The Tale of the Silver Scourge

Chapters

Raid 1: Enter The Silver Scourge
Raid 2: The Prism Child
Captain's Log 1: The Displacer
Captain's Log 2: The Galleon
Cross-raid 2: Unlimited Blade Works!
Raid 3: Battle For Ponyville Part 1
Raid 4: The Battle For Ponyville Part 2
Raid 5: Sky Sanctuary
Cross-raid 3: A Pirate's Heart Part 1
Cross-raid 3: A Pirate's Heart Part 2
Captain's Log 3: Raid
Captain's Log 4: Here, There Be Dragons
Raid 6: A New Lead
Cross-Raid 1: SPD Emergency!

Raid 1: Enter The Silver Scourge

I am a man of fortune and I must seek my fortune.

- Henry Every

It's funny how really big changes can mean so little in the grand scheme of things, what can start out as probably the worst day in your life could lead to the fallout being the most normal thing ever.

These were not the thoughts swirling around in the hooded stranger's head as he made his way down the side streets of Manehattan, or rather, what was left of it. Not many ponies bothered with rebuilding when the tyrannical eyes of the Zangyack Empire's Grand Conquest fleet are constantly watching for large gatherings of the locals.

None of this, however was on the mind of said hooded figure either, his thoughts dwelled on much more important matters as he pulled his light grey cloak closer to himself to stave off the early morning chill.

Wander through the ruined city of liberty, and meet with your next step. That's what Navi had said anyway, which is why he was here in the first place. Still though...

"Where the hell is a guy supposed to get some food around here?" He all but yelled out into the empty side street.

No reply.

Grumbling, he continued on his way down the deserted street.

Pipsqueak peeked out from his hiding spot on the second floor of a blown-out building, watching the Zangyack supply transport as it approached, "almost there, just a little closer..." he muttered to himself, gripping the length of pipe in his right hand, eyeing the transport's escort of robotic Gormin foot soldiers and their Sugormin commander warily. If any of them spotted him before the transport was right below him, the punishment wouldn't be light.

"Just a bit longer Pip," his voice barely a whisper. Three... two... one...

And with that, he leaped out of his cover, landing silently on top of the transport's cargo hold.

Just you wait Zangyack, I'll be the one to bring you down once and for all!

The stranger knelt in front of his apparent salvation, arms raised in the air in a salute to his victory. "YES! I HAVE ARRIVED AT VALHALLA!" He screamed at the heavens, tears streaming down his face. Truly, the gods of victory had smiled upon his poor, hapless soul.

For never before had he been so happy to see the advertising sign for a restaurant.

Suddenly, his head was impacted from the side by a flying serving tray, causing him to fall over sideways. "Stop making such a damn ruckus out there! You'll scare away all the customers!" A middle-aged brown earth pony stallion said from the doorway of his restaurant, waving a ladle towards the empty street.

"I'M SO VERY SORRY!" shouted the hooded stranger, bowing on his hands and knees until his forehead scraped against the pavement.

"I told you not to make such a ruckus, damn it!" The restaurant owner said, brandishing his ladle as if to strike the stranger.

A loud, wet gurgle erupted from the hooded stranger's stomach, silencing both of them.

The restaurant owner sighed and lowered his ladle, "Ya' might as well come in, doesn't look like anypony's gonna show up right now."

The stranger glanced around, as if noticing for the first time that the street was deserted, "Huh, looks like-"

Another loud gurgle interrupted him.

"So hungryyyyyy~" said the stranger, visually deflating before the restaurant owner.

"When was the last time you ate, kid?" Asked the owner, picking up the now limp form of the stranger.

"T-three days ago, when the canned peaches ran out..." the stranger muttered, his voice little more than a whisper.

"Seriously!?" The owner exclaimed, "Okay that's it, get in here, we gotta get some food in you, kid!" he said carrying his guest over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

"You sir, are a saint. An honest to god saint..." the stranger muttered as he was plopped down into a bar stool, slumping forward onto the table.

"Is that right?" Said the owner, heading behind the counter, "Got a name, kid?"

"It's Gai." the stranger said, lazily raising his hand in the air, "yours?"

"Name's Black Kettle, it's nice to meet you Gai."

"Likewise."

"So, where you from? You said you've been living off canned peaches, so you're probably not from around here." Kettle said, stirring something in a large pot.

"Suffice it to say that I'm from somewhere very, very far away."

"Well, wherever you're from, it's probably way better than Equestria, that's for damn sure." Kettle replied, spooning some rice onto a plate.

"Why do you say that?" Gai asked.

"I don't know if you've noticed kid, but we kind of have a bit of an alien invasion on our hands, any customers I do get almost always have a terrified look about them, as if just coming here will get them into trouble. Not to mention we have absolutely no way of fighting back."

"The Great Legend War, right?"

Kettle snorted, "Good to see you're not completely out of the loop, kid. We threw everything we had at those Zangyack bastards and they still came out on top. They even publicly executed three out of the five remaining element bearers right in front of everypony." Kettle said, gritting his teeth.

"What about the military? From what I heard, only the Princesses, Element Bearers, and the thirty-four Super Sentai teams went up against them." Gai said, picking himself up from his slumped position at the delicious smell in the air.

"Princess Celestia disbanded and dismantled all of Equestria's military assets and burned all personnel records, said she didn't want any of her little ponies getting hurt and forbade us from volunteering. Almost everyone who ignored her orders ended up dying alongside her during the war." Kettle continued, pouring a white, soupy substance over the rice and setting the plate and a spoon in front of Gai.

"You sound like you're talking from experience." Gai said, taking the spoon in his left hand.

"Meh, maybe. Who can say? Now eat up, curry's getting cold."

Gai eyed his benefactor with a searching look before scooping some of the curry into his mouth, his eyes widening as flavor exploded across his tongue. "This is amazing!" He exclaimed.

"Right?" said a grinning Kettle, taking a sip from a flask he had hidden under the counter, "It's a new recipe I've been developing, I don't have a name for it though-" He said looking to his guest who was shoveling the food into his mouth with reckless abandon, "H-hey! Slow down! You'll choke!"

"But it's so good!" Gai managed to gasp out in between bites.

"Why were you living off only canned peaches anyway?" Kettle asked, taking another pull from his flask.

"Anything I cook might as well be classified as a chemical weapon," Gai said, swallowing a particularly large bite of curry.

That's when the storefront for the restaurant was blown inwards by a massive explosion, scattering everything that wasn't bolted down.

Gai looked down at what remained of his plate, large pieces of metal and wood impaling the ceramic and, more importantly, his curry lunch.

"My curry..." Gai said softly, gazing at his ruined lunch in horror before banging his fist on the ruined remains of the counter.

Oh yeah, heads were gonna roll.

"Gou gou!" The cries of the Gormin were getting closer as Pipsqueak's lungs burned, his desperate struggle to escape proving fruitless against the robotic Gormin foot soldiers that were tracking him down. What happened? I thought they didn't notice me!

Pipsqueak rounded a corner, crashing into a Gormin, causing them to fall into a tangle of limbs.

"Get off me!" Pipsqueak cried, bashing his pipe bludgeon against the Gormin's head until it and the pipe were bent inwards. Clambering to his feet and running off in the opposite direction of his pursuers.

He didn't make it far before a metallic hand clamped down on his shoulder, throwing him off balance and causing him to fall on his back, dropping his bent pipe weapon.

"Let go!" Pipsqueak yelled, only to be silenced when one of the Gormin slammed the flat end of their cudgel into his stomach.

"Thought you could steal from the Zangyack Empire, did you?" The Sugormin commander gloated, bending over to stare into Pipsqueak's terrified eyes, "don't you know that's the leading cause of death in every Zangyack colony?" He said, tapping one of his claws against Pipsqueak's forehead, chortling at the disgusted expression on his captive's face.

Pipsqueak spat in it's face, silencing it immediately, "bugger off, Zangyack scum!" Pipsqueak said glaring at his captor.

"A little eager to proceed to the execution, aren't you?" The Sugormin chuckled, wiping the spit off his face, "hold him down."

Pipsqueak felt the Gormin's grip tighten around his arms as he was bought down to his knees.

"You have been charged with the greatest sin anyone in the universe could possibly be charged with: defying the Zangyack Empire!" The Sugormin stated as he towered over Pipsqueak, "the only punishment suitable for this crime is execution, to be carried out immediately!" The Sugormin raised his claws, ready to bring them down on the helpless Pipsqueak when he was tackled from behind.

"Sugou!?" The Sugormin commander squawked as it was pushed forwards stumbling into his subordinates that were holding Pipsqueak captive, dragging them to the ground with his oversized arms, revealing the pony who had intervened, her arms still outstretched from shoving the much larger Sugormin.

She was a unicorn mare, not much younger than the teenaged Pipsqueak, with a pale pink coat, and purple mane that was mixed with a stripe of electric blue. A fuzzy pink jacket covering the white sundress she wore underneath.

"Come on!" She said urgently, taking his hand in her own, "we have to run!"

Pipsqueak nodded, allowing himself to be pulled along by the surprisingly strong mare into the nearest back alley.

"After them you idiots!" The Sugormin commanded, smacking the downed Gormin soldiers over their metallic heads.

"This way!" Pipsqueak said, pulling his unnamed benefactor to the left up a side street only to dig their heels in when they saw a line of Gormin on the other side, their cudgels mounted on their shoulders with the head facing the hapless duo.

Pipsqueak's eyes widened as he realized what was coming, "GET DOWN!" He yelled, tackling the purple-maned mare to the ground as a simultaneous hissing noise filed the street before the heads of all the cudgels rocketed off their handles, crashing into the storefronts on the other side of the Gormin firing squad, and exploding upon impact, showering both the streets and the insides of the stores with shrapnel, be it glass, wood, mortar, or metal.

"Did you really think you could get away?" A mocking voice said from behind the firing line of Gormin troopers. The Sugormin commander said, strutting up to the two fallen teenagers, easily picking them up by their throats and throwing them down the street.

"Honestly, I wish more idiots like you would show up, gives us a source of entertainment." He continued, his Gormin subordinates moving in to secure the two. "Your punishment can wait until we're good and ready, girl. We have business with this one." This was followed by a menacing chuckle, causing Pipsqueak's skin to crawl.

The unicorn mare stood up, throwing off her jacket, and unfurled her wings, "STAY BACK!" she shouted her voice magnified many times over, the sudden outburst giving the Gormin pause. No. Pipsqueak thought, Not a unicorn. An alicorn.

"I am Princess Flurry Heart Amore, princess of Equestria, and you will not lay a hand on my subject!" She turned her head towards Pipsqueak, a sad look in her eye, "I will hold them here for as long as I can, please use that time to get away."

Pipsqueak shook his head, "I'm not about to throw you to the wolves princess," he said, picking himself up and raising his fists towards the approaching Gormin, "what kind of pony would that make me?"

"A dead one." Said the Sugormin, drawing the pair's attention back to the very obvious threat of the Zangyack troops, "we could just gun you down, you know." The Gormin troops had reattached new cudgel heads to their weapons and were now pointing the narrow end at the two ponies, their commander standing behind them with his clawed arm raised. "All troops, ready weapons." There was a simultaneous clicking noise as the safeties on the weapons were released.

"Aim..."

"Gokai Spear, gun mode!"

A series of gunshots rang out into the empty street, causing Flurry Heart and Pipsqueak to flinch, followed by silence.

When the two finally looked up again, an unbelievable sight caught their eyes.

All of the Gormin troops that had previously been pointing their rifles at them were now laying face down, neat three-inch holes bored into the backs of their heads, exposing the smoking electronics within. The Sugormin was on his knees, picking himself up from the obvious sneak attack.

"Six for seven, huh? Not bad, you're pretty lucky you have thicker armor than your trashy subordinates, Blue Boy." Said a relaxed voice from behind the downed Sugormin.

"Who the hell are you!?" The Sugormin shouted at the cloaked figure that had just shot down his troops from behind, his gun resting on his shoulder.

"You should know, you guys did put a bounty on my head, five-hundred-thousand in local currency I think?" Said the figure, "besides, shouldn't you be giving your name first? It's only common courtesy seeing as how you blew up my lunch."

"S-so what?" Said the Sugormin, his voice shaking as more Gormin troopers filed out of the various back alleys lining the street, surrounding the cloaked figure. "There's no way you can take on all of us!"

"That so?" The figure said, grasping the clasp of his cloak, "How many of your guys do you think are here? About thirty? Frankly, I'm a little insulted."

"Get him!" The Sugormin ordered, grabbing two of his soldiers by their arms, "you two, make sure they don't escape!" He said, gesturing towards Pipsqueak and Flurry Heart.

The two Gormin charged towards Pipsqueak and Flurry Heart, weapons raised to cudgel their defenseless targets, only to fall over once they realized they no longer had legs to stand on.

"Are you alright, princess?" A brown coated earth pony with a dark mane stood over the two Gormin, a cutlass held loosely in his right hand, the sword belt worn over his apron as if it was affixed in a hurry.

"W-who are you?" Flurry Heart asked, eyes widening at the display before her.

The pony ran the two Gormin through their backs with the cutlass before kneeling before her, "former second lieutenant Black Kettle of the Equestrian Royal Guard. I served alongside your father and mother during the Great Legend War, I'm sorry for your loss." He looked up at her, "now I'm just an old stallion that runs a restaurant." He said, a wide grin spreading across his face.

"I see," Flurry Heart said, glancing at the carnage occurring further down the street, "who is he then?"

Kettle glanced over his shoulder at the cloaked figure currently making mincemeat out of the Gormin soldiers, "that," he remarked, "is a surprisingly strong and angry customer."

"Kettle, if you want to make smart-aleck remarks, can you at least do it while keeping the civvies out of harm's way?" Gai said as he shoved his left forearm through the chest of a Gormin foolish enough to get within striking distance, and using him as a meat shield for a volley of shots from the few Gormin that were still standing before gunning them all down and ripping his arm out from his unwilling shield. "I can't be worried about pegging royalty in the head with flying robot parts."

"This way, we can take cover here." Kettle said, pulling the two teenagers into an alley, "keep your heads down you two, I can't protect you if you get curious." He said, peeking around the corner to watch his mysterious customer.

"You bastard!" The Sugormin yelled, charging the cloaked figure, "I don't care who you are! No one defies the Zangyack Empire!"

"You have to be the most patriotic minion I've ever met," Gai sighed, "guess I'd better give you some special treatment." He tossed his gun in the air, "Gokai Spear!" A mechanical whirring came from the gun as it unfolded into a golden trident.

Catching the spear in his right hand, Gai twirled it over his head before dropping into a ready stance seconds before the Sugormin's right set of claws came down on the spear's haft.

"Really now? I expected a lot more from one of Zangyack's non-commissioned officers than a full frontal assault, is that really all you can do?" Gai mocked, tilting the trident so that the Sugormin's forward momentum caused him to stagger before using the bladed trident to slash at it's back. "That's for the curry, you blue bastard!"

"What does curry have to do with this?" The downed Sugormin cried.

"It has everything to do with this!" Gai cried, pinning the Sugormin's leg with his spear's prongs, and repeatedly stomping on the Blue Cyborg's head, "three days, three days I haven't eaten anything and was about to keel over when that nice stallion was kind enough to feed me for free!"

"Actually, I was totally going to charge him." Kettle deadpanned, watching Gai continually add new dents to the Sugormin's armor plating.

"And then you guys blow up the nice guy's restaurant and my lunch!!!" Gai continued, putting more and more force into each stomp.

The Sugormin activated his comms, in a last ditch effort for reinforcements, "this is Sugormin officer number X-0239485732,-ow!- requesting -ow!-immediate -ow!- assistance! My group has been -ow!- wiped -ow!- stop stomping on my head!"

"Eeenope," Gai said, increasing the force and tempo of his stomping.

"Dispatch the 35th special battalion immediately! I repeat-" The Sugormin was silenced when one final stomp finally broke through his armor and crushed the delicate circuitry that kept his body functioning.

"Hey Kettle! You can come out now," Gai said, ripping his boot out from the heavily dented body of the Sugormin and converting the spear into a gun before stowing it behind his cloak.

"Come on you two, stick close." Kettle said to his charges, the trio making their way through the various scattered robot parts.

"Sweet Celestia..." Pipsqueak muttered, staring wide-eyed at the destruction the cloaked stranger had wrought.

"Thanks for the loan, Gai." Kettle said, holding out the cutlass and sword belt to it's original owner, "keep it Kettle, we're not in the clear just yet. Let's get moving before their reinforcements show up."

"Reinforcements?" Kettle said, strapping the sword belt more securely around his waist.

"The Sugormin managed to get a distress call out before I put him down, asked for a 'special battalion' whatever that means."

Pipsqueak paled, "are you sure? Absolutely sure he said that?" He asked, glancing around nervously.

"Yeah, why? Is there something I should know about Snively?" Gai asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

"My name is Pipsqueak."

"And mine's Gai, your point?"

Pipsqueak sighed, "It won't matter how far we run, we won't survive what they've sent after us."

"What do you mean, Mister Pipsqueak?" Flurry Heart asked.

"The Special Battalions of the Zangyack Empire are actually-"

"PRINCESS GET DOWN!!!" Kettle cried, tackling Flurry Heart and Pipsqueak as gunfire echoed from down the street, "Shit!" Gai cried as he dove for cover.

"They're already here!" Pipsqueak wailed as Kettle rolled off of them.

"Who's here!?" Gai cried, frantically searching for the shooters, his eyes widening when he finally found them. "Oh that is just wrong on so many levels."

Standing on top of the building across from Kettle's restaurant were five multicolored figures carrying more of the Gormin rifle/rocket launcher cudgels, the narrow end tracking Kettle's group.

"Not gonna happen!" Gai shouted, opening fire on the group blue energy bolts flashing from his gun's barrel and striking each of the figure's chests, staggering them but otherwise doing no damage.

"Kettle, get the kids to safety! I'll handle this." Kettle grunted an affirmative, grabbing both the princess and her companion and rushing inside the ruined storefront of his restaurant while Gai covered them with shots from his gun.

When they were clear, Gai unfolded his trident again, taking long, easy strides towards the corrupted heroes in front of him, "looks like he was here," he muttered to himself, "and he's mocking me right now."

"What is he doing?" Pipsqueak said, watching the cloaked stranger calmly approach what could only be his imminent demise, "it doesn't matter how strong he is, that Sentai will kill him!"

"How is this possible?" Flurry Heart muttered, "I thought the thirty four Sentai were destroyed in the final battle of the Great Legend War!"

"Does it matter? We can't fight them! Nopony can!"

"Would you shut up and watch, kid?" Gai said, stabbing his trident into the ground and reaching for the clasp of his cloak, "you might just learn something. Besides, I'm no pony."

And with that, Gai undid the clasp on his cloak, and tossed it aside, confirming his earlier statement. What was underneath was most assuredly not a pony. Standing before them was a tall creature wearing a silver long coat and wearing a black scarf around his neck, a mop of light brown hair sat on top of his head. His face was the most surprising part, it was flat, lacking a muzzle and the eyes were small and beady. Finally, his ears were flat, and sat on the side of his head rather than on top.

"It's been a while since I last needed to use this," Gai said, reaching into his jacket and pulling out a strange box-like object and a small figurine. Gai inserted the silver figurine into the box and pushed a button.

"Gokai Change!" He shouted as he was enveloped in a brilliant, white light.

"GOOOOOKAIGER!!!" A distant voice shouted out, as if to announce some earth-shattering news to the world.

The light faded, revealing a figure clad head to toe in silver, wearing a dark helmet.

"The pirate clad in shining silver! Gokai Silver!" Gai shouted, ripping his trident from the ground, "let's make this showy!" And with that he charged the five figures ahead of him, trident raised above his head, slashing and kicking at his multicolored opponents.

"How is that possible?" Pipsqueak breathed as Gai swung his trident, only for it to be intercepted by yellow and pink's cudgels, "There are no more Super Sentai members outside of Zangyack control!"

"Apparently there is kid," Kettle grunted, pressing a hand against his side, the appendage coming away slick with blood, "ah shit," he muttered, collapsing to his knees, putting pressure on the wound.

"Mister Kettle!" Flurry Heart cried, kneeling next to the injured former guard, "first aid kit, behind the counter," Kettle gasped, "hurry!"

"On it!" Pipsqueak said, vaulting over the remains of the counter while pressed her jacket against Kettle's wound. Kettle grabbed her arm with his unbloodied hand, sweat beading his forehead, "P-princess, promise me something."

"No, no don't ask me to do that, not again!" Flurry Heart said, her eyes watering.

"Princess, listen to me!" Kettle said firmly, "if I don't make it, you must go to Ponyville, you will find allies there. Allies that can and will keep you safe."

"Found it!" Pipsqueak announced, vaulting back over the counter with a large red and white case in his hand, he slid up to kettle and opened the case. Grabbing a cotton pad and some rubbing alcohol, he began disinfecting the wound.

Back outside, Gai was having some trouble with his multicolored opponents, "piss off!" He shouted, planting a kick in the middle of the green Gokaiger's chest before blocking an overhead chop from the yellow and pink with the haft of his trident. "For phantoms created by the Rapparatta, you guys are pretty strong, guessing he really put some feeling into this one, huh?" Gai said, turning the trident and slashing the pair with the bladed end before receiving a pair of bullets in the back from red and blue, their cudgel rifle barrels still smoking from the discharge.

"Okay, that's it!" Gai shouted, folding his trident into a gun again, firing a volley at the pair of phantoms before unfolding his trident and running it through the green phantom and pitching it over his back into yellow and pink who collapsed under their newfound burden. Gai pressed a button on his belt buckle, causing it to spit out another small figurine. "Let's try this one!" He said, inserting the figure into the Gokai Cellular.

"Gokai Change!" He shouted, pressing a button and being enveloped in a white glow.

"DAAAAAAAIIIRANGER!!!" The voice echoed as the light around Gai faded, revealing the new form he had equipped.

"Round two, kiddies!" Gai cackled, drawing the sword at his hip and charging his opponents, "Byakko Shinken!" He shouted, his blade roaring in response to it's name as it's edge slashed across red and blue's chests. Gai spun around and placed his free hand on the green phantom's stomach, "ki ryoku!" He shouted as a ball of energy formed in his hand, sending green flying. "I thought I told you to piss off!"

Green said nothing as he impacted the side of a building, cracks spiderwebbing around the small, body-shaped crater before he slowly peeled off and lay prone, unmoving.

"Who's next?" Gai called out, undoing his additional transformation, leaving him as Gokai Silver once more. The response was a cudgel swung by pink impacting the side of his helmet. "Guess I have my answer then," he muttered, using the rotational momentum from the hit to fuel a hook kick that smacked into the side of pink's helmet, sending her crashing to the ground before continuing with his rotational momentum and smashing his free fist into the back of her head, causing her to lie still with her head in it's own little crater.

"Next!" Gai said, blocking a twin cudgel attack from blue with the haft of his spear, simultaneously hopping over a leg sweep from yellow, "two at once, huh? You flatter me guys!" Gai said, pushing blue back and kicking out at yellow before jumping clear of their failed pincer maneuver. "Well, looks like they have knowledge of basic tactics and teamwork," Gai muttered, turning the trident's prongs towards the three remaining phantoms.
Yellow and blue charged him again while red took potshots from a distance. "Well, at least they're trying," Gai said, deflecting the shots from red's cudgel rifle with the head of his trident, catching the incoming cudgels from blue and yellow between the prongs of the trident, ripping them from their grip and cutting across them with a vicious slash across their chests that would have cut a normal person in half.

"Don't worry, I got something special for you, Mr. Red," Gai said, pointing his trident in a challenge to the final remaining Gokaiger phantom as yellow and blue crumpled to the ground. Red responded by turning his weapon and resting it on his shoulder, taking aim at Gai with the rocket end of the cudgel. "You really don't wanna do that, buddy." Gai warned, resting his trident on his shoulder.

Red pulled the safety pin from the cudgel's rocket.

"Nobody ever listens to a pirate, do they?" Gai sighed, turning the trident around in his hand.

Red fired his launcher, aiming for Gai's feet. Gai leaped into the air, using the explosion to boost himself further, "hissatsu!" He cried out, motes of light gathering around the three prongs of his trident, causing the lance to shine like the sun.

"Gokai Shooting Star!" Gai screamed, hurling the shining trident at the final phantom, the weapon streaking down like a bolt of lightning, embedding itself into the hapless opponent and erupting in a massive explosion of light.

"Maybe I overdid it?" Gai said, picking himself up from his hunched-over landing position, walking over to the large crater that had appeared in the middle of the street. Peering down at the crumpled body impaled at the bottom of the crater, he watched as the remains of the red phantom shined with a bright light before dimming, revealing a small, red key resembling the downed phantom.

Gai undid his transformation and slid down into the pit, ripping his trident out of the ground and picking up the small figure pinned under it, "one down, thirty-four teams left," He said, tucking the figure into his coat pocket before turning to search for the rest.

"Mister Gai!" Flurry Heart cried, charging from the ruined storefront from Kettle's restaurant and tacking Gai, burying her face in his jacket, "Mister Kettle i-is," she said, tear stained face staring up at him. Gai's eyes widened, rushing past the crying princess into the ruined restaurant

"KETTLE!" Gai shouted, sliding up to the unconscious cook and grabbing him by the shoulders, shaking him violently, "DON'T DIE KETTLE, YOU STILL HAVEN'T MADE ME SECONDS!!!"

"That's what you're worried about!?" Pipsqueak said, appalled at the pirate's apparent disregard for the downed cook.

"YES!" Gai cried, teary eyes fixed directly on Pipsqueak's, "THIS KIND STALLION LET ME EAT HERE FOR FREE AFTER I HADN'T EATEN FOR THREE DAYS!"

"Nope, he was totally going to charge you for the curry, he said so." Pipsqueak deadpanned.

"WHAT!?" Gai exclaimed, turning his gaze back to the downed stallion, "YOU BASTARD!!!" He screamed, shaking Kettle's limp body more and more fiercely, "ARE YOU HAPPY UP THERE IN THE AFTERLIFE!? YOU BETTER BE, BECAUSE I'M GONNA COME UP THERE AND TEAR YOU A NEW ONE!!!"

"He's not dead either." Pipsqueak said, keeping the same deadpan tone.

"WHAT!?"

"He's just hopped up on a lot of painkillers. I made a mistake in the dosage size."

"But the princess-"

"Overreacted."

"Oh."

An awkward silence filled the ruined restaurant.

"Do you mind dragging him out of here then? I have to gather the rest of the keys." Gai said, draping Kettle's body over Pipsqueak's shoulders and walking out the front entrance.

"Why me?" Pipsqueak muttered, dragging the larger stallion behind him.

