Coined Heroby CrypticMetaphor
Chapters
1
Malibu, a nice sunny costal city that is one of the many jewels of California nestled in the county of L.A. Though it gets quite icky in terms of the heat during the summer time weather, at the moment it was the fall season and the weather was cooler during the morning but still quite hot. But despite the conditions, there was one who was not bothered by the weather. His home was nestled in a nice alcove overlooking the waters of the coast below. The nice two floors home was painted a smoky grey with black tiles on the roof. Within the confines of this home, there was a eighteen year old happily finishing up some business on his computer before the coming hours events. The young man in question was seated comfortably in his chair ideally twirling a strand of his hair. The young man was skinny in build but had a tad bit of muscle, just enough to be visible anyone who saw him without a shirt and such. His hair was a long dirty blond that border lined a brownish color. His skin was a light tan color and his dark green eyes watched his screen with great glee and intrigue.
At the moment this young man, by the name of Hector Graham, was watching the subbed show of Kamen Rider OOO’s. Long had some of his buddies pestered him to watch it and other Kamen Rider shows, so eventually he caved and decided to do just that, and became hooked. Now Hector isn’t an excitable fellow by any means, but when he finds something he likes, he’s glued to it and sees it through. This would explain why he is in many fandoms as well as on bandwagons. Some called him a Fringe Man, others, a weirdo. But Hector liked to just think of himself as what he saw himself, a man that liked multiple fandoms and belonged to them. Many a time had he settled disputes online and IRL because of his social standing, but that’s beside the point. The current fandom he was now in was Kamen Rider as well as Super Sentai.
The shows just appealed not only to his inner child but to his inner action man, and he loved every minute of it. Though when he discovered OOO’s was just the tip of the iceburg he wanted to catch up to the current season, Gaim, as fast as he could. Luckily today was the day he was going to finish the season AND go to a local convention in town. Some of the locals, who were fellow fans of his of geeky things, managed to raise funding on kickstarter for a convention and scored merchants as well as guests. As the final credit sequence ran before Hector’s eyes he smiled and nodded his head in satisfaction, standing and turning off his computer, he set to work for his ensemble for the day. He grabbed a pair of black and grey shorts that hung to his knees as well as a white muscle shirt. Donning both he padded to the living room and retrieved his remote and switched on the news.
Preparing breakfast he listened to the news, “And in more news on the strange phenomena. A report has come in today on the Lost Ones report.”
The Lost Ones. The report had been going close to a year now. It started with a few disappearances in conventions, then full on vanishing from public activities and celebrations. Men and some women were popping out of existence left and right and never coming back. But today it seemed things had changed.
“A local from Hackensack came across one of The Lost Ones earlier this week. The local claimed the man appeared in,” the woman remained stoic, “a flash of rainbow lightning. The Lost One, later identified as local missing man Jacques Hope, was found mumbling incoherently dressed as Majora. A character made popular from the Legend of Zelda franchise. When the authorities questioned Jacques, he had this to say.”
A dirty faced young man with a dishevelled look spoke into the camera with a crazed look, “I was a god there! I ruled, I beat them, but those damn girls. They BEAT ME! ME!”
The reporter woman organized her papers, “Mister Hope is currently being treated for traumatic shock and possible psychosis. Now in later-“
Hector switched the channel to a music channel and pursed his lips, “Weird.”
He sat at the table and munched on some toast, “First one to return from wherever they were and he’s crazy,” he then mock dramatized his next words, “what is humanity as a whole now?!”
Chuckling to no one in particular he ate the rest of his meal and checked his clock. It was a good hour before the festivities commenced. Just enough time to get ready. Walking to his room he gave a side glance and smile at a family portrait. Inside his room he rooted around in his closet and produced his prize, still fresh in the box. He gazed at the OOO-Driver as he removed it from its box and laid the contents out on his bed. There was the circular shaped C-Scanner, the cylinder like Medal Holder, and finally the driver itself. He ran his hand over the blue lines and drank in their feel and detail. He glanced down at the four medals in front of him and frowned slightly. Though he had four, the red Taka* Medal, the yellow Tora* Medal, and the two green medals Batta* and Kamakiri* respectively, he wanted all of them. Luckily the batteries had been included in this fine purchase, very high grade. He had to give the Japanese credit, they went the whole nine yards with their toys and merchandise.
Strapping the OOO-Driver around his waist as well as attaching the C-Scanner and Holder to their respective places, he ventured back downstairs with a white plaid thin button up over shirt over his shoulder. After slipping on the over shirt and his white runners, he turned off the lights and took his wallet and phone before departing out the door and locking all the locks. Hector then inhaled the air and stepped forward off his front step. Making it to the street, he stopped and smiled.
