Author's Notes:

I really, really, really need some constructive criticism.

You know, going to a convention is supposed to be really fun? It’s one of the few places a video game nerd can enjoy his favorite game with others who enjoy it just as much. Personally, I love Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. The ability to cut up just about anything and everything in the environment was just too cool to not love! And who else to cosplay as from that game than Raiden, otherwise known as Mr. Lightning Bolt, Jack the Ripper, or just Jack. Raiden is the main protagonist of the game, so why wouldn’t I go as him? Also, he shares his real name with me, so I kinda felt a connection with him. Using my engineering and metalshop skills I learned in high-school, I was able to design and manufacture a very rough costume based off of Raiden’s Second Cyborg armor, the one he gets after he is defeated by Jetstream Sam, visor, lower jaw and all.

The only part I wasn’t able to manufacture was the sword and it’s sheath, cause I was designing them at school, but forbidden from manufacturing them. Such bullshit... Oh, shit. Just realized I began spouting this on you without even letting you know who I was. My name is Jack, Jack Crane and I was a freshman in college, before I went to that Comicon.

Going to the Con, it did start out as really fun, that I swear. Tons of other otakus, gamers, and fanatics of everything that isn’t considered fully normal by the social norm, all in one place that we can share our fanaticism without being judged harshly. The one part I didn’t like however, was having to wait outside for entry. God dammit… I had been biking over on my friend’s old Chopper, painted plain black to match the chopper from the game, that he had lent me for the convention, in the full-metal armor I had made for this! The harsh beating sun was heating up the suit, almost feeling like I was cooking underneath my armor. Thankfully, I was able to get inside before I passed out from the heat, the air-con inside the convention hall doing wonders for me.

Beginning to walk around the crowded convention center, I reached inside the small pocket I had made in my armor to make sure my wallet, smart phone, and keys for the chopper were inside. I had decided to bring two hundred and fifty dollars to the Convention today, just in case there was something I really needed/wanted, like some rare piece of memorabilia or prop. Thankfully, each and every single one of them was inside the pocket. With that done, I explored the convention hall.

I had been walking around the hall for the entirety of the day, going to little stalls and stuff, but nothing had really caught my eye, unfortunately. I had been hoping that I could find a suitable prop to use as a sword, for the reasons that I mentioned earlier. Most of the goers to the con had already left, with only the most dedicated of fans staying. Or those who were still trying to find something badass to buy, like me. I had already almost given up hope that I would find a suitable blade today, when I saw a small stand in the corner, with no-one else really paying attention to it, which I found strange. All over the stand was really incredible looking props from various games, animes, movies and everything in-between. I saw a Omnitrix, a Power Morpher, what looked like the iron helmet from Skyrim, and a metric ton of other cool props.

What really caught my eye however, was what I had been looking for the entire day. Right there, on a bloody pedestal, was something that I thought I would never see. The sheath from Raiden’s second-cyborg body, but something was off. The grip of the sword contained within the sheath wasn’t from the normal High-Frequency blade, there actually was a tsuba on the top, and the guard was black and grey.

Lifting the sheath off the pedestal, I moved it over towards my back, where it seemed to snap to the metal of the costume. “Whoa…” I muttered quietly to myself, drawing the blade slowly. As I thought, it wasn’t the default High-Frequency blade, instead it was the Murasama, the blade that Raiden gets at the boss fight. The blood-red blade shined in the bright lights of the convention hall, reflecting my costumed-face. Running my finger across the edge of the blade, I was surprised to see it cut into the metal of my armor slightly. “That’s sharp…” I muttered to myself, still looking over the quality of the blade.

I stood for so long admiring the quality of the blade, that I didn’t notice someone walking up behind me. “Excuse me stranger…” A deep, raspy voice said from directly behind me. To say I jumped would be an understatement, almost taking the guy’s head off with a panicked slash of the blade as I whipped around.

A man dressed exactly as the Merchant from Resident Evil 4 had ducked underneath my swing, “Careful there stranger!” He exclaimed, moving back into a standard position. “You could take someone’s head off with that!”

I let out a breath, trying to calm myself down slightly. “S-sorry.” I said shakily, “You scared me.”

The Merchant let out a snort, “Well most people don’t just up and try to take someone's wares.” He glanced at the blade I had picked up, “It’s a nice sword, innit?.”

I nodded, my gaze almost glued to the shine of the blade, “Beautiful...” I said softly, before tearing my gaze from the sword and back to The Merchant, “How much?”

The Merchant inspected me, remaining silent for what seemed like hours, “$300.” He finally said.

Almost as if I was a balloon being popped, all of the excitement and wonder from the blade drained out of me. “That’s… More than I have…” I said sadly.

The Merchant gazed at me, more intently than before. “Tell you what stranger,” He said, “Despite you almost taking off my head, I’ll take it for $200.” He looked around the emptying hall, “The day’s almost over anyway, and no one else has been over here.”

I almost lit up like a Christmas tree when he said that, “Seriously!?” When he nodded, I couldn't been more ecstatic. “Thanks mate!” I said, handing over the $200, before putting the blade back in it’s sheath. “Have a good evening mate!” I said to him as I began to walk away.

I had my fill of the convention for the day, so I had decided to go back to the hotel to relax and prep for tomorrow. When I walked outside the hall, I noticed that the sun had already set, and the moon was just beginning to rise.

Reaching the location where I parked the Chopper, I moved to turn on the bike, only for a laugh to echo throughout the parking lot. Stiffening, I slowly reached behind my back to grab the Murasama as the laughter began to take on a more manic sound to it. Drawing the blade out of the sheath with a soft shiiiiing, the laughter began to grow in loudness and intensity.

