Center stage, Malideus!

It's mid-day, and I'm still sitting on my throne, waiting for something to happen. Not an hour ago, I sent two devils named Slizt and Illkurok to file a request with Kelias to make me a mech worthy of the name, and they have yet to return, leaving me with my thoughts and Mizzy. Granted, she is decent enough company, I just hate waiting for something interesting to happen. But still, I wait, because patience is rewarded... or so I hear.

"Gee... sure is boring around here..." I hear Kherrie say, yawning as she sits next to me, and I don't even bother asking what she's doing here. But, I do reply:

"My girl, this peace is what all true warriors strive for." I respond sleepily, and Kherrie just looks ahead, takes a breath, and responds.

"I just wonder what Celestia's up to..." Kherrie says, and my mind suddenly drifts off, pondering the very some thought as Kherrie...

Meanwhile, in Canterlot, from our favorite angry marine's perspective... I speak of Nathan, you know.

Celestia paced about before a group of guards and a civilian pony, dressed in rather flamboyant clothing and a bored expression, as I watched by the throne, her face calm, but her eyes blazing with in internal fury like I'd never seen. From where I stood, I feared that Celestia would've vaporized everyone in the room, but she didn't, and instead of speaking in a way that betrayed her anger, she spoke softly, and to the guards, reciting the briefing they had just recently gave her.

" ...So... you're telling me that it's gone?" Celestia asks, gazing at the floor angrily as she paced back and forth like a stalking wolf, made even more intimidating in the new armor she donned (which I made, by the way. Go me!), which bore the likeness of none other than my favorite boss in the first game I could think of at the moment, Dragonslayer Ornstein. But after only a moment of waiting, a guard spoke up, slight fear in his tone.

"Um... well... Yes. We tried to stop it, but..." The guard trailed off, and Celestia snapped around to face him, expression full of anger and eyes burning with the desire to destroy, and cut in.

"But what? Were you all scared of TWO DEVILS and a SLUG!? Have you all finally lost your ever-loving minds!? What about them could have possibly been SOOO terrifying, that when given the option, you all just stood there and let them escape?" Celestia snapped, causing the guards to cringe, but the civilian stood stoic, undaunted by the princess's wrath.

"W-well, that's just it, ma'am... he... the suit... the leech was..." The cowed guard stammered, when the civilian finally intervened, raising his hand, and finishing the guard's sentence for him;

"The guard you've just caused to soil himself means to say that the suit I made, thanks to YOUR carelessness, Celestia, was not taken out; it simply walked out, which is exactly what happens when you place such, no offence, low-quality security on a bio-armor designed to perfectly mimic the abilities of a DARK GOD." the flamboyantly-dressed pony says, pushing their glasses further up onto their face. Meanwhile, the guards all back away from the pony as Celestia turns to him, not happy in the slightest with his 'opinion'.

"Dr. Radiant Heind..." Celestia begins, but the gender-unspecific Dr. stops her, correcting Celestia mid-sentence.

"Excuse, I believe we've been over this: it's Dr. Sane, if you please." The Dr. says, and Celestia glares at them, but continues after a moment's pause.

"I didn't ask for your new identity, Heind. I want to remind you very clearly that the terms of your freedom were a perfect weapon, the means to use it, and you undying cooperation in the capture of Malideus. Instead, you got the first part done, and somehow failed to meet the requirements for term number two! How am I supposed to cooperate with you, Doctor, when you keep giving me nothing to work with?" Celestia asks, and Dr. Heind looks at her quizzically, then replies.

"Well, under normal circumstances, princess, I simply couldn't give a damn about your agenda. But that suit was my legacy, and the world's most notorious villain just up and swiped it from right under YOUR nose, leaving ME with no weapon, no way to build another one, and one angry princess on my ass." Dr. Sane comments, sighing, and he then continues, despite Celestia death glare.

"You see where I'm going with this, princess. Malideus, that asshole that almost destroyed us as a species, just took a suit designed to mimic a god, and has every reason to use it. But even so, Celestia, I'm not angry. In fact, I'm happy about this whole ordeal; it means that we've finally found a leader more competent than you." Dr. Sane finally finishes ranting, leaving every guard in the room, including me, looking shocked out of their minds, and the Princess looking like she had been slapped in the face. Hard.