Opening the medal container and extracting the Taka, Tora and Batta medals, he went to work. He slipped the Taka medal in with a smooth snap on the far right coin slot, then the Batta on the far left. Finally he snapped the Tora in place and slid his hand along the Driver and it tilted with a satisfying snap. Quickly flicking the driver and Scanner into the on position, he pulled the Scanner from its holster and pulled the switch in the handle. A pulsating sound came from the primed scanner as he dragged it along the Driver. A satisfying series of metallic dings were heard as the scanner passed over each medal.
Hector then struck a pose and said, “Henshin.”
The belts sound output then answered, “TAKA! TORA! BATTA!”
Immediately after wards a song played with the usual toy like quality, “TA TO BA, TA TO BA, TaToBa!”
Hector smiled and flicked the Driver into the non-primed horizontal position and holstered the scanner, “Awesome, money well spent.”
Hector the took a step forward….and vanished in a flash of white light mixed with the smell of burning wood.
*
Hector blinked his eyes a few times to clear away the stars in front of them. Though his vision was clear, his stomach felt odd. He also felt the blasts of wind against his face. That’s when he remembered that the stomach sensation and the sense of weightlessness he was feeling was something he had felt once before on a rollercoaster. He was dropping fast, REAL fast. Glancing around he saw clouds whipping past him and the ground though far, was approaching. He flailed his arms and screamed as he fell.
“Dear god please don’t kill me,” he yelled out, “I haven’t even gotten a girlfriend yet! Please let me live!”
That’s when he heard it, the sound of what could be accumulated to that of a thousand coins being dropped in a large room. He felt his belt vibrate and noticed the Medal holder was giving off a bright light from within. Hector gawked at this spectacle and reached over to flick it open, then regretted doing so. Several different colored bolts of light shot out like bullets from a gun in various directions. The force propelled Hector in various directions during his fall which worsened his falling as well as make him nauseous.
“What the hell is going on!?” he screamed as he felt the OOO-Driver rattle.
Glancing down, he noted the medals in the Driver were glowing their respective colors and looked lik they were threatening to burst forth.
Planting his finger firmly on them he spoke, “Oh, no you don’t! I paid for you and you’re staying right there when I die.”
He then blinked and continued to scream as he saw the grass approaching him at breakneck speed. He shut his eyes and waited for the splat, but instead felt himself ease to a sudden stop. Opening his eyes, he noticed he was surrounded by a bluish aura that felt surprisingly warm with a slight tingle. Glancing around, his eyes landed on a shocking sight. Standing a few feet from him was a pony of some sort. Its coat was a shade of blue and its mane and tail almost seemed silvery. On her flanks was a crescent moon with a wand. In the center of the pony’s head was a horn that gave off the same aura as the one holding Hector. When he gazed into her purple eyes he did not see curiosity and surprise, he instead saw annoyance and slight anger.
The mare spoke, “You are a human correct?”
Hector blinked in surprise at not only the pony speaking fluent English, but at the fact that it knew what he was.
The mare snorted in light agitation, “I asked if you’re a human!”
“Yes,” Hector answered quickly, “Hector Graham.”
The mare narrowed her eyes, “Trixie, formerly the Great and Powerful.”
Hector blinked, “Wait a minute! I know you! You’re a character from-“
“My Little Pony?”
Hector nodded, “Yeah you,” he stopped and became nervous, “Wait, how did you?”
Trixie snorted, “That’s just what HE said when he arrived here.”
“Wha?”
Trixie then hurled Hector clear across the field he was in and he rolled hard across the ground before standing shakily, “Wait a minute! What are-“
An arcane blast whizzed past his head, “Silence menace! I’ll put a stop to you before you can aid your master!”
Hector raised his hands, “Wait a minute here! Hold on! I don’t know what you’re talking about!”
Trixie then yelled, “Lies!”
More blasts whizzed past his head as he bolted away.
“Okay Hector, let’s do a little rundown here,” he sprinted as the angry mare was hot on his heels, “first I’m heading to a convention, then the next thing I know, I vanish in a flash of light and I’m falling,” a blast singed his calf, “WOULD YOU QUIT THAT?!”
Trixie yelled back, “NEVER!”
Hector growled as he ran and noticed he had passed into some sort of town. Several shocked and angry shouts were heard as Hector ran through the streets. But for some reason, they sounded muffled. He noticed that other talking ponies were indoors for some reason. As he rounded a corner thinking he lost the crazed Trixie, he smacked into someone that yelled out in both pain and anger.
Hector rubbed his head, “Hey watch it! Can’t you see I’m fleeing for my life here?”
His words died in his throat when he noticed who was in front of him.
The person was obviously human due to his stature and build, though for some reason, he was garbed head to toe in a black sinister robe. The robes were frayed at the edges and seemed to have some sort of dark indigo lines on it. The person’s hands were covered in sinister purple crystal like gauntlets as well as wearing matching boots. On his face was a smooth purple crystal mask that was in the shape of a roaring skeletal creature, black fabric inside the mask shielded the human’s mouth from view.
The Masked Man pointed at Hector, “The hell man!? I was in the middle of something!”
