Lunaverse: Galaxy Rangers - The White Raven

by Rixizu

Chapter 27

Lunaverse: Galaxy Rangers - The White Raven
Chapter 27
by Rixizu

Ditzy followed behind Lyra as she huffed and hurried through Canterlot. Lyra hadn’t taken being left behind well. The fact it was for her own good only made it worse. She had taken Sleuth’s sudden departure for the battle scene as a personal insult. This somehow gave her renewed energy and filled her with the determination not to leave Trixie and Twilight to fight alone after all. Ditzy sighed. Lyra could be so prickly and stubborn sometimes. And so, Ditzy humored her and they traveled towards Greengrass’s manor together. She guessed that Lyra’s bow might come in use and things would be okay if she kept her distance.

They marched in silence as they traveled, they should be there in about ten minutes or so. Ditzy could have gotten there by herself sooner thanks to her wings, but she didn’t want to leave Lyra behind. Ditzy’s ears perked up. She thought she heard, yes, she could hear another fight, and it wasn’t coming from Greengrass’s manor.

“Lyra.” Ditzy’s words stopped Lyra cold.

“What?” Lyra asked annoyed.

Ditzy flew up into the air and looked around and gasped. She could see two figures in the distance one pink the other green fighting in the streets. Pink flashes from Vinyl’s crossbow lit up the night. It didn’t seem to be going well. Ditzy winced when Cheerilee tried to pounce with hoof raised for a strike only for Vinyl to dodge it with little effort and pepper the teacher with bolts. Vinyl was toying with Cheerilee.

Ditzy dropped to the ground frantic. “Cheerilee is in trouble.” She explained. “She’s fighting Vinyl Scratch right now and is losing badly.”

“What?!” Lyra exclaimed.

“We need to help her!” Ditzy said.

“But what about Trixie?!” Lyra said conflicted.

"Trixie will be fine." Ditzy soothed. "Twilight is there and those two make a smashing team." So smashing, that she wondered if there might be something between those two. Thinking about it, they would make a cute couple. This was something she would have to look into that later.

Lyra closed her eyes for a moment to think about it. She opened them and sighed. “You’re right.” She smirked. “Besides, I have a score to settle with that DJ.”

Ditzy sighed again inwardly. Lyra and Vinyl had gotten themselves into a feud after the first few moments they met. Those two got along the same as oil and water. Well, whatever. She couldn’t worry about their petty swabbing right now.

“It’s morphing time!” Ditzy cried out. “Sagittarius!”

Lyra thrust her morpher forward too. “Cygnus!”

Ditzy rushed forward and found where Vinyl and Cheerilee were fighting. It was a lot around an abandoned steel mill. Which was good. This meant she didn’t have to hold anything back.

"Sweet!" Vinyl exclaimed as they entered the battle scene. "I was hoping making a little noise might attract some attention. This fight is about to get way more awesome."

“Ha!” Lyra said triumphant. “I knew you were evil all along!”

Vinyl shrugged. “Good. Evil. I don’t believe in such things. If life has taught me anything, that it is short.” Much to Ditzy’s surprise, Vinyl just vanished right in front of them. She looked around cursing unable to find the slippery DJ. A voice behind her made her jump.

“So why not have as much fun as possible? Can you keep up with Mercury’s speed?” Vinyl continued. Ditzy responded by summoning her bo staff and swinging it around towards the voice. It hit dead air. Lyra tried and failed to shoot Vinyl, the DJ just moved in between them with little difficulty.

Vinyl looked Lyra up and down. “Why are you even here? You can barely stand. With that old fashioned thing of yours no less. You might as well throw pebbles at me.”

Vinyl was right. Lyra's movements were sluggish and didn't look steady on her hooves, but that didn't stop Lyra from shooting Vinyl out of spite. Vinyl in response ignored her and engaged Cheerilee who proved to be a more interesting opponent. Lyra looked about ready to smash her bow into the ground in frustration but restrained herself.

Ditzy gave Lyra a sympathetic look and jumped in to help Cheerilee. She tried to trip Vinyl with her bo staff in a low sweep, but Vinyl jumped over it and kick her in the face. Cheerilee used this as an opportunity to strike Vinyl in the head with a hoof, but in a blur, Vinyl moved her head to avoid it.

