The Other Side Of Morality

------------------------------------------(Chapter 2: Settling In… Kind Of)------------------------------------------

“And over there is Sugarcube Corner, it’s one of the most popular places for students at my school to hang out, but their sweets make it worth going through tons of teenagers.” Scootaloo said, pointing at the pink and brown sweet shop.

“Huh, interesting. Maybe if I can get a Job in this place I could take you and your friends there every day then.” Sam chuckled, noticing the hungry look in Scootaloo’s eyes as she mentioned the sweets shop.

“That’d be awesome! But my friends and I go there on mondays anyways. That’s about all I know, but at least you know about this general area.”

“Well, it's better than nothing right?” Sam joked as he ruffled Scootaloo’s hair again with a playful grin on his face. “By the way, what day of the week is it?”

“Sunday.” Scootaloo replied, before her face went pale. “Crap! I forgot that I promised Applebloom I’d help her learn how to ride a skateboard! I suppose I’ll see ya later!” Scootaloo waved as she ran off.

“... Okay? See you later then.” Sam said, both confused and wondering what he was going to do now. With a sigh, Sam then decided to wander around and see if he could find himself someplace to stay and possibly get a job. But then he realized something… “Wait… did she say Applebloom? And her name was Scootaloo right?” He asked himself as his eyes shrank to pinpricks...

Leaf sat on the sidewalk, legs stretched out. A little furry cat-like creature sat in her lap, calmly sleeping on the brunette.

“It’s almost feeding tim-” Leaf started, but was cut off as an earthquake shook her out of her state of calm, and the creature in her laps rest. It opened it’s eyes, which revealed it’s black eyes with white pupils. It’s ears perked up, and it’s face turned to Leaf’s left. “Are you sure Loneliness...? Fine…” Leaf then stood up, Loneliness hopping off of her and running to Leaf’s left, and the girl following suit.

After a bit of walking, they found four flipped cars, smashed roads, and fleeing civilians. And in the middle of it all… was a giant creature made of sand having a mental breakdown.

“That’s… New…” Leaf said, looking at Loneliness. “Think we should call the other?”

Loneliness shouted, “Eevee!”

“Yeah, you’re right.” Leaf pulled out a black flip phone, flipped it open a dialed a group of numbers. She placed it to her ear and waited for a response. Finally someone answered.

“Yes, this is Dr. Stein here, what do you want?” Came the reply. Stein’s voice sounded angry.

“Stein, I think I’ve found a new Displaced. Send Xana over here.” Leaf then tossed the phone to the side, the line still being open. She then began walking towards the sand monster. “Hey big guy, nice digs.”

The creature froze before turning to look at Leaf, and upon seeing her immediately turned back around and walked away as it threw its hands in the air as if it just didn't care.

“Hey! I know what’s happening to you!” Leaf shouted. “You have a body that’s not your own, but is familiar to you! Like a character you like or dressed up as during a convention! Sound familiar!?”

“Nope! Nope, nope, nope, nope! SO MUCH NOPE!” The creature ranted as it continued to walk away at a brisk pace.

“You bastard!” Leaf screamed before throwing a red and white sphere, which launched out black energy that formed into Hypno who landed in front of the sand creature. “If you don’t stop and listen, I’ll kill you.”

“Don’t care! Not real, won't listen!” The creature shouted as it put its ‘hands’ over where its ears would have been.

“Hypno, use levitate!” Leaf shouted, and Hypno’s eyes glowed pink, as did the creature. The sand monster was then thrown into a wall. Before Hypno could continue however, a new figure landed in between the psychic and sand monster.

It was a man with light blue hair and eyes, wearing a black suit with a red tie.

“Uh oh…” Leaf gulped, slowly backing away.

The man looked to Hypno, then to the creature. “Calm down, we’ll sort this all out.”

“You know what? I don't care anymore! Fuck this shit I’m out! No thanks! Don't mind me, imma just grab my stuff and leave. Scuse me please, fuck this shit I’m out!” The sand creature intoned, a top hat and briefcase made of sand forming on the creature’s head and in his hand as he promptly stood up and started to walk away again…

“Wait… Sam?” The man asked, surprise and shock written on his face. “Is that you!? It’s me, Gregory!”

The sand creature instantly froze in its tracks… “Wut?”

“It’s me, Gregory Zephyr! You used to call me Gregles along with your brother, Josh!” The man said. “Although I go by Steven Stone now since… Well… I’m not the same man I was… Heh…”

The sand creature promptly turned around to stare at ‘Gregory’ aka. Steven Stone before quite literally dropping its jaw.