Hector stood and noticed that aside from the man, there were six mares staring at both of them in a mix of fear and determined anger.
The Masked Man grabbed Hector, “Listen man, these six mean businesses alright? I was in the middle of striking fear into them and about to finish them off,” the man trailed off, “Wait a minute…I think this could work to my advantage. Say dude,” the man had a bit of an American accent, “how would you like to be my second in command?”
Hector’s eyebrows went up, “You’re what?”
The Masked Man sounded giddy, “It’s perfect! I know just what to do,” he whispered in Hector’s ear, “Just play along.”
Hector stood in confusion as the young Malibu man recognized all six mares. He was thankful Tumblr was good to him or he would probably have to learn their names the hard way.
The Masked Man then gestured dramatically, “BEHOLD ELEMENTS OF HARMONY! Your doom is nigh! For now I, Vilacus, have summoned my second in command…,” the man known as Vilacus leaned over, “what’s your name?”
Hector raised an eyebrow, “Uh…Hector?”
Vilacus blinked his coal colored eyes, “Hector…okay I can work with that.”
Vilacus then resumed his dramatic tone on a dime, “My second in command Hecus the Brutal.”
“It’s Hector,” Hector said in annoyance, “Not Hecus.”
Vilacus then hissed, “Work with me here.”
“Why?”
Vilacus raised a hand as the mares now became greatly confused, “What do you mean why? I told you, I’m going to destroy these ponies!”
Hector then stated a word that shook the villain to his core, “Why?”
Vilacus visibly sputtered, “Why?! Do you know that since the first day I got here, I hated it here!?! I don’t even like this retarded show! So when I found this mask,” he exposited to a slightly bemused Hector, “Imagine my surprise when I became the goddamn sorcerer supreme!”
Hector crossed his arms, “So you’re saying that because you hate this show,” he started, “you want to kill these ponies who have done nothing to you personally INSTEAD of using your so called powers, to send yourself back home,” he finished with a tilted head, “do I have that right?”
Vilacus blinked, “Yeah, pretty much.”
Hector just shook his head, “Dude, you are a dickbag.”
Vilacus then coldly responded, “What did you call me?”
Hector was stoic in his response and expression, “Did I stutter?”
Vilacus raised his fist which gave off a black light glow, “You don’t know who you are fucking with.”
Hector shrugged, “Obviously not a villain,” he cracked his neck and stretched, “just some dickbag who has anger issues and a god complex.”
Vilacus growled and pointed at the Ponyville fountain statue. The black light from his glove blasted into it and the statue exhaled black flames and its eyes started to glow red. Flapping it’s wings, it ripped itself from the fountain and landed before Hector.
“So mister witty,” Vilacus spouted, “What now?”
Hector backed up, “Okay…this is actually frightening I’ll give you that.”
Vilacus crossed his arms and pointed at the human, “Sic em boy.”
The alicorn statue bull rushed Hector, who dove to the side and rolled away. Glancing at the statue he steadied himself as the Elements of Harmony and Vilacus cleared the combat area. The statue continued its charges and Hector barely managed to dodge each. After dodging around the latest charge, a wing from the statue swiped through the air and propelled Hector off his feet and onto the hard ground. Hector got his wind back and shakily stood to face his impending death.
“Alright, this day officially,” he deadpanned, “sucks.”
“Henshin.”
Hector glanced around, “What the?”
“Henshin.”
The voice was soft yet was almost like a breeze of wind in term of passing.
“Henshin,” Hector whispered, “what does…”
Vilacus noticed Hector was mumbling, “What are you spouting?”
Hector then remembered when he was falling and began to notice a few things. His replica, which he had worn this entire time, now seemed to have some weight to it. The belt strap it was attached to was much more form fitting and solid feeling. And when he looked down, he noticed the Core Medal toys not only had sheen to them, but the sensor chips that could be visibly seen in each were gone and they were now slightly transparent.
Hector looked to the sky and heard the voice one final time, “Henshin…”
Hector narrowed his eyes and stood tall, “Alright Vilacus, attacking a regular guy like any other off the street is fine,” he smirked, “But you made one mistake today and I think you should mark it on your calendar.”
Vilacus chuckled, “And what’s that?”
“The day,” he flicked the OOO-Driver into its tilted Primed position, “You attacked me.”
It was then that Hector dragged the C-Scanner across the medals…only this time.
Hector stood firm as the tune played. Projections of various medals made of light rotated around him before three of them converged into one symbol and smacked onto him.
The ponies and Vilacus were speechless at the person now standing before them.
Hector now O’s, glanced down at his gloves and noticed the blade attachments on his forearms, “Holy…oh my god.”
Vilacus shook his head, “Whatever! Kill this freak!”
