Chapters Beta city, a city of the new generation, which is the pinnacle of the technological era and was the site of the creation of the Viruses. Seven years ago an explosion occurred in the heart of the city when scientists experimented on an ultimate anti-virus program that would revolutionize control of the web. It had the opposite effect, however, and a new type of virus was born and the world was sent into chaos. To combat viruses, the BETA system was created which is a program that is able to destroy viruses with the help of a partner. Now seven years later a young man is given the chance to learn the truth. What will he choose?
There is one person I can never forget about and it would be my childhood friend Rainbow Dash. She was a rough arrogant tomboy who always mouthed off to everyone, and she was my best friend.
We met under very strange circumstances when we were little, it started out that we wound up in the same middle school in Beta city. Her dad was a professional athlete so he was away most of the time, and her mom run the local weather station. A lot of the time I would just find her all alone.
Of course I wasn't any different, my dad wasn't home often and mom tried to keep food on the table, but we struggled regularly and eventually that changed after the accident. My Father was a scientist and he was working on some big project that kept him from home, however, an accident occurred where he and six others went missing and were presumed dead.
It left us devastated, especially my mom who cried for over a month. I didn't know how to feel, so I just.....shut down. I didn't talk, I didn't eat, I was nothing but a lump. That changed one day when she found me.
I was in a corner getting picked on by this bully, don't really remember his name, and just as he's about to laugh at his own crude joke she sprints over and socks him right in the jaw.
"Who are you laughing at!?" she shouted as the boy she punched stood up and charged at her. He was at least a foot taller than her, but she didn't back down and those two fought until a teacher finally saw what was going on and pulled them apart much to the disappointment of the crowd that gathered around to see the brawl.
Much later as I was making my way back home I saw her again and she had an ice pack over her left eye. I ran over and tried to apologize, but she just sighed and then, out of nowhere, she knocks me on the head.
"Ow!" I shrieked holding my head to try and ease the pain. It didn't hurt that much, but I wasn't expecting to get punched.
"Geez you may look like a boy, but you act like a girl!" she cried while laughing. I'm not sure what it was, but it was this very laugh that seemed to lift the darkness I had felt since my father's accident.
It was after this that we wound up being inseparable and every time I got bullied she would be the first one to throw a punch. I'm still not sure why she would want to be friends with me, we were complete opposites. She was confident, brash, and quick to action while I was shy, slow, and the first person to run away from a fight. Even though we were complete opposites we continued to be friends up till our last year in middle school. Around this time, her dad came back from his tour and her parents decided that now would be a good time to move to another town.
We were devastated, but we couldn't do anything to stop it. During the beginning of summer, they packed their things and were prepared to move, but before the left Dash and I made a promised to remain friends.
"Maybe one day, you can visit me?" She asked with her usual cheery grin.
We usually watched this superhero cartoon with this over the top catch phrase that we recited almost every day when we went home. I thought it would be fitting for our last day to end on the same tradition.
I smiled and gave a thumbs up. "Yeah I promise will meet again some day! So you go on ahead and leave the rest to me!" I said while she just laughed at how cartoonish I was acting. We said our goodbyes and then they left.
It has been at least four years since the accident where I lost my dad, and it has been at least 3 years since I've seen Dash. Recently things have changed for me in a big way. It wouldn't surprise me at all if she didn't even recognize me. I have a feeling that my life's about to change in a big way now that I'm transferring to Canterlot High.
*BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP*
I got up sluggishly and slammed my fist on the clock which finally stopped the racket and walked into the bathroom. I'm not really a morning person so I don't really react to how rough I look. I finish my business and get dressed in some jeans, and a plain T-shirt, after that I head downstairs and find mom making some eggs.
"Morning honey did you sleep well?" she asked as I took my seat and took a big bite out of the serving of eggs.
"Mu-hum," I take a few more bites out of my serving and start to chug down my drink.
"Honestly Star Dust you need to slow down!" She said when I got up and ran up to my room and packed my stuff. Before I left I picked up my BETA pack and made sure the battery was charged. "Star Dust I know you're going to see your friend today but don't be in such a hurry! The school isn't going anywhere."
"Yeah mom I know but I'm just excited! It's been three years since I've seen Dash! I can't wait to see her face." I said while looking and my BETA to see what the time was. "Oh crap! its 7:20 I'm gonna be late!"
I ran out the door and sprinted down the street while mom shook her head in disbelief. As I made my way down the street I found a bus stop and made a mad dash getting to the bus before it left.
I found my way to the back of the bus and opened my BETA again and started to surfing the web. I looked up some basic articles and info about CHS seeing as how I haven't had a lot of time to do any research. The articles I had pulled up weren't that very interesting, but the more I searched the more it seemed that it felt like something was off.
I looked outside and noticed that the school wasn't that far off. I make my way to the front of the bus and tell the bus driver to stop next to the school. As I make my way off the bus and towards the school I notice that there aren't any students or faculty walking around. I walk around the hallway and then I hear what sounds like music coming from a door that leads to the gym.
