Six weeks had passed since the Battle of the Bands. The rivalries between the bands have died down. Canterlot High School returned to normal. What disturbed me and the Teen Mutant Alliance was that the rest of Canterlot was quiet, too quiet, for the first four weeks.

Then, the crime rate in Canterlot rose quickly. As in a 250% increase in fourteen days. According to the local news station, the number of crimes per night hadn’t been that high in fifty years.

The crimes weren't your typical gang crimes. Instead of holding up convenience stores, they were robbing banks. Instead of mugging random people on the street, they were raiding the homes. It was horrible and we could do nothing about it. The mayor of Canterlot, Mayor Mare, tried sending police to those parts of town but that didn’t help either. What concerned me the most was that there was no sign of the Black Snake or Hamato. Devin thought they packed their bags and ran for the hills. Eric said that Hamato wouldn’t give up that easily. I figured they were planning something.

The Rainbooms had the same hunch, but they didn’t have a single clue on what Headhunter was planning, either. Then, I came up with a plan of my own.

It was Friday night and we were at the pool at the apartment complex. I was sitting on a poolside chair with Dalton, Brody, and Sunset Shimmer. Everyone else was playing pool volleyball. I'm not a volleyball person. Football, soccer, powerlifting, and track are about all I care for. Sunset Shimmer had mostly been talking to us about our powers and our group.

“So are you guys ninjas?” Sunset Shimmer asked.

“Yes and no,” Dalton replied.

“What do you mean?"

"We take on the roles that the shinobi once took upon. Assassins and mercenaries, primarily. Hannah is just a vigilante in training. Some of us use weapons that the shinobi used. However, they aren't traditional. Matthew uses two full-sized katanas. Typically, a ninja would dual-wield two short-bladed swords called wakizashi swords. Dylan uses a ninjato, a straight-bladed sword developed for movies. It too is untraditional."

"Not only that, we use guns, which the ninja never used, and we don't use throwing stars or throwing knives. A lot of our weapons come from our nation's military," I added.

"One could say that you are
untraditional ninjas," Sunset Shimmer said.

"No. Ninjas in our dimension worked for the highest payer. We worked for our government. In the Black Snake's case, they can be terrorists," Brody said.

"So, why did Daniel get that large tattoo?"

I looked at the pool just as Daniel jumped up and spiked the ball back over the net. He started shouting and chest bumped Levi. Daniel's tattoo is Hawaiian. It covers the entirety of his chest and his left bicep.

"Where he is from, those tattoos are a part of their culture," I explained.

"Oh. They look good on him. The long hair does, too."

I found that last comment to be odd. Daniel's hair goes down to the middle of his back, and it's usually messed up. Normally, girls don't compliment a guy's hair unless they like them. Sunset Shimmer has admitted to liking some guy from another school she met at Jessie's softball game. I decided to ignore the comment and move on to a different topic.

"Are there any kids at CHS in a gang?" I asked.

Sunset scratched the side of her head. "No, but there are three boys that could be called a 'gang'," she replied.

"Who?"

"They call themselves the Diamond Dawgs. Rarity has few run-ins with them."

"I'll ask her to show them to me on Monday."

The next Monday at Lunch, I brought up the subject of the gangs to the Rainbooms. Then, I asked Rarity to point out the Diamond Dawgs. She pointed her thumb at three boys, who were sitting off by themselves.

One of them was extremely short, as in less than five feet and six inches. The other one was approximately five-eleven. The last one was huge and looked to be around 280 pounds and over six feet tall. They seemed more like a typical group of bullies instead of a gang. Rainbow Dash thought so, as well.

“The Diamond Dawgs?! They are a bunch of bullies who don’t amount to jack crap!”

“I wouldn’t call them that,” Fluttershy said, quietly.

“What would you call them?” Eric asked.

“I say they are well connected. I was in the hallway when I overheard the Diamond Dawgs talking about the Cobra Kings’ leader who was killed by a ‘ninja dude’, and every other major gang leader was killed, too. Then he took over the gangs.”

