The Displaced Tournament of Power

Sora wandered about the festivities, making sure that his team wasn’t getting into trouble. Gleaming seemed to be sticking by Coco’s side, continuing to guard her like a good soldier. Kicker had vanished to who-knows-where with who-knows-who like a typical soldier. Jazz and Strongheart seemed to be chatting with other couples while Fancy inquired about business opportunities. Klutzy was all over the place, chatting it up with anyone and everyone, and Sol and Luna had both found entertainments to keep them occupied.

Sora smiled fondly as he leaned against a wall away from everyone else, watching everyone’s interactions. “They’re a good crop, Clover. Strong hearts and powerful wills. You and the girls would have liked them.”

“Reminiscing about the olden days?” Came a new voice.

Sora quickly turned his head to the left and saw none other than Edward Elric floating upside down next to him.

“Mm,” Sora hummed in acknowledgement. “Something like that. Speaking with ghosts, I guess. Ghosts and memories.”

“Tends to happen more often the older we get,” Ed slowly rotated his feet to hit the ground. “You sure pushed Spike pretty hard. I was impressed. Being Asta's head knight thats no small feet, but then again you have more experience and more versitly than he did.”

Sora shrugged. “You live long enough and fight enough different foes, you pick up how to adapt and improvise. That said, I was lacking in raw power in the end.” He chuckled. “Never been a problem before, that. It’s always been an issue of only being able to be in one place at a time. It was nice to face a new challenge and cut loose with no real consequences.” His good mood soured a bit and he frowned into the distance. “A nice vacation. But all too soon I’ll be back home, surrounded by threats and dangers and people who need me to keep the darkness at bay.”

“You truly love your world don't you?” Ed said with an understanding smirk. “In the fifteen millenia in my universe I have had many relationships and more children from it but it wasn't until I found Luna again that everything felt right.”

“...love, huh?” Sora sighed and looked up into the endless sky. “Do I love my world? I certainly love the people in it. Luna and Sol particularly, but others too. Every generation gives me more people to love. But the world itself?” Sora closed his eyes and let out a long, weary sigh. “The world never lets me rest. Never gives me a break. And every time I try to take one, I’m reminded of just what sort of constant effort it takes to keep the darkness at bay.” He opened his eyes and smiled sadly at Ed. “I’m just tired, you know? So very, very tired. But I can’t stop. I can never stop. Or else my world and everyone I love will fall into darkness.” He shook his head, looking off into the distance again. “So no, I wouldn’t say I love my world. But I’ll fight tooth and nail, blood, sweat, and so, so many tears for it regardless.”

“Loving those around you is loving your world because they are your world Sora,” Ed sighed. “I'm the one of the Unlucky few displaced today that remembers everything from his past life as a human. Without a doubt, I absolutely wish I could erase it but other times I'm glad I can't because then I'd forget about my brothers. Asta and Gar made my life livable, even the orange. Battle crazed idiots brought me some joy, but I'm glad I traded that life for my current one. Because then I wouldn’t be able to be with Luna, Celestia and Amore, not to mention my children. They’re the real light in my life.”

“Children, huh?” Sora was silent for a minute. Finally, he took a deep breath and plastered a grin onto his face. “Ah well. What are we doing, moping about here when there’s a party going on? Tell me, what do they do for fun in your world?”

“Sorry, I know it's a sensitive subject,” Ed rubbed the back of his neck then had an idea. “I usually teach classes, invent, explore the void and new universes, or just chill with the girls. I do occasionally drink but can't get drunk due to what I am. Though I do have this,” He said as he reached into his coat and pulled out a bottle of sparkling blue liquid in a wine bottle. “My great times, however, many grand kid made this from poison joke. Very tasty. Even though this is still one of the prank bottles. Its dubbed as such because it one of the ones that still causes issues with the drinkers. Take it,” He tossed the bottle to the keyblade master. “Play a little prank on Sol or Luna when they get really smashed. This stuff is potent though, one cup usually puts even alicorns on their asses.”

Sora smirks and takes the bottle. “Ooh yeah. Poison Joke is always a good time. So, teaching, huh? What do you teach?”

“A little bit of everything,” Ed shrugged. “Mainly Automail engineering though. I've only taught alchemy to those I've deemed worthy of learning it,” his tone grew dark. “It's far too dangerous for just anyone in Equestria,” he sighed and reached into his coat again before tossing a small glass bottle of red liquid to Sora. “Seven incomplete philosopher stones do give to whoever or whatever you can fit or worth saving. Just Know once the energy in them is gone, whoever they are bonded to dies, Thanos snap style.”