I walk inside and look around for some clue as to why everyone was singing, however, something very colorful catches my eye and I turned to see a girl with rainbow colored hair singing with the marching band.
I didn't need to guess to find out who that was. I couldn't help but smile, she hasn't changed a bit in the last three years. As their song routine came to an end I notice something strange. Dash climbed up on stage and started glowing brightly and in a flash she grew wings, weird ears, and a ponytail, and flew up in the air to grab a baton a girl had thrown up to her for their big finish.
I was speechless at first, but I decided I would ask later. Besides now would be the perfect time to talk to her seeing as everyone was heading to class.
I walk around the stage and notice that she is talking with some of her friends and I wait for a good time to introduce myself. When her friend with the red and yellow hair ran off I decided now would be the best time.
"Geez Dash three years hasn't changed you a bit," I said while walking up to the group who turned to look at me. Dash stared at me with a confused expression which wasn't very surprising. "I guess you forgot all about me."
"Um sugar-cube do you know this guy?" the girl with the stetson hat said with a strong southern accent.
I couldn't help but laugh a little, "Maybe this would help," I said while giving a thumbs up and said, "You go on ahead and leave the rest to me!" I said with an over the top accent.
This caught her attention and I guess it finally clicked cause she suddenly ran over and hugged me as hard as she could. I noticed that her friends looked confused, so I coughed to get her attention.
"Oh, sorry guys! This is my old friend Star Dust!" she said after letting me go.
I gave a smile and waved a little, but suddenly dash punched me in the shoulder. "Ow! what the heck Dash!" I said, but she only stuck her tongue out at me.
"You deserve it you jerk! why didn't you send me a text or something!" she asked crossing her arms.
"Ruin the surprise if I told you right off the bat. Besides I wanted to see how you would react. Clearly that was a mistake." I said while playfully rubbing my arm.
"Oh don't be such a little girl!" she said, but she turned to her friends and said, "Hey guys go on ahead I'll catch up later." Her friends nodded and walked off while Dash and I walked around the school.
"So when did you get here Star?" she asked when we made it into the hallway.
"Well, we moved into the city Three days ago. Heck, I got registered at CHS yesterday." I said while I awkwardly scratched my head.
Dash only laughed, "You haven't changed a bit Star." she said with her usual tomboyish attitude.
"Maybe, but you changed a lot! What was with that crazy light show back there?" I asked.
She blushed, which caught me a little of guard, and started to explain some of the recent events at CHS. She explained how her friend named Twilight sparkle came from another world and helped save the world from a girl named Sunset shimmer who was gonna take over the world with magic, but was stopped by her and her freinds. Then she talked about these group of girls who turned out to be sirens and their plan to use the students hate to achieve their true forms, but was again stopped by her friends with the help of Sunset who became their friends.
Trying to follow her story was pretty hard considering how far fetched it all seemed. I mean people coming from other worlds, magical creatures, and the magic of friendship. Sounds like something out of a child's Saturday morning cartoon.
"Wow, seems like you have had a real amazing adventure," I said as we stopped in front of a classroom. "It makes me feel like I was standing still these last three years."
"Well, we can talk more about it later. Right now we better get to class," she said before we walked into the classroom.
"Well, well, well, Miss Rainbow Dash it's about time you made it to class," the teacher said with a frown and then glared at me, "And who is this?"
"Sorry sir my name is Star Dust! It's my fault Dash was late, I'm new here so she was showing me around," I said as the class laughed at my introduction.
"Very well take your seat," He said as Dash and I sat next each other.
To be honest my first hour in CHS was kind of a strange one, but who knows what's waiting around the binge. I think my junior year here is going to be something to remember.
Far above the city a creature watched over the city with his piercing red eyes. The creature was much larger than any normal animal, in fact, it was an entirely different species. This creature had the shape of a green dragon with what looked like electricity running all throughout its body. It appeared to be deep in thought and not paying attention to its surroundings, however, A sudden flash of purple light appeared and a new person stood glaring at the creature. He was wearing a piece of cloth that covered its body.
"Can I help you?" The dragon asked in a deep gravelly voice.
The Hooded figure just laughed at his question and continued to stare at him. Before anything else could be said the figure suddenly exploded into a flurry of blades that shot out all over his body and in a flash tried to slash at the beast. He dodged the slashes and tried to gain some distance, but couldn't get far from the laughing figure.
"I don't like a noisy people," The beast roared loudly and a ball of electricity built up in its mouth and suddenly a beam of energy shot out towards the laughing man and exploded. After the smoke cleared the man had disappeared and the dragon looked melancholy as it looked back to the city.
"Whatever may happen I will get them back," the beast said as he flew off in a flash of green light.
To Be Continued!!
Welcome to the 21st century! Lets go BETA!
Everyone in the class was whispering about my less than amazing introduction and I couldn't help but shy away a little. I could see Dash turn around and give an invisible signal to some of the other students which seemed to shut them up. I felt worse for having my friend stick up for me again, is been three years and I still have a problem with crowds. I really just wanna crawl up in a ball now.
