Everfree Forest

Zero was in the Everfree with Spike as they both were fixing up the house that the mayor had given him. It’s been four days since Zero had met the princesses as he was working around in the kitchen, trying to make it look nice and shiny. “Hey, Spike! You alright in there?”

Spike was in the living room, putting down the carpet as he wipes his brow. “Yea I’m alright. But this is a lot of work... how come you didn’t ask Twilight and them to come and help?” He peeks in the kitchen and sees Zero sweeping up some dust.

“Because I don’t need nosy people to get in my business. Plus they like to run their mouths too much to Celestia…” Zero sighs as he wonders what else Twilight told Celestia.

Spike saw how frustrated he was when he talked about Celestia as he continues to nail in the carpet. “But how come you don’t like Celestia? Yea, I understood a bit of it since that day, but I’d like to hear from you.”

Zero stops sweeping as he rubbed his temples. “The reason why I don’t like big titty magoo is because she went into my head without permission. She possibly saw some things that I don’t wish to tell none of you because if I did, you would all hate me and see me as a threat. Which I don’t mind, but since you guys could erase me with your magic, I rather stay quiet about it.” He sighs as he goes back to sweeping.

“How come you’re telling me this then?”

“Because Spike, I trust you. You’re the coolest guy I know here, plus you’re honest with me. And from what I can see, you want to be around me more because you barely have any role models correct?” Zero throws away the dust in the garbage as he gets the mop and starts mopping.

“Yea, that’s true. I only have Applejack’s older brother, Big Mac, and Shining Armor. So when you came along, you were different and it’s one of the main reasons why I stick around with you. Your clothes are nice, your attitude is calm or angry when you need to be, and you’re not afraid to speak your mind when you need to.” Spike said as he finishes carpeting the livingroom.

“Oh yea that reminds me. Do you know where that old castle is?” Zero organizes the cleaning supplies and makes sure Spike did his part as he nods.

“Yea I know where it is.”

“Good. Make sure you put everything back where it belongs because if we still have time, we’re going to fix up the rooms upstairs.” He makes sure he has everything on him as they both head out into the wilderness, Spike leading the way.

“Hey Spike, I need to ask this but... how come I’ve been seeing a lot of mares and not a lot of stallions around in PonyVille or Canterlot?” He asked the young dragon.

“Well, the ratio of the mares and stallions is ten to one.” He explained.

“I see...”

“What’s more is since there are very few stallions living here in Equestria as a whole, polygamy relationships are acceptable here. In other words, a stallion can date more than just one mare.” Spike explained further.

Zero scoffs at this, thinking of how civilized they were, but still acted like animals. But he it was their way of living so he won’t bother thinking about it anymore. He knew it would thrill Vector to hear this as he chuckles to himself, “Zero?” He looks back at Spike.

“Yeah?”

“Did you have a special somepony back on your world?” Spike looks up at Zero as he saw him smile and stare up at the sky.

“Well, I did have that one special girl. But we were never a couple…” Zero thinks about Jackie’s sweet smile she used to give him as he then frowns at remembering her right before the explosion happened as he sighs. “She was beautiful, smart, and quite a badass…”

“How come you and that girl you’re talking about never dated?”

“Well let’s just say that she’s one of the reasons why I’m here…” He looks down at his watch as smiles at it. He then gives Spike head pats as he smiles up at Zero as they continue their journey through the Everfree. Going through the thick brush as they come across an open area as Spike points towards the bridge in the distance.

Before they could go any further, they hear growling all around them as Zero hides Spike behind him as wood-like wolves appeared all around them as they growl. “Spike... what the hell are these things?”

Spike gulps as he looks around, counting them as he goes as he looks back up at Zero, “They’re Timberwolves... and I count about seven of them.” Spike trembles slightly as he hopes Zero has some sort of plan.

Zero looks around as he knows that if they make any sudden movements, they’ll attack them. He looks in front of them and could see that the bridge was about six meters away from them as he slowly leans down to Spike’s level and whispers in his ear. “How fast can you run?”

