(Everfree Forest)
(?????)

Through the thicket pushed two figures, one being a unicorn mare and the other being a griffin. They didn’t know how long they’d been walking but knew for a fact that if they stopped for too long they would’ve been in serious danger. “Come on True Shot you need to pick up the pace!” Titus said to the mare who’s hair was tangled thoroughly with briars, branches and leaves. All of which she would try to pull out but each one would almost be replaced with three new pieces of debris.

“I’m sorry but I’m not a griffin! You’re a born fighter and I’m not so why can’t you slow down?!” The mare complained about her own biology to Titus’ disdain but he pressed on through the forest with almost no hate in his heart towards her constant complaints.

“I’m not sure that you remember this important piece of information so I’ll remind you... We deserted the Red Claw! They could be following us right now and we can’t risk them catching up. We can’t slow down until we’re clear out of their territory.” He nearly shouted at her but he pressed on while she stirred behind him.

“I’m not supposed to do things like this, I stay out of sight and just go from there. I shouldn’t be-“ Titus’ claw pulled her down while she was in her thoughts as a Chimera walked by them, growling and sniffing the air as it did. A lion and goat head both visible as it did.

Titus mouthed ‘be quiet’ to True Shot as the large creature hulked by, the goat head rolling its eyes while the lion head continued sniffing. “How are you still hungry after eating those parasprites? There were hundreds of them!” He spoke with a gruff voice while the tail of the monster writhed as if it was alive. The lion continued to sniff the air in search of possible prey.

“Wait, why does it almost look like...” Titus thought as the appendage moved upwards.

“It’sss very ssstrange. I could’ve sssworn I’d sssensed a heat sssource around here.” The tail revealed that it was a long green serpent with sharpened fangs, and Titus noticed that it was looking in their direction. “Perhapsss they believed they could hide in the leavesss but I can see you clear asss day.” The multi-headed monster moved towards them with the lion and serpent heads both looking hungry while the goat head seemed indifferent.

“I might be wrong but, we aren’t trained to fight monsters!” True Shot panicked as the beast approached but a sudden movement in the leaves caught the attention of the beast, a mere second later an axe was lodged straight in the goat head’s neck. “What the?”

“T-This is y-your fault y-you glut-“ It never finished its sentence on account of the axe being pulled through its throat. The death of one of its heads sent the Chimera into a state of fear and sent it running away.

“That will be an easy hunt my brothers!” A boisterous voice rung, Titus looked and saw that the axe was being held by a large hand clad in a brown leather glove. “Hm? Well what do we have here? Looks like two little pony deserters!” Once the figure got closer it was revealed that he was a Minotaur, almost twice the height of the average stallion and wearing a brown leather tunic.

“The two from the Red Claw? How fortuitous that we’d run into them here.” A second, more smooth voiced Minotaur with two swords on his waist approached and looked down at Titus and True Shot.

“Ok look we can pay you, you don’t have to-“ Titus was interrupted by an arrow shooting straight into the second Minotaur’s chest but to his shock he was unfazed from the arrow piercing his armor and chest.

He grabbed the arrow and broke it right as an even taller Minotaur with a large battleaxe on his back came from the trees. “On any other race that would have worked but us Minotaurs are strong, especially those in the Piercing Horn!” He pulled a sword from his waistband and thrusted it straight towards True Shot but instead of hitting flesh...

*Clang*

He hit Titus’ wing, but he didn’t cleave through it. The feathers on his wing were now as hard and shiny as metal. “Not letting you do that to my partner!” He flares his wings and pushed the warriors away with the pressure.

“This could be interesting... Strongarm, Hookclaw.” He looked to his partners upon saying their names. “Allow me to execute him.” He drew both of his swords as Titus approached him. “I’ve got to admit not many have ever been brave enough to approach me.” They lunged at each other and flashed blade to wing, both struggling to overpower the other. “Either you’re the bravest Griffon I’ve ever met or the most foolish!”

“I’ve been called both!” They both pulled back and exchanged blows with their weapons, trying their best to land a deciding strike but for every swing there was a nearly perfect counter. “Even if I beat him there’s the other two. Razorwing can only do so much.” Another clash of the blades and True Shot looked at the fight in anticipation.

“I shouldn’t just be watching, we’re a team!” Her horn glowed but a battleaxe was put in front of her and her horn.

The lead Minotaur looked down at her and back to Titus. “Do not dishonor their battle, it is tradition for them to fight each other to the death without aid.” True Shot heard the entire sentence but lost focus at one part in particular.

“The death?”

Titus was panting, tears on his leather suit and some of his feathers were on the ground. His adversary didn’t look much better off, having lost his horn tip at some point. “I’ll admit Griffin, you’re strong... Maybe as strong as a Minotaur...ess.”