Vinyl jumped back between them and fired wildly at Cheerilee and Ditzy. Ditzy tried to avoid them and she used her staff to deflect them, but there were too many and she winced in pain cursing when one clipped her leg. As if her body wasn’t sore enough from her previous fight with the bug queen. Cheerilee used her whip to hit them out of the air and got out unscathed. Vinyl rushed Cheerilee with a fury of blow and she dropped to whip to protect herself and block the unexpected punches. The punches and kicks faded in and out of existence moving so fast that Ditzy couldn’t even see Vinyl’s hoof, but Cheerilee anticipated them and did well to block or dodge them. Cheerilee saw an opening and pretended to go into a punch only to switch into a knee into Vinyl’s face.

"Nice." Vinyl leaped into the air flipping over them shooting down in an arc. Ditzy moved in close to Cheerilee and the Green Ranger summoned her whip just in time to deflect the bolts.

When Vinyl landed, she launched herself right at Ditzy who did her best to block the onslaught of punches, but could not avoid being hit Vinyl hit several of her blind spots. Cheerilee struck Vinyl just when she tried to punch Ditzy in the ribs. Vinyl backed off and they recoiled in pain when she summoned her crossbow and shot them several times at close range. It dizzied Ditzy just how quickly Vinyl would switch between her crossbow and hooves. Ditzy didn’t like how Vinyl was keeping her off balance with her ever-changing tactics. Lyra tried to help, but Vinyl, despite pretending to ignore her, always kept an eye on her to avoid being blindsided by an arrow.

“Fine! Screw this!” Lyra yelled in frustration. “Time for Plan B.”

Plan B? Ditzy wondered. What is… Her thoughts were interrupted when Lyra pressed a button and vanished in a blurred flash. Vinyl stopped a kick at Cheerilee and watched Lyra disappear with bewilderment. Cheerilee took advantage of this with a punch to face. Hold on a second. She’s not going to… Oh, ponyfeathers! She is!

It didn’t take long for a blue gigantic figure to drop from the sky. It smashed into the steel mill crushing most of it. It blinded Ditzy with the dust from the crash. The figure spread its wings blowing away most of the dust. Lyra’s Zord was a graceful blue robotic swan. It was huge and it was easily the size of an entire building at least 80 to 100 hooves long. It looked down at Vinyl who started back dumbstruck.

Really Lyra? Ditzy fought the urge not to facehoof. This changed things to be sure. It was anypony’s guess what the heck would happen now. Lyra’s Zord’s eyes glowed blue energy and shot a beam of energy down directed at Vinyl.

"Oh, ponyfeathers!" Vinyl cursed. She tried to zip away, but she underestimated the destructive range of the beam and blown away from the impact of the blast crashing into the ground with a pained yelp. Ditzy was far enough away to avoid it, but it caught Cheerilee and she too had a painful meeting with the ground.

"Oops." An apologetic Lyra said over her Zord's speakers. "Sorry, Cheerilee."

"Thanks," Cheerilee grumbled, "why did you think it was a good idea to summon your Zord again?"

"Trust me," Lyra said with a confidence Ditzy didn't share.

The Cygnus Zord’s eye glowed again and Vinyl dodged it and the debris created by the beam. Vinyl summoned her crossbow and fired at Lyra’s Zord to no effect.

“What’s wrong?” Lyra mocked. “Aren’t you going to summon your Zord to fight mine? Wait, you don’t have one, do you? Ha! And you call yourself a Ranger!”

Vinyl cursed. “Don’t think this is over! I’ll beat that thing somehow!”

Vinyl disappeared and reappeared around the Zord looking for weak spots or an entrance. She stopped on the top of Cygnus’s head. Howling triumphantly, she smashed her hooves into what Ditzy guessed was a hatch. Ditzy flew up to stop her, but Lyra shook her Zord’s head in a jerky violent motion and Vinyl flew off. Vinyl fell to the ground with a painful thud and Cyrus shot a beam at Vinyl's prone form. Vinyl disappeared just in time to avoid it and jumped clear of the rubble and shockwave coming her way.

Ditzy sighed. She felt so helpless, and she was at a complete loss what to do now. She thought it would be best to just keep her distance. Cheerilee joined her a few blocks away.

