there's a lot of colts in my clan that look-
And then three screams broke out, growing louder and louder. Alata and Cheerilee whirled, just in time to see a dust cloud rolling out of the bushes, and came to a stop right in front of them. The dust settled down, revealing itself to be the Cutie Mark Crusaders, all tangled up. With a moan, the three quickly untangled from each other's legs. Applebloom was the first one up; her bow tilted off slightly and was stained with dirt. The other two did the same and dusting themselves off.
Upon spotting the two adult ponies, the three quickly rushed to them. For once, they seemed to be at a loss for words.
"Are you OK, girls? What happened?" Cheerilee asked.
"We were having a sleepover at our clubhouse when all of a sudden some bugs flew into our window!" This would have sounded like a girly fear if it came from anypony other than Scootaloo.
"Bugs?" Alata repeated.
"Evil bugs!" Scootaloo added.
"Yeah! With glowing blue eyes and purple skins and sharp mouths!" Sweetie Bell continued, flailing her fore hooves in every direction, rearing up until she fell onto her back.
"Evil bugs…? Purple skin….? Blue eyes?" Cheerilee recalled, trying to absorb this new information. While it sounded unbelievable for her, Alata vaguely remembered seeing things like those. In their fights, right before a Warstar grew and they had to fight it again.
"It must be Dereputa's work…"
Soon afterwards, a cacophony of sound filled the air. Loud buzzing, like the sound of a nightmare given form. They slowly looked up. There, in the sky was a dark cloud…a swarm of mutant insects!
"RUN!" Alata shouted. Everypony ran for their lives. Alata couldn't help but look back over his shoulder. Those bugs were pretty fast.
Alata, Cheerilee and the CMC trotted over the small bridge. There was a streetlight on the corner ahead. They made a couple of turns, working their way west. Then a couple more turns, passing Sugarcube Corner and heading north, into the town square. That was where they saw the townsfolk. Walking without spirit, almost shambling in their simultaneous exodus. They barely seemed like the spirited townsfolk unless you looked for their cutie marks. Some of Twilight's friends were there, along with the more prominent townsponies.
Alata stuck to the shadows with the others, away from the mass of ponies. The entire group watched the townsfolk walking through the night. The bugs weren't Bibi Bugs at all, Alata noted. They were different, like dragonflies. Each walking pony had one of these bugs hugging part of their body. And they didn't seem to notice, or speak, or do anything at all. A single mare sneezed and tripped over her own hooves, causing a pony pileup. Cheerilee didn't need to look for a cutie mark to know who that was. She supposed that the bugs didn't work well on air-heads.
Backlit by the street lights, the ponyfolk's shadows stretched over the roadbed, creeping pass them. Once they were gone, Alata and company breathed in relief and walked out from the shadows.
A din came to their ears. They quickly turned around, and saw another mutant dragonfly hovering before them.
It was already late to make a run for it. The thing was only a foot away from them. Without warning, the bug swooped down. The ponies quickly ducked down, making it miss. Alata looked between Cheerilee, the fillies and the bug…..thinking. Even if they made a run for it, one of the fillies would become its victim. The bug swooped down again, and they ducked.
He felt sweat running down his forehead. With Cheerilee's panicked state and the sound of the Crusaders starting to cry, there really was no choice.
"Tensouder!" His necklace glow brightly and bloomed. The Tensouder was now hovering in front of him, much to the awe of Cheerilee and the CMC.
"Gosei Weapon Card!" Alata said and a card flashed in front of him, which he quickly grabbed. He pulled down the slot.
"GATCHA"
He put the card in and the device responded. "SUMMON, SKICK SWORD."
His trademark red dragon tail sword appeared in front of him. He grabbed the handle in his mouth. Cheerilee and the others looked at him and his sword in wonder.
While the bug went in for a third swoop, Alata shifted his stance, already setting his hooves, ready to swing the metal blade.
Closer…..and closer…
-and the Skick Sword nailed the poor bugger hard, slicing it half like a fruit. Green blood stained the sword. The sliced insect fell to the roadway, becoming a small puddle of blood and mush.