Sora hummed and pocketed the vial. “I’ll bear that in mind. Still, automail? Alchemy? I’ve heard of the latter, but I have a feeling you mean something different than the Zebra art.”

“Yes my alchemy is something completely different from the zebra arts,” Ed clapped his hands and touched the wall. With a surge of red electricity a stone Sora double formed from it. “Mine is the manipulation of matter at the atomic scale. But it's not without its limits either. I can't simply make something from nothing with regular alchemy. If I have, say grass I can at least make a loaf of bread.”

“Huh.” Sora considered that for a moment. “So it’s basically really high-level magical chemistry. Zebra arts on steroids. What about automail?”

“Its science, no magic whatsoever,” Ed shrugs, as a glimmering portal dropped a limb that looked like it was made of ruby into the air next to the sage, “Automail is highly advanced prosthetics. Will not technologically adage but you get the heat. It attaches directly to the nerves and even all is some pain to be fell. This piece here is part of my crystalmail line I developed some four thousand used ago. By using different gems Ifound I was able to gain access to magic. Similar to unicorn horns but I was limited to the elemental type magic. It wasn't until I had to replace my niece's girlfriend's arm that I started full on mass production of these.”

Sora suddenly seems much more interested, examining the limb closely. “Advanced prosthetics, huh?” He was silent for a moment, lost in thought. “The heartless rarely leave their victims alive, much less maimed. But still, this technology would be an amazing boon to my Equestria.” He looked up at Ed with a smile. “I don’t suppose you’d be interested in popping by sometime to teach a few enterprising mechanics and tinkerers? Not to mention doctors and nurses, smiths, armorers…” He trailed off, his eyes going distant. “Oh wow. That’d really be an entire new industry, wouldn’t it?”

“Yes and by no means is this industry small my young friend,” Ed snickered. “As for the details it requires many to learn gemstone alchemy. I had learned how to use gems in plave of metal wiring the early years when I was relying on crude replacements for my own prosthetics,” Ed showed off his highly advanced arm, “Bit this one isn't Automail. My master and I made it. As for stopping by here,” he dropped a silver pocket watch in Sora's hands. “ My token and it also acts as a communicator to me or anyone that has one. Spike and I would be happy to stop by and give a few lessons, as well as give any knowledgek to those you deem so.”

Sora examined the pocket watch for a second. “Interesting.” It vanished in a flash of light, replaced by a new keyblade. The keychain was perhaps the simplest thing about the new weapon as it was the alchemist’s silver pocket watch on a silver chain.The guard was made of an intricate human transmutation circle that reached upward into black swirls. At the center just above the hilt was a large golden diamond shaped gemstone with circles reaching out from a center black speck. Above the gem extending upward were more black tendrils that resembled hands reaching to the sky. As you followed one would start to notice eyes and mouths the further up you got until you can to the teeth of the the took the shape of a silver crescent moon beside a six pointed black sun with a crystalline blue snowflake gem at the center of it.

“Interesting,” Ed rubbed his chin as a metal dust flew from him and solidified into a camera orb before scanning the new weapon. “Hmmm… It has similar properties to another artifact a power ranger displaced got from me.” He looked at Sora, “With it you’ll be able to do alchemy without circles, though you are still limited by whatever materials you're using. Good defensive stats but mostly an offensive based weapon, it also has a rage enhancement to help recover stamina faster and a combo multiplier when fighting with a partner, each critical hit helps with a healing burst as well. If you go into anti-form with this equipped you get a weapon bonus in the form of using shadows. Makes sense as Pride's main weapons were his shadow appendages. You have a few more things here but they’re not defined yet. Considering there are seven homunculi and only five abilities currently listed you’re probably not strong enough to handle them yet, one will be a speed skill and the last would be a long range skill or boost to your magic.”

Sora let out a low whistle, examining the blade. “Quite the blade. A little ominous looking, so it’ll be a little niche to use it lest I freak out my ponies, but I have a feeling I’ll get some good mileage out of the Eclipsing Void here.” He dismissed the blade and nodded his thanks to Ed. “I look forward to seeing its full potential in the future.” He chuckled and rubbed the back of his head. “Although, if I’m not strong enough to unlock it now, I’m not really sure how to change that; I feel like I’ve pretty much plateaued the last few centuries, apart form my new displaced keyblades.”

