//------------------------------// // Chapter XXV: Friend or Foe? // Story: The Ranger's Journey // by Silentpegasus //------------------------------// Chapter XXV Friend or Foe? The crowd was as talkative as a graveyard as the red mage made his way out onto the field where the green flyer was waiting for him. Twilight felt sweat forming on her brow as the tension over the arena doubled. Crow shook his head and couldn’t help but grin. AJ looked at the man in confusion. “Why are you so happy?” The farmer asked. “Seeing those two like that takes me back.” He chuckled. “How?” Twilight asked. “Crimson’s father Orion Comet and Ivy’s father Silver Streak were always butting heads. Even when we formed our team.” He smiled. “It was Rosario’s and my job to keep them under control.” He said as he looked at the two. “Looking at them makes me think of those times.” With that thought, he rose from his seat and summoned the microphone. “Begin!” He yelled. Crimson and the flyer both sighed and stood still. The two seemed to freeze and the audience looked at them in confusion. “What are they doing?” Pinkie asked. “They’re feeling each other out with their magic.” Luna stated. “This will be a battle of epic proportions.” Twilight squinted and saw that a massive amount of green energy was coming from the flyer. The two fighters suddenly vanished from the public’s sight. The next thing the spectators heard was a sound that was like a mountain had shattered. The two fighters slammed their fists into the other and the crowd felt the shockwave emanating from the collision. The two fighters vanished again and this time they locked their kicks. Twilight’s eyes tried to find them as the two warriors vanished and locked blow after blow. Ivy poured a large amount of energy into her right fist and saw that Crimson had stopped moving. The flyer closed in on the red mage and shot her fist forward like a tightly coiled spring. The crowd and warriors gasped as they saw the red mage catch the woman’s fist with his bare hand. The ground behind the red warrior cracked and the invisible force hit the wall behind him and a dent appeared. “Let’s take this elsewhere.” He said as he clenched his left fist that was glowing bright red. He lugged the flyer with an uppercut to the stomach. Ivy grunted and was sent flying into the air. Ivy felt herself fly out of the arena and saw that Crimson had sprouted his wings and was right behind her. “So that’s how its gonna go down huh?” She said as she bit her thumb and slid the blood across the seal on her arm. A massive cloud of green smoke appeared and the massive serpent dragon revealed its head. Crimson narrowed his eyes and summoned the massive three headed dog. His wing vanished and stood on the center head with his arms crossed over his chest. “Don’t think that I’m some idiot that doesn’t know your strength.” Ivy said in a flat tone. “We’ve been together a long time Crimson.” “I know.” He said with a sigh. “I already know how I’m gonna beat you.” She said as she withdrew her whip. Crimson sighed and summoned his scythe. The skies grew darker and a small amount of rain was starting to come down from the dark sky. The two warriors blamed the rain for the liquid running out of their eyes. The two beasts crouched and launched at one another. The serpent immediately coiled around the red dog’s body and started to squeeze. Cliff braked and split itself into the three individual bodies. The two free dogs bit into the large dragon’s body and the dragon breathed a breath of green fire. The singed dog whimpered in pain as the other two dogs latched onto the serpent and viciously bit into the dragon. The serpent roared in pain and whipped its tail at one of the dogs. The canine dodged and grabbed the tail in its teeth while another bit into its neck and started to pull. The dragon yelled in pain as its blood dripped on the ground and felt its spine being pulled apart. Ivy gulped and sent the dragon away in a puff of green smoke. Crimson looked at the badly burned dog and did the same. The two warriors locked eyes with one another and shot forward. Ivy’s whip changed into its staff form and the two were locked in a power struggle. Ivy stared into the man’s red eyes and bit her lip. “Stop holding back Evergreen!” He yelled as he applied more power to his blade and forced the flyer back. Crimson pointed the end of his scythe at the flyer and let loose a barrage of red magical bullets at the flyer. Ivy easily dodged them and shot a few fire balls at the man who spun his scythe that acted like a shield