Knights of Harmony

Sweet Apple Acres

It was a beautiful morning on the apple farm. Big Mac was about to start his delivery pulling along a kart full of pies to another town. While walking towards the gate, he takes in the smell of morning air, letting out a pleased sigh. He stops when he hears "Ow! Sweetie Belle!/Ow! Scootaloo!" and looks out into the orchard where he sees a large magenta dome. Though he payed it no mind before continuing on his way since his sister had told him and Granny Smith ahead of time what she and her friends would be up to today.

Within this magical dome, Twilight and her friends were in human form. Spike and the CMC had also been allowed to join in. Though since he already knows how to walk, Spike was mostly focused on practicing the enhancement spell Wizard had showed him. Twilight had taken Connor's advice and had been working a spell that would work similarly to the spell circle the kaiju have been using. She had also created a second spell to work alongside the dome spell. Which she is in the middle of testing at this moment.

"Are you girls okay?" Despite having difficulty, Fluttershy had walked over and helped Scootaloo and Sweetie to their two feet. Both girls rubbing their heads after they had accidently tripped each other and bumped heads.

"Yeah, I think we're good." Scootaloo answered with Sweetie then following with, "I don't know about that. My head is still hurting."

Rarity managed to balance herself. "How could any creature stand like this? Though I do admire this outfit.
I wonder if the other me designed- Ah!" The fashionista's train of thought got interrupted by her rainbow hair friend stepping on her foot. "Rainbow, would you mind where you step."

"Hey, it's not my fault, Rarity! Pinkie is just hopping all around."

The effects of the second spell could already be seen. Unlike in the kaiju's dome, Twilight's spell not only had them in human form, but the second spell left their cutie marks intact, skills untouched, and let their horns and wings remain. Though these just became additional obstacles in addition to their human forms being difficult. Such as Rainbow Dash having easily gotten knocked off balance by Pinkie hopping around everywhere on all fours, causing her to step on Rarity's foot. Though this was also due to her wings adding to the imbalance.

"Pinkie, you know the whole point of this is to get used to these weird bodies." "Of course I know, Dash." She answered in a cheerful tone. Rainbow got a bit ticked from Pinkie bumping into her again and even more a second time that almost knocks her over. "Okay, that's it!"

Seeing her friend readying to pounce the party pony, Twilight got between the two. "Calm down, Rainbow. Pinkie is probably just having more trouble than us. I'm sure she didn't mean to."

"Look what I can do!"

Pinkie began doing a whole assortment of different dances; tap dancing, ballet, swing, samba, ect. And ends with break dancing with the finisher being a handstand. The group is left speechless with Rainbow's jaw hanging open. Spike and Sweetie Belle are the only ones from the group unaffected. Spike had been more occupied with trying to use the spell from outside the dome. Sweetie just clapped in amazement at the pink party pony's skills.

The young dragon stood across from a bolder trying to build up his aura. As to not use too much aura, Spike was using the second spell, Hunter's Gaze, to keep track of the buildup. "Okay, here goes nothing." He dashed up to the bolder. "Haaaa- Ugh!" His claw hit its mark, but it fails to even dig into the rock with only a chip of it falling off. "OWOWOWOWOW!!" The CMC had watched Spike's attempt that led him to hopping in place while shaking off the pain.

Scootaloo held a snicker. "I was thinking of asking him how using the spell was going, but he pretty much answered without me needing to ask." Her friends frowned disapprovingly at her. "What?"

"I think we should leave him alone for now." Sweetie spoke up as they looked back to see him repeating his attempt. "It looks like he doesn't want to be distracted."

"Yeah. You are probably right." The pegasus turned along with Sweetie to walk back to the others in a wobblily manner. But they stopped when they took noticed Apple Bloom had not moved. "Aren't you coming, Apple Bloom?"

"In a bit." She answered without looking away from watching Spike try again. "I just want tah watch fer a bit longer."

Scootaloo turned to Sweetie who was equally confused by this before answering back. "Okay. If you say so." The two continue their struggle walk back to the group. "Did that seem a bit weird to you?"

"Maybe." The young unicorn thought on it for a bit. "By the way, do you know why Applejack isn't here?"

Apple Family House

The guestroom was still being occupied by Zero. The Fenrir was sound asleep, still had yet to awaken since the group had brought him to the farm. Applejack quietly came into the room with an apple pie laying on top her hat. She made her way over to the bed, placing the pie down onto the nightstand beside the bed.

"Alright, now let's see how yer doin' today."

She gently removed his bandages with care as to not cause their guest any pain. Though she is surprised to find most of Zero's injuries had already healed up with mostly just small cuts and scratches left.

"Guess bein' called the greatest hunters weren't just all talk. Though I do wonder what yer story is fer bein' here." She giggled softly to herself. "Tah be fair, I ain't the only one curious on that. Apple Bloom and her friends have been askin' if yah woken up just bout every chance they get. Those four sure are worried about yah."

She threw away the bandages into a trashcan next to the nightstand, not having noticed Zero's tail moved a bit before stopping. She didn't even notice the tail's new position when she turned back. She had planned on replacing the bandages but seeing as his injuries were just about healed, she saw no point in it now and decided it was time to head out to meet her friends. Applejack stopped at the door to look back at the Fenrir.

"While you should rest up, do try tah wake up soon."

Leaving the room, Applejack made her way through the house to leave out the back door. Once in the kitchen, she felt a sudden breeze behind her. She turned around but found nothing. She feels it behind her again and once again found nothing when she turned to face it. She stood confused for a few seconds before deciding to just chalk it up to being the wind. Continuing on her way out, she failed to see the pan from the pie she had left in the room was now empty and in the sink.

Meanwhile

Within the western lands where Appleloosa resides and the native Buffalo live, things seemed normal. But that was only by normal standards in Equestria. Something strange and unusual was happening. An invisible pulse spread throughout the area. The pulse was almost spiritual in some way by how kept appearing like a faint heartbeat. This phenomenon was affecting two different areas.

The first being in the Everfree Forest. The animals and creatures living in the forest could feel something happening towards a location they all know within their home. Within the cave near the Castle of the Two Sisters, the Tree of Harmony was glowing faintly in response to the pulses.

The second was on a large island in the middle of the ocean. Someone paced back and forth within the wild greenery of the island. The pacing came to an end when the pulse reached the island. "Hm?" The being turned a certain direction and began walking. After a while, the being turned out to be Akumaro. The Ayakashi reached the edge of the island as he came walking out of the island's jungle to stand on the shoreline.

"What is this presence? I have no recollection of it. Yet it feels so familiar." His grip tightens on his kemari. "Familiar enough to be a thorn in my side like Dusk. Kagekamuro!" With a snap of Akumaro's fingers, a red and blue Ayakashi with a giant face on the lower half of its body appeared behind him. "What can I do for you, Akumaro?" "Search for the source of this presence and report back what you find. Something tells me it has to do with those so called 'Knights of Harmony'."

"It will be done." Kagekamuro turns jumping into a dark gap between a boulder and the sandy floor.

"I suppose you know something about this, Junior." Akumaro turns to face the yokai sitting on top the boulder in his human form; a bleached blond leather punk in a death rock attire with a guitar hanging on his back.

Junior stands, jumping off the boulder and lands beside Akumaro. "Not at all. I just know two similar presences came up not long ago. From what the Dorodoros were able to tell me, the sources originated close to a town called Ponyville."

"Then I presume you've sent one of your own to look into it as well." The Ayakashi questioned while looking back out to the ocean.

"Nope. After hearing that Dusk is there, I figured I'd go." Junior changed into his actual form while holding up a tightening fist. "And destroy him myself." He lowered his fist to look out towards the ocean with his sword resting on his shoulder. "Plus... I also have another reason to head there."

Ponyville Hours Later

The school's bell rings making the end of school. Fillies and colts come out the school full of excitement. A few in a rush and the rest walking out. The CMC and Spike were part of the ones just walking out. The three fillies were just as excited as the rest of their class. Except for their dragon friend who looked to be feeling down.

"So, what do you guys say we get started on coming up with a perfect routine to win this?" Scootaloo had stopped walking to ask her friends.

"Oh, we can come up with a routine while we're at Sweet Apple Acres to check on Zero." Sweetie answered while hopping in place with excitement.

Apple Bloom smiled. "Normally, I'd say 'that's rootin' tootin' terrific.'" But then whispers. "But ain't yah forgetting somethin'?"

They all look to Spike who was too down to notice his friends had stopped as he caught up and walked past them. "Oh yeah, I forgot about that."

Flashback

Every filly and colt in the classroom cheer from excitement after hearing about the opportunity for them to be chosen as Ponyville's flag carrier for the Equestria Games. The head of the Games, an earth pony, Ms. Harshwhinny had come to make the announcement. Rainbow Dash was also there because she was going to be in charge of coaching the teams. While they we all excited and talking across the classroom to one another, Ms. Harshwhinny took notice of the one dragon in the classroom.

"You are Spike, Princess Twilight Sparkle's assistant, correct?" The class quieted down upon hearing the question being asked and all eyes looking to said dragon.

"Um..." Having all eyes on him made him a bit nervous. "Yes. That would be me."

Ms. Harshwhinny clears her throat. "Yes, well, I am sorry to say but you won't be allowed to participate." The whole class goes into an uproar having heard this.

"What?!" Rainbow lands, bringing her face close too uncomfortably close to Ms. Harshwhinny's, for her taste. "What do you mean? I didn't hear anything about this. Why can't Spike join in?" She questioned the strict pony. Scootaloo even joined in by saying, "Spike should be allowed to join." With her friends and most of her classmates speaking out in agreement with her.

She pushes the rainbow maned pony away to give herself space. "Your status as the Crystal Empire's hero will make judges side with whichever team you'd be on. To avoid upsetting the crystal pony citizens it was decided Spike would be excused from this event." "Wait! Really?" Rainbow asked surprised by this news. Spike shrugs when the CMC look to him for answers while the rest of their classmates began whispering to one another. "Yes. If not for that, he'd be welcome to join along with the other students. Now about the routines"

End of Flashback

Ms. Harshwhinny's voice fell on deaths door for Spike after that. The event sounded like a lot of fun to him that it filled him with excitement. But now he just felt down. Being the hero of the Crystal Empire sounded great, though he never thought that such a title would keep him from joining an event.

A pat on the back from Apple Bloom brings back to reality where they were now walking past the park. "Cheer up, Spike. Yah might not be able ta join us, but yah can at least look fer your siblings, right? Didn't yah say the stone glowed a few days ago?"

"I wish. Everypony helped out in searching but there was nothing. No trace of anypony anywhere." Remembering back had made him feel even more down. "I wish we could have at least found some clue on where they went."

"Sorry ta hear that." Now she felt bad for having brought it up.

Sweetie quickly changed topics. "Uh...Maybe you could practice the magic Wizard had taught you? Those could be useful at some point."

Spike rubbed his chin in thought. "That is true. It could be a chance for me to think up of other finishing moves. I could use more than one finisher besides just my Rider Kick."

"One?" Scootaloo questioned. "I thought you had two. What about that one you used on that on blue bat guy in Vanhoover?" She remembers back on their fight against Cobolta and the slash finisher Cross-Z had used to defeat him. "Those three dragons were so awesome. How could that not count as a finisher?"

"Easy. I can't remember how I did it."

The trio shouted "WHAT!?" in shocked surprise before Scootaloo took ahold of his shoulders to say, "How in Equestria did you forget something so awesome and cool when you were the one who did it?" while shaking him wildly.

Apple Bloom pushed the two apart. "What I think Scootaloo is tryn' ta say is" She turns to their now dizzy dragon friend. "You used that flashy move so well that it's a bit hard tah believe yah could just forget it so easily. What exactly happened?"

Having shook off the dizziness, he thought back to fight with Cobolta. "I don't know. When it came to using it, it was like someone just told and showed me how to use it. But then after, it was like my head was cleaned out of it." "Anything else you can remember?" Sweetie's question made him think a bit. "Well, there is something else. During that whole mess, I thought I heard some voi-."

"There you are!!" The four turn to find Misty run to them with Rose alongside her. "We have been looking everywhere for you four."

"Looking for us?" Scootaloo asked being as curious as her friends. "What for? And didn't we all just get out of the school? How come you needed to catch up to us?"

"That would be because-" "Damn it, Rainbow Dash!" The sound of a familiar voice cut off Misty. The next second Construct comes jumping out from a bush to the four's left and runs past them. He shouts, "I don't have time for this. I have many experiments to run today." and then gets tackled by said rainbow haired mare the next second. Pointing a hoof at the two, Misty continued unfazed from where she was interrupted. "They are the reason."

Rainbow pins the struggling Construct down before saying, "Not until you tell me all the secrets you're hiding."

He tired pushing himself up, only to get pressed back down. "One, is this any way to ask an acquaintance, or as you would say "friend", to talk about their life? Two, I have no obligation to tell you anything. And three, you suck at restraining unicorns." Construct teleports out of her hold and run towards town the second he appeared a few feet ahead. "Stick to flying, Rainbow Crash."

"Hey, what did I tell you about calling me that!" The group watched as the angered mare took off after him.

With a nudge from her friend to get back on track, Rose takes a step forward with her cheeks lightly blushing. "Sorry if this is a bit weird. And you can say no if you want." She looks down while crossing one front hoof over the other. "I hope you all don't mind, but my parents would like to invite you and all your families to eat and celebrate at our shop. If it helps, they said all the food will be free."

"Celebratin' what exactly?" Apple Bloom curiously questioned.

Spike grinned. "For having gotten more friends. Am I right? Getting more real friends is a rare achievement over in Canterlot." This earned him a frown from the embarrassed filly, who's blushing cheeks puffed up.

Sweetie giggled/laughed with the others before saying, "We will go for sure. But can it wait until later?"

"That's okay. My mom and dad still need to get everything ready." Rose tapped her chin in thought. "Though with all they need to make, it probably won't be ready until the sun has just about completely set."

"That's great. I almost thought we were going to need to skip out on seeing Ze-" Sweetie faked a cough to say "Zecora." over Scootaloo. A sheepish smile from their orange coated friend showed she remembered about keeping Zero secret. "To see Zecora. We haven't gone to see her in a while and thought we would go straight there."

"Oh, okay. Then we'll see you later." Misty points a hoof at them. "Try not to be late."