"... Give me... one good reason, doctor Radiant Heind... that I shouldn't just destroy you where you stand?" Celestia puffed, veins popping in her head from all her sudden, new-found anger. But Dr. Heind just smiled a cocky grin, and happily replied:

"Because, as Malideus would say: 'You don't have the balls, princess'. You can huff and puff all you want, princess, but the only move you'll make is to turn me back into a lawn ornament. Now, if this pointless meeting is done, I'm leaving." Heind says, and Celestia stomps her hoof in an attempt to stop him, and calls out to the exiting doctor:

"Where do you think YOU'RE going, Heind!?" Celestia asks loudly, but Dr. Sane makes no reaction, save a single reply:

"To find my KN-D3-N suit that YOU lost, Princess. Now if you'll excuse me..." Dr. Heind says, and without another word, he/she walks out of the throne room, leaving a very, very stunned and pissed-looking Celestia behind.

"... You all are dismissed. I... have some thinking to do." Celestia says quietly, and the other guards leave without another word. But as I try to leave, Celestia stops me, a look of concern on her face. "Not you, Nathan. I need something from you specifically." Celestia says, and I turn, and reply nervously.

"Um... yeah..?" I reply quickly, not quite enthusiastic for whatever Celestia had in store for me.

"Nathan, I have one task for you, and you're the only one I can trust with it." Celestia says, and, though uncertain, I reply.

"What would you require of me, Princess?" I ask, and Celestia looks back to me, and replies.

"I need you to finish this, once and for all. You alone must find Malideus, and destroy him. You are the only one he fears, and the only one he has had any difficulty with. Find him... and destroy him. Do this, and this can all end, and we can return to our better, older lives. Can you do this?" She asks, and, honestly, I don't want to. I've been thinking, and I wonder if Malideus is right: These ponies really DON'T know how to protect themselves properly. Only a few months I've been here, and I've seen no miracles in our favor. What if this is all for nothing? I certainly feel that way sometimes...

...No, this isn't the way I should be thinking. I arrived here for the sole purpose of protecting these ponies from Malideus, and I'm going to do just that. So, my resolve strengthened, I bow my head and reply:

"It will be done, your highness." I say, though my tone comes out a little grim. Still, Celestia seems pleased with this, and without further ado, I exit the room and set out to begin my trek as Celestia went to her guards to discuss the capture of Dr. Sano's robot suit.

But still, as I walk, I have to wonder for myself at least one thing; How easy is it going to be to defeat Malideus? No one else could do it, so what chance do I have?

... Well, I suppose that's not for me to think about, is it? I said I'd do it, that I'd finally defeat Malideus, and I will do just that... or die trying.

And back to Malideus

I find my self drifting back into reality soon enough, not knowing what exactly I was thinking about to begin with, when suddenly, I hear a faint sound, like the wooshing of air, and I think that it's Mizzy returning from her visit with her Uncle Bolas (something about him needing help with a few pesky Planeswalkers), but I seem to be mistaken, because as soon as I hear it, Kherrie perks up, and starts glaring around the room.

"...Hey Mal... did you hear something?" Kherrie asks, but I feel like taking a nap, due to the quiet of today, so I answer quickly and tiredly.

"Nah, you're just hearing things. Now, let me sleep, will ya? I gotta wait... *yawn*... for that mech..." I drift off, and I finally pass out, too tired for no reason. But instead of my usual dream, which involves putting Celestia's head on a spike made from one of Ragnek's teeth, I dream about something... different. Indeed, I seem to have appeared in a strange place, like Canterlot castle, but with a lot more paintings, expensive-looking pillows and furniture, and gold coins piled into corners. So... I'm in a Jewish genie's lamp, now? Before I can ask that out loud, though, I hear a deep, rumbling voice call out from the far side of the room.

"Ah, Malideus. The rumors of your exploits do you no justice, it seems. I'd ask you to take a seat, but... well, seems that there's no point there." The voice says, and I look over to the source, and immediately panic/freak out, for the massive thing at the other end of the room was none other than some kind of giant, muscle-bound monstrosity with even bigger muscles than Kragda-Maul, clad in golden armored leggings, donning a great, extravagant red cape, and had a tapered, reptilian head, but with long, flowing tendrils all down the back of the head and neck, and freakin' claws that had to be two feet long each. And yet, despite my understandable jump, he just sat there, giving me the same uncaring look the whole time with his red, pupil-less eyes while casually holding a glass of what I assume is wine. Finally, after I calmed down, he took a moment, then spoke.