“I could keep up with the others... why?” Spike whispers back, sweating as he looked towards the Timberwolves snarling and biting towards them.

Zero looks at his hand as he concentrates, little sparks of electricity form around his hand as positions his fingers, ready to snap. “Alright, Spike when I say go... run as fast as you can to the bridge”

Zero shocked Spike by knowing how to do magic as he was about to ask him how he did that, but decided not to as he nods. “Ready when you are Zero.”

“Alright. On go... three…” Spike gets ready to book it as he shakes, a bit scared as he sees the objective in front of him. “Two…” The Timberwolves look at them, ready to pounce as they slowly get closer to the dragon and human. “One…” Zero sweats slightly as he had to time it perfectly as he gets ready to snap.

“Go!” The Timberwolves pounce as Zero snaps his fingers. A bolt of lightning came down and stuck one of the Timberwolves, shocking the rest as Spike and Zero run towards the bridge. Zero looks behind them as a few more run out from the woods, chasing them down as he picks up the pace, running right past Spike.

Spike struggled a bit as he felt the breath of the Timberwolf about to chomp down on his tail as he quickly grabs it and holds it. Zero sees this as he quickly turns, pulling out his Deagle and shooting the wolf several times, blasting off its leg as it tumbles into the ground.

Zero then quickly grabs Spike and puts him over his shoulder and ran as fast as he could. The Timberwolves got closer and closer as Zero tries to keep their distance, but just couldn’t. He growls as he puts more and more effort into escaping, sparks of electricity forms around him as within a flash, he speeds off. Confusing the Timberwolves a bit as he crosses the bridge, destroying a bit of it as the Timberwolves stop at the edge.

Zero comes to a halt as he accidentally flings Spike into a tree as he trips and rolls into the dirt, grunting in pain as he stands up to clean himself off as his blood was pumping. “Woo! What a rush!”

“Yea, could you celebrate after you get me down…” Spike held on to a branch as he heard Zero laugh at him before coming over and helping him down. “Thanks, Z. Also, how did you do that?! That was so awesome!” His eyes sparkled as he looks up Zero.

Zero smiles and rubs the back of his head, wondering how he did that as well. “Well, to be honest, I have no idea.” He looks at the Timberwolves who just growls at the two as they all go back into the woods. Zero then sees the damage he caused to the bridge “Welp, looks like we’re going to have to find another way back huh?”

Spike agrees as they continue. After an hour of walking through the thick forest, they finally made it to the fallen castle as Spike goes ahead.

Zero was about to follow until he quickly pulled his Deagle out and points it towards a hidden, dark area. He glares at it as he saw a pair of glowing blue, reptilian eyes staring back at him. Zero doesn’t make a move as he continues to look into the piercing blue eyes as he felt some sort of connection.

The eyes just stare right back. Barely even blinking as within a flash, lighting struck down as blinding Zero as he covers his eyes. He looks back as the creature was gone.

Zero was confused as he looks around, wondering what that was as he puts his gun back in its holster as he heard Spike calling him as he quickly heads over, not noticing a wolf-like creature with the same piercing blue eyes from before watching him head over to the dragon as it heads back into the forest.

Spike waits for Zero as they both nod at each other and head into the castle. He was a bit scared as he kept close to Zero, not wanting anything springing out and grabbing him.

Zero was about to make a joke about Spike until he saw a couple of spiders crawling on the wall as he instantly shivers in fear and trembles, “Of course this place has to have spiders.” He wanted to fry each of them but didn’t know if they were regular spiders or babies. “Let’s just hurry up and find that door…”

Spike agrees as he shudders and scratches his arm a bit, feeling itchy from the spiders as they walk down the hallway.

They keep their guard up, not sure if they were being watched as every turn they made, they were met with a web, covering the hallways as they kept hearing thuds in the distance. Spike was terrified as Zero looks as though he was about to freak out. His face was sweating slightly, his heart was beating fast, and he was trembling in fear. Spike’s tail was dragging on the floor as something touched it.

Spike yelps and just run as Zero follows suit. It was dark and all they could hear behind them was the sound of thudding. Something was chasing them as they both ran as fast as they can, “Can’t you do that lightning speed thing you did before?!?”