As the two were running off, Rose stops and turns to look back. "Also, the shop is at the train station. Don't forget." She continued running to catch up to Misty.

The group let out a sigh a relief before they all turn to Scootaloo. "What? It was an honest mistake."

"What do we do now?" Sweetie asked. "Do we go home to let our families know about the celebration?"

Spike smirked at the question. "I think you're forgetting about something." He blew out emerald fire to prove his point. The young dragon took off his backpack to bring out a notebook, ink, and quill. The trio became impressed by how fast he wrote down a quick message four times over. Once done, he burnt and sent the ashes away with his emerald fire's magic. "There, now we can go check on Zero."

With a "Yeah!" from the CMC, the group continued their way back to the farm.

Within the Cave

The glow from the Tree of Harmony began to brighten from how the pulses seemed to grow stronger. Two roots that sprouted from the tree shot straight into the ground. One root made its way towards Ponyville while the other went into the hidden chamber.

Ponyville

Up above the clouds, Rumble sighed from boredom on top the cloud he rested on. He had left in search of his older brother, Thunderlane, the moment school ended. It wasn't hard to find him. He was on duty today to clear out the clouds. Rumble wanted Thunderlane to teach him some of his moves he learned from being a Wonderbolt. The young colt watched his brother fly through clouds, breaking them apart.

"Come on, Thunderlane. I want to show you how my diving has gotten." The young colt flew off and circled around the cloud he had just been on. "Like how I used it to help save my classmates. You should have seen it. One of the most coolest things I have ever done."

Thunderlane hovered in place after he kicked a cloud to bits to turn to his brother. "Isn't Princess Twilight's brother in your class now? He's one of those Knights of Harmony if I remember right. You become friends with him yet?"

"No." Is all he said before stopping in front of his brother. "Are you done yet?"

With a smile, Thunderlane ruffled up Rumble's mane. "Cool it, little brother. That was the last cloud I had to do for my shift. So, what'd you want to show me- Hm?" Not far, he spots a fellow wonderbolt he knew too well fly towards them. "Soarin, what are you doing here? Weren't you and the others practicing for a show?" He asked not noticing his little brother's annoyed expression.

"That's why I'm here. There was an accident before we could start practicing."

While Soarin spoke, the still annoyed Rumble looked down at random things. To his surprise, he manages to spot Spike and the CMC. He watched them walking, getting close to Sweet Apple Acres. He looks back to his brother for a moment before deciding to fly down to see what they were up to, seeing as he had nothing better to do at the moment.

Scootaloo catches Spike squinting his eyes from the corner of her eye. "Something get in your eye, Spike? I know a way to get rid of it."

"No. I'm just practicing with Hunter's Gaze." He rubbed his eyes. "It's easy enough to use but keeping it up is the hard part. Using aura and controlling can be difficult."

"It's okay. Yah just need more practice. Hardly anypony can get things down perfectly in one go." Apple Bloom thought back to Wizard having used the spells. "I mean, even Wizard seemed ta have a hard time using both those spells. Maybe there's somethin' yer both missin' ta get it working."

Reaching the gate, Sweetie stops to look towards the forest. "Hey guys, what is that?" Her friends stop, move next to her to see what she's staring at.

The roots from the Tree of Harmony had reached and left past the edge of the Everfree Forest to make its way towards the group. Spike and the CMC were a bit scared from only seeing something moving under the ground head their way. They were about to run into the orchard but were too late when whatever was underground spread around in a large circle around them when it had reached them. Beneath, the root had split and spread around to make a spell circle underneath the group. The Tree of Harmony instantly transfers the magic from the hidden cavern to the circle. A bit of the magic goes into the Element of loyalty. The four could see a tiny bit of light spew out of from the ground.

"Hey, what are you guys up to?" The group turns around to find Rumble land behind them. Before they could warn him, the fives' bodies light up.

Thunderlane and Soarin missed the quick flash of light beneath them. "Sorry, little brother. We're gonna have to... Rumble?" The stallion searched around from where he stood but saw no trace of his brother. He looked to the ground but still found no one. Even the circle was gone with the ground looking intact. "Where'd he run off to?"

Western Lands

"AAAHHH!!" Spike, Rumble and the CMC screamed when they teleported above a slope. They dropped and went rolling down till they reached the bottom with the CMC rolling on top Spike and Rumble. Scootaloo receives a surprise from the Element of Loyalty landing on her head. "Ow." The young colt groaned shaking off the dizziness before looking around to see the desert area they now found themselves surrounded by.

"What the hay happened?" "I think we got teleported." He looked up annoyed at Scootaloo. "Mind getting off us?"

The CMC give both Rumble and Spike apologetic looks while moving off the two. Spike looked around to see if there was anything distinctly around to try and find out where exactly they were. But all he could see was a lot of dirt and sand, a few cactuses, hills close by, mountains a bit far off, and a passing by tumbleweed.

Scootaloo removed the Element from the top of her head. "What is this doing here?"

"More importantly," Rumble flew up to get a better look at his surroundings. "where are we? Because Ponyville is nowhere in sight."

Spike tapped his chin with his eyes focused to a mountain in the distance. "I think we're somewhere close to where the buffalos are settled at. I kinda remember that mountain from when they had accidently kidnapped me along with Applejack's apple tree."

"Oh, you mean Buffalo, right? Ah remember Applejack tellin' us about that whole mess." Apple Bloom couldn't help but giggle from what her older sister had told her about the whole events of that day. "Wish ah coulda been there that day."

Rumble lands beside the group. "How does that help us exactly?"

"Maybe they can help." Spike points to the Element of Loyalty. "If the Tree of Harmony is the one that sent us here, it must've been for a good reason. They can tell us if they have heard or seen anything strange lately. That's usually the case for Twilight and the others."

"Maybe another stone is in trouble. Like how Guardie was before." Sweetie spoke up.

Scootaloo's brightened with a smile. "This could be our chance to be heroes like our sisters." "Isn't one of us here already a hero?" She waves off Rumble who had pointed a hoof out to Spike. "I know. But think of how cool it will be to save everypony for once instead of being saved ourselves. Maybe even get our cutie marks."

Sweetie smiled imagining the praise they would receive. "That actually sounds like a good idea. Though how do we know we would really be treated like heroes? Rarity and the others could just get mad at us."

"Only one way ta find out. Let's get goin'!" "Yeah!!" The two fillies shouted in agreement with Apple Bloom and follow up with all three shouting, "THE HEROIC CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS!!"

The Crusaders dash off together in a random direction. Both boys watched them for a moment before Spike yells "The Buffalo's village is actually this way." while pointing in the opposite direction. They watched as the girls walked back and past them with embarrassed grins. Spike and Rumble looked to each other a bit concerned for what they could be in for.

Sweet Apple Acres

Two of the Apples were at work within their home. Checking in on the oven, Applejack opens to bring out a fresh batch of apple fritters. She sets both the tray and the oven mitt she used to hold it down next to a couple other of their apple treats such as their famous apple pie. Granny Smith was helping by putting the fritters, pies and others into containers. Applejack nodded to herself at their work.

"Yah think we have enough fer the party?" Applejack questioned looking over all the deserts. "We may be part of the invited guests, but it don't mean we can't bring things tah welcome them tah town ourselves."

Granny blew a raspberry at the question. "We've made plenty. If not, then so be it. Now quit yer worryin'." She rolls her eyes seeing her granddaughter moving to look to the front door for what she believed to be the fortieth time. "And quit yer worryin'. I'm sure Apple Bloom and her friends just got sidetracked with somethin'."

Applejack let out a sigh, turning back to her grandmother. "I know. It's just that the last time they went missin' for this long, they were bein' chased around somewhere in the Everfree. And with all these kaiju and other dangers poppin' up all around, it's hard not tah worry." The room filled with her chuckle. "Heck, we even have our own danger restin' soundly in... bed." Her smile began to fad when she spotted the pie tin in the sink. "Granny, how many pie tins do we have again?"

"What are yah on about now?" The elder Apple just stacked the pies, not even bothering to face towards her. "If yah mean 'how many we have in the house', bout ten last ah counted." Applejack counted up the pies with the clean tins. "Why? We missin' any?"

"No. I think I'll go check up on our guest." Watching her second oldest grandchild quickly run off, Granny just shrugged it off and continued getting the deserts ready.

Applejack knew there was nothing to be afraid of, but the stories she used to hear about what they've done to ponies didn't help much. Having reached the door, she took a deep breath to calm her nerves before placing her hoof on the knob. The fear made her gently turn the knob and slowly opened the door to peek in. She let out a soft sigh of relief upon finding the Fenrir still asleep in the same position from when she had last saw him.

Applejack turned to close the door when she heard someone say, "The pie wasn't that bad." She looked back to find Zero gone. "You Apples' are a peculiar family." Suddenly hearing him behind her caused startled her into leaping forward into the room and turning to find him where she just stood. "You get better with each generation. Or at least that pie was better than the last pie I ever ate from an Apple."

"W-Wha... When'd yah- How'd yah-" He wouldn't admit it out loud, but watching Applejack stammer amused him.

"Back in the day, we Fenrirs were known as the greatest hunters." Zero stretched out while he let out a yawn. "Moving around without being heard is a simple task for us. As for when," He walked up to the apple farmer. "it was when you left the pie." He sat on the bed as he let out a long sigh. "I'm guessing now you'll be turning me into your princesses."

She was taken aback for a moment. Even in his condition, he could had left with ease at any moment before the princesses even could had gotten a message from them if they were to send one. Which they wouldn't even if he had left. Yet here he just stood looking as if he would surrender with no resistance whatsoever. No fight whatsoever.

"No. Not at all. We brought yah here tah patch you up and keep your secret. Yah see, we of the Apple family believe in repayin' out dets. And we owe yah a large one for havin' saved our Apple Bloom and her friends."

"Oh, you mean the filly with the red mane and pink bow, right? Should've figured she was part of the Apple family based on her scent alone." Applejack raised a brow at that last part. "'Her scent'?" "Sorry. I don't mean scent in a weird way. A Femrir's sense of smell is completely different from a dog's. We can literally catch the scent of just about any creature and tell all they've been around, touched, and even felt at the time. Kind of a speciest for trying to compare the two." A grin formed at the last sentence, not seriously meaning it all.

"Hm? Oh!" The apple farmer barely registers what had been said. "Nononono!! I didn't mean like that- I mean- But you..." She sighed in defeat. "Look, I'm sorry if I offended yah in any way. We just want tah thank yah properly. Maybe even let yah stay here if yah got nowhere else tah go." This sentiment seemed to surprise Zero. He hopped off the bed to face her at equal level, do to him being a bit taller. "And we promise nothin' about yah been here will get back to the princesses. Well, at least fer me, my family and friends. Can't really speak for the rest of the town. But trust me you have our word."

He looked towards the door, walking over to it but then stops in his tracks. The Fenrir thought for a moment before suddenly facing back to Applejack.

"I may have healed physically but truthfully, I've yet to be well enough to move around for long. I was thinking of just going to rest somewhere in the Everfree. But...if you're really offering, then I suppose I'll take you up on it."

After a nod for confirmation, Zero moved past her to jump back onto the bed and lay down with his back facing towards her and the door. Applejack smiled a bit thinking there may be some doubts to the stories of the Fenrirs. Otherwise, why is he so different from the ones within the stories she's heard. Turning her back to him to leave, she stopped when she heard Zero ask a question.

"What's your name?" She looked back to him. "Just thought I should ask seeing as how I'll be a guest during my stay here."

"It's Applejack." He peeked over his shoulder to see her with a kind smile. "Nice tah make your acquaintance, Zero." Silence stood between them before hearing Granny shout from the kitchen. "Applejack, what in tarnation is takin' yah so long to check on somepony sleepin'?" "Sorry, Granny. Just making sure of somethin'." Seeing her leave, he decides to go back to resting.

Buffalo Village

Not too far from the village, Little Strongheart carried over water pouches, along with a few grown buffalo, over to a nearby river to refill them. She sets the three she carried down before taking one, opening the lid and held it down in the running water. The young buffalo hummed a tune to herself while refilling each of the pouch. She was about to start on the last pouch when she and the others heard multiple sounds someone dying of exhaustion.

"Look!" One of the buffalo called out. They pointed over to the other side of the small river. From the distance, the small silhouette of five others could be seen. Little Strongheart could not tell four of the five, but the fifth was one that everyone in her tribe knew.

"Spike." Leaping over the river, she rushed over to them with the other buffalo following behind. "What are you doing here, Spike? And are these friends of yours?"

Lifting a claw, Spike just says with a dry throat, "We would gladly tell you. But first," Scootaloo continued, sounding just as dry, "Can we get some water please."

Minutes Later

A good number of buffalo had gathered around where the village's campfire is lit. Mostly because of the amusing sight of the youngsters gulping down an impressive amount of water. Especially once they all sighed in unison once they were refreshed. Spike and his friends then explained to Chief Thunder Hooves their situation and what had led them to wind-up in the middle of the desert.

Thunder Hooves strokes his chin. "Hm... For such a thing to happen on this day... It could mean the time might have finally arrived." While the group were unsure of what he could mean, but they could tell it was something important based on all the shocked buffalo who began whispering amongst themselves.

"Ah take it we're missin' something here."

Rumble had waited to speak up after Apple Bloom. "Yeah, it would be helpful to at least know what you think this is all about."

"My apologies." Reaching into his fur, the Chief reveals a wooden amulet he worn around his neck. "Long ago, an amazing warrior protected our tribe. Stories tell of this warrior wielding magic that was said to resemble a rainbow. As well as having been able to change their shape to face off against horrible spirits that sought to destroy all good that exist in our world." The faint symbol of Kamen Rider Hibiki appeared on the amulet, though Spike and his friends had no idea of it. "Legend has it that this warrior would return to the living once a great darkness threatened our world, and his strength would be needed alongside others like him. It is said that the warrior will be awakened from where we had buried him."

Spike and Apple Bloom looked to each other. "That sounds a little like what happened with Lockjaw and Makena. This could be another Rider." "Could be. Maybe we were sent here tah wake them up." The two look back to the Chief and Little Strongheart so she could ask, "Can of you show us where the warrior was buried?"