“Since when did the Diamond Dawgs get affiliated with the Cobra Kings?” Pinkie Pie asked.

“Who cares? All I need to know is why Headhunter is getting involved with the gangs. He’s a terrorist for crying out loud. Shouldn’t he be doing terrorist stuff?” I said.

“Elaborate on the phrase ‘terrorist stuff’,” Hannah said.

“Car bombings, gunfights, blowing stuff up. That sort of thing,” I replied.

“So no 9/11s?” Jessie asked.

“From what I’ve seen in the past, the Black Snake isn’t capable of hijacking an airplane. Much more, crashing it into a building,” I responded.

"Explain to me what 9/11 is,” Applejack said.

I sighed. 9/11 is a tough subject for all of us, especially Levi. His cousin, Gabriel Hernandez, was in the North Tower when it was hit. Even though Levi wasn’t born yet, 9/11 was a horrible event that affected his family. From what Levi said, Gabriel was on the 93rd floor and was killed instantly when the plane hit. How his family found out, I have no idea but I took his word for it.

Anyway, I explained to the Rainbooms what 9/11 was and what happened with The Twin Towers, the Pentagon, and United Flight 93. The Rainbooms were horrified. Then they became worried that would happen to them. Dylan reminded them that I had said the Black Snake wasn’t capable of something like that. Deep down, I'm pretty sure we all knew that the Black Snake could outdo what Al-Qaeda could pull off.

“Back to the gangs and stuff, how are you going to get info from the Diamond Dawgs?” Pinkie Pie asked me.

“I’ll ask them,” I replied.

“That’s a laugh. They’ll deny it and throw you in a dumpster somewhere,” Rainbow Dash said.

“Not looking like this, I won’t,” I said.

“Huh?”

“What he means is that he’ll go as the Nightwatcher and interrogate them,” Eric explained.

“You can’t do that here!” Sunset Shimmer exclaimed.

“I wasn’t planning on it. I’ll follow them after school and ‘speak’ with them privately,” I said.

“Are you going to torture them like you did Flash Sentry?” Applejack asked.

“No,"

“So what’s your plan now?”

"I’ll know when I get to that point.”

“I’m going to tell you upfront. If you end up fighting them, they fight dirty,” Rarity warned.

“So do I,” I said as I pulled my knife. I stopped carrying a pistol around because it got aggravating having to take it off and hide it during athletics.

“That looks like one of the knives that our military uses,” Rainbow Dash said.

I handed the knife to her so she could look at it. She seemed interested and shook it in her hand. Rainbow Dash handed it to Rarity, who was interested in the writing on it.

“It feels like it is vibrating. Did you feel it, Rainbow Dash?” Rarity whispered.

“Yes, I did. What is it made of?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“It is made out of vibranium. The rarest metal in our dimension,” I explained. “It is only found in a nation called Wakanda.”

“And the writing on it?” asked Rarity.

“It is Xhosa for, ‘Destroy those who seek the destruction of the innocent,” I replied.

“That’s...lovely,” Rarity said.

“Not the best of inspiring quotes but it will do.”

Rarity handed me the knife. Just as I was going to put it in a hidden sheath in my jacket, Principal Celestia came up behind me and took my knife.

“Hey, that’s mine!” I exclaimed.

“Now it's mine, Mr. Wilson,” she replied.

“You can’t take that. It’s expensive.”

“You should’ve thought of that when you came to school with it. We have a little ordinance against that.”

“How was I supposed to know that?”

“Did you read the school code of conduct manual?”

“No, I didn’t. Someone stole my backpack.”

“It seems to me your irresponsibility has cost you. If you want it back, you pay the office forty dollars. Good day, Mr. Wilson.

I was disgusted and furious. Fluttershy suggested that I could get another vibranium knife. Eric said it was impossible because you have to get invited by the king of Wakanda to enter the nation. I was pretty sure that King T’Challa wouldn’t allow me to enter the nation just for a knife. Finally, I decided to buy it back when I needed it. Right about then, I noticed that Daniel wasn’t there. Neither was Sunset Shimmer.