"Class take out your notebooks! We're going to take some notes today!" The teacher said with a bored expression. Can't imagine teaching kids like us every day, probably drive a guy mad.
The teacher tried to turn on his projector only for nothing to happen. He kept pushing the ON button, but nothing happened. He checked the cords, then the plug, and he even checked his computer, but nothing seemed to work.
"Well class it seems that our projector is broken so were taking notes from the textbook," He said as the rest of the class groaned in frustration.
I looked at his computer for a second and decided to see for myself. I pulled out My BETA and activated my scan function, which acted like a camera that could pick up certain radio waves on the screen, and low and behold there was loads of interference with the computer.
"Umm teacher? I think I can fix this," I said as he looked at me sceptically.
"Oh really young man? You some kind of computer technician?" He asked while the rest of the class waited for a time to laugh.
"No not really sir, but your computer has a virus that's interfering with the connection to your projector," I said with a chuckle.
"Well seeing as you know so much please be my guest," He said moving out of the way for me to get to his computer.
I brought out my BETA and pulled out a wire for the bottom of the device and plugged it into a port on the side of the computer. The screen flashed red with a warning symbol flashing on it and then suddenly went blue.
"What in the world are you doing?" He asked as I continued to operate the start-up sequence.
"You see what I'm doing right now is working past the firewalls and coding that separates me from the mainframe of the computer. Once I do this my BETA software will activate and allow me to clear the system of the virus," I said as I checked a few things off on my BETA pack.
"So what's with the cell phone?" I heard one of the students ask.
"Well, it's not really a cellphone. It's more like portable computer software. Of course, it has the appearance of a smartphone, but it has many uses," I said as I finally finished all the preparations.
"Everyone get ready to see the ingenuity of modern technology! Here we go, Jack in BETA warrior!" I said as the projector sprang to life, however, the image being shown was very strange.
"What you see here is cyberspace. The digital space of this computer is infected by a virus, but it's no ordinary virus. These viruses feed of electricity and grow stronger the longer they remain in the system. If they stay long enough they will overload the server and blow up the source, or, in this case, the computer." I said as everyone stared at the image of the cyber world.
I looked at my BETA pack and decided now would be the best time to clear the system. On the screen, a flash of blue light appeared and a small grey figure was scanning the surroundings.
"That is the BETA software. It acts a separate computer program that is able to interact with the system. Finally, I found our culprits." I said pointing at the group of viruses.
The viruses were small, at least a level 2, wearing a small cap with a plus symbol on it, they were holding mini pix axes that they were using to destroy the system.
"Nows the fun part!" I said as I reached into a pouch and pulled out two cards.
"What are those?" Dash asked looking at the cards.
"These are digi cards. Basically, it's software I can download to my warrior during battle," I said as everyone looked at me in confusion.
"Just watch, ok? Alright, here we go!" I said swiping the cards throw a slot on the side of the BETA pack. "Double creation! ICE CANNON! " I shouted as my warrior suddenly charged at the viruses.
As he got closer the viruses noticed him and got ready to attack. My warriors left arm suddenly flashed and it turned into an arm cannon and then shot a small sphere at blinding speed at the viruses. After the explosion, the viruses were frozen solid in ice. I smirked and brought out one last card and swiped it through the BETA and the cannon turned into a blade and he slashed the frozen viruses to bits and pieces
"And this ladies and gentlemen is the BETA system," I said unplugging my pack and putting it back in my pocket.
I pressed a few keys on the computer and it booted back up and it ran its normal functions and the projector finally came on. I looked around the room to see everyone with dumbstruck expressions. Even the teacher didn't know what to say. Luckily for me the bell rang and I grabbed my thing and headed out the classroom. Halfway down the hall I felt Dash grab my arm.
"WHAT WAS THAT?" she asked with an awestruck expression.
"Heh, told you I changed these last few years."
I spent the rest of the day explaining to everyone in my classes about the BETA system. My demonstration earlier had spread like wildfire all over the school. It was hard to get used to this kind of attention, but It was growing on me. At lunch, Dash decided to introduce me to her friends.
"Hey guys!" she shouted while we made our way to the table.
"HIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!!!!" the girl with the pink hair shouted happily. She was seriously weird and she was......bouncy to say the least.
"So did you and your friend get to catch up?" the girl with the frilly purple hair asked. She had fair white skin with a really posh accent that really stuck out.
"Yeah we caught up, and you would not believe what he can do!!" Dash said with a smirk.
"Honestly dash, I really don't want to be the center of attention," I said while taking a seat. "To be honest I'm kinda aggravated with all the attention."
"Too late now sugar-cube, Almost everyone in school knows about that weird computer thing you did," The girl with the strong southern accent said.
I looked around the cafeteria and noticed that everyone was staring at me intently and I felt kind of awkward. I tried to hide my face, but I still felt everyone staring at me.