from the burning spheres. Ivy took in a deep breath and leaned back. Crimson copied her and gathered a massive amount of magic in his mouth. As Ivy leaned forwards a massive wall of green flames shot towards the man. Crimson let loose a massive black flamed fireball. The two fire balls collided and the two were deadlocked in a massive power struggle. Little by little the black flames were gaining ground. Ivy poured a massive amount of energy into her flames and the green flames enveloped the dark. The green fire ball over came the dark which resulted in a massive explosion. Ivy panted and looked around for any sign of the red mage. “Not bad, but not good enough!” The green mage felt a familiar presence behind her and leaped forwards as she felt eh scythe pass over her head. The flyer dodged out of the way and panted. She heard the man whistle and looked behind her. Time froze and her eyes shrank as she saw the man holding a large clump of green hair that looked like it had just been cut. Crow gulped loud enough for the girls to hear. “Oh dear.” He said as he it his lip. “Why in the hay did he do that?” AJ said. “All he did was cut her hair.” “Have you no sympathy?” Rarity said. “Even if its green it still looked fabulous.” The fashionista retorted. “I’m afraid that it’s a little more.....complicated than that.” Crow said. “Why?” The group then saw the purple haired Changeling run up to them. “Hey Rouge, how’s Cobalt doing?” Twilight asked. “His life is no longer in danger and the wound is closed.” She smiled. Rouge then looked at he screen and all the color drained from her face. “I get it.” “Why did he go and cut her hair?” Dash said. “Ivy’s hair is her most prized possession.” Rouge answered. “Why?” Fluttershy asked. Rouge sighed and looked at the flyer. “Ivy used to get picked on a lot because of her hair.” Crow answered. “Her father always said that he would always be able to spot her in the crowd because of her hair.” He sighed. “When Streak died Ivy would never allow anyone to cut or touch her hair. Well, anyone except for Crimson.” “She trusts him that much?” Pinkie asked. Crow gave a nod. “Wait, so if Crimson knows this then why in the name of Equestria did he just cut it if they’re best friends?” Twilight asked. “Its because they’re best friends that he did that.” Rouge answered. “That makes no sense.” “He’s making sure that Ivy is so riled up that she doesn’t go easy on him.” She said as she sat back. The six girls were still confused. “Didn’t you two compete in some kind of competition?” She asked as she looked at the farmer and cyan flyer. “Yeah. We wanted to see who was the toughest.” Dash said. “How would you feel if you won knowing that AJ went easy on you?” The two made the connection and let out an ‘oh’ sound. “That’s why Crimson did that, to make sure that Ivy takes him seriously.” The green flyer clenched her fists and was shaking with rage as she removed her gloves. “Okay Crimson.” Ivy spat out. Her eyes were spliced and her hands were wrapped in green flames. “Here I come!” She yelled as she flew towards the man at an alarming speed. Crimson had no time to react before he was hit by the green flyer. Ivy unleashed a massive barrage of flaming punches. The man felt his body take the barrage and was sent flying into the ground. Ivy was still fuming in rage and saw a red magical bolt shoot out. The flyer slapped the bolt away like it was a fly. Crimson stood up out of the crater and cracked his neck. “That’s the Ivy I know.” He chuckled. He placed his hands together and focused his magic. “Seal release level three.” The wings sprouted from his back and the horns did the same. The man’s skin was now snow white. Ivy focused her magic and went into her dragon form. Her whip also seemed to shift. The long rope was then covered in angular blade pieces. The whip seemed to shrink and formed a sword. Crimson grinned and shot forwards with his katana blade drawn. The two were countering one another blow after blow. The slash marks cut through the air and into the surrounding stone. The two deadlocked and forced each other back. Crimson sheathed his blade and went in with his fists. “Is he crazy?” Rouge yelled. “What?” “Using fists against Ivy is about as useful as using a feather in a sword duel.” She said as she bit her lip and looked at the number three on her palm. The green flyer was matching the man’s strikes with her own and shot back twice as fast. One punch landed in the man’s face and was sent flying back. Ivy pulled out her sword and the blade spread apart into a whip like form. She launched it forwards and the blades wrapped themselves around the man’s right arm. The flyer tugged and the man felt his arm being ripped to shreds before being plummeted into the ground. Ivy panted and was ready for another assault. The flyer charged forwards with her sword gripped in her hands. Crimson slowly stood up and Ivy stopped as she saw that the man’s right arm was completely severed and mangled. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Inside the man’s sub conscience the horned figure grinned as he saw three locks on his cage open. The fourth was holding strong. The demon walked over to it and grinned. “Perfect.” He said before slamming his fist against it. The lock shattered into a million pieces as he chuckled. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ On the outside Ivy gulped as she looked down at her scaled palm and saw the number four. A massive amount of black aura then encircled the man and a devilish roar could be heard for miles. In the swirling mass of dark energy Ivy saw the blood from the man’s arm was starting to take shape back on the injury and rebuild it. Regeneration? When did he learn that trick? She thought as she felt the massive amount of energy pouring out of him. His horns grew longer and his wings started to change black and more demonic. The man’s right arm had shifted into a razor sharp claw. The air became filled with the stench of blood. The dark aura vanished and the flyer gulped as she saw the figure before her. Ivy felt a familiar chill creep up her spine and she gulped. “Crimson? That you?” She asked in a hesitant tone. The figure raised its head and tilted it to the right. The figure vanished at the blink of and eye and slammed its left fist into the flyer’s gut. Ivy coughed up a mouthful of blood as she was sent rocketing back. The flyer crashed on the ground and felt her bones crack. “Definitely not Crimson." She said as she got to her feet. The flyer snapped her fingers and summoned a jagged crystal. The figure roared at the gem and charged forwards. The conduit vanished from sight and delivered an uppercut to Ivy’s chin. The flyer was launched into the air until she felt something grab he ankle and rip her back down. She felt a strong arm wrap around her neck and ankles. The flier cried in pain as the man slammed her spine over his knee. Ivy gripped the crystal shard in her right hand and tried to stab the man in the chest. Crimson caught the armed hand by the wrist and gave it a hard twist. Ivy cried as she felt her right wrist shatter from the action and the man pried the shard out of her hand. The conduit twirled it in his right palm and gripped it. Ivy was barely on her feet when he raised it over her chest. Ivy looked into the man’s pitch black eyes and grunted. A small tear welled up and rolled off her face. The man’s body twitched for a moment and looked down at the flyer. Ivy felt the effects of her transformation wearing off and her body reverted back to normal. The demon hybrid raised the gem holding arm and swung down. Something warm splashed across the flyer’s face. An earsplitting scream filled the air. Ivy looked in surprise to see that the man had stabbed himself in the chest. The being’s hands grabbed the horns on his head and pulled down hard. The two horns snapped off like dry twigs and soon evaporated. The shadows started to fade and the wings started to crumble away. The man was grunting in pain as the demon aura seemed to fade. Ivy looked at her hand and saw that the numbers were dropping until no numbers remained. The man staggered for a moment and then steadied himself on his blade. His right arm was healed and back to normal. “Sorry about that.” He panted. “That was an unwelcome interruption.” The flyer tried to get to her feet, but only felt a massive wave of pain rip through her body. The flyer groaned in pain before blacking out. “Ivy Evergreen is no longer able to continue fighting. Crimson Storm is the victor.” Crow said as the crowd cheered. Crimson picked the flyer up in his arms and teleported back inside the arena. He was quickly approached by medics who started examining the woman. One of the doctors gasped. “Shit she’s going into cardiac arrest.” Another said as they got her on a stretcher. Crimson gritted his teeth as they rushed the flyer to the medical wing. Crimson held his head low as he made his way off the field. As Rouge and the others ran up to him he vanished in a flash of red light. For an instant, she saw the red haired man crying only this time his tears were dark red.