There was a pause, before Alata turned to the group, just to make sure they were safe. They were looking at him, dead straight. This made him swallow hard. He got a lot of explaining to do. Not just to them, but to his cousins and the princesses!
Oh boy…
Then there came another light. A brilliant red light bloomed on the roadbed behind them. The light then dispersed with a magical pop, revealing Twilight Sparkle and Spike.
"Twilight?" Cheerilee said.
"Cheerilee?" Twilight responded. "You're OK!" She then noticed that Alata was there too. Her jaw went slack when she saw the sword in Alata's mouth. The sword meant only for his Goseiger form.
So she zipped towards him, dragging him to the sidewalk. The sword slipped from his mouth in the process and clattered on the roadway, where it disappeared in a flash of red.
Twilight stared at Alata, taking a second to sound out the words in her head. "Alata! You didn't…..reveal yourself, did you?" She stammered questioningly.
Alata sighed. "I didn't transform. But…." He shot a glance at Cheerilee and the CMC. "They saw my Tensounder. I had no choice. If I didn't do anything, the fillies would have been attacked!"
Of course, with the whole town now effectively zombies due to the bugs, the Goseigers would need all the help they could get. In this case, Twilight's powerful magic. Cheerilee and the CMC were with them, flanked by the Landicks once they were winked to their location with flashes of golden light. This was the safest position for the four civilian ponies. Who knew what could happen if they were just left in the recently abandoned town? Those mutant bugs might still be there.
So they left Ponyville. The other Goseigers were already at the town exit, watching the last few ponies leave. Wordlessly, the party of ponies followed the last few straggling townspeople. They didn't bother hiding: if Hidou wanted to fight them, he would. Better to let him do it early.
True to form, it took only minutes before a blast of wind rocketed from the distance, on course to hit the group. Hyde already had a card in his Tensounder, which he closed the second he saw it.
EXPAND SEAICK POWER
Water flowed from a geyser that hadn't existed before, blocking his path. The alien was knocked upwards by the current, landing on his feet a meter away.
"Stop it, Hidou!" Hyde demanded, stomping his hoof gently.
"Oh really?" Hidou replied. "The same trick won't work on me!"
"It'll end the same no matter what you do!" Moune said, matter of factly. She then looked towards her cousins, all tensing up to fight. "Let's go, everypony!"
"Yeah!" The others said in unison.
Their necklaces glowed brightly, and the Tensouders took their place. Rearing up, the Guardias inserted their respective cards in, and the transformation begins.
"CHANGE GOSEIGER"
Seeing this made Hidou prepare himself. His scaly, insect-like fingers dug into his palms. With that, he disappeared in a blur.
The Goseigers huddled close as the transformation ended. Once again, Gosei Red clutched his sword, and stood in silence. But this time, the others followed his actions.
"Over there!", somepony said. Without thought, Red made a 90-degree turn and trotted forward, using the momentum to boost his jump. He cocked the sword for a swing while still in mid-air.
KLIINNGG
The sword rang against an alien designed scythe that was all too familiar. Even in the dark, Red recognized the red, slitted eyes, which belonged to a monster that any filly might imagine to be hiding in her closet.
"Shame that I'm not Hidou!" Dereputa mocked. While he expected Gosei Red to display some disappointment, he got an expression that he didn't expect. A smirk.
"Heh! Um not dizapointed af all! I vas after you all arong!"
Despite the sword's impediment, Dereputa could make out what he was saying. He wasn't happy about it. The pony sure had guts.
Swept up in his posturing, Red forgot that Hidou was still on the move. By the time he heard the wind blowing, he remembered, much to his dismay. He looked to his left, and saw the purple blur. Beneath that sound, Red could here the Warstar mutter something.
"You're open!"
"Oh man!"
If he moved now, Dereputa would strike him down on the spot. And if he didn't, Hidou would do the honours! He was stuck. As Hidou rocketed towards him, gunfire erupted. Four scorching lasers blasted the poor bugger away. He hit the ground hard and tumbled down the dirt path.
"What?" was all Hidou could say.
Hidou looked up ahead. The four Goseigers stood there, glowing with their respective colors. And the same went for their weapons. Trails of vapour were escaping from the muzzles.