“Yeah, I know, it’s a lot to take in… Salma’s also here! But other than the two of us, none of our other friends arrived here… Even then, it’s been a year since I last saw the whole group…” Steven said, placing his hands in his pockets.

“I… you… What!? HOW!?” Sam sputtered as he returned to human form, his jaw reattaching itself in the process.

“Same as you. I think it was something to do with magic. You see this city here?” Steven gestured around them. “It’s called Equestria City.”

“I know.” Sam deadpanned. “And I’m not to happy about it as you probably guessed.”

“Think of it this way. We’ve gained a great power, each and every one of us. Except Salma. We have something special. How many people can say they turned into Sandman?” Steven stated calmly. “I for one won’t miss my prior life.”

“I’ll deck you in the schnoz.” Sam warned, his eye visibly twitching.

“Well then think of it like this… Our ‘band’ won’t have to split up. If you’re here, I’m here, and Salma’s here, the rest won’t be far off.” Steven explained.

“Yeah? And how are you planning to do that? If you are saying what I think you're saying then things aren't going to be all sunshine and rainbows. After all, if we became who we were dressed as, then that means the same for the others right?” Sam ranted,

“Don’t be mad at me, Sam. I’m not the reason you’re like this.” Steven stated. “You like blaming your friends a lot, don’t you…?”

“No I… Urgh, that's not what I meant.” Sam groaned as he facepalmed. “What I mean is that if we turned out like this think of what it's going to be like for Josh and Ondina!”

“Why are you mad? It’s out of our hands. We can help them together.” Steven held out his hand.

“And how do you plan on helping a vampire and a creature made for destruction?” Sam asked.

“Salma and I have some friends. They taught us how to use our abilities and skills to help others and not be a danger.”

“Let me guess, a mysterious group of goody two shoed heroes.” Sam deadpanned. “No thanks, I’ll handle it myself if I find them. And if you know what's good for you keep these acquaintances away from our friends.” He then looked around before storming off into an alleyway.

“You’re making a mistake! You have no idea what you’re getting into! You need someone's help, Sam! Don’t be an idiot!” Steven shouted. “You stubborn bastard…”

“Wow, I’ve never seen a hero fall so, damn, hard.” Leaf chuckled darkly from behind Steven. “And I thought I had it hard…”

“You… I know you…” Steven said, turning to glare at Leaf. “You’re Leaf, from Fire Red and Leaf Green games.”

“Wow, another Pokemon fan… Didn’t think there was another Pokemon Displaced on this world.” Leaf grinned, pulling out a Pokeball. “You are right though. They need guidance. Thankfully I have that.”

“The only thing you have, is a bad influence.” Steven stated coldly, pulling out one of his own.

“You have no idea.” Leaf smirked. Steven threw his Pokeball, summoning a large blue four legged metal creature with a silver X on it’s face, and red and black eyes.

“Metagross, use Scary Face.” Steven stated. The ‘Metagross’ glared intensely, which caused Leaf to freeze up. “You’re facing the big leagues, missy.”

“*Sigh*, and here I thought you could handle yourself for once Leaf…” a voice said from the shadow of one of the nearby buildings. “I really hate having to help worthless pawns like you, but orders are orders…” The voice then said as Xana stepped out of the shadow, a dark buster sword hefted over his shoulder.

“He used… A fear attack on me… I’m not useless… I was just surprised…” Leaf grunted.

“And you know that I don't care about your excuses.” Xana deadpanned as he stepped in front of Leaf. “Hello there Mr. Stone. sorry to interrupt your battle, but I have orders to protect Leaf here.”

“Orders from who…?” Steven asked, narrowing his eyes.

“Sorry, but it's not my place to give out that information.” Xana said before charging Metagross.

“Metagross, use Zen Headbutt!” Steven ordered loudly, and the Metagross rushed head on towards Xana… only for Xana to use the pokemon as a springboard as he lunged at Steven with his buster sword. Steven’s eyes widened, but he couldn’t move.

Before Steven could be hurt however, a woman landed in between them, a steel broadsword blocking Xana’s attack.

Steven let out a sigh of relief. “Oh thank god you’re here Lydia… I thought I was a gonner.”

“Don’t thank me yet, Steve.” Lydia replied, straining herself to hold Xana’s attack at bay.

“Stupid humans, always getting in my way…” Xana grumbled as he backed off before charging again, swinging his buster sword with both hands this time. Lydia used a steel shield this time to block, making it much easier but despite this was knocked back into Steven and the two of them had to be caught by Metagross to prevent them from slamming into a wall.

“What is this guy!?” Lydia shouted.