When Gai got outside, Flurry Heart ran up to him, holding out the remaining four Ranger Keys in her hands, "this is what you were after right Mister Gai?" She said, sniffling as she held out the keys to the pirate, "I just wish Mister Kettle..." her voice trailed off, the sheen of fresh tears building up in her eyes.

"He's not dead." Gai deadpanned, pocketing the remaining four keys.

"W-what?"

"Just really high on painkillers, Pipsqueak made a mistake in the dosage."

"B-but..."

"You overreacted."

"Oh."

"Welp," Gai said, cutting off the awkward silence before it could start again, "you guys better get going before more Zangyack show up wondering where-"

He was interrupted by the distant sound of metallic feet stomping coming from all directions, the marching cries of Gormin troops getting ever closer.

"Dammit Murphy!" Gai swore through gritted teeth, pulling out his Gokai Cellular and mashing a few buttons, "Navi! I need you to bring the Galleon down for a pickup!" he shouted into it, "you'll be coming in hot, so have the port and starboard cannons armed and ready!"

"Aye sir!" came a mechanical squawk from the Cellular's speaker, slightly distorted by static, "incoming in ten seconds!"

Gai folded his trident into gun form again, taking aim where the sound of approaching metal boots was loudest, "get behind me!" he shouted, pulling Flurry Heart behind him with his free hand.

"Gou, gou!" The Gormin cried as they rounded the corner, only to crumple as beams of blue light melted holes through their heads, "Ha! still got it!" Gai crowed, pulling a smaller gun from inside his coat, dual wielding the two in order to put more holes into more gormin.

"Pipsqueak! Take this." Gai said, tossing the smaller pistol to Pipsqueak who dropped Kettle, juggling the weapon in his hands before getting a solid grip on the handle, "cover our right flank!" He shouted, pointing to the line of Gormin rounding the corner.

Pipsqueak held the gun in both hands taking careful aim at the nearest Gormin and pulled the trigger, the gun erupted with a puff of smoke and a small gout of flame as the projectile was ejected from the barrel, striking the Gormin in the chest, causing the robotic foot soldier to crumple. The recoil almost called the teenaged earth pony to fall on his butt.

Pipsqueak stared at the still smoking barrel, a wide grin slicing across his face as he readjusted his stance and held the gun out in his right hand, popping off shots one after the other, either taking down or severely damaging a Gormin with each shot, "GET SOME!!!" He cried, laughing as the previously threatening Gormin soldiers fell one after the other before him, not even getting enough time to aim their rifles.

A bullet whizzed past Pipsqueak's ear as he chanced a look over his shoulder, seeing a much different scenario behind him as Gai was struggling to stave off attackers from both the front and left while keeping a cowering Flurry Heart and an unconscious Kettle behind him, his gun's muzzle flash almost constant as he downed a Gormin with each shot.

"Navi, where the hell are you!?" Gai screamed, smashing his fist into the head of a Gormin who came into melee range, crushing the cheap armor like a tin can.

"Right above you!" Squawked a voice from the Cellular as the advancing Gormin forces were crushed under a volley of fireballs from above.

"GOOOKAI GALLEON!!!"

Pipsqueak looked up and saw a large, red pirate ship floating above him, dropping several ropes down to the group of defenders while the cannons fired another volley, presumably targeting another group of Zangyack reinforcements.

"Pipsqueak, grab Kettle and a rope, I'll cover you!" Gai shouted over the sound of the ship's cannons, scoring a headshot on a Gormin survivor. Pipsqueak nodded, handing the pistol back to Gai and draping Kettle's arm over his shoulders and taking a rope in his free hand, screaming as he was suddenly yanked straight up into the hull of the ship.

"Come on princess!" Gai said, blasting another Gormin's head off, "we have to go!" Flurry Heart nodded, grabbing on to Gai as he took a rope in his free hand and the pair were yanked upwards into the ship.

Author's Note

YES!!! IT'S DONE!!! FINALLY, BLESSEDLY DONE!!! THE WRITER'S BLOCK CAN END!!!

please don't hate me for jumping on the "Wish Fulfillment" bandwagon... :fluttercry:

Raid 2: The Prism Child

"Welcome back, Gai!" A voice squawked as Gai entered the main living quarters of the Galleon, startling Pipsqueak and Flurry Heart.

"Who said that?" Pipsqueak asked, looking around for the source of the noise.

"Over here!" The voice said, directing Pipsqueak's eyes over to a small, red mechanical parrot sitting next to a terminal towards the front of the living quarters.

"Who are you? What are you?" Pipsqueak asked, setting the unconscious Kettle down on a large couch off to the side of the room next to a dartboard which had several darts in the bullseye.

"I'm-" The bird began, "everyone, this is Navi, my navigational AI and crew member," Gai said, patting the small parrot on the head.

"Gai! I can introduce myself just fine, thank you very much!" Navi squawked, fluttering her wings and flying right up into Gai's face, small puffs of steam escaping from the crest on top of his head.

Gai chuckled, "sorry Navi, didn't mean to take your spotlight." He said, holding his hands up in surrender.

"Jeez!" Navi huffed, flying back down to her perch next to the terminal before catching sight of the starry-eyed princess, "why is she looking at me like that?"

"Dunno, why don't you ask her?" Gai said, slumping into the large leather-backed chair in the middle of the room, opening a small chest next to him and tossing the five Gokaiger keys inside.

"Gai, were those?" Navi asked, spotting the five multicolored keys in the chest, "yep," he replied, turning his attention back to the mechanical avian, "the five Gokaiger keys are back in our possession!" He said, grinning.

"Really!" Navi said excitedly, "you really got them back?" Gai nodded, grinning even more.

"YES!" Navi cried, shooting up in the air and circling the room happily, mechanical wings buzzing as she flapped them.

"She's so cute..."

"Hm? Did you say something, princess?" Gai said turning his attention to the princess who was currently shaking in place in a very worrying manner.

"SHE'S SO CUTE!!!" She said, visually erupting and chasing after the now panicking bird.

"GAI! HELP!!!" Navi cried as she executed a series of rather impressive aerial maneuvers for a mechanical bird to escape the princess' grasping hands.

"C-can't," Gai gasped, holding his sides, "laughing too hard!" He choked out, bowling over onto the floor, writhing in a fit of giggles.

"How could you!?" Navi wailed. In his haste however, she slammed headfirst into the central pillar and crashed into the ground.

"Miss Navi!" Flurry Heart cried, rushing over to Navi's limp form, small tears forming in her eyes, "don't die, Miss Navi!" When Navi didn't move, Flurry Heart turned slowly to the still writhing Gai, tears beginning to well up in her eyes.

"M-mister Gai, I think she is dead" She said, her voice wavering.

"Nah, don't worry about it. Happens all the time." Gai said nonchalantly, pulling himself up so that he was sitting cross-legged next to the princess.

"She dies all the time!?" She said, staring wide-eyed at the pile of metal lying on the ground.

"What? No," Gai said, poking the mechanical parrot with a finger, "you saw something, right? Stop playing dead and tell us already."

As if on cue, Navi sprang back up and stared directly at Gai.

"Listen well, Silver One," She said in a trance-like voice, "freeing the prism child will result in unforeseen events. Take care not to lose yourself among them."

Navi shook his head a bit and looked back at Gai, "That's it!" She said in a cheerful voice, flying up to the top of the leather chair.

"What in Celestia's name was that!?" Pipsqueak said, staring wide-eyed at the mechanical parrot.

"That was Navi's treasure navigation ability," Gai said, standing up and pacing around the cabin, a pensive look on his face, "she sometimes has visions and delivers them in the form of a prophecy. It's been a while since I've had one this grim though." Gai stopped his pacing and grinned at Navi, "I guess we shouldn't keep the 'prism child' waiting then. Navi, set a course for the Zangyack Detention and Reeducation Center, full speed ahead, we have a crew member to recruit!"

"Aye sir!" Navi said, saluting and flying over to the computer terminal and inputting a series of commands.

"Are you crazy?" Pipsqueak said, grabbing onto Gai's arm, "we just got away from their soldiers and now you want to attack one of their strongest footholds in Equestria!? They'd see you coming miles away!"

Gai frowned and flicked Pipsqueak in the middle of his forehead, causing him to fall over from the impact, "don't forget whose ship you're on, kid. As Captain, I decide where we sail and who comes aboard," Gai's face relaxed, "besides, the Galleon has so much stealth tech built into her that it would take the naked eye to detect it in the first place, and even then, we have optic camo for that. How do you think I earned my bounty anyway?"

"Oh please, there's no way someone as reckless as you would live long enough to earn that big of a bounty." Pipsqueak muttered, rubbing his forehead and glaring at Gai.

"You're one to talk, kid. Weren't you about to get executed for some sort of petty crime?" Gai said, grinning down at the downed teenager, only to get smacked rather painfully on the side of the head with a paper fan wielded by Flurry Heart.

"Both of you stop it right now!" She huffed, fixing both of them with a stern look, gripping her folded paper weapon in both hands.

"Why don't you show some proof of this 'bounty' then?" Pipsqueak muttered, still rubbing his forehead, causing Flurry Heart to smack Pipsqueak over the head with the fan.

"Why me!?" Pipsqueak wailed, rubbing at the spot the fan had impacted.

Flurry Heart glared at him.

"Fine! I think I have a copy of one of the posters on me," Gai grumbled rooting through the inside of his silver long coat, "found it!" He exclaimed, pulling out a slightly wrinkled wanted poster and holding it out for Flurry Heart and Pipsqueak. The poster was mostly blank except for a large picture of Gai in the silver outfit he had been in when fighting the Sentai Phantoms. Above the picture in plain, utilitarian text were the words: "WANTED FOR ACTS OF PIRACY AGAINST THE ZANGYACK EMPIRE: THE SILVER SCOURGE." Below the picture in the same style was the reward amount: five hundred thousand bits.

"Sweet Celestia's teats!" Pipsqueak exclaimed, earning him another smack upside the head from Flurry Heart, "OW!" He shouted, rubbing the impact site.

"That is... quite the amount, Mister Gai." Flurry Heart said, eyeing the number on the page.

"I'll say! In this day and age, anypony would kill for just a fourth of that bounty!" Pipsqueak said, his eyes darting back and forth between the page and the being standing before him.

"Honestly? I wouldn't know. We don't use bits where I come from," Gai said, putting away the poster and slumping in his chair, a faraway look in his eye.

"And... where do you come from, Mister Gai?" Flurry Heart asked, staring at the foreign being.

"It's like I told Kettle, someplace very, very far from here." Gai said, staring straight ahead.

"Don't you know it's rude to talk about somepony when they're knocked out on drugs, Gai?" Kettle groaned sitting up on the couch.

"Welcome back to the world of the living, old stallion." Gai said, grinning at the brown earth pony.

"From what I just heard, I might not be here much longer with that crazy idea you've cooked up in that head of yours," he said rubbing a hand over his muzzle and fixing Pipsqueak with a glare, "you are never administering first aid to me ever again, kid."

"I said I was sorry!" Pipsqueak said, raising his hands in surrender.

Kettle ignored him and turned his gaze to Flurry Heart, "It's good to see you're safe, princess. I would kneel, but my legs are still a little numb from the painkillers," he said, chuckling softly.

"It is good to see you in good health as well, Mister Kettle." Flurry Heart said, giving a small curtsy.

"Your words gladden me, princess," Kettle said, bowing his head. He turned his gaze back to Gai, "so? You're the one rumored to be the sole surviving member of the thirty four Super Sentai teams, huh? I thought you'd be older."

Gai shrugged, "yes and no. While I would technically be a member, my sentai hasn't been formed yet."

"What do you mean?" Kettle said, shifting so that he was more comfortably seated on the couch.

"That," Gai said, raising a finger, "is a very long story, one we don't necessarily have time for right now."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because, my laid up friend, we're almost at our destination and you need a crash course on how to use the Galleon's manual weapons targeting and stealth systems."

The pair of Gormin sentries stared at the monitors linked to the various cameras around the Zangyack prison complex, tirelessly watching for any and all disturbances that may lead to a possible security breach. So focused were they on their given task that no prisoner would ever have a chance at any sort of funny business.

They were most certainly not playing cards with the Sugormin commander who was supposed to be watching them.

The first Gormin asked, turning to the commander.

"Go fish." The Sugormin replied. The Gormin made a sound similar to a groan and drew a card from the deck.

"Got any aces?" The Sugormin asked the second Gormin.

The Sugormin drew a card from the deck.

The first Gormin said, turning to the Sugormin,

"Hell if I know, that's above our pay grade. Besides, I heard they sent out the 35th special battalion, so it's already taken care of."

The second Gormin remarked,

"Again, that's above our -"

At that moment, all hell broke loose as all of the early warning sirens went off at the same time as the various explosions around the compound.

The first Gormin shouted, rushing over to the nearest console in order to check the situation, only to get crushed by a piece of the ceiling that had crumbled upon the entrance of the room's new occupant.

"Hi!" A morphed Gai said, waving a gloved hand as he ripped his trident out from the piece of ceiling, "I really hope no one important was under there."

The second Gormin shouted, drawing his cudgel and charging at the silver figure,

"Okay, now I feel insulted, and I don't even know what you're saying!" Gai said, casually impaling the robotic soldier while walking towards the Sugormin, "you wouldn't happen to know where I can find a certain prisoner that was just brought in today during all of the commotion earlier, would you?"

The Sugormin took a wild swing at him, aiming for his helmet, Gai ducked and bought the end of the trident around, cutting the Sugormin's legs out from under it.

"No? Welp, had to ask anyway," Gai said nonchalantly, bringing his trident down into the head of the downed Sugormin, the points tearing through it's armor like paper, "Navi! We're clear."

"Aye sir!" Navi said, flying down from the hole in the ceiling and towards the nearest terminal.

Gai pulled out his Gokai Cellular and punched a few buttons, "Kettle, you can stop the bombardment and get clear, we've breached the security room."

"Got it, call us when you're ready for pick up."

Gai put the Cellular away, and readjusted the strap on the cutlass he had strapped to his back, "Navi, you done with the map yet?"

"Give me a few more seconds, Gai! some of the security cameras went offline during the cannon barrage, so some I'm filling in the gaps on my own."

Gai folded his trident into gun mode and rested it on his shoulder, tapping his foot impatiently.

"Done!" Navi said, backing away from the terminal, no sooner had she done so that the terminal exploded in a shower of sparks, a smoking hole appearing right in the middle of it. Gai smoothly readjusted his aim and shot out the all of the monitors, "no way they're gonna be able to coordinate the guards from here." He said, a small wisp of smoke trailing from the barrel, "Gai! Warn me next time! You almost shot me!" Navi screamed at him, several puffs of steam escaping from the crest on top of his head, "oh yea of little faith, do you really think I would shoot you?" Gai said, grinning under his helmet, "now then, do you have her location?"

Navi let out one last sound of annoyance before relenting, "yes," she said softly.

"Right, lead on, my fellow crew mate!" Gai said, gesturing to the door and the subsequent hallway behind it.

"Do you think Mister Gai will be alright, Mister Kettle?" Flurry Heart asked, setting a silver tea service down on the dining table and pouring three cups of tea, her hands shaking slightly.

"I'm sure he's fine, princess," Pipsqueak grumbled, taking his cup and taking an experimental sip of the hot liquid inside.

Kettle glared at the teenager's rudeness before accepting his cup with a bow of his head, "I have known a lot of stallions in my time as a guard, princess," he said, taking a sip, "many of them talked a big game, but none of them could keep up with their boasting."

"Then Mister Gai might...?"

"No, in Gai's case I think he's hiding a few things under that brash personality of his." Kettle took another sip, "that one definitely has his secrets, but he's smarter than he lets on," Kettle said, thinking back to the extremely complicated, yet easy to follow lecture on the ship's various systems that Gai had given him shortly before their arrival, "and even then, he definitely has enough raw power to back him up if things do go pear-shaped."

Flurry Heart picked up her cup and took a shaky sip, allowing the herbal mix to calm her nerves a bit.

"Then again, he was probably planning on doing this anyway, even after having starved for three days because he can't cook apparently." Kettle said, casually swirling the tea in his cup, "even now, he only has about half a plate of curry in him."

Flurry Heart spat out all the tea in her mouth, having almost choked on the herbal mixture, "What!?"

"Don't worry princess, I'm sure Gai is fine!" Kettle said, attempting to placate the panicked young alicorn, "he had a clearly defined plan of attack thats gone perfectly so far, what could possibly go wrong?"

Flurry Heart suddenly felt intensely worried.

Something was off, she could feel it.

A group of guards had rushed by her temporary holding cell earlier, a little bit after the entire compound had shook violently for what had seemed like an eternity.

They had never made it back.

And now the hall outside of her cell was as quiet as could be, the only sound she could pick up was the occasional clank of the chains that bound her arms to either side of the cell and her wings to her back when she shifted positions in a vain attempt to get more comfortable in her constant kneeling position.

Suddenly, there were a series of loud bangs at the door to her cell. A quick toss of her head cleared her overgrown mane from her eyes, restoring her full field of vision. Her cell door had several large dents in it, the thick, hardened steel buckling under the onslaught of whatever was on the other side.

With one final bang, the doors hinges finally gave in, causing the door to groan as it fell forward, crashing to the floor.

"Geez, that took a while, didn't wanna crush you under a flying door though," said the silver figure in the doorway, "what? Are you gonna just stare at me all day?"

"Who are you? You look like a member of the Sentai, but I've never seen you before." She said, staring curiously at her rescuer.

"Me? I'm just a passing-though pirate. Name's Gai." He said, undoing his transformation, "what's yours, my prismatic friend?"

She gave him a grin, "Rainbow Dash, fastest flier in Equestria. Sorry I don't have any bits to pay you for this rescue with."

"Didn't want any, you're the one I want," Gai said, sitting cross-legged in front of her, resting his trident over his shoulder, "while I've got you captive here, I'd like you to here me out."

Dash eyed the strange pirate in front of her for a few minutes before nodding slowly.

"You seem like a good pony, and I'm sure someone who fought in the Great Legend War alongside her fellow Element Bearers can handle a sword well."

Rainbow Dash looked into Gai's eyes before snorting and lifting her chin, "see this?" She said, revealing the thick metal collar around her neck, "it's a tracking collar, they'll be able to hunt me down no matter where I go, and if I try to remove it, I'll get a shock that'll probably kill me."

Gai grinned, and grabbed onto the collar with both hands, "what're you doing!?" Dash said, her eyes widening.

"Hang in there!" Gai said, pulling on the collar, causing the metal to groan.

"Are you insane!?"

The collar began to unleash a high-voltage shock, zapping both Gai and Dash with lethal amounts of electricity until it snapped, both halves flying to opposite ends of the cell.

Gai collapsed backwards while Rainbow Dash slumped forward in her restraints, "hey Dash, you still with me?"

"Yeah," Dash said weakly, "I'm guessing my chains conducted some of the electricity away."

"Good," Gai said, sighing deeply, "because I have a certain dream in mind, I'm gonna defeat Zangyack and find a way home." Gai propped himself up on his elbows, "and I feel like dragging you along for that dream."

Dash chuckled, "get me out of these chains and I'm in, even beyond your dream."

"Well, I better get you out of those chains then." Gai said, picking himself up and raising his trident, "hold still, I'd rather have you in one piece." And with that, Gai bought the head of the trident down like an axe, severing the clasps on the manacles in two swift strikes. "Let's get those wings of yours too, better suck it in." Gai said, slipping one of the bladed prongs under the band around Dash's chest and slicing through the steel restraint.

Dash slowly unfurled her wings and stood, a series of pops and cracks echoing through the cell as her joints readjusted to being moveable again. "It's been way too long since I've been able to stretch my wings!" She said happily, stretching out each individual limb with the deftness of someone who knew exactly how to relieve immense amounts of muscular pain in a short amount of time.

Suddenly, all the alarms in the building began to go off again, "Gai! We've got trouble!" Navi shouted, flying into the cell.

"What is it, Navi?" Gai said, unbuckling the strap on the cutlass on his back.

"A huge crowd of Gormin is heading this way! They're between us and the rendezvous point for the Galleon!" Navi said, flapping his wings wildly.

"Dammit, and here I thought we'd make a clean getaway. Someone must've tripped Murphy's Law." Gai muttered, handing the Cutlass and a pistol to Rainbow Dash, "they probably have a second security room somewhere in the building, I'll lead and carve a path through them, follow behind but try to avoid the worst of the fighting, you're still a little banged up."

"Got it!" Dash said, strapping the sword belt around her waist and taking the pistol in her left hand, "gotta warn you though, I'm not really a good shot."

Gai grinned, pulling out the cellular and the Gokai Silver key, "with this many targets, I don't think it'll matter," he said, pressing a few buttons on the cellular, "Kettle, we've been made. I need you to head for the rendezvous now, be ready to pick us up immediately when we arrive, we might have company following us."

"Roger that, Gai," Came Kettle's voice from the other end, "do you have the VIP with you?"

"Yep, just be ready for evac when we get there."

Gai cut the connection and inserted the key into the Cellular.

"Gokai Change!" He said, instantly being enveloped in a silvery light.

"GOOOOOKAIGER!!!"

"Huh, it's been a while since I've seen someone transform like that." Dash remarked, resting the cutlass on her right shoulder, the pistol held lazily at her side.

"It's a sight for sore eyes, isn't it?" Gai said, picking up his trident again, folding it into its gun form again, "let's make this showy!" He shouted, charging into the hall, Rainbow Dash and Navi following closely behind him.

"Gou, gou!" came the cries of the Gormin soldiers echoing down the hall, they were right around the corner.

"Guns out Dash! We're gonna go in hot!" Gai shouted over his shoulder, raising his gun.

The pair of pirates rounded the corner and immediately began firing wildly into the crowd, cutting down Gormin after Gormin as they continued their charge.

"Dash! Get behind me!" Gai cried, shifting his gun back into a trident as they neared the survivors of their onslaught, Rainbow swerved so that she was looking directly at Gai's back, keeping the pistol and cutlass ready.

"Come at me, you trashy tin cans!" Gai bellowed, cutting down three Gormin with a sweep of his trident, and impaling a fourth, raising it so that the squirming soldier was propped over his shoulder, "special delivery!" He said, swinging the Gormin like a mallet headfirst into it's allies, taking down a whole row of them and flicking the heavily battered and torn up Gormin of the head of the trident before taking down another four with one wide backswing.

Dash cut at a Gormin that had gotten past Gai's onslaught, reveling in how easily the cutlass parted the Gormin's armor plating as if it were paper. She bought the pistol around and pressed the barrel to the next Gormin's head and pulled the trigger, causing an explosion of circuitry to blast out the back of it's head from the concussive force, taking the Gormin behind it by surprise.

"Try not to aggro them too much," Gai called over his shoulder, cleaving the head off another Gormin and soccer kicking it into the next group of foes to close in, "if you go down, I'm gonna have a hell of a time getting you out in one piece!"

"They aren't exactly making it easy!" Dash said, slamming the guard of her cutlass into the face of a Gormin and pumping a few shots from the pistol into it's chest, "they keep trying to surround us!"

"Dash?" Gai said, realizing she was right, the Gormin had worked their way around them, using his own onslaught to draw them in.

"Yeah?"

"Duck."

Dash complied, sensing the urgency of Gai's words and threw herself to the floor, covering her head with both hands still clutching her weapons.

Once Dash was clear, Gai took his stance, dominant hand near the head of the trident, the other hand gripping near the end of the haft, electricity began to crackle around the three prongs.

"Gokai Hurricane!"

And with that, Gai began to bring the crackling head of the trident around and around, whirling it in a series of rapid, complex movements as gale force winds began to build up around the two, sweeping up all the Gormin soldiers surrounding them and tossing them into the air, the lightning from Gai's trident lancing off to strike each individual Gormin.

With a final downward slash, the storm winds scattered with a boom of thunder, sending the fried Gormin flying in all directions.

Dash looked up at the scene of carnage all around her, "whoa," she said, picking herself up, "talk about overkill."

"Nah, not really," Gai said, turning to face Rainbow Dash, "they're still in one piece, aren't they?"

"You have a point there," she muttered.

"Gai! Give me some warning next time! I was almost caught up in that!" Navi said, flying over from around the corner where he was taking cover.

"Sorry Navi!" Gai said, bowing at the waist.

"Jeez, be more careful next time!"

"At any rate, we've gotta go before more Zangyack show up again." Gai said, turning back towards their exit route, "the Galleon awaits!"

A Gormin at the console said to the figure behind him.

"I can see that." The figure replied, fingering the gaudy tricorn hat sitting on his head, "he's certainly gotten better, I'll give him that," he muttered, "he doesn't yet know his full potential, however."

He bit his lip before grinning madly, "why don't I help an old friend along? Perhaps forcibly give him a hint?" He turned to the earth pony stallion tied up in the corner, "What say you, hmm?"

The stallion let out a muffled shout through the rag that had been balled up in his mouth in response.

"Now now Doc, show a little decorum for our guests!" He said, gesturing towards the monitor displaying a silver figure, a rainbow-maned pegasus, and a mechanical parrot, "why don't we pull out one of the party favors you helped us make?"

"MMPH MMMMPH!!!" The stallion roared through his gag, his eyes pleading with the figure standing before him.

"What was that? Present it while they're leaving? What a wonderful idea Doc!" The figure clapped his hands together, "you heard the captive! Load up the big explodey thing and prepare to fire on my mark!"

The Gormin manning the various terminals cocked their heads at him.

"The dimensional warheads you worthless bucket heads!" The figure said.

All of the Gormin saluted, entering commands into their respective terminals, requesting that the warheads be prepared immediately.

A single tear slid down the bound stallion's face.

Those poor ponies would never survive what he had been forced to build.

"Almost there, Dash!" Gai said, pulling out his Cellular, "Kettle, we're almost to the rendezvous, move in but stay cloaked, it's too quiet and Navi's prophecy likely hasn't come true yet."

"I'm not reading anything from the multi-spectrum sensors, there aren't even any troops in the area. You sure you aren't just paranoid?"

"Paranoia is how I've kept out of ambushes this long, Kettle." Gai said, kicking down the outer doors to the rendezvous point in the outer plaza of the prison.

"We're here, where are you?" Gai said into the Cellular.

"Right above you," Kettle said as the Galleon de-cloaked above them to let down the ropes.

"After you, Miss Dash," Gai said, gesturing to the ropes.

"Such a gentlecolt," Dash muttered, stepping up to the ropes, only to collapse, clutching at her shoulder, the crack of a rifle following soon after.

"SHIT! SNIPER!" Gai shouted, folding his trident into gun mode again, standing above the fallen Dash, searching for the hidden sniper, "Kettle! Where the hell did that shot come from!?"

"I don't know! I'm still not getting a reading here!" Kettle exclaimed, no doubt frantically checking the scanner outputs for any sign of the sniper's location.