The statue surged at O’s who…leapt clean over its head. Turning around he raised his forearms and a series of yellow lights pulsed up the yellow Tora sections of his body as the Tora claws snapped forward. Getting into a free flowing stance, he sidestepped the statue and slashed off one of its wings with ease. Bits of stone and dust cascading down from the attack, quickly righting himself, O’s dragged the scanner over the medals once more. The same voice that announced the TaToBa combo then yelled out in a powerful voice.
“SCANNING CHARGE!”
O’s crouched low as green pulses of light ran down the Batta legs. His legs shifted form the knees down into grasshopper like legs as he gave a mighty leap into the sky. Then something happened, something unusual yet amazing. Rings of light appeared angling down toward the statue, almost like a pathway. O’s angled himself for a kick and shot toward the red ring like a bullet. Upon passing through the red ring, a pair of red wings appeared behind him composed of red energy. Passing through the yellow ring, an aura of yellow surrounded him. Then finally, upon passing through the green, he made brutal contact with the statue and it exploded in a mixture of pure power and black light. Landing with his legs shifting to normal, O’s faced Vilacus.
Pointing at the masked villain he declared, “Game over.”
Vilacus glanced hurriedly around, “Um…,” he then snapped his fingers and vanished with a quick, “Seeya!”
O’s titled the Driver back to its Un-Primed position and threw his arms into the sky, “WHOO! DID ANYONE SEE THAT!?”
He turned and stared at a smiling Trixie, “Of course you did….”
Hector then felt something hot hit him in the head and he blacked out.
2
Hector groaned in mild discomfort and pain. Sure things might have taken a turn for the worse in terms of his current predicament, but the mere fact he was now sitting on a stool in an energy cage was just bad luck. He was staring at the seven mares that, instead of smiling and trying to get to know him, were glaring at him like he was Frankenstein’s monster. He had done nothing wrong and not only saved their lives but drove off that dickbag of a human. He noticed that his OOO-Driver was still around his waist, but the medals that were supposed to still be there were currently on the desk beside the glaring mares.
The one Hector recognized as Twilight Sparkle approached him and spoke in a blunt tone, “How many of you are there?”
Hector raised an eyebrow, “In total or at the moment?”
“Don’t play games human,” Twilight stamped her hoof, “now answer the question!”
“I have a name miss plum bottom,” Hector scowled, “It’s Hector.”
Twilight was taken aback slightly by the nickname but regained her composure, “Well then, Hector, why were you brought here? Is there a reason that you possess these abilities? Did Vilacus actually-“
Hector raised a hand, “Wait…you actually believe that I’m with that lunatic? Listen, I don’t want to call you blind or stupid,” he raised his hands, “far from it. From what I’ve heard, you’re pretty bright. But did you not see that I saved your collective asses?!”
Twilight narrowed her eyes, “Be that as it may-“
“No, there is no, ‘be that as it may,’” Hector interjected, “I saved you, your safe, so why am I locked up?”
Rainbow Dash was in front of the cage, “Because the last time a human showed up here, he attacked our homes and innocent ponies,” she snorted, “for no reason.”
Hector leaned back in his seat using the energy bars as back support, “Still doesn’t answer my question.”
“Perhaps I might offer some clarity.”
Hector and the mares turned. Standing in the doorway was the highly skeptical looking Princess Celestia. The Princess levitated the three Core Medals over to her and raised an eyebrow as she rotated them in the air.
“Fascinating,” she mumbled, “Now, I hope that we can avoid any unpleasantness Hector. Therefore when I ask my questions,” she seated herself in front of the cage, “answer them truthfully and to the point.”
Hector nodded as Celestia pulled out a small scroll and unfurled it.
*
Vilacus was outraged and frightened. He had been running this whole villain operation since he first arrived in Equestria and was doing a damn good job at it to. He screwed over so many ponies and caused countless Bits worth of property damage. Though the damage had been repaired, Vilacus did need to cement his rule somehow. So he finally decided to go and kill the Elements of Harmony, then there was THAT asshole that popped in out of nowhere. Unlike him though, he had come with a legitimate repertoire of abilities. Despite that, he had to flee when Hector had turned into a goddamned Kamen Rider! I mean of all the superheroes in the universe, it had to be a Kamen Rider.
Vilacus glanced around his dark citadel, long story, “And everything was going so well.”
That’s when he noticed one of his stain glass windows had been broken. There was a hole the size of a small rock was present and let in a bit of afternoon light as well as small shards of glass that littered his carpet. He stood up with a grumble and advanced toward the glass to clean it up…until he stopped and stared. On the ground, there lay an object, an object that looked very familiar. Bending down, he plucked it from the carpet and gazed at it in the light. It looked exactly like one of those medals that Hector had used. The only difference was that the medal, though rimmed with gold, was a lighter green and it had the depiction of a mantis on it.
“Hm,” he chuckled, “what have we here?”
