Chapters Spike held on to the steering stick for dear life as the SolarFlare rocketed across the planet's atmosphere. Warning lights blared signals he barely understood. It was obvious that the hull wasn't meant to glide across the ozone layer for this long but he didn’t want to dive down since he didn’t know anything about landing and going back up would mean certain death due to the several fighters scattering around searching for the small carrier.
Feeling around Spike found a smaller joystick-looking piece and began shifting around the piece. ‘WARNING! COMBAT MODE ENGAGED.’ A robotic feminine voice rang about the cockpit. A few lasers flew around his field of vision every time he pressed the top red button. Spike looked on in slight wonder. “Huh, that might come in handy later…” Only his thought ended in fear as Spike realized he may not have a later very soon. In aggravation and desperation, Spike pounded on the control panel and shouted his thoughts. “AUGH DAMMIT I JUST WANT TO LAND THIS PIECE OF JUNK!” Suddenly the cabin's lights blared to life.
“Ah General it is wonderful to have you back with me again!” The voice was robotic but strangely playfully girlish. “Running diagnostic scan...oh my getting into trouble again dear General are we?” The voice asked with unconcerned mirth.
Spike had many questions, MANY questions, mostly on who this ‘General’ was or why this thing thought it was him but Spike thought ahead and decided not to fix the robot’s error while it was willing to help.
The ship made an angry huffing noise. “SHIP!? That was extremely rude Master...and you called me a piece of junk earlier!” The angry tone quickly turned into a sad one. “You built this place from scratch and more importantly ME and now I’m just a bunch of garbage to you?” The green hue of the cabin dimmed. More warning lights about heat and structural integrity began screaming for some attention. Spike flinched in fear at the sound of tearing metal, being on fire this long must be melting the hull. “Listen, I’m sorry I called you junk, I didn’t mean it. I swear!” He tried to appease the emotional voice. “We can catch up later I just need you to land this thi-baby before we break it.” Hopefully, this voice didn’t know he was about to call it a ‘thing’.
“You were just about to call me thing!” Crap. “Can’t you even remember my name!” Spike just stared at the council dumbly. “You bastard…” The voice seemed to turn depressed. “I thought you cared about me...you created me, I love you like a father!!” Rage was building from within. The dragon began wondering if this was how he was going to die. “Please! I don’t remember anything about you. I just want to live!” He cried in a last act of desperation.
HOSTILE THREAT INBOUND
Purple and red laser fire passed by the viewscreen as about ten small ships flying around the carrier. ‘This is how I’m going to die.’ Spike repeated to himself. The ship began to shake violently.“We’re being boarded.” The ship spat, ice in its words. “Ugh...kick their asses and remove the boarding ship, then I can land us.” The lights went cold again and all was mostly silent.
“Wait! I can’t fight. I don’t know how to!!” No response. “DAMMIT!” Spike weighed his options quickly, the only way to survive is to land and the only way to land is to fight. Simple...not really though. “I need a weapon.” He said to himself. A slot opened next to him and a rather puny-looking pistol came out. Did the voice do that or did the ship respond to his voice? Either way, Spike held up the gun and moved out of the seat and ran into a hall leading into the docking bay. Another shake and a blast door near him blew open without warning. A ten-foot-tall armored lean figure towered over his still large seven-foot build its purple eyes glowed. It looked down on the smaller prey, and...vaulted itself back into the door.
Spike pulled up his gun again and pulled the trigger...nothing. Several rounds of hot laser fire pierced his scales causing little actual damage but were alarming nonetheless. Spike vaulted back behind the door and began inspecting the weapon. “What the hell is this thing?” A little bar on the side of the weapon with six bars was cut in half, three red and green...now two red and four green.Three hostile class dreadnoughts located in sleeping quarters. Or was he now stuck in the danger zone?
“I miss Twilight.” He muttered holding the gun to eye level. “I need to find out what happened to them.” But the time to reflect was for later.
Frustration filled the lone dragon. “I hate this! I want to go home.” Spike decided to hold in that anger and save it for the three who deserved it. ‘Those bastards are what caused all this. They deserve whatever happens next.’ He walked cautiously to the lower level where the sound of rustling and shouting grew.
“Dammit, he destroyed the loader ship.” A voice shot out. “Get the Oxo-Suits ready we need to jump!”
Another rusty voice piked up. “But we haven't killed the Gen-” A loud smacking noise was heard. “GUAH...WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WI-”
“Y-you just killed Captain Fills...why?” Another creature asked in half fear and confusion.
The heavier one grunted in annoyance. “He was a suicidal lunatic. No one can kill the General like this. I can’t believe the Captain didn’t choose to blow this ship out of the sky...that crazy bastard thought he could actually beat the General one to one...I’m the Captain now and I say we leave this operation.”
The sound of shuffling metal feet sounded off loudly. Spike breathed in relief. Honestly, he was terrified, all that built-up rage from before exhausted quicker than it came. His claws were shaking. “I can’t do this.”
“...leave a Junko charge.” The voice chuckled. “We tell command we fought with all we had and brought this heap down like the scrap it is.”
“Y-yes Captain.”
He shook violently thinking about what a ‘Junko charge’ was. He turned the next level over and saw the two giant black and purple demons setting up some sort of ball device to the wall. The tallest one pinged a code sequence in faster than Spike could remember. Lights began flashing on the device as it began counting down.
Spike knew it was some kind of bomb. He had to make those two deactivate it. He thought about his options and came with a crazy one.
“HEY!” The two demons turned in shock to see the smaller dragon on the same level as them.
‘Thisisstupidthisisntgoingtoworkimgoingtodieimgoingtgetkilledimsuchaidiotwhydididothis.’
The smaller demon shook but pulled out a large rifle and aimed at Spike. The gun was quickly smacked away by the larger being. It then grabbed its face and smashed the smaller one into the ground so hard that its head was crushed.
‘Who do I look like?’ This whole day seemed to be the cause of this ‘General’. ‘He must be a dragon just like me…’ Spike gulped. “Deactivate that bomb!”
The demon snorted in amusement. “And why don’t you? This is a class 9 detonator, reports show you can defuse WorldCrackers in only moments...so why don’t you?” It was starting to get suspicious.
Spike gripped his gun tighter but inside he began to panic. ‘What do I do? I can kill him now but then I can’t defuse this bomb but if I wait too long then it will know I’m not this General...I gotta think of something fast befo-’ Something unworldly snapped inside of Spike. Something as primal and powerful as this was new if not strangely familiar.
“DO NOT QUESTION MY COMMAND YOU LOWLY MAGGOT YOU DO AS I SAY OR I WILL NOT HESITATE TO MAKE YOUR MORTAL SOUL SUFFER FOR EONS TO COME!”
Spike breathed once and it felt GOOD. Where did that come from? So many things needed to be answered.
...? Spike was even more dumbfounded than ever before. But even more concerning was when Spike gritted his teeth and started pulling into the trigger. Spike was filled with rage! He really wanted to kill this unarmed person...what was this feeling? Spike had an idea and it came to this being bloodlust, something he never felt before.
“GET OUT OF MY SHIP!” Honestly, Spike was hysterical at this point and all he wanted right now was to be alone. The demon looked in shock at this burst but it did get up and stumbled his way near a glass window. It smashed the glass with its large fist but looked back for a second. “NOW!” Not needing another moment it jumped off into the sky. Spike assumed it had some way to survive the fall or else Spike just witnessed a straight-up suicide. “Celestia dammit…”
“Feeling a little merciful today are we Sir?” That A.I. was back again. “How unlike you...has little Frisk gotten in your head again?”
The ship began to rock slowly but it seemed the speed was lowering dramatically.
“Frisk?” He asked forgetting that he needed this robot on his side. The voice hummed in thought and out from the ceiling came a gun-like device only instead of shooting, it set a green light over his person for a few seconds until it stopped and returned to place.
“General...are you okay?” All earlier forms of anger built up faded almost instantly and was replaced with genuine concern. “Do you not remember me? Do you not remember anything?” The Ship made a stop which caught Spike off guard. "We have landed sir...come up to the main bridge and we can talk about this."
He sighed and began up the rather large ship that he apparently owned. "I'll be glad to tell you everything, right from the very start!"
Author's Note
A little something ambitious but I hope I can pull it off well. Comments and suggestions are very much appreciated thank you.
Spike sat down back in the captain's chair in slight aggravation. He had a bit of right to be peeved after all that has happened recently, and with the awaking of some rather disturbing emotions, he felt glad that he could take a real moment to rest. "what do you want to hear exactly?" He asked the odd voice.
"Please start where you think this would make any sense. I need to comprehend everything you say before I make certain of my next objective. Please speak with 100% accuracy." She was stern but obviously worried and confused at her lack of knowledge of the situation.
Spike sighed and clenched his fists lightly, he really didn't want to go over the horror that befell his homeworld. But this could be vital to his survival in the long run. He needed this ship to trust him or else he may never get back home or even off the ship alive...Spike braced himself and began.
"It could have been a little 2 months ago...I was just the assistant to the Princess of Harmony at the time. Far smaller than now...so much younger." He took in a breath, his eyes reflected torment. "They came in the middle of the night, hundreds of black ships scattered across the skies and landed all across the planet. We were not prepared in any way."
Spike pinched the bridge of his nose, this was hard to remember. "...The ship unleashed powerful blue flames across my home. We were a distance away from the first attack so we were safe then...I could hear the screams of so many innocent lives...my friends...my family............oh my god." Tears streamed down his face but he continued. "We were horrified but went in to help any survivors. I was resistant to the flames so I took charge of the rescue. I saved many but we had little time as they began a land invasion. Pods came down like rain and out came creatures, unlike anything I have ever seen. Those towering monsters destroyed anything in sight without hesitation, Twilight forced us away but I saw some ponies trying to fight them." Another sigh. "It was like an ant to an elephant, not a single hit of damage to them but any who attacked were killed instantly by their powerful laser weapons..."
The computer hummed sadly. "I'm sorry for your loss."
He waved her off. "It only gets worse." He continued the story. "We got all of the survivors that consisted of most of the ponies I knew well, so I was at least thankful for that. We ran into the Everfree forest, a dangerous area that many steered away from in fear but in this situation, it seemed to be our best bet at survival."
One long pause took over him. "...We went deep into that dam place for days. We lost many to wild animals and traps. I had contact with the ruling monarchs through a magical fire breath system I had placed in me and the messages she sent were very hopeless. Canterlot was in ruins as were every major city in the Equestrian territory and possibly the whole planet. The aliens were ruthless as they were powerful and took no prisoners. Anyone in sight would be killed without hesitation. She and her sister were in hiding and at the moment felt very powerless in their current situation, she tried to fight them with her powerful magic but it seemed they were fully resistant to any forms of damage, they were lucky to escape alive." Once again he took a moment to realign his thoughts.
"Our group was already miles deep into the forest but they always seemed to be just a minute away, so we were always running and hardly resting. Things felt truly pointless at that point as I felt like we were being backed into a corner for the slaughter. My friends kept me determined to continue our bleak quest for survival. By then I began to grow fast, my muscle mass grew as did my height with a sudden surge to devour meat. By then my family could care less about my sudden savage urges, if anything it was a godsend as I became the head leader of the survival group with my strength. Twilight grew stressed with lack of sleep so I took the lead to let her calm down. I grew up a lot in that forest because I fought such terrifying creatures to defend what was left of my home..." Spike took a minute before he continued, a glassy look went over his eyes.