Zero tries as he concentrates, but he just couldn’t. “No!”

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN NO!?!” Spike held his tail close to him as they sped down the hallway, being chased by whatever was after them as at the end of the hall they see an opening with a pair of doors. They quickly sprint there, grabbing the door and shutting it as whatever was chasing them, bangs against the door as they hold it back.

Zero pants heavily as whatever was after them, banged against the door a couple of times before giving up. He looked into the peephole and sees what looks to be a massive spider, crawling into the darkness as Spike sits on the ground, laughing in fear. “This door better be worth it,” Spike said as he tries to calm himself.

“Hope so too…” Zero sat beside him, panting heavily as they both laugh.

Before Zero could say anything else, he felt a little shock as he looks down, seeing his pocket glow brightly as he takes the key out. He felt Spike tap his shoulder as he looks and sees a massive metal door up a flight of stairs. “You wanna head up with me or you good?”

“Yeah, I’m cool. Just need to catch my breath…” Spike heads over to a statue to hide behind as he catches himself.

Zero nods as he makes his way up the stairs, looking at the statues as the key brightens. Once he makes it to the top, the key shocks Zero which makes him let it go as it slowly floats to the door, going into its designated hole. He waits to see what it’ll do as the door itself began to make a whirring sound. Zero steps back a bit as the key blinded both Zero and Spike as they get enveloped into the light.

Realm

Zero rubs his eyes, calling out to Spike as he sees Kiryu in the distance, talking with Spike. He rubs his head slightly and makes his way over to them, seeing that the surrounding area had more detail than just being a white void with a house in the middle of it. He saw trees, weird-looking birds and small mammals. He also sees an open field with a building beside it.

Kiryu smiles at the young drake as it’s been a long time since he has seen another drake like himself. He sees Zero walking towards them as he turns to face him, his tail swaying slightly. “You did it Zero… Welcome to the Nexus.”

Zero looks up at Kiryu as he sighs, bowing his head slightly. “I did what you asked. Now give me what I want.”

Kiryu chuckles softly as he puts his arms behind his back and starts walking around Zero, looking at him. “My training will be merciless... what makes you think you have what it takes to be my apprentice?”

Zero was silent for a bit. He didn’t know if he was worthy enough to be trained by Kiryu. He balls his fist up as he remembers everything he’s been through from storming into mobsters home, to jumping out of a skyscraper, to being shot at by a Boeing AH-64 Apache while driving a corvette through Tokyo. He had the courage, the determination, and the will to never back down from a challenge as he looks back up at Kiryu. “I don’t think Kiryu... I know I have what it takes. I know that it sounds like bullshit but I wouldn’t give a damn if you don’t accept me. I’ll learn how to master this power on my own if I have to!”

Kiryu looks down at him, remembering how Slade said those exact words as he shuts his eyes. He then slowly opens his eyes and places his hand on Zero’s shoulder, “Do you pledge your loyalty to me?”

Zero looks down, “Yes I do…”

“Will you endure the harsh training you will receive?” Kiryu’s eyes began to glow a bright yellow.

“I will…” Zero felt a minor shock surging through him as he looks up and sees Spike watching, his eyes wide and sparkling.

Kiryu smirks as a lightning bolt struck Zero, shocking him completely as Zero tells in pain and agony, “Good... if you survive this, I might consider it.”

Spike watches as he was about to help Zero until Kiryu’s tail stopped him. He looks up at him as he just shook his head, “Young Spike... I know you want to help, but he has to do this himself.” Spike was about to say something but kept his mouth shut and hopes Zero gets out of it.

Zero grunts and yells in pain. Holding his sides as he tries to fight it, only for it to hurt even more as he doesn’t understand why it hurts so much. “You’re shutting your body off from everything... stop being so alert and just relax.” He heard Kiryu say as he looks at him.