“Yeah you’re way stronger than a Griffin...chick. Maybe we should try to wrap this-“ Faster than he could process, his enemy threw a sword into his shoulder. “Agh!”

“Titus!” True Shot wanted to help but with the mountain like fighter in her way she could only watch.

The Minotaur walked over with both hands on his sword. “That was a great duel, I’ll remember yo-“ Titus turned and flung a metal feather into the wrist of his enemy but his hoof on his chest stopped a further assault. “A fighter to the end, I like that.” He raised the sword once more and brought it down.

“Rasengan!” In an instant a ball of wildly spun air drilled into the face of the Minotaur and sent him flying into the greenery.

“Aren’t you...” Titus started

“Isn’t that...” True Shot whispered.

“That’s...” The lead Minotaur began.

“Kusanabe Zeko! Or Zeko Kusanabe to this world.” Zeko said with a flourish of his now short hair. “I don’t appreciate you trying to kill my guests like that so I’m gonna have to kindly ask you to leave.” The two remaining Minotaur said nothing but eyed their new challenger before starting to laugh

“This is who the ponies and griffins couldn’t handle? A mere calf? Hahaha!” The axe wielder laughed raucously while the battleaxe user chuckled to himself.

“To this something so small would be who we were sent after, and to think you used your best spell to beat the one of us that was exhausted from his fight... Not to mention that you took him completely by surprise, shameful. Hookclaw end the pact.” Hookclaw approached Zeko with his axe in hand.

“You know this is like a fly going to a pitcher plant, it doesn’t know that its in danger so it gets closer.” Zeko produced a chakra rod and used it to deflect the chop from the axe. “Some weapon you got there.” He said as he jumped back to avoid being split like the tree he was next to but he noticed that wasn’t all that happened to the tree. “Huh?” In his distracted state he didn’t notice the axe until it nearly struck him but his reflexes allowed only part of his kimono to be cut.

“I’d be more careful if I were you, the runes on this axe give it corrosion. It eats through living things like ants to bread.” He pointed at the tree which was quickly decaying and melting but Zeko looked at where his outfit was cut and quickly threw it off right as it started to dissolve, leaving him in his black long sleeved shirt. “You only have so much clothing until your skin is all that I can dissolve.”

“Ok so I don’t want to get hit by that, gotta work the axe away.” The axe came again but this time Zeko parried with his chakra rod and knocked it onto the ground before encasing it in sand and pushing it into the ground. “No more of that.” Zeko threw the chakra rod at his enemy who dodged and came at him with the power of a charging... bull.

“I don’t need the axe to win this duel!” He got closer with his arms out wide and Zeko jumped over him. “Hah!” Two sharp claws came from the sides of his arms and nearly through Zeko’s legs, instead just leaving long gashes across them and tearing into his pants. “The name Hookclaw fits me for that exact reason so let’s finish this fight!” He brandished the blades and charged as Zeko turned around and smirked.

“By the time you get to me I’ll have formed another rasengan and I’ll drive it into your back.” He started another ball of wind as Hookclaw got closer and closer.

Hookclaw smiled at the lack of haste in his enemy and prepared to hack him into pieces. “Too slow!” He pulled an arm back and drove it forward but it was grabbed by Zeko and he was put off balance.

Zeko spun and wound up behind the misplaced Minotaur. “Told you.” The last thing Hookclaw felt was the ball slam into his back and drill into his very bones until he was sent through a tree with all the grace of a boulder. “And then there was one.” Strongarm was already approaching with his battleaxe in hand.

“Well that was quite the display, I’ll be completely honest here... I don’t believe I can win but my honor tells me to avenge my partners and if even landing one strike is all I can do then it will have all of my force behind it!” He reached into a pouch and splashed a vial of dark fluid on Zeko’s face, in that process it managed to get into his eyes.

“Hey dirty move!” Zeko stopped his his tracks and stood motionless. Strongarm approached and brought his axe down. “Hm.” And missed once Zeko sidestepped, two more swings and two more evasions.

Saying that Strongarm was confused would be an understatement since he was sure that the fluid was almost blinding if in the eyes, and yet his opponent was still able to defend himself. “How can you still see? That stuff doesn’t just come out!” A swing of his battleaxe came closer than the rest but missed all the same.

After weaving a few hand seals, Zeko opened his mouth and shot a good deal of water towards Strongarm who lunged out of the torrent’s path. Zeko took the opportunity to use the water on the ground to clean his eyes and regained his normal eyesight. “Ok that’s as it should be, now what the hell is this stuff and why does it smell familiar?” Sniffing the substance and looking at Strongarm’s incoming weapon made the fight a bit more of a struggle, the axe nearly took his head clean off at multiple points.