"Should've known he'd be involved," Gai muttered, aiming his gun at the ground next to him, "Kettle, I need you to be ready to go at full speed when we're aboard," Gai fired at the ground a few times, the small explosions creating a small smoke cloud around the two.

"Come on Dash, you're not dying here," Gai said, slinging the bleeding pegasus over his shoulder and grabbing a rope, allowing himself to be pulled into the Galleon's hull, "Kettle, we're in! Get us out of here!"

As the galleon began to depart, Gai turned to his newly injured crew member, "Dash, you okay?" He asked, lightly slapping the side of her face to keep her conscious.

"Yeah, I don't think the bullet hit anything vital, still hurts like hell though!" She growled through clenched teeth.

Gai checked the hole, a few trails of blood oozing from it, "It looks like the bullet passed right through, but we can't give you proper treatment for this here, we need to go somewhere with proper medical facilities. All we can do now is stop the bleeding and give you something for the pain."

Rainbow dash nodded, allowing Gai to support her as they made their way to the main living quarters, "where exactly are we?" She asked as they passed the various sections of the Galleon.

"This is our ship, the Gokai Galleon!" Navi chirped, landing on Rainbow Dash's uninjured shoulder.

"That so? I thought the only ones with the ability to build an airship was Zangyack."

"Explanations can wait until after we get you patched up," Gai said, reaching the living quarters, "Pipsqueak! Get the First Aid Kit and patch up Dash, Kettle, make sure he doesn't botch the dosage on the painkillers again, Navi, take over the navigation, you-know-who may have been involved with our missing sniper."

"What about me, Mister Gai?" Flurry Heart asked, "Is there something for me to do?"

Gai smiled a little under his helmet, "why don't you keep Dash company, I'm sure she'd like to talk to you, princess."

At the mention of the word 'princess', Rainbow Dash perked up, seeing the young alicorn standing before her, "that you, Big Wings?" She said, allowing Gai to sit her down on the couch.

"I'm sorry, I don't think we've ever met before, Miss Dash," Flurry Heart said, giving the injured pegasus a confused look.

"Ha, didn't think you'd remember me, last time I saw you was on the day of your crystalling," Dash said, grinning at the princess, "your wings were already the size of a fully developed pegasus so I just called you Princess Big Wings."

Flurry Heart's eyes widened, "but then that must mean..."

Rainbow Dash nodded, "Yep, my full name's Rainbow Dash, Bearer of Loyalty and best friends with your aunt, Twilight Sparkle."

All of a sudden, the ships alarms began blaring, a loud beeping coming from the terminal where Navi was furiously mashing buttons with her beak.

"Navi, what's going on?" Gai said, rushing over to the terminal.

"We have a missile tracking us! I can't even find the launcher it was fired from!" Navi said, frantically changing course to try and lose the pursuing projectile.

"How is this possible? I thought you said they wouldn't be able to track us because of the ship's stealth tech!" Pipsqueak said, gripping onto the dining table to keep his balance against the ship's sudden lurching.

"They must have painted us with a laser targeting system while the Galleon was uncloaked, the sniper was just a distraction!" Gai banged his fist against the side of the terminal, "Navi, I'm gonna use the manual controls to bring the starboard cannons around, set them to fire in three shot bursts, one second in between each. Don't stop firing until that missile is destroyed!"

"Aye sir!" Navi said, saluting and bringing up the starboard cannon controls.

"Everyone hold onto something, this is gonna get rough!" Gai said over his shoulder as he entered the manual control room.

The manual controls looked more like an old fashioned ship's steering wheel with various monitors connecting to the ship's various sensors as well as a main monitor showing the Galleon's surroundings.

"If they're only sending one missile against the Galleon, then it must have some sort of devastating warhead, maybe Gigarollum?" Gai muttered, shuddering at the thought of what the weaponized super weapon material that could destroy planets would do if the missile wasn't taken down prematurely.

Gai took the wheel, turning it hard to starboard, turning the Galleon on a dime, bringing the cannons to bear on the missile, "Navi! Fire the first volley!" He roared into the ship's comm system, the thunder of the cannons. Gai checked the ship's monitors, the first volley had missed the target, the missile had swerved mid-flight to avoid the fiery payload.

Gai swore under his breath, "Navi! The thing's got proximity detection, set the cannons to fire as soon as they're loaded, we're gonna overwhelm it."

"Aye sir!" Navi squawked as the guns began firing consistently, filling air outside the starboard side of the ship with fiery death. The missile swerved around each shot, closing in on the increased thermal signature from the cannons. "Gai! It's too close for the cannons!"

"Switch to port side anti-personnel beam weapons, ready all cannons for a full barrage! Do not let that thing detonate!" Gai said as he cut around to the port broadside to give them a little more space, "fire everything!"

At his cue, beams of scarlet light began to lance off the Galleon's hull from the hidden beam turrets dotted around the hull, each seeking to hit the missile as the cannons restricted it's movement. The missile suddenly stopped in midair, the warhead detaching and rocketing off the main body before detonating in a blinding flash of white light.

"Everyone brace for impact!" Gai screamed, feeling as though he was being squeezed through a tube of toothpaste, before everything went black.

The figure sighed, setting down the remote controller for the missile that had just detonated, casting the Galleon and it's occupants into the space between dimensions, "you really didn't want to make this easy for me did you, Gai?" He said as the tear in space time closed itself up, "have fun explaining the full artillery barrage wherever you end up, it's not like you'll be able to come back for a while."

The figure turned to the crying, and still tied up, earth pony stallion lying off to the side of his ship's bridge, "don't give me that look, you're just as guilty as I am Doctor!"

Author's Note

Dammit Kettle! That's what you get for invoking Murphy's Law! *sighs* :facehoof:

What will happen to Gai and his merry band of -only partially willing- pirates? Find out in the next installment of Gokai Ponies! Whenever and wherever that is!

Character Bios:
Gai Ikari (age: 20, race: Human): The bold captain of the Gokai Galleon, currently looking to recruit the next Gokaigers.

Navi (age: unknown, race: Mechanical Parrot): The Gokai Galleon's resident navigational A.I. has no memories prior to Gai's arrival to Equestria.

Rainbow Dash (age: 28, race: Pegasus): The Bearer of Loyalty, fought in the Great Legend War with the other Bearers of Harmony. Spent the last ten years as a Zangyack prisoner of war, tempering her old rashness.

Black Kettle (age: 42, race: Earth Pony): An old veteran of the Equestrian Royal Guard, was one of the few volunteers to survive the Great Legend War.

Pipsqueak (age: 19, race: Earth Pony): A street urchin who hates Zangyack more than anything, was almost executed along with Flurry Heart after trying to ambush a Zangyack supply transport alone.

Flurry Heart (age: 13, race: Alicorn): The last remaining Princess of Equestria, was forced into hiding with her crystaller, Sunburst by order of her parents at age three. She is always polite and hates conflict, but is not afraid to fight to obtain peace.

Captain's Log 1: The Displacer

This is the first time I've ever written a log in a journal. Where do I start? Probably from the beginning, I guess...

"Why is it so hot in this thing!?" I groaned, slumping over and pulling off my helmet, running a gloved hand through my hair.

"Hey, don't look at me man, you're the one who wanted to go as Gokai Silver." Jacob said, tapping a cold bottle of water against my face.

I muttered my thanks and placed the cool water against my head, feeling my temperature drop before cracking the bottle open and chugging its contents.

"Slow down man! You'll get the hiccups, and I know how much you hate that." Jacob said, sitting down next to me.

"Stuff it," I grumbled, gulping down the last dregs of water before wiping the moisture from my face, "how are you not hot in that shawl you're wearing!?" I pointed to his Basco ta Jolokia costume.

"It's not as bad as you might think," Jacob replied, adjusting his gaudy tricorn hat so that it no longer flopped against his face, "I just wish the hat was a bit more cooperative."

"Says the totally straight young adult wearing a tunic in public," I said, nudging him in the ribs with my elbow.

"Says the Gai currently sweating his ass off in a spandex onesie. Ika-chan~" He retorted, the both of us bursting out laughing.

I sighed, and looked around at the various costumed anime fans making their last couple of rounds as Fanime 2016 began to wind down.

"I'm not ready for college, man." I groaned, holding my head in my hands.

"What bought this on?" Jacob asked, cracking open his own bottle of water, "you're not getting cold feet, are you? Ika-chan~"

"Be real with me here for a minute here!" I said, rubbing the bridge of my nose, "we've been together for what? The past seventeen years of our lives? Hell, if you weren't so damn pasty, people would think we shared the same parents!"

"Gee, thanks." Jacob deadpanned, taking another sip from his bottle.

I grinned, "sorry. What I mean is, do you really think we're ready for this?"

"I try not to think about it too hard. The future is a scary, scary place man." Jacob replied, a wide grin on his face, "besides, this may be our last con for a while, but I'm pretty sure this pair of weebs can find a bit more awesome swag to take home!" He stood up, extending his hand to me, "ready to raid and pillage one last time, my fellow pirate?"

I chuckled, grabbing my swag bag and letting him help me up, "why not? Gotta warn you though, I just got my second wind" I said, slipping my helmet back on.

Jacob grinned, "then let's go."

"Avast and prepare to be boarded!" We both shouted, charging headfirst into the maze of booths, stands, and cosplay groups.

Both me and Jacob stood panting at the opposite end of the showroom floor, both of us and our wallets were nearly exhausted, our overstuffed swag bags on our backs.

"Hey J, how much you got left?" I asked, taking deep gulps of fresh air.

"About ten dollars left, you?"

"Same, guess we can kiss our savings goodbye."

"But it was worth it, right? Besides, that DJ-P0N3 cosplayer was pretty cute." Jacob said, elbowing my arm lightly.

I chuckled, "with your luck, she's already spoken for."

Jacob winced, "ouch, below the belt dude."

We both ended up laughing out loud, drawing stares from all the surrounding con patrons.

"Shall we go? Remember, you're cooking tonight."

I tore my gaze away from the Yang Xiao Long cosplayer I'd been ogling, "what? Oh, yeah. It's burgers tonight."

A wide grin appeared across Jacob's face, "now she's definitely taken, sorry Ika-chan~"

I facepalmed, "can we just go, please? And stop calling me that!" I groaned.

Jacob cackled, "aw, why not try asking her out? Maybe after she slaps you silly, you can kiss and make up?"

"Yeah... not doing that, nope." I said, grabbing my chuckling friend's wrist and pulling him towards the exit.

"My, my, what excellent costumes the both of you have." A raspy voice said off to the side, the sound was soft enough to be called a whisper, yet clear enough that it cut through the background noise of the convention, "it's a shame that they're woefully incomplete."

I turned towards the speaker, a guy dressed as Xur, the exotic weapons merchant from Destiny stood there, two glowing yellow orbs blazing from under his hood, regarding us with detached interest, wisps of smoke escaping from the gaps in his trench coat and hood.

"What, do you want a picture or something?" I asked.

He waved a gloved hand, "no, nothing like that. But I believe I have the items that would greatly benefit your characters."

"So, your a prop maker?" Jacob asked.

"Of sorts," he replied, reaching into his coat and withdrawing a strange trumpet, "the Rapparatta," he said, blowing a little tune on it before holding it out to Jacob. Jacob took it in his hands, reveling at the feel and heft of the trumpet.

"And for you," He said, pulling a gun mode version of the Gokai Spear, "the weapon of the one who inherits the dreams of the sixth rangers, the Gokai Spear." He tossed it into the air, a mechanical whirring noise echoed from it as it extended into it's trident form. The Xur cosplayer caught it, handing it to me with both hands.

I hefted the trident, weighing it. It was a beautiful implement, cast from metal but as light as a feather in my hands.

"How much for these?" I asked, "unless you're going to ask for strange coins."

"Dude, I don't think we can even afford these." Jacob said.

"I'm just asking for the cost, we'll hand these back if it's too high." I reasoned.

"Fine, so how much?" Jacob huffed, turning back to the vendor.

The figure chuckled softly, "you just paid the price by asking." He snapped his fingers and I suddenly felt dizzy.

"W-what the hell did you just do to me?" I slurred, staggering toward's the Xur cosplayer, only for him to step aside, allowing me to fall flat on my face. I rolled over to see Jacob similarly affected.

Xur stood over me, chuckling darkly, "me? I only fulfilled your heart's earnest desire."

And with that, I blacked out.

That was how the worst day in my life ended. And how my life as a pirate began.

Author's Note

These Captain's Logs are short entries meant to tell the tale of the two Displaced from Gai's point of view. Think of it as a collection of Gai's experiences prior to Raid 1.

Character Bios!
Gai Ikari (Race: Human Age: 19): The Displaced of Gokai Silver, blames himself for his and Basco's Displacement. Grew up together with his childhood friend Jacob.

Basco ta Jolokia (Race: ??? Age: 19): Was once a human like Gai by the name of Jacob, became a Displaced along with Gai after he pressured them into buying props from a shady vendor at a con.

Captain's Log 2: The Galleon

Several days after that, it became apparent that I ended up losing more than I originally thought when I made a pact with that devil...

Jacob coughed, spitting out the bite of the hamburger he had just crammed into his mouth, "what the hell, dude? You trying to poison me?" He cried, only half-joking.

I choked on my own burger, forcing myself to swallow heavily and wash it down with the tankard of water next to my plate, "I don't understand! I made it the same way I usually do!"

"Well, something is wrong with these," Jacob muttered, picking up the burgers and tossing them out the nearest porthole, "guess we can't look forward to your cooking anymore, right Ika-chan~?" He said with a sly grin.

"I don't wanna hear it from you, Basco." I muttered, getting out of my chair, "what's even going on any more man?" I groaned, burying my head in my hands. "We were just at a con and 'bought' some props from a guy dressed as Xur, and now we look like our characters. I even have the Galleon!"

"Are you forgetting about me?" A robotic voice asked, the source landing on my shoulder.

"And Navi," I added, patting the mechanical parrot on top of the head, much to her delight.

"Not to mention that said Galleon is currently flying above Equestria, which happens to be under Zangyack control." Jacob muttered, crossing his arms over his chest, "looks like wherever we ended up, it's a mass fusion of future Equestria and Gokaiger."

"Looks that way," I muttered, collapsing onto the high-backed leather chair in the center of the room, grabbing the small chest next to me and opening it, "it also looks like the Great Legend War was also a thing..." I chewed on my cheek.

"Maybe we could use the Greatest Treasure in the Universe? If this place really is a cross between Gokaiger and MLP, then elements of both should be here, in that case we could use it to send us home!" Jacob said, his eyes widening with the realization, "we already have five generations, so we should easily be able to gather the other thirty!"

"Not to rain on your parade J, but there's a problem with your plan. We've got no clue where to find them, and you remember what the cost is don't you? I don't really feel comfortable leaving Equestria's citizens to deal with every enemy the sentai have faced."

Jacob shook his head, "dude, why should we care? It's not our problem, and they can basically just deus ex machina their way out of anything with the Elements of Harmony."

"That didn't really help them against Zangyack, did it?"

"Again, not our problem. Why should we risk our lives for a world that's obviously not ours? In order to gain something, you have to give up something else." He shook his head, "look, why don't we just focus on gathering them for now? We can discuss this when we have all the ranger keys in our possession."

"Fine," I grunted, opening the chest and pulling out the Gokai Silver key, "if you need me, I'll be out on deck. If we're gonna be going after the ranger keys, it's likely we'll run into others after the same thing, or they might be in Zangyack hands."

Jacob nodded, "I'll be in the galley, can't fight on an empty stomach, right?"

"Right."

"Ooookay, lets give this a go, shall we?" I muttered to myself in an attempt to psyche myself up. I closed my eyes and felt the cool breeze flow through my hair before inserting the Gokai Silver key into my Gokai Cellular. I crossed my arms over my chest, "Gokai Change!" I shouted, thrusting the hand holding the Cellular into the air and then out in front of me, like I'd seen the original Gai do numerous times during the events of the Gokaiger series.

GOOOOOOOOOKAIGER!!!! A echoing voice announced, as I was enveloped with a silvery light.

When the light faded, I looked down, seeing myself covered head to toe in a spandex-like suit, "it worked!" I cried, twisting this way and that, getting a feel for the suit as it contoured perfectly to fit my body, "it feels like a second skin!"

Suddenly, my body flared with pain as I collapsed onto the deck, writhing in agony and bellowing an inhuman scream of pain. It felt as if my body was trying to tear itself to pieces.

"Gai!" cried Navi, rushing towards me from the door of the living quarters as fast as her tiny wings could take her, "undo the transformation, do it now!"

I could barely hear her over my bellows of pain, but I focused on my real body, the one that wasn't wearing this suit.

With a flash of silvery light, I detransformed, slumping to the deck, falling into unconsciousness.

I woke up to a series of slaps to the face, "c'mon, you idiot, wake up!"

I moaned, cracking my eyelids open, "what happened?"

"You collapsed under the strain of the transformation, you could have died!" Jacob said worriedly, pulling me into a hug, "don't do stupid shit like that again!"

"How am I supposed to fight if I can't transform?" I asked, pulling myself off the ground.

"You could always use these." Navi said, fluttering over to the pair and dropping the small box she was carrying. Inside were six large bracelets, each emblazoned with the Gokaiger symbol on it.

"What are these?" I asked, reaching out to grab one.

"Wait! Don't-"

Too late.

The bracelet leaped out of the box and clasped itself around my wrist as if possessed, all of a sudden I collapsed onto the deck, feeling as though an elephant was sitting on me.

"What's happening!?" I cried, my voice strained as I tried to pick myself up again.

"That's a training brace, you dummy! And I haven't put it to it's proper setting yet! It's built to make you stronger by forcing your body to work harder!" Navi huffed, "why does no one listen to the parrot?"

"Well, get it off!" Jacob cried, clawing at the offending bracelet.

"It won't come off until Gai maxes it out! It won't kill him but he'll be stuck like that until he's strong enough to move again."

Jacob looked as though he was going to complain before I interrupted him, "so, I'm stuck here until I can move again? Fine by me, I guess this means I need to put in a little effort, huh?"

"Dude, are you serious? You literally hit the deck!"

"Please, if I'm gonna be able to fight properly, then I need to be able to equip my suit." I replied, grinning at the pair.

"Well, if you're gonna do it, then I might as well do something stupid too," Jacob said, turning to Navi, "can you adjust one of these so that I can still move around and not make a fool of myself?"

As it turned out, it wouldn't take long to wish that I HAD died that day. Later events proved to be much worse...

Author's Note

To sort out any confusion, there are time skips in between these logs.

Character Bios!
Gai Ikari (Race: Human Age: 19): The Displaced of Gokai Silver, blames himself for his and Basco's Displacement. Grew up together with his childhood friend Jacob.

Basco ta Jolokia (Race: ??? Age: 19): Was once a human like Gai by the name of Jacob, became a Displaced along with Gai after he pressured them into buying props from a shady vendor at a con.

Navi (Race: Mechanical Parrot Age: ???): The Gokai Galleon's resident navigational A.I. has no memories prior to Gai's arrival to Equestria.

Cross-raid 2: Unlimited Blade Works!

Author's Note

'Tis another cross to tide you guys over until the next chapter comes out! (Hopefully by the end of the month! :twilightsheepish: )

The Bone of My Sword, by neokiva

Cross-raid 2: Unlimited Blade Works!

Raid 3: Battle For Ponyville Part 1

Gai sat in his usual chair, his head propped up on one fist while he glared down at Cruger and Archer's tokens as though they had somehow offended him.

Displaced. He finally had a real term for what he was, the final piece of the puzzle that had been haunting him since he'd been left for dead by the one he trusted most. So then why did he feel so restless?

"You know why," he muttered to himself, "you just can't bring yourself to admit it."

"Uhh, what's wrong with Gai?" Rainbow Dash asked Navi, who was resting on her shoulder.

"He gets like that sometimes," Navi replied, "especially when something goes wrong, like Machalcon's tracker not working, it's better to just leave him alone, he'll snap out of it eventually."

Suddenly, Gai shot up, tossing both Cruger and Archer's tokens into a portal leading to his own personal void pocket, "right then. Where to next? Any suggestions? Bueller? Bueller?"

"I've got one." Kettle said, leaning out of the door to the galley, a scowl on his face, "we head for Ponyville."

"Excellent!" Gai exclaimed, clapping his hands, "if Ponyville persists to be the nexus of weirdness it usually is, something interesting is bound to happen there!"

"Nexus of weirdness...?" Dash muttered, she'd never heard her town called that, but in hindsight, the description was very fitting.

"What? Need I remind you of the Bugbear incident? Or how about the time Cerberus decided to make it his playground?"

Dash raised a hand, "I have several questions, the first of which is: how do you know about any of that?" Dash asked, staring incredulously.

"Seriously? You just got back from another dimension where you talked to your past self and that's the thing that's bugging you?"

Dash let out a disgruntled sigh, "ugh, don't remind me, I completely forgot how aggravating I could be. How the others ever put up with my reckless hotheadedness, I'll never know."

"Well, at the very least, we know you mellow with age, miss Dash!" Flurry Heart chirped, earning the young alicorn a withering glare from the pegasus.

"To answer your question," Gai said, crossing his arms, "I'm a Displaced, I know lots of things I shouldn't know. It's better if you don't think too hard about the 'how' though..."

"That's it? That's all you're gonna tell me?" Dash groaned, face palming.

"Trust me, if you knew, we'd probably have to commit you to an insane asylum. And that's the last thing you'd want, right?"

Dash huffed, crossing her arms across her chest, "fine. I'll leave it alone... for now."

"Excellent! Now, you might want to shower and get changed, I'm sure you're tired of wearing the same outfit for ten years, right?" Gai said, gesturing to the bloodstained and tattered Wonderbolts combat flight suit that had been worn down during her imprisonment. Dash nodded, finally noticing that she smelled like death itself.

"Showers and bunks are through that door next to the galley, I commissioned a new set of clothes from Cruger's Rarity while we were over there, the jacket's from me though."

"Thanks Captain."

Gai turned to Navi as Dash retreated to the secondary living quarters, "Navi, chart a course for Ponyville."

"Aye Sir!"

"That's it?" Gai said, somewhat disappointed at the smoldering ruins he saw on the main monitor, the entirety of Ponyville was a series of burned out husks, no sign of any of the residents, "you sure this is the place, Kettle?" Gai asked, staring at the old guard expectantly.

"Trust me, there are ponies here." Was his reply, before he retreated back to the galley to grab his cutlass and pistol.

"What did I miss?" Dash asked, walking out of the sleeping quarters. She was freshly dressed in a pair of jeans, a black tank top, and a blue jacket with multiple zippers on it, a pair of shiny new boots adorned her feet.

"Not much, I'm afraid. You look good in that outfit by the way. Mobile, but not revealing, and the jacket is bulletproof." Gai said, taking an appraising glance at his first mate's ensemble, "I had Cruger's Rarity modify it for your wings though."

A slight blush appeared on Dash's face, hidden under her cyan fur, as she extended the aforementioned appendages through the holes in the back of the jacket, "t-thanks." She mumbled. Rainbow Dash then looked towards the screen, regarding the burned out ruins with a neutral expression.

Finally she spoke, "I knew it would be bad, I just wasn't expecting this."

"How could anyone?" Gai said, "the destruction of your home isn't really something you could prepare yourself for."

"We should get going." Kettle said gruffly, pushing past Gai and heading for the ropes in the hull of the ship.

"What's his problem?" Pipsqueak asked, cocking his head at the older earth pony.

"Dunno, but something tells me we're gonna find out."

"That used to be Sugarcube Corner, the local bakery." Dash said, pointing to the burned out husk of a gingerbread house, "which means over there is Town Hall," she said, pointing to a pile of collapsed rubble.

"I think I have my bearings now," she said, pulling the hood of her cloak tighter over her ears. Not that she'd wanted to wear it, but Gai had insisted on disguising the three of them, Dash had just escaped from a maximum security prison after all.

"Can you lead us to Sweet Apple Acres from here?" Kettle asked, remaining as terse as before.

Rainbow Dash nodded, "sure, but why do we need to go there of all places?"

"You'll see." Kettle grumbled, "lead on, Dash."

Gai grabbed Kettle's shoulder, "is there something wrong, Kettle? You've been acting weird since we got here."

"I'm fine," he said gruffly, shrugging off Gai's hand and following Dash towards Sweet Apple Acres.

Gai chewed on his cheek, staring after the old guardspony before following behind him.

"So. Many. Apple trees." Gai breathed, staring wide-eyed at the multitude of fruit-laden trees around him.

"Looks like nopony bothered with this place after AJ bit it..." Dash muttered.

"That's an understatement, this place looks like an apple offshoot of the Everfree." Gai replied.

"This way." Kettle grumbled, leading the trio deeper into the old orchard.

"Kettle, I hope your 'friends' know they're being super obvious right now," Gai said, slowly raising his hands as the sound of multiple gun safeties clicking off all at once filled the forest path.

"What-" Dash exclaimed, her pistol halfway out of it's holster before stopping as the barrel of a hunting rifle pressed against the side of her head.

"Don't move a muscle, just 'cause y'all aren't Zangyack doesn't mean I won't shoot." A gruff male voice said, cutting off Dash's protest before it started, "drop your weapon."

"Stand down. If these guys were gonna kill us, they would've opened fire from the tree line instead of stalking us since we entered this old orchard." Gai said, turning his head to the mare pressing a revolver to his head, "isn't that right, miss Applebloom? I guess that means I owe the old dog some bits, somehow..." He muttered the last part.

"So y'all know who I am," she stated calmly, "but that doesn't explain how ya knew where ta find me." Applebloom said, pulling back the hammer of her revolver, "start talkin'. Now."

"Wouldn't it be easier to talk face-to-face? Say... over a pint of that famous Apple Family Cider? I guarantee you won't be disappointed with the company." He turned his head back to the stallion currently holding Dash at gunpoint, "mister Braeburn, if you would be so kind as to allow my companion take off her hood?"

Applebloom nodded to her cousin, who gestured with a 'go ahead' motion with the barrel of his rifle. Dash slowly reached up with her free hand and pulled her hood down, revealing her prismatic locks and facial features to the two shocked Apples.

"R-rainbow Dash?" Applebloom stammered, "ah thought you were..."

"Dead? Nope." Dash said, grinning to the younger mare, "I'd love to explain why I'm still kicking, but you'd have to let us go first."

"Sis!? Is that you? SIS!!!!" A voice cried as Dash was suddenly tackled by a blur of orange and purple, "I thought you were dead!" Scootaloo cried as she nuzzled the stunned pegasus.

"Hey Squirt, you've gotten big." Dash said softly, tears pricking at her eyes.

"Riiiiiight, so how about putting the gun down now? I think I've made myself trustworthy enough." Gai said, turning and finally getting a good look at his shorter captor.