“I don’t know, but call the others now!” Steven shouted.

“Leaf.” Xana said harshly while hefting his sword back over his shoulder.

“I’m better.” Leaf replied. “Hypno, use Confusion.” Hypno nodded, before narrowing it’s eyes. Lydia, Steven and Metagross yelped in pain, before the first two fell to their knees while the third hit itself. Leaf then returned Hypno, before walking away. “Thanks for the assist, Xavier, but that doesn’t excuse you for being a jackass.” She added.

“Don't call me that, that hasn't been my name since I lost my emotions.” Xana said, glaring at Leaf as he turned his back on the two heroes and the Metagross. “Oh, and I have a message for you. She says you’re an idiot for revealing us without backup.”

Leaf stared at Xana blankly. “She’s right. So let’s go after the Displaced now that he’s calmed down.”

“Whatever you say shrimp.” Xana said with a bored expression as he followed Leaf for a bit.

“And you say you have no emotion~” Leaf cooed as she made her way towards the direction Sam went.

“You don't need emotion to be a jerk to someone you don't like.” Xana simply replied before he seemed to vanish by walking into a nearby dark alleyway.

“Well, when I was ten I’d have tried to change that…” Leaf chuckled, then joined Xana in vanishing.

Stein groaned as he walked into his bedroom which was a small space with a twin bed, and a desktop computer. “You awake yet spitface?” He asked, placing a cigarette in his mouth. He then noticed that the new Displaced wasn’t on his bed. “Hey man, where are ya? I won’t cut you open.” Stein walked over to his desk and booted up his computer. “I’ll check the security feed- WHAT THE HELL IS HE DOING IN MY COMPUTER!?!?”

On the screen of Stein’s computer was none other than the creature that had come out of the strange spiked egg… and it was currently eating something, important.

“Get out!” Stein shouted. “Or I will cut you open!”

The creature immediately stopped chewing and looked towards Stein through the computer screen before blinking, and then swallowed. “Kuramon digivolve to! - Tsumemon!” The creature then said in a high pitched voice before transforming into a creature that looked similar to before but with five finger like legs that each ended in a spike, two antenna like ears sprouting from the top of its head and had a faded navy blue coloration to its ‘skin’.

“Oh, a Digimon… Why am I not surprised. Now get out of there now, you owe me an apology!”

Tsumemon blinked a few times at Stein, before its eye seemed to smirk.

Stein glared, backing away slightly. “No… I’m not your enemy.”

Tsumemon immediately ran across the screen and visibly dove into one of the folders scattered about on the home screen, a folder labeled ‘Associates’.

“Don’t go in there!” Stein shouted, but to no avail. Stein then grabbed the mouse and entered the folder, hovered over Tsumemon, and clicked on him before dragging him out of the folder and closing it again.

Tsumemon seemed to pout as it looked out of the screen at Stein… before jumped out of the screen and latched onto the human’s face in retaliation for having its meal disturbed.

“Gah! Get offa me you little brat!” Stein shouted. Before Stein struggled anymore, Hela walked into the room. She placed a calming hand on Tsumemon.

“I have a better meal for you, sweetie.” She said soothingly.

Almost immediately Tsumemon froze, slowly releasing its grasp on Stein’s face as it began to sweat nervously from Hela’s prezence.

“I won’t hurt you, I promise.” Hela said. She then picked Tsumemon off of Stein, and cradled the digimon in her arms. “Trust me, I only want to help you.”

“Lady smell of death…” Tsumemon said, shivering from Hela’s touch.

“Heh, I’m half dead, child. It’s not my fault.” Hela giggled. “You eat data, I’m half dead. So judging me by that’s very rude.”

*Burp* Was Tsumemon’s only reply as he started to relax.

“Let’s get you something better to eat.” Hela said, grinning as she walked out of Stein’s room. “Stein, I need you to drop our new friend off at Canterlot High School.”

“Why?” Stein asked, unsure of his leader's intentions.

“I want to see how much damage he can do to our associate’s rivals.” Hela simply stated.

Rainbow Dash burst into the library and marched in. Her friends were sitting around the computers in the center of the room. “Oh my gosh guys! That last match was brutal! Griffonstone High got good!” She announced to her friends. “Sorry I’m late, there were just so many overtimes!”

“It's alright, you're just in time actually.” Sunset Shimmer said as she pulled up a website on the computer. “By the way, have any of you seen this?” She then asked everyone present while bringing up the local news page.

“Seen what?” Applejack asked. Her eyes then widened at the image of a sand creature. “Whoa, is that thing somethin’ from Equestria?”

