Diamond Journals Issue 1: A Quest for Memory

The heroes made their way through the longest gauntlet they'd faced yet at a very high speed, but Diamond was having a little trouble making his way forward. Twilight and Starlight caught on with this, eventually stopping to talk to him. They'd catch up with the others later.

"Guys...the aura up here is not normal. It's changing me...back to my pony form," Diamond struggled to say. "We need to get through the area FAST so I can replace lost genes."

"Your pony form is returning? I don't see it." Starlight said, which Diamond responded to by removing his Crystal Armour to show his body. His left arm had turned into a pony front leg, with a human hand sticking out of it. His head had also partially sprouted a horn, and parts of his skin was turning green.

"See what I mean? We gotta get through here quick, or I'll lose my human form permanently," Diamond said. "The process should take up to an hour if we're lucky, which should be JUST enough time to get the next Element of Harmony and get to the peak."

"But...you lost your armour! What are you gonna do now?" Twilight asked.

"I only de-Meganized to prove a point." Diamond answered. "MEGANIZE ME! CRYSTAL ARMOUR, ONLINE!"

[Transformation Scene]

Diamond jumped into the air and was coated in a bright flash of light. He span through the air as his clothing vanished into thin air.

Then, the sapphire-coloured crystal boots formed, followed by aquamarine nano-tech pants. Next, the armoured upper chest formed as an aquamarine nano-tech vest appeared, followed by a sapphire-coloured crystal breastplate and backplate. Energy shot through his arms as his sapphire-coloured crystal gauntlets formed, followed by the matching sleeves for his vest.

Finally, a sapphire crystal helmet with a transparent visor appeared on Diamond's head, with nano-tech forming on it to create what was supposed to be a knight's crest. As the square button formed, his eyes changed from hazel to robotic cyan. Diamond held his right arm out as if reaching for something, forming his Harmony Buster, then entered a battle stance, his nano-tech becoming crystal as he did so.

[End Transformation]

When Diamond's transformation finished, Starlight hit him with a spell that would repel the ponyfying aura for a while. They had to sprint to keep up with the other seven, but a Speed Spell from Twilight made it no issue. When they reached the first boss door, it had a different plate above it. Instead of a traditional Dr. Wily plate, black with a red ring around the Dr. W text, it instead had Tirek's face on it.

"I think this could be a tough one..." Mega Man said. "We don't know ANYTHING about Planet Equis's villains."

"Hang on, let me take a look." Diamond said. He approached the plate with a Grapple Beam aimed at the ceiling, then switched to his Scan Visor and copied it into his system.

-Recorded to Villain Logbook.
-Tirek: A centaur with a lust for power. Since his defeat a long time ago, Tirek spent most of his time imprisoned in Tartarus.
Powers: Can absorb the magic of living entities, including flight from Equine Pegasi and strength from Equine Earth Ponies at a high enough power level, and use it to make him even stronger.
Weakness: Harmony Buster (Kindness).
Max Power (HP): 250 Base Form, 2500 Form 2, 7500 Form 3, 500000 Final Form.

Diamond dismissed the messages, switched to his Neutral Visor and turned off his Grapple Beam, doing a flip before he hit the floor on his feet. The heroes progressed through the boss door, only to see Tirek at the other end of the room in his second form. Diamond switched to his Combat Visor and got in his fight stance, buster at the ready.

"You know, I never thought you'd get here." Tirek said. "But now that you're here, I'll POUND YOU INTO GRAVEL!" he yelled, readying a magic blast from his horns. The heroes responded by readying their own weapons: horns, busters, even bare hooves. Diamond proceeded to open his breastplate and grab the Element of Harmony he needed, placing it in his Harmony Buster and readying his Combat Visor.

boss theme

Tirek's blast was aimed at Diamond and he wasn't exactly ready for it, being hit square in the face with dark magic. Diamond responded by using two of his new passive abilities, Gem Shield and Nature's Regeneration. Right away, his Power meter began climbing back up slowly as enchanted butterflies flew around him and a shield made from enchanted gems appeared on his left arm. He then turned on his Power Gear and fired a few pink pellets infused with his current Element, surprisingly doing little damage even WITH Power Gear. Mega Man followed up with his Scramble Thunder attack, also not doing great. In fact, NONE of the heroes's attacks did great.

"HEH! Compared to me, your power level is like a pancake's!" Tirek gloated, readying another magic blast aimed at Diamond. Unfortunately for him, Diamond was ready this time and blocked the majority of the attack with the Gem Shield, following up with a few more pellets, to no avail.

"It's no good! His Power Gauge AND defensive properties are off the charts! We need to find some sort of weak point." Diamond said. "But where? I have amnesia, you know! I don't know as much as I should!" he added, blocking another dark blast. He started blasting Tirek randomly, one of his shots actually doing damage when it contacted one of his horns.