All in all, Applebloom's overall look wasn't too different from what Gai was expecting, she stood at about five foot seven, and was wearing blue short shorts and a pink shirt that was tied under her bust, leaving her midriff exposed. Her signature bow was tied lower on her mane to make space for a different accessory: a familiar-looking, worn stetson perched on her head.

Applebloom glared at Gai, lowering the snub-nosed revolver slightly, but not entirely, "start walkin'." she said simply, snapping a pair of handcuffs on his wrists.

"Smart girl. Come on Dash, we're moving. And Kettle, I hope we're getting an explanation for this." Gai said as the barrel of the revolver was shoved into his ribs, "ow, a little more gentle please." He muttered allowing himself to be led deeper into the forest as numerous other ponies of all three tribes, dressed in earthy tones dropped from treetops, appeared from behind trees and shrubs or rose from hidden foxholes like phantoms from their graves, all of them bearing a weapon of some kind.

"Quite the little army you have gathered here, not very well equipped, but decently trained in guerrilla warfare from what I've seen." Gai remarked as more guns were pointed in his direction.

"Shut up and walk." Applebloom grunted, shoving the barrel of the revolver into his ribs again.

"Okay, okay, calm down!" Gai chuckled, keeping his hands raised. This earned him another jab to the ribs.

Gai turned his gaze over to Scootaloo and Braeburn. The former looked as though her wings had finally developed, the orange plumage draped over her back, her clothing was that of a typical RPG thief: a dark sports bra and vest with short shorts, a scarlet muffler was wrapped around her neck, and Gai could also make out a belt of throwing knives shaped like feathers around her waist next to a holstered micro submachine gun strapped to her leg.

Braeburn was dressed more conservatively: a brown vest over a sky blue shirt and blue work jeans, a pair of worn leather gloves on his hands to match his hat and work boots, his repeater rifle held loosely before him, his eyes warily watching the trio for any sudden movements.

"In here," Applebloom growled, roughly shoving Gai into a nondescript hole in the ground that had been covered by a camouflaged wooden door.

"Whoa, whoa, easy there princess, buy a guy a drink first before shoving him into holes!" Gai joked, drawing several snorts of amusement from the less stoic ponies around them.

"SHUT UP!" Applebloom shouted, cheeks burning as she slammed the butt of her revolver into the back of Gai's head, causing the pirate to flinch.

"You deserved that one, Gai." Kettle deadpanned, allowing himself to be led into the hole at gunpoint.

"Worth it!" Gai cackled as he was led further down the dark tunnel the hole led into.

The overall journey through the underground tunnel was uneventful, with only the occasional prods from Applebloom's gun whenever she believed he wasn't going fast enough. By the end of it all the both of them were going at a near sprint through the tunnel's exit, Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo being the only ones capable of keeping up with the pissed off mare and silver-clad pirate.

"Halt! Or we'll shoot!" cried the voices of the two tunnel guards as they were left in the dust.

"Can't! Or my apples will be bucked!" Gai called over his shoulder before crashing into a living wall, sending him sprawling to the floor.

"Y-y'all just stop runnin' now." Applebloom panted, her hands on her knees, "and let me kick yer flank!"

"Jeez, you'd think I'd be used to leaving mares breathless..." Gai chuckled, looking up at the large, red stallion he had run into, "...although... considering who I just crashed into, that joke may have been in poor taste, howdy, Big Mac."

"Eeyup." The stoic stallion said, his face impassive, he was dressed in a white shirt that was left unbuttoned at the front, exposing his chest and stomach, a leather belt with a large apple-shaped buckle held his jeans up, a large, sawed off shotgun was slung over his back, a bandolier of extra shells slung around his torso.

"I'm sure you can forgive a little... playful ribbing at your sister's expense?"

"Nope."

"Didn't think so." Gai muttered as he pulled himself up, "as a big brother myself, I'll let you take a free shot out of respect for Applebloom."

Gai spread his arms wide before a red fist impacted his jaw, sending him sprawling to the floor once more.

"Ow..." Gai groaned, hopping to his feet again, "guess the fannon about your absurd strength wasn't just baseless stories, huh? We good?"

"Eeyup."

"Good. Now, I'd like to invoke one of the oldest laws in pirate code: parley, I'd like to talk to the leader of this merry little militia."

"We were takin' you there anyways, now get movin'!" Applebloom said, shoving her revolver into Gai's ribs again.

Gai sighed, "Applebloom, you and I both know the gun's empty and that you wouldn't have the stomach for shooting someone in cold blood. So why don't you put down that useless lump of metal and lead me to your boss without doing your best to bruise my ribs."

"The Tartarus it ain't loaded!" Applebloom shouted, pointing the barrel at Gai's head.

Gai sighed before turning quickly twisting her arm into a lock before taking the gun, driving the barrel up and under her chin, "the only reason," he began, his voice as cold and hard as ice, "that I've put up with this level of crap from you is because I'd rather not have to fight my way through the seemingly last free ponies of Equestria. I'd rather not have innocent blood on my coat, got it?"

Applebloom nodded quickly.

"Good," Gai said, his voice regaining it's previous pleasantness, "then it's settled." Gai unhooked the gun's revolving chamber, revealing the six empty slots before handing it back to its owner, "running around without a loaded gun is a good way to get caught with your pants down, kid." Gai said turning to face a scowling Big Mac.

"I suppose this means I owe you another free shot, right?"

"Eeyup"

"Damn."

Gai sat slumped in the wooden chair, Kettle seated right next to him. Rainbow Dash had been taken elsewhere and their personal affects had been taken, none of this concerned Gai at the moment.

"Dammit, that stallion can throw a punch!" Gai groaned, nursing a second shiner on the side of his head, he had tried turning so that the blow would glance off, but Big Mac had seen it coming, angling his fist so that Gai could't mitigate his retribution.

Kettle remained silent, glaring daggers at the door across the room from the table they sat at.

"Kettle, you okay?" Gai asked, glancing at the fuming earth pony, "you're acting weird... again."

Kettle simply grumbled something about pots.

"Ooookay then..." Gai mumbled, rapping his fingers on the table to keep himself amused.

Suddenly, the door on the other side of the room swung open, banging against the wall, and a stone-faced earth pony stallion dressed in formal military dress walked inside. He had a black coat and a brown mane, which sported a crumpled officer's cap that had seen better days and a scar on his left cheek that stretched to just below his ear. A sidearm lay in it's holster by his hip.

"Greetings, mister source of entertainment!" Gai cried, raising his outstretched hands towards the source of his current salvation.

The stallion eyed him suspiciously before turning his full attention to Kettle, who stared back evenly.

"Pot." Said Kettle.

"Kettle." Said Pot.

Gai's eyes darted between the two stallions, suddenly noticing that 'Pot' looked shockingly similar to Kettle... wait.

"Please don't tell me your surname is 'Black' as well, Pot. I don't think my sides could take the abuse." Gai snickered, a wide grin slicing it's way across his face.

"His name is First Lieutenant Black Pot, and yes, he's my twin brother." Kettle deadpanned, continuing his staring contest with the military stallion before him.

"That's Captain Black Pot now, Kettle." Pot said evenly, "now, what are you doing here?"

"I think that's a question for me, mate." Gai said, waving his cuffed hand, causing the chain to jangle slightly.

"And who are you?" Pot said imperiously, looking down his nose at the cloaked human.

"Look and be amazed!" Gai suddenly cried, stepping one foot onto the table and pointing upwards with his cuffed hands, "you gaze upon the glorious visage of Captain Gai Ikari! The Silver Scourge! Wanted by Zangyack for five hundred thousand bits! Captain of the Gokai Galleon and slayer of Gormin!"

"Is he always like this?" Pot asked, leaning towards his brother.

"Sometimes. I really don't know what goes through his head though." Kettle deadpanned.

"Ah."

"Oi! I go through all this effort of an intro and all I get is 'ah'? You wound me, Kettle!"

"Not nearly as bad as Cruger did." Kettle shot back.

"Ouch, point taken." Gai said, sitting back down and clasping his hands in front of his face, "now then, Mr. Pot. I would like you to return our belongings and my first mate and then I'll just leave your little militia alone, clear?"

Pot snorted, shaking his head at the pirate, "you're in no position to be asking for anything, you damn ape. While I am thankful for you returning the Element Bearer of Loyalty to us, you're still a prisoner here- why is he laughing?"

Gai was chuckling madly, his shoulders shaking from the force of his mirth, "oh, you silly little pony. Where is this? The Castle of the Two Sisters? Shame, so much lore about this place, I'd hate to reduce it to rubble."

Kettle looked at the human, his eyes widening with fear, "Pot, I know you don't like listening to me, but you need to listen now: do not piss off the crazy pirate!"

"Oh please, what's he gonna do? Those are some of the best shackles we have! And do you really believe that he can leave without our permission?"

"Yes." Kettle deadpanned, facepalming at his brother's disregard for his own safety.

"You see, Pot." Gai said, spitting out the last word, "I wasn't asking for anything." He pulled his wrists apart, snapping the chain of his handcuffs, "I was giving you a warning."

Captain Black Pot was only able to issue a strangled 'meep!' before Gai descended upon him.

"I don't get it, why are you so anxious to see this guy?" Scootaloo asked, following after Rainbow Dash, "is he your coltfriend or something?"

Dash spun around, her cheeks burning, "he's not my coltfriend! Why does everypony keep saying that!? I'm more worried about the fact that he's being interrogated like some criminal right now."

"Why worry? Its not like he can do anything about it, the hairless ape's probably shaking in his boots right now!" Scootaloo snickered as they neared the interrogation room where Gai and Kettle were being held.

"If you spend five minutes with my Captain, you would know there's no way that's happening." Dash muttered, right as a body crashed through the wooden door to the interrogation room, reducing it to splinters and startling the guards on either side.

"Did you have to throw my brother that hard? A simple knockout would've been enough!" Came Kettle's exasperated voice from inside.

"The door was locked from the outside, and yes. Yes I did." Came the nonchalant reply, only to be followed by a groan as the two guards breached the room, submachine guns at the ready. Sounds of a struggle and several gunshots echoed from the room right before both guards were thrown out, landing right on top of a recovering Pot.

"Did you have to throw them that hard too?" Kettle's voice asked.

"Eeyup," came the simple reply.

"Oh for the love of-" Dash groaned, rounding the corner, Scootaloo following close behind, with both her gun and a handful of throwing knives drawn.

Inside, the human was in the middle of arguing with Kettle, the heated debate stopping suddenly as the pair noticed the two mares walk in.

"Oh, Dash! Good to see you! And I see you bought a hostage as well-"

"What in Tartarus is going on!?" Dash roared, glaring directly at the now sheepish pirate.

"Well you see..." Gai began, holding his hands up in a placating manner.

"I don't want to hear your excuses! You made such a big fuss about coming here peacefully, and then you throw their commanding officer through the door and beat up two of his guards!"

"He called me an ape though..."

"What are you, five!?"

"No..."

"Then why are you letting something like that get to you!?" Dash snapped, staring sternly at the pirate.

"Sorry..." Gai murmured, looking very much like a kicked puppy under Rainbow Dash's withering gaze.

Dash sighed, pinching the bridge of her muzzle in annoyance, "just... don't do it again, okay?"

"Right," Gai then walked over to the downed Guard Captain, nudging him with his boot, "Oi, Pot. I got some pressing questions for ya."

The stallion groaned as he came to, his eyes shooting wide as he reached for his sidearm, his attempt was stopped when Gai's booted heel came down on his hand.

"That was't very nice, Captain," Gai said menacingly, leaning down and putting more pressure on his captive's hand, "I'm gonna give you one last chance to tell me where you put my stuff-"

"Our stuff," Kettle deadpanned.

"Our stuff, before I start to get a bit mean," Gai finished.

Pot's eyes darted back and forth between all the ponies in the room before he sighed in resignation, "very well, ape. You will find your belongings in the armory, Scootaloo will guide you there," he turned his gaze to the orange pegasus, "I thank you for your service."

Scootaloo nodded silently before turning towards the three pirates, "the armory is down this way," she said, waving them along as she walked in front of them.

Gai leaned towards Rainbow Dash, "does something seem... off about Scootaloo?" He asked.

Dash nodded, "It may be her new lifestyle, but judging by how she was acting earlier... something's definitely wrong here."

Scootaloo led the trio down several winding hallways, leading them deeper into the bowels of the castle.

"Hey Scoots, how much further?" Dash asked, raising an eyebrow at the orange mare.

Scootaloo visibly tensed, stiffly looking over her shoulder at the trio behind her, "n-not far Sis," she stammered, "we'll be there soon."

Gai stepped forward, "we're not going to an armory, are we? From all the dust around here, nopony's been in this level of the castle in a long while, so what's your game?"

Scootaloo visibly cringed further, "guess the jig is up, huh?" She said in a quiet voice,

There was a small *chink* sound as Scootaloo suddenly turned around and charged at Gai, a homemade grenade tied around her neck by a string which had been hidden by her red scarf.

Gai's eyes widened as the orange mare tackled him.

"Gai! Scootaloo!" Dash cried, her eyes wide with shock.

Gai reacted quickly, wrenching Scootaloo off of him while simultaneously opening a portal under the grenade on her chest. The grenade fell through the portal before it snapped shut, severing the string neatly as the grenade was deposited further down the hall, detonating harmlessly with a loud *bang*.

Scootaloo made to grab for her gun, but was stopped when Gai's hand roughly grabbed her wrist and yanked her to her feet, immediately followed by a stinging slap across her face.

"How dare you!" Gai growled, "how fucking dare you!"

"I-i'm sorry..." Scootaloo whimpered, her eyes pleading with the enraged human, "I'm sorry for trying to kill you!"

"Gai!" Dash exclaimed, reaching for his shoulder.

"Don't you dare apologize! How dare you try and throw your life away like that!" Gai roared, grabbing Scootaloo by her vest and shaking her violently, "I'd have no problems if you were simply trying to kill me - that's the price of having a six-figure bounty - but don't you ever try a suicide attack like that one again! How do you think your sister would feel if you killed yourself right in front of her, huh!?"

Scootaloo just hung in his grip and stared at Gai with a stunned expression, "I-I..." tears began to well up in her eyes, a choking sob echoed from her throat.

Gai let go of her vest and let the orange pegasus slump to the floor, "where are our things?" He asked flatly.

"Two floors above... first hallway to the right... you can't miss it," Scootaloo said softly.

Gai nodded stiffly, turning and walking back the way they had come, "let's go."

"Oi! Gai! Are we just gonna leave her here!?" Rainbow Dash said, grabbing the human's shoulder.

"You can bring her if you want," Gai fumed, turning to Rainbow Dash, "one thing you have to learn about me Dash: I'm no hero. Just a guy with too many things to make right. Personally, I don't really care if she comes with us or not, just as long as she doesn't do anything that stupid again," With that, Gai turned and continued on his way, leaving Dash to pick up a still crying Scootaloo who clung to her like a magnet.

"And then, Mac whacked 'em a second time! That darned ape just stood there and took it," Applebloom finished, taking a sip from her cider bottle before inserting more of The Resistance's vital ammunition supplies into yet another magazine which she set down next to the 'full' pile.

"It's good to hear Rainbow Dash is back, good news is hard to come by these days..." Sweetie Belle mused as she finished another handgun magazine, glancing at the strange box-like object and two figurines resting next to a pair of silver-rimmed welding goggles, a golden trident, and what looked like a technologically advanced flintlock pistol, "I wonder what this is though," stood up, smoothening the wrinkles of her olive fatigues and white t-shirt before taking the box-like object and the silver and purple figurines, some bits of Rarity still lingered in her after all this time.

"They kind of look like action figures of sentai members, but I don't recognize the silver one, the purple one looks sort of like one of the DekaRangers, but..."

"But SPD pulled out of our solar system when those Zangyack bastards came rollin' in and their Equus Branch members were KIA," Applebloom finished, "an' there weren't any purple members on that team."

"You're right about that, and about the silver one as well. That particular sentai hasn't formed yet, now if you'd be kind enough to give me my-"

"Our."

"Our things back, we'll be on your way," said a male voice.

Both ponies turned towards the door to the Armory, eyes widening at the sight of the ape-like creature leaning against the doorframe with his arms crossed.

Applebloom's revolver and Sweetie Belle's pistol were out of their holsters in a flash, the barrels of both weapons pointed right at the silver-clad pirate who raised his hands slowly.

"Applebloom, you and I both know that gun still isn't loaded. I can see the empty chambers from here," Gai turned his attention to Sweetie Belle, "as for you, Sweetie Belle, you're a bit more cruel than your friend there. I can't even see if there are any bullets in that gun, and there's zero chance of me getting away with a lucky Russian Roulette situation."

"Why're y'all here anyhow? We know the Captain didn't clear you yet," Applebloom said evenly, lowering her empty weapon. Sweetie Belle kept her gun up.

Gai scowled, "it's probably better if you didn't mention that worthless sack of flesh right now," he growled, "so I'm just gonna grab our stuff and go before I do something sensible for once."

"What are you talking about?" Sweetie Belle asked, tightening her grip on her gun.

"Ask her," Gai said, pointing with his thumb over his shoulder towards a silent Scootaloo. She was holding onto Dash's hand like a lost child, her eyes puffy and red from her recent tears.

"What did you do to her!?" Sweetie Belle exclaimed, glaring at Gai.

"Nothing, just stopped her from blowing herself up to dispose of me, that's all. I assume that it was under orders from that waste of fur Captain of yours," Gai said, shrugging.

Both ponies looked at Scootaloo in shock, "he gave you The Order!?" They both exclaimed, rushing forward to embrace their friend.

Scootaloo only nodded quietly.

"Oh, how adorable, you have a name for killing yourselves," Gai grumbled, shoving the last of his belongings into his coat and taking a swig from his silver hip flask.

"Gai!" Dash snapped, glaring at the pirate.

"Oi! Don't snap at me, Dash. I am super pissed about this whole thing! Kettle, he's your brother, was he always like this?"

Kettle shook his head, "no, not always. I'm guessing the weight of his new responsibilities twisted him to the point where he believed victory must be achieved at any cost. The last time I saw him, that philosophy was the thing he hated the most."

"So I'm an enemy just for showing up, huh?" Gai mused, stretching, "must be that bastard's influence again," he muttered under his breath.

Suddenly, the castle was rocked by a sudden *BOOM*, small pebbles rained down from the ceiling.

"What the hell was that!?" Dash shouted, covering Scootaloo. Reacting quickly, Sweetie Belle pulled her radio off her hip, "this is the Armory, what's going on up there!?" she demanded.

A voice crackled over the radio, "it's Zangyack! They found us! Oh buck me..." there was intermittent gunfire for the next few seconds with mixed amounts of swearing interspaced between bursts. Finally the voice came back over the radio, "we're being overrun out here! Celestia damn it all! AAAAARRRGH!!!" A loud bang echoed through the radio's speaker before there was nothing but static.

Gai wrenched the Gokai Cellular out of his coat, opening a line to the Galleon, "Navi, I need a SITREP now." He said calmly, a storm beginning to brew behind his eyes.

"Gai!? Where were you! I lost your signal hours ago!!!" Navi squawked from the other end before seeming to compose herself, "several Zangyack dreadnaught-class ships suddenly warped in at light speed and began deploying Gormin into Ponyville!"

Gai nodded, turning to Sweetie Belle, "get me in touch with that Captain of yours," Sweetie Belle nodded, turning the dial on the radio until a frantic-sounding stallion came on over the radio.

"Send every available fighter we've got to the armory, we're not going down without a fight! Take down every Zangyack you come across, fight until your last breath!"

"Hello Captain," Gai snarled into the radio.

"Who the hell is this!?"

"The Gai you sent an innocent girl to suicide bomb."

"You're still alive!? That's not possible! Unless that little bitch didn't do her job, dammit!" Gai bristled at the Captain's words, gripping the radio a little tighter.

"I suggest you send everypony to the Armory, every stallion, mare, and foal. And pull any of your surviving fighters out of combat, I don't want them caught up in the crossfire."

"Why the buck would I do that!?"

"Because, I guarantee they'll be safe where I'm sending them. I'll handle stalling the enemy until the evacuation is finished, tell your ponies to bring everything they can. Do the right thing and make sure your Resistance lives to fight another day."

A long silence followed, "you're sure you can hold them back?" Pot asked.

"I wouldn't be offering if I wasn't sure, asshole."

"Very well then, ape," he cleared his throat, "all troops, I'm issuing an executive command for a full retreat, break off from combat and regroup at the Armory. All non-combat personnel, gather any and all supplies you can carry and make your way to the Armory," several clicks could be heard over the comms as all other radios were turned off, "I'm holding you to your promise, ape," Pot spat as the line went dead.

Scowling, Gai tossed the radio back to Sweetie Belle and snapped open an extremely large portal to the Galleon's secondary cargo hold in the center of the room, "start loading your ammo into the room on the other side, Dash and Kettle, you help too," he ordered before turning back to the Gokai Cellular, "Navi, we're gonna be evacuating the Resistance into the empty cargo hold, I need you to start doing damage to those ships, hit-and-run tactics, vital shots only, bug out if you need to."

"Aye Sir!" Navi Squawked over the comms. Dash looked at Gai, concern in her eyes, "what are you going to do?"

A wide, evil grin sliced it's way across Gai's face, "Now," he began, snapping open another portal and pulling out his keys.

"Uncle Gai's gonna smack a bitch."

Author's Note

For those of you who are curious, the Wonderbolts Combat Flightsuit is the same one from the Sombra timeline, just no body armor or helmet (obviously)
Here's a pic to give you an idea:

Rainbow Dash's new outfit is pretty much the same as Joe Gibken's outfit from Gokaigers, I'm sure you all know what color she'll be...

Production on part 2 shall be started immediately! In the meantime, comment down below...

Raid 4: The Battle For Ponyville Part 2

Author's Note

Bit of a shorter chapter, but this arc would've been too long if I had added it to the last one. So I split it into two parts.

DISCLAIMER: It is highly recommended you turn the volume up to eleven and wear headphones for this. (You'll thank me when the music starts)

Also, both Gai and Navi lose their sh :yay: t. (have fun with that)

Raid 4: The Battle For Ponyville Part 2

Gai knelt before the fallen mare, unicorn, light green coat and blond mane and tail, one of the fighters that hadn't either managed to break off in time, or had been gunned down trying to escape. One of her comrades had taken her weapons, ammo, and dog tags, the broken chain lying against her chest, her eyes staring at the sky with an unseeing, glassy stare.

The pirate sighed, pulling her eyelids down over her eyes so that it looked like the unnamed mare was sleeping, "rest now, sister, and run free with your ancestors," he said quietly, folding her hands over her stomach and slamming the flat of his palm into the ground, forcing it to lower under her, forming a rectangular grave. With a twist of his arm, the ground closed up over her, hiding the corpse from the world.

"Don't worry ma'am, I'm going to get those bastards back for this," Gai said, standing up and slipping his goggles over his eyes, switching them to thermal mode, "you just sit tight."

Gai swept his gaze around the forest, marking the positions of every Zangyack soldier he found before pulling the goggles off and withdrawing the Gokai Cellular and the purple key from earlier.

"Navi, time to roll out the red carpet," he said into the Cellular.

"Aye Sir!" Squawked Navi as the Galleon uncloaked behind the seven Zangyack Dreadnaughts, unloading on their engines with the port side cannons, the beam turrets keeping the smaller fighters and dropships at bay, "eat this, you Zangyack bastards!" Navi chirped as a Dreadnaught's engines erupted in a fiery explosion, the ship beginning to list heavily to the starboard side, nearly hitting the Dreadnaught next to it.

Gai chuckled at his navigator's antics before inserting the purple key into the Cellular and crossed his arms over his chest, "Gokai Change!"

DEEEEEEEEEEEKAZERO!!!!

When the light faded, Gai was standing in a deep purple suit with silver lines tracing all over the body. Silver gauntlets covered his hands and forearms. A pair of purple spaulders sat on his shoulders, bat wings extending out of them. A matching purple chest plate and twin air tanks sat on the back, a scarlet gem radiating heat in between them. A large number zero was emblazoned on his chest and stomach, outlined in black and silver lines. A violet helmet sat on his head, a bronze police badge resting on it's crown, the sides designed like upswept bat wings. Superheated steam hissed from numerous hidden vents across the suit.

Gai felt an unfamiliar weight at his side. Reaching down, he unhooked what looked like a comically large, yet futuristic-looking revolver and a deck box. Opening the revolver's chamber revealed several flat slots. Suddenly, his visor was filled with text:

"Dear Gai,
I hope that this message and new weapon comes in a good time, also I hope that you don't mind hearing my voice again. It took me around a week to get this all together.
I've been wearing your training bracer the whole time and I can feel myself becoming stronger, not to mention that my flight training is going well. I've just got to make everything that I've learned actually come out in the moment instead of using my own style. I'm doing my best to walk forward so that one day I might even meet you on the battlefield and we'll stand side by side as fellow rangers. This new drive has really made things feel different, though I won't bug you with the details. I've gone ahead and scanned Chompy, and made his data into a Cyber Card. Somepony said that it would be a better name than 'Data Card' and I agree. Hopefully you'll get use out of the Cyber Card Buster (or C.C.Buster, still a prototype) and Cerberus, as both really aren't being used by me because of my duties. (And that it's a tad too lethal for patrol work...)"

Regards,

Sora (Sky Gear)

The rest of the page was filled with instructions on how to properly use the C.C. Buster, which Gai skimmed through before opening the deck box and pulling out the new Cyber Cerberus card, "damn Sora, your timing is impeccable," Gai said, grinning inside his helmet, reattaching the deck box and inserting the Cerberus card into the C.C. Buster before returning gun to his belt, "guess I can't be slacking off now, not when my student is working so hard." Several explosions from the sky battle shook the forest, as if telling the human to get on with it.

"Geez, fine," He murmured before smashing his fist into his palm, "I'm so fired up, no one's gonna lay a freaking finger on me today!"

Gai rolled his shoulders, eliciting several pops and cracks before starting his roll call, "echoing light and darkness, judgement has come! SPD's Hell Bat! DekaZero!" A burst of steam erupted from the vents in his suit as the lights on the side of his helmet flashed twice, a police siren blaring with each flash, "let's make this showy!"

With an explosive burst of steam from the vents on his legs, Gai shot off into the forest. The lack of friction allowing him to reach near supersonic speeds. With a flick of his wrists, a pair of claws shot out of each gauntlet, which he used to stabilize his flight path as he sped towards the first platoon of Gormin. Gai's grin turned completely savage.

With another burst of steam, Gai wheeled himself around on his axis until he was hurtling feet-first towards the platoon's Sugormin commander. A resounding *crack* echoed in the forest clearing as Gai's feet impacted the Sugormin's chest armor, the the high-speed dropkick causing the metal to crumple like tinfoil from the force of the impact, and sent the pair flying back into the lines of Gormin behind it.