Zero hisses and groans as he thinks of things that would calm him from his father to Vector, to his mother. He saw the sweet smile that she used to give him as he pants. Holding his side as he slowly stands up, the surrounding lightning intensifies. Kiryu watching and smiling slightly as he watches Zero stand proudly, the lightning changing colors from yellow to purple as Zero opens his eyes. His hair spiked up a bit from the lightning pulsing through his veins. He began to accept Kiryu’s power as his hair started to spark up a bit. He glares at Kiryu and Spike as he reels his head up to the sky, exhaling a massive beam in the sky.

Kiryu claps, walking towards him as Zero pants heavily, steam came from out of his mouth as he kneels. “Well done Zero... seems like I have underestimated you.” He smiles down at him as Zero looks up at him and nods.

“Thanks... I guess. So, what now?” Zero stands back up.

“Since you survived... I guess I’ll accept you as my student…” Kiryu sees Zero smile as he and Spike give each other a fist bump. “Now, you shall be trained in three different ways. You may think you’re strong, but not at the level I’m on. But if you think you have what it takes. There will be a test.”

“What kind of test?” Zero looks at Kiryu as he was still hurting a bit from the power he received.

“You have to beat me…” Kiryu turns to face the training field as he had his hands behind him. “You can come here anytime when you want to train. But first, sorry about this Spike…” Before Spike could say anything, he gets transported back in front of the giant spider.

Zero looks around as he looks at Kiryu, “The hell did you just do to Spike?!”

“Well, let’s just say if you don’t hurry back... he’s going to be drained.” Kiryu turns to faces Zero as he saw the confusion slowly turning into anger. “I told you… my training will be brutal. You want to test out your new abilities, right?”

Zero scoffs cracks his knuckles, electricity sparked all around him, “When I’m through with that thing. Your ass is grass…” He quickly runs out, leaving a trail of lighting sparking on the ground.

Kiryu chuckles softly as a portal opens up beside him as the female alicorn from before stood beside him. “You just missed him Harmony…”

“I know, but at least I did what you asked...” Harmony looks at the trail of sparking lightning down the path as she looks back up him. “You know what happens next don’t you?”

He looks to her and smiles, “A storm is brewing Harmony... and Equestria will have a hard time coming back from it.” He walks towards his home as Harmony looks at him, sighing. “I know you want to stop it, but you can’t change the future Harmony. Now, tell the others if they try to interfere with anything, they have to answer to me.”

“Okay... also Kiryu.” He turns to her, looking at her with his soulless, piercing yellow eyes, “Good luck.” She smiles before disappearing into her portal, leaving Kiryu as he heads towards the door to get some fresh air.

Everfree Castle

Zero came through the door as he looked around, wondering where Spike was he speeds off through the castle. Searching everywhere as he comes across a giant hole. He gulps, slowly making his way down as little spiders covered the wall, hearing the noise they make made his skin crawl. A few minutes of walking and he came across a barricade of spiders. He shivers in fear of how many there were as he points his hand at them as he concentrates. Streams of lightning shot from his fingertips, obliterating most of the spiders as he does the same with his other hand.

Once he finished, he continued on, looking around as he finally sees Spike, webbed against the wall. He runs over to him to check to make sure he was alright, “Spike?! Bud, you okay?!”

Spike grunts in pain as he slowly opened his eyes to see Zero trying to get him out, “Zero! Boy am I glad to see you! Hurry up before it comes back.” He helps Zero out as he blew a bit of fire on the web.

Before Zero could say anything, something slowly crawls down the wall behind him. He slowly turns around and completely goes pale as the massive spider revealed itself. It was heavily armored as its tarsus on each leg looked as sharp as a blade. The mandibles also had blade-like claws on it.

It stared at Zero and Spike, the drool/venom dripped from its fangs as it made a screech-like roar as it charges Zero.

Zero comes out of his trance just in time as he quickly dodges, letting the spider run into the wall. He pulled out his Deagle and fires three shots at it as he shot out one of its eyes, but its armor completely deflected his bullets. It screeches at him again as it quickly turns around and starts popping out babies. The little ones all came out and went straight for Zero as he panics slightly and starts firing the streams of lightning from his hands as he kills most of them but they just kept coming.

