General Mishaps

Spike awoke to calm electronic music that came over the roof speakers. Spike wanted to take a five minute break but fell into a deep sleep right after he got on the bed. "Good morning, you slept for eight hours so your vitality should be at peak for now."

Spike groaned at the information. "Eight hours? Dammit, we could have gotten out of here and back to Equestria in that time." He got up and kicked the table.

The voice sighed. "Listen to me when I tell you this, the likelihood of you getting back home is next to zero." Spike felt his blood burn and started to argue. "Hold on! Before you start I mean to say that we have no way to get back there. You activated a random jump so the coordinates of the previous location were not saved. Also, the Nav computer got busted up in the crash." Spike opened his mouth again. "No we can't look for it by ourselves, you have any idea how big this dimension is? It would be like looking for a hay-colored needle in a haystack the size of the sun...I'm sorry but we need to focus on our own survival first." In one quick conversation she ended the topic like that.

"...even so, I won't stop trying to get back home. We do what you want but at some point, I will get home with or without your help."

"I expected as much, you'll understand in due time but enough about that for now, I need you to understand the current problem we face right now." Spike felt the seriousness in her tone so he sat down to listened. "Now then, there is a reason why I was captured you know? I was one of the General's personally designed artificial intelligence cores. Now you saw how famous 'you' were out there right?" He nodded, a shiver went down his spine when he remembered the mob. "Now imagine the enemy getting their hands on me. I hold vital information to secret base locations, weapon schematics, and vital mission log data. I even have notes on some of our strongest warriors' weakness for sparring purposes."

The realization dawned on him...the realization that he was even a larger target than he could ever imagine. Spike's face went pale. "And since you are stuck with me we need to find one facility in this system that can safely remove us and to get me back into safe hands." Spike thought about this and wondered how hard that could be. "Now that in itself is a generally simple task but first we need to destroy that mother station before we can even think about getting off this planet." And then the task suddenly became impossible.

Spike sighed and took an odd black fruit from the gift basket beside him. It was blue on the inside and very good. "Well, how are we supposed to even think about doing that?"

"I summarized that this planet has several installations inside of it and even a few pockets deep in the planet's crust. This is one of the most famous stations out deep in this sector so we can enlist some powerful warriors to help us destroy the station. Those warriors tend to wait around for direct orders by high command before they act so we need to meet each of them personally to have them fight for us." Slowly the mission became more insane. "While 'you' are the most famous warrior here just know that not everyone will just blindly run to your side, the General is close personal friends with these high commanders, some of them are rivals and possibly even lovers. We need to be careful in how we go about this to ensure we keep out cover and not tarnish the General's good name."

Spike ate the fruit whole. "While that sounds like quite an amazing adventure." He snorted. "Why don't we just tell the truth to some leader around here and have them do this mission." The thought of him having to do all this stuff by himself made him sick to the core.

The girl groaned in disbelief. "Because jackass, the only reason this planet has not been attacked is because of you. That's how terrified they are of the General because they know if they pulled a full-on assault now they would be destroyed by 'your' awesome powers. If they don't see you take charge of the frontal assault then they may assume you left the planet without them noticing. Another reason is I doubt any other commander or legendary warrior could recruit every other note-worthy soldier since not everyone sees eye to eye, you understand now?"

Now Spike was the one to groan. "Well, this is a fine pickle." He got up and started pacing around the room. "Fine, if I really am going to do this, what are we doing first?" In reality, Spike was going through one hell of a culture shock, if it wasn't for the fact he was recently stuck in a forest, fighting for his life in a ruined world for months he would have been going crazy from the overload of stimulation he was facing. Now though, once Spike finally had a moment to rest and not fear for his life at every moment did he come to understand that was was quite numb inside. The old innocent kid dragon who was kind if not a bit snarky was dead, replaced with a hollowed shell that had no purpose other than to find home and protect it once more.

...No matter how he put it, Spike knew he abandoned the last of his family...if those monsters didn't all leave the planet with him then Twilight would of already-. Spike shut out those thoughts once more, believing they would be no more than a hindrance to his current objective. It was time to find a new purpose for now at least.

"...I am not quite certain actually...my data is insufficient but a reasonable course of action would be to simply wander about this station and see what comes up." Spike nearly facepalmed.

"That's your big plan?" He asked staring up at the ceiling. "Just wing it?"

She grunted in annoyance. "Tch, Well I'm sorry 'sir' but I wasn't designed to hold your hand like a child. I was made for complex battle tactics and simulation analyzing, let us be clear on this 'sir'. I am not in charge here, you are the General like it or not."

Spike arose heatedly. "BUT I'M NOT THE GENERAL!" In his rage he swiped the basket across the room, leaving a mess.