“Hmmm..” Ed stroked his chin, “Have the summonings affected your world at all? Many displaceds’ worlds change when introduced to new displaced or when the reigning displaced gains an ability their highly compatible with. My niece stayed for an extended period in my world and not long after Pokémon started popping up.” Ed snapped and a holo display appeared next to, “As you know as displaced we all have unique signature, but that also holds true for the energy that create us when we come into our Equestria or whatever world we’re sent to,” the display showed Ed and Sora with an aura around them with Sora’s being blue and Ed’s red, “Our void signature are like fingerprints for us but at the same time its what allows use to perform summonings and trade and gain powers. If the displaced is strong enough,” the pic of Ed’s aura grew, “Even after they leave the aura can continue to linger int the world to create new and lasting effects,” he explained as his pic disappeared leaving traces of its aura as small creatures started to appeared, “Even if their not strong the displaced’s longer stay will affect the underlying energies as they mingle with the resident displaced’s energy.”

Sora hummed in thought. “I’m not aware of any real changes. I’ve only had two Displaced visit so far. One was a primordial dragon, but he was there for less than a day. The other was a Xion displaced, so that wouldn’t really…” Sore trailed off, thinking back to what he’d discovered in Starlight Glimmer’s village. “...hm. Maybe I will have to watch out for that.” He frowned. “Dang it. Now I have a reason to hesitate before summoning Displaced to help. My world has a hard enough time dealing with the Heartless without adding more headaches on top.”

“Actually you really shouldn’t,” Ed crossed his arms, “If you’ve plateaued in your strength while the heartless have only grown stronger that means you haven't done anything significant to really push the balance in your favor. Why do you think I brought Ichigo, Spike, Rainbow, and Luna here? Gar really doesn’t need anything as things are mellow in his world right now but the others have major challenges coming and the only ones who can hold a candle to them are the others there and they're starting to stagnate. Ichigo is no doubt nearly as strong as Asta but at the same time, they never go all out on each other. If I were to show up in your world now nothing would happen if I used this body,” Ed thought, “But if I were to use a fragment of my real body then things would start to change.”

“I think you have the wrong idea about my world,” Sora said. “The heartless aren’t getting stronger. In fact, they seem to be a bit weaker now than they have been. Probably the titans and other ancient powerhouses are just starting to wake up now that I’m back on the board. Fighting the Heartless isn’t an uphill struggle or anything like that. Just… a constant one.” He groaned and massaged the bridge of his nose. “The struggle is rebuilding the EKA - er, that’s the Equestrian Keyblade Army - after it basically fell apart while I was stoned. But thankfully, that’s an administrative headache that I can leave to Sol and Luna.”

“Ah so you need manpower and resources to operate them while you’re elsewhere,” Ed chuckled as he knew this struggle all to well, “I can help with that, though only if you can handle it, or sign off on it, King Sora.”

Sora stuck out his tongue. “Blegh. No. Bad Ed. No icky royal titles for me. Call me ‘General’ if you must, but I am NOT taking on any royal title even when Luna and I do get married. As for help,” he smiled, “thanks, but we’ve got it. Our whirlwind tour of Equestria is pretty much done. The EKA is being established in every city, volunteers are flocking in to fill the ranks, more than enough of the Royal Guard have keyblades to train everyone else, and my personal team of Masters-in-Training is pretty much back to full strength.” He looked upward in thought. “I could use another pegasus, one specializing in speed, but I’m sure I’ll find someone to fill the role soon enough.”

“So you have the manpower but not the resources,” Ed shrugged, “Simple enough request,” he held up a hand and another ripple appeared beside it with a rack coming out with ten canisters of rainbow shimmering slime, “These will help with it. Each container is a single convoy of nanomachines. They will build or become whatever you need by taking the dust in the area to create. It. From simple technology to advanced 3D printers. Made of uru, vibranium, proto-adamantium, and beskar from star wars. My master and I designed them with help from an Optimus Prime Displaced. They’re called Harmonic Nanites, due to the fact they also possess harmony magic, and if that's shut off they’ll still work. If injected into the body they act as a strengthener. Think similar to Generator Rex mixed with Avengers.”

Sora stared at Ed for a long moment, blinking dumbly. “I… think I understood maybe half of those words, and none of the references. You should know, I remember jack squat about Earth and Earth culture. So whatever ‘star wars,’ ‘generatorex,’ and ‘avengers’ are, I have no idea. And honestly, I only very vaguely understand what nano-whatsits are.”