"Yo, he lost a bit of Power! Go for the horns!" Mega Man said, shortly before witnessing Tirek trying to absorb Proto Man's essence. He immediately charged his Buster and fired on the horn, knocking Tirek back and letting Proto Man make the escape. Proto Man used his own shield to block the majority of another blast, then used a few charge shots on the horn, making near contact every time, but still hitting his target. Tirek grabbed Proto Man before he could charge his sixth shot and proceeded to suck the essence from him, and this time nobody could make Tirek let go. He left Proto Man darn near powerless and was able to power up to his third form.

"Darn...he's got my powers!" Proto Man said. "Try attacking him when he's ready to fire one of his blasts. My essence might leak out of him and back into me! Think you can process all that and give us a few chances of success, Diamond?" he added. On command, Diamond switched to his Scan Visor and began to copy the statistics they needed, while everyone else kept Tirek busy.

"OK, I think I've got all the data I need. Based on what I've got, if we hit Tirek's pressure point at JUST the right moment, which will be right before he fires, we might be able to release Proto Man's essence in one go and ALSO deal a HUGE amount of damage to his Power Gauge." Diamond analysed. "Even if we DO screw up on the timing, we still have a 32.5% chance to do that, a 60.2% chance to release a good chunk and the rest of our percentage to release only a little."

"Sounds good. Speed Gear can help out with timing anyway." Mega said. "Buster ready, Diamond! Not that I don't trust you, ponies, but stand back." he added as Tirek began his next charge. The two turned on their Speed Gears, proceeded to charge their own shots, and let loose RIGHT before Tirek's magic was released, their Double Gear system overheating a second later. The two shots hit the horns square on, with Proto Man's essence leaving Tirek's body and returning to it's rightful owner. In revenge, Proto Man activated his Proto Strike attack, turned on his Power Gear and let loose. Within seconds, Tirek was defeated and was teleported out.

end song

"There's another boss door at that end of the room, so he couldn't have been the last boss." Diamond said. "But wait a sec...that's my backup memory drive!" He charged forward, grabbed the drive and took out his artificial brain. He connected the backup to his brain and let it take it's course, then inserted the single chip back into his head. His memory drive was immediately restored, and Diamond was back to normal. He kept the memories he'd had from before he got his backup drive back into his possession and recovered the rest.

"How you feeling now, Diamond?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"In your words...AWESOME. Well, slightly less awesome than usual, considering my situation right now, but...you know what, why don't I just show you?" Diamond said, removing his Crystal Armour to show his ponyfying body.

"Dude, not cool. But we don't have time right now, the clock's still ticking!" Proto Man warned. "Here's our timer in digits: 2:43:20 and counting."

"Right. Let's keep moving." Diamond said.

The heroes passed through the rest of the incredibly long gauntlet in near silence. They reached the boss door a lot quicker, this one a more traditional plate. When they walked through, Bass was the one standing at the other end.

"You've done EXTREMELY well to get all the way here. I must say, I'm impressed." he said. "But you will not be reaching the Legion of Doom on my watch. We've thrown everything we had at you, but I guess if you REALLY want something done well, you gotta do it yourself. Come on, Treble!"

boss theme

Bass immediately jumped in the air and merged with Treble to activate his Super Adaptor. Mega decided to do the same by calling in Rush and having him transform into Mega's Super Adaptor armour.

"This is my fight. Anyone who can fly, cover me!" Mega said. The pegasi and Twilight followed him easily, while Diamond used his Hover Board previously only accessible in Zero Form to follow. Proto Man was left with the other ponies and had no idea what to do, before Starlight remembered she had a levitation spell and took off with the others. Regardless of his actions, he and the others were grounded and had no way to follow.

Bass and Mega Man exchanged blows, but to little effect. Twilight's combat spells weren't really helping either, as Bass wore a magic-resistant layer of armour. Diamond loaded his Harmony Buster with the Element of Loyalty (which he had recently replaced with Honesty before they entered the room.) and activated his Power Gear to try and deal some serious damage, which ultimately failed. It wasn't until later that he noticed that Bass had an Element in his own Buster: Laughter.

"Bass! How did you get an Element?" Diamond asked. "In fact, how did Wily even steal the Elements of Harmony in the first place?"

"That's for him to know and you to find out." Bass said. After shooting him a few times, however, Diamond noticed a sort of slur in his voice, and he knew now that Bass had rebelled against Wily and planned to stick that way, so it could only mean...

"Guys, I don't think Bass is...you know, in the right mind." Diamond said. "Keep him busy while I run diagnostics. There's gotta be something here..." he added, turning on his Diagnostic Visor.

"Fools. The last thing I am is out of the right mind. If anything, YOU'RE not in your right minds." Bass said, his corruption now revealing itself. "Don't make accusations that aren't true." The heroes there responded with their own attacks: Twilight tried a number of combat spells, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy span him in circles and Mega shot his Rocket Fist a few times.

"Diagnostics complete! It appears that my assumption is correct. Bass is infected with a prototype form of Roboenza. Luckily, I have one last bit of cure. Hold him down." Diamond commanded, with the heroes dragging him back down to the floor.

end song

With Bass struggling, Diamond shoved the last of the Roboenza cure into Bass's systems. He shuddered a bit, then returned to normal, Treble reappearing at his side and looking a lot less menacing now. It didn't take long for Bass to come back to his senses, and he quickly looked around wondering what happened.