"... Are you quite finished messing up my couch? Or shall I wait for another panic attack?" the monster asks, and I take some offense.

"Hey, you pulled me here, wherever 'here' is, without so much as a letter first. Now who are you, and what do you want?" I ask quickly, and the beast smiles slightly, sets his glass down on a coffee table next to his seat, and replies.

"Well, aren't we hasty today. Well, before you leaped three feet into the air, I was going to explain that. I... am Gaian-Surr, one of the wealthiest and most influential of Old gods... mayhap you've heard of me?" The giant sliver-looking thing asks, and ponder, but have to say no.

"Umm... No. Never heard of you." I reply simply, and Gaian-Surr's smug grin quickly fades, but his attitude seems unaffected.

"Hmm... Disappointing, but I cannot say I'm surprised: Your friend Kherrie seems to be lacking in giving you information about others of our kind, despite you previously assigning her that task." Gaian-Surr says, his knowing and slightly sinister smile returning. But wait, back up, how did he know I assigned Kherrie with questioning Old gods? Seeing no reason not to, I try that question, seeing nothing else to say to this Gaian-Surr guy.

"Uh... How could you know I was the one who sent Kherrie?" I ask, causing Gaian-Surr to chuckle, and then respond with straightforward demeanor:

"Simple, boy... she's been parading around the pantheon for a day now, demanding that we tell her our agendas, and claiming this invasion of privacy to be on YOUR orders." Gaian-Surr snidely answers, and I feel a sweat break out under my helmet, despite this being a vision, or something. Still, using MY name!? I told her to be quiet about it!

"So, is that what your here for, then? To extort an apology or something from me?" I ask, Causing Gaian-Surr to rub his chin thoughtfully for a moment, but it's not long before a response comes from him.

"Extort... good choice of word, my boy, one of my favorites. But unfortunately, No. Actually, I'd sooner commemorate you for such a gutsy move on your part. See, I've been monitoring you recently, boy, and needless to say, you'e somehow managed to catch my interest in the short time I've known you." Gaian-Surr explains, and then he picks his half-full wine glass back up, taking a sip, and then he sets the glass down, and continues.

"Yes, quite an intriguing product... So much potential for profit, or cost, and just as likely to fly in either direction. See, boy, I came here not just to congratulate on terrifying half the pantheon through that ballsy move with Kherrie alone, I came to strike a, how do you say it nowadays, 'mutually profitable arrangement' between yourself and I, if you'd be willing to hear it." Gaian-Surr says, buttering me up with his words, and I admit, it's working. Plus, I hear the words 'mutually profitable' in that sentence; how can I resist listening?

"Go on..." I say, interested in this Old god's offer.

"Well, as with all business, you are a product. A dangerous, volatile, and extremely unpredictable product, but a very potentially profitable one, depending on your goals. And luckily for you, my goals just so happen to coincide with yours. We are, in a sense, the same, you and I. You want to burn the Pony civilization to the ground; I want to SEE it burnt to the ground. You want Ragnek dead for good; I, too, want to see Ragnek dead. Both of us, whether you know it or not, have very similar orgins, and very, very similar agendas. And with such potential for gain, what kind of fool WOULDN'T want to take a risk to see this potential market blossom? Do you understand my meaning?" Gaian-Surr asks, and I think on it for a second, but soon get an idea through all the talk of profit and honeyed words.

"You... want to invest in me..?" I ask, and Gaian-Surr claps once, a full-blown smile stretched across his face.

"Yes! Very astute, boy. As a matter of fact, I was insinuating just that." The businesslike Old god says, but before he can continue, I press a question of my own:

"Okay, but what exactly do you intend to invest in through me? What do I have to offer you, if you crave material stuff?" I ask, not letting the notes of my surroundings go to waste; this guy, he likes stuff, and expensive, fragile stuff at that. I, however, like to break that kind of stuff. So just what, I ask, is this guy's angle? As I ask this, Gaian-Surr seems taken aback for a moment, but soon regains his composure, and proceeds to answer my question.

"You have much to offer me, Malideus, you are simply too short-sighted to see it: See, I'm not simply investing in a weapon with only a narrow scale of effect... I am investing in the future! See, with the ponies gone, thanks to you, a new race will move in, and likely pledge their allegiance to the conqueror himself, that being you, and his patron deity, that being me. So in the end, I get my investment back in double, and you get, well, whatever it is you want. The loot, the women, the satisfaction, it's all yours to take... And all you have to do is blow up one little city. That's it." Gaian-Surr says, and he then extends his clawed, ring-adorned hand, expecting me to shake it.