“Fair enough,” Ed shrugged as he tossed the canisters to Sora, “Simple, if you need it built they build it and can also change to shape to what you need and are also indestructible. They can also act as medics slash base of operations so you can communicate with other sites. They can build just about anything if given enough material or time.”

Sora looked the canisters over for a bit. “I… see.” Note to self; get a tech-minded Displaced over to my world to teach me… eh, too bothersome. To teach Fancy about this stuff asap. “I’m sure I can put these to good use.”

Ed gave a blank stare as he saw the smoke coming fromSora’s ears, “If you need a teacher use my token to call Kairi. She knows all about this tech as her group has it outfitted in the Mage Tower in their universe,” He looked at Sora, he was just staring at him trying to process everything, “I thought I explained earlier, my token acts as a communicator to anyone who has it, just say their name. You can also use it to deliver small stuff using the void sender function.”

“No, yeah, I heard you mention that. I just got stuck for a minute thinking about how there’s a Kairi Displaced out there.” He groaned. “Don’t tell Luna, or she’ll try to arrange a threesome.”

“The Luna for that world is her little sister so I don’t think you’ll have any luck in that department, though she is into chicks as she used to be a guy before the displacement,” Ed thought aloud. He looked over at Sora who was staring with a slightly twitching eye.

“Yeah… definitely don’t tell Luna.”

“On you fella,” Ed shrugged. “I look forward to your summons. And FYI, I come from a world of humanoid ponies. So don’t be surprised when you see Spike as a teenager with green spiky hair. Till then,” he waved and walked on, disappearing into then as he did.

Krimzon secluded himself from the rest of the group, in an empty corner booth to have a maintenance check on his left cybernetic arm. The party was nothing more than background noise. That was when he heard a gasp, his head snapped to the source, almost drawing his pistol out of reflex until he saw it was a little filly. “Apologies young one, but what are you doing back here?” He asked once he relaxed.

“Oh!” Coco blushed and looked away. “Um, I was just looking for a quiet spot. All of this activity is a little overwhelming. But then I saw your arm…”

“Got the punch.” Another mare trotted over, Gleaming Shield if Krimzon remembered correctly. She levitated a cup of punch over to Coco before eyeing Krimzon curiously. “Hey.” Her eyes traveled to his left arm and went wide. “Well. There’s a story.”

“Indeed.” Krimzon chuckled as he moved and flexed his left arm. “Quite the story of my foolish, arrogant youth that almost cost me my life.”

“Tell me about it.” Gleaming trotted over and turned, reaching over to her side and parting her fur. “See this? Thought my shields were invincible and dared a buddy to stab me as hard as he could with a spear. Unfortunately for me, he was an Earth Pony with some powerful magic and huge muscles. If he’d hit me some other way, I could’ve lost a lung. Or worse.”

“Oof! That’s bad. Our military would never allow such recklessness.” Krimzon shook his head before he looked back at his arm. “Unfortunately, I did something worse: I went out into the wilderness on my own, to hunt.”

Gleaming nods. “Yeah, that’ll do it. I know some idiots who tried camping in the Everfree on a dare. Barely made it out alive.” She chuckled before noticing that Coco had gone pale. “Er, Miss Pommel? Are you okay?”

Coco smiled, but her smile was a bit queasy. “Oh, I’m fine. I’m just… not used to talking about things like this.” She turned back to Krimzon. “But your prosthetic looks fascinating! Who designed it?”

“Our Lords.” Krimzon pointed back to Berserker, who they saw Sora strike up a small conversation and see them trade their tokens with each other. The Doom Marine’s was a smooth Obsidian stone that bore a red, glowing sigil. Ominously so. “Their technology and powers helped us survive the War of Annihilation.”

“Oh, that’s nice.” Coco was obviously distracted by his arm, not really paying attention to what he was saying.

Gleaming chuckled. “She’s an aspiring fashionista,” she explained. “Once those sorts get their sights on interesting designs, everything else fades away. My coltfriend’s got a few of those types for friends.”

“Well, so long as she isn’t squeamish.” Krimzon shrugged. “How long ago was your ‘accident’?”

“Oh, years. This was back in Basic. I’ve wizened up a lot since then.” She smirked. “Though I will also say that my shields are now more than a match for Rapid Thrust’s strikes. Naturally, I tested them while they were protecting a watermelon this time.”

“Very good. Although, you’ll have to worry about those who can wield Haki.” His words made the unicorn mare winch. “Yeah, there are still a few things the multiverse has in store for us all.”