"Does anypony remember that we're still here? Luna's been teaching us how to 'shoot the breeze' ever since that last fight", said a cocky Gosei Black. "Red, leave Hidou to us."
Arming themselves again, the four trotted into a full gallop, dashing towards the Warstar. At the same time, Red nodded as his next attack was yet again foiled by Dereputa's claw.
So it was just him and Dereputa now. Gosei Red, getting down to business with a Warstar general in a one-on-one rumble. And with his Skick Sword, Red pushed forward, his blade against Dereputa's scythe. But it was a waste of effort.
Dereputa spun, whirling Red onto his back and slugging him into the rocky wall nearby. Sparks furiously flew from the bruised pony's suit. But that didn't slow him down.
Red quickly got up and rushed at his opponent. They clashed again, but Dereputa got the upperhand. With his immense strength, Dereputa easily threw Red to the wall and cornered him. His scythe was already set in motion. It whistled towards Red's head.
KLIING
As Red blocks it, feeling the vibrations shake through his teeth and into his head, he sees Dereputa still pushing against his blade, prying his mouth open with the raw leverage.
"Ahh!"
"Disappear! The Warstar Army will rule this planet!"
In that heated moment, Red glared at him from behind his visor. He swallowed those words….and his thoughts stopped. Why did the Warstars want them to die so much? What drove them to conquer everything in their sights? The Goseigers fought to protect Equestria. So why did the Warstars fight?
"I don't understand you guys at all!"
Red activated his magic energy and shot the Warstar several times with his Gosei Blaster. Exploding sparks sizzled with electricity as the lasers blasted his armour. And Dereputa stumbled back a few steps, grunting as he felt the blunt force trauma the lasers caused.
"Using your powers…..to cause suffering…to make everypony suffer…..How can you enjoy that?"
Red was now on his hooves. He picked up his blade again, his bite even firmer this time.
Both sides clashed again. Their metal blades sparked upon impact.
"There's no point in asking!" He turned and approached Red, his right claw already swinging. His eyes glowed as red as rising lava.
"Those who live on this planet…" Dereputa yelled with a slash.
"…in the vastness of space..." Another slash.
Gosei Red attacked again. But Dereputa swiftly smashed his blade away and made Red stumble just as the Warstar grabbed his unguarded neck.
"...have a pointless existence!" Dereputa finished.
"What?" was Alata's choked response.
Dereputa pushed the little pony back by his neck and began whipping him with his scythes.
"They're barely above…"
KLING
His side armor cracked slightly.
….being garbage!"
KLING
Another slash wracks Red's body. As if that wasn't enough, Dereputa crossed both his scythes and hammered Red's chest with the flat sides.
Sparks flash and his scream cuts through the darkness. He felt gravity pulling him across the room. Everything blurred around him.
On the other side of the cave, Cheerilee and the CMC huddled in the corner, watching Twilight killing the mutant bugs with her magic, freeing the zombie ponies from their influence. The four were scattered as Red crashed through the wall behind them.
His body spasms again, as if he were a hoofball and somepony threw him against a rock. His muscles felt like they were on fire. Again. Last week had been like this for Hyde. He decided, in a moment of clarity, that this had to be his bad week.
"Alata!" The group of four ponies cried out.
Red blinked, trying to clear up his vision. Moans escaped from his mouth, verbalizing the aching of his body.
"Are you alright? Alata!"
It was Cheerilee's voice. He recognised it.
When his vision cleared, he saw her. Apart from a little bit of dirt on her coat, she was alright. And the fillies were with her. All of them looked at him with concern.
"Dereputa!" he suddenly remembered. Where was he?
Quickly, he got up on his hooves and look to the hole he smashed through. And there Dereputa was, stepping through the hole. His intimidating slit eyes pierced through the darkness like a visor. Red gestured for the four ponies to leave, eyes still focusing on the alien. He felt like his hoof was going to fall off when he waved it.
"But Alata, you're hurt!" Cheerilee protested. The CMC nodded in agreement.
"I said…leave now…" Red repeated. This time, his tone was more assertive.
Not wanting to argue, Cheerilee led the kids away to safety. And at the same time, Dereputa approached.