“It's possible but it also might be a person like Gloriosa who has been corrupted by equestrian magic.” Sunset mused.

“So what’re we going to do about it?” Twilight asked.

“Oh oh! Are we going to go on a stakeout!?” Pinkie Pie asked as she bounced up and down in place.

“That would imply we know where to stake out, darling.” Rarity added. “Why don’t we have Dash speed around town to spot this ruffian and have her follow him?” She suggested.

“Are you throwing me under the bus?” Rainbow glared at Rarity.

“I actually, um- Think it's a good idea?” Fluttershy said meekly.

“Yeah, I’m with Fluttershy and Rarity.” Applejack said, to which Twilight nodded in agreement.

“Well then, we seem to have a plan decided by majority vote it seems.” Sunset said with a apologetic shrug to Rainbow.

“Ugh, and I promised Cloud Kicker I’d hang out with her and the team this afternoon…” Rainbow grumbled. “Uh… Hey, what did we do with those magic boosters?”

“You didn't lose it did you?” Sunset asked.

“Eh, must’ve left it at home and forgotten it. I didn’t want to cheat by mistake during my match, now did I?” Rainbow beamed pridefully. The door to the library suddenly opened, and Leaf walked in with a blank look on her face. “Uh… Who’s the new girl? She a transfer?”

“Not that I know of.” Applejack muttered. “She looks… Her eyes look wrong…”

Leaf opened her bag and tossed it in front of her. “All you can eat buffet, Tsumemon.”

Tsumemon poked its eye out of the bag and looked around… before crawling out and looking straight at the only currently on computer, the one that Sunset was using.

“What the buck is that!?” Sunset asked, jumping out of her chair and backing away.

“Better question is, what’s she doing with it!?” Twilight shouted as she and the other girls backed away.

At that Tsumemon jumped from the bag and charged towards the computer, diving into the screen once it was close enough much to everyone present’s astonishment.

“D-did it just…” Sunset stammered, not believing her eyes as she looked at the intact computer screen that Tsumemon had just traveled through.

Leaf chuckled as she pulled out her knife. “Let’s play~”

“She’s got a knife!” Rainbow shouted, her eyes widening.

“Not good, everyone head for the back door!” Sunset said.

“Don’t worry everyone, I’ve got this.” Twilight said, her hands glowing purple.

“What the- How are you-!?” Leaf shouted, but wasn’t able to do anything as the knife was ripped out of her hand. As soon as it was out, Rainbow rushed towards Leaf and gave her a right hook, knocking her out instantly. Everyone stared at Rainbow is shock.

“What? She was threatening my friends!” Rainbow said defensively.

“She has a point.” Said Pinkie who was obviously a bit shaken because of the situation.

“We should call the police…” Fluttershy whimpered, hiding behind Applejack despite the girl being unconscious.

“Wait, what about that creature she brought with her?” Sunset asked as she turned to look in the direction of the computer.

“What about it!? It’s gone!” Rainbow said as she picked Leaf up and tossed the brunette over her shoulder. “I’ll lock this one in the broom closet.”

Unknown to the girls, Hela was hiding in the shadows, a grin on her face. “Hmm… This school is very interesting…”

Ondina was curled up, leaning against the door to the outside. She had just killed nineteen workers who were clearing garbage out of the building. She sobbed, attempting to wipe the blood off of her face.

“I… Killed them…” Ondina whimpered, staring at her blood soaked hands. “Their blood… I drank it… I-!” Ondina attempted to vomit, but nothing came out. “H-help! Someone help!”

“Hello? Is someone there?”

“O-over here!” Ondina shouted. “P-please! Hurry!” Sam ran in and quickly saw her, and she him. “S-Sandman?”

“Holy- What happened here?” Sam said in shock as he looked around at the corpses in the room before he noticed Ondina.

“I couldn’t control myself, I-” Ondina couldn’t stop herself from resuming her sobbing fit.

“Shh, it's ok.” Sam tried to comfort her as he knelt down and pulled the crying girl into a light hug. “One of your friends is here for you now, just let it all out.”

“Wh-what?” Ondina’s eyes widened. “S-Sam? Is that really you?”

“The one and only.” Sam said, trying to make himself seem as much like his normal self despite reflexively grimacing when he got a better look at Ondina’s blood smeared face.

“I… We can’t stay here…” Ondina said shakily. “If someone sees us with all these dead bodies…”

“I know, and don't worry I’ll handle it.” Sam sighed as he then picked up Ondina bridal style before carrying her off. “I don't care what I have to do, I will protect my friends and family no matter what they become…” He then said to himself more than anything and setting himself a goal to focus on in the process.