Chapter 10: Clues Found
After a few moments of walking down the path, Chase, Jade, Sunray, Trini, and Antonio have finally made it to the village with smoke rising from the fires of the huts. They looked around for any sign of the residents.
Eventually they made it to the center as they walked over a wooden bridge.
"Guys, if that Lurker monster took out this village, where could the residents be?" Trini asked her family curiously.
"We should be able to find them here in the center. Some of these villagers might have some emergency bunkers around here." Jade replied back as she turned to Chase with a hopeful look. "Right, Chase?"
"Well, they said this village was supposed to be peaceful, but what Talos has done to this place is way beyond repair or escape. Let's just focus on the task at hoof." Chase said as they made it across the bridge.
Then something caught Antonio's attention as noticed three pony villagers.
One was a mare Earth Pony with a red mane and tail, brown eyes, wearing clothing typical to the outdoors, with a large torchlight helmet, a teal-blue aviation helmet, gray tunic with a teal-blue vest, and brown pants.
The other was a stallion with a purple mane and tail, slightly dark blue eyes, wearing a gambler's outfit, a pair of glasses, but also a barrel for some reason, and sporting a large frayed hat with an ace of spades card tucked in it.
Finally, there was a large stallion with a muscle built, green mane and tail, light blue eyes, wearing gladiatorial armor, with a busted chain link, along with some bandages around his left foreleg, and a chink in his breastplate, judging that he was in bad shape from battling something.
"Hey, guys. There's some villagers over there." Antonio said as he pointed at the three ponies and his family saw them. "Maybe they can help us out."
"Let's just see for ourselves." Chase said as he walked over to them with his family following him. In about a few seconds, the Elite Ninja approached the Earth Pony mare, who was reading ancient wildlife, indicating that she was a geologist. "Um, excuse me?"
This caught the mare's attention.
"Oh, why hello there." The mare greeted the Elite Ninja with an English accent as she closed her book. "You five seem like the friendliest ponies around here. Where are you from?"
"We're from the Northern part of Equestria and we came here for an investigation to stop the Demodragons." Jade answered.
"I'm Chase Young. This is my family, Jade Young, Sunray Steel, Trini, and Antonio." Chase introduced himself and his family to the mare.
"Pleasure to meet you. My name is Mira. I've been studying the wildlife around Rockvillage for years." Mira introduced herself before she became furious. "But now those awful Lurkers have scared the animals, thanks to Talos coming here to take the research from Gol's lab."
"Well, we're on our way to find the Eco crystals so we can stop Talos from bringing the Red Eyes Black Dragon back from releasing the Dark Eco." Trini explained, which Mira and the Gambler pony gasped in shock.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! You gotta be kidding!" The Gambler exclaimed. "You guys have gotta be out of your mind. No pony can beat Talos and the Demodragons. You're making a big mistake of taking on his army. You should do yourselves a favor and get out of here before they curse you all."
Chase grunted as the Dark Eco electricity surged around him again.
"Well, don't think we don't know that. I've already gotten myself infected by the Dark Eco and now we need to stop them from destroying the world." Chase said sternly as the Gambler sighed, knowing that there was no talking them out of it.
"Alright, it's your funeral." The Gambler said. "By the way, I'm Punter Gambler."
Punter bowed his head while lifting his hat before placing it back on.
"But if you want any answers on getting past that Lurker monster, you'll have to ask that so-called hero, named Muscle Bound, since he lost his big fight against him." Punter said while gesturing to the warrior stallion as he had his head down, soulching. "Plus, I lost all my bets and I've been stuck in this barrel."
"Great, thanks." Chase said as he, Jade, Sunray, Trini, and Antonio approached the warrior, but Punter approached Jade, stopping her.
"Uh, you wouldn't mind considering sparring some bits for me? I've gotta buy some new clothes because this barrel is itching me all over." Punter said while scratching behind his back due to wearing the barrel for so long.
Jade moaned annoyingly before she gave Punter some bits and walked over to catch up with her family as Punter tipped his hat towards her in appreciation.
"Oh, my aching head." Muscle Bound said while placing his hooves to his face.