"So, Malideus... do we have a deal?" He finally asks, and I was, for a second, convinced there and then that this guy was Satan. But what he was saying made sense: If I took this deal, I'd have the power of a real god (no offence, Kherrie) on my side, and all I'd have to do to pay him back was topple an entire civilization. So what else could I say? No? This was an offer a guy only gets on a day where all the good luck he's ever gathered is put into one moment, and then some. But still, I had a reputation to uphold, and I didn't intend on making any more deals with any more Old gods, seeing as they were naturally a deceptive bunch. But even so, I didn't want to make enemies with this one. Hmm... join, don't join... Join, don't join... Ah, fuck it. Why not?

"Well... Fine. But I'm not making a deal, here, just acknowledging a mutual benefit." I say, shaking the massive Old god's clawed hand. Then, Gaian-Surr smiled wider, and we shook on it.

"My boy... I'd have it no other way. As I said, it's an investment; an idea, nothing more." Gaian-Surr says, and I feel like getting up, but as I do, Gaian-Surr stops me, having one last thing to say. "Ah, and before I forget, Malideus... This came in my mail for you. I honestly don't know what it is, but the fact that it's sent from a mister 'Nicol Bolas' tells me that it may be important." Gaian-Surr finishes, and he hands to me a letter of sorts, neatly folded into a square. And without another word, I awake in my chair, and Kerrie is right in my face.

"Yo... Mal... you okay? You went stiff for a second there." Kherrie says, and I nod, but quickly groan and clutch my head, feeling a headache coming on... when I see a piece of paper in my hand.

"... Ah, shit." I manage, before Kherrie gets up again, and starts acting worried.

"Mal! What's wrong!? Is it Luna? Ragnek's ghost? Is Khorne sending those death threats again?" Kherrie asks, and I get up from my seat, and answer as best I can.

"No, It's not Luna, it's not Ragnek, and it's not... wait, what was that about death threats?" I ask, and Kherrie covers her mouth, a shocked expression on her face.

"Oop! I wasn't supposed to let you know about that!" Kherrie says, and I quickly become annoyed of this little game, and I decide to end it before it really takes off.

"Kherrie... what was that about death threats?" I ask sternly, and Kherrie seems pensive for a moment, but answers anyway, seeing as her short attention span prevents her from keeping a secret for long.

"Uh, well, see... Khorne has recently taken to sending cosmic death threats written in blood and inscribed on patches of human skin... we've been hiding them in the magma chamber since they started arriving." Kherrie says, and I groan in annoyance at the withholding of knowledge, but I'm not mad at her; I'm sure Mizzy had something to do with this.

"Okay, how recently have they been arriving?" I ask, not sure how I feel about this situation.

"Um... since three days ago..?" She meekly says, but a sharp glare from me quickly convinces her to tell the truth.

"Kherrie..." I growl, and Kherrie begins to break out in a sweat. Then, finally, she cracks.

"Okay, okay, they started arriving three months ago!" Kherrie cries, and I feel my heart drop like an atom bomb at the thought of all those very real death threats, from none other than Khorne himself, that I've 'ignored' for three months. In a word:

"Fuck me..." I mutter, and Kherrie perks up, her sadness seemingly vanished into thin air.

"Really!?" Kherrie asks, earning her a pop on the head from me for being an idiot.

"No!" I shout, and I look toward the magma chamber with a renewed sense of dread.

"Ow... I was only kidding..." Kherrie whines, holding her injured cranium. But I continue to ignore the blubbering Old god, and I turn my attention to the magma chamber, and I begin to start sweating again. Well, I might as well see how bad it is, right? Well, let's just say, that as I walk in there... the pile, or MOUNTAIN, I should say, towered over me like death itself. Shaking, I pick up one of the bone-dry skin-letters, and read it in my head, the whole time hearing Khorne's growling, booming voice speak the words in my head as I read them:

"Dear Malideus,

I can imagine your horror at the number of letters, surely numbering in the hundreds, you have received over the course of the last two weeks, and I am dreadfully sorry: The other fifteen thousand got lost in the mail due to a faulty send address. A pity, considering all that anthrax will be going to waste on some lousy earth politicians. But fear not, you back-stabbing, letter avoiding nutsack, I assure that there are plenty more on the way, all laced with some other horrible, debilitating disease, and maybe pictures of me doing your mom to boot. As stated in my previous letters, do try and write back, as I would love to read your pleas and cries of horror and sorrow in the near future.