Things started to swim as he tries to remember what the alien said earlier. He recalled Dereputa saying everything on this planet was useless. Eeyup. Now he remembered.
"You called us pointless…you called us garbage, right? That's just not true!"
From behind a rock where Cheerilee and the CMC took cover, they saw him moving forward towards the alien, and they listened to the whole conversation. And they noticed, he was limping a lot, but it wasn't just his leg that was hurt. They knew. The way he was breathing now and how badly he looked-he had taken some serious damage in the past.
Gosei Red looked like he could stumble any moment. And he did, but he managed to recover quickly.
"No matter how small something is…there is nothing pointless in this universe!"
Dereputa brushed off the meaningless words and answered simply; "I will finish you."
He grinded his scythes together and sped towards Gosei Red. The sight of Dereputa speeding towards him was a surprise, but not as much as before. So he stood there. Not moving an inch.
While the CMC looked in confusion, Cheerilee knew what he was about to do, much to her dismay.
"Alata, don't! You can't jump with that wounded leg!"
Yet he wasn't listening. "I can do this!"
The red-suited pony looked up, and flung his sword upward. Just as Dereputa was close enough to slice him, he jumped. Behind the mask, he couldn't help but smile. It was that feeling again; the air brushing against his body from every direction. And he was spinning and spinning….till he stopped. He landed on all fours, on a piece of rock that had come from the wall.
"I did it…" Red said. The feeling of triumph grew inside him. Despite the stinging pain equally creeping up, he managed to endure it. That was what the training was for. Endurance.
The 'spectators' behind the rock cheered. It was all they could do. "Woohoo!" "That's one hay of a jump!" "Wicked!"
"Huh?" Dereputa turned and looked up, mouth opened. Neither did him any good. The red pony jumped down, armed with the sword he grabbed in mid-air.
Dereputa raised his left hand. Red's sword swung down. The blade crashes against the alien's wrist. Red sparks flew from the friction. The slash forced the alien to move back or risk losing his hand.
"I did it just now…..I endured it."
"You bastard!"
Anything coming from fearsome foe was a threat. But those words didn't affect the pony. His muzzle tightened around the handle of the sword, and a gust of magic energy swirled around the blade, enveloping it in a red light. In that moment, the scorching glare from a pair of violet eyes burned behind his black visor.
As he was swinging the sword, wings sprouted from his back again. But they disappeared so quickly that they could have been a trick of the light.
The blade ripped through alien armor and foreign flesh, and Dereputa staggered as a second slash went through him. Sparks flew furiously from his armor. He silently stood once they stopped, looking at the ground as if he were ready to collapse. But he quickly broke the mood with laughter.
"Very interesting!" He glared at Gosei Red. He liked this. He was honestly beaten here. He hated it, and yet he loved it. The monster rarely ever found such an opponent in both strength and ideals.
"We will meet again", he said, and off he went. Speeding away into a blur, disappearing from sight. Fast, but not fast enough to hide his pain.
With that, the fire inside Gosei Red was fed. Dereputa wouldn't attack again tomorrow. Now, he felt relief….and tiredness.
Outside…
The other four Goseigers fell to the ground hard. The Warstar was moving around, or rather speeding. An invisible silhouette tailed with dust, taunting the super powered ponies simultaneously.
"Did you actually think a little training would work on me?"
All four of them huddled and armed themselves, waiting, listening. And there it was. The wind blowing, right behind them. The Goseigers were on to him now. The sounds of gunfire erupted. Four colorful hot scorching lasers….the sound of magical energy discharged. The lasers cored Hidou's abdomen in mid-run, blasting into his chest cavity. Hidou was thrown against a tree, hard.
"How did you know?"
Across the field, Gosei Pink and Yellow cheered over the small victory, while Blue and Black watched with satisfaction. But they were not done yet. "Let's finish him off!" Yellow said.
"Alright!" Blue responded. He already had his Shark Headder ready, but he wanted to try something. Telepathically, he summoned a card and his Tensouder. "Seaick Brothers Card!" He announced.
Opening his Tensouder, he inserted the card and said "Tensou!", and the device responded with its usual whine and mechanical voice.
"SUMMON, SEAICK BROTHERS."