Turning the medal over in his crystal encased hand he narrowed his eyes in slight intrigue, “I wonder…”
Raising his hand, the glass shards on the carpet levitated off the ground and shuddered for a moment. In a blink of an eye, the shards disintegrated into sand and joined together before taking shape. The sand then took on a humanoid shape of what could be described as a faceless human doll. Titling his head, Vilacus pressed the medal into the doll’s forehead and stepped back. He then raised his hands and sent a massive surge of black and indigo energy into the medal. A force pushed back against his magic, but he felt the force give under his pressure and the magic surged into the medal. Arcs of the magic blasted into the doll which began to shudder. Vilacus noticed that some form of energy that was similar in color to that of the medals, was mingling with his magic. Soon the doll was engulfed in a blast of the magical mixture.
When it faded, the creature that stood before Vilacus roared inhumanly. The creature was humanoid and stood seven feet tall. The only difference is that it wasn’t human. Its skin was a dark green and hard looking like a shell, two bumps on either side of its head resembled the eyes of a praying mantis. Its hands were three pronged claws made of a hard black substance. Small spines covered its limbs and spine. Two antennas protruded from the top of its head, but its insect features ended there. A pair of shiny black blinking eyes stared at Vilacus, though it breathed, there was no nose or mouth, just smoothness.
“Master,” the mantis creature stated as it kneeled.
Vilacus clapped his hands, “Alright, this I can get behind,” he thought for a moment, “Though I think calling you creature would get redundant. So you, and hopefully more of your brethren shall henceforth be known as…a VilaMax.”
The Mantis VilaMax nodded, “Of course master.”
Vilacus tapped his chin at the Mantis VilaMax, “Now, there’s something I want you to do for me.”
3
Hector sat within his energy cell and stared at the mare known as Princess Celestia with boredom and mild annoyance. The mare had been bombarding him with very predictable question after question for the last hour. But like he agreed, he answered each honestly and to the point. At the moment, Celestia was going over the notes she took and Twilight was staring at her mentor in awe. Hector took note that Celestia was just as organized if not more so, than the purple alicorn.
“So, can I be let out now,” all eyes turned to him, “I mean granted this cell is pretty comfortable. But the novelty sort of wore off.”
Celestia stared somewhat evenly at the human for a moment before sighing lightly, “Twilight,” the pony in question straightened her stance, “please release the cage.”
Twilight sputtered, “But Princess! He’s a human like Vilacus, how do we-“
“You do not,” Celestia stated as she rolled up her scroll, “But look at it this way Twilight. If he had wished to do you harm, why did he save you?”
Rainbow snorted, “Probably some sort of human trick! Lure us into a false sense of security then BLAMO! He hits us with our pants down!”
Pinkie giggled, “But Dashie, we don’t wear pants.”
“It’s a figure of speech darling,” Rarity stated trying to contain her laughter.
Twilight looked to the side and then released the energy construct.
The second the cage came down, Hector leapt across the room and grabbed the three medals. However, a gold aura engulfed his hands keeping them rooted in place. Gritting his teeth, he stared at a neutral looking Celestia. Hector tried his best to smile innocently, the Princess and the seven mares were not convinced.
Hector rolled his eyes, “Can you honestly blame me? I mean you ponies didn’t really inspire much confidence.”
Celestia nodded in understanding, “True. My little ponies can at times be,” she glanced at the mares, “passionate for their home protection. Allow me to be the first to apologize Hector Graham, you must understand these past months of been quite the nightmare.”
Hector raised an eyebrow as his hands were released, “Just out of curiosity, what happened?”
Celestia gently eased the medals out of his grasp with her magic, “Well, allow me to give you the short version.”
Hector seated himself as Celestia began her tale, “Twilight was experimenting with some new magic and accidentally brought the human known as Vilacus here. We are unsure what his real name is or for that matter, what he really looks like. The reason is that when he arrived he was wearing a different mask than we you’ve seen and never took it off. Soon he left and returned with an ancient and potentially deadly artifact that held a great reserve of magical power. He eventually established a citadel to the south and has been periodically attacking my kingdom.”
Hector pursed his lips, “Damn. I guess I can see now why I was treated with…a less than warm reception.”
Celestia nodded once more, “Yes. But I am truly grateful to you for saving Ponyville. I suspect that with your help, we might be able to rid ourselves of Vilacus. That is, if you will come to our aid.”
Hector thought for a moment, “Sure.”
This surprised all present as rotated his neck, “Well simply put, Vilacus is giving humans a bad name here. Plus the dude tried to impale me with a freaking statue,” smiling at the mares he then said, “Plus I’ve seen how you all are, you don’t deserve the crap he’s dishing out.”
Twilight titlted her head, “But why help us?”
Hector groaned but then stood up, “I’m a Kamen Rider,” he beat his heart with his fist then pointed at them with a smirk, “It’s my job to protect the smiles and dreams of others.”
Pinkie smiled, “I like this guy!”
Just then, a series of shrieks were heard. Hector snapped his head around as Spike came running into the library waving his arms.
“TWILIGHT! GIANT BUG THING!!!!”