The chief hung his head low. "Normally, I would be against any young souls going. But as a dragon, I'm sure your friends will be safe with you, Spike." He stood and had the group follow him to the edge of the village to stare towards a certain mountain that's far out in the distance. "But I feel I should still warn you. During the squabble with Appleloosa, a few of our own thought that then should had been the time to awaken the warrior. One by one, they journeyed across the land to the mountain. Days went by but none ever returned."

"Do you know what happened to them?" Sweetie asked.

The chief slowly shook his head with a sad expression. A morbid feeling had sunk into the group. This unknown cause was beginning to make Spike and the CMC second guess if they should really try going through with this on their own. The looming feeling the buffalo were giving off was not helping on encouraging them. They could always call Lockjaw and Makena but felt they should try this on their own. The tree had only sent them. There must've been a reason for this.

"What are we worried about?" Rumble drew their and the buffalos attentions. "We have already delt with many problems. Even a few really scary situations with the kaiju. We can deal with whatever is out there. Especially since we will be together."

Scootaloo gained a determined look. "That's right. That thing or somepony has only had to face a single opponent. But with us, that thing will have to deal with all five of us." She and Rumble helped bring their three friends spirits up. The buffalo also seemed to feel as spirited as them.

Sweetie added "We should hurry. It would be bad if we got back home late."

"But it sure is far out there." The orange pegasus took note when taking in the distance of the mountain once again. "We probably won't be home until tomorrow night at this point." An idea struck her that she turned to Spike. "Why don't we just ride on top of you, Spike?"

Spike was about to question her until he realized what she meant. "I actually forgot about that." He ends with bring out the Magispark.

Ponyville

Hours had passed with the sun now beginning to set over the land. Twilight, Applejack, Fluttershy and Rainbow walked through town with, making their way towards the shop. They had all run into each other along the way. Some already having been with each other. Rarity had been having a spa day with Fluttershy when she got her invite and asked if she wanted to join. Though Rarity herself had something to do first at her boutique. So, she had Fluttershy ahead of her. An upset Rainbow had gotten an invite at a bad time in her opinion. The invite had distracted her long enough for Construct to escape from her. She would've resumed the chase but then Pink had done her usual appearing out of nowhere routine and got dragged along to the shop.

"So, he's awake now?" Twilight's curiosity had lit up at the news of the Fenrir.

"Yup. Though he did go back tah sleep after our little chat. Said somethin' bout bein' healed fully on the outside but not on the inside or somethin' like that."

"That's great!" The purple unicorn teleported in paper and a feather with ink being carried next to her in her magical aura. "There's so much I want to ask him about his kind: If they have any celebrations or traditions. What their history of the land that had become Equestria was like back then. Maybe even what their diet is like."

"Woah there, Twilight. Maybe let him warm up tah us first before yah pile so many questions on the poor fella."

A blushing spread on the unicorn's face. "You're right. It would be rude to pile so many questions on him when he hardly knows us." She banished her supplies at the end.

The shy pegasus takes notice of their rainbow maned friend's current mood. "Are you alright, Rainbow Dash?"

"It's... nothing. I'm fi-"

"Ohohohoh!! I know what's wrong!" Pinkie once again popped up out of nowhere. This time being on top of Rainbow Dash. "She's still mad about how Construct kept the secret of being or knowing about the Knights of Harmony from her. Probably because she wanted to be part of the adventure." The three listened while watching Rainbow trying and failing to catch their hopping pink friend once the party pony had hopped off her. "Or maybe the real reason is- Oh, we're here!" Pinkie stops to point ahead as Rainbow tried tackling her, causing her friend to zoom by over her and crash into a bush.

The five found themselves at what used to be just the front of the train station, but it had been remodeled into some diner style shop. The front seemed to be having some final touches done to it. Its color still matched that of the station's. Four round tables had bet setup on a patio-like deck outside in front of two large/wide windows, each having four chairs and napkin holders. A deck was covered by a roof with the steps of the deck being to the left where the shop's two front doors. Above the doors was a sigh saying, 'Continental Grove' in big blue letters with a globe as the dot of the 'i'.

The great aroma of food could be smelt from the place even from where they stood. It was nothing like they've ever smelled before. Twilight and the others walk into the shop where multiple tables set up against the walls of the shop with a few others in the center of the room. The kitchen could be seen at the back counter, where two ponies in white uniforms could be seen at work cooking. Rose and Misty, wearing the same uniform, were there helping by setting up a few of the tables together in the center.

Both fillies ran over to Twilight and her friends and greeted them with a loud "Welcome!!" before bowing.

"You two must be Spike's classmates, right?"

They respond with nod. "Misty Strum." "And I'm Rosey Melody." Rose held a hoof out towards her parents. "And those are my parents. My mom, Terra Jewel and my dad, Jack Spice."

Rose's mother, Terra Jewel, is a tan coated Earth pony mare with her black mane tied back in a bun and her flank having a different colored gems as her cutie mark. She worked along her husband in prepping the ingredients for the dishes they planned to make, with one of them being a bag full of an assortment of different type of gems. Jack Spice, a cyan unicorn with a light orange mane, was setting out utensils they'd need. He set water to boil with his magic without even turning to look. His cutie mark is of cooking utensils (a spoon, pasta server, ladle and turner) crossing each other.

"It's nice to meet you two. My name is Twilight Sparkle, Spike's older sister. These are my friends." She does the same holding a hoof to her friends. "Fluttershy, Pinkie, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and...Oh, I forgot Rarity was going to run a bit late."

She and her friends watched as Terra placed down a large bowl on the counter. The group became amazed when she began to use a grater on a yellow gem, as if it were cheese, letting the shreds of yellow drop into the bowl. Terra continued until the bowl was filled. Next the mare began to peel light blue and green gems like a potato.

The amazement did not end there. Jack was good at multitasking by how he worked on three gems at once. Rolling up red gems until they molded into a wide cylinder that he then started to chop them into thin slices with a knife. Using a roller pin, the stallion flattened a large pink gem, while also removing orange gems from a deep frier.

Twilight and her friends looked to the fillies for answers, but they just smiled to each other before shouting to them "It's a secret."

Carousel Boutique

"Oh, I know!" Makena held up a random cloth. "Maybe something like what my little Zecora wears. I always thought of wanting to match with my grandchild in some way back in my original world if I had ever reached the age. Maybe styled after my Ghost form in some way."

"I'm sorry if it sounds rude but it's still a bit hard to wrap my head around Zecora being your granddaughter." Rarity spoke while sorting through different fabrics. "Not that I don't see the resemblance between you two. And I'm sure Zecora was just surprised to see- Hm... this could work." Placing down a black fabric before she looked to the sketch unsatisfied. "It could use a certain touch."

The diamond dog face palmed himself. "Is this really necessary? What purpose does this serve? And didn't say you had somewhere to be right now, Rarity?"

"It's quite alright. I just wanted to see what you'd both like. It shouldn't take more than a few minutes and then I'd still have plenty of time to get ready and be on my way." She holds up a midnight black fabric. "Also, it'd be a shame if you got left out of having a significate outfit of your own when the other Riders do. Do you have any request on what it should be, Lockjaw?"

"Look Rarity, I just don't see the point in-" The diamond dog froze in place with expressions became serious a moment after. He looks to his fellow Rider who meets his gaze, seeming to have sense the same thing.

"We have to go, Rarity."

"Go? What do you-" Turning to respond to Makena, she found the two gone.

Else Where

A few trees are cut down in an instant with a single stroke of Junior's sword. "This is where Dusk is?"

The yokai and Akumaro walk out from the shadows of the Everfree forest. Small woodland creatures nearby ran in all directions from the dangerous vibe they could feel off these beings within their forest. Though they were still a few feet within the forest, Junior could see a bit of Ponyville from in between the cracks of the trees.

"Just as sickening sweet as the rest of this blasted land." Junior spoke as the two made their way towards town. "Not much of a defense here compared to the last area. He's practically asking to be killed." The yokai scuffed. "Not that their defenses were any good."

"He could be seeking safe heaven with the Element bearers." A wicked snicker pasted Akumaro's lips. "Not that it would do them much good if they can't reach their Elements." He spun around to fire purple-ish lightning from his fingertips at the trees, setting them on fire. Junior just stood beside Akumaro to watch. Though wildfire only lasts for a second before a light blue beam hit the flames, extinguishing the fire. "What?"

The two turned back around to face the source of the beam along. Instead, they held up an arm in defense as multiple shots hitting around and at them. "Seems like such a poor reason to burn down a forest, don't you think?" Akumaro has heard many male voices in this would, but for some reason this one filled him with anger. Both kaiju find Gaim and Ghost standing a few feet in front of them. "Putting that aside, you both have outlived your welcome here. The harm you caused in your attack on Canterlot was already enough. We won't allow you anywhere into Ponyville. Either leave now or be prepared to die today Yokai and Ayakashi."

Junior laughed off the threat. "I've already defeated one of you with ease. Two makes no difference."

"So much for that." Ghost leans a bit to Gaim to whisper, "They may not have all their power but we shouldn't take them lightly."

"Then let's not hold bad." Gaim proceeds to remove the front left side of his belt that had the image of a side angle of his helmet's face on it and replaces it with a second lock section, the Genesis Core.

While Gaim brings out a transparent blue lock with a lemon in the front, Ghost opened her Driver to take out the Ghost Eyecon which makes her jacket and faceplate disappear. (Lemon Energy!) Activating the lock causes the Orange Lockseed to close and unlock. Ghost presses the side of the Eyecon, lighting it up while it made a flame sound. As she inserts the new Eyecon, Gaim places the lemon lock on the Genesis Core, alongside the Orange Lockseed, before locking both in. (Lock on!/Ippatsu Toucon! Eye! Bacchiri Minaa! Bacchiri Minaa!) Orange Arms closes up to fly up to a lemon shaped armor that comes out the zipper gate. The two armors merge together to become a completely different armor. A jacket similar to Ore's, but with crimson flame shape on the edges, flies out the Driver. (Soiya!/Toucon! Kaigan! Boost!) Unlike with the Orange Lockseed, when the knife is brought down to open the front of the locks, the lemon lock only showed the inner slice of the fruit but didn't have an image of a weapon. Gaim's armor came down onto him. Ghost became covered in flames for a moment with it being dispelled a second after to reveal the suit's color had become red with black flame patterns and the symbol on the chest now being silver. (Mix! Orange Arms! Hanamichi on stage!Jimber Lemon! Ha-Ha!/Ore ga boost! (Go!) Furuitatsu Ghost! (Fight!) Go! (Fight!) Go! (Fight!) Go! Go! (Fight!))

Gaim's arms unfolded into a cumbersome armor that resembles a jinbaori. The sides of the chest had the image of lemon slices with his symbol on the top left side. The inside of his visor was still the same. Though the back of the helmet was of Orange Arms, the color was now gray. The gold color on the helmet had changed to silver with the inner of Gaim's mouthguard being gray. The Sonic Arrow, a red bladed bow-like weapon with transparent blue on the front side, had appeared in his right hand. With the jacket placing itself on her, the new faceplate slid into place to reveal a face resembling Ore's, but the color was now red with the sides of the eyes having a flame shape.

"This is our stage now!" Both sides began dashing towards each other.

Twilight's Library

What looked like a human is actually a Yokai appearing within the living room of Twilight's home. He resembled what would pass as a mad scientist with pointed ears, big messy hair, and glasses with one regular and one black lens. This is Professor Yugami. He barely takes one step forward, the sound of a threatening growl came from above. He looked up to the second floor to find Guardie baring his fangs at the yokai.

"I almost forgot about the pet." A small group of Dorodoros appeared around the professor. "Keep the beast distracted."

Not being able to show a face of disbelief, they watched the professor leave to another random part of the house. Guardie could feel the Dorodoros fear as they turned to look back up to him while quaking where they stood. With one last growl, he pounced at the grunts. The Dorodoros scream in fear before comically bumping into each other and running in different directions with the canine hot on their tails.

Meanwhile

A mighty roar shook the sky. Spike soared through air as Majin Dragonic. The huge dragon flew normally until he began twirling while doing loops. Inside Spike's body, Scootaloo held her hoof over the alter that controls his body, even though he could do it on his own, with the rest of their friends and Little Strongheart held onto what they could along the walls for dear life.

The young buffalo stops her screaming to point out to a mountain that was coming into their sight. "That's the mountain." was all she could say before she resumed screaming for her life.

"Scootaloo, I can fly on my own. But if you keep this up, we're going to end up crashing." Spike loudly shouted over his screaming friends.

"Come on. You know how I can't fly. This is a rare chance to see what it's like to fly. Plus, what is the harm in letting me fly you?"

"You mean other than how you're making me fly like some maniac. How about the fact you aren't even paying attention to the distance between me and the grou-"

Scootaloo's next loop had ended with Cross-Z's head having slammed into the ground. His friends all screamed for a moment before they all fell onto the ceiling from the room having become upside down. A second after struggling to pull his head out, Cross-Z let out a sigh of relief as he reverted all the way back to his civilian form. The small dragon fell flat on his back while his friends layed up in a pile next to him.

"My bad." Scootaloo said as the group stood up trying to recover from the dizziness. Spike also stood up before falling back down from his head felling lightheaded all of a sudden.

"Spike!" Apple Bloom and the others quickly rushed to his side. "Are yah feelin' okay?"

He gives the young apple farmer a nod as she helped him sit up. "Yeah. Sorry about that. Just a side effect from changing into that form."

"Sounds a bit like when Rarity over uses her magic." Sweetie said while thinking back on the memory. "Maybe you will feel better if you rest a bit." "But we need to-"

Spike tries to stand. As he's falling back Little Strongheart had gotten behind to catch him. "I can carry you if you need me to, Spike." The small dragon shook.

"I'm fine." He responded with an appreciative smile.

"At least you got us here." She ends looking behind the group.

They followed her line of sight. There stood the large, tall mountain with a stone carved entrance. Though damaged, it looked to still be strong and well, one could see how time has passed for this sight. Even small spider webs could be seen around it.

"Well, seeing as we're already here, might as well continue." Spike stood up a bit wobbly for a second before he righted himself up.

He and the group journeyed through the entrance. They entered with Rumble and Scootaloo in front, Apple Bloom and Spike in the middle, and Sweetie Belle and Little Strongheart following from behind.