Lead by the hammerhead shark, the Seaick Brothers flew out of the small portal they had formed. They were proportional to the Gosei Blasters, rather than the giant forms they had taken in their first appearance. Yellow got the hammerhead, Black got the saw shark and Pink got the manta ray.
"Wow! Can I really use this? Aren't these three your Seaick-only Headders?" Pink asked enthusiastically.
Blue tried to hide his excitement with detatched coolness. "According to the book, we can mix and match any Headders with our Blasters. Only the cards are exclusive."
All of them nodded understandingly. This was getting cooler by the minute!
"Manta Headder, set!" Pink said.
"Saw Shark Headder, set!" Black said.
"Hammer Head Headder, set!" Yellow said.
"Shark Headder, set!" Blue said.
The Goseigers' magic energy amplified as they pointed their guns, just in time to see Hidou get up from his fall. But the alien couldn't run now. All he could say was,
"Damn you!"
But those words went unheeded. The surging magic of the Seaick clan could be felt rushing throughout the Goseigers' bodies. The Headders let out animalistic growls as they glowed in serene blue, with the aquatic beasts opening their mouths as if they were going to devour everything in sight.
"Seaick Bullet!"
Blue lights escaped the barrel. Unlike before, instead of lasers, the Headders were launched. They combined to form a swirling water missile. It squarely struck Hidou's body. He screamed in agony as he fell to the ground and exploded into a cloud of flames.
And then, something else happened. The mutant bugs….they all fell to the ground. And they slowly dying….dissolving into a pile of green mush. All of the zombified ponies got up, utterly confused by where they were. Three ponies looked at the bug goop in disgust, two mares wiped each other off and one grey mare sneezed violently.
Warstar's Operation Ship...
Bladerun walked over to the ship's beehive-themed window, overlooking the planet. Dereputa's minion was dead. But it was an interesting one. Perhaps it could win against a slower opponent.
"Dereputa, you owe me once more." He then stomped his hoof softly on the floor. "Go! Bibi Bugs!"
Right on cue, the Bibi Bugs flew out of the window, letting out their low din along the way. The little creatures descended from the ship and latched themselves onto the fallen alien soldier. Feeling the energy, Hidou got up on his feet. An alien blue hexagram appeared before him as he glowed with the same color, growing to a gigantic size. He let out a roar of pain as the process completed.
Gosei Red staggered a bit, for the bruises on his body felt hot and his muscles were tense. He tottered, scraping towards the entrance where the others were waiting. His clopping echoed throughout the cave.
"Everyone…" Red said weakly. "It's done…..Thank goodness….
With what he went through today, Red wanted nothing more then a good rest. After all, he hadn't slept for the whole night. All of them approached him, checking his condition. Cheerilee and the CMC stared at them, still with disbelief.
Their gazes then travelled up to the towering figure in front of them, who was looking back with killing intent. Time to kick it up a notch.
"Gosei Machine Card!" In unison, they summoned their desired cards, and inserted them in their Tensouders. "Tensou!"
And there they were. Five mechanical animals appeared, with Gosei Dragon roaring, announcing their arrival. And the rangers then jumped into their respective machines.
They inserted the Gosei Great cards in their morphing device, which now attached to their control console.
"Tensou!"
And the machines began their combination and transformation.
"COMBINE, GOSEI GREAT."
In a matter of seconds, the transformation was completed, and Gosei Great entered the battlefield, with Hidou standing on the other side.
In the war machine's cockpit, a soft moan escaped Red's lips, though nopony noticed.
"My speed has also grown!" Hidou said boastfully. "Here I go!"
Pedal to the medal, Hidou made his move, moving across the mountainous area like lightning, much to the Goseigers' dismay.
As he ran, Hidou attacked Gosei Great-slashing and punching every now and then. He struck in one direction, and then another. Sparks flew and explosions cut through the night as the war machine continued taking hits….again…and again. Every hit shook their cockpits, making it harder for them to concentrate. The Bibi Bugs had scaled up Hidou's speed with his body perfectly. He was breaking the sound barrier with his slashes almost effortlessly. Everything felt the way it usually did for him, but his opponent was slow even by ordinary giant monster standards. The ancient machine was to him what Granny Smith was to Rainbow Dash.