The Gormin soldiers scrambled to get out of the way in time, only a few made it out, the remaining troops ending up sandwiched and crumpled against a tree under their commander.

"Not done yet!" Gai cried, as more and more of the superheated steam poured out of the vents all over his body, the rising temperature causing the crumpled Gormin's armor to melt onto their commander until they were all permanently clumped together. Gai braced himself against the ground using his hands and grabbed the twisted ball of half-melted robot parts with his legs, using a combination of steam jets and physical strength to haul the ball over his body.

Standing up, he kicked the ball of melted bots, sending them hurtling towards the remainder of the platoon, crushing them all like bowling pins made of paper.

"Geez, talk about legwork," he muttered, sweeping his visor over his surroundings and locating the next marked platoon of Gormin. Launching himself into the air with a burst of steam, Gai launched himself into the forest canopy, jetting from tree to tree, quickly closing on the next group of Gormin. With a roaring battlecry, Gai fell upon the group like a demon, claws first, tearing the Sugormin's head from his shoulders with ease before springing off the still-standing body and slashing through several Gormin at once in a whirlwind of blades, spinning to a stop on one knee as the severed Gormin body parts collapsed onto the ground moments later.

"I think," Gai said, retracting his claws and unhooking the C.C. Buster from his belt, "I'll give this a try!"

He spun around, clicking the Buster into full auto mode, mowing down a small group of Gormin before they all began to rush him. Gai chuckled a bit, catching a Gormin's cudgel by the haft with his free hand and using it to swing the unfortunate minion around like a wrecking ball, catching several of his comrades in their helmets before twisting it's arm behind it's back and placing the barrel of the Buster against the back of it's cylindrical head.

"Kakugowokimeru" Gai said in a sadistic tone, pulling the trigger and letting the lifeless robotic corpse crash to the ground, "now then..." Gai sighed, turning to face the remainder of the platoon, "who's next?"

The Gormin looked at one another, before they all charged with their cudgels raised high.

"Heh."

Gai rushed forward, slamming his elbow into the first Gormin, crumpling the chest plate and sending it flying. The C.C. Buster whipped around, smashing butt-first into the side of a second Gormin's head, denting it heavily and causing a cylindrical object to pop out of the top of the gun, a keyhole facing the handle. Gai kicked a third Gormin into it's comrades while he fished out the DekaZero key and inserted it into the keyhole.

"Hissatsu!" He shouted as the barrel of the buster began to glow with a golden light, Gai grinned under his helmet as he aimed it at the survivors of the platoon, "Cyber Burst: Cerberus!" He cried, pulling the trigger and unleashing a golden hellhound which charged the Gormin platoon, howling the whole time before exploding and hurling Gormin parts hundreds of feet into the air.

Gai rested the Buster on his shoulder and surveyed the carnage, "I wonder how things are going for Navi?" He murmured before rolling his shoulders, "alright... where's the next group?"

Navi growled in annoyance as she readjusted the cannons to compensate for the enemy Dreadnaught's movements, the sound of metal scraping against metal echoed from within her chassis as steam puffed out from under the crest on top of her head, all the while trying to ignore the very annoying stallion behind her.

"I demand an explanation! What is this place and why are we in the middle of a Zangyack fleet!?" Pot shouted, pacing around the main cabin while waving his hands around wildly, Rainbow Dash and Kettle face palming heavily at the stallion's antics.

"Pot, calm down," Kettle said, grabbing his brother's shoulder, "we still need to wait for the rest of the Resistance on board before we leave, and Gai is still holding off the Zangyack ground forces!"

"Buck 'Gai'!" Pot shouted, shrugging off Kettle's hand and resumed his pacing, "that stinking ape probably got gunned down in five seconds!"

Rainbow Dash bristled, her hands balling into fists.

"And buck this damned bird telling me that we can't leave and save anypony we can!" Pot continued, pointing a finger at Navi.

The Galleon lurched as one of the Dreadnaughts managed to get a shot in, the impact causing the mechanical parrot to snap.

"Kettle, take the controls," Navi said quietly.

Kettle knew better than to argue.

"ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME!!!" Navi screeched, seeming to cross the room in the blink of an eye, right up into Pot's muzzle, "FIRST, YOU RUSH THROUGH THE PORTAL LIKE YOUR LIFE DEPENDED ON IT, THEN YOU COME UP TO THE BRIDGE LIKE YOU OWN THE PLACE!?"

"Get out of my face this instant-"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Navi interrupted, stunning the stallion into silence, "I am the oldest member of this crew, and if my Captain says to hold the line against a Zangyack fleet, I will hold the fucking line. And no self-entitled dickless coward is going to stop me from doing my job!" Navi landed on his nose, staring deep into Pot's eyes, "now you're going to sit down on that couch, and you're going to keep your worthless cockhole shut until Gai gets back. Or else I'll gut you like a fish and keelhaul you, got it?"

"Y-yes ma'am," Pot stammered, practically running to the couch to get away from the small scarlet demon flying towards the command console.

"Move," she said simply to Kettle, who complied immediately.

"Remind me never to piss her off," Rainbow Dash whispered to Kettle.

"Probably for the best," he whispered back, his face stoic, but his knees shaking.

"Here I come you Zangyack trash!" Navi screeched as all the Gokai Galleon's armaments renewed their assault on the Zangyack fleet.

Princess Flurry Heart paced around Gai's cabin, an angry look on her face.

"Princess, pacing won't get you anywhere, just sit down," a worried Pipsqueak begged.

"I will not!" She snapped, her brow furrowing, "I am a princess of Equestria, I should be out there helping Miss Navi or Miss Rainbow Dash! Not stuck in Mister Gai's cabin, waiting for the battle being fought for my citizens to end!"

"It can't be helped, we're locked in here. Not to mention, neither of us can hold our own very well if Zangyack did board us," Pipsqueak reasoned, forcing the stubborn alicorn to take a seat in Gai's desk chair, "trust me when I say that we'd just be in the way."

"Why aren't you angry?" Flurry Heart asked, "if anyone should be angered by our current position, it's you! You are the one who wanted to join Mister Gai's crew the most!"

"Don't get me wrong," Pipsqueak said, plopping down on Gai's bed, "I really do want to join his crew, if only so I can fight those Zangyack bastards on equal terms," his fist clenched, "there was a point where I would've gone after them without Gai's help, but Cruger made me realize how stupid that would be."

He looked to her, "don't get me wrong though, I haven't given up, I've just gotten more determined to force Gai to let me join."

Flurry Heart's brow furrowed, "I... I wish I could do something, anything for them..." she murmured.

"You will, princess. When this is all over, you will."

The Zangyack flagship lurched as another salvo from the scarlet pirate vessel currently harassing their fleet.

"Damn them, where did they come from!?" The Sugormin officer growled as he was knocked off balance by the impact.

One panicked Gormin cried.

"To hell with them! We can't afford to pick them up under this bombardment!"

"What!?" The Sugormin roared, storming over and shoving the Gormin away from his terminal, "How is that possible!? These locals are weaklings!"

"A flash of silver and a scarlet Galleon..." The Sugormin officer muttered, "so the Silver Scourge has appeared to help the locals eh? You!" He shouted to a confused-looking Gormin, "open a communication to the Planetary Overseer, tell him we've found his prey."

The ship lurched again, "and tell him to send backup!"

The Gormin saluted before carrying out his assigned task.

Gai dropped down from the forest canopy, rending a Gormin open from the helmet to the waist, bits of wire and circuitry spilling out of the robot's chassis. Gai scraped his gauntlet claws together before rushing forward, allowing a bed of steam to carry him into battle, his claws rending Gormin after Gormin until he sheathed both sets into the belly of the Sugormin commander and tore him in two, bits of circuitry and white, artificial blood spilling onto the forest floor.

Gai looked down at the bloodstained claws on his gauntlets, the pale liquid dripping off or trailing down onto his hands, "funny, the Sugormin didn't bleed on the show..." He flicked the rest of the blood off his gauntlets and opened his comms to the Galleon, "Navi, how's the evacuation progressing?"

"All the supplies have been loaded! There are just a few ponies unaccounted for, but they should be through soon enough!"

"Good, their ground troops have been dealt with, I wasn't expecting them to send such a large group to the Everfree."

Suddenly, a great, rumbling roar echoed through the forest, followed by an aura of intense bloodlust. Gai clocked up to see three new Zangyack ships entering the combat zone: two regular Dreadnaughts flanking a Super Dreadnaught with a skull and crossbones logo emblazoned on it.

"Navi?" Gai said more urgently, "are those ponies through? Because you know who just showed up."

"They just stepped on board."

"Get clear, now. We can't afford a battle with him a the moment, not with the civilians on board," Gai growled, glaring daggers at the Free Joker, "I'll be on board in a second."

"Aye Sir!"

"So, he's finally decided to come to Ponyville, took him long enough, I was wondering when I'd have an excuse to come down here," the human said casually, standing with his arms crossed on the bridge of his ship, eying the scarlet Galleon he once called home.

"Sir, our ships are all in critical condition, should we move to assist with evacuations?" A Sugormin asked.

"No, we won't catch up to them if we're bogged down salvaging soldiers that were expendable to begin with. Just consider them the price of the Silver Scourge's capture and ready the cannons."

"Aye sir!" The Sugormin saluted, relaying his orders to the Gormin around the bridge.

Suddenly, a large, vertical cannon unfolded from the deck of the Gokai Galleon, firing rapidly, the shots raining down on the surrounding Zangyack Dreadnaughts. The resulting explosions obscured any view of the scarlet ship.

When the smoke cleared, the Galleon was gone, vanished without a trace.

"S-sir! They've disappeared!" The Sugormin officer cried.

"I can see that," the human replied, unsheathing his saber and cleaving the Sugormin's head off it's shoulders in one smooth motion, a spray of pale artificial blood splattering the floor and part of the human's shawl and tunic.

"Ugh," the human groaned, sheathing his saber and examining the bloodstain, "you are really lucky this stuff washes out!" He said, booting the Sugormin's head across the bridge, knocking an unfortunate Gormin upside it's head, leaving a dent.

"Get another Sugormin up here, I need someone to deal with you worthless bucket heads," the human ordered, slumping into his chair, "I wonder if Ika-chan has these problems with his crew..."

Gai stormed through the portal in the Galleon's living quarters, his eyes immediately locking onto Pot.

"YOU!!!" He roared, seeming to cross the room in a single step, grabbing the struggling stallion by the neck and slamming him bodily into the pillar in the center of the room, "give me one reason, one. Fucking. Reason why I shouldn't skin you alive right now!"

"W-what do you mean?" Asked the already shaken stallion, staring wide-eyed at the bipedal hurricane keeping him pinned to the pillar.

"Ever since showing up in this world, I've seen some things that a man should never see. I've seen good people turn into monsters twice, and even then, asking a child to commit suicide just to eliminate one enemy? That is still one of the most fucked up things I've ever seen."

"What did you expect us to do!?" Pot suddenly screamed, glaring in defiance at Gai, "Zangyack isn't an enemy we can defeat by ourselves anymore! We have to sacrifice and struggle for every inch without the sentai! And now they've been turned against us, so tell me: what can we do!"

Gai's brow furrowed as he pulled Pot closer, "your reasons don't matter to me, what you ordered Scootaloo to do still disgusts me," he growled, snapping his fingers and opening a portal behind the stallion before shoving him in and snapping it shut.

"Where did you put him?" Asked Kettle.

"I tossed him in the brig, should've thrown him back into the Everfree." Gai grumbled, turning on his heel and heading out onto the deck.

"Oh geez," Navi mumbled.

"What?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"He's not just mad, he's furious. Just give him some space to cool off and he'll be fine."

Dash mulled it over, chewing on her lip before following Gai out onto the deck.

"What are you doing!?" Navi cried, flying up into Dash's face.

"Letting him stew over this alone is probably the worst thing we can do right now," Dash said, pushing Navi aside, "and I have a few questions as his First Mate."

With that, Dash exited the main cabin and onto the deck, pausing to allow the wind to blow through her mane and wings, allowing the nostalgia to take her away to before Zangyack showed up on their planet, "one day..." she mumbled, furling her wings against her back and began her search for Gai.

She didn't have to search far, she quickly found the human sitting cross-legged at the bow of the ship, right behind the sword-shaped prow. He was staring out on the horizon, a deep scowl on his face.

"What do you want, Dash?" He said flatly, not even looking over his shoulder.

"How'd you know it was me?"

"You tend to come out here to tend to those wings of yours, that and you're the only one on board with the stones to get close when I'm like this," he deadpanned before sighing, "sorry, I'm just really pissed right now."

"You aren't the only one."

"Yeah, I get that," Gai said, rubbing the back of his head, "I just... I never did handle my anger well, that didn't change when I ended up here."

"It wasn't just with the order Pot gave to Scootaloo is it? That ship, the one with the skull blowing a trumpet... that had something to do with it, right?"

Gai chuckled hollowly, "how the hell did you guess?"

"You ordered Navi to escape as soon as it showed up, sounded like you knew who owned it," Dash replied, crossing her arms across her chest, "if that doesn't scream history, I don't know what does."

Gai chuckled again, a bit more lively this time, "you're pretty sharp. Yeah, there is history there, none of it good. If he's shown up here again, it can only mean the fight with Zangyack is going to escalate from here."

Dash sighed, "alright then, what's our next move, Captain?"

Gai looked back out towards the horizon, "we need to stash the Resistance in a place where Zangyack won't be able to find them, and where they won't have to fight that way again, there were too many casualties this time."

"Where do we find a place like that?" Dash asked.

"I have a place in mind, but it's not a guarantee yet. Tell Navi to chart a course for 'Sensei's Home', she'll know what to do. I just need some time to think," Gai said, pulling out his silver hip flask, "think and maybe forget."

Dash saluted before turning back to the Galleon's living quarters.

Raid 5: Sky Sanctuary

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Cross-raid 3: A Pirate's Heart Part 1

(Equestria: Del Light home)
I sighed as I looked over some documents. The Nightmare Night party we had had been mostly a success to the morale of the alliance… if it wasn't for the fact Mental Glimmer aka Blueblood had caused most of the pony side of the army to be placed on sick leave to raise the foals the females of the army were pregnant with. And not for the first time I cursed blueblood for placing us in this situation.

And there was the matter of what I had forgotten about when I found that inspiration manifestation while Castle Eclipse was being rebuilt. To be honest I wasn't sure what to do with the items I found as it painted a worrying image on one of my stories I wrote in the past. Specifically a ranger key. One I designed myself to boot. The figurine was of a sentai with a purple skeletal pirate design resembling the gokaiger suit. And a key that shouldn't have existed in the first place.

“Gokai Skeletal, how did your key get here and why did it appear before me? Soul what happened in your universe” I wondered looking at the key.

Just then my wife entered with a sigh.

“James, it's getting to be late, are you still wondering about that key you found?” Asked Chrysalis giving me a concerned look.

“Yeah it’s just this key shows that one of my characters I created back home exists somewhere and I got no clue what happened to bring his key here. It's not a good message if that's anything to go by” I sighed thinking it over.

Both of us snapped our heads up as a token clattered onto my desk making us stare. It was yet another ranger key but of one of the original gokaigers I knew about. Gokai Silver. Picking it up I heard the message it had.

“To all that discover this hidden treasure, know that I am Gai Ikari, The Silver Scourge, Captain of the Gokai Galleon and leader of the Gokaigers. If you wish to call upon me and my crew, simply insert this key into any lock. But woe betide those who wish harm upon me, or those under my protection, for they will be consumed by the Black Fog.”

“Well That’s something at least. I wonder if this has anything to do with what I was thinking about recently? It can't be just the multiverse giving me a hint at what to do. I wonder if he got my token as well. Seems he picked a similar way of being summoned as I did though. The irony is not lost on me” I noted somewhat amused and curious.

(Gokaiger Verse)

“Begin!” Gai shouted, bringing his arm down between the two combatants.

Pipsqueak charged at Flurry Heart, his wooden cutlass swinging down towards Flurry’s head, the former princess deftly blocked the strike, parrying the blade and singing her arm around, twisting Pipsqueak’s wrist and forcing him to drop his weapon.

Undeterred, Pipsqueak ducked under the strike aimed at his neck, smacking his palm on the underside of Flurry’s cutlass and forcing her to drop her blade as well. Both ponies squared off against each other, sizing up their opponent before Pipsqueak rushed in with a series of light jabs, forcing Flurry Heart back. Finally, he reared back to break through her weakened guard, that’s when Flurry Heart made her move.

The young alicorn leaned to the side while guiding Pipsqueak’s arm off into empty space, readjusting her footwork, she grabbed his arm and threw him over her shoulder, pinning him in an arm lock.

“Enough!” cried Gai, causing Flurry to release the downed earth pony, “Pipsqueak, that was an excellent counter in the first half, but you’re still rushing in too quickly. Flurry, that was masterful work with that throw.”

“However!” He continued, “the both of you are way too eager to go straight to hand-to-hand combat, I did say this was a swords-only sparring match, didn’t I?”

Both his students hung their heads, “sorry Captain,” Pipsqueak said, rubbing the back of his head, “I guess I just got carried away.”

“Don’t let that happen too often, the presence of a weapon in your hands could mean the difference between life and death sometimes.” Gai replied, “you’ve both improved quite a lot in the past month, go get cleaned up, it’s about time Kettle finished dinner.”

As if on cue, the door to the living quarters hissed open and Navi flew out, “Gai! We’ve got a situation!”

“What is it Navi?”

“I found this on your chair, I think it’s a Displaced’s token.”

Gai picked up the pendant of two crossed keys with a hooked chain, the Displaced’s message ringing out in his mind:

"I am James Del Light Key Bearer of Equestria, if you ever need my aid for justice, attach this to your weapon and turn it like a key. And I shall come to your aid. If you have evil intent, then fear my blade, if you have a just heart know that you have found a worthy ally and friend in me”

“And, how is this a ‘situation’ exactly? I thought we were under attack for a second there!” Gai said sternly.

“It just randomly appeared out of thin air!”

“Pretty sure they’re supposed to do that, Navi.”

“Oh.”

Suddenly, the Galleon’s intruder alarm went off, the blaring sirens directing everyone’s attention to the bridge, “me and my big mouth,” Gai muttered, rushing into the living quarters, Pipsqueak and Flurry Heart following close behind.

“Status report!” Gai barked.

“There’s intruders in the secondary cargo hold! They just appeared there!” Rainbow Dash said, her eyes darting across the terminal’s security feed.

“Just my luck... I’ve got this, seal off the cargo hold, this probably won’t take five minutes.” Gai snapped his fingers, opening a portal into the cargo hold of the ship. He tucked the new token into his coat and jumped into the swirling vortex.

Upon entering the cargo hold, Gai blinked seeing the intruders were dark figures looking like demonic pirates with a stitched heart emblem on their torsos, their yellow eyes turning to lock onto him.

“Oi,” Gai muttered, unfolding the Gokai Spear and pointing the three pronged weapon at the group of figures, “don’t you mugs know that jumping onto a pirate ship is the leading cause of death for scrubs like you? No?” Gai launched forward, knocking several of the pirate-like figures flying with a sweep of the spear, “then kindly get the fuck off my ship!”

The figures charged, each drawing various sabers, cutlasses and pistols. Some of the figures in the back even took to the air on purple wings, the limited space of the cargo hold only granting only a modicum of added maneuverability.

Gai drove the points of the trident through the belly of a larger figure, lifting it effortlessly and using the speared figure like a hammer, smashing entire groups of smaller figures.

“Take this!” He cried, flicking the figure off the end of the trident and knocking a large group of enemies over like bowling pins.

The one that was pierced stilled before turning into black smoke letting the ones it landed on get back up.

As the fight dragged on however, Gai noticed that the figures only kept coming, not growing tired, and more importantly, not dying when being slammed with as much force as Gai could muster.

“Please don’t tell me these things are what I think they are...” he murmured, “I knew I should’ve made those TOQger keys when I had the chance!”

(Equestria: James Del Light)

Me and my wife was walking through the halls when we both felt the familiar tug of being summoned.

“It’s been a while since it was just the two of us, everyone else went to bed. Well then let's go Chrysalis” I said summoning my keyblade armor as I summoned up my keyblade glider and the two of us entered the vortex and shot down the stained glass path that was forming to the world we had been summoned to.

(Gokaiger verse)

The army of Heartless began to advance on the silver-clad pirate, a wide grin split across his face as he raised the Gokai Spear in a salute, “koko wa… ore no shinibasho da?” He said grimly, Akira would be proud.

As he was about to charge into another fracas with the Heartless, Gai felt a burning warmth in his coat pocket. Reaching inside, he almost burnt his hand on the twin key pendant, which was now glowing brightly, the light causing the Heartless to recoil with pain.

“Oh you have GOT to be kidding me, this is cliche’d beyond belief,” Gai said as he inserted the pendant into the keyhole on the Gokai Spear and turned it, “looks like you get your wish, Mr. Del Light.”

The light from the keys shot out of the end of the spear, coalescing into a large set of white double doors. The doors burst open and a figure wearing a set of white and silver armor leaped through the portal and into the crowd of Heartless, a blue cape fluttering behind him as the dragon-shaped helm swiveled, no doubt the wearer was taking in the situation.

The armored figure raised his right hand to the side, a large, key-shaped object appearing in a flash of light. The figure swung the large key in a wide arc, the Heartless vaporizing instantly at it’s touch. The figure continued to smash the key into each and every Heartless until all that remained were small clouds of black mist.

Silence reigned in the cargo hold, only broken when Gai spoke, his trident raised towards the figure, “so, Mr. Del Light I presume?”

(James Del Light’s Perspective)

“Yes I'm James Del Light and this here is my wife Queen Chrysalis. We just got your token today so I was planning on talking with you in the morning back in my Equestria. Guess that plan got dashed” said the teen pointing his head to the teal haired woman Gai had missed with the armored figure as his armor vanished. giving a nod to Gai but had a odd look on his face that made Gai curious.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” He had to ask.

“Some displaced I met had kept episodes of media I needed to see to catch up on future events of my equestria and what else I liked to watch.” James said looking a bit unsure how to think on that subject.

“I assume there’s a giant metaphysical keyhole that needs locking, right?”

“As big Mac would say eeyup” James deadpanned dismissing his keyblade. He actually got the voice down on the last word sounding exactly like the big pony.

“Got any idea where it might be? I sure as hell don’t,” Gai asked.

“Nope, those things are quite well hidden unless a boss heartless or whatever is letting the Heartless in this world is beaten. So me and my wife are probably going to stick with you for a few days to locate it. If you got Navi with you we might be able to narrow the search” James said with a shrug. Those key holes were hard to track and like sora he had to stumble onto them to find them.

“We have to beat Sombra in order for ours to be revealed as he’s the one leading the Heartless back home” Chrysalis explained.

“We know where ours is but it's a different place for other Equestrias. Different variations makes it hard to locate” James explained.

“Already knew how Keyholes and Heartless work, thanks,” Gai said, pulling out the Gokai Cellular, “Navi, we have guests, can you come down to the hold?”

“Aye sir!” She squawked.

Gai put the Cellular away and fixed his gaze onto the teenager, “tell me, have you ever seen this symbol before?” He asked, pulling out a sketch of a skull and crossbones, the skull was playing the trumpet.

“Yes, I watched Gokaiger back home. Let me guess, someone came with you as Basco?” James asked face palming.

“Eeyup, if you ever meet him, he’s likely already got a plan in mind to kill you. That, and drain you of your power. Just a warning.”

“Got it. So who do you got currently as a crew? I can already guess at least an element of harmony though from what you said about Basco, most of the mane six are dead here aren't they?” James said surprising Gai by how perceptive he was.

“Sharper than you look, kid. But he didn’t have anything to do with it, that was Zangyack’s doing, we showed up after the fact. Basco only hunts other Displaced. He’s admitted to killing five already.” Gai’s face darkened as he pulled out a silver hip flask and took a swig of the contents.

“Yikes, guess he doesn't care about this world and just wants to get back to your earth right? He was your friend wasn't he?”

Gai glared at James.

“If you need any help? I can try to see if some of my friends can help you out. One of them is Kamen Rider Kuuga so that's a heavy hitter there” James winced thinking of what happened to his own earth.

“The only thing you need to do is run as far and as fast as you can if you see him,” Gai replied, “Basco’s my mess to take care of.”

At this point Navi and the others arrived in the hold and Rainbow Dash looked a bit shocked at Chrysalis being with us.

“Oh right I don't think your Dash has met Chrysalis in a long time. … is that Princess Flurry? Guess we are far into Equestria’s future here aren't we.” James asked seeing the pink alicorn surprised.

“You know of me, sir?” Asked Flurry Heart.

“in my Equestria I'm your adoptive Grand-Uncle. My world’s Celestia and Luna adopted me as their brother. I'm the middle child there. Though back home you haven’t been born yet. Just had Fluttershy become Flutterbat over there. Had to give the other five a stern lecture about the consequences of your actions. She ended up permanently part bat. Luckily I knew stop but by then the fruit bat DNA had been in her long enough some had taken root and wasn't removed from her when twilight cast her counterspell. Avoided Applejack sacrificing her giant apple though she didn't take pride in winning that competition at the cost of what her actions did to Fluttershy. She’s getting used to being diurnal.” James told her and at that reminder James gave Rainbow a glare as that still happened in her past as well making her wince. Well recent for James still at his view.

That was still a sore memory for her and could only imagine the lecture her counterpart got at the time. She hoped that Fluttershy forgave her counterpart eventually.

“Right… Navi, can you do a fortune for us? We’re looking for the Heart of the World.”

“Aye sir!” Navi said, flying around at high speed until her head impacted one of the walls. Dazed, she tottered around like a drunk, her next words were cryptic:

“To the center of crime you must go, repay your debts, perhaps somepony knows...”

She shook her head, “That’s all!” she replied cheerily.

“The center of crime? So our next stop is the criminal underground to look for a informant does anyone know that particular location? I haven't traveled my Equestria much” James asked confused.

Gai scowled, “it’s not really ‘underground’ anymore kid, and there’s no way I’m bringing a minor to that place. Especially one who doesn’t know how to handle himself in that setting.”

“Guess that means just me, Rainbow, you, and my wife are the group heading there while the chef handles watching pip and Flurry here. And don't argue Flurry you're still a princess having you there is just asking for you to be kidnapped and used for ransom. We don't need to have that worry on us until you know how to fight properly. On the way I'm sure my wife can help you with your magic” James said thinking deeply.

Flurry Heart glared at him with an indignant expression, while Pipsqueak looked as if he was trying to contain his laughter.

“I was talking about you, kid,” Gai said, flicking James in the forehead, knocking him back a few steps, “I can handle the criminal world just fine. You on the other hand would draw way too much attention.”

“One, I'm not a kid I'm a thousand and twenty one years old and second who said I was going as a human?” James asked shifting into a large black Dragon giving Gai a deadpan look then back.