A new sound began to echo throughout the area, the sound of crackling electricity drew my attention to the blade. The once serene blade was now arcing with electrical energy, as the manic laughter grew further in laughter and intensity. I brought my hands up to my ears in an attempt to block out the laughter, only to realize that the laughter was coming from inside my head. I let out an ear piercing scream as the world blacked out around me.

A groan escaped my lips as I began to regain consciousness. “W-what the hell happened?” I muttered, before noticing my voice sounding slightly different. “What the fuck is wrong with my voice…” I groaned as I opened my eyes. My vision was filled with things usually reserved for a H.U.D, such as Health, Energy, and a Minimap.

Staring wide-eyed for a moment, then blinking hard had no effect on the HUD in my vision. “OK… Seriously… What the fuck!?” I exclaimed in a panic as I shot up to my feet, only to move a couple feet higher than I meant to. Crashing down on the earth face-first, I growled, spitting out dirt before pausing. The metal jaw I had attached with face-glue was now moving with far more freedom than it had before.

Moving one of my hands to my metal jaw, I was freaked out to not only feel my finger on the metal jaw, but also the feeling of the metal jaw on my gloved hand. Managing to get into a sitting position, I looked over myself. The once very rough cyborg body looked exactly the same in every detail to the one from the game. Giving a light tap to my chest, I was shocked to feel it as if I was touching my own skin. “W-what the fuck!?” I repeated, this time barely less than a shout. “What the hell happened to me!?”

I was interrupted by the rustling of some previously unnoticed bushes. Trying and partially succeeding to get into a standing position, I stumbled into some other bushes, which gave me some time to examine my surroundings. I seemed to be in a clearing in maybe a forest? No… scratch the forest, not with the massive castle in the distance. Probably a park or courtyard. After a couple more moments, what looked like a little kid rush into the clearing I was in. It only took a second for me to realize that the little kid didn’t look normal. It looked like a little girl, but she had pale yellow fur on her body instead of skin. She was wearing a white formal dress, like a little girl would wear to a wedding as the flower girl, but with a bright red bow on top of her pinkish-reddish hair.

As she ran towards me, I noticed a specific look on her face. That of pure utter terror. Something was chasing this girl. As she sprinted full speed towards me, she tripped over a rock in the glen, falling onto her chest. The next moment, four human-like creatures with grey, chitin-like skin underneath similar armor armed with rough-looking, almost Falmer-like swords poured out of the forest, grinning cruelly at the little girl trembling on the ground.

One of the humanoids looked over to his compatriots, “We were only told to bring her back, no-one specified in what condition…” The rest of his party laughed ominously at what he was suggesting, causing the little girl to shake even further.

As I crouched there, in the bushes, hearing what those… Bastards were saying, I got angry. Angrier than I had ever gotten before. Fuck not knowing what the hell was happening, this girl was gonna be raped, and I needed to do something!

The humanoid closest to the girl leaned over her, a leery grin on his face, which showed the cruel eagerness of what it planned to do. “You’re gonna-” He began to say, reaching out an arm, before screaming out in pain, said arm now on the ground, green blood oozing out of the severed stump.

I stood over the girl protectively, the Murasama arcing with electrical energy, “You even think about touching her…” I growled at the bastards, my uncovered eye flashing red, “You die.”

The one who’s arm was missing didn’t respond to my threat, due to his extreme pain. The other three however responded in the worst way imaginable. For them. As the first one charged me, it’s sword in position for an overhead swipe, I maneuvered my blade enough to block the attack, and when he stumbled backwards from the recoil, I bisected him from groin to head, the two halves landing with a thump on the ground.

The next humanoid attacked me with a diagonal slash, which I ducked underneath. Using the momentary advantage, I thrust the Murasama through his chest, killing it. I looked around for the final humanoid, seeing him wisely fleeing the way he came. Placing the blade back within its sheath, I looked down towards the girl, seeing her frozen, not sure out of fear or shock. That might be better than shaking… I thought idly to myself as I knelt next to her, “Are you alright?” I asked her gently.

She stared up at me, her eyes wide. “W-what are ya?” She asked me, a noticeable southern accent on her voice.

I shook my head, a gentle smile on my face, “Not really sure at the moment.” My expression took a more serious look, “What happened here? Who were they?” I gestured around to the corpses.

The girl looked sick as she saw what I had done to them, “O-oh my Celestia… Y-you killed them…”

She looked about to have a panic attack, so I placed a hand on her shoulder and did my best to calm her down, “Hey, hey, it’s OK! It’s OK! What’s your name?” I asked her as gently as I could.

She took a deep breath, “A-apple Bloom.” She said to me, “M-mah name is Apple Bloom.”

I smiled at her, “Nice to meet you Apple Bloom, my name is…” I paused for a moment. I didn’t want to give my real name, but she still needed something to call me. “Call me Raiden.” I said with a small smirk, before it disappeared, my seriousness returning, “Who were those things, and why were they chasing you?”

Apple Bloom took another deep breath, “T-they’re called Changelings… Princess Cadence and Shining Armor were supposed to get married today… But ah guess Princess Cadence was the queen of the Changelings… They’re trying to take over Canterlot!”

I frowned, “I gotta stop this.” I still felt a bit of the anger rushing through me, “It’s not safe for you here, do you know of any safe places?”

Apple Bloom shook her head, “No… Ah haven’t been to Canterlot very often…”

My frown deepened, “Then you’ll have to come with me.” I said, reaching my hand to her, “I’ll protect you.”

Apple Bloom looked at my hand for a moment, before taking it. “A-alright...”

I smiled, picking her up onto my back and dashing towards the giant castle in the distance.