Yours truly, Khorne.

P.S: I really am fucking your mom."

I tremble as I put the letter made of human flesh down, and I manage to stumble outside of the chamber before I nearly collapse, saved only by Kherrie. Oh, Bolas... what have I done to deserve this... And now I need to wash my hands...

"Kherrie... I can't see straight from all the blood leaving my face and brain. Can you read me the letter from Nicol Bolas?" I manage to sputter out, and Kherrie nods, opening the letter I left on the chair. With any luck, it's a promise that I won't be receiving any more skin letters...

"... Um... it says... Ah! It says that Nicol Bolas wants you to attend a rematch so Khorne can stop complaining about the loss of his beloved cereal brand!" Kherrie says, and I come Thiiiiiis close to passing out right there. A... a rematch... of poker... versus KHORNE!?

"K-Kherrie... I don't feel good..." I sputter, and Kherrie catches me and sets me on the chair.

"Oh, don't worry, boss; we already checked the letters for those diseases he promised! They're all clean!" Kherrie assures me, but that's not what I'm worried about. If anything, slow horrible death would be a far better alternative; at least the death part is guaranteed.

"I-it's not the threats, Kherrie... W-when did Bolas say Khorne wants the rematch..?" I shakily ask, and Kherrie looks at the letter again, and reports back soon after looking the parchment over once again:

"He says he expects you to show up within four of this planet's days, or he's coming over here to drag you to the match." Kherrie repeats, and I try to pass out, but the surge of fear-induced adrenaline has cursed me to a horrible state of a seemingly eternal type of half-life: I can't fall sleep, I can't stay awake, and I'm too tired to kill myself before Khorne gets the honors.

"Um... D-don't fret, Mal! I'm sure all the scary blood god wants is a nice, friendly competition between you and him, maybe some other friends! Come on, it'll be fun!" Kherrie assures me, and I can't find the strength to argue with her. Then, in a miraculous break from the monotony of my deathbed revelation, I hear someone come up the cave ramp, but Kherrie gets up to answer it first, leaving me to stew in this horrible half-life between tired, awake, and want to die. Suddenly, to my joy, two familiar devils come into the cave, both with sheets of paper in their possession.

"Ah, thank god you two are here. What news do you two have?" I ask, and Slizt and Illkurok look at eachother nervously, and at last, reply.

"Uh... yeah... Well, the robot you wanted is nearly finished, but... it's... uh..." Illkurok stammers, and as if tired of his partner's incompetence, Slizt steps up, and finishes for him.

"The mech you wanted isn't going to be as... giant, per say, as you ordered. We simply didn't have the parts or the time to make it like you wanted." Slizt says, and I quietly groan in annoyance. Of course, more bad news.

"Ugh... well, is it at least going to get me past the walls and all the guards?" I ask, not really caring how big the thing was anymore.

"Oh, without a doubt, sir!" Illkurok replies, and Slizt nods in response, and begins speaking.

"Indeed. In fact, Kelias has personally told us to ask you to oversee the final developments of the armor, hence why we are here." Slizt says, and though confused at his choice of the word 'armor', I still get up with a spring in my step, eager to see the new machine of death Kelias has made for me.

"Kherrie, stay here and burn those death threats. I'll be back soon." I say, and Kherrie snaps a quick salute, and walks off to do her job. Then I, myself, walk toward Malideopolis with Slizt and Illkurok to see just what Kelias has made for me.

Meanwhile, from our friend Kanden's point of veiw...

It had been only a few hours since I walked out of that castle and found that wanted poster of Malideus. Now, I was still in the city, but hopefully close to a gate or something, any way to get out of this place was enough for me. But as luck would have it, I was lost in this horrible, pristine city. On top of that, the local law enforcement was likely after me on account that I made of with one of their secret weapons. So, even though nothing was happening right now, I could only assume that some action would come soon. So, with my awareness on overdrive, I continued walking through the empty city, with doors locking and window shades closing everywhere I turned. Clearly, these people were afraid of me, and honestly, why shouldn't they be? I'm pretty much a monster. Anyway, my search for the exit went unhindered for a good, long hour, and after passing by a closed-up cafe by an intersection I couldn't read from where I was, I began to ponder something I never thought I'd ask myself in my life, seeing as there were no cops, no people, and no resistance in general; Where the hell was everybody?