I felt someone grab my shoulder and I looked up to see the girl with red hair from earlier. "Trust me I know what it feels like to be the center of attention," she said taking a seat next to me. "Maybe now's the best time to introduce ourselves. My name is Sunset Shimmer."
"My name's Pinkie Pie! Wanna be my friend! HUH? DO YA! DO YA! DO YA!" The girl with the pink hair said a mile a minute.
I smiled politely and nodded my head which she seemed to accept and somehow pulled a cupcake out of hair and gave it to me. I'm not sure how but there wasn't any hair on it at all.
"My name is Rarity. It is very Nice to meet you darling," The girl with the posh accent said with a graceful smile.
"And my name's Applejack! It's a pleasure to meet an old friend of Rainbow dash," The girl with the southern accent said as she reached her arm out to shake mine. I reached out to shake hers but when I did she shook it furiously. I thought my arm was gonna come off.
We looked over to the last girl, she had pink hair which she seemed to be hiding behind. "M-my names F-Fluttershy." She was extremely shy sounding and looked almost looked afraid of me.
"Don't worry about her, she's just shy around new people," Dash announced as everyone got comfortable.
"Thanks, my names Star Dust. It's nice to meet you all," I said as I gave a polite smile.
"So about the BETA system!!" Dash shouted impatiently.
"Honestly Dash I really don't want to talk about this again," I said with a sigh.
"I would like to know more about it as well," Rarity said cocking her head to the side.
"YEAH! TELL US! TELL US!" Pinkie said bouncing in her chair shouting at the top of her lungs.
"Ok, ok, just calm down would ya!" I said trying to get everyone to stop all the yelling because it was starting to draw attention. "For starters the BETA system is a program used to exterminate viruses. Viruses are an artificial A.I. system that went rogue several years ago after an explosion in BETA city. As you may have guessed the name of the system was based off the accident, this system was first used only by the government, but now it's become an international sport that is played worldwide." I explained as everyone listened in, even people at other tables were trying to listen in.
"Wait.... Star isn't that explosion the same one that-?" Dash asked with a worried expression.
I nodded my head and she looked away with a pained expression, "That very same accident.......killed my father" I said silently, but everyone around me looked shocked, I heard everyone around me gasp in shock. "My father was one of the scientists responsible for both the BETA system and the viruses."
It got really quiet after that, you could even hear a pin drop from down the hallway. I laughed to myself a little and decided to go for a walk. no one stopped me.
I waited on the roof for what felt like an hour and finally I decided to go ahead and head back to class. As I walked down the hallway I noticed that some guy was sitting in front of a door. Normally I wouldn't get involved, but this guy had the weirdest looking expression. Wait...is he drooling?
I walked behind him and looked over his shoulder and turned red. THIS GUY WAS WATCHING THE GIRLS CHANGING!!
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!!" I shouted which caused him to turn around and grab me and dragged me down the hallway.
He looked back to make sure he wasn't caught and sighed in relief when he realized he was in the clear. "Are you crazy you punk!? you nearly got me caught!!" He said quiet enough so no one could hear him.
"Am I crazy what do you think you were doing back there!" I shouted with no restraint on my voice. "Are you some kind of PERVERT!!"
This seemed to piss him off and he suddenly grabbed me around the collar and lifted me off the ground. "Who the hell you calling a pervert runt!" He said threateningly.
I just glared at him and said "You! Who else you big gorilla!"
He threw me on the ground and glared daggers at me. At first I thought he was gonna try and fight me, but he just laughed. I couldn't help but look confused, that was until he pulled out a BETA pack.
"I heard you were a BETA player, and if that's so maybe we can make a deal. If you keep your mouth shut about this I'll give you a rare card as well as two-thousand points, sound good to you?" He said with a confident grin.
I stood up and walked over to him and then swiftly punched him in his gut. He acted like he wasn't even fazed by it and just stepped back and looked at me like I was crazy.
"BETA isn't meant to be used like this! I won't let use abuse the system for your personal gain!" I said as I pulled out my BETA pack. "I, Star Dust, challenge you to a BETA match! Winner take all!"
He smiled and brought his pack to mine. "Fine! I, Butch, accept your challenge!"
TO BE CONTINUED!
The Rookie vs The Crusher
After school, Butch and I made our way to the football field and waited to be sure there wouldn't be anyone coming to stop us. After a few minutes, we decided to begin.
"Are you ready kid?" He said as we made our way to the center of the field.
"Yeah, I won't let you win." I said as confidently as I could, but deep down I was terrified.
To be honest, this was my first real BETA match outside an online grid. This was a virtual grid where everything around us was part of the battlefield.
"If I win you have to get rid of those cameras in the girls changing room as well as any photos you took," I said as we both brought out our BETA packs and sent a battle request to each other.
"Fine, but if I win you have to hand over all the points you have and you have to help me set up cameras all over the school!" He said with a cocky grin.
I nodded and we both accepted the request for the match. We pointed each pack at opposite sides of the field and then a green light covered the field, then we both walked to opposite sides. After we made it to our corners the field was finally scanned.