Twilight blinked, “Giant bug thing? Spike, we don’t have time for-“
The dragon turned her head to the window…and the alicorn shrieked in fright.
Outside, the Mantis VilaMax was attacking the town. It was smashing benches, slicing through poles, and blasting homes with green energy slash projectiles. Hector was the first out the door and gazed at the creature as it went about its havoc filled spree. Hector turned his head and glimpsed a piece of broken wood. Glancing at the Mantis creature, he visibly trembled. Sure it was one thing to boast and defend one’s self, but this; this was a whole different ball game. He then heard the screams, looking over to the Mantis; it loomed over a group of screaming fillies. Narrowing his eyes, he grabbed the wood and rushed the Mantis. He then smashed it over the head with the wood. Taken by surprise, the creature turned around and back handed Hector to the ground.
“You,” Mantis stated, “You are the one my master has requested me to terminate.”
Hector got back up and his hand went to his C-Scanner, but he then remembered he had no medals primed. Grasping a broken metal frame piece, he brandished it like a sword.
Mantis cackled, “Pathetic,” it raised its hands and they glowed green and transitioned into black mantis blades, “let us see if you can truly stand against me.”
Hector slashed at the creature, only for it to slash through the metal like it was paper. Hector was knocked from his feet from the attack as the Mantis closed the distance and pressed it’s blades to his neck. Narrowing it’s human like eyes, the Mantis’s wrists twitched. Hector glanced to the side, then booted the thing in the stomach as hard as her could. He cried out in mild pain as his foot cracked. The Mantis backed off for a moment giving Hector enough time to stand.
“MR GRAHAM!”
Glancing to his side, Princess Celestia levitated the three medals, “Do not make me regret this decision!”
She then threw all three medals to the human as he grasped them in mid-air. Quickly, he snapped them into the Driver, just dodging underneath an oncoming attack to insert the last one.
Quickly, he swiped the C-Scanner over the medals.
O’s stood at the ready as he pained foot felt…better. Giving an experimental kicking motion, he surged forward as the Tora claws snapped forward. Bringing both down, green sparks flew from the creature. The Mantis VilaMax swiped at O’s as he dodged underneath the attack and slashed in a one two punch before coming around behind the Mantis. Once behind it, he delivered a swift kick to its back. When the kick made contact, green pulses went along the legs as the Mantis was sent reeling. Striking a fighting stance, O’s waited for his adversary to rise. The Mantis stood up, shakily, its body seeming to flicker for a moment. The Taka head’s eyes glowed for a moment as O’s noticed something shining at the Mantis’s center. He recognized the shape straight away.
“A medal,” O’s grabbed the C-Scanner and swiped it over his primed medals, “SCANNING CHARGE!”
O’s bent his legs as they converted to their grasshopper appearance from the knees down. Giving a mighty leap, the energy rings appeared and aligned themselves with the Mantis. Giving a mighty yell, O’s propelled himself at the Mantis who prepared to counter.
“SEIYA!!”
O’s blasted straight through the creature, its body exploding in a mass of green fire. Landing, O’s stood tall as he unprimed the Driver, reverting back to Hector. Turning his head back to the Mantis, Hector kneeled down and sifted through a small pile of sand and produced the Kamakiri medal.
“Well I’ll be damned,“ Hector chuckled, “I wonder how many more of you are out there.”
Celestia was already beside him gazing at the medal, “What do you make of this?”
Hector clicked his tongue, “In my opinion? I think Vilacus somehow found a way to tap into these Core Medals and convert them into his own little band of his monsters.”
Twilight over heard this comment, “Should we be worried.”
Hector flipped the medal then caught, “If what I’m thinking is correct, then Vilacus will have a LOT of minions to make in the coming days.”
Celestia blinked, “What?”
Hector turned to the princess, “These medals come in a set of three,” he held up the Batta and Kamakiri, “three of each, which means there are two more Batta’s out there as well as two Kamakiri’s.”
Rarity raised a hoof, “What of the other three? You said they came in a set of three, should there not be three more separate green medals?”
Hector nodded, “The Kuwagata medals. Man I hope I find that one at some point,” he gazed at the two greens he now possessed, “Then I’ll have a full set.”
Celestia gazed to the side in thought, “Hm. This is indeed distressing news. I must return to Canterlot to devise proper countermeasures. If any of my guards or allies finds one of these Core Medals, rest assured, you shall be the first to know. But until then, I think it prudent that you are given a place to stay.”
Hector remained silent.
Celestia smiled, “Which is why Ms. Lulamoon will be assigned as your keeper.”
Trixie and Hector then both yelled, “WHAT?!”
4
Hector and Trixie were not amused by the current predicament they were in. After the battle with the Mantis VilaMax, the two unlikely individuals were in a sense put into each other’s company, and they both despised the other. Trixie, because of VilaMax hated humans in their entirety, and Hector? He just disliked her due to her attitude and the fact that she tried to deep fry his head with magical head beams. The human leaned against the wall outside of Trixie’s wagon, examining the core medal he had retrieved from the Mantis VilaMax, casually flipping it every now and then. Inside, the unicorn in question was getting her ‘beauty sleep’.