The mother turns to face Zero as it quietly goes up the wall. Looking at Zero as he was being surrounded by the little ones as he continues to try to fry them all. Spike saw this as he stops what he was doing, “Zero! Lookout!”

Time seemed to have slowed down as Zero looks up to see the spider was a few inches up in the air about to pounce on him. Venom and drool dripped from its fangs as he reels his fist back. Sparks of electricity formed around his fist as he sucker punches it in its face, getting cut by its fang as it rolls into the wall. He smirks but grunts in pain as he looks at the cut on his hand.

He wasn’t paying attention as the little ones began crawling up his legs, biting him as they completely cover his entire body. Zero screamed in pain and fear as he hurries to the wall to try to scrape them off of him but they just kept coming.

“Zero!!!” Spike struggled in his webbed prison as the big mama looked at him, its face bleeding from the attack Zero did as it slowly makes its way over to Spike. He continues to struggle as he had tears in his eyes as he looks back at Zero. “Please Zero... fight back!!”

Zero grunts in pain as he growls. He lifts himself back up, an electrical static-like sound was heard coming off of him as he opens back up his eyes, creating a pulse around his body as it completely fries all the little ones off of him. He then walks towards the giant spider as an electrical type aura formed around him as he kept dispersing it. The electrical charge went through the castle, killing everything small in range except the giant spider.

It screeches at him and was about to charge until Zero was right in front of it in a blink of an eye. This completely shocked the spider as he puts his finger onto its head as he smirks. “You’re finished..” He sent out a powerful electrical charge through his finger as the spider screeched in pain as the charge explodes it from the inside out.

Spike closes his eyes as the light blinded him. He opens them back up a few moments later to see Zero standing there, a small crater was right in front of him with burnt ash as Spike looked on the walls and saw the spider’s leg in the wall as he looks back at Zero, “Woah... that was so cool!”

Zero was about to walk over until he heard clapping from behind as he turns to see Kiryu. “Well done Zero. Didn’t think you would pull this off, but you continue to surprise me.” Kiryu walks over to him as he places his hand on his shoulder, healing Zero as he heads over to Spike and releases him from the webbing, “You’re getting the hang of it, but you haven’t fully controlled it yet.”

Zero looks at his hands and balls them up, wanting to master his new abilities. He looks back up as he goes to check on Spike to make sure he was alright, “What you did was stupid Kiryu... what if Spike died? What if I died?”

Kiryu rubs his chin and puts his arms behind his back, “I know you wouldn’t have died Zero. You’re a fighter... and once you have your back against the wall or you have to save someone you care about, you never give up. That’s why I did that so you’ll get used to your powers.” He saw Zero and Spike looked at him with the really face as he rolls his eyes. “Look, you beat the big spider and made your first EMP. Aren’t you proud of that?”

Zero had to say, he was really proud of himself overcoming his fear in beating the spider, but when Kiryu said something about an EMP, he looked up at him confused. “An EMP?”

Kiryu nods, “Yes. You were able to generate an EMP, an Electro Magic/Magnetic Pulse. You can use that ability to create a dome of energy, invisible to the naked eye as it can cancel out any magical users. Essentially, making them powerless if you were to activate it.” He saw how Zero was a bit confused but was starting to understand. “Or you can create a defensive measure where, if you’re being held down or in your case, covered in spiders, it’ll create a pulse to either push them off of you or completely disintegrate them depending on how much power you use.”

“So is Zero like a superhero now because of his powers?” Spike asks as he looks up at Kiryu in curiosity as his eyes sparkled. Kiryu just chuckles at the young drake and gives him head pats.

“I suppose he is young one.” He saw how excited Spike was as he chuckles to himself and looks back at Zero. “Now Zero, what was that you said about my ass being grass once you completed your task?”

Zero grins as sparks of electricity sparked all around him, “Hope your ready old man.” He cracks his knuckles as Spike steps back a bit as he stays on the sidelines. “Cause once I’m through with you, you’re going straight to the scrapyard.”