“Poor Trixie.” Cheerilee lamented. “She will get blamed for this too.” She eyed the destruction Lyra’s Zord was creating.

“Yep.” Ditzy responded.

“As if she doesn’t have enough to worry about.” Cheerilee continued.

“Yep.” Ditzy responded again. Lyra changed to shooting short bursts at Vinyl who did her best to dodge. Lyra seemed to have good instincts where Vinyl was planning on moving, but Vinyl caught on to this and kept her movements erratic.

“So, do you think we should try to help her?” Cheerilee asked.

“Nope.”

Cheerilee sighed and sat down. Ditzy joined her. Not anything better to do at the moment.

Vinyl sporadic movements stopped, and she unleashed a bright white light from her horn making Ditzy winced. When the light dissipated, Cygnus looked around bewildered unable to find its opponent. Ditzy stood up concerned. She had a bad feeling, and she rushed towards the fight Cheerilee following confused.

“Hey!” Vinyl cried out causing Cygnus’s head to turn in that direction. Vinyl’s crossbow glowed in a torrent of pink energy and Ditzy cried out in warning too late and Vinyl unleashed her ultimate attack.

“Guide of the Fallen!” Vinyl shot a burst of pink energy right into one of Cygnus’s eyes causing the massive Zord to howl out an eerie mechanical scream and collapse to the ground with an earth-shaking thump. Vinyl fell to the ground breathing hard looking exhausted. It seemed she put everything in that one shot. She picked herself up a moment later and vanished into the hole in the Zord’s eye.

“Well, crap.” Ditzy flew forward toward the opening in Lyra’s Zord and landed in front of it. What remained of the eye was a scorching wreck. Sparks flew from various pieces of wiring. Inside was pitch blackness. Cheerilee came up behind her.

“I hope this thing will work later.” Cheerilee lamented observing the condition of the Zord around her. “It looks broken.”

Ditzy frowned. She had no idea. Their Zord usually fixed themselves and any damage was repaired somehow when they were sent back to their orbital station in space. Could this be fixed though? This might be too much to patch up this time.

“We’ll worry about that later.” Ditzy shook her head. Best to concern themselves with defeating Vinyl for now.

They entered. Vinyl’s attack had done a number to the insides of Lyra’s Zord. It seemed the shot went deep into the Zord’s head. Ditzy was sure the damage didn’t come close to the cockpit, but Ditzy couldn’t help but get a little worried. They soon found themselves in a metal corridor the same blue of Lyra’s armor. The corridor was long and contained many doors. It was not unlike the inside of her own Zord. She knew some of the doors had several sleeping quarters, supply rooms, or even a kitchen. There were even general-purpose rooms that ponies could use for entertainment or conversation. It was like this place was designed for deep space travel. It confused them why this was here or why anypony would even need them. Ditzy looked around and found a sign that pointed towards the cockpit. She pointed towards it and they went off in that direction.

Several corridors and a lift later, they found themselves on the floor of the cockpit. In the distance, there were sounds of fighting and yelling. They found Lyra and Vinyl pointing their weapons at each other in a corridor. Lyra tried and failed to hit Vinyl who avoided her arrows despite the confining corridor.

“Oh, there you are!” Vinyl said cheerfully. “I didn’t want to start this fight without you. Cool robot by the way.”

Ditzy did a brief glance of their surroundings. The corridor wasn’t big, and the ceiling was low so flying is impossible. Vinyl’s movements were restricted, but the three of them fighting together would be awkward. She stuck to her hooves. Her bo staff would only get in the way.

Ditzy made the first move and jabbed a punch at Vinyl’s face and moved into a quick sequence of jabs and kicks. Vinyl dodged all of them sometimes propelling herself off the wall to do it. Ditzy flinched at a sudden jab to the side of her head. Ditzy took advantage of this and grabbed Vinyl by the leg trying to throw her against the wall. It dented on the impact and Vinyl received an arrow to the chest from Lyra who saw an opening for attack. Vinyl burst through the wall into a large room full of machinery that Ditzy guessed was vital to the inner workings of Cygnus. Ditzy could not make any sense of the strange machines, gear, and computers. Ditzy hesitated. She didn’t want to damage Lyra’s Zord anymore than was necessary. From her friend’s body language, Ditzy could tell Lyra was having similar thoughts.