“You just want an excuse to boot my butt out, stupid magic horse,” Hector grumbled.
As he leaned against the wagon, his mind started to drift to the moment he landed here no more than a day ago. It had happened so fast, but he remembered one detail quite clearly. When he was falling, the driver’s Medal Holder had snapped open and erupted out various bolts of light. There was no doubt about it; those lights had to be the other Core Medals. But one question was still on his mind.
“How exactly did I get here,” he stroked his chin in thought, “And just what caused my Driver to become the actual thing.”
His thoughts continued to drift well into the wee hours of the early afternoon, but elsewhere, something was taking place.
*
Vilacus paced in his throne room, the large chamber made his footsteps echo as the cloaked man grunted in anger and kicked his throne.
“DAMN IT! I WAS SO CLOSE! THEN THAT,” his words transitioned into a string of nonsense as he glared out at the empty chamber and called out, “RASPBERRY, VANILLA! Get your flanks IN HERE!”
Nothing happened for a moment, but then a series of thuds were heard as the throne room doors burst open. Into the throne room ran two mares. One was an earth pony with a muted pinkish red coat with lime green eyes and a deep strawberry mane with black dots peppering its surface. Her mane and tail were wavy in appearance. The front of her mane curved upward ever so slightly while the rest was tied back in a bun. She was currently garbed in a maid outfit with a feather duster in her mouth. Beside her was a unicorn mare who wore a fairly bored looking expression. Her coat was a whitish yellow; her eyes were a chocolate brown. Her mane was a light brow with streaks that matched her coat in it tied back in a loose pony tail, while her bangs ‘swirled’ slightly to the left of her face. Her cutie mark was that of a spoon stirring a mix of liquefied Ice Cream. On her face was a pair of black horn-rimmed glasses.
“Vanilla Swirl,” stated the bespectacled pony in a mildly disinterested voice, “Reporting.”
“Frasfherry Felds,” the maid pony muffled, “Reporting.”
Vilacus face palmed, “Take the feather duster out of your mouth….”
The maid pony spat the duster onto the ground, “Oh sorry, Raspberry Fields, reporting,” her voice was a tad high but held a bit of some sort of accent none could place.
Vilacus sighed and sat in his throne, brining both of his hands to his face and groaning.
Vanilla tilted her head, “I assume the Mantis thing was destroyed?”
Vilacus nodded, “Damn it….I had such a good idea going,” he gestured around to the throne room, “I have a castle, dark powers…”
“And two awesome minions,” Raspberry chirped.
Vilacus moaned as he slumped lower in his seat, “One moron, and one competent liaison.”
Vanilla nodded as Raspberry blinked for a moment.
Vilacus sat up straight in his chair, “What am I going to do now….,” he gestured outside to the noon sun, “Out there, there’s some superhero jerk that could wreck EVERYTHING I’ve built….and frankly I don’t even think I could beat him mono a mono.”
Vanilla raised a hoof, “My lord, can I make a suggestion?”
“Honestly,” Vilacus slumped back into his self-loathing, “I’m open to anything.”
“Why don’t you find more of those Medal things and make more monsters,” she stated flatly.
“Do I LOOK like I’m made of those things?”
Vanilla stepped forward, “Well, if I might be so bold, I can attune my horn to the remnants of the Medal energy present here to track some down.”
Vilacus moaned, “Fine! Do it, not that it will matter. As far as I know, there could be only that one and the ones Hector has in his−“
Vanilla’s horn flashed once and she stated flatly once more, “I can sense two.”
Vilacus was on his feet, “What?! You’re shitting me!”
Vanilla shook her head, “If it will stop your ‘Oh woe is me,’ moment, I can go out and retrieve them for you.”
“ME TOO ME TOO,” Raspberry hopped in place.
Vilacus clapped his hands together, “Make it so my mare minions!”
Raspberry ripped off her maid outfit to reveal an explorer outfit, “ADVENTURE HO!”
Vanilla shook her head as the two mares departed.
*
Back in Ponyville, Hector or as he was now, O’s was standing in front of a log that AJ was securing in place.
“Is it ready?”
AJ chuckled, “Hold yer horses,” she finished with the last support, “NOW it’s ready.”
O’s hopped in place and wringed his hands, “Alright,” he pulled out the Kamakiri Medal, “Let’s get the ball rolling.”
Applejack ran from the post and joined her friends who were watching the spectacle nearby, “Have at er O’s!”
Hector nodded as he inserted the Kamakiri Medal in place of the Tora Medal. He then ran the C−Scanner over the three medals.
“TAKA, KAMAKIRI, BATA!”
There was a flash, and O’s torso changed. The yellow of his torso was replaced with a much lighter green, the tiger head like symbol replaced with one that roughly resembled a mantis. The wrists of the suit seemed a tad more bulky than the Tora ones.