"It was like this for months, a never-ending hell where we were picked off one by one every week or less, I saw some good lifetime friends killed in horrible ways...I never wanted to be the one to put them out of their misery...she didn't deserve to die with a broken back and shredded gut asking me where her sister was." Hot tears streamed down his face and heart swelled in agony. "She just wanted to make people happy dammit! She didn't deserve ANY OF THAT!" In rage Spike pounded on the metal panel. "FUCK!"
Silence overtook them for some time. Spike tried his best to calm down and the robot waited patiently. Eventually, he continued.
"They caught up to us at some point with guns drawn. I was almost ready to die but luck was on my side at that moment as a giant razor tooth beast appeared from behind and attacked the monster. The ponies fled but I took the opportunity and stole his gun. I never used it but understood enough to fire and kill the bastard and the beast. The other alien was too shocked to react before it too was melted by the powerful beam. Then I stole what weapons I could and went back to protect our diminishing group. We had our first good sleep in months at that point...then I made myself an ultimatum, I knew we would be killed sooner than later so I left a note and went back the way I came in the middle of the night. I left them alone in a hostile environment but I had to do this, it was the only way we could survive if we had a chance." Spike seemed to be talking more to himself than the A.I.
"I rushed at full speed back home, me not being careful made the journey much faster as I tore through the forest without stopping for hours. It may have been three days but I came across a large clearing where the aliens stationed a landing zone. They were unaware of my arrival and were unable to unify to attack me before the whole unit was destroyed. I had a whole ship to myself and for a day I studied the controls slowly to understand how to fly it. This was my only chance to save what was left of the world. I flew it with a bit of sloppiness and when asked over the intercom by other ships I played it off as a malfunction. I guess they never expected a hijacking so they believed me. Later on, I got close to other flagships and unleashed hell upon them all." An unexpected chuckle escaped his lips.
"They never expected it and fell easily to my amazement. I took heavy damages but managed to destroy each capital ship...or so I thought at least. The skies boomed as even bigger ships filled the skies. They were saying that the General has made his appearance at last. I flew into the skies and even space to fly into the biggest ship of them all. My ship became far too damaged to control and I crashed into the station. I survived the crash and escaped with little time to spare. I noticed that the aliens left my planet and centered around this station, If I could just find a self destruct of some sort then I could destroy every last one of them in one motion, I would save everyone and die in the process, this was a resolve I was more than willing to take." He closed his eyes in contemplation.
"I just wanted my family to be safe again...I ran inside that metallic hell hole for hours, dodging and evading the alien force until I came across this ship. It was locked up in a laser cage but I thought I could maybe fly it into the heart of the core or something. I destroyed the panels at the cost of alerting the whole station of my location. By then I entered this ship and took off, yet the controls were far more different than theirs. I flew faster than any of their ships but had no way to fight back. And then a red button lit up for me to press, I thought it was the weapon system but one push and this ship moved at speeds I thought impossible. So fast that when it was over I was near a different planet! I thought I managed to escape but was followed instantly by the station...and well the rest is history I guess."
Spike waited for her response at the end of his dramatic story, of course, some details were better left unsaid but Spike gave the most accurate statement he could give about any of the madness that befell him.
"...we will discuss this later."
"Why?" Spike wanted answers or some form of explanation on all that has happened.
"Because I have just detected that station is preparing a glass laser cannon right now and we need to cripple that device before we are turned into glass along with the rest of this planet." The ship came back to life and lifted off straight into space. The station came into view, it would be impossible to destroy that thing the size of the moon with such a small ship right?
Either way, Spike smiled lightly. It was now or never and while he was terrified of the odds the thought of being able to deal a blow to his tormentors gave a sadistic grin to the false General. "Alright then, let's stick it to these bastards!" It was time for some serious payback.
Spike knew this was suicide but at this point, he felt like if he could just somehow destroy that ship then his home would be safe at last. "While I am fully able to fly this ship myself, it helps when one focuses on the attack while the other on flight." A cord ending in a sharp tip flexed out of the counsel. "This will pin into your cerebral cortex and let you function all of the weapon systems with relative ease" Spike instinctively backed away from the sharp tip. "Trust me, you will only feel some pressure and some head pain for a moment."
Spike knew this was not the time to be a coward again so he grits his teeth hard and nodded. The needle plunged in hard and fast. He felt nothing but flashes of color filled his head. He saw the outside of space through several angles and reticles. The whole experience was jarring as hell but somehow manageable to his mind. The technology this ship had was beyond anything he thought possible before. "I think it's working." Each part of his brain moved the ten different cameras that were attached to the ship. four laser gatling guns on each side with two heavy ballistic rail guns on the front. He knew this as information of each gun flowed into his head without pause. The reticles shifted around rapidly but quickly came under his control. "Alright, I think I got the hang of this now."
"Listen to me okay? This is very risky but this ship has gone through more daring missions than this many times before. So this should be a cakewalk but I had better circumstances back then so the odds of us winning are approximately 68.59% so the odds are in our favor." She seemed happy in some way. Like she missed doing stuff like this. "All you must do is destroy any ship that comes into view, destroy all projectiles at all cost, and fire at anything highlighted in your view, that either means a ship is in a position to deal a critical hit or a critical part of the ship that must be destroyed if we are to beat these homicidal bastards." She gave a very gentle laugh. "Just be calm and do your best alright. I believe in us."
Spike just nodded. All of the weapons primed up with a vicious glow of blue and green. Spike took a deep breath and decided to just go with the flow on this. It was better to be confident in victory than foresee defeat before the battle had even begun.
The black ship of impossible size grew closer and closer with each second. It seemingly growing much more massive as they approached. It was horizontal in length with an ovular smooth top and a series of jutting shapes of various sizes that seemed to house ships and war machines. Who could ever create such a monster was beyond Spike but what he did know was the colossal laser charging up with a fiery purple glow from below the station was strong enough to reduce a planet to cinders. Various lights lit across the station as thousands of ships flew out heading straight for him. He took one calm look into the storm. He saw this station hovering above this unassuming planet, right behind another orange planet with green rings. Space was full of colors ranging from green to vibrant blue. It was a sight he never thought he would see in his long life but for a moment it seemed more beautiful than dreadful.
Then the skies were lit ablaze with red lasers. Adrenaline pumped furiously into the dragon's blood. The ship sped around at great speeds avoiding every projectile with excellent precision. "GET READY!" The tiny black dots got larger and larger with every second, in one-moment red warning lights flashed in Spike's multiple 'eyes'. Now in attack range, he let loose a volley of red plasma out into the void of space. The first attack confirmed the destruction of over ten thousand ships and counting with every second. In many ways, this felt like a video game. Spike grit his teeth and unleashed another torrent of fire into the battlefield.
This system worked well for the duo, Spike would create a hole in their defenses while the ship would avoid and dodge every single shot coming their way. Nearly halfway there Spike took note of the twenty giant frigate ships, shooting them proved a waste of time due to the heavy shield they had. So to get past that he used began charging the railguns to maximum charge. When Spike let the cannon fire he expected at least one or two ships to take heavy damage, what he didn't expect was the near hydrogen bomb level of destruction the projectile caused. In one blue explosion, all twenty of the city-sized ships were engulfed in one unholy blaze. Thank Celestia he didn't fire that monstrous thing in close proximity.
"Excellent work Spike!" He smiled at the genuine happiness he heard in that comment. The heavy destruction punched a hole straight near the station. "We have reached our destination, Spike you must focus on all highlighted areas of this ship." The ship glided across the side of the exposed components of the station. One pair of Spike's mechanical eyes looked into space and fired on the oncoming ships while the other side fired railgun rounds into every yellow highlighted area.
The combined attack from the small fighters and turrets from the station began to skim closer to the powerful small ship. "I detect the laser is at 85% charge, we need to find a power source now!" Even with such heavy damage, the station, in reality, was unfazed, it had a tough skin that was for sure and these attacks were a little close to a hornet attacking a bear.
Spike grunted at the realization. 'Then I guess it's time to sting in in the mouth.' He gritted again. "I think we should attack the laser directly! I doubt a power source would be placed in the outer layer of such a massive station."
"I was just thinking that but attacking the laser is the number one move that is expected of us, it is heavily guarded to the point where success chances drop to 43.88% and survival drops to 21.78%...It's your call." She didn't sound worried, more like certain of her words and already come to terms with them.
Spike thought for a moment and already came to his decision. "We have no choice, we destroy that laser we save who knows how many lives. It needs to be done!" Without a word, the ship floored its speed and aimed down into the underbelly of the behemoth. The laser came into view, building up a giant black orb the size of a country.
"We destroy the area around that orb we should be able to overload the buildup." Three pylons around the beam flashed a red color. "Aim true Spike!" Spike held his breath in and fired both rounds from the rail gun. Each one hit their mark causing tremendous damage to the ship but still, the laser built-up energy. "97% charge!" The next round was loaded and was fired at the last pylon, it exploded without a hitch. A light around the laser shimmered blue and fizzled out, an invisible shield was no more it seemed. "This is our chance! Fire at the center of the build-up when It reached full charge."
"On it!"
The ship shut off all other forms of attack in order to charge the railgun to maximum power. It got closer to the black ball. "98%!" Spike forced the nervous tension in the pit of his stomach to screw off. "99%!" He focused all eyes on the coming center of the world-ending blast. Several missiles impacted the ship at various angles. Still, the two focused on the task at hand"FIRE!"
Before the ship broke off the path from the damage Spike fired a critical hit on the station. The blue projectile penetrated the black ball and dived three-quarters the way to the charging device before the energy within forced the various explosives to detonate. While small this sudden unexpected pulse caused a premature release of energy directed right into the base of the station. The destruction as a result was catastrophic. The ship, now heavily damaged, pulled all available power right into the engines. Spike earlier was knocked into unconsciousness as a result of the initial damage by being smashed headfirst into the counsel. The blast residue was only meters away from engulfing the ship entirely but the speed in that ship held firm and managed to outrun the blast.
While the initial crisis adverted there still came the new issue of the now melted engines, too much energy was pushed into such small turbines. Control was lost. The two spiraled down into the planet they just saved "...I missed this." The ship muttered right before they entered the atmospheric layer.
It was going to be one hell of a landing that was for sure.
Spike awoke with the sound similar to a power drill, along that came terrible pain that came from the back of his neck. Spike felt as if his brain was placed in a blender and set to slush. His screams could break thin glass. "EEAHHHHH!!"
"OH GOD!" The robot girl shrieked in shock. Spike felt his arms and legs get pulled down by some sort of binding object, he could not move anything and the pain got worse. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Just hold on a little more please!" The drilling sensation seemed to get faster. "Try this." Through the traumatic pain the dragon felt a large needle pike through his lower skull, a warm liquid pooled into his brain which came with the dramatic dulling of most of the pain. Make no mistake though since the pain was still horrible.
"W-WHAT ARE Y...OU DOING!?" Spike gutted out between gasps. His vision would shift around to odd amounts of vibrant colors to black and white, sometimes all vision would bleak out altogether. He fought hard to break free from the bindings but lacked the focus to draw up any strength. "STOP!" He could feel the drilling slow down a peg, while welcomed it also brought a new feeling of several sharp prongs latching to his lower neck and digging up right into his cerebral cortex. "CELESTIA DAMMIT PLEASE SToop!"
And stop it did, the pain dulled to nothing, all sensation became very calm as if the torture never occurred. The bindings unlatched so Spike sat up quickly and promptly felt around the back of his head. "Please try to stay calm." The voice asked gently.
Spike felt a metallic bump on the back of his head now. No bigger than three inches in width, it rested perfectly attached to him. Somehow the device did not feel odd to him, in fact, it felt natural to the touch, much like another part of the body. "What is this...what the hell did you do to me?" Spike asked lowly in a nonaggressive manner but he would be lying if he said he wasn't at least a bit pissed off and pretty scared.