Kiryu’s eyes flashed a bit as a spark of electricity came out of it as he smirks, a bit of steam came out of him as he opens his eyes fully, pushing Zero back just by the sheer pressure he built as Zero glares at him. “Unlike you, I can be cocky whenever I want…” He gets into a battle stance as the room echoed from the sound of electricity building up around them. “Ready when you are rookie.”

Zero got into his battle stance, glaring directly at Kiryu as a bit of sweat dropped down from his face. He then charged his master, throwing a flurry of punches as Kiryu dodges them all, smirking and taunting Zero to do better. He growls as he tries to sidekick him, but Kiryu completely disappears in a flash, only to reappear right behind him as he lands a devastating roundhouse kick. He then quickly grabs Zero and throws him around like a rag doll, punching him and sending him flying into the air, only to appear again to him all around the room, ping-ponging him.

Zero quickly catches himself as he caught Kiryu’s fist. He then emits lightning from his fingers fires it, only to have Kiryu block his attack with his tail as he growls in frustration. “What’s wrong? Thought you were the best of the best?” Kiryu said smugly as he emits his EMP, making Zero fly into the wall.

“Seems like you’re…” Before Kiryu could say anything else, Zero was right in his face, electricity sparked all around him as his hair was spiked up as he lands a solid punch in the gut. After that, he follows that with a flurry of attacks, each one hitting a designated area on Kiryu’s body. As this went on, Zero’s attacks slowly began going faster and stronger as his fist was completely covered in an aura of electricity.

Kiryu smirks at this as he slowly begins to block and land hits as well. Both of them glaring at each other as the fight slowly became even. The whole area shook as Spike falls over from their sheer power as lightning bolts rain down around them as they continue to trade blows.

Zero roars at Kiryu as his entire body flashed, blinding Kiryu for a few moments before he felt Zero’s fist land on his face. Zero then reels his head back and fires a blue beam from his mouth, sending Kiryu to the ground, only for him to stop himself as he lands gracefully and looks up at Zero, who charges full speed at him, roaring he was about to land the roundhouse kick before Kiryu caught it just in time.

The sheer force of the kick completely destroyed the wall behind Kiryu. He looks back at Zero who was panting heavily as he goes back to normal, “I can see that fire burning in you Zero... and I absolutely love it.”

Zero nods as he felt Kiryu let go of him as he lands, grunting slightly. “Thank you Kiryu... at least I landed a few hits on you.” He smirks as he looks, only to be completely shocked that he didn’t even leave a scratch on Kiryu as he looks back up at his master, who just smirks.

“Told you... I can afford to be cocky.” Kiryu cracks his neck as stretches out a bit, “It’s been so long since I had a sparring partner with potential to get better.”

Spike comes over as his eyes were filled with amazement and wonder, “That was totally wicked!! You guys were like... boom boom pow... and then it was all zappy zap... and then..” Both Kiryu and Zero both laughed at how excited he got.

“Alright Spike, you have two options. I can either take you home, or you can stay and watch me and this tin can train?”

“Stay with you! I wanna see what cool moves and abilities you’ll learn from Mr. Kiryu!” Spike was so excited as Kiryu nods, resting his hands on both of their shoulders.

Before they left, Kiryu glares up above him. He just smirks and whispers something as he teleports all three of them back into his realm. But where Kiryu was looking up at, someone was watching them as her eyes flashed red. Aria fixes her hair and then looks towards the castle on the mountain as she balled her up fist, red electricity sparked as she growls and started talking with herself. “How the hell did a human get here? How did he become a psyker?”

She sighs as she smirks, “No matter. Whoever he is, he better not get in my way…” She then sees a spider crawling out of a crack as she steps on it, scoffing as she walks back into the forest. But before she left, she dropped a small ball of electricity into the spider’s den. As soon as it hits the ground, it turned into a huge ball of lightning as it completely destroys the area, leaving a massive crater in the ground. “Lets see what you’re made of human.” She laughs darkly as she disappears into the forest.

Author's Note

Hello everyone, after some heavy editing done on the previous chapters I was finally able to work on this chapter and beyond. Hopefully you all enjoy it.

Zero vs. Kiryu Theme

Giant Spider