The young apple farmer didn't like the idea of Spike forcing himself to go but there was the small possibility of someone like Junior showing up. When he looked her way, he could tell something was bothering her. He made the guess that maybe it had to do with the state of the tunnel and the possibility that it could be dangerous. She does care a lot for her family and friends alike. When she looked his way, Spike did his best to give her a reassuring smile along with a thumbs up as a sign to say, 'everything will be okay'. She returned the smile before looking back ahead and realizing how darkened the tunnel now that they were getting further and further away from the entrance.

"By the way, Spike," Scootaloo spoke out. "we watched you practicing earlier before. You really aren't getting anywhere with that spell, are you." Spike frowned at her mention of this morning's practice. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle gave her looks that she could tell meant in a way 'Nice going.' in a sarcastic way.

"We didn't mean tah be nosey, Spike. Just wanted tah know if you were makin' any progress." The young apple farmer tried assuring him as they walked.

"It's... it's okay. I am just a bit frustrated about it." A sigh leaves his breath. "I just don't know what I am doing wrong. Unlike Hunter's Gaze, I can't get it to work the same way. Or even the way Wizard did no matter how much aura I put into it. What am I doing wrong?" While the other thought it over, Rumble decided to speak up his opinion.

"Could you maybe try it some other way? I mean, I have tried many times to copy my brother's moves, he even taught me personally, but I just couldn't do it the same way he did it." He looks back to Spike. "Then when I tried it my own way, it felt pretty easy. Almost like it was just something I already knew."

Little Strongheart nodded as the colt looked back forward. "Sometimes we must look things from a new angle in order for us to learn."

Apple Bloom added. "Yeah, Rumble may have a point. Maybe yer doing nothin' wrong. He did say something was blockin' his magic. Maybe whatever is blockin' his magic could had messed with the way he uses his aura too. If it ain't that, then maybe...maybe you have tah do it differently."

"Huh? Why would you think that?" He listened to Apple Bloom carefully, curious to what she had in mind.

"Well, I've only heard this from Sweetie Belle, so sorry if I remember this wrong. But yah know how some ponies are taught magic the same way. And then there are the few that have tah be taught a bit differently, right?" She paused to see Spike nod (which he does), making sure he was following along. "Well maybe you have tah learn or use it differently. I mean you both are Spikes but yah seem to be a bit different from each other too."

"True. Didn't you tell us that Princess Celestia was a teacher in the human world instead of a princess like here?" Sweetie spoke up from behind the two.

"Wait, what?" A puzzled Rumble asked. He looks to Scootaloo next to him who just shrugs.

Spike pondered on this thought. They all make good points. Though they are the same, Wizard seemed to have a different air about him when he compared the mage Rider to himself. Not just from having more experience, but probably because the two probably did things differently. If so, then what would mean he would need to do to make Enhancement work for himself.

"What was that?"

Hearing Scootaloo, the four look to the front where the orange pegasus filly to be freaking out, looking left to right with Rumble giving her a mixture look of concern and confusion.

"What is up with you?"

Turning to Rumble, Scootaloo held out a hoof towards where they're walking.

"How can't you see it? Tell me you can at least feel the wind from it moving."

The group just could not see what their friend sees. Just what could she be seeing. Seeing? A thought came to Spike. Shutting his eyes, he focused on the spell before opening them with Hunter's Gaze active. The small dragon hoped this would allow him to see something. To his luck it worked. An orb of light, the same as what Guardie changes into when he's being called, was flying side to side in front of his friend. It comes to a sudden stop in between Scootaloo and Rumble. Almost as if it took notice that he could now see it.

"Spike, what are yah doin'?" Apple Bloom questioned him. They watched what they could from the dark tunnel as he reached out to nothing from their point of view.

"OW!" The light used itself to swat his claw away. Inspecting his claw, Spike finds it had been scratched at by a claw. "What are you?"

"CYAAHHHH!!" Spike, Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Rumble spun around at the sound of their friends screams.

They find their two friends had been entrapped in what looks to be spider web by two humanoid kaiju. One could easily see they are of different genders based on their appearance and shape. While only the female has long black hair, both their arms and head looked like a spider with features of a tiger, and white scarfs.

"Sweetie Belle!" "Strongheart!" Spike added.

Spike put himself in front of the others while bringing out his sword and dragon Fullbottle from his backpack. (Special Tune! Hippare! Hippare!) The kaijuu turned at the sound of the sword. (Million Slash!!) A blue flame slash is launched at the kaiju and his webbed-up friends. The kaiju shoot a string of web from their mouths to a hole in the ceiling and lift themselves through it avoid the slash. But the two kaiju were never his attended targets. The slash grazed by his two friends, who get released by the flames, burning up the webs.

"Hurry and get over here!" Rumble's advice, Sweetie Belle and Little Strongheart ran over and behind their small dragon friend.

"What do we do now?" Scootaloo questioned.

The orb had flown into Spike's view. It signaled for him to keep going down the tunnel. He wasn't sure if they should trust it but saw no other options aside from fighting them. His only problem with that option was he because of the tunnel not having much room to fight and there was the possibility of their squabble causing the tunnel to collapse. "This way." is all Spike to say for his friends to follow him down the tunnel. Not having missed a beat, they all follow close behind him and each other. Both kaiju emerge from the walls and chased after them. The group ran as fast as their legs could take them while avoiding web being shot at them from behind. It didn't take long for them to reach what looked to be the end of the tunnel from the light they could see not that far ahead.

Spike looked back at the kaiju from the corner of his eye. He could see they were beginning to catch up to them. Nearing the end of opening, he thought over his options real quick and just goes with the best option that came up. He turns, sliding to a stop to face towards the kaiju with the Trigger Fullbottle in hand. (Special Tune! Hippare! Hippare! Million Slash!!) He stabbed his sword into the stone tile floor, sending a red shock wave down the tunnel. The attack causes the tunnel to begin breaking apart before collapsing on itself. The kaiju came to a halt upon seeing this and rush to retreat. This made Spike both glad for it working so well and terrified because now he runs to catch up to his friends while doing his best to not get crushed. Reaching the end of the tunnel, Spike and his friends jumped the rest of the way through while the tunnel completely caved in behind them.

"What...in the...wide world of Equestria...made you...think that was a good idea?" Rumble questioned in between breaths.

"At first, I felt it was." He paused to take a breather. "But that now that I have had time to think about it, probably not as good when I first thought of it. Hm?" He thought their landing would've been a bit rough but instead felt familiar. He looked down to find they had fell on top of a large patch of grass. "How did this grow in here?" Only the ground they stood on was visible. The rest of the floor was covered in a layer of fog.

"Maybe from the hole at the top." The group followed Scootaloo's line of sight. The entire inner of the mountain which is hollowed out with sunlight shing in from the large hole at the top. "What do you think happened heeeeeRRRREEEEEE?!"

The orange pegasus had taken a single step forward that unexpectedly didn't have a floor. She dropped passing through the fog that had covered the front of what she now could tell was a ledge. Sweetie acted fast in catching her pegasus friend by the tail with Apple Bloom and Spike holding her sides, having kept her from falling along with Scootaloo. The fog cleared, giving them full view of the only grass filled platform being the only safe spot from the huge hole. The orange filly let out a sigh of relief before saying "Thanks." while being pulled back up. She gave the three an apologetic smile when the three glared at her. "I guess I should look where I'm go- Whoa! Look down there." Confused, the three looked down before all saying "Wow!" in unison.

Rumble and Little Strongheart went over to the four curious what they could be looking at. They became just as amazed by the sight. A large slope ran down at the bottom of the drop which has dozens of long abandoned stone buildings going down the different levels until it stops at what looks to be a large park sized field of large trees. It looked to be abandoned by how the buildings had cobwebs covering them, having random cracks or broken chunks, doors either barely still hanging or completely gone, and the trees looking of having been unkept.

Rumble's whistle echoed off the walls. "That is a lot of homes. But how are trees living down there? Hm?" A thought came to mind. He flew up to look at the inner walls of the mountain. "There are mirrors up here."

"There probably others going from the top to the bottom." Spike looked down at the lower walls and spots a few. "Maybe the sun's light bounces off from them. Maybe they are even enchanted. I would see no other way those things can still reflect anything after how long it's been since anyone was last here."

"Do you think the Rider is sleeping in one of those homes?" Sweetie had asked while still being in aww.

Rumble flew down past them while shouting. "One way to find out."

"Hey! That's not fair!" Scootaloo searched around. "How can we get down there?"

"Over here." Strongheart had found stone steps by the collapsed tunnel that led to the bottom of the drop.

Scootaloo wasted no time in dashing down the steps ahead of the others. The group looked to each other before shrugging. "Guessin' we'll be searchin' together?" Sweetie Belle agreed Apple Bloom with a nod before saying,

"Yeah. I don't know why but this place feels a bit creepy."

"I used to be told stories of large beasts that hid in places like this." Little Strongheart looked around as they descended down the steps. "With all that we been hearing about the attacks on Equestria, I hope these beasts are just myth."

Spike looked at the color of the sky. "We should hurry a bit. The sun will be completely setting soon."

The four followed down until they reached the bottom. Both groups began their search by entering into a stone building to carefully look around. They were unaware of two red eyes watching them from within the shadows of the trees at the bottom. It watched Spike's group go into the building before looking to see Rumble and Scootaloo run out of one building and into the next. Both groups moved from building to building in search of any signs of the Rider. Spike, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Little Strongheart looked at two buildings at once that stood beside each other. While Scootaloo and Rumble kept going alone into buildings.

Coming out one, Rumble flinched when Scootaloo stomped the ground with her hoof out of frustration.

"Come on! That was like the twentieth one I have gone into." She turned to Rumble, when he didn't respond, to see him looking questionably at each of the buildings. "What's up with you? Found something that can lead us to the Rider?"

"No. I was just thinking maybe we're looking for the wrong thing." "What do you mean?" He points a hoof towards the other buildings within their sight. "This Rider was like a hero to the buffalo, right? Wouldn't they make their hero's burial special or something? But none of these look like they standout or seem dedication to a hero."

Taking that into mind, she could see what Rumble meant, and it was true. None of the buildings stood out over the other. They all just looked part of the rest.

"Then what should we be looking for?"

Rumble tried spotting anything that could help. He felt his brain was working overtime till his eyes landed on the only thing that could stand out. "Maybe there." He pointed a hoof down towards the trees at the bottom of the slope.

"Let's go find out." He followed Scootaloo down. "Hey, look at that."

A large shed came into their view when they could see the lower half of the trees. Though this shed stood out over the others for different reason other than being made of wood instead of stone. It wasn't worn down like the others along with having no other openings aside from three holes that are on both sides and the two bottom holes on the corners of the two front doors.

Reaching the door, Scootaloo tried to open the door, but it would not budge. "Weird." "Must be locked." She and Rumble took a few steps back. "Well, there goes that being the one. What are we missing here?" Both turned away to look back up at the buildings.

"The burial." Rumble answered her in a snarky tone. Both doors of the shed slowly open without making a noise with the two red eyes appearing from the shadow within. Scanning around leads Rumble to spotting what he finds as a weird formation on the edges of wall. "What could had done that?"

Halfway down the slope, Spike and Little Strongheart came out of building at the same time Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle came out from another. "Did you find anything on your end?"

"Not a lick. Unless we were searchin' fer large piles of sand."

Sweetie shook a lot of dirt off of herself before saying. "A whole lot of sand. What about you? Anything of use?"

"Not of the Rider. But I did look up to see if those two kaiju earlier could be found in the Magispark. Take a look at this." Strongheart stood on one side while Apple Bloom and Sweetie stood on the other to see the profile data. "They are known as Douji and Hime with many different versions of them. They guard and feed some sort of large creatures, called Makamou, until they are old enough to hunt on their own."

"I'm sure that's the name of the monsters my family has told for many generations." The group could see the fear filling Little Strongheart. "It was said many tried fighting these monsters. But no matter what they did these creatures could not be hurt by any means."

"Makes sense." He scrolled back up on the profile. "It says they're immune to physical attacks."

Sweetie seemed confused. "But if they supposed to protect some really big creature, why would they be attacking others like us in a tunnel? I don't see any big monster anywhere."

Right then it dawned on them. "Unless it's-" "SPIKE!!/HELP!!" The four were speaking in unison before they heard the screams of Scootaloo and Rumble. They rushed around the corn of the building behind them. Down the road they found their two friends at the bottom or the slope hanging on to a tree for dear life while being tugged on by large strings of web coming from within the trees, not being able to see the shed a few feet behind them. Spike's friends follow behind him as he rushes down to them. Knowing they might not make it, he reaches behind into his bag for Ryuga in his lock form, changes him and then tosses him ahead. "Ryuga, help Scootaloo and Rumble." The lock transformed into dragon mode flew ahead having heard his command.

"Cyaaahhhh!!" Scootaloo had let go of the tree not being able to hold on any long. Rumble tried taking a hold of her hoof but having done this made his grip slip and gets dragged along. The two could only struggle in vain as they're drawn in. Luckily for them, before they could be pulled in, Ryuga flew in between the web and frees them by burning through the web with his breath. Both pegasus retreat back to the road after a roar came out from within the shed. Meeting up with Spike's group, they turned to face the creature along with the others. The shed broke apart into bits to reveal the spider Makamou, Tsuchigumo. A huge spider coming close to 27 feet with features of a tiger.

"All of you run for it." "And how are you planning on dealing with something that size?" Rumble questioned Spike without either of the two looking away from the Makamou. "I... haven't thought that far yet."

With a roar, the Makamou charges at them. "No need to tell us twice." is the last thing Scootaloo said before turning and running back up road with the others. Spike handed Strongheart his backpack before she ran. Ryuga stops Tsuchigumo in its tracks by blinding the large creature from flames being shot at its eyes. Spike uses the chance to put on his Driver, changing into human state.

(Wake up! Cross-Z Dragon! Are you ready?) "Henshin!" (Wake Up Burning! Get Cross-Z Dragon! Yeah!) (Beat Closer!) "Alright ugly, how about picking on someone who can fight back." With sword in hand, Cross-Z runs up to the still blind Makamou. But he's brought to a stop when a string of web comes out from above his right and came close to hitting him. "Woah!"