"I doubt that's one of your vital organs!" Antonio said with a smirk as the warrior turned to him and his family. "Walk it off, tough guy!"
"Oh, sure I was tough once." Muscle Bound said while flexing his forelegs a bit before he soulched again. "Maybe even the toughest of them all. I single handedly defended this village from those horrid Lurkers for almost two months." Then he turns his attention to the Lurker monster at the top of the mountain pass as he roared out loudly while creating another flaming boulder and tossed it into another hut, destroying it. "Then that horrible monster Talos created arrived and commenced the boulder bombardment. So, full of valor, armor shining in the sun, I climbed the hill to take him on!..." He exhaled deeply. "But he pounded me so hard he nearly crushed me into a pulp."
"Have you tried attacking him with your melodrama?" Surnay asked sarcastically as he and his family shared a deadpan look, seeing that this warrior seemed to have an alter ego that would rub any ponies faces and was crushed. " 'Cause it's killing us!"
"After my last stunning failure, Klaww sealed the passageway to his roost with a thirty tone boulder, leaving no way for anypony to challenge him again." Muscle Bound said while gesturing to a very large boulder blocking the way up to the mountain path towards his lair.
"Wait, Klaww? That's the monster's name?" Chase asked as Muscle Bound nodded back solemnly.
"Huh, guess with the big metal claw, one of the villagers had to give him a name." Jade said while looking at the huge robotic claw Klaww had.
"So, our sage Gol Acheron, the master of all Eco powers, and a mechanical genius devised a machine capable of lifting the boulder out of the way!..." Muscle Bound said, pointing at the levitation machine and sighed. "But alas, after he sacrificed himself to save us from Talos' reign of evil a thousand years ago, he scattered his Eco crystals across the world so that this war would end. At least I was able to pull enough pontoons out of our bridge to prevent Klaww and the other Lurkers from coming down here to do me harm."
Chase turns to see the bridge broken up into four parts and separated from each other on the docks with five pontoons floating on the water.
"Yeah, uh, good, good job, Muscle Bound." Chase said, knowing that they needed to get the bridge back in shape as Muscle Bound turned to him. "But uh, we're gonna need you to uh… put 'em back and stuff."
"Oh sure, and seal my doom?!" Muscle Bound exclaimed in annoyance, not wanting to battle Klaww again.
"Yes, because we need to stop Talos from releasing the Dark Eco onto the world so his curse doesn't plague the world." Jade said sternly yet pleadingly.
Seeing that there was no way of talking them out of this one, Muscle Bound sighed in defeat and annoyance.
"Alright, fine. I'll help you fix the bridge, but don't ask me to get involved with that creature or any of Talos' Lurkers again." Muscle Bound said sternly as he walked over to the bridge as the Elite Ninja followed him.
The five ponies got into each of the five pontoons and rowed themselves over to get to work on the bridge. Using their magic, Chase, Jade, Sunray, Trini, and Antonio brought the five pieces together as Muscle Bound brought out a hammer and nails as he got to work on repairing the bridge.
In about a few minutes, the six ponies managed to get the bridge back together in perfect condition as they row their way back to the docks.
One by one, they climbed up the ladder and got back to the village.
"Thanks for the assistance, Muscle." Antonio said with a smile as Muscle Bound gave a small look of appreciation.
"Yeah, anytime. Good luck fighting off the Demodragons." Muscle Bound said as he walked away back to the village.
"Okay, guys, let's get back to the others so we can find out where the other Eco crystals are." Chase said to Jade, Sunray, Trini, and Antonio, who nodded back in reply.
They began to make their way back to Gol's lab, but Sunray still looked at Chase with a resentful glare.
(Scene changes)
Back at Gol's lab, the Elite Ninja had just arrived back to join the others, who have been going over some notes. Chase and his family explained to the group that Gol's machine requires the power of the Blue Eco crystal for it to levitate the boulders out of the way as well as Klaww's name of the Lurker monster.
"Okay, now that we know how Gol's machine works, we need to get the Blue Eco crystal to move the boulder out of the way so we can get to Talos." Chase said while looking at the diagram of the levitation machine.
"And how do you propose we're gonna find that crystal?" Rainbow asked as she looked out the window. "Because I don't see any sign of it other than the boulders."