"BETA OPEN!" We shouted as the field flashed green and our profile pictures appeared.
"Take him down, Crusher!" Butch shouted as the ground began to shake and break apart, suddenly his BETA warrior appeared. His warrior was just as bulky as he was and twice as scary looking, He had a muscular build with spikes covering his body.
He looked almost annoyed that he had been brought out. "Dammit, Butch what have you got yourself into this time!" He shouted. Butch could only flinch in response.
"Damn this guy has a personal BETA warrior! Great, this puts me at a real disadvantage now." At this time my warrior appeared and squared off against Crusher. He was much smaller than crusher and much weaker than him based on his level. He was a small gray fighter type with no muscle at all, he was a basic Warrior with no elemental stats
Butch started laughing as he watched my warriors entrance. "Wow! When I heard about that incident earlier I thought you were some kind of big shot, but you only have a basic warrior and he's only level 30!" He said looking down at his BETA pack.
I checked my BETA and saw that his warrior was a level 46 and panicked when I saw his element type.
"Judging by that face, you're looking at my crushers stats. Crusher is an earth type with a special ability that allows him to tunnel underground at will!" Butch explained. "And judging by your level you don't stand a chance!" He said as crusher only scoffed in annoyance.
"Stats and levels does not decide a battle! Like I said, I won't lose to you!" I shouted as I brought my cards.
"You heard the man Crusher, let's teach him a lesson!" Butch commanded as he brought out his own cards.
After school, Rainbow Dash and her friends were at their usual hangout place in the music room. Her talk with her old friend was still fresh on her mind.
"Honestly darling you've had that same expression since lunch." Rarity said as Dash snapped out of her thoughts and sighed.
"Yeah well I guess what Star said really got to me that's all," She explained as the others remembered the awkward moment from earlier. "He said it so bluntly like..." She trailed off.
AppleJack came over and comforted her. "Maybe he's moved on. He doesn't want his dad's death to rule over his life, there's nothing wrong with that is there?" She said assuringly.
"Yeah, maybe, but I still feel bad! I'm gonna apologize for earlier!" She exclaimed.
"Well, why don't we all go together! Besides it was kind of or fault for not stopping you." Sunset said as everyone agreed.
"Alright, guys lets find Star!" Dash cheered as everyone left the music room.
"Get him crusher!" Butch shouted as Crusher sprinted towards my warrior.
As he got closer I drew my first card out of my pouch. "Card creation: Freeze bomb!" I shouted as a small blue sphere appeared in my warriors hand and just before Crusher could squash him he jumped over him and threw the bomb down on his head which froze it instantly.
As Crusher stood in a daze I drew my next two cards. "Combo creation: Drill cannon!" I shouted as I swiped my drill card and buster cannon through my BETA pack, suddenly an arm cannon with a spiral shot appeared on my warriors left arm.
"A double combination!" Butch shouted in shock.
"Yup, you see my BETA warrior doesn't have some fancy special power, however, what he lacks in power he makes up for with compatibility! I can use multiple combinations." I explained as my Warrior lined up the shot.
"Damn! I underestimated him, but that won't happen twice!" Butch shouted as he drew his own card. "Card creation: Earthquake!" He shouted as Crusher suddenly slammed his fists into the ground causing an earthquake that threw my warrior of his feet and caused the drill shot to fire and hit one of the stands which exploded on impact.
Crusher punched the ice and shattered it and he shook his head of any remaining ice shards, "Damn it! Butch start taking this seriously!"
"I am taking this seriously! Just watch this," Butch said as he brought out two cards. "Card Combination: Earth Knuckles!" He shouted as Crusher drove his fists into the ground and brought out two giant stone knuckles.
Crusher brought one of his fists back and quickly slammed his fist into him which sent my warrior flying towards the stands which exploded on impact.
"Damn!" I quickly pulled a recovery card and swiped it through my Beta pack which caused a green light to envelop the area where he landed.
"Did you honestly think I would just stand back and let you heal him! Crusher finish him off!" Butch commanded.
"Don't tell me what to do you idiot!" Crusher shouted as he jumped over to the stands and destroyed it in one punch.
"Yeah, it's game over!" Butch shouted in glee.
"Actually I would look again Butch," I said with a smirk.
"HUH!?"
Rainbow Dash and the girls have been searching for the past thirty minutes and haven't been able to find Star Dust anywhere. After a while, the group was starting to lose hope.
"UGH! were did that dork go to!!" Dash shouted in frustration as the rest of the group only laughed.
"Calm down Dash, he probably went home already," Applejack said.
"No way! He couldn't have gone home so early, besides classes just ended an hour ago. I'm sure he's around here somewhere getting into trouble" Dash said as they continued looking.
"Guys, what's that?" Pinkie asked as she pointed towards the football field.
Everyone turned to look at where Pinkie was pointing to and suddenly an explosion filled the air and caused the girls to gasp in shock.
"What in sam hell was that!" Applejack shouted as everyone stared in shock.
"We have to see what happened! Come on girls!" Sunset shouted as she and the others ran towards the football field.