He turns to where the shot came from and finds the Douji standing up on top a branch. "Oh, great. Why not just add a third." Though sarcastic, the request is answered by a swipe on the back. Cross-Z turns in time to stop the second swipe from a spider leg as the Hime's right arm. A roundhouse kicked is delivered to his left arm by the Douji, sending the Rider rolling away from where the shed once stood. "Ugh...Maybe I should put some training into fighting a bit more."

"A child." The Douji spoke sounding like a female while his left arm also became a spider leg. In a male voice, Hime says "Children. The best nourishment for our child."

"Bleee!! No way am I becoming someone's food." Both kaiju rush at him. "Maybe Trigger can help me. First need to by some time." (Hippare! Smash Hit!) Cross-Z sends his slash straight into the ground in front of him, causing a dirt cloud that stops the Douji and Hime in their tracks. (Wake Up!) He had used the chance to switch the dragon Fullbottle out with Ultraman Trigger's. (Ready? Go! Dragonic Finish! Yeah!) A Color Timer appeared on his chest but in a diamond shape along with the flame design on his protecters change completely yellow but with a curved silver line going up through the middle.

"Ha!" Cross-Z took a battle stance. Both the Douji and Hime growled before continuing the charge. Cross-Z does the same, dashing towards them. He ducks under the Douji's swing while landing a slash on left side of the kaiju. With her partner stumbling to the floor, Hime lunges a swipe at the Rider only for Cross-Z to bring her swing to a stop using his sword and then follows it up by shoving her past him. (Hippare! Hippare! Million Hit!) Hime turns before being sent flying back by Cross-Z's burning strike. Seeing Douji begin to stand, he brings out the Tiga bottle. (Special Tune! Hippare! Smash Slash!) "Hyah!" Cross-Z swings the Beat Closer creating multiple purple arrowheads in front of himself and thrusts it forward launch them all towards Douji. The kaiju is too slow in avoiding the speeding attack. (Hippare! Hippare! Hippare! Mega Slash!) First letting light and lightning building up into the weapon's blade, the Rider launched the attack in a downward slash that passed through the kaiju right down the middle. Instead of an explosion, the Douji bursts into tiny bits.

The Color Timer disappears Cross-Z's. "Doing that is really weird." Hime pounces at Cross-Z. He turns back in time to hold his sword up in defense. "Now it's just- Wha?!" A large web sting had got him from behind, wrapping up his whole upper body from below his neck. Hime had withdrawn in time to avoid being collateral. He looks back to see the sting leading to Tsuchigumo. "Hey! Let me go!" He struggles to break free from the webs that binned him. While Cross-Z struggled against Tsuchigumo tugging at him, Hime used this opportunity to begin swiping at the defenseless Rider. "Ugh!"

Apple Bloom and the others were halfway back up the slope road when they come to a sliding halt. Red light came out from cracks on the ground and walls of the buildings in front of them. Kagekamuro, along with a small army of Nanashi, came out from the cracks.

"Here I was thinking this was going to only be normal search with no effort at all. Reporting back right away to Akumaro would just be boring. Though he did only say to report back on the source's location." The five take a step back when Kagekamuro and the Nanashi took a single step forward. "He didn't say anything about not enjoying ourselves. And what better way to do that than to torture some children."

Cross-Z could see his friends in danger. Despite fighting against Tsuchigumo trying to pull him in and being struck by the Hime, Cross-Z fought to break free from the web that bound him. "Come on. Break already." The web starts to tare bit by bit. The Hime takes notice of this. She adds another layer of web on to him. The extra web now made it just about impossible for him to either move or struggle against it. "Nonono. What am I suppose to do now?" He was beginning to run out of time. Both for saving his friends and himself as he was just about to be in range of Makamou's legs. Not to mention the pain he was feeling from the Hime's relentless attacks as each hit made sparks fly off him.

'Yeah, Rumble may have a point. Maybe yer doing nothin' wrong. He did say something was blockin' his magic. Maybe whatever is blockin' his magic could had messed with the way he uses his aura too. If it ain't that, then maybe...maybe you have tah do it bit different.' Apple Bloom's words from earlier echoed through his mind. "She was right. It was not just by training or having experience. Me and Wizard are both Spike, but he's also different from me." He spoke quietly to himself. Cross-Z thought back to his training with Wizard. Then to the little amount of time he and his friends spent with him. Lastly was their team up against the Imperializer Magia. "Wait." His thoughts focused in on their usage of their swords and finishers. While Wizard's attacks were more planned and precise, he himself tried swinging his sword with as much strength as he could. Even their finishers are done the same way. As Cross-Z, he just used his strength and power to kick through the Magia. While as Wizard added another spell to his kick to pierce straight through Imperializer.

"If Apple Bloom was right, then maybe...Ugh!" Hime's strike caused him to drop his sword. "I guess it is worth a shot. I just hope this idea of mine works." (Gaburyu Breaker!) After taking the knuckle weapon into his right hand, he reached for his cell with his other and looks up a list of Fullbottles that Build has. "Here goes nothing. Transfer;"

The Hime misses the rest of what the Rider says because of Tsuchigumo roaring over him. With a blue Fullbottle appearing in hand, Cross-Z turns his back to the Hime to face Tsuchigumo. He spots Ryuga wrapped up in web behind the Makamou. Having hoped that luck would be on his side, the Rider successfully kicks the Beat Closer straight under the huge spider where it grazed by the small mechanical dragon cutting a small part of the web. (Fullbottle! Devour!) Cross-Z held the charge for a moment which causes the ground to become wavey like the surface of water. The Hime takes a leap back having felt the need to take caution. (Essence Build!) A navy blue whale sprung, shooting out of the ground turned water from right under Cross-Z, taking him up with it. Tsuchigumo lets go of the web when it almost got pulled along. Ryuga breaks free from his binds and flew up after his owner. The small mechanical dragon burnt the web off its Rider. Now freed, Cross-Z ran down the whale's back while turning his belt's crank. Reaching the blowhole, water shoots out launching him right towards his friends. He began to channel his aura toward his right arm while the finisher's dragon flew close, following behind him.

"What?" (Dragonic Finish!) Kagekamuro barely took notice of Cross-Z as he is shot down the rest of the way down by the dragon's fire breath. He lands between the Ayakashi and his friends. Cross-Z slammed his fist into the ground the moment he touched down, sending a powerful wave of blue flames forward due to the strength that had been put into it. "Gyah!" Kagekamuro and most of the Nanashi are sent flying into and through a couple stone buildings.

"Thanks for saving us, Cross-Z." "And what you just did was so awesome!" Scootaloo added after Sweetie.

Little Strongheart nodded in agreement. "Yes, that was amazing, Spike."

"I...I did it. I did it!" His friends could just about feel the excitement in Cross-Z's voice. He turned to to face them. "I was able to use Enhancement!"

"See, I told yah you could do it." Apple Bloomed smiled being able to imagine the huge grin that her friend must have under his helmet.

"That was cool and all but..." Rumble looked questionably at the ground where Cross-Z slammed his fist. There was no damage that could be seen from the powerful impact besides a crack. "Why is the place unscratched by that."

The group barely realized this. Cross-Z knows he struck the ground with all his strength. There should at least had been a small creator left behind by the Gaburyu Break having struck the ground with his strength. Something just wasn't normal about the area.

"Huh?" Scootaloo had notice a brightness coming from something glowing from inside Spike's backpack. She knew it could most like be only one thing that could be the source. "Hey, look at the Element of Loyalty."

They all look to the glowing lightning bolt shaped Element that came floating out the backpack. Though they couldn't stare for long as the ground beneath them began to shake. The steps leading back up broke apart leaving them no way to get back up. Sweetie wanted to question what was going on but before she could ask, they all began to hear a noise of what sounds like a beating heart. Orange embers began to spill out of the single crack. The crack spread as the beating sound grew. This was already alarm enough for Cross-Z to tell his friends "Get back!" before running back down the slope. Rumble flew overhead everyone. He looked back in time to see a large tower of orange fire shot out and out the hole at the top of the mountain.

"What the hay is going on?" Rumble halted when the shaking grew too much for his friends to stay balanced.

"If I had to guess," The Rider paused to grab the Element. "something really unbelievable."

To everyone's surprise, the whole area began to rise up. Rumble decided to trust his instincts on landing next to everyone due to the ground raising at a fast pace and unsure of what else could happen. They could hear loud cracks with the sounds along with the sounds of boulders hitting the ground above them. They look up in shock to see the mountain in the process of splitting into four halves from gaps forming and getting bigger as the ground lifted up. Though the outside would have shock them even more. The mountain looked like a volcano from the tower of orange flames shooting out the top while the halves were still close together. Each piece of the mountain moved farther away from each other as they made their way to four other mountains that weren't too far. Two of the mountains were regular pointed tops while the other two are a flat mountain and one that splits into two. The halves perfectly connected to the mountains as if they had meant to be there all along.

The slope and trees reached the surface at the same moment as the mountain halves reaching their points. The tower of fire had continued for a moment before lowering to become an orb that bursts into three differently timed wave of orange flames. First wave did nothing to Cross-Z, his friends, kaiju, or the trees but completely rid the land of the buildings and rocky surface until reaching the four mountain points. Second wave changed the shape of the land creating; slopes, different sized hills, and groves in the ground. The last wave widened the hole where the fire tower had been before water sprung out. The hole had become a large lake with streams going out in different directions thanks to the groves in the ground that been made. Trees rapidly sprouted out growing large, with smaller sized ones beside a few. The area had gone from a desert landscape to a large forest valley similar to the Everfree Forest but a lot more welcome looking.

"Sweet Celestia." was all the CMC could mutter out. None could believe how the area could have changed so much. They were now standing next to a large lake with grass and flowers around it. Cross-Z and the others wondered if it had ended only for the Element of Loyalty to shoot a light matching its color into the Ultraman Trigger bottle that then fires a beam of light into the middle of the lake. Within the human world, the symbol belonging to Hibiki lit up within the secret room of the temple in the Quarter Desert.

A cellphone sized item came floating out of the water. It stood there for a few seconds before a piece on the back unfolds out making it now resembling a tuning fork with an oni's face. This is Hibiki's transformation item, the Henshin Onsa. Ihe item is tapped against an invisible object, producing a special sound wave. The item hovers a bit higher before an oni face appears behind it. As if being held by a phantom, the shape of a human body is shown to be engulfed by a fiery purple aura. The other watched as the body's shape changed before it being dispelled with a wave of the body's arm, along with a "Ha!", to reveal the Rider known as Hibiki. His appearance looked exactly the same as when Decade transformed into him with the exception of the belts being different and having a buckle with his symbol. Hibiki's belt held his transformation item on the right, three silver disks on the left, and his Ongekibou on the back.

Hibiki magically stood on top of the water, stretching his arms while also cracking his neck. "NnnnnAAAAHHHHH!! IT FEELS GOOD TO BE BACK!!" The purple oni Rider shouted at the top of his lungs.

"I see." Kagekamuro and the Nanashi peeked out from behind the tree line. "So, he was the source of that presence. We must report this to Akumaro."

The Ayakashi disappeared jumping into the small gaps in the trees. "GRAAHHHH!!" Cross-Z and his friends had watched the oni Rider continue his stretches when the roar of multiple Tsuchigumo could be heard from within the trees across the lake. "GRAAAHHHHH!!" Theirs and Hibiki's attentions get drawn to the trees behind the group. Cross-Z could already tell it is the Tsuchigumo he had been fighting.

"I take it you've had a run in with that one already." The group look back to Hibiki. "Seeing as you're still a rookie, I'll take care of the other Makamou. And leave you to finish what you started with that Tsuchigumo."

"Huh? Wait a-" "GRRAAAAHHHH!!" The Makamou could be seen charging through the trees.
"I'm really starting to hate this day." Not seeing any other way, Cross-Z runs into the valley of trees to confront Tsuchigumo. "COME ON!! THIS WAY!!" The Rider called out to the huge spider before running off to his left.

Tsuchigumo takes the bait and chases after Cross-Z through the valley's forest. "We should go too." Sweetie Belle's friends agreed with her and ran after the Rider and huge spider. Hibiki had watched until they were out of sight. He chuckled to himself before turning back to the other side of the lake. Little Strongheart stop in her tracks. She didn't want to miss what was about to happen. So, she ran back to watch his battle from behind the bushes. Unholstered his weapons, Hibiki spun his Ongekibou once while slowly making his way to shore. He could hear the sounds of the Tsuchigumos' legs getting closer.

The Ongekibou are tapped against each other. "Hopefully I'm not too rusty after that long nap." Five Tsuchigumo emerge from the trees. The Rider swung his arms wide apart, sending a wide indigo ring around. Hibiki makes a mad dash towards the five Makamou.

"GRRRAAAAHHHH!!" The Makamou shot web after web towards Hibiki. Using the flames from his Ongekibou, he burnt away the webs he swatted away. Though it became more difficult as he got closer until it became too much. The Rider was eventually hit and buried in webbing. The Tsuchigumo slowly approached the webbed-up oni. They halted when something flew over the middle Makamou. Having turned their eyes to the sky, they searched but saw no sight of anything. That is until the middle Tsuchigumo is forced flat on the ground with an impact crater. They all find Hibiki standing on top the spider with green electricity flames on the top of the Ongekibou. From the looks of it, Hibiki had brought down his weapon on top its back and the force of the hit crated the impact.

He spun the Ongekibou in his left hand before resting the weapon on his shoulder. "May the hunt begin."

Everfree Forest

The Riders battle with Junior and Akumaro led them farther into the forest. They had split to face off against the two separate. Which anyone in the air could see. From the sky, one could see trees tumbling over from having been cut down while in the opposite direction small trail of explosions were being made from shots being exchanged.

The small explosions were caused by the battle between Gaim and Akumaro. The Ayakashi used his weapon to deflect energy arrows and dice up vines and branches that went at him. He created ball after ball that he kicked at the trees. The energy balls bounced from tree-to-tree as they made their way to the Rider. Gaim either avoided the attacks as he ran or used the Sonic Arrow to slash through them before drawing the bow and firing an energy arrow.

"Missed me!"

The joyful Ghost was the cause of the trees being cut down. When Junior would swing his sword at her, she would disappear, phasing into a tree and reappearing next to a random tree. "Damn, childish phantom. Fight me already!" The yokai fired red lightning from his left hand to the tress surrounding him. Dust clouds blocked his line of sight as he scanned around for the Rider. "Grrr- Ugh!" Junior had been struck from behind, sparks flew off his back.