Twilight ooed at the display and started taking notes as O’s faced the log, a pair of long thin and curved light green blades manifesting in his hands. He took up his fighting stance and started to hack away at the log. From above, Rainbow Dash descended and landed near the group with some shakes.
“Hey, what’d I miss?”
Twilight glanced over at Dash as O’s cleanly sliced a nice slab of wood form the log, “Not much, Hector’s just practicing with his new medal.”
Pinkie nodded, “It’s so cool! He’s like a living combo!”
Rainbow shrugged and slurped up her shake, “Meh,” she glanced at Twilight’s note taking, “heh, what are you doing?”
“Oh,” Twilight smiled, “I’m just taking some notes. I decided that since Hector is going to be here for a while that I’d keep record of each Core Medal he acquires and its specific ability and motif.”
Rainbow raised an eyebrow, “Motif?”
Applejack nodded as she sat on the grass, “From what we’ve seen and what Twi has told us, the Medals are based on animals.”
Twilight nodded, “I surmise that the green ones are insects, the yellow ones are jungle cats, and the red might be birds.”
Rarity made a face at the green ones, “Ugh, I just can’t believe insects are a motif for him, the two greens clash horribly with the red,” she tapped her chin, “I wonder if there are purple medals. Ooh! What if those represent a majestic animal?”
Pinkie piped up immediately, “Like a monkey!”
Rarity glanced at her for a moment, “A monkey?”
Pinkie nodded, “Monkeys can be totally majestic!”
As the girls chatted amongst themselves and O’s trained. Trixie watched from afar and rolled her eyes.
“I can’t believe they think that human is good,” she grumbled, “He’s probably just gaining their trust. But Trixie will not be tricked so easily! Trixie is vigilant and always ready!”
“RRRRROAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!!!!!!”
A ground shaking roar reached the ears of the girls and human as they looked around.
O’s glanced around for the source of the noise, “What the heck was that?”
From a distance away, a mass of birds shot skyward in the Everfree forest as some trees rocked.
Twilight came to O’s side, “What do you think that was?”
O’s thought for a moment, “Worst case scenario, a Yellow Medal VilaMax.”
Rarity came to his side with the rest of the girls, “And the best case?”
“It’s a Yellow Medal VilaMax,” he rubbed his hands together and bolted for the tree line.
Twilight shook her head and looked after O’s, “Come on girls!”
The pony took off with the other elements in hot pursuit of the Kamen Rider. Trixie merely shook her head and went to her trailer.
*
Within the darkened forest, trees whooshed past as the Rider hopped from tree to tree with his Bata legs giving him the best aid. As he went, he could hear the sounds of the disturbance getting closer by the minute. As he continued to hop, he mentally prepared himself….though outside he was giddy as hell at the prospect of getting another medal.
“This is going to be so cool!”
Soon the tree line fell away to a clearing, and he halted, his legs turning back.
“Whoa….”
Before the costumed hero was a massive stone city. The place looked like a massive Aztec town, a temple in the dead center. He glanced around, his Taka Head’s scanner going off as he searched for the Medal source. Soon however, the girls appeared behind him and stopped in awe.
Twilight looked around at the ruins, “This is….amazing,” she glanced behind her, “how far in are we?”
O’s pointed toward the city, “What we should be concerned about is the fact that I’m staring at the blaring signature of a Core Medal, right there.”
Within the Taka Head, the Medal in question seemed to be moving. At first, it seemed to linger in one place near a cluster of buildings, and then it would leap to another section and slowly move. O’s gestured for the girls to wait.
Applejack stepped forward, “Do ya have a screw loose in that helmet of yers? We’re comin too!”
O’s shook his head, hands raised in a calming gesture, “Trust me. Just hang back here. I won’t be long.”
O’s slowly walked into town, the Kamakiri blades manifesting as he kept the tracer on the Medal. When he reached the center of town, he got a beat on it and sighed. It was another Tora medal….but better than nothing.
“Alright VilaMax! Come out and taste my green blades of fury!”
In an instant, the Medal signature moved around the building it was behind, and the creature leapt out.
O’s arms dropped slowly, “Okay….”
Twilight stared on in shock, “What the hay is that?!”
Before O’s was a creature unlike any the ponies or the human had ever seen before, and that was saying something. The creature was a massive stone tiger, but it was odd in terms of shape. Its body was blocky looking, it’s torso a massive rectangle with a dip in its back. Its leg and tail were stone cubes perfectly interlocked, but its head was slightly more like a disc in shape, its lower jaw lined with razor sharp stone teeth. On the sides of its head were glowing orange eyes, the stone itself the color of sandstone. The tiger towered above O’s by a good foot when at full height.
“Uh,” O’s backed up slightly, “Nice kitty. Nice ToraTiger.”
The ToraTiger roared and surged toward the rider.