"Two hours, and not a single guard, soldier, or knight... Where the heck is the security in this place? Did Malideus kill them all, or something? I ask myself, and I turn to see if anyone was outside at this time. But sure enough, I could see no one as I stood and looked... that is, until I heard a voice behind me, yelling out to get my attention.

"Hey, you! Stop right there!" I heard the voice cry, and with great surprise, I turned around as quickly as I could, my weapons ready, and I finally faced my opponent. And as I turned, I saw that this one was going to be one hell of a fight, from what I could gather: There, standing right behind me, was a giant, golden suit of armor, with pauldrons bigger than my whole torso, and spikes all in rows along the shoulders, chest, and legs, giving him the appearance of a big, absolutely OP knight. Then, as I finished sizing the behemoth up, it spoke again, finally having my attention.

"What are you? Explain yourself, now! Or I will use force, if need be!" The colossal pile of armor thundered, and I couldn't find it in myself to respond, as I had nothing to really say... Well, except for one thing, actually:

"Well, it's about time they sent someone after me." I reply, seeming to confuse the massive, golden knight, and as he ponders my reaction, I continue to speak, hoping to glean some answers from this walking scrap heap.
"So, let me guess, you're here to bring me back to that lab, aren't you? Well, I hope you're ready to get hurt first, because whatever is going on in there, I'm not having any more of it." I say, aiming my gauntlet at the knight, who only looks confusedly at me for a second, and finally replies, his tone indicating that he had no idea of what I was talking about.

"What? Lab? What are you... wait..." The knight trailed off, realization finally dawning on him and hitting him like a punch to the gut, as I could tell from his reactions, and after a single moment of eerie silence, the knight spoke again, pointing his axe at me threateningly.
"Wait, You're that suit, aren't you? The one Dr. Sano made! You broke out of the castle, and knocked out Twilight, didn't you?" The knight asked me, and finally, a dawning hit me as well, as I suddenly realized that they all knew I was out, and this big shiny mofo was what they sent to bring me back. And another thing, this 'Dr. Sano'... he said that he made the suit that I'm in... in the same lab I woke up in... alright, that's it. Time for some answers. So glaring at the massive hunk of armor before me, I raise my gauntlet again, and ask some questions of my own.

"I assure you, I didn't knock out anybody... but while we're on this topic, I think you might know some things I want. Question is, you gonna tell me the easy way, or do I have to beat the info out of you like a piñata?" I ask, readying my awesome laser fist for battle, as the golden warrior readies his own weapon likewise, and replies with an answer that I definately had mixed feelings about.

"You think I'm going to tell you anything, you dumb robot? You may have the powers of a dark god, but you can't beat the power of light! You guys never have, and you never will, not even you!" The hero monologues, and I quickly get bored of this one with relative ease. God, this guy just loves to hear his own voice, doesn't he? How old IS he, twelve? Despite this, I feel accomplished over at least one thing he said; Apparently, I have the powers of a dark god. That's a really, really amusing and helpful start, but it still leaves a lot of questions left unanswered, none of which he looks like he'll give up as easily as that. Well, I guess that there's only one way to make him say what I want to hear, at this point.

"Hmph, you sure like hearing your own skull rattle, don't you? Well, I tried being nice. Now, it looks like I just have to kick you until you spill your guts." I say, readying my stance, and the hero readies his own, assaulting my hearing once more with his annoying, overly-optimistic dialogue.

"That's not happening, robot. Get ready to lose an arm, you hunk o' junk, 'cause I'm not going easy on you!" The annoying hero says, and without another word, I lunge at the babbling knight, who then lunges at me, beginning the fight.