“I’m just glad my shields work against Heartless,” Gleaming muttered. “Granted, I don’t have a way to take them out, but I can at least hold them off or contain them until a keyblader arrives.”

“Heartless.” Krimzon repeated the name. “Are they truly Heartless?” His question confused both mares. “Those two are discussing it, because Lord Berserker popped the question.” He pointed to Sora and Berserker talking about the topic. “He wonders if they got Heartless and Nobodies mixed up.”

Gleaming shrugged. “I don’t know the details. I’m not even in the EKA. I just know that they’re shadow monsters that only keyblades and powerful light magic can kill.” She smirked. “And that they’re the reason Equestria no longer has a noble class. Honestly, it’s the one good thing they’ve done.”

Coco finally managed to pull herself away from Krimzon’s arm to shoot Gleaming a glare. “That is’t a very nice thing to say.”

Gleaming shrugged. “They weren’t very nice ponies. Case in point: they didn’t stay ponies.”

Coco winces at that but says nothing.

“She’s got you on that one.” Krimzon concord with Gleaming’s assessment. “Even after over 60,000 years, the Nobility is still a fucking joke.” That made the two mares look at him in shock.

“Wow,” Gleaming muttered. “And I thought Sora’s 3,000 was impressive. I mean, I’m pretty sure the Royal Siblings are somewhere in your age class, but still.”

“We still have a lot of old folk, but I never said we were from Equestria like the Princesses.” The hooded man pointed out. “I, along with the other Night Sentinels and Scinoxes, are Tartarians. Demons from Tartarus.” And yet another shocking revelation.

This time it was Gleaming who paled, an impressive feat for the alabaster mare. “I… see.” She took a deep breath. “I’m… just going to chalk that up to different universes being different and try to forget that little tidbit.”

“You’ll have to get used to it sooner or later. Otherwise, no amount of protection will help you.” Krimzon said before he pulled back his hood. His face was a light tan, a few scars, with dull red hair and piercing blue eyes. He said he was a demon, yet he looked human. Nothing indicated any demonic features.

Gleaming shook her head. “No thanks. I’ll just stay in Canterlot, far away from Sora’s Displaced craziness.” She chuckled. “No offense, but a black and white view of the denizens of Tartarus is helpful for a soldier where I’m from. Way too many of them are experts at temptation or persuasion.”

“Worthless twats, the whole lot of them.” Krimzon growled in anger and the mares backed away. “…Sorry. Such actions are an affront to us. We are Wardens of Tartarus, charged with punishing the wicked, the damned. Not go about causing problems for Mortals, they already do that to themselves. No point in adding more fuel to the fire.” It was a rather interesting perspective from an alternative version.

“Wardens?” Gleaming’s eyes went wide and she smiled. “Oh! Like Cerberos. Quite the noble and thankless position. I suppose I should thank you for your service.”

Coco raised an eyebrow at Gleaming. “Um…”

“Not your Cerberos. There’s a three-headed dog that guards the gates of Tartarus. But your Cerberos makes our Cerberos look like a puppy.” Gleaming reconsiders. “Or with how terrifying yours is, maybe a bunny.”

“We were born for that and the world is beginning to realize our existence. They won’t be thankless, but grateful and sympathetic. Let’s hope there will be less sinners.” Krimzon snorted at the last part.

“Not grateful enough,” Gleaming opined. “But that’s how it should be. The whole point of people like us is that we make sure that civis never truly understand what we have to do.” She turned a sympathetic eye on Coco. “You’ll learn that yourself, soon enough.”

Coco’s ears flattened against her head and she nodded. “I’ve already seen a bit of it. I was keeping Manehattan safe from the shadows before Sora arrived. Everyone was grateful for what I was doing, but they never seemed to understand just how much work it was.” She smiled. “I don’t mind, though. Just seeing everypony happy and safe is more than enough.”

“Eventually, they will. They have to. Otherwise, how else can they save themselves when we’re not always around?” Krimzon’s query made them think about such a scenario. It was frightening. “Do you have any self-defense courses you can teach?”

Gleaming shook her head. “Nothing that would help the general population against the heartless. But that’s what the EKA is for. With divisions in every city and a few members in even the smallest towns, we should be able to keep everyone safe from that particular threat. Of course, there are titan-class heartless that most bladers can’t handle, but that’s where Sora’s team comes in.”

“Fair enough.” Krimzon nodded before looking back to see Sora holding up a new Keyblade. He knew it was made from Argent energy mixed with the magical properties of the Keyblade itself. However, the blade was on a larger scale. Its jet black surface is riddled in hieroglyphs with that same, ominous red glow. “Is he…struggling with it?” He could see the boy’s arms shake while holding it.