"Yeah!" Pinkie said while popping beside Rainbow with a smile. "Nothing around here, but boulders, boulders, boulders, and boulders."
"Well, we won't have to worry. Because I think I know where it's located." Twilight said as she looked at a diagram of an ancient city hidden deep in the water. "Apparently that structure, just off the coast, leads to an underwater lost city. And if Gol has hidden it down there, that's the best location for you guys to look for."
"And it might be best that you five stay clear away from the Lurker Sharks." Calaeno advised as she noticed out in the distance that there were a few Lurker Sharks patrolling the watery area and there was a large structure off the coast. "Somehow those boys are real hungry for some flesh."
"But if you're lucky, there's a bridge over there that will let you walk over there." Capper said as he saw a bridge connected to the structure.
Chase, Jade, Sunray, Trini, and Antonio noticed this as they turned to one another before nodding back to Capper.
"Looks like we're heading down there then." Chase said. "But we're gonna need more help for this."
"Lucky for you five, Clay and Sokka will be joining you on finding the next crystal before the Lurkers get them." Chen said as Sokka and Clay walked up next to the Elite Ninja with smiles as they smiled back at them.
"But we gotta hurry. We don't have much time." Jewel advised with concern as the whole group turned to her. "The Solar Eclipse will be starting in about three days."
"Then we gotta stop the Demodragons now before it's too late." Chase said with a determined look as Twilight walked up to her husband and hugged him.
"Be careful, honey. I can't stand to see you get hurt." Twilight said with concern as Chase hugged his wife back while Darius and Nyx joined the hug.
"Promise you'll do the same, Clay?" Applejack said to Clay as he turned to his wife with a smile and kissed her on the cheek.
"Don't worry, I will." Clay said with a smile.
"I'll do the same if you want me to, Fluttershy." Sokka said to Fluttershy as they shared a loving kiss on the lips.
"Just be safe, my sweet." Fluttershy replied back with a hopeful smile as Sokka nodded back.
"See ya, Twilight." Chase said to Twilight and turned to his kids. "Be safe, Nyx and Darius."
"Bye, honey." Twilight said to her husband with hope.
"Bye, Daddy." Nyx and Darius said together as Chase walked out of the hut to head for the lost city.
"Wish us luck." Sunray said to the group and followed after Chase.
"We'll be back with the Blue Eco crystal." Jade added.
"And make sure that Talos won't get his claws on it." Trini added as she, Antonio, Jade, and Clay followed after Chase and Sunray, but Sokka stopped for a moment as he turned to Fluttershy one last time while clearing his throat.
"Well, the lives of two ponies don't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world." Sokka spoke to Fluttershy in an old style Manehattan accent, making his wife giggle as Rainbow, Applejack, Spike, and Pinkie snickered silently while the others looked at him with deadpan looks. "That's why you're getting on that carriage. Maybe not today, maybe not-"
"WOULD YOU STOP?!" Jade shouted in annoyance as she came up behind him and immediately dragged Sokka out of the hut as he yelped loudly.
"See ya, guys." Chase said to the others as he, his family, Clay, and Sokka walked down the path to the bridge to get across to the structure.
"Come on, Sokka. Did you have to say that?" Jade asked with an irritated look.
"What?! You're supposed to be funny." Sokka retorted in his defense.
"Well, save it for when we stop the Demodragons from rising the Dark Eco. Okay?" Sunray asked with an annoyed expression.
"Let's just keep going. We've got more work to do, guys. The sooner we find the crystal, we'll stop Talos' region of evil." Chase said firmly.
But as they kept on walking, Celtic was watching them from on top of a cliff hidden in the shadows with a sinister smirk.
"Oh, that's gonna be more difficult than you expect, Chase." Celtic said deviously. "We'll see who gets to that crystal first when I'm through with you."
With his plan into action, Celtic walks away with an evil chuckle and goes to find the Lurker soldiers.
Author's note:
Hey, guys. Sorry for being a little late, I just had some network problems and it's gotten a little funky. But everything is okay. Here's chapter 10 for this story. It won't be that much, but I did my best on this one. Hope you like it.
Peace out!