“Being a half dragon has it’s perks. Believe it or not there is a war going on back home as well and at times intimidation is needed to handle some situations. Besides Sombra back home is already a heartless his powers at the crystal empire when Spike helped retrieve the crystal heart already showed that much” he gave them a look at that.

“You can turn into the Red-Eyes Black Dragon? What the hell...” Gai muttered, confusing James

“Wait that's what my dragon form looks like? I didn't have the time to check” james asked blinking.

“Darkness variant, but yes” clarified Gai.

“So? Let’s go then,” James said.

“A dragon where there shouldn’t even be any dragons at all. That definitely won’t draw any attention,” Gai deadpanned, “and I don’t need to be scary to get what I want, just sit tight kid, I’ll handle the info-gathering. You just hang out here for now, it shouldn’t take too long. The ship is open to you, but I suggest avoiding the engine room and my personal quarters.”

With that, Gai snapped open a portal under himself and fell through, leaving his crew alone standing awkwardly with James and Chrysalis.

Navi sighed, “sorry, Gai’s never been very accepting of outside help. And he’s also not known for putting things gently.”

(Gai’s Perspective)

Gai stared at the once magnificent white walls around his destination, the structure was now crumbled and faded, the gates hung open on rusted hinges. In the distance, Gai could barely make out the cries of various hawkers trying to sell their wares in the market, such wares included but were not limited to: weapons, narcotics, slaves, and dark magic artifacts.

“Welcome to Canterlot, you’ll never find a greater hive of scum and villainy,” Gai muttered to himself, pulling the hood of his cloak over his head a little tighter so as to obscure his features more. The last thing he needed was a bounty hunter thinking he had gotten lucky, partially why he had left James and his crew behind, less risk of exposure that way.

Gai ducked into the nearest back alley, out of sight of the Gormin patrol on the main thoroughfare, carefully making his way into the depths of the ruined city.

(Gokai galleon, James’ perspective)

James stood on the deck of the ship looking at the sky with a frown fiddling with the shoulder armor that was his keyblade armor in standby mode.

“Maybe I should have made this a gauntlet I really don't have time in battle to activate this like ventus but I can definitely activate it by bumping my hands together. Guess I should talk with Rainbow about her uniform and what it means for her,” he said turning to go and talk with her. His wife was already with Flurry Heart teaching her how to control her magic as with being married to a changeling he had picked up how to sense how much a being can control magic and a variant use of scan.

He found the pegasus in the crow's nest and stood next to her. He looked in the direction of Ponyville from there, sadly.

“What do you want James?” Asked Rainbow.

“I just want to talk. Did Gai ever explain about that uniform you're wearing? What it means. It is something that makes me wonder what is it with your potential in the multiverse” he sighed as he turned to look at her.

“What do you mean?” Asked Rainbow surprised by where this was going.

“The Rainbow dash and her friends, plus the CMC and Spike in my world have the potential to awaken keyblades. Spike had already awoken his own which represents his bond to a certain phoenix he took care of. That phoenix made a return and is now renamed Bravefire. Now Spike is the town blacksmith and is assisted by Rarity due to her eye for detail. They were the ones who managed to remake keyblade armor. Trust me when I say I was surprised at how Spike changed when he came back from getting the dragons over to ponyville so the entire races could band together to stop the Heartless. He even picked up a title in the process. Stormslayer the knight amongst Dragons. He fought a boss heartless solo and won. He didn't awaken the keyblade in the two ways I know of and found a third way of getting a keyblade. He had to realize just how different he was to other dragons and accept it while having a strong desire to protect his home and family. That shouts a lot about your potential back home.” James explained looking up and chuckled thinking back to how everyone was surprised by how Spike changed that day.

“What's that have to do with my uniform?” Rainbow asked wondering where this was going.

“Rainbow, that uniform is that of Gokai Blue’s civilian identity, it means Gai has saw you fit to take on that mantle, and is trying to teach you the skills you need to actually take it on and use it with pride. If you want, I can tell you of the Gokai Blue I know of and see if it will help you know just how big of a shoe you're going to fill” James explained then offered.

Rainbow's brow furrowed as she was suddenly was reminded of her counterpart in Cruger’s equestria.

"If you would." She said, crossing her arms and leaning against the side of the crow's nest.

“The original Gokai Blue, Joe Gibken, believe it or not was once a member of Zangyack. He grew disillusioned with the Empire after he thought his teacher in the way of swords was killed until he met the original gokai red who was the original leader of the Gokaigers Captain Marvelous. The two fought off a squad of Zangyack’s forces officially making Joe a traitor of Zangyack. Joe’s dream was to become the best swordsman in the universe. Gokaigers each had some kind of dream they wanted to pursue and would chase the ends of the universe to see them come true. So together with Gokai Red and the other future members they fought Zangyack. In fact Flurry Heart is reminding me a bit of Gokai Pink. Their situations are similar. Only the original Gokai Pink had lost her entire planet. Everyone but her was wiped out.” James told her before frowning at his grandniece’s counterparts story that Chrysalis managed to get out for a bit.

“Trust me Rainbow I'll make sure when Flurry is born in my Equestria I won't let her live like this world’s version. I'll make sure she still has a world to live in. like Gokai Pink, I don't have a Earth to return to.” he said deeply troubled still on the fact his Earth was gone.

Unaware to James, Flurry Heart was listening in, going wide eyed at that last part.

"What do you mean, 'No earth to return to'?" Dash questioned.

“Did Gai tell you about the Kamen Riders? There is a rider who protects time from collapsing by just existing. People who can exist outside of time and not be affected by changes to it are known as singularity points. They act as anchors to the timeline. I didn't learn I was one until a long time had past since I became displaced. Without me my whole earth collapsed without the anchor to that timeline. Everyone I knew had practically died in a fate worse than death. Somehow my twin sister back on earth had survived as a being from the sands of time. An imagin. I'm glad I still have her but now I'm worried about what happened to the rest of my family. I am still grieving the fact shortly after I was displaced my mom died of cancer. I don't know what happened to my brother or my dad. So I'm just trying to make do in protecting my own equestria as it’s pretty much my home now. At least I still have more family in Celestia, Luna, Twilight, Shining, Cadance, Spike, and Chrysalis. Plus my kids who traveled from the future. With my sister their all I got left and I'll be Damned if i don't try to protect them with all I got. Nothing is more dangerous than someone with nothing to lose. To a key bearer like me our strength comes from our bonds we Literally get stronger with friendship and the like. Heart is quite Literally a requirement. Connections are practically everything for a key bearer. And trust me being a Gokaiger in training, you lot are on your way to being a family yourself. Flurry Heart practically does see you as you as an aunt Rainbow, and it’s up to you to keep an eye on her in the times ahead. You are considered family since she was born. She grew up with you being her aunt Twilight’s best friend all her life. The bond you six had was similar to that of sisters. As a relative from another equestria I'm coming to see my main six besides Twilight as family as well. So from one uncle to adoptive aunt, keep what family you have close for you don't know what you might face” James explained before giving Rainbow a deep look.

“Right that's something I'll do till the day I die. I guess it just hits me now that me and Flurry Heart are all each other has left out of the lives we had before Zangyack.” said Rainbow.

“Don't forget Scootaloo, she’s your sister as well with Applebloom and Sweetie Belle Belle. The five of you share a bond like no other. And before you ask,Flurry Flurry is eavesdropping below on the rope ladders” James said and smirked at hearing a squeak of shock as Flurry climbed into the nest.

“Dragon hearing” explained James to Rainbow’s bemused look.

“So you really think of me as family?” Asked Flurry.

“Yes, it came as a shock to find Cadance was my unknown niece after a thousand years but you are one of the only family I have left. In fact I wouldn't mind if you guys visited my Equestria sometimes. I'm sure we will need the help. Thanks to Blueblood most of the female pony part of the Alliance is out of commission thanks to mind alteration spells. Luckily he’s being put to justice soon. Last I heard, his crimes are enough to get him executed. He tried to destroy the tree of harmony which was where my world’s keyhole is hidden. Destroying the tree would attracted the Heartless like a neon sign. It was only thanks thanks to a scan that I was able to tell what the guy did. I was a bit suspicious about Rarity’s lack of luck in getting a boyfriend. Turns out she was stuck in a loop of trying to find the perfect stallion because Blueblood tried to make her love struck on him. But Rainbow remembers how that gala went, his own behavior ruined that spell’s target stallion and put the spell on a feedback loop. Maybe now she and Spike back home will get together.” James said and it struck them that James looked stressed about the war back in his equestria.

“Damn, just what job do you have?” Asked Rainbow.

“Running an army to fight a literal darkness seeking to destroy everything. Losing a nearly whole fraction to medical leave put a lot more strain in keeping the Heartless out of the areas. You know about the female to male ratio of the pony populace before Zangyack, Rainbow. Blueblood’s actions took a lot of the pony part of the forces from battle. Maternity leave. It's hard trying to keep so many diverse races from fighting amongst each other in one place. This is practically a break for me from the work. We still don't know where Sombra is back home and I'm worried about what he has planned there. I'm trying to actually use the military background my family had on earth to get this through to Equestria’s favor in surviving. My Equestria is right on the edge of a separate multiverse cluster so once I'm sure my Equestria is safe. I’ve got to be sure what other worlds are in my universe that I have to safeguard from the heartless. I don't know how the guy I went as before I was displaced does this kind of thing for years. It's tiring work,” James sighed before noting it had become night.

“it's getting late let's get some sleep maybe Gai will have some information for us when he gets back.” James suggested standing up to lead the way down back to their separate rooms.

Rainbow looked at her ceiling in her room thinking over what she talked about with James. How Gai saw fit to make her Gokai Blue, how she still has family to protect, and about what he told her of the original Gokai Blue. Raising her head to look at the cutlass leaning on on her desk she gave a determined nod.

“I’ll make Captain proud to uphold that mantle, James is right. I’ve got a big pair of shoes to fill. My dream may be to beat Zangyack, but now I'm adding on to it to protect my family. And to do that I'll take on that goal of the original Gokai Blue in being the best swordsman in the universe. As a swordsman James himself might have something to teach me that can help out...” she thought to herself going to sleep unaware that in the Ranger Key chest the Gokai blue key glowed a bit.

(Canterlot)

Gai moved quickly and quietly through the streets of lower Canterlot, ignoring the various beggars, back alley dealers, and illicit stalls, his anger flaring little by little at the various crimes against everypony around him.

“Is this really what Canterlot has become?” He muttered, “this was once a shining beacon to all the world, and now it’s gone to the dogs.”

Gai stopped suddenly, looking up and checking the battered wooden sign hanging above the saloon entrance, it read: The Rogue’s Gallery, followed by the subtext: Bar and Brothel. Sighing heavily, Gai pushed his way through the twin saloon doors.

The tables of the establishment were empty, the building silent. Most of the ‘working mares’ were likely retired to their rooms on the second floor, the only one still up was behind the bar, cleaning the glasses from the previous night’s revelries. Gai walked up to the bar and sat down on one of several stools lined up in front of it.

“Take a look around, stranger, we’re closed,” the mare intoned, not bothering to look up at the human. She was an earth pony and had a slightly poofy orange mane and tail with a yellow coat. She was wearing nothing but lacy black lingerie, with a matching choker and a tiny, frilly black apron attached to her garter belt.

“That’s a shame, I was looking for the Carrot Special,” Gai replied, grinning a bit.
The mare’s green eyes widened, she nearly dropped the glass she was wiping clean as she spun to stare at the cloaked human, who lowered his hood, revealing his grinning face and brown hair, “hey, Carrot Top.”

The mare carefully set down her glass and slapped him, hard, “you bastard! I thought you were dead!”

“I suppose I deserved that,” Gai muttered, rubbing his stinging cheek, “I assume you heard about what went down in Manehattan?”

“Yes! I knew you were reckless, but blowing up half the compound? What the buck were you thinking!?” Carrot Top ranted, placing her palms on the bar and giving Gai a clear view of her cleavage.

“Let’s be honest, you were wondering where your finder’s fee was gonna go, right?” Gai said, giving the mare a sly smirk.

Carrot Top cringed a little at that before sighing heavily, causing her breasts to jiggle a bit, “I keep forgetting that I’m paid to enable idiots, not worry about them on the job,” she leaned back, crossing her arms under her bust, “so? Where is it then?”

“And for a second there I thought you cared!” Gai teased, placing a bag of bits on the counter, “there’s a little extra in there as a late fee, let’s just say shit hit the fan and it took me a while to clean up the mess.”

“Pleasure doing business with you, hon!” Carrot said with a sultry wink as she quickly scooped the bag under the bar top before propping her head up on her elbows and giving Gai a half-lidded stare, “so, anything else I can offer the Silver Scourge? Maybe a ‘Carrot Special’?” She asked, her voice husky.

“Some other time maybe, right now, I’m looking for something… interesting,” Gai replied, reaching into his cloak and retrieving another, slightly larger bag of bits, “I’ll be paying in advance this time, because I’m not sure when I’d be able to swing by again.”

Carrot Top made to snatch the bag, only for Gai to pull it back out of her reach, “nopony else hears about this one, right?” Gai asked sternly, his hard gaze penetrating Carrot’s eyes.

Carrot chuckled a bit, “hon, if I had loose lips I would be terrible at my job, wouldn’t I?”

Gai’s grin returned, “heh, guess so,” this earned him a smack upside the head.

Gai handed over the bit bag and a piece of paper with a sketch of the Heartless symbol on it, “the job has to do with this symbol, supposedly, large groups of monsters are looking for this ‘something interesting’ I mentioned earlier. All of them have this mark on their bodies somewhere.”

Carrot eyed the sketch warily, “this wouldn’t happen to have anything to do with that shit hitting the fan, would it?”

“You’re not thinking of backing out are you, Carrot?” Gai asked.

Carrot scoffed, taking the picture, “please, I’m a professional. I’ll get the girls on the rumor mill, see what they can dig up. Is that all, hon?”

Gai shook his head, placing a few bits on the table, “can I get a drink before I head out? Something decently strong, but not enough to get me piss drunk.”

Carrot nodded, sweeping up Gai’s bits and turning to the wall of bottles behind her. She soon returned with a stein of minotaurian ale, which Gai took thankfully, taking a long pull from the beverage.

“So? You don’t usually care for drinks when you come here on business, did something happen?” Carrot asked, leaning over the counter and giving him that half-lidded stare again.

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Gai replied, taking another sip from his drink, I swear, if James is responsible for my little stalker... “It’s nothing, just a bit grumpy I guess.”

“Aww, does the big, bad pirate want to talk about it?” Carrot teased in a patronizing tone.

“Nope.” Gai said, chugging a bit of his drink.

As if on cue, the doors slammed open, revealing a group of four ponies, all of them brandishing some form of weapon. The first wielded a wooden bat with nails and bolts embedded in it, the second had a machete, the third had a pair of butterfly knives, and the fourth looked as if he had cobbled together a gun out of spare hardware.

“Oi, slut! Me an’ my colts here need a drink on the double!” The gun wielding stallion, presumably the leader, shouted at Carrot Top.

“Sorry hon! We’re closed right now,” Carrot replied sweetly, “we’ll be open real soon though, the girls and I will be sure to take care of all your needs then...” she let her voice trail off suggestively.

“Bitch, don’t bullshit me! You’re already giving that bastard some service, aren’t you?” The lead stallion shouted indignantly.

“He’s… a special case,” Carrot replied, her eyes darting between the stone-faced pirate and the group of thugs. Gai nodded almost imperceptibly, slowly pulling a small knife from the inside of his sleeve, the movement masked by the cloak.

“Buck that!” The machete-wielding pony said, raising the blade towards Gai, “hey buddy, you already got the bitch to spread her legs for you, how’s about you help a brother out, huh?”

“I believe she told you guys to come back later,” Gai said gruffly, “leave before you piss me off.”

“The buck!? Buddy, you’ve got no idea who you’re messing with- GAH!” The thug cried out in pain as Gai’s throwing knife pierced his shoulder.

“I warned you, didn’t I? Leave.”

“Waste ‘em!” The leader cried out as the three uninjured combatants charged the human.

Suddenly a blur went past them, tripping them up as Gai finally got a look at who was following him. She was a female, that much he could tell and resembled a humanoid rabbit who scoffed at the thugs.

“So that’s what my stalker looks like, did James send you?” Gai said casually, finishing off the dregs of his drink and handing the stein back to Carrot Top.

“Yep my name is Beth, James’ twin! nice to meet you. And trust me my brother definitely had a good reason as he felt like you shouldn't be alone here. After all, isn't a sentai stronger with teamwork then alone? That's a Kamen Rider’s thing after all” she said leaning on the counter.

“Bah, I told the kid to leave me alone, not to send his sister to stalk me like some creeper,” Gai growled, getting up from his chair and cracking his knuckles, “I can handle these deadbeats just fine without you, so enjoy the show.”

“One, this is for the creeper comment” she said before kicking Gai in the area between his legs and folded her arms, “second these bozos were not alone. There is about sixteen more on their way and armed or not someone has to watch you back” she continued.

“Is that all?” Gai said, shrugging off the hit, “they should’ve bought an army instead,” With that, Gai charged, grabbing two of the uninjured ponies by the arms and swinging them through the door before grabbing the other two by their manes and dragging them behind him, kicking and screaming.

“Fine be that way but at least let me arm you better than that knife” she said transforming into a sword with her face above the guard that flew into his hand.

“I never go unarmed, lady,” Gai said, thrusting the sword into the floorboards and withdrawing a scarlet cutlass, “like I told your brother, I don’t need help with this.”

“Fine but trust me if there is one thing my brother knows it's that you don't have to always do things alone.” she said with a huff.

“Why do you think I’m building a crew? They’re just not ready yet.” With that, Gai tossed the two ponies out onto the street and exited the building.

“you mean the ones you left alone without making a backup plan. I don't think you want to reveal who you are to this place just yet. I managed to see that there was a few minotaurs in the group heading here.” she replied.

“I’ve tussled with dragons, I’m pretty sure I can handle minotaurs, just sit tight, kid,” Gai leaned back into the bar, “Oi, Carrot, is it ok if I play bouncer for a bit?”

The mare behind the bar gave him a thumbs up before busying herself with cleaning the stein he’d just used, “just make sure not to wreck the place too much, Gai.”

“Will do.”

“Guess I'll just sit here and talk with Carrot then. By the way, I should warn you Gai, my brother has seventeen generations of Irish blood and their temper so try not to get him mad, alright? He’s stressed enough as it is” Beth told him changing back and moving to sit at the counter.

“Meh, if anyone should be pissed right about now, it’s me. No one interrupts my drinks, boards my ship, or sends their sisters in their place without paying for it.” Gai said as the first members of the mob rounded the corner, “sorry gentlecolts, the bar is closed as of right now, please wait until business hours have started before drinking yourselves stupid!” He called out in a patronizing voice.

A large minotaur wearing nothing but a loincloth and a torn tank top strode forward, “outta the way, little one, we’ve got words with the harlot in charge of this place.”

“Ah, sorry, you’ve kind of put me in an awkward position here. You see, I’m suppsed to stop you from doing exactly that, my apologies.” Gai replied, smiling up at the thuggish minotaur.

The minotaur snorted and moved to push past him, only to be stopped in his tracks when Gai placed the tips of his fingers against his solar plexus, “I believe I told you to stop!” With that, Gai completed his one-inch punch, sending the minotaur flying through his posse behind him and crashing into an very unfortunate produce cart.

“MY CABBAGES!” The vendor cried, as all the heads of cabbage were crushed under the weight of the minotaur’s large body.

“Huh Gai really replicated that move well, if it was over the heart that punch is deadly” noted Beth looking to Carrot, amused.

“That tends to happen when you’re the only one stupid enough to fight Zangyack without resorting to suicide tactics,” Carrot murmured.

“GET HIM!” The head pony of the crowd shouted, spurring the group of thugs into a wild charge, makeshift weapons raised.

“Heh.”

Gai whirled into action, stepping in low under the first pony’s guard and grabbing his leg, lifting him effortlessly and using him as a baseball bat against the next pony right behind him, then flung his makeshift weapon into the minotaur with enough force to knock the recovering leader down again.

The next pair got smashed where the sun didn’t shine when Gai stomped his foot, elevating a fist size chunk of the road into their weak points for massive damage, a soft *crunch* echoing through the street.

“Brutal,” Gai muttered, as he twisted a knife-wielding mare’s arm, forcing her to let go of the weapon before taking it and throwing it into the knee of another enemy rushing toward him with a spiked bat.

“Skyrim jokes anypony? Bueller? Bueller?” The somewhat smaller minotaur he was currently gut-punching repeatedly didn’t seem too amused. “Nopony? Fine then,” he sighed casually as he let the minotaur slump to the ground, wheezing.

Gai sized up the few opponents who could still stand, each of them seeming much less sure of themselves than before, “huh, eight left, if you all come at me at once, you might hit me.” He said, standing among the groaning bodies of seven of their compatriots, “so, how’s about it? Fancy a shot at me?”

“Okay now I'm being reminded of my brother when someone threatens family. He’s playing with their heads now” Beth winced, remembering the few times her brother was truly enraged.

“He’s not even seriously mad yet, this is just him being grumpy over having his drinking time interrupted by those loud mouthed idiots, If he was really mad, we’d need to scrape the poor saps off every flat surface,” Carrot said, absentmindedly filing her nails while watching the carnage outside.

“Oh god he shares that with my brother? Interrupt him from having some tea and he goes scary prankster on anyone. Trust me, my brother can scare anyone with his dragon form and dragon fire. I remember when he chased a certain idiot for scaring his kids, not pretty,” Beth asked amused and with a bit of dread.

Carrot Top remained silent at this, blowing some dust off her newly-filed nails.

Just then, Gai came in, stretching and sighing, “welp, they chose to retreat, smarter than the average mook, although I’m not sure whether or not you’ll get much business tonight,” he tossed several of the thugs’ purses onto the counter, “that should take care of tonight’s profits, right?”

Carrot Top nodded, “thanks for the help, hon,” she said placing a glass of icewater on the table, which Gai took and drank down.

“Yeah I think you would get along with my brother just fine. He always had the habit of shouldering the burden alone out of a need to keep those close to him safe. You’re reminding me a lot of him growing up,” Beth told Gai with with a sigh.

“That a fact? Still doesn’t fight the fact he sent his sister to do his dirty work,” he returned the glass to Carrot Top, “why was that group of thugs so eager to get at this place anyway?” Gai asked.

“I… may have kicked out one of their lieutenants last night for being too rough with the girls, I’m guessing he didn’t take kindly to that...”

Gai winced, “ouch, you gonna be ok?”

“Please hon, I’ll just call in a few favors and this will all be forgiven, perks of being an information broker. I get easy access to favors.” She replied, flipping her mane over her shoulder.

“And Gai, my brother knows better than to follow someone being hugely stubborn. That and I volunteered to do this. Unlike you, I'm made of sand now. I'm not that easily hurt. At least I'm way stronger then when I was human. I barely had muscle tone so this body is way better than my old one. Shame that being from the sands of time erased some of my old memories,” Beth informed Gai.

“It really doesn’t matter, getting Displaced is a raw deal, no matter which way you slice it.”

“That's the thing, I'm not a Displaced. You know singularity points?”

“Can the lecture wait until we’re not knee deep in the most crime-ridden city in Equestria?” Gai said, “all I’m saying is that anyone who ever met The Merchant got shafted big time.”

“I never met him last I remember was reality unraveling into oblivion. My brother was anchoring time on our earth and now it’s gone. I don't know how I ended up in his equestria in the first place. I might have just followed that twin bond we had or something. It's a mystery” Beth shrugged. “Anyway you done here? I'm heading back to my brother to rest. That and I got to check on my nieces’ younger selves.”

“Yeah, we’re done,” Gai said, turning to Carrot Top, “contact me the usual route, ok?”

Carrot Top nodded, “it’s about time to open up anyways, say hi to Navi for me!”

“Will do,” Gai replied, snapping open a portal in the floor, “ladies first.”

“Don't think this excuses those insults you gave me, trust me even my brother knows not to piss me off. He always said I had a hair trigger temper.” Beth stated before turning Into an orb of golden light that shot through the vortex.

“Why must every girl I meet be a tsundere…?” Gai muttered Before following her through.

“Maybe it’s because you don't think before you speak” muttered Carrot Top to the empty room.

~End of Part One~

Author's Note

What!? A Cross-Raid with actual TEXT!? WHAT MADNESS IS THIS!?

(JK, this will happen whenever the cross happens in Gai's universe...)

Cross with Kamen rider yokai's story: A Key in Equestria

Cross-raid 3: A Pirate's Heart Part 2

James was waiting on the deck and blinked when Gai returned with a familiar figure.

“Sis? When did you get here I thought you were back at Castle Eclipse!” He asked, making her freeze.

“Um, well…” she said laughing nervously.

“You snuck in here with me and Chrysalis, then snuck off on your own to follow Gai, didn't you.” James stated groaning as he facepalmed.

He turned to Gai, “sorry about her, she has the habit of sneaking off and causing trouble even back when she was human. Scared the crap out of us when she did it at the mall a few times and got lost. Looks like she went and did it again, sis get home before I decide to have you clean the ship as punishment for following me here and running off again.”

With a wide eyed look Beth vanished through a portal, “anything but that! This ship is huge! I'm going!” She yelped as James shook his head.

“God damn it, I really didn't think my twin would still have that habit... and this time she was as much a ninja as I can be at times” he sighed pinching the bridge of his nose.

“It’s fine, I guess. Really I’m more worried about what she may have seen there,” Gai replied, scratching his head.

“Yeah, fair warning: she is incredibly friendly to people and can get into trouble that way, though she seemed tense. Did you say something to offend her?” James asked giving Gai a look.

“Nope, got no idea what you’re talking about James,” Gai said, giving him his best poker face, “I just tend to have that effect on girls. Anyways, I had my contact put their feelers out, we should have a lead in about a few hours.”

“Oh great, so you are the type to not think before you speak. That explains why my sister was tense.” He sighed, “anyway, looks like while we’re waiting, I can try and teach your crew something that can help out in the future,” James said thinking of what he knew in terms of fighting.

“That would be helpful, though they haven’t graduated as Gokaigers just yet. They’re still apprentices.”

“Just going to teach them something handy for crowd control, don't worry. It's variable in nature. Believe it or not not just unicorns and alicorns can use magic among the ponies,” James smiled.

“Dash can already use her ambient magic, but Pip and Flurry could use it as well...” Gai said, rubbing his chin, “I guess that would be ok.”

“Good, I'll get on it after everyone has eaten… say do you know what happened to the local Changelings? They are good informants during this kind of crisis,” James nodded before looking curious.