Coco looked over. “Oh. Oh wow. He showed me another blade that gave him trouble, once. He said it came from a… primordial dragon Displaced?” She nodded. “Yes, that’s right. Apparently, he has a hard time handling blades that come from the tokens of people too much stronger than him.”

“Interesting. Predictably, it would look gothic and demonic. Probably a reflection of Berserker, himself. Edgy bastard.” Krimzon gave a sly grin when he saw the shape and characteristics the Keyblade has taken form of.

“I saw him going through his new blades from a bunch of new tokens on the train,” Coco says, her muzzle scrunching up in offense. “A disturbing number of them were dark-colored, demonic looking things. Not that that look can’t work, but they all sort of blended together after a while. Are a lot of Displaced like that?”

“You just answered your question before popping it up.” Krimzon retorted with a shrug. “He may have grown up, but he hasn’t grown out of it.”

“I don’t understand how colts ever grow into it,” Gleaming muttered under her breath.

Coco sighed and nodded her agreement. “I’m not on for snobbery, I’m really not. But I’m not looking forward to seeing what fashion eyesores Sora summons.”

Gleaming smirked at her. “Oh? Gonna sick the Firebird on ‘em if they offend your-”

Coco’s withering glare silenced Gleaming immediately. “Do not. Speak of it. So casually.”

Gleaming snapped off a salute. “Y-yes ma’am!”

“So, Keyblade Wielders hold more authority over the regular military?” Krimzon questioned, changing the topic and getting Coco to forget about Gleaming’s indignation.

Gleaming shook off her momentary fear and relaxed. “Oh. Um, no, they don’t. Well, not generally. The EKA as a whole is an entirely separate chain of command with jurisdiction over all matters pertaining to the Heartless. Any situation involving mixed Heartless and non-Heartless hostiles would have the ranking officer in the Guard take charge. Sora’s team will eventually be considered to be acting under Sora’s direct orders, and he’s a general on par with the Royal Siblings, but their authority is at this point nonexistent. I only showed subordination because, well,” she eyed Coco, who was still giving her a bit of a stink eye, wearily, “because some ponies are just scary when they’re mad.”

“Of course.” The Old Ghost sighed and looked back at his left arm. “After I lost my arm, I still got the kill and brought it back. However, I went into a self-imposed exile and lived most of my life as a hermit. Learning and improving.”

Gleaming nodded. “Makes sense. It’s hard for us meatheads to sit still when we’re shown that we have room to improve. Speaking of, what’s next for you? I can’t imagine you’re content to just sit back after this. I’m certainly going to be building a new training regime for myself.”

“Of course not, and no we’re not meatheads. That’s dumbasses thinking they’re smartasses and can label shit on a whim.” Krimzon waved off before he continued. “Anyway, yes. Things were already changing and plans were set. But, we ourselves are also going through changes.” He looked at both of his hands with a thoughtful gaze. “A lot of things are going to change.”

Gleaming let out a long sigh and turned her gaze to Sora again. “Tell me about it. Change sucks. It’s necessary, but the process sucks.” She chuckled and smiled at Krimzon, shrugging with a “what can you do” expression. “Just gotta make sure you stay on top of the change, right? Don’t let it sweep you away or bury you.”

“Exactly. Although…” Krimzon looked back at Berserker with a frown. “He’s gonna revel in it. I get the distinct impression some of the changes are going to be…radical, but contained. If that makes sense.”

“‘Radical but contained,’ huh?” Gleaming chuckled. “That actually sums up the implementation of the EKA pretty well, so I think I have some idea what you mean. I wish you luck.”

“You, too.” Krimzon nodded as the two mares bid their farewell to him and left. Alone once more, he leaned back and thought to himself. “What will the future hold for us all?”

Dillan smiled a little as he took a sip of his soda, sighing softly as he looked around at all the displaced that fought so hard in the tournament. “If I had known my monkey paw plan wouldn't have worked I would have wished for something else.” he said with a small sigh as he watched the others again while thinking.

A portal opened next to him and stepping out is Katakuri, the goliath of a human. “Hello, Dillan. I had forgotten to give you these,” he opened three portals and dropped them on a table nearby. One was a fruit shaped like a drill, the other was a fruit that had a variety of spots on them, and the last one had a shockwave pattern over it. “The Drill-Drill Fruit, a Paramecia. The Cat-Cat Fruit: Model Cheetah, a Zoan. The Sound-Sound Fruit, a Logia. All Devil Fruits that have a cost of swimming and weakness to sea prism stone. They are also your reward.”