"We crashed Spike, we beat the mothership but we crashed on the planet's surface hard. You were still connected to the guns and when you hit your head the needle lodged in your brain was torn out of you at an irregular angle." Spike felt his stomach lurch at the thought. "Half of your cerebral cortex was heavily damaged and you risked death. I performed emergency surgery on you to ensure your survival..." She seemed to hesitate on her next words. "While the surgery was a massive success, I may have gotten carried away and decided to load you up with some augmentations..."
Spike felt a rising tension in his chest and had a sudden need to look at his hands. "What did you-" Spike saw that both of his arms and claws now had blue pulsing lines going around them. He had some kind of metal plating on his knees and arm joints. His left eye seemed to zoom in on the changes in his body in a very unnatural way. The eye zoomed back in response to Spike's pike in shock. "How am I doing this?" Another addition to his growing pile of questions.
"Your left eye ruptured in the crash, this a Mark VII Tactical Optic Sensor, T.O.S as it were. It behaves and appears exactly like your original eye but has a slew of functions that will help us on our journey." Spike nodded slowly, still in shock from the events unfolding before him. "I also added nano plating on your scales, think of it as an intelligent armor of sorts. Spike nodded again not really caring what that meant for the moment.
"What is this thing in my head for?" He asked drowsily, coming off from the sudden adrenaline spike he faced.
"That is both a nerve repair module and a highly advanced false brain unit that will increase various functions in your body. The thing is this kind of technology is only operable by highly trained cyber class soldiers or incredibly intelligent personal. No offense, but you are defiantly neither."
Spike shrugged lazily and muttered. "None taken." Not really aiming his head anywhere since he was still talking to a voice...that was coming from...his own mind.
...! The realization dawned on the dragon like a sack of diamonds to the head. "How are you doing that?" He called while looking around the small room with no notable features aside from the surgery chair he sat upon and the various cords and tools that jutted out from the ceiling.
"Yes I was getting to that, in the olden days of the war the top soldiers with the best equipment who were not mentally prepared for the strain that such devices required had A.I. cores assigned to them that regulated the heavy lifting when it came to using their abilities." Spike nodded, only now noticing every movement he made felt somewhat 'off' as if he was not controlling his movements but some kind of second party knew what he wanted to do and did it for him...he felt in control but at the same time 'not'. "So I moved my core processing unit into your head. Without me you would experience uncontrollable seizures, unexpected sensory overload, blood vessels clotting, your heart would simply explode...also you may vomit out your stomach, oh and also-" . She seemed to get carried away and failed to notice that Spike was about to have a natural heart attack of his own.
"Alright, I get it!" He shouted since she seemed unable to stop without direction. "Can we just talk about something else for a while please?"
"Ah yes, let's brief you on the events that transpired when you were out." In his left eye an image of the planet came on which only slightly terrified the dragon. With the planet, an image of the enormous battle station came with it. The station was zoomed in to show the bottom portion with heavy damages that spread all about the ship. Its position seemed tilted in direction. Smaller but still massive ships flew out from the station down to the planet in random locations. "From what little my scanners can pick up, the battle station was dealt a crippling blow by our valiant efforts. Sadly we could not destroy the station but that is to be expected. The warp drive and general turbine appear to be damaged beyond their possibility to repair without reinforcements. I also do not detect any long-range signals coming off from the station so we may have also damaged their communications relay. If only we had a fleet of our own to take down that thing for good."
The image zoomed down to the planet's surface to their position. It showed the ship in a state of heavy disrepair inside of a crater. "Flying out of here was already impossible due to lack of fuel but now we have no ship to even use." Several large ships popped into existence near the crash site and seemed to close in on their location. "We need to move ASAP."
The door slid open to show a hallway that was full of destroyed walls and wires. Spike moved past them until he came across a wall that had several panels and computers placed in them. He stood before it and noticed his left hand moved without his permission and imputed a series of codes he could not understand. The three walls flipped over to show a complex array of tools and devices. Before he could react two arms clasp around his right arm. "Hey!" His left arm was pulled from his side and clasped as well. Spike shouted once again.
"Calm down please, I'm just getting you equipped is all." She said calmly as his legs and chest were also encased with metal arms. Spike struggled but the arms held him in place as a circular device hovered over his head and lowered slowly. The device moved down across his entire form. Spike heard the sounds of drills revving up which almost gave him a terror flashback.
Another thing Spike felt was the sudden tightness around his entire body, even his tail was encased in some kind of device. The process finished then and the arms came undone so Spike was free. He looked down to see he was now in some kind of green and black armor. "What the hell is this?" He asked as he examined his hands and arms. Only then did he notice he had a helmet on as well with a green visor.
"If we are going to outrun the enemy then we need you in that armor, this will be your lifesaver from now on. Now hurry and take this!" A panel on the ceiling opened up and dropped down a large but thin gun. Spike identified the thing as some kind of advanced rifle. The thing could be no less than half his size but time for observations was at a low so his arm not under his control flipped the gun over his head. He felt the rifle slap to his back as if a magnet was keeping it attached to him. "Alright, we're ready now move it dragon! Go go GO!"
Spike felt a surge of adrenaline flow over his body, so he ran forward, unsure where he was going but ran he did until he came across a glass wall that showed the outside world. Instead of stopping Spike felt the need to smash through it and he did.
The armored dragon crashed through the heavy glass as if it were thin as paper and dropped down like a rock to the ground. Spike looked back to see the once proud-looking ship now in a state of pity for smoke and fires streamed out of it with all of its broken walls and windows. While he didn't know the ship for long he did give it one sad smile in respect for saving his life before he ran off into the distance.
___
"Where are we even going?" He asked as he ran away from the ship up a steep hill. The suit proved its value as scaling the hill felt as simple as walking forward. Spike knew he had to contemplate and decide on his next course of action but first, he had to find someplace safe to camp before anything could be explained further.
"Luckily for us we landed near a lookout point. We can base up there for the time being. Those bastards won't dare come near a fortified station without their precious super weapons so we will be safe." The duo were near the top. Spike made lunged forward to grip the edge of the mountain. Spike gave out a curt snort in disbelief. "What?"
He pulled himself up. "I find it hard to believe that any sort of place, defended or not can stand up to those monsters." When he stood up he could see quite a sight.
A gigantic superstation that spans miles across the planet's surface. Ships of many sizes docked in at out and super-sized cannons patrolled the skies. The place also had some kind of giant shield bubble protecting it, his eye zoomed in to see people of many shapes, colors, and sizes walking around the station grounds. Some had armor bigger and bulkier than his own. Spike awed in amazement at the sight before him. "Badass..." he muttered.
"Told you." Spike could almost hear the grin in her tone.
Spike cautiously stepped forward through the rocky terrain. The voice in his head told him the people would not attack him so he pressed on as the mile-high station grew closer. "Put some pep in your step. Act like the fearless dragon that you look like." Spike gritted his teeth and forced himself to speed up his pace.
The fortress had giant doors that slid open to allow a group of odd-looking multicolored people in, their heads pointed up to a stem that ended in a large leaf or flower. The sight made Spike quirk his eyebrow. 'What odd creatures...' He thought.
"Now now, remember that you're in a new environment full of diverse species." She chided. Spike's eyes popped open in surprise. "Before you ask, yes I can hear your thoughts. I'm in your head now remember?" .
Spiked nodded dumbly. "Right..."
By now the doorstep was only a few meters away. Someone who stood twelve feet tall in an impossibly heavy-looking armor looked down to him. He had a helmet that ended in three horn-like spikes and a line visor that glowed orange. The titan pulled out an ornate-looking ax that was larger than the wielder. The guard placed the ax beside the entrance in a nonthreatening manner and spoke with a heavy booming voice. "What is your purpose here traveler?" He asked calmly but each word made Spike's heart pump a little faster.
Spike gulped but put on a brave face. "My ship crashed a few miles back, I came here to maybe hole up for a while." He answered honestly.
The titan nodded. "Yes, I saw the stream of smoke awhile ago, a rescue party was planned but we were busy fending off the Void forces. I assume you were shot down then?" Spike nodded. "Are you able to take off the helmet traveler, it would be best to confirm your identity to speed up the process."
Spike pondered if he should do so or even how to do it. "I got it." . The helmet disappeared in a flash of green light to show off Spike's face to the guard. The reaction given was not an expected one. The giant seemed startled and fumbled around with the ax to put it back in place. He dropped to one knee and bowed his head while putting his right fist to his chest.
"Lord General! It is an absolute honor to see you in the flesh." He stood up and opened the door. "Forgive my interference, step in my Lord." Instead of questioning it, Spike thanked the titan and stepped through.
"Get used to it, we need to keep up this charade so from now on you are the Lord General, the most famous and feared war hero in all of the galaxies." She said this plainly but Spike felt like his stomach was about to do one hell of a flip. When Spike took one look at the inside of the station he felt a sensation of wonder and awe. What he could see could be somewhat compared to a super mega mall found in Manehattan but only fifty times more extravagant. Many layers and floors reached up to the ceiling. Aliens of all sorts of uniqueness passed by. He could hear plenty of conversations in new languages he never heard before.
Vendors could be seen all around giving people items or foodstuff, also he could see plenty of nice-looking neon signs over every shop entrance. The place looked like some kind of carnival. One noticeable thing was that almost everyone no matter how small or tall, female or male, bulky or slim, had some kind of weapon holstered around them in some way. This made Spike aware this wasn't some kind of fun meet-up place, this was a battle station.
Spike stood awkwardly in front of it all, unsure what to do. "Follow my directions, I have this place's infrastructure already downloaded." His left eye showed a thin red line on the floor that leads to a door that had a sign on it, it was in an alien language but his eye showed a translation over it. 'Employees Only'. Spike nodded and made his way over there.
Spike felt a tap on his shoulder and turned around to see a group of those multicolored plant people look up at him. They were around five feet each. Each color had a very distinct physical trait among them. The red one had a pointed nose, the blue had gill-like lines across their neck, the yellow had large sharp pointed ears. Both the purple and grey ones had a strong muscular build while the grey one seemed to have rock-like armor around various points on its body, the purple also had two whiskers on each of their cheeks. The white one stood a foot smaller with red eyes and the pink one had very insect-like wings that span larger than its own five-foot body.
By the way, they looked and the slight curves on their bodies Spike assumed they were all female aside from the purple and gray ones. They also had some forms of armor on them, Red, blue and yellow had simple combat armor around their chest and knees while the white and pink ones had a very thin, black skin-tight suit around them. The last two wore a heavy set of armor that only seemed slightly thicker than his. They looked up at him with suspicion and awe.
Spike sweated nervously. "...can I help you?" The white one made a gasping noise. "Wha-" They crowed around him.
"Lord General!" "I can't believe it's actually you." "Will you sign my weapon?" "Can I have a picture please?" "You are so cool, remember when you saved Sangheili from that Wicker beast of Graja, no of course you do, how did you-" "Have any tips you want to share with a young scout like me?"
The questions kept piling. In response, Spike stepped back. They approached a step further. 'What do I do?' He asked mentally to his brain companion.
"Listen to my directions, indulge them." She said, Spike felt confused. "The General is very kind to his fans so we would be ruining his image if we were rude to them, I'll tell you what to do alright?" Spike grunted in confirmation.
Spike was handed a marker by one of them and signed a pistol-like weapon with the name 'General' in fancy handwriting. He let the few take pictures of him and did various poses and some with them in the image. Then he gave out some simple training tips given to him by the A.I. that seemed to please the crowd that was starting to grow once people took notice of who he was. He signed more things until his hand started to cramp. Then he gave more pictures. Shook some hands. Said some quotes like 'This will be our finest hour!' or 'Unity will never fall to the likes of you!' and 'The only good Void is a dead one.'