“Nopony’s seen a changeling in around a decade, they hid themselves after Zangyack invaded, and haven’t come out since. Of course, they’ve tried to find them, but so far no luck.” Gai replied, turning to the Galleon’s living quarters, “time for dinner! Can’t kick ass on an empty stomach!” And with that, Gai marched off.

James shook his head and followed after, “well, if anything I'm being reminded of Naruto. Guy can sometimes be focused solely on food,” he chuckled.

“Oi, there are some things only a good meal can cure. And Kettle’s the best doctor I’ve got, so come on!”

“Hai, Gai-san” James smiled before chasing after him.

After the meal, James stood on the deck looking at the four current ponies of the crew.

“What I'm about to teach you four is something I’ve been planning on teaching back in my Equestria. Dash, Gai mentioned you had a grip on your pegasus magic right? How long has it been since you last used it with clouds? Navi told me how you were imprisoned. So I got to know if what I am going to teach you is going to be easy if you forgot how to use the basics of your magic,” James started looking at the four while his Wife stood with them joining in the lesson.

“Depends on what you're actually teaching us, right?” Asked Rainbow confused at why that was important.

“Because I'm going to teach you to channel elemental magic into your weapons. As former weather manager for ponyville your natural elements are wind, water and lightning. The power of storms themselves. This is a method I came up with to train in a elemental version of one of a keyblade users techniques: the Strike Raid. The elemental magic is closely tied to your personality. Take Twilight Sparkle for example, she was passionate about learning and applying knowledge. She would put her heart into mastering her magic. In Flurry’s case she has access to a good range of elemental magic but her strongest looks to be wind and water. Pip you’re likely a wind elemental, mainly along side earth because of your eager yet hard personality, along with some fire from being passionate about defeating Zangyack as well. I don't know much about Kettle to get a read of his personality, so we’ll have to resort to trial and error.”

A white, fluffy creature with red devil wings and a big red nose popped up onto James’ shoulder.

“As a demonstration, I'll teach you all how to use the normal Strike Raid first. Which is why I tracked down this Moogle on the ship to enchant the cutlasses and the flintlocks to have the same properties as a keyblade... for the most part, anyway. It helps make them a better magic medium. My wife’s shield has the same properties, so she will help teach the technique if you need assistance,” James said as the Moogle flew over handing each of the four a cutlass and a flintlock.

Turning towards a training dummy he’d set up for this, James summoned his Lunar Nocturne keyblade and threw it at the dummy making it whirl as it spun through the air, trailing crescent moons before striking the dummy and returning to James’ hand, only for the action to be repeated three more times.

“This technique is good for mid to long range, and thanks to the enchantments, you won't be unarmed for long. Now, here is a demonstration for the elemental version” James stated before letting his sword become charged with magic before moving it like a certain spell making the blade look like it was covered in ice before tossing it in a Strike Raid. On striking the dummy, it froze solid.

“As you can see, for the elemental version you have to know how magic moves to get a reaction in the way you want. You can also use this for normal combat as a separate technique on its own. For the ice version, you have to feel the magic cool down and become rigid. These techniques become handy for facing a large amount of foes and even for dazing a single one if done properly. For lightning, it has to move quickly and rapidly. There are also certain tiers to the techniques. I'll let you figure out the rest of the applications on your own.”

More dummies popped up.

“For now practice Strike Raid on these dummies I’ve got set up. To recall your weapon, just imagine yourself tugging a kind of line attached to your weapon. Chrysalis here will oversee your training in this and time you on it. Though she will join you when it comes to the elemental raids. Good luck, I'll be talking to your Captain for a bit” James stated, chuckling inwardly at the amazed expressions on the four faces.

“Before I go, one last tip. It helps if you let your emotions guide the magic as what you feel effects the technique itself. Rainbow, you know this having seen Twilight do it when she was trying to figure out the Pinkie Sense,” He added before walking away to leave them to their training.

He found Gai sitting on the prow of the ship, legs crossed and eyes closed in meditation, “You know, Rainbow’s not that rusty, training like hers doesn’t go away that easily,” he said, his eyes still closed, “and with her somewhat competitive nature, she’s likely to master Strike Raids by tomorrow.”

“I know but I figured it would help her to redo the basics. Better control from the foundation so to speak. Plus, people don't really know about how emotions effect magic. Changelings like my wife are masters at that part of magic. I quickly mastered Strike Raid because of Discord. Turned Luna suicidal with his dulling color trick before he was sealed into stone the first time. Plus it would help in the long run.”

“I guess,” Gai said, not breaking his meditation.

“So do you know where Spike is in this world? It might help if you locate him and convince him to be a blacksmith he has that profession back home” James said with a chuckle watching the four practicing the recall of their weapons.

“Spike’s not someone I should bother. Ever.” Gai replied, a slight edge to his voice.

“Also that Moogle I found has agreed to being the mechanic to help keep this ship going. Technically, the Galleon counts also as a Gummi ship in Kingdom Hearts terms. You're going to need a mechanic at some point.”

“True, but I’d rather pick members of my crew myself.” Gai groused, lazily opening one eye, “If he’s gonna stick around, I might as well give the little guy a name.”

Thinking of something James sighed and pulled out the Gokai Skeletal ranger key looking at the skull based helmet of it. This caught Gai’s eye.

“What’s that? Looks like a Ranger Key, but there definately hasn’t ever been a Sentai member like that.”

“That's because for all intents and purposes he didn't exist normally. This Gokaiger key is actually a impossibility. This is the key of the undead pirate who guards the realm of the dead, Gokai Skeletal. A key I designed in a story back before I was Displaced. Which means that the original character I created to use this key existed somewhere and something sent the key across reality. I based it off the skeleton key pirates used to use in the past. You can't possibly imagine what that has done to my mind on figuring out how it exists” James told him with a look at the key still trying to come to terms with that. The implications alone were scary enough.

“Hmm...” Gai hummed as he stared at the impossible Ranger Key in James’ hand, “at this point, I’m just willing to just roll with it, fact of the matter is that it exists, I’m sure the reason why is going to present itself eventually.” Gai said, shrugging.

At that moment the key begins to glow, blinding the two as they found themselves in a white void that both recognized.

“This is-!” James said wide eyed.

“What’re we doing here…?” Gai mumbled, looking around.

“That would be because of me” said a younger voice as walking up to them was a blue haired teen in a purple tattered pirate coat and jeans with boots.

“Tamashii Souto!” James said, a bit surprised and nervous.

“You know this guy?” Gai asked, cocking an eyebrow towards James.

“Remember when I said this key was for my OC?” Asked James giving him a deadpan look. “He’s Gokai Skeletal” he pointed at Tamashii.

“Ok...” Gai muttered, turning to Tamashii, “so, what does James’ old OC want with us?”

“Simple, to let you be able to give my powers to someone to help out your world. Basco won't expect SEVEN Gokaigers. That should throw him off, though what do you mean I'm a OC?” Asked Tamashii after explaining.

“Don’t worry about it. Though, Basco is my mess to clean up, I’ll be the one to do so.” Gai stated, “I won’t say no to an additional member though.”

“This is awkward already. In a way I created your key” James sighed scratching his head.

“Ah… I can see why that's awkward and yeah that I can understand. Also, I came to hand you my remaining gear to go with the key. Just ask James here what they are as if he made my key, he knows the rest of my gear.” Said Tamashii mirroring my action before clearing his throat.

Gai turned back to James, “well?”

“He uses his own version of the mobirates called a Skullbirate, a scythe version of your spear and his own skipper that becomes it's own mech. Plus his own extra mode called reaper mode. That's pretty much it” James told him as it has been years since he thought of those.

“So basically, Gokai Silver. Just with a bit more edge?” Gai asked.

“More like a mix of regular Gokaigers with a ghost theme. It is kind of his thing. I was inspired by the ghost ship movie there.” James shrugged.

“Well, like I said, I won’t turn down an additional crew member, just need to find one more person than I originally intended,” Gai said, turning back to Tamashii, “welcome aboard, Souto.”

“Then we are finished here, though remember it's just my powers, my time has already past. Just make sure whoever does get my mantle has enough spiritual awareness. I'm known as the Guardian of the land of the dead for a reason,” said Tamashii.

“Got it, but it’s always good practice to welcome someone who’s lending their power to you. Doesn’t matter if they’ve kicked the bucket already,” Gai said holding out his hand, “looking forward to working with you, Souto-kun.”

He clasped his hand and gave it a shake. “Likewise, and to let you know I'm sure the Gai I know is proud of you. Just don't be hard on your crew and your set” Tamashii laughed.

With that the two found themselves back on the ship. James looked at the key before handing it to Gai. It glowed as a skeleton themed mobirates formed with a brace with a keyhole and a scythe gun appeared on the deck nearby.

“Well, that was something” James said, noting that there was also a Ranger Key of his keyblade armor there as well.

“Definitely a first,” Gai sighed, “guess things are just gonna get weirder the longer I’m at this ‘Displaced’ thing, huh?” He snapped a portal open under the newly acquired equipment, “now then… we wait for the information to come through. Should be here around closing time...”

“You did remember to let your informant know how to contact you right?” Asked James not sure if he did.

“Please, she’s been at this a long time. We got over that particular hiccup a long time ago,” Gai said, waving his hand dismissively, “she just can’t get the message to us during business hours.”

“Just making sure. Say have you ever met Insarn? I'm not exactly sure on if she actually died. It's been awhile since I saw the show” James said, leaning on the railing to look at the landscape from there.

“No, Basco’s the only high-ranking Zangyack official on Equus, pretty sure the Conquest Fleet has better things to do than to mess around near a planet they’ve already conquered.”

“Wait I just thought of something. What happened to a certain mirror Twilight kept? The one where Sunset Shimmer is” James asked confused on if Zangyack found it.

“I don’t know if Rainbow told you, but Ponyville’s pretty much cinders by now. Basco knew exactly where to hit to make sure the Equestrians had no resources left to defend themselves or run.”

“Shit, unless Rainbow saw what happened you might not be able to warn Sunset about Zangyack. If they got into that universe well that's two worlds in danger.” James sighed feeling that things definitely looked grim on the odds here.

“I don’t think we need to worry about Sunset, that mirror portal can only be opened once every moon without Twilight’s modifications, and I’m sure she destroyed the mirror itself in order to protect her friends on the other side. Otherwise, I know for a fact there’d be two Rainbow Dashes here.”

“Well that's a relief, I'm going to take a short nap and get some rest. Wake me when you got news” James said looking up at the moon and heading towards the group who was packing up and nodded to them as he passed.

“Will do, James...” Gai muttered as he resumed his meditation again.

“Okay what did your informant find out?” Asked James once everyone gathered to do a briefing.

“All we’ve got is one incident where noises had been heard deep in the caverns under Canterlot Castle… or what remains of it anyway,” Gai began, reading off the message on his Gokai Cellular, “when ponies went to investigate, they found the Heartless symbol splashed all over the walls, as if someone had painted them there.”

Gai put away the Cellular, “so, we’ve either found them, or we have a lead on some vandals that happen to know what the symbol looks like. Either way, it’s worth looking into.”

“So the old Canterlot Caverns, those should still be there in the mountain. Chrysalis can teleport us in there and we can sneak our way up that way. It's the same place she once trapped Cadence back home.” James noted looking at a map.

“I already already apologized for that, Flurry. I was desperate for my Hive at the time” she told the princess across from her. She had made the mistake of telling Flurry about how she met her parents while Gai was away, and was still trying to make up for her part in that adventure. Even if she wasn't the Chrysalis from this world.

“Regardless, James and I will investigate the Castle, it could still be nothing after all,” Gai said, glaring at Flurry for her stubbornness, “we’ll call if it turns out to be the real deal.”

“Right, well better get ready hun” James told his wife as he stood up and followed Gai.

“I’ve got this,” Gai said, snapping a portal in front of them, “Chryssi should stay here in case more Heartless show up. We can handle a little spelunking on our own, right James?”

“Dude I work pretty well with my wife. Plus your weapons are enchanted to be able to be fight them now. Plus this is still a thing” James said as his wife vanished as as orb of light covered him, when it died down he was now in crimson versions of his clothes and held two keyblades. “Drive Forms are a result of our bond” he explained with as smirk.

“Fine, we’ll be right back then, Rainbow and Navi are in charge.” Gai said, stepping through the portal.

“Aye!” came the reply from the crew as the portal snapped shut behind Gai and James.

James took as look at the familiar caverns with green crystals. “I'm surprised Zangyack hasn't found these yet. These crystals are like magic batteries, if used right” he said with with a whistle.

“Kinda helps when the criminal scum of Canterlot make anything more than patrols nearly impossible,” Gai said, walking forward, “this way, the report said that the first symbol was further in.”

Walking down it they eventually found the area with the Heartless emblem all over the place.

“Yeesh, these are as detailed as Namine’s drawings! But why draw these like this? It makes no sense at all?” James said examining one.

“Since when has Kingdom Hearts made sense?” Gai grumbled as he inspected one of the symbols, “this one’s still relatively fresh. Culprit must be nearby.”

“It stopped making sense when Xehanort revealed he can time travel,” James said with with a wince before nodding to Gai.

“Seriously, when can we dig a grave for that bastard?” Gai groused as he inspected more of the symbols.

“You’re not the first to think so. Hey these symbols are pointing in the same direction! They must be the path the culprit took!” James said before noticing something about the emblems. “this is starting to feel like a trap.”

“Pretty sure that was the intention, this doesn’t look like the random act of a brainless Heartless.”

“The only one who might do something like this is a certain former fairy turned witch dragon” James said with a frown.

“Oi, she wasn’t totally evil, or were you Displaced before that movie came out?” Gai joked, following the trail of emblems.

“The latter, I got teased enough by fellow Displaced for missing it. Though it explained a lot that was missing from that story” James told him knowing not to take offense.

“Shame, it was a good one.”

Soon enough they could hear voices from down the tunnel and they started to slow down to sneak down it and eavesdrop. James and Gai peered inside the cavern.

A pair of colossal double doors dominated the room ahead. Both doors each having a motif of a sun and moon respectively. Various runes and spell circles meant to seal the door shut were carved into the designs, all centered around a lock shaped like a starburst over a crystalline heart, a large black keyhole looked as though it had burned it’s way through the material however. Before the doors was a massive suit of armor, stoically standing guard over the doors, a large Heartless Emblem left no doubt as to why it was there. James gave off a annoyed sigh before donning his keyblade armor.

“You take the legs I get the hands then tag team the torso work for you? This thing won't be easy if it switches to the opposite armor. I remember how strong that thing gets in that form” James offered up a strategy looking at the heartless.

“As good a plan as any… on your go?” Gai asked, unfolding the Gokai Spear and preparing himself to lunge at the giant Heartless.

“on three… one, two, three!” James counted down as both of them went after their designated targets. James leapt at one of the hands slashing with his keyblade building momentum as he spun keeping himself aloft which worked to keep the other hand from knocking him away by striking it too. With a quick mutter of aero and fire the technique made him look like a firestorm which helped destroy the limbs he was facing.

Gai’s Spear crackled with electricity as he stabbed the prongs into the knee of the giant Heartless, grabbing the spear in both hands, he tore it across, rending a line of lightning to the other leg. Destroying the limbs with a loud sizzle of electrified metal.

With their targets taken care of both made short work of the torso using hit and run tactics not letting it be able to target one without the other covering until it shuddered and fell a large crystalline heart rising from it and it vanished.

“Phew, guess together we are quite high level” James said resting his keyblade on his shoulder. Turning to the keyhole that was revealed he pointed his keyblade at it. Streams of light gathered at the tip before it released a beam into the keyhole and with a loud click sound it vanished letting a object drop from where it was. Curious, James picked it up.

“A ranger key… of my keyblade armor! Guess this is yours Gai!” James said tossing it to the space pirate. Looking around he sighed. “guess whoever was here is long gone now. They must have missed the keyhole and set the guard armor as a well, guard, for the area just in case. Let's head back you won't have anymore heartless trouble at least.”

Gai caught the key, staring at it. It looked like a regular suit of armor crossed with one of the main Gokaiger suits. There was a sudden hissing noise as Gai snapped his head up to see several pools of dark energy appearing around the cavern.

“Admiral Akbar would be having a field day right now...” Gai muttered, “Oi, James, looks like Murphy decided to screw with us.”

Looking up James frowned. “those are corridors of darkness used by Organization Xlll! Those are not heartless portals! They’re Nobody portals! By the look of it it's the twelve currently existing members!” he said recognizing the human sized holes of darkness.

With that revealed twelve beings in black coats appeared on the roof of the ruined castle.

“Well, well, look at this a keyblade wielder I thought they died out about eight years ago” said one of the figures sounding like a surfer.

“What brings beings like you here! I thought you prefered to watch from the shadows why reveal yourselves now” James stated gripping his keyblade.

“Oh looks like someone is well informed it seems. We just wanted to see why there was a influx of Heartless being destroyed recently and now we know” said a cold calculating voice that made James glare more in hate.

“how about we test your skills little keyblade wielder.” said the only female of the group with a sadistic tone.

“I'm going to have to decline there!” James said as he threw down a smoke bomb which covered the area in smoke and when one of the figures made a gust of wind blow it away both James and Gai were gone.

“Smart of him. He knew he wasn't ready to face us yet so he pulled a retreat. But it will only be a matter of time before we cross paths again” said one of the teen sized figures.

“We got what we came for let's return” said their leader as they left this world.

-Gokai galleon-

James panted as he leaned against the railing a bit shook up. “Damn it! I thought I had more time before they caught wind of me! At least I still have a bit of time to prepare.” he said looking up to meet the worried eyes of his wife.

“What are you talking about?” Asked Rainbow.

“How much do you know about kingdom hearts?” James asked Gai, thinking on how much to explain to them depending on the answer.

“Enough to know that Organization Xlll is bad news, if they’re here, then we’re in for another world’s worth of problems...” Gai grumbled, “would’ve probably been better to try and cut them down before they could prepare.”

“Nope not a good idea. Each member is a master of an elemental nature. Their leader Xemnas is the remains of the person Ansem seeker of darkness originated from.”

“Only one element mastered for each member?” Gai asked, “I’d like to see them get through Sensei’s teachings then.” He remarked, grimacing a bit.

“Better not, here’s the kicker: Xemnas is a former keyblade master in another keyblade user’s body. Who knows how much experience he retains there. It took Sora and Riku together to beat him. Which if what they’re saying is right, won't be for another 4 years” James sighed, “I'm not at the level to fight them yet and I hoped to stay off their radar for a while longer”

“Even so, if they’re here, then there’s some kind of plan involved. Sitting around and waiting for it to happen isn’t going to do much in our favor.”

“I don't really have a choice on that front, their plan is to use a keyblade holder to defeat so many heartless and create a false kingdom hearts. With them knowing about me, now they will soon have five of them to pick from.”

“Not what I meant James, you know that. Given the trouble they can cause, a preemptive strike would’ve been a good idea.” Gai said, cocking an eyebrow.

“They probably left back to their base off world, so it's high time me and my wife returned to ours, I’ve got to give the others the news.”

He snapped, as if remembering something.

“Oh, and when Halloween swings by you’re welcome over to my world, we’ll be visited by the Pumpkin King Jack, I could introduce you sometime then.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Gai replied, holding out a fist, “‘till next time then.”

James smirked and bumped it. “You know it! Later Gai, and you guys better make sure he doesn't do anything too idiotic I'm sure there might be stories to hear next time we meet!”

“Oi!” Gai sputtered indignantly, “the hell do you mean by ‘idiotic’!?”

“Anything that embarrasses you more than the original Gai is something that ends up as worthy blackmail or teasing material!” James laughed.

“Just get back to your verse already,” Gai grumbled, crossing his arms, his ears burning red.

With that both keyblade wielder and changeling vanished the token falling to the deck.

“Gai…? Mind telling me about this Organization Xlll stuff James was talking about?” Dash asked, giving her Captain a quizzical look.

Gai just sighed and scratched his head, withdrawing the two new keys he’d received and picking up James’ token from the deck, “honestly Dash? This is another thing that’ll keep you sane by not knowing enough about. Especially with Kingdom Hearts’ crazy timeline. That, and I don’t know enough to give you a proper explanation.”

With that, Gai turned and headed for the Galleon’s living quarters, juggling the three items in his hand.

Author's Note

AAAAAAANNNNND WEEEEEEE AAAAAARE DONE!

Sorry the second half came out so late guys, real life got us on both ends of this cross!

Part 2 of the cross with Kamen rider yokai's story: A Key in Equestria

Captain's Log 3: Raid

I'll never forget that first battle, it's forever etched into my mind...

I took a deep breath in an attempt to settle my nerves, "you sure about this, J?" I asked, the tension clear in my voice.

"Dude, you've been able to move freely with that thing on for weeks, and we're almost out of food, so..." Jacob replied, shaking his head, "trust me, I don't really like the prospects of this any more than you do, but we're shit out of options, and we don't exactly have job skills or the trust of Equestria's populace."

Dammit, I knew he was right, but this nervous feeling in my gut just wouldn't leave!

The Galleon was currently flying in the lower stratosphere, pulling up to a Zangyack Dreadnaught. Jacob and I were about to embark on our first act of piracy.

"Looks like they haven't noticed us yet, this ship must have stealth tech up the ass," Jacob muttered, propping his foot up on the ship's railing and leaning his saber on his shoulder.

"G-guess so..." I muttered, moving my hand up to the bridge of my nose to push up glasses that weren't there anymore. Jacob caught this and laughed out loud, "don't tell me you're getting cold feet now, Ika-chan~" he teased.

"Screw off dude, I'm not used to having twenty-twenty vision, that's all!"

Jacob just laughed harder, slamming his free fist into his leg.

"Knock it off!" I shouted in indignation, "I've never been in a real fight before, so sue me!"

Jacob let his laughter fade into a chuckle and sheathed his saber, turning to me, "close your eyes and take a deep breath," he instructed.

"what the hell is meditation gonna do?" I groused, crossing my arms.

"Just hurry up and do it!" Jacob urged, lightly whacking me on top of the head.

"Gah! Fine!" I grumbled, closing my eyes and sucking in a lungful of air. Strangely enough, it did seem to lower my tension a bit, but not nearly enough to get rid of the burning, sour feeling in the pit of my stomach.

I never saw it coming.

Suddenly, all the wind was knocked out of me and I was sent sprawling to the deck, my eyes nearly bugging out of my sockets from the impact.

I looked up to see Jacob standing above me, his arm was still extended from the sucker punch to the gut, "what the fuck was that for, you bastard!?" I roared, springing to my feet and grabbing his collar, my right fist poised to deck him in the face.

Jacob raised his hands in surrender, "oh? I see you're not nervous anymore! That nasty temper of yours must've helped."

I blinked, realizing that he was right, the tension in my gut was gone, "huh, guess you're right about that..." I muttered.

"Great, great... do you mind putting me down now?" Jacob asked, pointing downwards. I looked down and saw that I was currently holding him a few inches off the Galleon's deck.

A mad grin sliced across my face.

"Dude, what's that grin for? No. Nonononononononononono!" Jacob begged, waving his hands wildly before I decked him in the face, sending him sprawling to the deck.

"That's for the sucker punch, asshole!" I crowed triumphantly.

"I suppose I deserved that then..." Jacob muttered picking himself up and clamping a hand on his cheek, "so? What now?"

"Now," I said with a mad grin still on my face, "we roll out the red carpet!" I pulled out the Gokai Cellular, "Navi, you ready to stick it sideways to these guys?"

"Aye Sir! All Cannons are ready to let loose on your mark!" Navi squawked from her place at the Galleon's control room

"Excellent," I turned to Jacob, "how about you? Ready for our first raid as pirates?"

"You have to ask?" Jacob chuckled, "if anything I should be the one asking that question!"

"Oh, quit your whining," I said as I inserted the Gokai Silver key into the Cellular and crossed my arms over my chest, "Gokai Change!"

GOOOOOOOOOKAIGER!!!

"Oi, the pot called, he says you're black," Jacob muttered, drawing his sword and gun, "should we give Navi the signal?"

"I was getting to that," I muttered, resting the Gokai Spear on my shoulder and speaking into the gokai Cellular again, "Navi, wreck 'em."

"Aye Sir!"

The cannons on the Galleon roared, spitting fiery death on the side of the ambushed Zangyack ship as cycles of three volleys blasted into the hull, easily tearing a large hole in the side.

"Grappling hooks!" I yelled as several grappling guns popped out of the deck, firing their lines into the hull of the Dreadnaught, pulling the unfortunate ship closer to the scarlet pirate vessel.

I turned to Jacob, holding out a fist, "ready to go?"

"heh, you damn hypocrite, what happened to 'never being in a real fight before'?" He replied, bumping my fist with his own.

"First time for everything, right?" I said, twirling the Gokai Spear over my head as the shadows of several squads of Gormin appeared down the hall we'd just blown a hole into.

"You know we have to say it, right?"

"Of course! What kind of pirate or Gokaiger would I be if I didn't say it!?"

"On three then?"

I nodded.

"AVAST AND PREPARE TO BE BOARDED!" We both cried, charging off the railing and into a crowd of Gormin, "LET'S MAKE THIS SHOWY!"

Turns out, that day was when we found our first batch of Ranger Keys. That ship didn't have much else except tons of bits...

Author's Note

... I don't need to do character bios again for this, do I? No new characters yet...

Captain's Log 4: Here, There Be Dragons

I shouted as I brought the head of the Gokai Spear into Jacob's waiting guard, his parry executed perfectly as he allowed the weight of my strike to guide my trident's blade to slide off to the side. Spinning, Jacob brought the saber around, the blade flashing in a deadly arc.

Reacting quickly, I brought the haft of the spear to block before kicking the three-pronged head so that it collided with the back of Jacob's knee, forcing him into a kneeling position that he rolled out from, coming up into a low en garde stance as the two of us circled on the Galleon's main deck. Both of us sizing the other up.

"Remember, if I win, I'm cooking tonight!" I taunted, giving the Spear a twirl before dropping my stance a little. I was more accustomed to swords due to my time fencing back on earth, so switching to a Spear had been a bit awkward at first. Thankfully, it turned out to be a somewhat easier weapon to use once I got used to the once unwieldy length of the trident/halberd hybrid.

"Well then, I'd better be sure not to lose then!" Jacob shot back, moving in to lunge. I grinned as I moved to counter him, unlike me, Jacob had taken to his new weapons like a fish to water, and had quickly grown proficient with them thanks to my teaching him everything he needed to know about fencing with a saber.

I guess this is what a teacher feels like once his student learns something... I thought as I narrowly avoided his lunge and sweeping for his legs with the haft of the spear. Jacob deftly jumped over the sweep, twisting himself around in midair.

Though maybe I've made myself predictable... I mused as I caught his blade in the prongs of my Spear, grinning as I brought my off hand around in a straight punch to his gut.