He turned to find Ghost with a new weapon. A red blade, one sided sword with a flame shape at the tip. Aside from the weapon in her right-hand having silver on the back of the blade and having a light orange handle, what stood out the most of the weapon's design is the sunglasses above the handle. This is her forms main weapon, the (Sunglasseslasher!)

"Fighting right away wouldn't be that fun." She responded to the Yokai as she rested her sword on her shoulder.

"If you want enjoyment, then I shall-" A few shots hit Junior's left shoulder. "Ah! What?!"

Junior was a bit surprised by what he finds. He turned a bit to find another Ghost to be standing to his left. The second Ghost's Sunglasseslasher had its blade rotated the front with the shortened blade's edge facing upward and having a silver barrel on the side. "But if you really want to fight," Feeling a third presence, he turned to what would had been his right side only to be met with a fist covered in a red flame-like energy. The force of the hit pushed him back a few feet. Looking back, he finds a third Ghost as the three stood next to each other. "then we'll gladly comply." The third ends cracking her knuckles.

Junior shot lightning at the Rider. Being quick to react, the middle Ghost without a weapon creates a green rectangular energy shield to stop the attack. The other two took this chance to flip their weapons' glasses up to reveal two slots for Eyecons. After pressing the side of the Eyecons, the Ghost with her weapon in gun mode inserts the Edison Eyecon along with a green Eyecon having '03' in the center. The other Ghost inserts Beethoven alongside a red Eyecon having '01'. Both weapons start playing a jingle continuously saying (Mabushi!) until they brought the glasses back down to make it say (Daikaigan!) and play a different jingle.

"What?" Both Ghost with the Sunglasseslasher rolled out from both sides of the shield. (Omega Flash!) Ghost with the Sunglasseslasher in gun mode fires a burning arrow covered in electricity. Junior tried countering it with his lightning but the electricity on the arrow helped it in piercing through the attack that hit its mark in being shot into the ayakashi's left shoulder. The shocks from the arrow paralyzed Junior long enough for the second Ghost to run up to him. (Omega Shine!) Junior, using his sword as a shield, is hit with a slash of red and silver that drags the yokai back while making melody sounds of Beethoven's music. He still felt the force of the attack that it brought him down to one knee. Looking back, he finds the third Ghost missing.

"This is for attacking Cross-Z from behind."

He searched around for the third only to feel something against his chest. Junior look to down to find the upper half of the third Ghost phasing out through the ground with her green glowing right hand against his chest. A green beam with fire circling it blasts the yokai upward through two trunks of trees.

Not far, Gaim and Akumaro jumped out from some bushes and came to a sliding stop facing towards each other. They were standing a few feet apart in the middle of a small opening within the trees. Without taking their eyes off each other, the Rider and ayakashi began slowly circling around each other. Gaim aimed and drew his bow, holding it in place to allow the shot to charge.

"This is your last warning, Akumaro. Leave now or face your end here and now." The ayakashi laughed at the threat.

"I will admit that power of yours does about make us equal but there is one flaw to it." Akumaro's hands became the large claws as he made a mad dash towards Gaim who fires multiple shots from his weapon in response. "All you've done is get stronger." Akumaro swiftly knocked the arrows away without losing pace. Having reached the Rider, the ayakashi began to hit him with a barrage of speedy jabs. Gaim held up his arms in defense while Akumaro said "Your power means nothing if you aren't given a moment to use it. And you can only defend for so long. The one who will be meeting their end will be you. It's only a matter of time."

Gaim used his magic to send vines at Akumaro from behind. "Ha. Child's play." Keeping one claw to jab at the Rider, Akumaro turned a bit to slice the vines to bits with the other claw. "Not sure how you did that," He faced back to Gaim to resume jabbing with both claws. "but it's a futile effort. Nothing you do can help you now."

"Maybe not my Rider powers and magic. But I still have my Diamond Dog magic." The ground beneath them seemed to be being drawn to Gaim. Akumaro is surprised by this as the Rider became coated in stone. Unlike regular stone, the stone armor was only being chipped away bit by bit. "Not sure if you don't know this, but we Diamond Dogs are able to control and shape anything related to the land."

"Makes no difference." Gaim was quick to catch and hold onto Akumaro. "What?! What are you doing?"

Gaim says "Another thing we can do is increase or decrease the density of the land." while the stone coating was transferred onto Akumaro's arms.

"Ugh!" At that moment, the new weight of the stone now covering the ayakashi's claws brought them crashing down on to the floor. The force of the stone's weight was heavy enough to sink into the ground.

Not missing the chance, Gaim removes the lemon lock from the belt to place it on the Sonic Arrow. (Lock On!) He then activates the Driver's finisher by pushing the knife down once. (Soiya! Orange Squash!) Gaim drew back his weapon's bowstring's handle to begin charging the attack. He took aim towards the sky. An energy slice of orange and lemon appeared one after the other along where the Sonic Arrow was aimed towards. Gaim slid his right foot back which causes a piece of stone to come sticking out, hitting the ayakashi in the gut. The hit sent Akumaro into the air where he aligned with the shot. (Lemon Energy!) "Argh!" The shot shatters the stone from the force of the attack. Akumaro get sent flying across the air with sparks flying off him.

Gaim watched the ayakashi fall flat on his back a few feet away and stand back up after a minute. Akumaro says "You will pay for that with your life." to Gaim who retorts with "Not possible. This is my stage after all." The two resume their battle.

Meanwhile

Cross-Z ran through the now forest with Tsuchigumo not far behind. He could not believe how much the area changed. Before what just stood here was a desert land with tumble weeds and mountains. Now what stood before him was a valley filled with huge trees with large roots larger or matching his size, running rivers and streams, and flowers and other greenery. And apparently a ledge he's coming up to.

"Woah!" The Makamou's legs stabbed into the ledge, missing Cross-Z by a second as he had jumped down. He landed next to a wide river with the roots of the many huge trees spilling over. He ran downstream along the river's pebblely edge.

"How about this!" Cross-Z ran up and around a bolder. With a thrust of the Gaburyu Breaker, he smashed and sent chunks of the bolder crashing right into the Makamou's face. (GRAAHHHH!!) This just angered Tsuchigumo more. (Um....I'm sorry.) (GRRRAAAHHH!!) The chase resumed with the dragon Rider using the huge roots his advantage in slowing down the Makamou. He slid under a root to avoid Tsuchigumo's web. While the huge spider began to take multiple swipes at him, Cross-Z leaps on to a root and ran up the tree's trunk. He jumped down on to another tree's root that he used to slide down. "Why does this thing have to be so persistent."

A tree that was coming up caught his eye. Its roots were exposed from how big they were and lifted the tree up a bit. An idea popped into his head. "Transport; Octopus Fullbottle." Having ran up to the tree, Cross-Z clawed under the huge tree with Tsuchigumo reaching in for him. The roots helped in keeping the legs from reaching him while he quickly came out the other side. (Fullbottle! Devour! Essence Construct!) Slamming his weapon onto the ground, eight magenta octopus tentacles came out the ground. They reached under and around the tree, wrapping around the Makamou's front legs and neck. "GRAAHHH!!" (Sapphire Dragon! Devour! Dragonic Sonic!) Cross-Z appeared in sapphire flames under the struggling spider. He hits its jaw with multiple jabs before ending with an upper cut. The tentacles disappear the moment the upper cut hit, the force of the hit lifting the upper part of its body. Seeing the opportunity, he leaps at Tsuchigumo with aura built into his right leg and delivers a powerful kick that knocks the Makamou onto its back in the river.

"How did that line of Cross-Z goes again? Oh well, I'll just improvise." Giving up on his thought, Cross-Z ran up to the squirming spider. "You better believe" He grabs onto a leg after having built up aura into his arms and legs. "I don't feel like losing." The dragon Rider lifts up Tsuchigumo and begins slamming the spider onto the ground a few times. He ends with spinning the Makamou around and tossing it through a line of trees on the other side of the river. Getting out the river, Cross-Z sees the huge trees around the huge spider that's still recovering which lead to an idea. "Next bottle." (Tourmaline Dragon! Devour! Dragonic Burst!) Cross-Z trusts his knuckle weapon into the ground sending an orange light through the ground and towards Tsuchigumo. Before the Makamou could fully stand, orange magma flames burst out the ground doing some damage to the huge spider and causes the ground to collapse under it. The sinking ground causes the huge trees around Tsuchigumo to come falling down on top it,

"That went better than I thought." A string of web gets Cross-Z from behind. "What?! Ah!" With a tug, he fell flat on his back and was pulled into the river. Coming out the other end, the Rider finds the Hime pulling him from on top one of the trees. The kaiju began jumping tree from tree, away from the river, dragging Cross-Z along the ground. The Hime dragged him up a slope where the Rider runs into many roots, trees, bushes, and rocks. "Owowowowow!!"

Back at the Lake

"GRAAHHHH!!"

Hibiki ran past one of the Tsuchigumo's that thrust its front left leg at him. His Ongekibou ignited with green electrical flames as he came up under it. He struck two of the right front legs, causing the Makamou to lose balance and tumble over. The oni Rider spun out of the way so he'd be standing beside where it landed. With a swing of his Ongekibou, Hibiki sent the Tsuchigumo flying into one of other Tsuchigumo. Both Makamou fell into the lake. The depth showing from how the two couldn't be seen in the water.

"Wow." Little Strongheart watched in amazement. The stories she was told of the Rider was nothing compared to what she was now seeing. Once she had thought this warrior was just myth or had to be some sort of creature. But from what she now witnessing proves the stories of Hibiki to be true.

The other three shot webs at Hibiki from different angles behind him. The green electric flames changed to a blazing orange color. He counters the webs by striking at the ground, sending a thin flame wave that instantly burnt the webs to ash. Cunks of the land stuck out from the force of the attack. The Tsuchigumo used their legs to shield themselves from the flame when it came close. The two in the lake came shooting out from the water. While the left Ongekibou's flame changed to a normal flame color, the other reverted back to the green electric flame. Hibiki held the left Ongekibou to the side while he swung the right into the chunks of land, sending shards of the ground at the two Tsuchigumo. Unlike with Cross-Z, the bits of rock were actually doing damage. Some even left cuts on the huge spiders. This was probably do to the bits being coated in the green flames.

"Haaaaaa." The flame on the left Ongekibou began to take the shape of a blade. He ran up to the two. "Ha!" Both Tsuchigumo are cut down diagonally in two. The Makamou explode into tiny bits the same way the Douji did. Hibiki turned to the three Tsuchigumo a second before they recovered. He could see they're readying to fire web again. "Enough of that."

With his mouthguard opening up. Hibiki takes a deep breath before shooting out a stream of red wind-like flames mixed with purple flames matching the aura that had surrounded him before. They burn away the webs they shot as well as hitting and covering the three Tsuchigumo. "GRAAAHHHHH!!" The Makamou cried out in pain as they did what they could to put out the flames on them. They even went into the lake and put out the purple flames but did nothing to the red flames. Hibiki took another deep breath to breath fire at them again, but this time a rippling water-like blue flame came out. He aimed at the water under them. Unlike the other flames, instead of spreading around the flame built up, spreading into a bubble around the Tsuchigumo. Though the red flames were extinguished, the Makamou's movement slowed to a crawl from the fire slowing everything inside the bubble.

Hibiki holstered the Ongekibou back onto the back of the belt. "Now to bring this to an end." Yellow shining flames covered his body.

Moving even faster than before, the oni Rider ran up to a huge tree and jumped onto a branch in one leap. He worked quick in collecting as much vines as he could that he then tied together. The blue flames began to slowly die down as seconds past. He coated the vines in the green electric flames. From the tree, he leapt into the bubble. His yellow flames protected him from the effects of the blue flames. The flames were beginning to pass their legs. He moved as fast as he could to wrap the spiders' side by side, with two of them leaning against both sides of the third standing in the middle. He jumped onto the center Tsuchigumo's back as the three were freed from the blue flames. The Makamou began struggling to break free from their restraints. The green flames seemed to make this difficult for them. While trying to keep himself from being thrown off the Tsuchigumo's back, Hibiki takes the front of his buckle off while covering it in purple flames with cloudy edges. The item went from being one to multiplying into three. He placed one each onto the Makamous' backs where the item enlarged to appear to be like three large drums.

"Here we go." Unholstering the Ongekibou, he holds both up overhead. "Ongekida: Sun Style!" Hibiki struck the center drum with both Ongekibou once before following it up with striking the other two on the side when he quickly spread his arms. A sound wave spread throughout the three Makamou causing them to halt their struggling. Hibiki held up his weapons again while the yellow flames engulfed them. "Kaenrenda no Kata!" Not missing a single beat, Hibiki began striking each drum with both his Ongekibou. He kept switching between the three without slowing down. The sound waves created by each strike destroyed the Tsuchigumo from the inside, their inner joint of their exoskeleton had yellow flame spewing out of them. Hibiki kept going until the number of strikes for each drum added to 30. On the last hit, the three Makamou blew to tiny pits. The oni Rider lands onto the ground unharmed. He caught the three buckle items as they fell down to him. While the two copies reverted back to purple flames before extinguishing.

"With that done," Reattaching the item to his buckle, Hibiki looked towards where the first Tsuchigumo had hidden itself. "now to see what happened here."

Back Within the Woods

"OWOWOWOW!" Cross-Z had been dragged to the top of the slope.

The Hime jumps up to the first tree there. She pulls on the web before tossing the Rider ahead of her. "WAAHHH-OOF!" His back slams into a tree. Cross-Z manages to break free from the web thanks to it having been damaged while having been dragged. He even managed to keep ahold of the Gaburyu Breaker.

"Ouch." He rubs the back of his helmet. "How many times does my head have to get banged around. Also, where'd that- Ah!" The Hime dropped down beside him to hit him with the back of her spider leg claw. She quickly leapt back up into the tree as quick as she came down. "I'm starting to think getting hit on the head isn't as bad as hurting everywhere else."

"Dragon will not leave here alive." Cross-Z shot back onto his feet on full alert. He stood surrounded by trees all around. "Dragon and other children will be food for our child." The Rider tries to spot where the kaiju is, but the tree branches and leaves made this difficult.