“Now you aren’t even being serious, honor the fight and be serious.” Zeko stopped sniffing the liquid and made another chakra rod as Strongarm charged, the two clashed with Strongarm being able to push his smaller opponent back with brute force. “Yes grant me a warrior’s death!”

After deflecting two slashes, Zeko managed to produce a second chakra rod and aim it towards his enemy’s throat but Strongarm did the opposite of what most fighters would do. “What the?!” After seeing that his arm was now bearing a wound Zeko saw that Strongarm moved towards his weapon and took the hit.

“That... Was all I needed for... The rune to work...” He got out between heavy breaths

Zeko noticed that his arm was slowly getting hotter and hotter and one final sniff of the liquid told him everything he needed to know. “Oil!” He burst into flames once his arm got hot enough, sending him into a state of extreme pain.

True Shot had to hold Titus back from going to help. “If you go over there you’ll end up just like him! We can’t risk that.” The griffin stopped struggling right as Zeko fell face first into the ground.

“Looks like he was every bit of a fighter they described him as, I’m glad I managed that one strike otherwise I may have lost. Now which one of you is prepared to battle me?” He ripped the rod from his neck, revealing that it was non-fatal. As he approached the two he heard a strange sound behind him, like rushing wind.

“Maybe you should finish your fight with me before looking at them.” Strongarm turned and saw three of Zeko, one in the air with two at his sides and that massive ball they were forming didn’t raise his spirit at all. “Massive Rasengan!” The clones vanished and Zeko brought the ball down.

“But how did he?” Looking at the ashes he saw that it was now sand that lay burning. “And to think that we were warned about that too, looks like I’ve definitely died in a way no other Minotaur has...”Were Strongarm’s last thoughts as the massive ball connected with him, there wasn’t any pain or even feeling just one moment there and the next gone. His weapon had found a way to leave that attack nearly unscathed, and wound up in Zeko’s hand.

“This is some kind of weapon, you two don’t know where he got it from right?” He asked Titus and True Shot but they were stunned from the display. Zeko decided to walk over to the tree that Hookclaw split with his body and see that he wasn’t in sight but a there was a sign that something was dragging along the ground. “Hmm.”

About twenty yards away was Hookclaw, using his namesake to pull himself along and move away from where his fight had been. “I’ve got to live, I’m not ready to die yet. I haven’t even asked that cow how she feels about me and-“ A chakra rod pierced the ground in front of him.

“You know, Strongarm accepted his death with honor and here you are crawling away like a maggot. Seems like you betrayed your friend’s wishes...”

“N-No I-...” Zeko’s hand came closer to him. “No... NO NO NO!” He tried to use his weapons but once Zeko’s hand was on his head he stopped moving and slowly began to lose his memories until he was a husk of himself. “Somebody who tries to run when his friends value honor in a fight is a low traitor and doesn’t deserve to die like a warrior.” Zeko removed his hand and the soul of what he now saw as dirt before walking back towards the battlefield.

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Titus woke up in a cold sweat, but upon analyzing his surroundings he saw that his bed was made out of a strange material. “Is this stuff sand?” He saw that the mattress was normal fabric but his bed frame was in fact sand. “I gotta get up, those Minotaur could still be-“

“Don’t worry about that, or True Shot. The Minotaur are dead and you two are safe.” Zeko’s voice came from above, prompting Titus to look up and see the teenager standing on the ceiling as if it were a completely normal activity.

“Where’s True Shot? Is she ok?”

“She’s in the girl’s dorm, I’m more pissed that I’m practically running a boarding house at this point. But the one I stayed in wasn’t as good.” Zeko jumped down and walked out of the door leaving Titus to pass out from realizing that he was exhausted.

“So Zecora you figure out those weird markings yet? He said something about runes.” Zecora was in the main area of the now expanded house and was examining the weapon that was as big as she was.

“I’ve found nothing in my books about these engravings, I’d even say they were otherworldly in their origin but they are clearly Equestrian in nature.” She spoke in a non-rhyming dialect to Zeko’s pleasure, ironic since he was prone to breaking out in rap.

“This all just gets more and more complicated, especially since it looks kind of like the axe those dead guys were using when that Dio puppet got here. He was the weirdest puppet I’ve ever seen.”

Zecora was visibly confused but remembered the destruction of the castle in the forest. “How was he a strange puppet?”

“He was... living. Like he had normal bodily functions and even his own chakra flow but I know a puppet when I see one, courtesy of my friend Rei. Damn why does this all have to make so little sense?” He stood up and walked outside, headed towards his oasis.

“It may not make much sense but one would not need to be so dense. These are strange times and acts may be a true test of one’s own tact.” Zecora continued to examine the markings and scroll through her books, hoping to find something related to the runes so Zeko could have a fighting edge...

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Author's Notes:

I wanted to be done a few hours ago but that went awry, here’s your Friday morning chapter.

See you next time