Dillan blinked in surprise at all the Devils Fruits, looking between them all in surprise. “Wow, uh. That's neat. I'll be honest I wasn't really a One Piece fan, but I appreciate them. I'll have to be extremely careful since my whole world is flooded.”

Katakuri nodded, “That is all, Champion,” with that, he spun on a heel and conjured a portal in front of him. He walked through. Dillan could see Katakuri walk out on the other side of the party to take his wife’s side; a man who’s that tall could not be missed by anyone.

Dillan chuckled a little as he pulled out a capsule pill, clicking it as an extremely large chest appeared. He simply set all three chests of Devil Fruits into the big chest and shrank them into a pill, looking around a bit as he walked around a bit. “Let's see. Who should I talk to now?” He hummed a little, pausing a little while looking around with a frown. “What's that?”

Dillan looked around more with a feeling of dread filling his soul, a dark familiar voice chuckling nearby. “Well then, what do we have here?”

The ground and air began to shake violently, a rip in SpaceTime unzipping like a zipper in the sky as a birth of magic juice down to the ground in front of Dillan. When the bright light vanished the dark hooded figure stood in front of him, his form transparent and glitching indicating a hologram. The figure slowly reached up and removed its Hood, revealing an older, darker, age ridden Dillan. His Ultimatrix dial pad now pitch Black, with the ones vibrant blue hue a dark sickly green.

“AND NOW, IT IS TIME FOR THE COMMANDERS’ NEW RANKS!”

A voice on the microphone boomed, bringing everyone’s attention to the stage. It almost looked like a theater stage, and on the stage was a dragon; none other than Spike? Well, it was the Commanders’ Spike. Still stubby and small as always, needing a stool to reach the mic. “FIRST, LET’S SEE WHO’S STILL – OR THE NEW – FIRST COMMANDER!” From behind him, ten holograms in cloaks appeared on the stage. “CAN I GET A DRUMROLL PLEASE?”

In the distance, one could hear the sound of knuckle matching knuckle at a rapid pace. Yet, none of the audience were hitting their tables or even the ground.

“THE FIRST COMMANDER IS… HEROBRINE, THE COMMANDER OF CREATIVITY!”

The first hologram changed to the Minecraftian. Walking onto stage was Herobrine who sighed and rubbed the back of his head, “I knew it…” he grumbled.

Zirconis could be seen clapping for the Minecraftian. The Jade Dragon, back in human form was smiling, as a cup of tea rested in front of him. Seems he did get that tea he asked for, afterall.

“AND ONTO THE SECOND COMMANDER! INTRODUCING THE NEW SECOND COMMANDER HE IS…” The second hologram changed to a familiar Eliatrope, “...KYLE, THE COMMANDER OF SAND!

Sliding onto the stage on his knees was Kyle, who yelled like a rockstar, “YEEEEAAAAH BABY! LET’S FUCKING GO!” he rolled and sprung to his feet, standing next to Herobrine.

“THE THIRD COMMANDER HAS ALSO CHANGED! WHAT MIGHT BE THE BIGGEST UPSET, THE NEW THIRD COMMANDER IS…!” The third hologram changed to a familiar Pokemon, “...NECROZMA, THE COMMANDER OF FREEDOM!”

Instead of walking onto the stage, Necrozma teleported next to Kyle, floating benevolently. “I suppose it is fair. My performance wasn’t that good,” he noted.

“THE FOURTH COMMANDER IS UP NEXT! HE IS…” The fourth hologram changed to a familiar Shinobi, “...ZABUZA, THE COMMANDER OF MIST!”

Zabuza walked onto the stage calmly, holding the Executioner’s Blade and resting it on his shoulder. He gave a respectful nod to the crowd. “Glad to ‘still be’ the Fourth Commander.”

“AND THE FIFTH COMMANDER, I BELIEVE WE KNOW WHO IT ALL IS! HE FOUGHT SO HARD, SO STRONGLY, HE MADE IT TO THE FINALS! HE IS…!” The fifth hologram changed to a familiar Dark Knight, “...THE ARKHAM KNIGHT!”

The Arkham Knight walked towards the stage with a limp, struggling to make it. He looked up at the stairs and grumbled. With his shadowy arms – praise to Sora’s Luna – he crawled up onto the stage and to his hologram spot. “...Hooray.” he raised a fist.