"What happened!" Butch shouted as the dust cleared and crusher was frozen solid in a pillar of ice. "How come you didn't lose any points from that attack, And what is with the ice!" He shouted angrily.
"Simple I used a combination called 'Frozen peak' which froze your crusher solid and left me without a scratch!" I explained as I brought out another card. "Card creation: Buster cannon!" I said as a miniature cannon appeared on my warriors hand, who started shooting at the ice pillar.
Butch looked down at his BETA pack and noticed that his warrior was slowly gaining damage. "I won't let it end this way!" He shouted as he brought out another card. "Card creation: Steel counter!" He said as crushers body turned to steel and the ice began to crack under his pressure and broke apart.
Crusher landed on his back with a thud and slowly got to his feet. "Ugh, I'm getting tired of this! Butch use the triple combination!" he shouted as Butch pulled three cards out of his pouch.
"Exactly what I was thinking! Sorry kid, you put up a good fight, but this is the end!" Butch shouted.
"Hold on just one second!" We heard someone shout.
Just then Rainbow Dash and the whole gang stormed in and looked in shock at the scene around them. Of course, Dash was the first to say something.
"What the hell is going on!" She shouted as Butch and I tensed up.
"Well, were....." I said trailing off near the end.
"Were ending this!" Butch shouted as he brought out three cards. "Triple combination: Final Blow!" He shouted as a red aura surrounded Crusher.
"Hold on Butch!" I shouted, but it was too late and I decided now was the best time to use the ace up my sleeve. "Ok Butch I didn't want to use this card but clearly I don't have a choice anymore!" I said as I pulled out a silver card.
This caught Butches attention and motioned for Crusher to hurry up. "Crusher take him out now!" He shouted as Crusher slammed his fists into the ground and suddenly thousands of huge fist made of earth shot towards my warrior.
"UPGRADE!" I shouted as my BETA warrior was covered in light and disappeared in the blink of an eye. Just then his attack stopped when all the stone fists were destroyed.
"WHAT!?" Butch shouted in disbelief.
"Sorry Butch, but this is game over!" I shouted as my warrior sprinted towards Crusher, who still had both of his hands in the earth, and started attacking him with rapid punches that moved faster than the eye could follow.
Suddenly Crusher exploded in a flash of light. I looked down at my BETA pack and saw that the match had ended and the field around us disappeared and the football field went back to normal.
"What the hell is going on here!" Dash shouted as she ran over to where I was standing.
"Geez Dash you don't have to shout you know," I said with a grin.
"What was that thing!" Fluttershy asked looking like she was on the verge of tears.
It was then that Butch walked up to us and caught everyone's attention. "That was my BETA warrior. Star Dust and I were having a quick match," he explained as the others looked between the two of us.
"You remember our deal?" I asked Butch who only nodded and began to walk off until I stopped him halfway down the field. "Don't forget about those photos! Do it right now!" I commanded as he sighed and brought out the pictures he had taken, however, I forgot about....
"WHAT ON EARTH!" Rarity screamed as Butch and I felt the murderous intent from all the girls.
"W-WAIT GIRLS THIS ISNT WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE!" I tried to explain.
"YOU PERVERTS!!" They shouted.
Ever since yesterday afternoon the girls haven't even given me the time of day. My guess is............it's about the photos.
"Geez Dash I apologized already!" I said trying to get Dash to look at me.
"Um-hum." She replied as the others mimicked her and just faced away from me.
I took a deep breath and realized that I might have to pick up a few jobs because I feel a disturbance.......in my wallet. "Ugh.....I know the only way you all are gonna give me the time of day is that I buy lunch, Right?" I asked.
"YUP!" They announced happily.
"Thought so."
We went to a restaurant not far from Canterlot high. The girls were all excited to get a free meal, however, I was tearing up at the thought of all my hard earned cash vanishing into thin air.
"My funds........their vanishing before my eyes," I said while lagging behind the rest of the group.
"Oh quit your crying!" Butch said walking beside me.
I'm not sure how it happened, but somehow Butch decided that he wanted to come along and the others didn't seem to give it a second thought at all!
"Need I remind you that it was YOUR fault I wound up in this mess to start with!" I explained with a scowl.
Butch dismissed my claims and just kept staring at the girls. "Look I'm paying half of the bill, just get over it!" He shouted.
We continued to argue with each other until we heard the girls giggling at our display, we just sneered and turned from one another.
"Guys can be such idiots," Dash exclaimed.
"But hey at least their profitable!" Pinkie shouted as the others to burst with laughter.
As we made our way into the restaurant the girls were all buzzing with gossip and talks of the friendship games, which still confused me. Butch and I just shrugged and waited for someone to greet us, and luckily that didn't take long as a waitress wearing a maid uniform walked up to us.
"Hello and welcome to Big Papa's Grill! How can I serve you today?" The waitress asked as butch and I showed her our BETA registrations. She gasped and suddenly ran off in a panic towards the kitchen.