"Where...am I?" he asked himself. "Last thing I remember, I was fighting Wily in space, but..."

"Don't worry about it, Bass." Diamond said. "You were infected with a prototype of Roboenza, forced to do Wily's bidding."

"But...the virus was exterminated! How did I..."

"What matters now is that you're back to normal. Can I have a look at that crystal embedded into your buster?"

"Uh, sure." Bass said, handing Diamond the Element. It was indeed the Element of Laughter, and in surprisingly incredible condition, after being in a corrupted body for who knows how long. "Oh, and I have this one as well. Just thought I'd let you know." Bass added, taking out the Element of Magic.

"You had TWO Elements of Harmony on you? I'm about glad we beat you." Mega said. "Diamond, you know the drill. Get them into your system." Diamond did as he was told and placed both Elements into their slots in his containment system, one at a time. He started with the Element of Laughter.

-Element of Harmony Acquired!
-This is the Element of Laughter, the fifth of six. Locating the final Element is highly recommended.
-When applied to your Harmony Buster, it will shoot larger pellets and release a huge amount of confetti.

-Party Cannon Acquired!
-The Party Cannon is a single-use projectile weapon that does a ton of damage to anyone who gets in the way.
-However, the Cannon can also be used as a distraction for most enemies, courtesy of the Element of Laughter.

He then followed with the Element of Magic, which wasn't easy to slot in.

-Element of Harmony Acquired!
-This is the Element of Magic, the final of the six. The Elements have been united, and all six have been automatically placed into your system. Be ready for a huge surge of magic!
-Applying this to your Buster will have a result even I can't describe.

-Alicorn Beam Acquired!
-This weapon will take out anything in it's path with the magic stored in your armour. A fully charged blast will disintegrate anything it touches.
-However, this weapon releases all the magic stored in your armour at once, so only use it as a last resort. However, it's incredible power comes direct from the Element of Magic.

"Magic surge in three...two...o-AARGH!!" Diamond counted, before being hit with the massive magical surge the automated assistant had warned him about. Everyone else decided to stand back, and the surge nearly killed him. It took a whole 15 minutes for the surge to go down, but when he emerged, his armour had COMPLETELY changed. His Grapple Beam remained fastened to his forehead, but it had gotten a bit longer. His backplate had also sprouted wings, his Hover Board's sonic thrusters fitted into the exhuast barrel in the back. He also had sonic thrusters embedded into his boots for extra aerial power. The armour itself had been coated in a more sturdy crystal layer and his visor changed on the outside to become green. His armour was also more jagged, and his breastplate had the Elements of Harmony showing on the outside for easier access, and they hardly caused any strain for him, even with all six in place.

-Alicorn Battle Armour Acquired!
-The Alicorn Battle Armour is much more powerful than the Crystal Armour and has all the abilities of an organic Alicorn.
-Your new armour has integrated your Hover Board's sonic thrusters into your wings, allowing you to fly at any moment, but your Hover Board has now been removed from your possession.
-Your magic meter will be permanently supercharged from this moment forth, allowing for permanent use of the Grapple Beam and ALL Element of Harmony abilities.
-Your Buster has been infused with all six Elements, which can be interchanged at will with the new interface on your Buster, and the final Element weapon is now compatible with your armour, but can only be used once.

-Harmony Blast Acquired!
-WARNING: Using this ability will remove the Alicorn Battle Armour and the Crystal Armour permanently.
-Your Buster will absorb the power of all six Elements of Harmony at once and become insanely overcharged with magic to release an attack that will one-shot any foes in it's way.
-The Elements of Harmony will leave your armour and return to their owners or the Tree of Harmony, whichever one is closest, and you will be de-Meganized for a day.

"Sweet! This armour seems AWESOME!" Diamond exclaimed. "Unfortunately, I'll lose it using that Harmony Blast weapon, but I feel like it's the only thing that'll finish the Legion of Doom for good."

"Diamond, we're KINDA on a timer right now! No time for that!" Proto Man urged. "Wily's our last obstacle between us and everything we need to release everybo-" Mega Man nudged him to use proper Ponish grammar. "Sorry, everyPONY, from this darn castle."

"Well, we still got about two hours left. We can make a quick rest stop before we fight Wily. Surely we don't need TWO HOURS to fight Wily." Diamond pointed out.

"Good point. I think the doc gave you a little TOO much time." Bass said. "There's one in the next corridor, but Wily's got it rigged so that we can't leave, and even I can't bypass Wily's security without permission. His password is CRAZY long, contains everything it needs to make it secure, and changes it every single day. I'm surprised he even remembers his passwords!"

"Which is why we aren't using that one. We'll make it in this room, considering there's no ponifying aura in this room." Mega said. "And yes, I scanned the entire atmosphere. We're clear."

"Alright! I got some genes to replace and a bit of sleep to get. I am human, after all." Diamond said. "Once my human form is restored, wake me up and we can get going. Offline!" he added, removing his Alicorn Battle Armour and collapsing on the floor in exhaustion.