This would last for almost an hour. Spike could have sworn he signed some female's bare chest in the signing haze. He even got a surprise kiss by some peppy woman plant girl. 'My first one...' He thought sadly. Just before Spike felt like he was about to break, a deep voice called over all of them.
"That is quite enough everyone!" The crowd stopped their jabbering and started to disperse without question. "Yes, that's right, let the General go on with his business, we're in the middle of a battle remember?" Many of them gave apologies and waved him goodbye.
The white plant girl from before ran up to him, hopped up and kissed him on the cheek, and gave him a card with a number on it. "Call me!" She shouted as she ran back to her group who were either chastising her or giving gleeful remarks.
Spike stood in disbelief at everything that just happened. He looked down at his hands. "Who am I?" He asked to no one. He wondered how famous the guy he was impersonating was, the way those people loved him could make a Changeling die of overconsumption.
A humanoid robot came up to him. "I am terribly sorry about that Lord General." He bowed. "I understand how busy you must be but to take time to cater to your adoring public is most honorable I say." Spike nodded. "Now may I be of service to you? I am on guard service so it would be no trouble of me to escort you anywhere."
"Tell him to take you to the lounging area." .
"Thank you, I would like to be taken to the lounging area please."
The robot nodded and started going towards the door he was heading to earlier. "Most certainly General, follow me, this path will allow us to go through without coming across more fans."
The two went on through, they walked for a while until they came across an elevator. "Go up to level 7 and you will be right in front of the desk area for a room or whatever else you wanted." He turned around and started to leave. "...actually could you perhaps sign my chassis if you have the time?" The robot looked to him with hope in his blue shining eyes. Spike smirked and did so. "Thank you tremendously General." He bowed again and walked away.
"I guess robots have their fans too."
The ride up was short, the doors opened to show another set of open halls that looked down a giant gaming center. Spike heard the sounds of dice and balls rolling and people cheering. In front of him was a desk with one of those blue plant people working over it. "Hello?" He called lightly, seeing she was occupied looking at the holographic pad before her. She looked up and her eyes popped in shock. 'Here we go.' Spike thought.
"G-general! An honor to meet you-" She shook her head, Spike found the way her flower stem waved around cute. "I'm sorry, I spaced out for a second. I assume you want a room then?"
He nodded. "Anything will do."
"Alright, first-class it is then." She handed him a card. "You will be at room 500, down the lift in front of the card dealers." As she spoke she slowly pushed a pad of paper closer to him. She looked nervous. Spike smiled and signed it. "Ah~ Thank you, My Lord!"
___
Even if he wasn't the General and this was all a lie Spike did like making people happy that was for sure. "You're doing pretty good as the General I say." . Spike shook his head.
"I'm exhausted, I just want to rest for at least a few minutes and figure out how we're going to get back and save my home." The voice was silent. Spike took little notice as he came in front of the metal door that opened once he came near, it seemed to just know he had the card on his person...speaking of the card. "Oh crap, I forgot to pay her!" Spike planned to give the woman some gems he still had tucked in his scales. "She must have been too busy gushing over me to notice." The voice came back and started to laugh. "What's so funny?"
"Oh nothing, it's just the idea that people would even expect the General to pay for anything is hilarious to me...yeah don't expect to have to pay for anything for a while now."
Spike thought about this and shrugged. "Cool." Inside the room were a giant bed and a huge TV of sorts. On the side desks were baskets of fruit, candies, and drinks. He could also see this place had three stories with many rooms all around it. It was like a house in here.
"...cool."
Author's Note
Thank you for reading this far, I want to get updates out much faster than before be on the look out and remember to thumb up the story if you liked it and give me some comments if you want.
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!"
Spike was rolling in his soon-to-be grave. He expected there to be some bumps in the road but to hit a huge one as early as the first few seconds really didn't bode well for the tone of this adventure. Time seemed to have slowed down significantly and not because he was stressed out, time really was going slower, people moved at 1/10 of their normal speed. What the hell was happening? 'What the?'
"Don't freak out, I just activated our emergency 'think room' ability. As long as you are not stressed out we can talk here and strategize." Another thing Spike found insane but whatever, now was not the time for that at all.
'Okay, now before you say anything, I know I messed up but let's not waste any time and just say I'm an idiot.'
Nova gave a slight pause. "Alright, you're an idiot but the fault is also mine, I expected you to just suddenly adapt to your surroundings but I keep seeing you as the General so I forgot to warn you. For that, I apologize." In the very least Spike felt a mutual feeling of understanding grow over them. "Now to give you the short rep of these two, now listen closely." A flood of info entered the dragon's brain. Images of the two appearing to win various competitions and battles passed by his eye. Some of the images showed the two in some very vibrant-looking armor covered in burns and scratches.
"Sora and Shiro are what many call the Lord of Game or the 'Game General'. When apart the two are strong and can hold their own against many situations but when they work as one they become 'Blank'. Now I do not exaggerate when I say Blank never EVER loses. But they can draw when the conditions are correct. Sora is a master of manipulation and can read emotions like a children's book. Shiro's expertise is in calculations and deep logic analysis, despite her size and looks she is not to be underestimated.
Spike absorbed this information and already began thinking of ways to get through this still one thing stood in his mind. 'Why games anyways?'
"It is a long complicated story but the short of it is their upbringing, they follow their own creed of rules. The General has tried time and time again to defeat these two in games and while he has come close to beating one alone he always fails when they come together. Know that they will willingly cheat if they know they will not be caught and if you or them are caught cheating during the game then the cheating party loses."
'Alright, how do we beat them then?' Being forced to stare at their fiery eyes was making Spike feel uncomfortable.
"Pay attention, you can not beat them. no matter how hard you try. But as the challenged you choose the game."
'Well, what's the point of playing if we know we will lose?'
"For the challenge Spike, the General loves a good challenge, and even if he loses against them every time he finds it a great training session for future battles."
'Alright I get it but if I can choose the game then can't I just pick something he can't win like arm wrestling, I mean surely I'm stronger than them." He could feel Nova writhe in annoyance. 'What?'
"That would not be very sporting of the General to choose a game he has full advantage of and besides, the General could win with his mountain-moving strength but you on the other hand cannot even with this armor set."
'No kidding? How strong is this guy? Never mind, questions for later. What should I play then?'
"Give me a minute to decide. Just try to talk to them for now." Then time went back to its normal pace.
"Hey, General." Spike snapped back to attention to Sora. "You blanked out for a second, talking to one of those A.I.s in your head again?"
'He knew!?' Spike was beyond intimidated but kept on a poker face as the helmet dematerialized. "Sorry I was just thinking about what game we should play." Spike mentally slapped himself. 'Dammit, you're supposed to stall for time!'
Sora smirked. "Yeah, I guess it might be hard to choose since you lost the last five hundred thousand and thirty-seven unique games we played."
'THAT MANY!!?' Spike was finding it harder and harder not to break his cool posture. "Heh heh, yeah don't remind me."
"Right so what will it be? Another unique game or something old you want to test a new method on us." Only now did Spike notice the group of people starting to crowd around the trio.
"Is the General going to battle the Game Lords again?" "Oh, this is going to be amazing to watch." "I bet 6.000 tokens on the General." "But he always loses!" "Yeah but imagine if he won, I'll be unthinkably rich!"
Thank goodness he was in a suit or else his shivering body would be quite obvious to the crowd. 'Dammit people, mind your own business and get out of here!'
"Dance battle!" Nova screamed suddenly which nearly gave Spike a heart attack. On impulse, he repeated.
"Dance battle!" 'Wait what?' Even the crowd looked a bit taken back.
Sora's eyes opened and his face lost its arrogant look. "Eh?"
"Just roll with it Spike, I have a plan."
Once again his body moved on its own make point at Sora in a very dramatic fashion. Quickly Spike played the part. "That's right Sora! I challenge you to a dance-off. If I win then you two join my offensive on the mother station orbiting around this planet." The crowd started raving.
Sora recovered from being caught off guard and made a dramatic gesture of his own. "You never cease to surprise me General, didn't take you for the dancing type. You're on! If we win then you owe us one favor of our choosing!" The crowd began to cheer.
The speakers came alive with a woman on the other end. "ATTENTION ALL PERSONAL! LORD GENERAL HAS CHALLENGED GAME LORD SORA TO A DANCE OFF, REPORT TO STADIUM CENTER 15 IN 1 HOUR! BETTING BOOTHS WILL BE ACTIVATED AS WELL AS LIVE FEED TO ALL HOLO STATIONS!"
'HOW DID THEY KNOW SO FAST!??' If Spike had the ability to die right then he would have. Before the conversation could continue Sora tugged little Shiro by the neck of her suit and walked off at a hurried pace.
"Well, we'll be off to go change, see you on the dance floor dragon lord!" Then they were gone off to parts unknown.
Spike rushed back to his room once they were out of sight. The crowd quickly dispersed, assumably to go to the stadium area.
___
"A DANCE OFF!?" Spike yelled in his room while smashing his durable head into a wall.
"Listen Spike, any logic-based games would be a loss and any conventional games would be also a pathetic loss. The General never wanted to embarrass himself by dancing in public but I actually believe we can win this one!"
He pounded his head to the wall again. "How? How am I going to win, I can barely do any three-step dances let alone a full series of dance maneuvers. We. Are. Doomed Nova!" Unbeknownst to Spike, his body was moving around in a series of complex motions that could be seen as a very sensational dance to most novice skilled performers. "...Oh! Oh..." His spirits were lifted. "This could work."
"Do not get cocky just yet, we need to train and get used to our linking movements. And never forget that we are going up against the best of the best, those two must have one hell of an act they're going to show off" And thus the two began to train.
___
In another room the same shape and size Sora could be seen planting his head to the wall while Shiro sat on the bed playing some kind of mobile game system. "Dammit dammit dammit!" The male screamed. "That bastard finally found my weakness after all these years!" He turned to Shiro. "We can't dance worth a dam! I mean we can do ballroom dancing but that isn't going to cut it in a dance-off." He pounded the wall.
Shiro looked over to her older brother with bored eyes. "Yeah I know, maybe you shouldn't of accepted without thinking first." She went back to her game.
"We can't back down on the General, that guy must have been biding his time for this moment for years now. We'll be laughing stocks if we wuss out now! Shiro. We. Are. Doomed!" He looked back to see she was not sitting on the bed anymore. "Shiro?"
Down the room, he could see Shiro turning on several monitor screens that displayed games, videos, and images of various dances. "Come on Sora, we need to train."
"Ah...right!" And thus the two began the most vigorous training session in their entire lives.
50 minutes was not that much time to really train but with the help of his newly enhanced body, Spike felt like he could give a pretty good show now with his just barely devised routine. As Spike practiced his steps halfway through did he note the ridiculousness of his situation. First, from deadly space battle to a dance-off, this stuff does not write itself.
"Spike we need to go." Training time was up. His eye lit up to show the directions to the event area.
"If we're going down at least it's in style," Spike said with no energy.
"That's the..spirit I guess." They walked for some time until they came through a set of fancy-looking doors. Once inside Spike saw a red plant woman work the desk of the open room.
She looked at him and smiled. "Welcome General, your waiting room is just down the hall to your left. I'll be sure to watch the show, knock 'em dead sir." Spike smiled back and waved her bye.
His room was small but still luxurious with fruit baskets and shelves full of various items. He noticed one of the closets had a suit in it. "What are these for?"