"What was that about?" Sunset asked as Butch and I just signaled the others to wait.
Like clockwork, the manager/chef of the restaurant came out to greet us. "Welcome everyone! My name is Big Papa and I am honored to have you in my restaurant." He exclaimed.
"Oh no! Thank you for serving us," I said as he showed us to our seats.
As we took or seats we all looked over the menus. I decided on a simple burger and fries would be enough because it looked like the cheapest on the menu. We made our orders and the waitress speed out of sight.
"Ok start explaining you two! What was with that show earlier?" Dash commanded as the others waited for our response.
"So do you want me to explain or do you want to?" Butch asked which I only shrugged in response.
"Well, It's like this," I said while trying to gather my thoughts. "Being a BETA warrior means you have certain influences depending on your rank. My rank is F-class," I explained.
"And my rank is E-class," Butch exclaimed.
"Depending on your class you can have all kinds of privileges!" I explained.
"Not only do those of Higher ranks get better privileges, but they also are allowed to get away with a lot more than an average citizen. Basically, if you're a BETA player you have personal ties with the government, and can do just about anything and get away scot free." Butch exclaimed as the girls glared at him.
"So we can't have you arrested for peeping!" Dash asked while the others nodded in agreement.
"Well yeah you can but Butch can just buy out his Punishment before they even slap the cuffs on him!" I explained as the others stared in shock.
"Seriously!" The girls shouted.
"Wait if that's the case where do you get all the cash from!" Dash asked with a stunned expression.
"We get it for deleting viruses found all around us, or we can pick up a job and hunt down specific viruses based on our rank," I exclaimed as I pulled up a Job list on my BETA pack and showed the others.
"How much do the two of you have?" Rarity asked.
"Umm, last time I check I got two thousand on a from a job I did recently, and I already had four hundred and fifty-six bucks in my account so about two thousand four hundred fifty-six dollars," I explained as all the girls jaws dropped on the table.
"And I Have about three thousand eight hundred and seventy-nine dollars," Butch said as the girls went dead silent.
Suddenly Dash slammed her hands on the table. "AND HOW EXACTLY IS THIS GONNA HURT YOUR FUNDS!" Dash yelled at me.
"Well in order to be able to get more cash we have to upgrade our warriors and It cost over a thousand just to be able to buy a single level," I Explained as Dash tried to do the math in her head. "Basically I have enough for two more levels and the rest is for cards I can use."
"Arent the cards you have already good enough?" Fluttershy asked hiding behind her hair.
"Well, not really, see, we have to battle an A.I. system so advanced that it learns our fighting styles even if were not fighting them. It's like they have a hive mind that gathers information on every battle they engage in or watch and store it for later use." Butch explained as the girls seemed to understand the gist of what was said.
Finally, our food arrived and we all dug in. While we were eating, we just talked about stuff happening at CHS. After we finished our meals Butch and I paid the bill and thanked the chef for his hospitality.
"So maybe we can see where you guys get the new cards and stuff?" Dash asked while the others seemed to shrug.
"Sure I don't mind! what about you?" I asked.
"Sure I need some new cards anyways," Butch replied
Butch guided us to a small store in the heart of the city. It was small, but you could definitely tell it was a BETA shop just by all the flashy designs of digital warriors battling..........that and the flashing BETA neon sign on the roof.
"Welcome to the Mark enterprise!" Butch announced.
"Mark enterprise? Why did they call it that?" I asked.
"The owner of the store thought it sounded more official that way," Butch explained with a sigh, I couldn't help but laugh a little at his explanation. Still it was the only BETA store in town.
As we walked in I saw the store had a pretty good bulk of cards to choose from. Not only that but they even had some software boosters and even a few BETA packs for sale.
"Well, well, well, I never thought I'd see the day were Butch walks in with a bunch of pretty girls!" We heard someone say from behind the counter. A man, who looked to be in his mid 30's, stood up from behind the counter and looked at us. He wore a baseball cap and a simple button-up T-shirt.
"Mark could you just not?" Butch asked as he facepalmed.
"Hey, I have to give you hell somehow! Welcome everyone to Mark enterprise! Have a look around and see what you like! My real name is Question Mark, but most of my friends just call me Mark." He exclaimed.
"Nice to meet you," We announced.
As we spread out all over the store I went over to the card station and started to look through their stock with little to no success on finding any useful cards.
"Mark, why don't you have any recent cards? A lot of these cards are at least 7 months old?" I asked as Mark rubbed the bridge of his nose at the question.
"To be honest we don't have many BETA players around here, so we don't get many shipments of recent stuff. Heck, new shipments only come in every six months." He explained.
"Wow! That sucks!" I said which mark laughed at. I kept looking through different cards for sale but suddenly found a silver card, which are super rare cards, and I quickly reached out to grab it only to suddenly find someone else's hand reaching for it as well.
I looked over to find a guy with pale skin wearing a reddish-purple blazer with dark blue slacks and a necktie with purple hair and blue eyes which were glaring daggers at me.