Deltorix shook his head while clapping. “Hope that guy gets some therapy soon before he snaps.” He had everyone’s Tokens before things wrapped up.

“Ain’t that the truth for most of us.” Berserker commented.

From the back, Quill’s voice could be heard as he coughed loudly. “Way to go, Arkham!” Quill smiled, although his tone was somber, as he’d known that Arkham was down in the dumps still.

Then Quill let out a wheeze as he was drop kicked in the chest again.

“AND THE NEXT COMMANDER, NOW WE’RE LOOKING AT THE BIG LEAGUES! HE IS THE SIXTH COMMANDER! INTRODUCING…!” The sixth hologram changed to the Holy Knight, “...LORD TWIGO, THE COMMANDER OF LIGHT!”

A bright light shot towards the place of the sixth hologram, and Lord Twigo stood with a wide grin. “HUZZAH! EXCELSIOR! YIPPEE! HOORAY!” he pumped his fist into the air.

Berserker and his team smiled and clapped for his promotion.

“Way to go, Twiggy!” The Goddess, Ankhseram cheered for her bestie, a blush still faint on her cheeks and nose, and her wings still fluffed up.

“NOW, THE SEVENTH COMMANDER, HE IS…” The seventh hologram changed to a familiar Gerudo King, “...GANONDORF, THE COMMANDER OF DARKNESS!”

Jumping onto the stage, Ganondorf landed with a landing equivalent to a superhero. He stood up, his cape blowing into the wind, “WELL WADDAYA KNOW?!” He took a bow, “Guess who’s still King?”

“Not you, jackass!” The Black Wizard, Zeref laughed from across the field while leaning against a table, completely opposite from where Ankhseram was. “Oh this is gonna hurt.” He mumbled, knowing fully that what he just said would have consequences.

Ganondorf unleashed his palm, “Come to me with a thousand corpses pulling you! SHADOW PULL!” Zeref was pulled towards the Dark King and he reared back his fist, coated it in Ryuo, and punched him straight in his chest. Sending him flying over the horizon. “Bitch ass motherfuc–”

Any words he said were cut off by the Commanders’ Spike, “W–WELL, UH… THE EIGHTH COMMANDER IS…” The eighth hologram changed to a familiar Samurai, “...FUJITORA, THE COMMANDER OF GRAVITY!”

Walking over to the stage, tapping on the ground with his wooden mobility cane, he slowly went up the steps. Also slowly, he made his way over to the hologram he was supposed to stand in, he almost went by but Ganondorf halted him and brought him back. “Ah, thank you, Ganondorf.”

Zirconis, seeing Fujitora, dropped his smile in favor of a neutral expression. Sipping from the tea cup in front of him, Zirconis then merely just brushed his hand over his chest and nodded. He knew that Fujitora definitely deserved his spot as Eighth Commander.

“AND N–” Commanders’ Spike didn’t even say a word before Quill crashed onto the stage. Within moments, Bullet was on hin and gave him the double knees to the back. He quickly went to his feet and gave the Dragon King a ‘puny god’ before chucking the motherfucker where Ganondorf sent Zeref.

“BULLET!” Bullet yelled and flexed his muscles, ripping his shirt clean off.

Off in the distance, a golden flash could be faintly seen as Quill’s voice echoed faintly. “Bitch!” But, despite his voice being faint, that glow seemed to slowly get brighter as the Dragon King rapidly approached Bullet’s location

“...Yeah…” Commanders’ Spike deadpanned at the Ninth Commander before turning to the audience. “...Ahem, YOU KNOW HIM! YOU LOVE HIM! HE’S THE STRONGEST, THE TENTH COMMANDER, HE’S COOL, HE’S AMAZING, HE IS… AKAINU, THE COMMANDER OF DESTRUCTION!”

…

…

…

“...AKAINU, THE COMMANDER OF DESTRUCTION!”

…

…

…

Akainu didn’t come.

Spike, even the Commanders, started to look around at the audience, curiosity in their eyes. “Um… CALLING AKAINU TO THE STAGE! CALLING AKAINU TO THE STAGE! WHERE ARE YOU, AKAINU?!”

Once again, there was no response.

Tilting her head, Ankhseram hummed a little. “Wonder where he is.” She mused, tapping the table she was sitting at gently.

“Wait a minute, don’t tell me…” Commanders’ Spike slumped his shoulders and turned to the Commanders’ tower off in the distance.

“...He’s in the Commanders’ Tower.”