The Hime came swinging by the dragon Rider, landing a kick on his shoulder. "Ugh! Ah!" While he had lost balance, the kaiju had bounced off the tree to go back towards the Rider and slashed him across his back. The kaiju continued randomly swinging and dropping down around Cross-Z. The Rider tried fighting back but he'd miss his hits by the Hime being too quick or landing a hit on him before he could swing.

Cross-Z throws a punch with the Gaburyu Breaker, but the Hime ran over it while mid swing and delivers a kick to his back. Once he recovered, the Rider kept his guard up while searching the tree for the kaiju. The Hime came dropping down her spider leg claw across Cross-Z's chest. He winced taking a step back as sparks flew off his chest. Before he could try returning the hit, the kaiju returned up to the trees. This process continued with the Rider getting kicked and smacked while swinging by and struck him a few with the spider leg. The last strike sends Cross-Z fall against one of the trees.

"Ugh... How can I get her to stand still long enough? Hm?" He looked off to the trees to his right. After a few seconds a grin spread across his face. "Alright."

Hidden behind the leaves, the Hime watched as the Rider stood up. His grip on his weapon tightened but the Rider seemed injured before running off to his right. "You will not escape, dragon." She jumped from tree to tree following after Cross-Z. Seeing him turn left around a huge tree, she decides to head him off. The Hime shoots a string of web at one of the huge tree's branches and swung around from the other side. As the fleeing Rider came into view, she dropped down on top of him. Cross-Z managed to turn to face her before getting pinned onto the ground. He grunts catching her spider leg arm from her trying to finish him. Because he was managing to hold back the leg, she tries to put her left hand on his neck to strangle the Rider but he grabbed and held her arm in place. "My child will enjoy feasting on you, dragon."She spoke as the Rider seemed to be struggling on holding her.

"You really think so?" The Hime stared down at him confused. "You haven't even noticed my weapon is gone." It was true. She barely took notice his hands had nothing. And the weapon wasn't laying around anywhere.

"Special delivery!!" (Cross Knuckle!) Rumble came swooping down, ramming the Gaburyu Breaker straight into the Hime's face as she looked up. Rumble's speed was strong enough to knock the kaiju off Cross-Z. As she stumbled back, the CMC come running out from behind the trees with Ryuga's chains in their mouths. They circled, tying up the Hime in chains that Ryuga then nails down the other ends of the chains to keep her in place. As she struggled to break free, Apple Bloom shouts "Nows yer chance, Cross-Z."

"Transport; Beat Closer!" Cross-Z called out into the MagiSpark while he stood up. The sword was stuck upside down next to the hole where the Tsuchigumo's shed used to be. With the Tiga bottle still inserted, the weapon dematerializes from there and rematerializes next to the Rider. Cross-Z pulled the hilt twice after taking ahold of the weapon. (Hippare! Hippare! Million Slash!) Holding out both his arms to his sides, he brought them back together in a circular motion crossing them in front of himself. A red energy orb formed around the sword as he had brought his arms together and then launched it with a slash when he spread out his arms once again. The attack hit its mark and explodes the Hime into bits the same way as the others had. "YES!!/YES!!" Cross-Z and his friends shouted after gathering beside him.

Their celebration is delayed when they hear "GRAHHH!!" a bit muffled in the distance. Already knowing what it could be, they rushed back to the slope. Back down the slope, across the river, they see the Tsuchigumo burst out from the hole it had be buried in. "You have to be kidding! That big old spider is still going?" Scootaloo stared down in disbelief along with the others. The Makamou was enraged by what the Rider did. "Guess burying the thing won't be enough." Rumble added just as Tsuchigumo spotted said Rider up the slope. "GRAAAHHHH!!"

"What should we do now, Cross-Z?" Apple Bloom questioned.

The Rider was wondering that exact same thing. He could try ending this battle using his Rider kick, but his body already felt drained enough that he wasn't sure if he would be able to use it in full force. Even Enhancement didn't seem like an option. Trying while the state he is in could just backfire on him. If he missed or failed to land the attack, he would be too exhausted to move. His body could also fail on him if he applied too much aura. He tried thinking of any other options. Cross-Z is brought out of his thoughts when Sweetie took notice of a glow.

"Cross-Z, look at your sword."

"Huh?" He held up his sword in front of himself. The Tiga Fullbottle was radiating a light from itself. The Gaburyu Breaker's dragon eyes lit up with energy surging through the linings as the weapon's circuitry made a noise of being reprogrammed. His visor lit up from the new data being put into his weapon. "Rumble!" Cross-Z removed the bottle from the Beat Closer before setting the sword on his back.

Understanding Cross-Z, Rumble tosses the knuckle weapon back over to him. "GRAAAHHHHH!!" Tsuchigumo charged through the river. (Ultra Set! Devour!) The weapon called out upon inserting the Fullbottle. An energy sound had been added to the crunching charge sound. Once the finished charge, it announced (Ready!) and Tsuchigumo reached the slope, Cross-Z reeled in his arms before thrusting them forward side by side in a 'V' shape. He then spread them out to the side, leaving a line that charged up energy and lightning. Apple Bloom and the others retreated behind the Rider as the Makamou came up the slope. Cross-Z reeled in his right arm with the Gaburyu Breaker with the line of light transferring into the weapon. He held his position while hovering his left hand in front of it until the last possible moment as Tsuchigumo closed in on them. (Tiga Dragonic Zeperion!) Having been thrust forward, the weapon launched an attack that was shaped like Tiga's Color Time and yellow band protectors. "GRAH!!" A shriek came out of the kaiju upon the attack's impact on its underbelly and took the Makamou along with it back down the slope. Reaching the bottom, the attack smashed the huge spider against the ground hard enough to give in as Tsuchigumo was pressed into the ground. Energy and lightning built up into the crater before exploding, destroying the Makamou that let out one last cry.

"Wahoo!/Alright!/Yes!/You did it!/Yeah!" Cross-Z and his friends shouted celebrating their win as they high fived/hoofed each other.

Someone hidden behind the trees not far behind the group spoke to themselves saying "Such a disappointing end." Highness Duke Org, Ura walked out from the shadows. "And here I thought my trip to find the source of that presence would have been worth it by getting to witness the death of some children. I suppose I'll have to give the creature one last chance to succeed in catching its prey."

Ura sent his own dark energy into the sky to cause a reaction in the negative energy around the area. This brought Cross-Z and his friends' celebration to an end when took notice of the familiar clouds building up. They watch as the black lightning shoots down where the Douji, Hime, and Tsuchigumos had been destroyed. The tiny and flakey remains had gathered into the dark aura, but a different outcome came up. Unlike before, the dark aura's dispersal had left behind two spheres. The spheres came down and shatter to reveal a fusion of the Douji and Hime with the lower half of their bodies being the whole Tsuchigumo. They had four extra spider legs sticking out of their backs and their hands being the heads of the Tsuchigumo.

"It may not be a Tartarus Fiend, but a simple creature like that should be enough to finish the young hero." Ura turns away and vanishes.

"Yah might want tah call Guardie now." "Way ahead of you on that." Cross-Z responded to Apple Bloom already having set Guardie's card into the MagiSpark. (Guardie! Fusion Standby!) He then slides the two cards. (Bakuryuu Tyrannosaurus! Kishiryu Tyramigo! Cross Fusion! Guardie! Kyoryu King!)

Back at the library, Guardie growls down at the pile of Dorodoros he stood on. He hears the sounds of things being thrown and hitting the ground from within the basement. He was about to go investigate when he felt he was being called. Guardie didn't want to leave the intruder alone but knew his friends must be in danger if they're calling for him. He changes into ball of light that flies over to Cross-Z and the others. He lands behind the group in his mecha-like form.

"I'm definitely not sitting this out." Cross-Z dials in '1-0-7' before holding up the MagiSpark. (Maagi Magi Magika!) Leaping through the spell circle that formed, he becomes giant while transforming into Majin Dragonic. "Guardie, let's combine. Maagi Jiruma Magi Jinga." (Maagi Jiruma Magi Jinga! Dragonic Gattai!) Dragonic disassembled and Guardie set up for the parts to connect before combining together. Cross-Z appears within the room of light with the prism alter that he sets the MagiSpark on to. "Awaken! Tiga-Oh Dragonic! Breaker Formation!" The last declaration has part fly off Tiga-Oh and connect to each other to form the drill arm and claw.

"It would be bad if Apple Bloom and the others got caught up in this." The Rider dials in '7-1-9' on the MagiSpark. "Then we will take this fight to the Quantum Field." (Majika Maaji Majuna!) Tiga-Oh and the two kaiju went from being in a valley to being in an area being the mix of being volcanic and having desert mountains around. Hibiki also appeared within the field. He watched from the top of a mountain that was at a far distance.

Tiga-Oh charges forward the same moment the Douji and Hime did. The mecha takes a swing at the spider with the drill but the kaiju are quick in avoiding the attack. The two had moved to both sides of Tiga-Oh where they began to assault the mecha with the spider legs on their backs. The damage wasn't much but Cross-Z did not want to take too much damage. He has Tiga-Oh swipe at the Hime who's on their right with the drill. She's quick to avoid the weapon and continue her attack. He follows up with thrusting the claw at the Douji. He leaps over the claw to land on top of the mecha and resumes hitting him from above.

"Hey, get off." Cross-Z thought of having Tiga-Oh knock the spider off using the drill. Though before he could try, the Hime snags the mecha's arm with web shot from her own mouth as well as from the mouths of the Tsuchigumo heads. "Shoot!" The Douji does the same when the Rider goes to use the claw. "Let's try Burner Formation." Before they could execute the command, the two kaiju leapt on to the side of two mountains on opposite sides of each other and spun web all around Tiga-Oh, who was in the middle of the two, until the mecha looked be in a cocoon with the exception of his head sticking out. "Master, I can't move."

The Douji and Hime bite onto the mecha by using their Tsuchigumo heads. The Douji's heads bit onto Tiga-Oh's shoulders while the Hime's bit onto the right leg. The Tsuchigumo heads began to syphon off the energy from Tiga-Oh. From within, the light of the room Cross-Z was starting to dim as the energy left the mecha. "Guardie, you have to break free." "I'm trying, master."

"Seems we can't afford to sit this one out. Ready for a good workout, Leo!" He looked to his left at the end where the orb Spike had seen. Becoming brighter, the orb flew into the Rider's hand before becoming a card similar to Guardie's. The image on the card of a lion-like monster from the Ultraman universe, Gukulushisa. Hibiki then brings out a MagiSpark that mimicked his colors and is shown to have his symbol on the inside when he flips it open. (Leo! Fusion Standby!) The cell called out having inserted the card and brings out two different lion mecha cards slide. (Groundion! Tategami Li-Oh! Cross Fusion! Leo! Gosei Buster!) Hibiki leapt into a spell circle that appeared.

A spell circle appeared way ahead from when Tiga-Oh was facing. "Huh?"

The circle began to rise, leaving behind a giant mecha looking lion. It still resembled the image of the card just a bit bulky from the armor and had more of a lion shape now. Only the blue gem on the forehead remained the same. The colors of its body had become completely black with a few other changes. A darken blue color filled parts of the legs, tail tip, back, and horns. Silver covered the paws, parts of the shoulder, face, and length of the tail. The square-ish shoulders had gold curved edge facing towards the back legs. Gold also covered the square-ish mane and inner part of tires that were on the legs. The joint that acted as the elbows of the two front legs were thick tires while the two back legs each had two tires that stuck out from the leg above the paw. On the back was a black part resembling the front passenger half of a dump truck with silver lining and blue windshields. A piece looking exactly like the chest piece of Gosei Ground is what connected the tail and body.

Inside, the oni Rider sets his MagiSpark onto Leo's crystal alter. "Let's go." With a mighty roar, the lion set its completely yellow eyes on Tiga-Oh.

"Hibiki!"

Leo lets out another roar before leaping into action. The Douji and Hime rapidly spat globs of web towards their new enemy. Leo avoided the webs with ease thanks to his lightning-fast movement. The lion ran up a mountain. Leo began to jump off volcanos and mountains avoiding the web shots as he closed the distance.

"He's fast."

"Try this!" Hibiki held his hand over the alter as Leo leapt towards them. He fires a blue laser from his mouth at the kaiju. The two retreated away from their captured captive as the laser barely grazes by the mecha. Leo cut apart the web that bound the mecha. Hibiki had the lion cut part of the webs with a swipe of his claw. Tiga-Oh was able to break free thanks to his bonds having been loosened.

"Thanks, Hibiki. Me and Guardie owe you and your friend big time." "Don't mention, rookie. What do you say to a team up?" "Yeah, I'm up for that."

Both mechas turn to face the two kaiju. "Oni!/Oni must die!" Both groups charge towards each other. Leo tackled himself into the Hime, rolling off to the side along with her. Tiga-Oh marched to face off against the Douji. The humanoid mecha's parts came off to place themselves back in their original formation.

The male kaiju leapt at them. "Not this time." Cross-Z has Tiga-Oh's legs shoot out flames to speed past web that were shot at them. As they pasted the kaiju, Tiga-Oh grabs onto one of his legs and slams the spider kaiju on to the ground with extra force thanks to the momentum of the boost. While the Douji recovers from the impart, Cross-Z has Guardie rear his arm back with flames shooting out the cannons on both arms. "How's this!" The moment the spider kaiju stood, Tiga-Oh began hitting him with a barrage of punches with the last being an upper cut to its jaw that sends the Douji flying and crashing back onto the ground a few feet ahead.

Leo and the Hime rolled side to side while the female kaiju held the lion's jaw away from her. "Oni will die here." Coming out of the roll, she held on to the back of Leo was preparing to shoot web.

"Not in this lifetime. Leo, vehicle mode." Leo roars before his head with the mane, back piece, and part connecting the tail shot off knocking the Hime to the ground. The all four paws rotated around before the legs folded and tucked in for the wheels to be supporting the body. The front paws fold onto the shoulders to reveal gun barrels. The tail removes its itself from the Gosei part. The dump truck piece places itself on to the front along with the part that had the tail connected to it acting as the bumper. Leo's tail folds into a square-ish 'U' before placing itself on the underbelly of the vehicle with the tail's pointed tips pointing outward towards the front. The change is finished when the lion face folds downward before connected to the back to complete his six-wheel dump truck look.