"Woah sorry about that man!" I said as I quickly slipped my hand away from him.
He continued to stare at me for a brief second in complete awkward silence, suddenly he took the card and tossed it to me. I couldn't help but be confused.
"Umm, don't you want it?" I asked.
"No, but seeing as you have an eye for quality cards I'll let you keep that one," He said walking past me and towards the front door.
"Hey wait a sec!" I said chasing after him.
He turned to look at me with a bored expression. "What is it?" He asked as Butch and the others walked around to see what the commotion was.
"What's your name?" I asked.
He stayed quiet for a while for chuckled soon after. "My name is Crystal," He said.
Butch suddenly looked like he was about to puke and Mark looked as pale as a ghost at the mention of this guys name, But I really didn't pay it any mind.
"Thanks, you're a pretty nice person!" I said with a grin.
He turned around to face me and with no expression or hesitation at all........ he slapped me as hard as he could. I held my face and looked at the guy in shock.
"You are a complete fool," He said bluntly.
"HEY YOU JACKASS!" Dash shouted as she ran over to us.
"What was that for!" Applejack said crossing her arms with a scowl.
Crystal watched as the girls glared at him, even Butch looked like he was about to throw the guy out the window. "If he is so foolish as to trust everyone he comes across then he'll never get to a higher rank," He explained.
"Thats no reason for you to just hit someone!" Rarity shouted.
"Star Dust, son of Rising star who was one of the major scientists of the BETA project. An F-class player with a simple BETA pack he got from his father after his passing, and with a weak warrior without an element class or a-" Crystal explained before I ran over and grabbed him by his collar.
To be honest, I wasn't pissed that this guy mentioned my dad, but I was more pissed that he called my dads warrior weak. My father poured his heart and soul into his BETA!
"Listen.......I don't care about my rank or any of that crap! But if you ever call my dad's warrior weak again!" I exclaimed while I glared daggers at him. "I'LL KICK YOUR ASS!" I threatened.
Crystal didn't show any emotion and threw my hand off of him and walked over to the counter. "Allow him and his friends to buy whatever they want. Just put it on my family's tab," He said.
We stared at Crystal in shock and watched as he walked back towards us. "However, as payment for this you must face me in a BETA match," He explained much to everyone else's displeasure.
"Fine!" I said which caught everyone's attention. "But you better get ready to lose!" I exclaimed.
"Meet me in the park in an hour," He said as he walked out the store. "Thats where I'll see who you truly are." was his final words before leaving the store.
Everyone stared at the place were crystal once stood and then to me, Surprisingly it wasn't Dash who got out the first word.
"Ugh, why can't that kid ever play nice with people?" Mark asked as he walked over to the back room.
"What were you thinking challenging Him!? Do you have any idea who that guy was!?" Butch shouted as I tried to defend myself. "That was the Crystal King! He's a B-class Beta player! And you just challenged him to a match!!" He explained in a panic.
Just then Mark walked back out with a tool kit and a deck of cards. "Butch is right, that guy is known as the Crystal king because he has a personal deck filled with crystal cards made by his family," He explained while we stared at him.
Mark motioned me to come closer which I did without question. "The way you're set up now, you will definitely lose! The only way you can win is if you upgrade your pack." He explained.
"Wait you want to upgrade my BETA!" I asked. He nodded and motioned me to hand over my pack. I was a little hesitant at first, but Reluctantly I handed it over.
"I do some Minor software checks and upgrade the hardware. I'll also do some modifications to the slot system for your cards, this way you don't have to swipe multiple cards and you can just swipe them through in one go!" Mark explained As he looked over my Beta pack. "Also I have some new ideas I want to try out, so if you don't mind?" He asked.
"Sure, just be careful with it," I said.
"While I fix this up take a look at my personal card collection. All of this is on his tab anyways so just give me a sec." Mark said as he got to work.
"Wait I can't just take your cards!" I said only to have Mark shush me.
"I have mad respect for your old man! And even I could tell Crystal was being an ass." Mark exclaimed with a chuckle. "Just promise me that you'll teach him a lesson!" He said with a grin.
I looked at his cards and I finally made my choice. "Yeah no sweat!" I said as the others and I got to work looking for other cards I could use for the match.
Above the city, The beast made of lightning was watching the humans beneath it go about their daily business. Ignorant to the creatures that surrounded them.
As he was about to leave a familiar laugh echoed from behind him. He turned to see the same figure from before laughing at him.
Once again he sprinted towards the beast who disappeared in the blink of an eye and reappeared behind him and with a single blow slammed him into a wall.
"I grow tired of this game fool!" The beast shouted as it drew electricity from the surrounding area and it grew to a giant ball of electricity.
"DIE!" It shouted as a beam of light that covered the laughing figure.
However, the laughing continued and now the figure was in full view. He was a creature wearing a smiling mask with multiple curved blades, like scythes, were coming out of his body.
The beast scoffed and prepared to attack again. "I'm tired of dealing with you!" It shouted as he charged at his opponent who only continued to laugh.
"To be continued!"