"Props most likely, performers sometimes make up shows on the spot with just these items." Spike picked through the clothes until he came across a black suit and tie along with a black top hat specifically designed to work with his head spines.
"This will do nicely."
___
The stadium like room could fill a small army and a half. It towered up around twenty meters in a decagon like shape that stacked on upon each level. In the middle was the flat stage that was tiled and each tile could light up to a specific color when set. Across from that on the bottom level was one long ornate desk that had three judges sitting in it. Those three were androids that were specifically designed to calculate and read every step a dancer takes and rate it accordingly.
Quickly the stadium filled up with personal of every color, shape and size. The fact that the General challenged Game Lord Sora and Shiro was nothing new but the game was something unheard of. The General dancing, how absurd the idea was but if he said he could do it then he must have something to knock the audience dead.
The bets this game showed that the betting pool only slightly favors team [Blank] this time, all the other games were heavily in their zone due to the General's massive losing streak but this was a unique event that had everyone guessing.
The crowd gave about their idle chatter on current topics and the guessing of who will win until the lights began to dim and the rooftop stage lights focused on the center stage. The stadium quickly went silent.
"People of all species and genders I welcome you to another sudden duel between some of our most beloved elite war members." The same voice from before boomed over the unseen speakers. "Once again we will watch our greatest tacticians duke it out in a 1v2 duel of the dance floor!" The audience began cheering out the names of their chosen contestant.
On the far edge of the stage one tile seeped into the ground, Spike slowly appeared coming up from the hole pointing to the sky with his head held low. He wore a simple but elegant suit and tie that fit perfectly around him, the hat completed the look. 'This is so stupid..' Spike mentally groaned but kept his face in the confidant look position he had set in.
"Just shut up and remember your training."
'Yes, Sensei!'
"Wiseass." Despite the remark Spike could almost feel her smile.
"We welcome the King of dragons, the master of dimensions and the coolest guy you've ever met, LORD GENERAL!" The stadium was at a deafening uproar with applause and love confessions, even the many who voted against him were cheering just for the massive amount of respect they held for him. If only Queen Chrysalis could see him now.
On the opposite side of the stage, two tiles flipped open, and out came the two gamers in very elegant outfits.
'For a bunch of shut-in gamers, they clean up real nice.' Spike thought amused. They walked forward until they were a meter apart. Spike remembered what he was instructed to do before the game started, a customary oath from Sora and Shiro's world. All three raised up their right hands and said in unison.
"I swear by the pledges Aschente!"
The beat started a very fun electro-swing style beat. Spike stepped back in a swinging his arms around. He felt his body move to the rhythm while everyone watching it looked effortless and graceful but Spike and Nova were having difficulty moving around in perfect unity. Linking in itself was like a dance of its own since Spike had to let go of enough of his own free will to give Nova command over his steps but Nova also had to regulate how many forms she placed in each step for the risk of looking too robotic. Some calculated errors were a must, it needed to look perfect to the average viewer but it had to pass off as believable to the judges as to not suspect Spike of cheating which he pretty much was.
The beat in the song dropped which moved to the part where Spike had to step on the ground in such a fashion it looked like his feet were gliding on the ground. The audience could be heard giving small woos and whistles but nothing too loud as not to distract him.
Another song came on, one Nova did not choose started, this song had the same style type but with a different flow. It mixed well with his song. Sora and Shiro jumped to life in their act, the two of them would either mirror the other's moves flawlessly or divide up and do something different that complimented the other's style. The two would always look at each other deeply as if they were looking into their souls. Sora had his usual confidant smile on but Shiro still wore her blank expressionless face, that to anyone else could ruin the image but to her, it added to the cute factor. The crowd cheered as well.
'It's time to heat things up.' Spike stepped back a safe distance from the two and spat a torrent of green flame on the ground, he stepped on it and in one graceful motion he scooped a flame on both of his fist. Now Spike was a dancing fire and each step left a small path of fire. as well as his swinging hands that left a line of light in the dim room. The cheering crew more in volume at the stunt. 'So far so good Spike, the song is almost up.' For the most part Spike felt he was doing very well in terms of style but it wasn't over yet.
Shiro broke away from Sora's hand and twirled around but this was not just a simple move because Spike's eye noted a rise in energy from the girl. 'What the hell is this?'
"Oh no..." Shiro's back dress tore open to reveal two cybernetic blue metal wings with silver rims. Her pastel color gained maroon highlights and a disk-like engine appeared on the side of her head. Sora came up behind her new form and grabbed her hand and swung her around.
'What the hell is happening, she can do that?' Spike asked as he continued his fiery moves.
"Yes, long story short, past life something something, reincarnation." That explained nothing. "What you're seeing is her Ex-Machina form, at this mode she is a walking supercomputer that only barely falls short of my own powers, whatever they are about to do we have to find a way to counter it somehow." Spike nodded internally and watched while he continued his show.
Sora threw Shiro high into the air in front of the overhead camera, once she came close to it Shiro winked at the camera with a small grin. This made the audience go up in a frenzy.
'Dam that was good.' Shiro glided down with her wings and hovered next to Sora, he took her hand but now it was her who was leading the moves.
"Alright they are killing us...Spike, I need you to focus because we are about to hit hard mode!" Before he could even question what that meant he felt a sudden surge in energy pike inside of him wanting to explode. He allowed this rush to take over which doubled his pace, now his dance could be called an advanced shuffle. The fire grew brighter and caught his suit on fire, still, he continued the show. At some moments he would do a double flip that lands in a spit, which hurt like hell but Spike masked the pain with a determined grin. His legs surged with an insatiable heat that made him jump at superhuman levels. He met the top camera's view and gave two peace signs. He landed hard with his fist to the ground which ended his dance. Sora and Shiro soon followed with Soar tipping Shiro over.
Flowers of alien species were thrown on the stage. Spike waved the crowd. 'I don't like the way that felt...we may have messed up a few times during that overdrive.'
"Win or lose we put up a good show and that is all that matters at this point."
'But if we lost then how will we get these two to join our offensive?'
"I'm sure we will find a way after this whole thing is over." One thing kept pinging at the back of his mind. He created this whole thing, those skills and moves were not his but just the downloaded moves of a robot. Internally Spike felt ashamed for his actions but told himself it was for the greater good.
On the other side, Sora sweats nervously beneath his bravado. 'Thank God for Shiro's gifted mind. Without her flawless memory and skills, we would have been screwed.' In truth, it was Shiro the whole time who guided their moves but Sora was the one to give out the imposing vibe the viewers felt.
Spike moved over to the two and smiled he decided to go say something he felt the General would say. "That was well fought you two, I expected no less." He pulled out his hand. Sora shook it with a small grin.
"Heh, well you did pretty well yourself, even I couldn't ever expect to fight the General in a dance-off...well it sure beats the time you challenged us to Cazador hunting, I didn't think even you could absorb that much venom."
'What?' "Heh heh, yeah I'm still recovering from that one." He said while padding at his arm. Sora looked at him with a quizzical expression. "...what?"
"...nothing, just remembering something." Sora looked away and went back to Shiro's side.
'That was odd...' Spike took his position back to the middle and waited for the winner to be determined.
"After heavy debate the judges have come to their chosen victor!" In an instant the whole place went silent. "Without further delay it's-" A powerful explosion rocked the whole station. Spike and the two gamers looked up to see some of the panels crack open to show the green sky.
"I am sensing several hostile ships quickly approaching our location...I cannot identify their allegiance." Shiro said the same exact thing. "Steel yourself Spike because this will get rocky.
Another torrent of explosions rocked the stadium. Outside he could see the shield bubble around them fade in the area they were attacked from. five black loading ships hovered over the hole. The people in the stands who brought weapons with them began firing up at the sky while the unarmed people made their way out of the danger zone.
Shiro's right arm transformed into a large cannon-like device. "Activating plasma wave." She said simply, a large green blast shot out from the cannon and tore right through one of the ships, it stuttered for a moment before exploding into a thousand pieces of melted slag.
Spike looked in awe at the girl. 'She's amazing!' The remaining ships dipped down into the hole and circled the station. One by one they opened their doors and ejected platoons of blue armored creatures with four arms and insect-like legs. Shiro retracted her cannon and materialized two small pistols from her hands and began firing. Sora could be seen in the back with a simple-looking rifle taking potshots at the enemy.
"THE CLUSTER SENDS ITS REGARDS LORD GENERAL!" One of them yelled while firing in his direction. Spike rolled out of the way and tore off the remaining of his suit in the process.
'It can never be simple can it!?' Two of the smaller Cluster rushed at Spike with killer intent. In a flash, Spike's armor came back. He grabbed the head of the closet insect and threw it at the other.
"Fall back Spike, we need to find an explosive weapon to take down those ships." Said ships were busy firing at the masses in the stands. Some were hit pretty badly but the one's who stayed at heavy armor on so no one seemed to be mortally wounded yet. "Actually find some cover, we can put this suit to good use." He did so by diving into a fallen chunk of the ceiling. "Aim your arm up!" Spike lifted his open palm. His left eye focused a target on one of the near ships. His arm aimed over it and fired out a dark red beam that melted through its side and forced it to crash.
"Man this suit is awesome!" Spike stated but ducked once the ships started to focus on him. "Aw crap." More insects jumped down to join the battle. Two heavily armed plant men rushed to his side.
The large purple one hoisted up his mini-gun. "We got your back General!" The red one started lobbing out plasma grenades at random locations near the enemy.
"Act like you're in charge dam you!" Spike nodded and just decided to opt back to his mindset during his time in the Everfree, at least this time he had some armor on.
"Alright, boys let's kick these bugs to the curb!" His helmet snapped to his head as he vaulted over the fallen rubble. "CHARGE!" His squad followed his lead and followed close behind him, the heavy trooper made short work of the smaller bugs and tanked most of the hits fired his way. Spike charged up another beam from his arm that sliced another transport ship in two.
He turned to his side to see both Sora and Shiro rushing to join the group. Several bugs advanced on the two but before Spike could try to defend them they were sliced to pieces by Shiro's arm blades. They joined together as a unit. "Sora, got any plans?" He asked.
Despite the situation, he grinned. "When don't I?" They stood behind a fallen wall as the red trooper kept the enemy at bay with ordinance weaponry. "This is child's play, we all just need to defend Shiro while she targets all these bastards with a cluster grenade." A beam hit their hiding spot which caused some of the metal from the top to fall over Sora. Or at least it would of if not for Spike quickly pushing him out of the way and stopping the rubble with his arms.
Spike quickly threw the piece at an advancing platoon at deadly speeds, crushing several to death. 'Oh man, I am awesome!' He smiled feeling good about himself. Sora just gave a thankful nod and rushed forward with the small girl who seemed to be focusing on the entire fight instead of participating in it. Spike and his two helpers kept the heat off the two gamers, the heavy would mow down all who came in his sight while the red would blow them away. Spike focused on any large insect troopers he saw and used his palm lasers to melt rows of them with one sweep of the hand.
Shiro's eyes opened up wide and she pointed her hand to the sky. "72 targets confirmed, activating cluster grenade." Out from her palm, a small blue ball shot into the sky. It flew down and exploded into hundreds of small shards in the air. Spike was about to state that it didn't even hit anything when the shards spread around the battle zone in a tracking motion and targeted an enemy soldier. The shards implanted themselves into the armor or flesh of the enemy. They gave off one ticking noise and blew the enemy into pieces. Even the ships took enough damage to crash into the ground. Shiro looked over the battlefield once. "...confirming 1 remaining hostile life sign."