Jacob staggered back a few feet, wheezing slightly. "What's wrong, J?" I asked, propping the Spear against my shoulder and extending my hand in a 'come on' gesture, "you're gonna end up having to eat my cooking or starving to death at this rate!"

Jacob chuckled as he got his second wind, "I think anyone would choose starvation at this point. Especially with that witch's brew you call 'cooking'."

"Oi! Rude! At least my cooking doesn't look like it came from a TV dinner!" I retorted.

"At least mine's edible." He shot back.

"Oh, you've gone and done it now!" I cried as I lunged at him with a wide, low sweep of my Spear, hoping to catch him off guard with the sudden powerful strike.

I caught his grin too late. Shit!

He leaped and flipped right over my swing, landing behind me and spinning around to strike the middle of my back with the pommel of his saber, causing me to fall due to my already poor footing due to me overcommitting to the attack.

I scrambled to my knees, only to pause as I felt the edge of Jacob's saber at my neck. I slowly set the Spear down and raised my hands, "Ok J, you got me. You're cooking tonight."

Jacob kept the blade there.

I looked up at him, "Uh... J? You can let me up now, you win."

Jacob shook his head, as if coming out of a trance. He grinned and sheathed his saber, "Sorry man, guess I got a little too into it." He said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head before offering me a hand.

I returned the grin and took it, letting him pull me up before lapping my free hand on his back, "You had me going for a sec there bro, I almost thought you were serious!" I said, chuckling.

"Well someone has to cook up the rat poison on this ship, and it sure as hell isn't gonna be me." He retorted.

I stepped back and slapped him on the chest, "Oi! Damare baka! One win and you're already dissing me?"

Jacob cocked an eyebrow, "Slipping into Japanese again? Just because you look like Gai doesn't make you a person from the land of the rising sun, dude."

"And what about you, Basco ta Jolokia? You keep calling me Ika-chan, and last I checked, I wasn't a giant robotic squid." I shot back.

"Ok, fair point..." He muttered, crossing his arms over his chest.

I bent down to pick up the Spear again when Navi flew out onto the deck, squawking in panic, "You guys! We've got incoming!" She screeched, causing me and Jacob to clap our hands over our ears, cringing from the sound.

"Navi! Pipe down! How many?" I shouted over the ringing in my ears.

The little clockwork parrot stopped her panicked fluttering and turned to face me, "Three incoming, they're moving too slowly to be Sugormin in flight mode."

I rubbed my chin, "It could be a group of pegasi, but we're not close enough to any pony settlements, are we?"

"No, I think we passed over the Badlands two days ago, and there's been nothing but water under us since then..." He trailed off, his eyes slowly widening before turning to Navi, "Arm the cannons and antipersonnel turrets, but don't fire yet, we're not sure if they're hostile."

I turned to Jacob, worried, "What for? There's no way ponies would try and attack us with only three of them, right?"

"Remember what's across from the southern end of the Celestial Sea?" He asked.

My eyes widened in realization, "Oh shit dude."

He nodded, "Yup, we're right over Dragon territory."

My next words were interrupted by the rapidly approaching sound of wingbeats as the dragons approached. I turned to face the noises only to quickly bring up the haft of my spear to block a sword strike to my neck, the gleaming metal of the falchion inches from my skin. The dragon wielding the blade growled, the low rumbling filling the air.

He was dressed in bronze scale plate armor, a horned helmet covered his head and amber eyes gleamed through the helmet's visor. I could just barely make out the bright red scales peeking out in between chinks in the armor before he kicked me in the stomach, winding me and causing me to stagger back a few steps.

I wheezed and clutched my stomach as spots danced before my eyes. The Gokai Spear clattered to the floor as I fell to my knees, coughing and choking as air struggled to flow back into my lungs.

"Zangyack scum!" The armored dragon snarled as he lunged again, falchion blade flashing as the point whistled through the air.

CLANG!

The sound of metal on metal shook me out of my stupor as I looked up to see Jacob's saber intercepting the dragon's attack. "Oi, don't tell me you're down and out now!" He said over his shoulder, struggling to hold back the dragon's falchion. I wheezed, picking up the Gokai Spear and using it to help myself to my feet. "Damn slave driver..." I coughed one more time before folding the spear into gun mode and taking a shaky aim before squeezing the trigger.

A lance of azure light flashed out of the barrel and barely grazed the side of the dragon's helm, leaving a scorch mark on the once gleaming metal. The dragon snarled in response, forcing Jacob back and backhanding him, sending him reeling to the deck before charging me, taking my neck in a clawed hand and bringing me to the floor. The Spear clattered out of my grip as he pinned me to the deck.

"You alien bastards think you can come and take whatever you want, don't you?" He snarled, raising his falchion to finish me off. "How does it feel to be here without your metal soldiers, huh!?"

I gagged and scrabbled uselessly at his harm, trying to leverage more air into my lungs. "We're not... we're not Zangyack!" I choked out in desperation as my head began to feel fuzzy. My vision began to fade to black as a burning sensation filled my chest.

"Garble! That's enough!" Cried a voice. Garble's grip relaxed slightly, allowing sweet, life-giving air into my lungs again. I began to cough and sputter like a fish out of water, renewing my efforts to get free from the clawed hand pinning me down.

Garble snarled and pressed down again, cutting off my air. "Are you kidding me!? We finally managed to capture one of their ships!"

"Let him go, Garble. That's an order!" The voice called again, carrying more of a threat than before.

"Fine." He grunted, letting go of my throat and stepping back again, keeping his blade pointed at me. I didn't care as I was still too busy getting more air into my lungs before staggering to my feet and stumbling drunkenly towards Jacob, who was still sprawled out where Garble had knocked him down before. A nasty-looking bruise was forming on the left side of his head and he was out cold.

"Oi, J! Wake up" I rasped out, going to my knees and lightly slapping his face. "Jacob, wake up!"

Jacob groaned, cracking his eyes open even though one was already beginning to swell shut. "Di' we get 'em?" He slurred, a slightly misshapen grin forming on his face.

I returned his grin, my laughter cut off by the soreness of my throat. "No, we got royally fucked up."

Jacob closed his eyes again and laid his head back so that he was looking at the sky. "Damn, and I was hoping you'd get the guy who busted up my mug for me!"

I couldn't help it anymore, I laughed, only to end up coughing as my throat was aggravated by the action. "Gah! Damn, remind me never to laugh after getting choked out by a dragon with anger management issues again."

"Kinky."

Our laughter was cut short by the sound of a throat being cleared behind us. I turned my head to the three dragons now standing on the deck of the Galleon. Garble was standing off to the right, his sword was still drawn, and he looked as though he was waiting for a reason to use it again. The second was a very familiar-looking purple scaled dragon with emerald eyes and spines. A simple breastplate covered his chest and upper abdomen while a scarlet cape was clasped around his shoulders, coming down to the small of his back. Two metal vambraces covered his forearms and he eyed us with an even stare. The final figure was female if the more slender design of her scale plate didn't give it away already. She stood half a head shorter than her companions, yet gave off an aura of pure command. Her clawed hand rested on the crystalline short sword resting on her right hip, a blood red jewel rested in the pommel of the crystalline weapon.

"I am Dragon Lord Ember, these two are former Dragon Lord Spike and Honor Guard Captain Garble." She began, stepping forward, her grip on her weapon tightening slightly as she approached us.

"I'll get to the point: Who are you, and why are you intruding on our skies?"

Author's Note

With this, I declare the Dragon Lands arc of the Captain's Logs open! Hopefully these will have more plot than before >.>

For reference as to what a falchion is, here's a picture:

For those that don't know, the 'Giant Robotic Squid' line was in reference to Ika Origami from Shinkenger

Which Shinken Gold called "Ika-chan."

Also, I'm not sure as to what to call Gai before he fully accepted his new name, so Jacob will only be referring to him via pronouns >.>

Also: Tsun Dragon is Best Dragon.

Raid 6: A New Lead

The earth pony stallion typed hurriedly on the console, a bead of sweat trickling down his forehead as he worked. In front of the console was a large, sealed cylindrical chamber with six multicolored gems floating inside. Five of which were orbiting a pink starburst which was glowing slightly. The stallion's attention was fixed solely on the gem shaped like a red lightning bolt, however, as the brightly glowing gem was the only one to resist his efforts.

"Why won't you submit...?" He muttered, wiping the sweat from his brow before returning his shaky hands to the keyboard, typing in more commands. A small emitter aligned itself with the scarlet gem, causing a beam of blue light to blaze forth, striking the gem. "Come on, come on..." he muttered, his attention focused solely on the screen.

His focus was interrupted by the sound of the powered doors opening behind him, causing him to flinch and turn around just as the beam vanished with a sound similar to shattering glass. "W-welcome back, Lord Basco..." He stammered, cowering next to the console.

The figure stepped into the light, revealing a human with shoulder-length curly hair and a cocky smirk on his face. He was dressed in an olive tunic with a red shawl around his shoulders and maroon pants with shin-high black boots. A gaudy tricorn hat sat on his head as he regarded the cowering scientist. "Yo, Hakaze. What's the progress on your task?" He asked, his expression unchanged.

The stallion trembled, his fear clearly evident on his face. "F-four out of the six have been subjugated, Lord Basco. Loyalty still resists, and as long as it does we cannot subjugate Magic."

"Four, huh?" Basco muttered, crossing his arms and chewing on his cheek. His silence only heightened the fear growing in the scientist as he tried to make himself as small as possible. "That tree's fruit sure are stubborn, aren't they, Hakaze?" Basco mused as he walked closer to the console, leaning over it and reading the error message on the terminal. "Especially when one of the Bearers still lives."

A small flicker of hope began to bloom within the stallion, one that was quickly stamped out as soon as Basco turned his attention back to him. The human -no, the monster was still giving him an easy smile, but his eyes made it seem like the vilest demon in Tartarus was looking right at him.

"Hurry and finish this up, you're on a deadline. Gai may have gotten stronger, but we can't just give him the lead, now can we?"

Gai sneezed, causing his head to jerk up and bonk against the roof of the maintenance hatch he was currently in. "Gah! Dammit!" He grumbled, rubbing the spot on his forehead. "I gotta remember to dust these sometime, that or someone's talking about me."

"Are you ok in there, Captain?" Pipsqueak said from outside the hatch, setting down the toolbox he was carrying.

"I'm fine, Pip. Just hit my head when I wasn't expecting it. Can you hand me that wrench?" He pointed to the tool he needed. Pipsqueak passed the requested tool to him. A cranking sound filled the air as Gai finished with what he was doing before wriggling out carefully and dusting himself off. "There, engine maintenance checklist is done!"

"That took longer than I expected, didn't think you'd be so thorough," Pip said, placing the toolbox back in a nearby locker. Gai chuckled, "A Captain may go down with his ship, but that doesn't mean that said ship should go down easily. The Galleon isn't just our home, it's another tool in our arsenal. It's our job to know her from stem to stern and make sure she's running properly."

"Is that why you have Flurry and Rainbow Dash cleaning the deck and hull?" Pip asked, his eyebrow raised.

"Precisely," Gai replied, stretching out and going over his own mental checklist of what else needed doing on the ship.

"But Captain, we're still in the air," Pip interjected.

"Your point?"

"We're flying." He deadpanned.

"Yes, because we're on an airship." Gai said, crossing his arms.

"And you have them cleaning the hull in midair because...?" Pip asked, his voice trailing off in expectation.

Gai blinked, "Because they're the ones with wings, why?"

Pipsqueak just facepalmed, sighing in aggravation. "That's not the point, Captain, and you know it." Gai laughed at this and clapped Pip on the back, causing the young earth pony to buckle slightly. "I know, but we can't set the Galleon down without exposing her to every Zangyack ship in the area. Powering off the engines means shutting down the stealth tech that keeps us relatively safe."

"Is that why you only set us down at the Animarium?"

Gai nodded, "The Animarium is hidden by its own natural magic, no one finds it unless they were meant to. Don't ask me how it works, it's just how the Priestess explained it to me when I first landed there."

Pipsqueak cocked his eyebrow, "Priestess?"

Gai nodded and fingered the lapel of his coat, "She's the one who made this coat for me, and the one who helped convince Sensei to teach me magic in the first place."

Pip opened his mouth to ask another question when the sound of Gai's ringtone filled the engine room. "Is it another Displaced?" Pip asked, watching as Gai pulled out the cellular and read the message, his smile fading. "No, Carrot Top wants to talk again. Tell Kettle he's in charge until I get back. No engaging Zangyack until then, got it?"

Pipsqueak saluted, "Aye sir!"

Gai chuckled, "You don't have to be so formal, kid. A simple 'got it' would've worked too."

Pipsqueak blushed a bit and loosened his stance. "Er, right, Captain." He mumbled, smiling sheepishly. Gai rolled his eyes and snapped open a portal to Canterlot. "Try not to blow anything up while I'm gone, ok?" He called over his shoulder as he stepped into the portal.

"Aye Sir!"

Gai chuckled and shook his head, closing the portal behind him.

Dash tugged at the rope harness around her waist, making sure it was tight before carefully climbing over the railing and over the side of the Galleon, bracing herself as the gusting winds that had been tempered by the ship's artificial atmosphere began hitting her full force.

"Miss Rainbow Dash! Are you alright?" A concerned Flurry Heart called down from the deck where Black Kettle was helping her into her own harness, all the while cursing Gai's name for making the Princess do such a menial task.

"I'm fine, Flurry. Just be careful when you climb overboard, the wind's pretty strong out here!" Dash called back, shouting as the gusting winds tried to steal her words away. Flurry nodded her understanding before stepping over the railing and down the side of the hull with Kettle's help.

Dash closed her eyes, breathing deeply as she inhaled the wild, untamed winds of Equus. Ones she'd missed dearly in her decade-long imprisonment. Without thinking, she began to unfurl her wings slowly, allowing the winds to tease her primaries, only to retract them quickly and hold onto her climbing rope for dear life as they rocked her violently.

"It's really windy out here, isn't it!?" Flurry shouted, a large smile on her face as she leaned back as far as the harness would allow and letting the winds mess up her mane.

Dash nodded and pressed Flurry back against the hull of the Galleon, keeping her wings pressed tightly against her back. "Careful Princess, the winds out here can be deadly, and you don't know how to fly yet."

Flurry nodded, her eyes still shined with excitement. "I've never been this high up before, Sunburst never let me show my wings so I grew up as a unicorn. But then again, I wasn't allowed to use magic either..." She looked sad for a moment before shaking her head and looking back at Dash with that same, eager expression from before. "Are you going to teach me to fly? Auntie Twilight once told me you were the best flier in Equestria! You have to teach me, pleeeeeeeaaaaaaaaase?" She begged, giving Rainbow Dash a full dose of puppy dog eyes.

Dash sighed and forced a smile, mussing her mane more. "Sure Flurry, but not now. Right now, we have a job to do. You work toward the stern, I'll move toward the prow, ok?"

Flurry smiled and nodded, unhooking her hull scrubber from its place on her belt and activating it, scrubbing the layer of filth from the hull, leaving it spotless in moments. Dash watched her for a moment before turning back to her own task of cleaning the hull. A frown growing on her face.

The Rogue's Gallery tavern and brothel stood empty, as was usual for the middle of the day. All except for the proprietress waiting patiently by the bar with two glasses of whiskey next to her. Carrot Top sighed and took another sip from one of the glasses, tapping a finger on the table impatiently. Suddenly, a portal tore itself open next to the bar and Gai stepped through, sitting on a bar stool in one smooth motion.

"You're late." The mare grumbled, taking another sip before sliding Gai his glass.

"I got hung up with repairs." He replied, eyeing the glass before picking it up. "A free drink? Or did someone else pay for it?"

"The client paid for two. I took the other one because of the headache I had to go to in order to get him to spill his guts. He still insisted on meeting with you."

Gai cocked his eyebrow, setting the glass down. "This guy has beef with me?"

Carrot Top nodded, "It's the boss of the thugs you bounced from my bar the other day. He has the kind of info you're looking for, but he's got a condition before he'll tell you anything."

Gai leaned back and took a sip of the drink. Top shelf, whoever this was had gone out of their way just for a sit-down with him. "Any idea what this 'condition' is?" The mare shook her head. "None, he won't tell me anything other than he wants the Silver Scourge to do something for him. Sorry about that, hun."

Gai shook his head and took another sip. "Never mind that, this doesn't surprise me at all. Where can I find him?"

"He's waiting in the back room." Carrot Top replied, emptying her glass and setting it in the sink for washing. "I'd be careful around this one, he seems like more trouble than he's worth." This caught Gai's attention. "What's wrong with him?"

"Not sure. He's just... unusual, I guess. Not who I was expecting at all. You'll see when you meet him." Carrot replied, lifting a section of the bar for Gai to enter.

Gai picked up his drink before following her with a neutral expression on his face, stepping past her and towards the door behind the bar. He paused with his hand on the knob, looking over his shoulder at Carrot Top. "I'm not about to be gunned down in a hail of bullets, am I? The bounty does say dead or alive."

Carrot Top huffed, looking mildly offended at his remark. "Excuse you, but I'm a professional. If I promised a sit-down you're getting a sit-down! Besides," She leaned closer to Gai, her eyelids drooping as she adopted a husky tone. "If I was trying to take that bounty of yours, you wouldn't have survived that drink you're holding right now."

Gai winced. "I was joking Carrot, jeez."

"Oh, I know. That doesn't mean I can't roll with it, hun."

Gai rolled his eyes and opened the door, stepping through and into the dimly lit storeroom. The room itself was rather plain, a dimly lit affair with kegs lining the sides of the walls and shelves stocked with bottles upon bottles of liquor. The only source of light came from a single naked lightbulb hanging from above a plan, round wooden table in the center of the room. Sitting on the opposite side of the table facing the door was a young unicorn about Flurry's age with a light brown coat and a fiery red mane looking at Gai with eyes as black as midnight. He was dressed in a black suit with a red shirt, a pendant with a shard of blackened crystal adorned his neck. Standing next to him was an older unicorn mare with a white coat and pink mane with white streaks running through it. She was dressed in a gray suit with a noticeable holster under her left arm, the butt of a gun was plainly visible.

The younger pony smiled and gestured to the other chair across from him. "Ah, Mr. Ikari. My name is Crimson Prince. Please, have a seat." Gai eyed him up and down, cocking an eyebrow. "You're a kid. What's a colt barely out of foalhood doing in a meeting between criminals?"

The mare glared at him. "Monsieur, you forget yoursel-" She began, only to be silenced by a raised hand from her younger counterpart. "Laurier, that's enough. He's right, I am a rather unusual sight here."

Laurier glowered at the pirate as he took his seat across from Prince. Gai glanced at her before shrugging and taking another sip from his drink. "You seem to have done your homework, Little Prince. So, what did you want with me?" Gai said, turning his attention back to the colt sitting across from him. The colt in question steepled his fingers and looked into Gai's eyes with his own dark pools.

"Tell me, Mr. Ikari."

"Just call me Gai, thanks. 'Mr. Ikari' doesn't sound right." Gai said offhandedly.

"Gai then. How much do you hate Zangyack?" Prince asked, genuine interest coloring his voice, less so for his eyes. Gai cocked an eyebrow at him. "Why bother with that question? Seems kind of pointless to me."

Crimson Prince shook his head. "While that might be true for you Gai, your motivations interest me somewhat. Nothing like you exists in this world, yet you protect ponies and hunt Zangyack with the fervor of a trained hound. So tell me, what did they do to get you to hate them so much?"

Gai chewed on the inside of his cheek, his gaze locked on Prince's. Finally, he grinned and raised his now empty glass. "Keep these coming, and I might be tempted to tell you."

Laurier inhaled sharply, glaring daggers at Gai while Crimson Prince just laughed. "Well, I won't bother you with that. It's hardly important anyway."

Gai leaned forward, propping his head up on one hand. "So? What are you here to bother me with then? I highly doubt this is a social visit."

"Vous arrogant petit porc!" Laurier growled, reaching for her gun. She had it halfway out of its holster before she noticed the barrel of another gun aimed directly at her head. "You may want to keep your attack poodle on a shorter leash, Prince. She might get hurt otherwise." Gai said, all semblance of humor gone from his voice.

Crimson Prince frowned. "I'll keep that in mind," he said, holding out his hand to Laurier. "Your weapon, Laurier."

"Y-young Master, I-"

"Your weapon." He interrupted, his anger fully apparent in his voice. Laurier opened and closed her mouth several times before slowly pulling her pepperbox revolver out of its holster and placing it in Crimson Prince's waiting hand. "Leave us." He said, waving his hand dismissively. Laurier's ears splayed back in shame as she turned and stiffly left the room, shooting Gai with a death glare on her way out.

"My sincerest apologies, Gai," Prince said, steepling his fingers again. "She's always been like this, something my mother enjoyed in her, but it's far less acceptable to me."

"It's fine," Gai replied, waving him off and setting his own weapon on the table. "If I worried about everyone after my life, I'd already be gray."

"Regardless, she will be disciplined for this." He said, massaging his temples before regaining his composure. "Now then, to the reason, I asked to meet you because I happen to have some information on Zangyack's movements."

Gai's gaze immediately locked onto Prince's the slight smirk on the young colt's face fading as soon as it had popped up. "And let me guess, there's a catch. Right?" Gai grumbled, tracing his finger around the edge of his empty glass.

Crimson Prince gave Gai a smile that wouldn't look out of place on a colt his age. "But of course! Such costly information doesn't come free, you know. Especially for someone so infamous as the Silver Scourge himself." Gai rolled his eyes before leaning back in his chair. "Alright, I'll bite. What's your price? Mind you, I might still decide torturing you for info is the better option, but I might as well humor you while you're dangling the carrot in front of me."

The colt grinned before speaking again. "Among my holdings, I own an establishment that allows beings of various races to... let out some steam in a manner they find most satisfying."

"So it's a fight club."

"Exactly, but that's not all. It's where I recruit my enforcers from. The strongest of the fighters are offered a place among my associates should I need any heavy lifting done."

"You're boring me here kid. Get to the point already."

Prince's smile did not waver. "As I understand it, my top enforcer along with some of his friends visited this tavern during closing hours and caused trouble with the proprietress, during which time you stepped in and, quite publicly I might add, proceeded to instruct him on the errors of his ways before stealing his and his associates' bit bags."

"So what, are you after compensation for their lost bits? Pretty sure Carrot already used them to pay for damages."

The colt waved his hand dismissively. "If this were about money, I'd have had this place razed for not paying up. No, what this is about, is reputation. You see, this enforcer of mine was my best for very good reason: he could inspire fear without needing to resort to violence. Not that he wasn't good at it, mind you."

Gai looked at the colt curiously. "So what do you want me to do about it? Your guy lost one fight against Zangyack's most wanted and now he's moping about it? Tell him to grow a pair and be done with it. I don't see how his bruised pride has anything to do with me."

"To the contrary, he's done the opposite. He's become obsessed with beating you of all things. So much so that he's been neglecting his duties, so much so that it's been a tad vexing."

"I still don't see how that's my problem."

"I was getting to that." Prince said, "What I want you to do, Mr. Ikari. Is to fight him in the upcoming tournament I'll be holding in my establishment. You have my word that the knowledge of your presence won't be leaked to anypony while you're there. Do we have a deal?"

Gai's eyes narrowed. "Beat a guy I've taken out before? There's a catch to this, info like what you're offering isn't that cheap."

Prince smiled and clapped his hands slowly, a smug smile on his face. "As expected of you, Mr. Ikari. Of course, there are other conditions to you fighting for your prize." Gai stared deep into the black void in the colt's eyes. He saw nothing but plans, schemes, and the desire for chaos. They were the eyes of a criminal. "Exactly how old did you say you were again?"

Prince smiled that same, innocent smile that never reached his eyes. "I'm fourteen of course! I'll be fifteen very soon."

Gai chuckled and shook his head. "You've still got a while to go, little Prince. But I can respect that moxie of yours. So, what were your other conditions?"

"You are to lose the fight against my champion, who just so happens to be the same enforcer with an ax to grind with you," Prince replied, his smile never wavering.

Gai grinned. "So that's what this is about. You want to pump up his reputation more by publically showing that he can beat the Silver Scourge in single combat, right?"

"You got it in one, Mr. Ikari. Having Cerberus on your leash is quite the deterrent for any would-be troublemakers."

"You should know, I won't be going down easy. Got to make his victory look good, right?"

Prince's grin threatened to split his face in half. "But of course, can't make it too easy on him after all the training he's done. Do we have a deal?"

Gai remained silent for a moment before standing and extending his hand. "We have a deal. Just so long as I get my info afterwards, little Prince."

Crimson Prince stood and raised his hand, reaching for Gai's. "Just so long as you throw the final ma-" he was interrupted when Gai suddenly grabbed him by the wrist and dragged him onto the table before pressing the barrel of his gun to the colt mob boss' temple. "Let me get one thing straight with you, kid. If you even think about double-crossing me, or if your info's not up to snuff, I'll tear you a new one so fast you won't even get to say 'oops'. Understood?" He hissed.

The young criminal nodded slowly, his eyes wide as sweat dripped from his forehead. "Good. Leave the where and when with Carrot Top." Gai let go of the colt's wrist and holstered his gun before walking out of the room.

The last card landed on the table with a soft slap of finality, sealing the last piece of the Tarot reading in place. The mare leaned back in her wooden chair and brought a cup of tea to her lips, examining the cards that would divine her fortune.

On the table face up were the Wheel of Fortune, the Emperor, and the Ace of Wands. She smiled and sipped from the cup. "Mmm, it seems that this 'Silver Scourge' will be quite interesting." She turned her gaze to one of the other two cards on the table: The Tower and The World. "...Very interesting~" She said, setting down the empty teacup and smiling to herself before sweeping up the cards and dropping a pair of bits onto the table.

"Thank you for the hospitality gentlecolts." The mare said flippantly to the numerous unconscious stallions on the floor of the wrecked tea shop. "But it's time I got going." She got up, placing her witch's hat on her head. "Maybe next time you'll study your target before trying to cash in on her bounty." And with that, she skipped out of the shop, whistling merrily.

Author's Note

And with this, we begin the next story arc of the Silver Scourge's tale. Special thanks to PonyJosiah13 for letting me use his two OC characters Crimson Prince and Laurier du Montagne.

What could Basco be planning with the Elements of Harmony? Does this mean the tentacle vines will come back? Will Gai absolutely destroy all the thugs in the tourney again? And who is our mysterious tarot user? Find out next time, on ~~DBZ~~ The tale of the Silver Scourge!

Cross-Raid 1: SPD Emergency!

Author's Note

These Cross-Raid chapters are for keeping you guys up-to-date on Gai's extra-dimensional travels to other verses. I really recommend this one as some major things are said.

find it HERE.

Sorry for no actual story in this 'chapter'! :twilightblush:

Cross-Raid 1: SPD Emergency!