Hidou's foot jammed into the ground, and he skidded to a stop. He turned to face his opponents. "How's that? It's not going to be like before." With a cocky tilt of the head, he sped back up.
Despite the pain running through his body, Red ignored the impulse. He could never stop now. That's not what he was. He never gave up that easily.
"Alright, we'll catch up with him by flying!"
And that's when it hit him.
The pain. He was overwhelmed. Despite his protest to go on, his body would not let him, and he slumped on to the control console. The aura of magic faded away from him as his suit lit up with red light, before it dispersed. He was back to his regular pony self in the cockpit.
"Alata!" Pink shouted.
Everypony looked at their cousin worryingly. Pink quickly went to him to help him up, while the others stayed on their position, attempting to keep the war machine in control.
"Alata!" Yellow shouted. She was about to help but caught herself when they were hit again.
With her head, Pink propped her brother up. She kept calling his name with worry. "Alata! Alata!"
"Sorry…"
Spoken in his current state, Alata's words sounded more like a whisper.
"At a time like this…"
Alata tried to stand up, but his legs gave up. He was flat on the floor. Alata couldn't do much more than just lie there now. His eyes opened, closed, opened. The tiredness gave him a headache as well, pounding like a drum.
"Alata, rest!" Yellow interjected suddenly.
"Eh?" was Alata's simple reply.
"That's okay." She added. "If we can't fly…then we'll just run."
She turned to her brother with a knowing look. "Bro!"
Black nodded at her direction. "Okay. Let us show you the power of the Landick clan!"
The Landick ponies reactivated their magic and pressed the brakes. Just as the Snake and Tiger Headders let out their animalistic growl, the war machine started running.
Not fast, but not slow either.
Yellow and purple lights bloomed as the Landicks pushed on further, making Gosei Great run faster.
Thump…thump….THUMP
"It's no use!" Hidou thought. He turned his head to look, just to make sure. But there it was. Gosei Great. And it was coming closer.
"W-What?" Hidou swallowed hard. He never thought that thing could catch up to him!
He started running away from Ponyville, turning every now and then to make sure they didn't get him. He still thought he could outrun them.
"Bro!" Yellow signalled.
"Yeah." Black nodded, eyes flashing purple behind his visor. "Snake Headder!"
The Snake Headder detached itself from Gosei Great and flew towards Hidou. The Warstar didn't bother to look back. Instead he continued running, hoping the ponies would realize that he can't be beaten by a machine.
Or so he thought.
With a yelp, he slowed down and came to a stop. Something was biting his left ankle. It was the Snake Headder, and its teeth sanked through his exoskeleton. Gripping him like a laundry pin.
But it wasn't enough to stop him.
"Stubborn bastards!" The Warstar hauled away the Headder from his leg and-
In the distance, another shot rang. It was the Tiger Headder, flying towards the alien, jaws wide open. Hidou looked, just in time to see the tiger head clenching his neck. He wanted to say something, but no words came out. The Headder was clenching him tightly. Chocking, he dropped the Snake Headder and focused to remove the Tiger Headder, to no avail.
And another pain then crept up to him, from his other leg. The snake still had some bite left in it. He tried to hold his ground but the muscles meant for that job didn't work properly anymore. The pain came hard and fast. Hidou stumbled back a few steps….and another jolt of pain came, fast and hard.
And there it was. Gosei Great, right in front of him, much to his bewilderment. Its right arm shot forward. At the same time, the Landicks Headders released him and reattached themselves to the war machine.
Hidou quickly got up. Before he could act further, magical lights bound his limbs.
"What the?"
"VICTORY CHARGE."
Gosei Great drew its Dragon Sword, covered in flames. The war machine flew towards Hidou, channeling its enormous momentum into a single slash. The alien screamed, pain surging through his body with sparks and the lingering effects of the Bibi Bugs. To his credit, his explosion was very fast.
Back in their cockpits, the four remaining Goseigers cheered over their victory. Yellow got up and high hoof Black. Blue relaxed and smiled behind his mask.
"We did it!" Pink said to Alata, who responded with a pained smile.