She pointed to the largest ship with the most armor which had a dented door and smoked windows. The door was thrown open and out came a large hulking beetle-like creature. "Well, I should have expected this..." It said in a very chirpy tune. "I put too much faith in my subordinates." He pointed to Spike with three of his six arms. "Looks like you and the Game Lords win again, I suppose you expect me to turn myself in right?" Spike looked around to see every person in the stadium pointing every kind of weapon at him.
"Yeah, I would assume so unless you want to die," Spike shouted, wondering if this was a usual occurrence and who the hell this guy was.
The beetle chuckled. "Not this time fools!" He pushed a button located on his chest and before anyone could react all of the corpses and bits of armor and even the downed ships formed around the beetle. Everyone started firing at the junk shield but nothing could pierce through. Shiro began charging up another powerful attack. The mass of junk started to deconstruct and reconfigure into a giant hulking beast form.
Spike and the rest of everyone else took a step back at the 20 meters tall robotic/biological monstrosity before them. Its arms were the bulk of the metal while the thick legs were made up of bodies. The chest area was the center which was made of the hardest materials found, it also had no head. 'Maybe I should have stayed in bed.'
"NOW GENERALS FACE ME AND DIE!" The beast rushed directly headed to the false General.
"Wow I did not think it was possible for one guy to attract so much trouble all at once." Nova mused this as Spike dived out of the way.
Spike rolled out of the way of another metal fist. 'This is insane!' He ran as fast as he could behind a pillar.
"WHY DO YOU HIDE LIZARD? DO NOT EXPECT YOUR TRICKS TO WORK ON THE LIKES OF ME!!" The behemoth punched against the wall. His allies fired at the beetle but each shot was like throwing pebbles at it.
Even Sora and Shiro were hiding behind an empty food stand. It seemed the robot girl was charging up something big.
"This sucks...just avoid detection until Shiro can take it down, this is too much for you to handle right now. Just act like you are doing something useful." Spike nodded and crawled his way through more fallen rubble, the creature would hit near every time but Spike was just beyond getting crushed each time.
"Crap crap crap." The bug monster unleashed an unearthly scream that shook the entire stadium. More pieces of the ceiling crumbled and fell to the floor below. Spike's sensors detected one large rock over his position so he quickly leaped out of the way.
"FACE ME COWARD!" He grabbed the pillar and pulled it off the ground with minimum effort. Before he could make use of the new weapon a rather large amount of explosions rocked the backside of the giant. He grunted and staggered forward but caught himself before falling. He turned slowly to see a group of the plant people firing a barrage of large rockets.
"Take this you creep!" "Fuck off will ya!?" "The General will burn you to a crisp!" They called out this and various other obscenities in a fearless manner. In response to this, the giant lifted up the pillar again and threw it at the opposition. As it flew the attackers jumped out of the way just before they were crushed. That is all for except one.
Spike's head snapped to attention one he heard a pained female scream coming from the other side of the pillar. "Oh no." His eye outlined the figure of a white female plant girl who had her left leg crushed by the massive weight of the pillar. She struggled but it would be impossible for her to lift the massive object without the help of some heavy lifting equipment.
“Spike I need you to stand your ground and attack that thing in a defiant manner but stay at safe enough distance from it so we don’t get killed.” Nova ordered this as the trapped girl screamed in panic. The fighters around her could do little to help her as every attempt to get near her would be met with a swift hit by a sweep of the arms or an attack of machine-gun fire that came from the metallic arms. Allies were swept away and some who hit the walls would not get back up for some time due to the heavy force of the impact. By all means, no help would be coming her way soon.
‘What about her?’ Spike asked this out of instinct as he watched her struggle. The giant was over her, looking down in a pitiful manner.
“COME OUT GENERAL OR I’LL CRUSH THIS GIRL LIKE A BUG!” Spike’s eyes opened in shock, not wanting to believe the reality before him. Nova was silent this time seemingly in deep thought at the current situation. When no response was given the giant grunted. “VERY WELL THEN COWARD.”
Spike shook his head around frantically, time seemed to slow somewhat, it being due to his new augmentations or natural reaction he was unsure, he looked to Shiro who was still charging her attack, his eye calculated what level of charge it was at, 79% charge. His eye seemed to know what he was thinking and registered the attack route in hitting the monstrosity right in the chest as well as the amount of time it would take to lift its flesh leg and crush the trapped girl below. The program ran this scenario almost 100 times before coming with the final results.
CHANCES OF CREATURE BEING DISABLED WITH ATTACK: 89%
CHANCES OF CREATURE BEING KILLED: 66%
CHANCES OF TRAPPED ALLY SURVIVING ENEMY ATTACK; 3.34%
These words glossed over Spike’s eye and mind and he found himself feeling frozen to the core. ‘…Nova.’ He started as time slowly got faster and faster, the stress forcing him to lose his focus. ‘How do we-‘
“Nothing.” She answered simply without regret or emotion in her voice.
The dragon was left dumbstruck, he could feel his heartbeat quicken in pace, it grew heavy in despair.‘w-what?’
“The likely hood of us surviving a head-on encounter with that thing is at a near-zero percent chance with your current skills and abilities, I am sorry but there is nothing we can do now…the General has dealt with casualties in the past so his reputation will barely be scratched with a little manner such as this, just act like you gave it your best and was too busy coordinating the skirmish.” Spike could not believe what he was hearing.
‘I can’t just…she’s…’ Spike didn’t know what to do. ‘Dammit I’m a goddam coward…I can’t do anything else but watch.’ Suddenly Spike felt sick at the very thought of stealing the name of the General, maybe if he wasn’t there then the others would formulate a better plan but everyone expected him to do something. One look at the room and he could see nearly all of the nonoccupied forces were looking straight at him in anticipation, but one thing he noticed was no fear as if they knew everything would work out because he was there. That was because he was a beacon of hope. ‘I’m a fraud.’ Even Sora was staring his way with a cold unreadable face.
Despite trying to act bravely in front of certain doom the trapped girl’s bravado shattered in an instant and she broke down in terror. “HELP!!”
!!! Spike heard the pleading scream and it broke his heart…no it did more than that. Suddenly Spike felt a fury in his soul that wanted to burst free. ‘I…MUST…’ His body got up as if he were possessed with a powerful demon.
“…Spike?” Nova felt this surge and became very worried.
His eyes turned to sharp slits and his teeth grew in size and sharpness. Quickly his body grew a few inches in size, he could feel his bones and armor shift around to fit around the new size, and his spines arched down slightly and became as sharp as a razor blade.
‘I’M GOING TO SAVE HER.’ Spike felt this from the heart, not because everyone expected him or because this is what the General would have done, this was Spike’s true desire, and at the moment he wanted to do nothing more than to save a defenseless person who needed help.
With a mighty roar, Spike jumped out from his hiding spot at rushed at the titian.
“What the hell are you doing!?” Nova screamed into his mind. “You will get us both killed.”
‘I don’t really know my legs just started moving haha!’ Spike smiled internally, feeling good for the first time in months.
The monster lowered his foot only feet away from the plant girl. “TOO LATE LIZARD!” Spike heard this and saw that his current speed would never reach the girl in time. He thought frantically about what he could possibly do when…
“Alright fine!” That was it, Spike’s legs moved at an impossible speed for a creature such as himself, half a football field’s length was crossed in a mere second, and each step left a crater in the tiled floor. “Do not fuck this up for us you idiot.”
The distance was crossed so Spike used his forward momentum to jump with his powerful legs and head bash the bastard right in the chest, were he a normal being his head would have split apart like a watermelon hit by a hammer but he was not most people. “AUGH!” The bug monster was knocked back just enough that his stomp attack just missed the girl by inches. Also, Spike stuck onto the bug due to his sharp head piercing the metal frame. He grabbed the side edges of the frame and pulled himself out. The giant trashed around violently to try and shake the dragon off but his grip held strong. Spike saw that his head left a small tear in the armored chest of the bug so he used his right arm to tear the small hole further and further apart, he could see some more bodies but also saw some movement within. On instinct, he puffed up his breath and unleashed a fiery inferno into the opening.
The monster roared and punched itself in the chest, Spike dodged this just narrowly and as a result, the monster ended up hitting itself. It stepped back and fell on its back. Now the various creatures all around grew in morale and started attacking the downed enemy while cheering on the General for his heroic actions.
Spike started pounding down on the chest with all his might and made a few dents a process. The monster leaped up again but now Spike held on upside down and pulled the metal apart with both his hands while his feet held to the surface by other edges. Now a wide hole was made. Spike looked forward to seeing Shiro aiming her fully charged weapon right at him. “DO IT!” Spike screamed as he let go. The Ex-Machina nodded and unloaded a dark green burst of concentrated plasma with a light blue center, were it not a highly concentrated blast the heat would fry all of the nonheat resistant beings in the stadium.
The hit impacted the monster's direct dead center in its opened chest cavity. The entire beast lit ablaze and designated into ashes that blew away by the impact’s power. Shiro breathed out a puff of steam and fell to her side which Sora caught just before she fell to the floor.
Spike landed on the floor and made his way to the downed girl. In one action he lifted the giant pillar that gave the monster some effort to lift like a twig and threw it out of the way. A purple liquid streamed around his leg in a puddle and started to burn his armored leg, he stepped back in shock but even more so when he saw that the corrosive liquid came from the crushed leg of the injured girl.
“The white ones have corrosive blood, do not touch it.” Of course Spike expected her leg to be crushed but had no idea about their biology, questions for later.
Carefully Spike lifted up the white plant girl in a bridal style manner, mindful to keep her bloodied leg from leaking on him, and moved hew away from the battleground. As he did this he felt a soft hand touch his face. He looked down to see the girl smile weakly with half-opened eyes. Despite her pained state she lunged her body up to embrace the side of his head, he could feel her flower stem head curl around the other side of his neck. "Uh-" Spike's commanding and powerful demeanor fell apart at that moment and his body shifted back to his smaller and leaner form. He was flustered and felt the blood rush to his side fins to emulate a blush. But before he could comment on this further her body relaxed and she was breathing in a normal rhythm, she passed out it seemed.
The people all around crowded around Spike, they were obviously about to praise his actions in full force but before that, they seemed to hold in their words as a group of robots rushed to the scene and surveyed the damage. Two of them in white paint came up to Spike and saluted. "We'll take it from here boss, good work out there." They held out their cushioned arms. Spike nodded and handed over the injured girl to them. They nodded back and marched off to assumably a place to treat her leg if it was still possible at this point. Then he noticed three well-armed robots searching the ashes.
"Got it!" One cried, the other group around him. Spike and his fans joined them to see what the commotion was about. The robot grabbed something the size of a tennis ball and shoved it into a laser shielded cube about the same size. Spike saw a small beetle in it looking very fried.
Nova was ready to sate his confusion. "That is Commander Blcona of the Hive Order, he and the General have been battling for years due to his ability to survive the most fatal of hits but when heavily wounded he reverts to his infant form to heal, now since the General is against the killing of children he sends the bugger to a rehabilitation enclosure in an attempt to raise him as a law-abiding creature but he reverts to his old ways after every attempt, still the General tries but even I am starting to see it as a waste of time." Spike thanked her for the info dump so he could properly speak to the guards.
He walked up to the troop and they saluted. "Good work boys, send him to the usual, maybe after a beating like this he'll learn to fly right this time." He spoke with poise and authority, much like how a leader should.
They nodded. "You got it, boss, you did fantastic as always." They marched off. Now with matters attended to the group around him began their cheering other than some light bruising and bleeding everyone seemed to be in good spirits. The few that took heavy hits were moved out with the help of the medical bots.
Spike decided to play the part once again and let the praise hit him because for once he actually earned it.
He failed to notice Shiro who reverted back to her human form and Sora both watch from the side.
Sora smiled with a small grin.