As I reach the climax of my leap, the warrior brings his axe down on me, trying to smash me into the ground. However, I quickly see this attack, and turn my body to avoid the swing (albeit barely), and I land on my feet, pointing my gun at the suit of armor. Finally, as the knight gets up, I let loose a charged blast from my weapon, which impacts the golden warrior, and sends him spiraling away from me, and into the street with a loud 'boom'. Then, continuing my aggression, I run at the knight again, and put my arms out to grab his breastplate, only to get punched in the suit's gut by both of the knight's fists, effectively sending me flying into the air, and landing next to the café I passed earlier. I get up easily enough, groaning as I dust off the debris from my surprising unscratched armor, but I soon find myself looking up as a loud battle-cry sounds off, and I see the massive knight charging me, head up and arms out, as if hoping to trample me. But I'm not stupid, and I clearly wasn't born yesterday, so without another word, I leap into the air, going up a little higher than I thought I would, and sail over the charging behemoth, landing right behind him. Then, while he tries to stop, I take the opportunity to grab the guy's armor by the spikes, effectively halting him, and I use my full strength to spin him around me, going faster and faster as I did, and after a few seconds of spinning, I finally let go, and throw the metal goof into another building, whereupon he flies through the wall, and lands in a pile of bricks, almost comically.

However, it doesn't take long be fore he tries to get back up, and before I could run at him again, I hear the clopping of hooves on the street, and realize all-too-late that the fuzz has finally caught up with me, likely on account of this big, destructive fight. But I ignore it for now, only to see that the golden giant is right on top of me, towering over me with his axe raised and ready to swing. Luckily, I manage to avoid the first chop, but he seems to have found out my pattern, and he yanks the axe from the street, using the backwards momentum to swing the other side of his double-headed axe at me, catching me in the chest once more, and sending me flying a few feet away. Thankfully, nothing on the suit is broken, but I don't know how long it will be until I bust a tube here, and it won't be long until the guards show up to arrest me, so I have to think, and come up with a plan, fast.

Dodging another axe swing, I begin to think of how to end this fight quickly, no longer concerned about what this guy could tell me about the suit, the city, or this 'Dr. Sano' character. Unfortunately, the only option I have is to run away, seeing as this guy was too sturdy for me, and I didn't know how to fully utilize the suit's abilities. However, there's seemingly nowhere to run, as guards block both ends of the street, and are closing in fast, and this guy just won't give me any space to jump or roll, or even charge up a shot. So, all I can do is dodge, until, at last, the knight gets his arms around me, and he throws me into the ground, pinning me on my belly as he suppresses my movement with his weight. I try to struggle, but I can't get my arms free, and the guards are now too close for me to really escape anyway. So, with little in the way of options, I focus my willpower, and do the one last this I feel has a chance of working: I start praying. As the guards all start marching forward, now in my view, I begin to focus my thoughts to the suit, willing it to obey, and do something to get me out of here.

"Come on, come on... blow up, lift him up, transform, anything! Please!? DO SOMETHING TO GET ME OUT OF THIS, DAMN YOU!!!" I mentally rant, and before long, the effect is almost immediate: The suit begins to shake, and in no time, begins to fold in on itself, the legs folding and shifting into new body plates, the arms then turn and rearrange, putting the blaster gauntlet in front of my face, and my back-plates then enlarge and slide over my head, and soon, my transformation is complete, and without thinking, the suit slides out from under the massive knight, throwing him off as he cries out in surprise, and finally the suit stops, giving me control once more. Now, I feel like some kind of snake in this thing, kind of like how I felt before I got in this suit. But, despite the reversion to my more original state, I still felt invincible in this suit, and my surprise was quickly replaced with glee and curiosity as I looked to the now-stopped guards on either side of me, and began to barrel towards the alley ways as fast as I could, using my thoughts alone to guide the suit to it's destination as the mass of guards cried out, demanding my capture.

"Stop him! Don't let him get away!" one guard shouted, and they all began to rush at me, but I simply was too fast and too far away, and before they even came close, I slid right into the dark alleyway, evading capture once again. And so, as the mass of guards all stopped around the alley I escaped through, I began to laugh quietly to myself as I escaped, and soon enough, I found a nice, large clearing in the buildings, and quickly used my thoughts to change myself back to my more humanoid form, and then climbed up one building, and as soon as I was on top of it, I quickly leaped to another building, and another, until I was soon on my way, and making a proper escape from this city, the right way. And before long, without any further hindrance, I was over the walls of the town, and finally, at long last, free.

"Now...." I began, chuckling evilly to myself as I spoke, "...Let's go find Malideus." I finished, and I began my trek down the mountain, my quest for answers of my past, the suit, and the enigmatic Dr. Sano, officially begun...

Although, I had a feeling I'd need more than Malideus to answer all the questions I now had.

To be continued...

Author's Notes:

Sorry that this took as long as it did, I'm out of steam for now.

I think I need a vacation...