And then he looked away and turned to the screen. His eyes trained on that scenery. He looked at what they had done. He felt proud…but at the same time, worried. He was not thinking something bad. He was not thinking his cousins were going to upstage him.
"I also…..need to become stronger…." He continued to look, longer this time. "If Dereputa ever got serious…then I'd be no use as I am right now."
Back at the Guardia's home, Twilight, Cheerilee and the CMC sat close by together in the living room, with the princesses in front of them. Their hosts were with them too. Sort of.
The Landicks were already sleeping on the couch, with Spike using Agri's belly as a pillow. Hyde was sleeping in the corner, his head on a blue book. Eri was next to Twilight. Her eyelids went up, went down. And her mouth lets out a yawn every now and then.
Celestia and Luna were explaning everything about the Goseigers, but that information was more of a recap for Twilight and Eri. Still, Twilight listened intently, just in case there was a quiz.
"And that is how they became the current Goseigers." Celestia finished.
"Woah!" The Cutie Mark Crusaders were in awe.
"That is so cool!" Scootaloo exclaimed.
"But that sounds scary…" Sweetie Bell commented. "All those monsters!"
"I agree with both of y'all." Applebloom said.
Cheerilee didn't share the same enthusiasm as the three fillies. She was sitting there slack-jawed, trying to digest this new information.
"But-but this is just insane! I understand it all, but why can't we get soldiers from this Guardia place? Why does it have to be these five? They're not even as old as I am. Two of them have had to be hospitalized for grievous injury already! Can't you just make these monsters go away like you always do?"
Celestia raised a hoof to silence her. "I understand, and I agree. If I could, I would end this chapter in Equestria's history right now. Nopony should have to fight, especially not with such violence. But the royal powers were never meant for destruction. I could not defeat this 'Dereputa' any more than my sister and I could slay Discord for good. And even greater horrors lurk on the horizon. Please, trust me when I say that my little ponies are more capable than you give them credit for."
Cheerilee didn't want to upset her Majesty, but she had to press her just a bit further. "I know when a pony's avoiding a question. My students do it all the time. Princess, I have to know. Why don't you have soldiers become the Goseigers? Soldiers from Guardia, if your personal guard can't do it. Why?"
The princess seemed surprised that her subject had pressed the subject. She turned to hide the smile of pride beaming across her face. "I think Luna can answer this one."
Princess Luna looked at her sister, understanding what she meant. "Soldiers are only good for wars. When Equestria is finally at peace again, the Goseigers will be the greatest force of destruction on the planet. That kind of power is dangerous. We did not want mindless soldiers. We wanted ponies with goals, for when the war is over."
Alata's actions of the previous day raced through Cheerilee's head. She turned back to Celestia, understanding what had confused her about him besides his gender. "Actually Princess, I learned something today," Cheerilee said, clearing her throat.
"Today I learned that if one is determined enough, and they work hard enough, they can reach their goal, no matter how high it is!"
Speaking of the pony…
Soft sounds hang in the older colt's room. Just a snore and the breeze of the night air; the wind that that rustles over a certain pony's red blanket. So there Alata slept soundly, his body wrapped smoothly under the blanket.
Outside, autumn leaves churned in the night as the same breeze blew them out of the town. And by the time they stopped, they were a stone's throw away from the cave. Nothing much to see here. There were hoofprints though, all heading away. And a single set, slightly misshapen, going in.
From deep inside came a loud banging. There was something in there, or rather somepony.
A pair of blue eyes were trained on the cave wall.
Metal plating of alien design gleamed under the small amount of moonlight through the gap above, moving in and out of the shadows as the hoof continued banging the rocky wall.
"I knew we can't rely on Dereputa for this job. Those ponies barely even entered. If you want something done right..." Said the all too familiar Bladerun. He continued for a while, till he struck something hard.
"Ahh, there you are..." A small, strange item.
Eeyup. The item was a fine piece of work all right. The design looked like one from ancient tomes of Equestrian history. It was a wing, made of metal. Swirling lines that portrayed the illustration of feathers were carved on it. And it looked very ancient.
Bladerun stared at the item in his hoof. His lips curled into his usual smug smile.
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