“Hold on. Where’s Daniel and Sunset Shimmer?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” Eric answered.

“Who cares,” Justin said. “Daniel can take care of himself.”

“How considerate of you, Justin. You are a true friend,” Levi said.

“You’re welcome, Levi.”

“To answer your question, Daniel is in lunch detention for dozing off in class and Sunset is in the library,” Applejack said.

“Dozing off?” I asked, trying not to laugh

"I was in his class. He was snoring loud,” Pinkie Pie explained.

Right about then, the bell rang to go to sixth period. I didn’t have a sixth period so I went to the library. Mrs. Cheerilee was out all week because she had surgery on her gallbladder. Fortunately for me, I had the library to myself.

I went up to the second floor and found my own personal “area”. For the next twenty minutes, I researched the gangs in the city and found a list of all the gangs on the Canterlot Police Department website. They were organized by threat level.

At number one were the Cobra Kings and at number two were the Black Dragons. About the time I reached the end of the list, I had to use the restroom. I left my spot and went to the bathroom. After I arrived, I went to the stall furthest from the door, for the privacy of course.

When I closed the stall door, the door to the bathroom burst open, which startled me. A group of guys came in and began to talk. I stood on the toilet seat to get a better look. The group of boys was the Diamond Dawgs. I crouched down and remained quiet.

"When is Boss Man gon' do it?" one asked.

"I don’t know. All he told me was that ‘Numero Uno’ would be taken care of,” replied another.

“I hope this Headslayer dude knows what he’s doin’,” said the last one.

“It’s Headhunter, you idiot.”

“My bad. Idiot!”

“When are we supposed to get the call?”

“At 4:30. Boss Man told us to be at West Elm Avenue. There’s an alley next to Big Momma's house.”

“There? That’s Cobra King turf?”

“That is what I said. Boss Man said that the Cobras won’t lay a finger on us or they’ll bite the bullet.”

“Good to know.”

“ Alright. We’ll meet there. Let’s just hope that the cops won’t find us.” They left after that.

What just occurred was a new concern. The Diamond Dawgs were in contact with Hamato about something he was planning. Who cared about mere gang crimes when Hamato was planning something. From the sounds of it, the plan was something big.

I pulled out my phone and texted Orange Bunny to get my Nightwatcher gear ready. Then, I texted Rarity that I have to help her with her English assignment at a later date. After sending the two text messages, I returned to the library. Eventually, the bell rang to release the students to seventh period.

For me, seventh period was World Geography. Thankfully Levi, Eric, and Daniel were in that class. Eric and Levi sat in the middle of the room while Daniel and I sat against the wall opposite the door, towards the back of the room. I sat in front of him.

That day we were watching a video about Saddle Arabia so I seized the moment to tell Daniel about the recent development.

“Psst. Daniel, eu não vou estar em casa até mais tarde hoje à noite.”

(Portuguese) “Psst. Daniel, I won’t be home until later tonight.” I informed quietly.

“Mengapa? Apa yang sedang berlaku?”

(Malay) “Why? What’s going on?” Daniel asked.

“Watashi wa daiyamondo Dawgs to yoba reru gurūpu no otokonoko ni shitsumon shimashita.”

(Japanese) “I have to interrogate a group of boys called the Diamond Dawgs,” I replied.

“Per che cosa?”

(Italian) “What for?”

“Tāmen kěnéng huì liǎojiě Hamato de xià yībù xíngdòng”

(Chinese) “They might have information on Hamato’s next move,” I said.

“Okay.” The rest of the class was spent watching the video about Saddle Arabia.

Honestly, the video was very interesting. I learned a few things about the country. For example, the rulers are elected by their congress. To me, that’s a faulty election system.

Seventh period ended and eighth period started: my least favorite period of the day. The subject wasn’t what I hated, the subject was Algebra 2, but I hated it because none of the other TMA members were in the class. Only Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Sunset Shimmer were in that class along with seven other students.