"Interesting."
History Lesson and Other Nonsense
After some time the mob left Spike alone thankfully. By now many small drones floated around the place to quickly repair the damage from the recent battle. It only took about half an hour until the whole large stadium was back in perfect condition. ‘Impressive technology this world has.’ Spike mused as he made his way over to Sora and Shiro who were sitting side by side one another while staring down at their game pads, it seemed they were playing some sort of game with each other and an intense match it was as beads of sweat rolled down both their heads.
“Just remember to not show weakness in front of those two if they sense an opening in your defensives then they will not hesitate to eat you alive.” Nova warned this, which sent a heavy shiver down his spine.
‘What does that mean?’
“Just stop asking too many questions.”
Spike stopped once he was around 10 feet away from the two siblings, not wanting to interrupt the two in fear of being challenged once again. 8 minutes passed when the two let out a gasp of air as they both lowered their gamepads in unison. They both looked heavily drained. “Draw.” They both announced, Spike was unsure if this was directed at him or just them speaking out loud. Then both of them snapped their heads over to Spike. “Can we help you?” It took all of Spike’s self control not to lose his posture.
Before he began his topic he wanted to break the ice first. “Yeah, what game were you playing?”
“Tic-Tac-Toe.”
‘Wha-‘ Spike started in his head but was hushed out by Nova.
“Do not ask questions!”
Right. Spike changed the topic. “So I wanted to say thanks for the assist back there, if not for you than the damaged would have been far greater I’m sure of it.” Sora seemed to break out of this perfect unison they were in and got up from his seat.
“Is that really all you wanted to tell me?” He asked coyly with a hint of playfulness.
Spike gulped. “… Yeah I guess you already know then.” He sighed. “I forfeit the game because I admit to using a outside method to direct my movements.” While Spike didn’t know if he would of won or lost he felt it was best to come out clean, he did this for two reasons. One is that the guilt of using low methods to win was weighting heavily on him and two, he knew they already knew he was cheating from the very start.
Sora clapped his hands together and smiled. “I really don’t know how you expected to pull the rug over Shiro’s eyes. Even if your skills and ability to move in a very organic way could fool the judges in no way could it get past us so easily,”
Spike nodded at this, once he heard of Shiro’s super computer brain and noticed the way she stared at him he knew the jig was up. He bowed his head. “Yeah it wasn’t very well thought out I guess.” He chuckled as he rubbed the back of his head. “Sorry.”
There was a small gap of silence between the tree, Spike started to get nervous and felt like he might of lost the trust of the two gamers. But that thought faded away once Sora started laughing. Spike starred up in confusion. “I must admit General you always know how to keep us on our guard. A dance off was one of the last things we’d expect from you. Were it not for Shiro we would of actually lost for once. The silver haired girl got up as well and gave the sweetest smile that Spike had ever seen in his life.
“It was actually…fun to dance with Niii….” She said softly.
“Niii means brother.” Nova Informed.
Sora nodded his head. “In any case I guess that means we won.”
Spike sat down on the chair in defeated manner and smiled grimly. “Yes it does, so what do I have to do?” Since he was the General he had to do whatever they asked since the General was known for his good sportsmanship and humility when it came to defeat, Spike just prayed the task given wouldn’t be beyond his abilities to achieve.
Dramatically both Sora and Shiro rose up their arms and pointed to the sky. “We want you…” Spike felt his chest thump in anticipation. Then they brought their arms down and pointed right at Spike. “…To join our offensive against the Mother Station!”
Spike felt the tension in his chest dissipate and replaced with a heavy sense of confusion. “Huh?”
Sora shrugged. “What, you didn’t expect us to just leave that thing just floating up in space forever did you?”
“Well then why didn’t you just skip the whole dance thing and join me back then?” Spike was almost hysterical at that point; the whole bloody dance thing was just one big waste of time now?
“Well for two reason actually.” Sora announced while holding up to fingers. “You work for us now so we control the game. The other thing is we can never just deny a challenge from you.” While Spike was busy trying to understand this turn of events Nova chimed in her two cents.
“This works to our benefit perfectly.”
‘How so?’
“While I had a plan of attack I am still very limited in my processing abilities but with the two of them in charge we can focus more on battle tactics, let them make up the plan because everything they do is a sure win.” She sounded very excited from this new development.
Spike accepted this and smiled. “You two know how to drive me nuts you know?” Not waiting for a response Spike turned around and headed off. “Tell me your plan later, I’m going to recruit an army to help us out.” Then he was gone for he didn’t want to be around the two for long since he couldn’t shake the feeling of dread he got around them.
“I suggest we go to the Haven Bar. We are more likely to find a powerful warrior in there at this time of the day.”
The path was set for him so he made his way over. ‘So what is the deal with this place anyway?’ He asked to kill time and to finally get some answers about this odd world he found himself in.
“What do you mean?”
‘Well for starters, why is everyone here so…easy going?’
“Easy going?”
‘Well where I come from, if we had a giant planet destroying battle station right above us we would panic and work day and night to find a way to take it down…well everyone here is really casual about it and barely seem to notice, they don’t even know that I saved their lives when I destroyed that space laser.’ It was appalling that people here were still going around playing games, going to bars and watching competitions. Nobody was even making a big deal about the recent attack from the Hive.
“You have no idea how long this war has gone on Spike, people can get used to anything given enough time. Oh, and you didn’t actually save everyone here you know?” Spike stopped walking. “ This shield over us is not just for show you know, when a Void battle station appears over base worlds such as these all power is diverted to the power generators that charge the shields and set them to overdrive. The installations on this worlds could easily survive a low level charge like that.”
‘Low level!?’ This demoralized Spike far more than anyone could know, the danger just kept getting higher and higher.
“Do not look so disappointed Spike, you saved this world’s ecosystem. A large portion of this land would be a boiling sea of glass by know if not for your efforts and a few people who were stuck outside would have been fried and you saved a lot of energy we can focus more now on fending off the current Void opposition.”
This made Spike feel a bit better about his less than stellar achievement but still felt hopeless learning that a world busting attack such as that could be classified as a low leveled attack…what other horrors is this new world hiding from him, he feared to find out.
“So many generations and eons have passed since this battle first began…do you want me to tell you a brief history of our past?”
‘Sure, I guess we have time to kill.’ In actuality Spike was very interested to hear an explanation of such an odd place as this, and to think he and his home world were ignorant to such events.
“Alright, to give you the basic run down, it all started when two incredibly powerful creatures fought for dominance over the other, you could classify them as a Demon and God but that would be far too simple an explanation but just grasp that idea for now. God created all of us while the Demon created his never ending legions of creatures know as the Void, they are vile intelligent creatures that adapt to any situation without stop. Our God used a majority of his power and locked Satan away in a pocket dimension that no one to date had been able to open or find. Our God has loss the ability to protect us so now we have taken matters into our own hands and formed a powerful army consisting of the most dangerous and powerful heroes from across the multiverse. For so many uncountable years we have joined our technology and magic to form a perfect unity so that is what we are, Unity.” She said this with increasing intensity.
Spike just nodded at the life changing information, while he felt like he should doubt such a story he knew that it was more than likely the truth since for the past few months everything he knew of the world was tested to the maximum. Spike had more questions such as, how many other worlds are there, how powerful was this enemy, how powerful is Unity and a exceed of many, many other things.
Of course Spike had to end this train of thought as he came before a giant hall door that had crimson lines painted all over it with a black background. He looked up to see a fancy and bright neon sign that read ‘Haven ’ “I guess this is it then.” Spike sucked in some air and puffed up his chest, if he were going in as a powerful warlord then it about time to start acting like it. “Let’s go!” The dragon pushed open both doors with little effort thanks to his power suit. He peered into the dimly lit room full of laughter and idle chatter. But much like a record scratching the noise came to a sudden stop and all eyes were pointed on him.
His eye adjusted to the darkness to see androids and armored figures as well as all sorts of aliens stare at his direction. Spike suddenly realized this plan was terrible since now he put all the focus on him by being the reason a dark room was now full of light. There was a tense silence as the doors behind him nosily closed shut; despite the fear Spike stood his ground with a intense glare back at them
…
…
…
Then they started cheering. Spike should of expected this but he was still caught of guard. “The General returns!” “How goes the wives your lordship?” “Have any adventures to share?” “I love you!” This and other phrases were sent his way.
“Just smile and wave Spike just smile and wave and sit down at the tavern.” He did so and walked in further to an unoccupied seat in the middle of the bar full of many bottles of odd shapes and sizes. The whole place was large as expected and had a small stage that played a live music show from 3-man band of those Pikmin guys. The song was played with futuristic looking instruments that played familiar sounds. In front was a female blue Pikmin that seemed to be just finished with her slow song that Spike missed. She wore a stunningly attractive blood red dress that was cut from the right leg and black boots that reached up to the thighs. Her stem ended in a bright yellow flower with pointed edges. Oddly enough the dress seemed to defy all forms of conventional matter since the bottom area seemed to fade away into a constant red mist like effect.
Spike looked to her in interest but was slightly frightened when she met his gaze with a smile. “To the Lord General himself!” She shouted to the bar and everyone shouted his false name while raising his or her drinks. Spike felt he had to respond to this so he lifted his fist high as he could, this seemed to be the correct move as they chanted once more. “This one is for you!” The stage woman called. The previous band moved out of the way and was replaced with a band of slightly more familiar looking instruments. The band members were of various species.
Before that a android bartender slid a fancy looking piece of glass ware to his seat. He looked to the robotic male and nodded, knowing that it was on the house. The liquid was green and currently on fire but that didn’t faze him since even if it was toxic to normal people he could easily deal with it…assuming it wasn’t some kind of super acid…best not to think about it. Not thinking twice he took a gulp, surprisingly it was similar in flavor to jade stone…in a liquid format. ‘The General has good tastes I’ll give him that.
The music started and Spike instantly recognized the tune as jazz. How interesting he thought.
Who's that man
Who is he
Who is he
Who is he
He is called the devil.
The devil man.
He's Devilman
Some say he's a traitor
They say he's cold as ice
He's the man who sacrificed everything to fight
Devil arrow at the speed of light
Devil ears guide him in the night
Devil wings he's the lord of the skies
Devil beam, a ray of fire
With evil powers close at hand
The devil's in command
He's a hero, so just and fair
He's Devilman
He's Devilman
One day he was touched by the kindness of a man
Hearing of human's love
He began to understand
Devil chop the power of his fist
Devil eyes see clear in the mist
Devil kick breaking every bone
Devil cutter crushing stones
With evil powers close at hand
The devil's in command
He's a hero, so just and fair
He's Devilman
He's Devilman
With evil power's close at hand
The devil is in command
He's a hero, so just and fair
He's Devilman
He's Devilman!
Her voice was similar to that of silk and flowed with the music flawlessly. The band also preformed remarkably although it was oddly not as other worldly as he expected, if fact he felt like this song could have been written by some lyric writer pony back home.
Of course the lyrics made no sense to him, was he this ‘devilman’ was it some title the General had or was it a metaphor, like he was a devil to his enemies. Regardless the song was both catchy and enjoyable so Spike gave out an approving whistle and clapped earnestly.
By the time the song ended everyone was either cheering or clapping so much that the bottles on the stand shook a slight bit. She bowed and walked down the stage into the darkened floor. Another band began to set up and started playing a very atmospheric tune that set well with the dark bar setting.
Spike took another drink of the flaming liquid but almost chocked on it when two arms wrapped around his neck and a light, but still hefty amount of weight was added to his back. Spike was just about ready to defend himself and fight the attacker until he felt the stranger grinding herself on his back in a non threatening manner, the way he knew it was female was due to the semi-high pitched squealing he heard. “Calm Spike, just act natural with this one.” Nova said while not really giving any detail on who or what this was.