"YES YOU ARE! Just listen to me for a second here..." Spike sat back down, feeling that he was becoming too quick to anger. "When I first met you on that ship my sensors were fooled by you 'Spike'...you are an anomaly far beyond what I can comprehend...by many counts you pass as Lord General by my simple scanners, if you did not possess these qualities then I would not have the authorization to act as your guide or to give you data information, I have fooled myself into seeing you as the highest-ranking warrior in all of this faction. Was I not a hyper-intelligent A.I. I would follow your directions without pause...the truth is I shut down most of my Aux ability when it comes down to helping you, I can make us 'a lot' more powerful but I do not trust you." She sighed in deep thought. Spike listened intently,

"I need you to lead this mission, what you say goes if it is within reason. I will follow you and defend you when I can but we are strangers who know nothing about each other, we need to build trust if we are to survive Spike...remember the General is kind, powerful, strong, wise and so many more things. He is the symbol of war and peace at the same time. He is a beacon of hope to the weak and a symbol of terror to his enemies, you need to become that dragon if you want to live. Help me help us!"

Spike felt the worry in her words. She was scared and didn't really know what to do, both were beings out of their element without a guide. Spike clenched his fist. "Alright then...I'll be your General for now." He stood up and made his way to the door, his armor materializing around him. "I don't really get it, all of it really." He smiled. "Honestly, I have no idea what I'm doing but I guess I might as well have a little fun with it right?"

That was it, something in Spike's eyes lit up. Like a small ember that created a fire, the voice in his head felt it too. Something inside was waking up inside the dragon. "...Hey, tell me."

"Yes?"

"What's your name?"

"Pardon?"

Spike shook his head lazily. 'Your name dummy, you have one don't you?' He exited the door and made his way to the card house near him. Spike switched to thoughts as not to appear as a crazy man talking to himself.

"Yes, I do have an assigned designation given to me by Lord General but that info is classified to the highest level."

'What? Who the hell classifies a name?' He looked abound to see the pretty lights and attractions around him, odd games all around, some did look familiar at least so he made his way over to the one with the spinning ball and the colored tiles.

"Just drop it okay? My serial designation is Unit 674ArmaUna-CodeNova: Type-Zcddhovoc so you may address me as such if you wish" She could feel the distaste in his mind. "Or you can call me 'Nova' then."

'Nova then...I like it, I think it suits you actually.' He stood beside the table next to three other players. To his right was a green-painted android that looked to have seen many battles from its dents and scratches all around it. To his left was a more odd sight.

Two people, both beings were what he learned were humans. One male one female, the male stood tall at 5.9 feet, had maroon pointed hair, and striking red eyes. He wore a yellow short-sleeved shirt with foreign characters written on it and a big heart shape placed on the left of his chest. His eye told him it read 'I (Heart) Humanity'. Under that was a long-sleeved purple shirt with the right sleeve rolled up, his right arm had a red armband around it. He had purple jeans and red sneakers.

The girl looked possibly to be his little sister, standing at 4.7 feet with long white/silver hair. Her eyes were a mesmerizing red and gold. She wore some kind of purple knee-length dress with a yellow tie ribbon around her neck. She had dark black stocking that went up knee lever and some blue dress shoes. Oddly, her mouth had a sort of 'cat' like expression.

Spike peered down at the two who were focused on the game. 'I didn't know they allowed children in such a hostile place like this.' He pondered.

"It's not that simple Spike. You see those two ar-" Before she could continue, Spike noticed how the little girl placed chips on the table and called out a number, Spike acted out on impulse and spoke without thinking.

"Hey!" The two looked up to him with bored expressions. Only now did Spike notice that his helmet was on. "Listen, buddy, I don't think you should let this kid be in here." The girl looked with the same face but the male raised his brow in amusement.

"Spike shut up, you do not k-" He toned her out, feeling like he should at least do something correct with his power.

"I'm not trying to be a pain I just saying what I think is all." He crossed his arms in an imposing manner but the two smiled at his act.

The male spoke first. "Long time no see your 'Lordship'. Nice try with the armor but it takes a lot more than a mask to fool us." Spike looked into his eyes and felt them burn his own. Who the hell were these guys? "Still, jokes aside it sure is a low blow of you to attack my poor sister's soft spot with her height." He rubbed her head.

The girl spoke with a soft and sweet voice. "It's not Shiro's fault her growth was stunted during the transition." She padded sadly at her flat chest.

"SPIKE!" He snapped to attention. "Don't just go assuming things in a place you just got to. That's Sora and Shiro, the most intelligent strategist of our time! We need them, they are one of those people of interest we are looking for. Do not piss them off." The reality dawned on him, first minute of the mission and already he messed up.

Spike looked back down to meet their striking gazes that made him feel like the small one. "So General, why don't you tell us why you're really here." Sora gave him one hell of a wicked grin that made him shudder. "Actually-" Spike could have sworn he saw a beam of light come out of their eyes. They spoke in unison.

"Let's Play a Game!"

"Aw crap!"