That period went by fast since we worked on parabola projects. Due to my enhanced memory, I was able to finish it quickly and continue my research on gangs. Fluttershy and Sunset Shimmer were working while Rainbow Dash was taking a nap. I had to elbow her at least five or six times to keep her from getting into trouble.

Finally, the bell rang to end the school day. I put my project in my backpack and ran out of the room. Then, I took the student parking lot exit and ran to the apartments. I usually wait for Jessie but she had softball practice.

When I reached the apartments, I went inside and put my school stuff on the living room floor. On my bed was my Nightwatcher gear. After removing my school clothes, I put on my gear. Then, I went out the door.

I ran over to the motorcycle and cranked it. Then I backed out and took off. When I reached Sugar Cube Corner, Orange Bunny’s voice came over the comlink.

“Hey, dumbfuck. Do you know where you’re going?” Orange asked.

“Yeah. A road called West Elm Avenue,” I replied.

“Do you have any fucking clue where that is?”

“To be quite honest, I have no clue.”

“Let me look this shit up.”

Despite her bad attitude, Orange Bunny guided me to the street. It took me about twenty minutes to get there, not bad for rush hour traffic. Plus it was filled with Orange Bunny telling me information about the Cobra Kings, including their founders.

Big Momma, whose house where the Diamond Dawgs were meeting next to, is the mother of the two boys who founded the Cobra Kings. The “Big” in Big Momma is no metaphor. She was at least 400 lbs, six feet, and five inches. Her boys are just as big but weigh less. One of them is in a maximum-security penitentiary for killing seven people.

West Elm Avenue was extremely sketchy. I was worried that my motorcycle might get stolen. Then, I remembered that Orange Bunny installed the invisibility device on my motorcycle.

I found a good spot to put my motorcycle and waited for the Diamond Dawgs. About fifteen minutes later, the Diamond Dawgs arrived and went down the alley.

I activated the invisibility device and walked over to a building that overlooked the alley. The next ten minutes were spent looking for a ladder. Eventually, I found one.

“Where is a grappling hook when you need one,” I mumbled. “Thanks a lot, CIA.”

The building was about twenty feet tall. The jump wouldn’t break my legs or make a lot of noise. Mainly, I taught myself to land softly.

I waited for a few minutes before jumping off the roof. When I landed, pain shot through my legs, but I shrugged it off.

“Are you the Diamond Dawgs?” I asked loudly in my dark voice.

The Diamond Dawgs looked up and were startled. They loosened up as I approached.

“Yes. Who are you?” asked the medium-sized one.

“You can call me...Nightwatcher,” I replied.

“Oh. Boss Man told us about you. He told us you were his arch-nemesis or somethin’,” the smaller said.

“That’s good to hear. Alright, my associate informed me that you have information that I want.”

“And what’s that?” asked the larger one.

“Headhunter’s next move. Tell me and we won’t have a problem.”

“You think we are going to tell you if you ask us to. You’re funny, Nightwatcher,” chuckled the smaller one.

“We can do this the easy way or the hard way. It's your choice,” I growled.

“Me and the boys will choose what’s easier for us,” said the medium-sized guy.

The Diamond Dawgs surrounded me and were chuckling as they did it. What didn’t make sense was that they weren’t intimidated. My pistols and my katanas should have done the trick.

“Now, we can do this the easy way or the hard way,” snarled the big guy. “You can leave and get your info somewhere else or get your ass kicked.”

I replied by getting into an Ichimonji no kamae fighting stance.

“Before we start, I’m going to tell you one more time. Tell me what Headhunter is planning,” I announced.

“Not happening, Nightwatcher,” the big guy said.

“Alright. Have it your way,” I growled.

Right about then, the medium-sized guy charged at me. The fight had begun.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading the first chapter of Book 2 of the Teen Mutant Alliance's adventure in Canterlot. Chapter 2 will be released a week from today. I'll try to post these chapters weekly. Thanks again.