Leo let out another roar, driving up and ramming into the female kaiju's legs. The Hime falls on top the truck's dump bed that then slings her into the air. The Hime slammed into the side of one of the mountains. The spider kaiju caught herself before she could slide down the mountain wall. From the wall she shoots globs of web at the truck. Hibiki has Leo drive away while avoiding the webs. Once far enough, he does a U-turn. "Two can play that game. But ours have more of a kick." Leo's bumper shot a beam along with the tail's tips shooting out as missiles and the paws gun barrels firing a barrage of bullets. The Hime leaps avoiding most of the attacks. Unexpected to her, the missiles curve and hit her dead on.

"Breaker Formation./Breaker Formation." Tiga-Oh's parts rearrange back to the drill and claw. A strike from the claw breaks off the two legs on the Douji's back. He then follows with thrusting the drill into the male kaiju's chest, sending the spider sliding back a few feet. The Douji crashes into his fellow kaiju. Leo came driving up to Tiga-Oh's right. "Beast mode." He changes back into a lion as he came to a sliding stop, facing towards the kaiju.

"Ready to wrap things up, rookie?" "Yes sir!" Cross-Z unholsters the Beat Closer from his back and inserts the Tiga Fullbottle. (Special Tune! Hippare! Hippare! Hippare!) Tiga-Oh's drill spun faster as the sword called out. Hibiki built flames around himself that is then channeled into the growling Leo's mouth. He lets out a mighty roar that leaves multiple rings of fire in front of him. (Mega Slash!) Tiga-Oh launches forward with his drill covered in flames of light. Leo changed his legs into vehicle mode before the six-wheeled lion drove through the rings, flames building around him.

The Douji and Hime scrambled to stand but kept knocking each other over. "Tiga-Oh! Zeperion Breaker!" "Savage Dynamite!" Tiga-Oh pierces through the Douji while Leo did a cross slash with his claws on the Hime's chest. The lion had left behind the fire that covered his body which then is drawn into the slash. Both mecha stood with their backs turned to the kaiju that fall over and explode. The little light left from the setting sun shined of their metal bodies as they returned back from the quantum field having came down.

"CROSS-Z!!" Both mecha looked down to the CMC, Rumble and Little Strongheart. Little Strongheart must had joined the group while they were gone. Tiga-Oh and Leo knelt down to allow both Riders to come jumping out them. Once back on the ground, Cross-Z turns to Hibiki before he deactivates his transformation and removed his belt to revert back to his small dragon self. Unlike Gaim and Ghost, the oni Rider didn't seem surprised that Spike revealed his identity.

"Thanks for the help, Hibiki. I don't know what I would have done without your help." Hibiki stood unresponsive to Spike for a moment before being engulfed in the purple flame-like aura.

The whole group could see his body shape change inside the aura and figured this his way of changing back. They watched as he took a human shape at first before it changed into the shape of a minotaur, but something seemed off on the shape. The aura disappeared but the group gasped in surprise to what stood before their eyes. Hibiki was indeed a minotaur, but he also had aspects of a buffalo. His horns looked to be of an adult buffalo's, having light brown fur for his upper body and a darkened brown for the lower, he wore an orange sleeveless vest with a pocket on the left side, and his tail was puffy at the tip almost like a lion's.

"Anything to help a fellow Rider in need. Even rookies like you." He crossed his arms. "My name was originally Hibiki back in my original world. But since coming here, I've gone by Torch Drummer. A name given to me by one of the former chiefs."

"My name is Spike." Like him, his friends had tired expressions. "These are my friends Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, Rumble, and Little Strongheart."

"Not that none of this is interesting to hear but," Rumble paused as he, Spike, and the CMC fell flat on the floor with them all saying, "I'm exhausted.", in sync with him.

A giggle escaped from the smiling Torch while Little Strongheart did her best to suppress a laugh. He turned to Leo. "Mind handing the things over, pal." Light first shined from the giant lion's forehead before a bag came out and floated down to the minotaur.

"Mind handing these over to the other Riders, rookie?" Torch asked once he turned back to the others and placed the bag down in front of Spike. "I've been holding on to these since I first arrived here."

Curious, Spike and his friends took a look inside the bag. Their eyes go wide when they find a bunch of MagiSparks. One could easily see they are each meant for a different Rider. They could see had Build's, Den-O's, and Wizard's colors on them.

"Seeing as how you're searching for the other Riders, it'd make more sense for you deliver these to them for me." Sweetie Belle and her friends smiling faces became looks of disbelief to what they just heard.

"Wait. Does that mean you aren't coming back with us?"

"In time I will. But for now, I need to look into the Makamou. I used to hunt them down to keep them in check. But who knows how many have resurfaced during the time I was gone. I need to make sure their numbers stay low. So, after Leo leaves your friend here," He points a thumb to Strongheart. "I'll start my hunting journey."

"Will you really be alright on your own?" Apple Bloom nodded along with Spike's question before saying "True. What if yah got in tah any trouble you can't beat on your own?"

Torch held up his MagiSpark. "I can always get in contact with you at any time or any place. The same can be said for you. If you or any of the Riders need my help, just give me and Leo a call."

Spike and his friends smile, happy to have another ally. The possible large number of kaiju in their world was already worrying. The addition of the Makamou just made the threat much more bigger in their eyes. But now with another Rider and a second giant ally like Guardie around, they felt the plain field had been evened out. Even if just by a bit.

Twilight's Library

The basement was a wreck. It looked to be as if a tornado had passed through. But it had all been the work of Professor Yugami. He had tossed and turned everything around in search of something. The only thing he had yet to search was the machine Connor had built. He took only a single step towards the machine before he stopped to think. The Professor turned his sights on to a worktable against the wall. He goes over to the table to shove it aside and inspect the wall.

"Maybe."

Professor Yugami knocked along the wall till one spot sounded hollow. He leaves the wall a moment and comes back with a hammer. The Professor smashed a hole into the wall. He then reached in until he felt something. Taking ahold of what he felt, Yugami pulls out the capsules that had been left when Build defeated two yokai in Vanhoover. He smiles saying "Found you." before disappearing along with the items.

Everfree Forest

Two Ghosts ran up and kneed Junior and Akumaro in the chest so the two would stumble back-to-back into each other. "Urgh!/Ugh!" Both kaiju turned at the same moment to face Gaim who ran up to them. Going at them with a roundhouse kick, having a stone blade wrapped around it. "Gah!/Ah!" Sparks flew off their chest as the blade struck them. Ghost ran up beside Gaim, the two using their Sunglasseslasher and Sonic Arrow to deliver a slash to Junior and Akumaro, sending both kaiju sliding backwards across from them.

"Time to bring this to an end." Gaim declared.

Before they could use a finisher, the Riders came to a halt when a spell circle appeared in front of the two kaiju. A new enemy raised up from the circle. A two horned mechanical looking humanoid kaiju holding a large, curved sword. Most of the body was mechanical, such as one of the horns that curves upward. While small parts were a dark blue skin along with the second horn that curved downward. The kaiju just stood there with the sword resting on the right shoulder and a small red cape flaying in the wind.

"Branken?!" Ghost was surprised by the sudden arrival.

Said new enemy cracks his neck. "Normally I would leave weakling to parish, but I have some use for these two." Branken held up his sword as it charged with dark magic that covered it. Alerted, both Rider rush to activate their finishers to counter what's about to come. Gaim presses down his Driver's knife three times. (Orange Sparkling! Jimber Lemon Sparkling!) His weapons blade edges filled with yellow energy. Ghost lifted her weapons glasses while in sword mode to insert the Ore and Toucon Eyecons. (Mega Mabushi! Mega Mabu- Toucon Dai Kaigan!) "Hell Slash!"

Branken launches a powerful slash of dark magic towards the two Riders. (Mega Omega Shine!) Both Riders launch yellow and crimson red slashes to intercept the attack. The attacks collide, the two struggling to overpower the single slash. The end result is the attacks create an explosion. Gaim and Ghost's sights were clouded by the smoke and dust that covered the area. When it cleared, the Riders could see no sign of where the kaiju had disappeared to.

"Gaim, do you think..." Ghost attention is drawn to a bright flash of light that they could tell came from the borderline of the Everfree with Ponyville.

"Spike and his friends must have returned." Gaim deactivates his transformation along with his zebra ally. "As for what you are thinking that truth will have to wait. Zi-O made us swear to it after all."

A Bit Later

The celebration at Continental Grove began not long after Guardie was called. Everyone was enjoying the small 'thank you/welcome' party. Twilight talked with her five friends at their table. Dusk was over at the counter conversing with the owners. Thunderlane had seated himself with Big Mac and Granny Smith at their table.

Misty and Rose were also seated at their own table with five empty chairs. They hadn't begun to eat, wanting to wait for Spike and his friends to arrive. The two wondered what could be taking them so long. Maybe they had to fight another monster. Another guess could be they decided to skip out on the party for something they preferred more. This thought came more from their experience of Canterlot. Their worry came to an end when the shops doors opened with five voices shouting in unison.

"WE'RE HERE!!"

All eyes moved to sweaty panting group of five.

"What in tarnashin' were you five up to that left yah so out of breath?" Applejack questioned her sister.

"Ran all...the way...from the Everfree...Forest." Rumble answered between breaths.

Thunderlane zoomed over to his little brother. "What in wide world of Equestria would you all be doing there?" The worried sibling questioned.

The five made their way to and sat at the table of Rose and Misty. They all set their bags next to themselves.

From Apple Bloom to Sweetie Belle, the CMC responded saying, "Can we explain later?" "It was awesome." "But we just want to eat something right now."

"Well, it certainly sounds like you all had been through a lot." Rarity did want to press for an answer but decided against the thought. "Though I'm sure you'll feel good as new once tried this amazing dishes."

Having mentioned about the food, the five turn to look around. They could see a few enjoying the same meal while others had something different. Rarity and Fluttershy had a bowl of salad with a part of the luteus being peels of green gems. A yellow-ish-white dressing on top has bits of yellow gems mix into it. The five had to make sure they were seeing what was clear to them in plain view. Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie, Big Mac, and Thunderlane were eating bowls of what looked to be noodle (though others know it as ramen) with slices of the pink gem in a spiral shape and chopped up pieces of the orange gem. Bubbly blue drinks sat alongside plates of sandwiches that Twilight, Dusk, and Pinkie Pie had in front of them. The bubbles sparkled like gems as they rose to the top.

Each of the dishes were amazing to see but just added questions to the five. Though before they could ask, the group spot Jack emerge from the kitchen and walks over to them with a pizza hovering above him in his magic's aura. People would see it as a pepperoni pizza, but this pizza had slices of red gems instead of pepperoni. He cuts up the large pizza into slices once he placed it down.

"Enjoy!" The stallion retreats back into the kitchen.

Their mouths watered at the amazing smell of the pizza. After the trip they had, anything would be good about now. Though that didn't mean it wasn't good. The gem made them a bit unsure of the meal but with Rose and Misty's encouragement, decided to try it. Each took a slice and bite into it expecting to either hurt their teeth on the gems or feel a crunch. To their surprise the taste was so amazing the group of five scarfs down the slice in no time and quickly reached for another. Spike took notice of something once he finished his second slice. He had felt exhausted after that whole mess to the point he was thinking he'd need to sleep for a whole day. But now, it felt a bit had been restored along with some energy.

"This is really good!"

"You can say that again." Rumble agreed with Sweetie. Scootaloo held a hoof.

"Can we get another pizza?"

Apple Bloom looked to their two friends. "How did your parents do this?"

"And why does it feel like it's doing something?" Spiked also ask while still chewing. Twilight caught his attention when she cleared her throat with a face he could tell was saying 'Table manners, Spike.' He swallowed before mouthing 'Sorry' to her with a sheepish grin.

"It's something my dad came up with by watching these turtles that are in a different land. Um...What were they called again, Misty?" Rose turned to her friend who taps her chin in thought.

"I think it was Geode Tortoises."

"Yeah! That's what they were called!" She looks back to her other friends. "I can't really say how my parents do it. Dad wants to make sure his secret method isn't copied. They also don't usually make this many different ones in one day. Each of these are usually saved for certain days."

Misty continues. "That's because each do something helpful. Like the Rubyronni Pizza usually helps those who are tired out. The Polish Salad can make coats and manes shine almost like jewels." "That explains why Rarity is eating it." Sweetie inputted before Misty resumed. "Those Dr Sapphire drinks, Rose came up with the name, help with headaches or those who want to calm their heads. It's usually popular with teacher, student, or any other mind driving jobs." Spike thought to himself on how he'd have to use that on Twilight next time. "The Crown Ramen works better on ponies that move around a or work a lot."

The young dragon could already guess on what it does based on seeing who's eating the noodles. Most likely easing sores and pains from physical work. Definitely going to be his second favorite with the pizza being the first. His reason for being from the adding work of being a Rider going alongside his schoolwork and chores.

Spike began thinking back on their adventure today when the CMC and Rumble started explaining it to Misty and Rose. Which reminded him of something he was given before they were brought back. Reaching into his backpack, Spike holds Leo's card in front of himself.

Lockjaw and Makena came in not long after. Spike watched them from the corner of his eye as they went over to Dusk. The Riders seem to begin a quiet conversation with his uncle. He found it a bit strange that they talked so low as to make sure no one heard what they were saying. The moment their conversation ended, the three walked out the shop. Twilight had also been watching the whole interaction between the three. The two siblings looked to each other unsure of what to make of it. Without words, they agreed to press for answers later and just enjoy the rest of the party.

Back at the Desert

Torch was once again transformed into Hibiki. He leapt from tree through tree of the new small forest before jumping back to the ground. The Rider stood upright, looking down into the hole that Tsuchigumo burst out from.

"It's a good thing they left." He spoke to himself.

Within the hole were the skeletal remains of buffalo, griffins, and different types of ponies. "It might be pointless in the long run or even inevitable. But I feel like it's best to keep sights like these from them for the moment." With a deep breath he burns the remains with the purple fire he breath out.

"May you lost souls find peace."

Hibiki did a small bow in respect to the lives that were lost. The light of the flame could be seen even from the outside of the forest. Not just from the one, but the light of flames could be seen at the other holes the Tsuchigumo had come from.

To Be Continued