Slowly he swallowed the drink while keeping himself level headed. “Can I help you?” The slender arms pulled back as well as the body. Spike kept his cool attitude and continued to look forward as someone who was far smaller than him sat right next to him. ‘I need info now Nova.’ He demanded.
“Oh don’t be so mean Master.” The girl said playfully. Once again Spike tested his ability to keep straight faced, ‘master’?
‘NOVA!’ He could have sworn he heard laughing in the background of his subconscious.
Spike looked down to see what he could describe as a mishmash of creatures balled up into one interesting looking seductress. Red hair, red eyes, slightly tanned skin. Clothing, if it could be called that, was lacking just enough to be tasteful to the average viewer but not so much to be classified as some brothel worker, which was a purple tank top with red rims that ended before the midriff and similar looking tight shorts that met up to the thighs. She had black-stripped stockings that started a littler after where the shorts ended and ruby red closed heeled shoes.
While Spike studied this he noticed the more prevalent features, which would be the red feline like ears and tail and the flapping bat wings that adorned her backside. She also had two white, small hors that jutted out from her forehead. She smiled which revealed a row of sharp teeth that were much like his.
From what Spike understood of this new world and what little data he could gather in the past few hours he understood that this woman was a bombshell knockout for most men. He of course didn’t know how to react to this since he who lived with ponies all his life saw them as attractive but this to the mind seemed to be more his speed…and that was mainly because they were both bipedal…only now did Spike notice he was staring.
He flexed back and chided himself for losing his focus. The girl giggled and pushed her head into his neck. “You ignoring me Master? You’re not usually this rough this early…” It took Spike tons of effort to not let his shiver be visible.
‘What did I get myself into…NOVA!!’
Finally the mischievous A.I. decided to stop tormenting her host and start explaining the odd encounter. “Alight, alright. That is Kizuna Ona. She’s a succubus hybrid who is the General’s 53rd wife.”
‘53rd!? By Celestia how old is the General’ Spike could only guess how old one must be to accumulate up to his 53rd life partner…
“Oh the General is far older than you can guess but that’s not his current wife you see. This is the 53rd wife in the General’s current harem, which to my knowledge counts up to 373 wives last time I checked so it may be a bit higher than that.” The way she said this so casually hurt Spike’s mental stability just a bit. “…Yes he has that many, you expect one guy that great and powerful to just settle for only one concubine?”
‘I don’t know what to expect out of anything anymore Nova.” Only then did the gravity of the situation dawn on Spike. ‘Oh crap this is very bad, if this is a wife then how am I supposed to fool her?’ Spike could trick fans easily and allies took a bit of effort but still he could pull it off, but a person who he was supposed to spend years with and know every bit about her, well it couldn’t be done can it?
“Calm down virgin.” That was both unexpected and uncalled for. “You lucked out on whom we happened to run into, you see this is a succubus, women who feed off the sexual energy of their host so this means this is one of the more spontaneous girls in the General’s harem. Changing your personality and style is just another one of the many things the General does to please his women.”
‘What does that even mean?’
“Simply put, she called you Master yes? Then just act like a rough pet owner to her, my data shows this one is very into rough petplay so act like an ass and be aggressive.” It was like she was trying to goad him on a date and petplay? Spike didn’t know the first thing about women and suddenly he was expected to have mastered the art of love over 350 times!?
‘…Screw it.’ Spike channeled his inner demon and forced together a less than ideal personality on the spot. This was going to be very risky.
In one move Spike turned his seat around smoothly and cupped his left hand under Kizuna’s chin while his right hand softly brushed her short red hair. He peered deep into her eyes, which were intense, but he forced his to be stronger. This on the spot action seemed to prove effective due to the fact that she buckled under and her earlier demeanor was replaced with a more submissive docile one. ‘What the hell am I doing with my life?’ Then he let the words fly out of his mouth without giving them a second thought, this had to look flawless from her viewpoint. “Oh I couldn’t possibly ignore you for long little Kizuna, you’re far too irresistible to leave untouched.” All three beings present were amazed with the perfect execution of that act.
Spike noticed her cattail wave around frantically. She shuddered and gasped out. “Little Kizuna…oh Master you really mean that?” Suddenly having a drop-dead tier woman call the still virgin dragon ‘master’ turned out to be quite intimidating in all reality.
‘Some people would kill to be in my position.’ He had to act again now. He slid both his hands down lower which to him felt like another person’s hands since at the moment he was entirely numb. One hand moved to the neck area while the other one clutched lightly at her exposed midriff. ‘Me? I would kill to get out of it.’
The small 4.11-inch girl gave out a soft moan. “M-master…” She said in a husky tone. He scooted further to increase his grip on the entranced girl.
“Of course, to me you are one of the many flawless gems in my collection, irreplaceable and delicious to the eye.” Hopefully mentioning the other insane amount of women wasn’t a deal breaker. Before he could make up more garbage on the spot he felt another pair of arms wrap around his head. ‘Oh what now?’ He turned to see what could be said as an exact copy of the girl to his side only with light green hair and hair that went down to her shoulders. Ideas popped into his head on who this was until they came to a horrifying conclusion. ‘Oh no.’
“This is Kizuna’s twin sister Suzina...the General has married both of them.”
How sly is this impossible General?
“Be warned that Suzina is a bit more abrasive about what she wants so you need to meet her expectation full force, so good luck with that.” And then she was gone again.
True to her description he could see the much more intrusive gaze this one was giving her while the other twin was much more bubbly and meek. Well time to go further than this it seems.
“Ah Suzina, don’t think I could forget about you." He reached out both arms and pulled both girls into his arms. He could feel Kizuna start to ‘purr?’ While Suzina pushed her body in further to him. Thankfully he was still pretty numb so his actions didn’t faze him physically.
“Ah, Master you always know how to please.” The green twin spoke in a more hushed tone. Then she got out from his grip and started beckoning him to follow. “Come master, I’m sure you’ve waited long enough so let us both go somewhere a bit more private than this.
‘Huh?’
“Congratulations you sealed the deal you legend.” More of the taunting it would seem but more importantly the situation at hand. Spike followed the girl while the other twin followed behind him; he went along for now since he didn’t know the consequences of the General turning down such an invite but he was already formulating a hundred different ways to get out of this.
‘I’m thinking we politely inform them I have a meeting with Sora and Shiro and have no time to waste.’ Spike offered before he executed the plan.
“Well why were you at a bar then?” Nova already cracked that idea in half. “Also we are not getting out of this you know?”
‘Oh yeah and just go with it?’ Spike thought hysterically. ‘They don’t know who I am Nova, this is pretty much illegal.’
“Oh don’t be a bitch Spike, these two are succubus, they could not care less where they got their juice from” The distressed dragon was starting to wonder if his guest in his head was some kind of pervert.
‘I’m not doing it!’
“Oh I get it, you are scared right? Well do not fret, even if you squirm a bit they will just find it as a new position your testing out, just go with the flow on this one.” She could feel Spike about to protest further. “Oh and I hijacked your legs so we’re not running from this.”
‘…What?’
And like that Spike’s fate was sealed.
Spike expected many things on what would happen next.
“Chu~”
This wasn’t one of them. The two girls sat him down on a big pillow seat in the back of the dark hall and before he could start a protest they latched themselves on both sides of his neck. He thought this was the start of their ‘activity’ but the sharp four pricks on his neck he felt changed that thought line entirely.
Somehow these girls managed to tear right through his scales with minimal effort and started sucking something from his neck…it was blood, they were sucking his blood, what else could it be?
A second of relief came when Kizuna stopped her torture session and went on to nuzzling his neck, it could of been a nice sensation were it not for the fact that his whole body screamed in agony at the slightest bit of pressure on his scales. Thankfully his tongue was nowhere near his teeth when he grit his jaw in response to the horrible pain, it was like that moment when your leg falls asleep due to blood getting cut off in some way only amplified tenfold.
"Wow Master~" She sighed while pushing her form further in. Spike could swear he was crying at this point. "Your blood is so pure this time." He could barely register what was even said. The pain just kept getting worse, how dose the General put up with this all the time!?
Visibility was getting thin, things were getting foggy...the final shreds of sanity were quickly coming undone.
Right then did all sensation ceased but still Spike was capable of basic thought. He pushed the girls aside and got up in an urgent manner...although Spike was pretty certain he wasn't the one to do that. He moved but something else was controlling him. The girls muttered in disappointment and confusion. "Right, sorry lovelies but I'm behind schedule enough as it is. I promise we'll continue our fun another time but this really can't wait." He said this but it was not him, did he somehow lose the ability to control his own body and voice? The girls pouted but nodded, he waved and rushed off at a brisk pace. Slowly the real Spike's mentality was coming back to him. "Sorry about that Spike, I didn't expect you to lose your grip that dramatically, I overestimated your mental capacity and I deeply apologize for it. "
Slowly sensation returned and Spike regained full control in moving and voice. "...Nova was that you?"
"Who else? Sorry about that, when I noticed them about to drain you I had to keep quiet about the task at hand or you would surly panic. But luckily they drained your mental control enough for me to take full management over your limp body...what an odd sensation to almost feel organic." She mused this while Spike followed his path back to the bar, he had a mission and he wasted enough time already.
"Just never let that happen again alright? I'd rather be killed then go through another second of that." Truly Spike was legitimately pissed at the A.I.
"Oh stop being such a bitch." Spike refused to even acknowledge that retort.
Feeling exhausted and peeved Spike forgot what it meant to be scared for a moment and marched right up to the stage where the band was continuing their music. Spike grabbed on to the microphone and just spoke his task simply. "Listen up and listen good everyone!" And that they did, all eyes on the famous general. "I'm looking for the best warriors to help me destroy that blasted station out of the sky and that means I need only the strongest and most intelligent soldiers to join. Meet me below outside in three minutes." He gave the mic back to the singer who only looked slightly disheveled but managed to return to the song with pitch intack.
Both sides of his neck were flaming and he felt like he lost a lot of fluids in total. He slumped down on the bar stool and looked at the bartender. "A gallon of water, cold if possible." Said bartender only raised his eyes a little before walking to the back. Less than a minute later he could see him hauling a gallon over to a random pathron who appeared to be a blue plant person. A brief exchange led to the plant man nodding and grasping the gallon which instantly appeared to frost over.
"Here you are sir." Said the server going back to his work on the other patrons.
Spike thanked him and proceeded to chug half the contents at a record pace and then dump the other half over his head. Everyone looked at him but for only a moment, staring at the General in an odd manner is just begging for a unwinnable fight. 'I just need to put up with this for a bit longer and I can go home.' He thought but also pleaded to an unknown deity.
His 3 minute break was just about done so he got his moist butt off the stool and marched to the entrance. Outside he was greeted with his new task force that would fight through hell alongsi- there was only one person here.
Not just one but also a rather...small individual. Standing at around three feet a odd creature with glowing yellow eyes shown through its metallic mask. Its skin seem to be blue, wearing metal boots and gauntlets. Also it was a ball.
"Meta Knight." Nova seemed to gasped.
'Meta who?'
"One of the most powerful swordsmen in the multiverse." Was all she needed to say to get the message across.
Spike did not question it, did not doubt it because he knew already that dangers came in all kinds of shapes and sizes and if Nova said this little blueberry is dangerous enough to slay an army he would believe it.
"We need to choose are words carefully, if we slip up we can kiss your head goodbye and by extension, me."
Yeah that was about as much as he expected. Spike silently gulped staring down those slit like yellow eyes.