"It doesn't matter," Lyra said after a moment, "Vinyl needs to be defeated."

"Ok," Ditzy said with reluctance.

Cheerilee jumped in front of the whip in hoof. “Even so, we promise not to do too much damage.”

Vinyl in response clapped her hooves together in delight. Behind Vinyl’s mask, Ditzy could tell Vinyl had a wide grin.

“Is this just a game to you?” Lyra demanded.

"Sure," Vinyl responded with no hesitation, "why not?" Lyra growled in frustration and unleashed an arrow that was avoided with ease.

Ditzy was done. Playtime was over. She was tired of being toyed with. She summoned her staff and unleashed a volley of spinning blows on the other Pink Ranger. Vinyl dodged, but Ditzy pushed herself harder increasing her speed and determination. Her opponent was fast, but this didn’t deter Ditzy at all. She used her wings to hover in the air and increase her mobility since the room gave her plenty of space to fly around. Vinyl tried a swift jab, but Ditzy blocked it with one end of her staff and in a swift motion tripped Vinyl with the other end. Ditzy flew down trying to deliver a kick down at the fallen Ranger, Vinyl rolled out of the way and was back on her hooves in a moment. Ditzy used a complicated sequence of swings and twirls with her weapon staying unpredictable pushing forwards. Vinyl tried to use her speed to avoid them, but speed could only get her so far and Vinyl was tiring. Ditzy guess that big attack from earlier must have weakened her, and she was running out of stamina. A faint allowed Ditzy to catch Vinyl by surprise and Ditzy hit hard in the chest and the head. Vinyl grunted in pain and backed off.

“Okay, so maybe that wasn’t the best idea.” Vinyl summoned her crossbow and vanished.

Ditzy hovered in the air and closed her eyes and readied herself. Her special talent was detecting subdue air currents and she might be able to use that against the other Pink Ranger and sense her movements. Ditzy felt her move, but much to her surprise, Vinyl changed her attack towards Cheerilee who was watching the fight in silence. Cheerilee cried out in pain and alarm when Vinyl peppered her with bolts. Cheerilee stood up on unsteady hooves and seemed to glare at the DJ.

Vinyl shrugged. “You seemed bored.”

Ditzy turned towards Cheerilee who nodded and they both charged Vinyl at the same time. Cheerilee shot out a flurry of blows while Ditzy used her bo staff. Vinyl kept a step ahead, but Ditzy could tell the mare was slowing down. Ditzy deflected any bolts sent their way. Vinyl jumped over Ditzy’s attempt to sweep her hooves from under her and Cheerilee took advantage of this with several hoof strikes to the chest. Vinyl stumbled back grunting in pain. Ditzy and Cheerilee gave Vinyl no reprieve and pushed their advantage. Vinyl tried to get some distance, but Lyra blindsided her with an arrow. Cheerilee kicked Vinyl as she tried to get up able to predict where the DJ was trying to move with her super speed. Vinyl crashed into some machinery smashing it to pieces.

Lyra unleashed more arrows into the prone Vinyl and most hit despite Vinyl's attempts to avoid them. Vinyl panted with pained breaths on one knee.

“Damn, this is what I get for playing around.” Vinyl said between breaths. “Not much time left.” Ditzy could see that Vinyl’s morpher was developing cracks in it. She knew this fight was almost over with.

Vinyl growled. She stood up not ready to back down and vanished, but she didn’t attack Ditzy as expected. She appeared behind Lyra and picked her bow out of her hooves and smashed it across Lyra’s head. Lyra howled and fell to the ground and unmorphed not moving. Lyra’s bow vanished when her armor disappeared. Vinyl stepped over the unconscious Lyra and went into a battle stance facing Ditzy and Cheerilee.

“One. You’re next.” Vinyl promised.

Vinyl disappeared in a blur again. Ditzy readied her staff watching and waiting for her opponent’s next movement. In the corner of her eye, she saw a blur and struck out with her staff knocking Vinyl out of her super speed and crashing her into the ground. Ditzy tried to fly in for the killing blow, but Vinyl's horn lit up with light making Ditzy winced in pain which blinded her for a moment. Ditzy swung her staff despite being blind, but the second of hesitation was enough for Vinyl to escape.

Cheerilee gasped behind her and Ditzy turned to see Vinyl's crossbow pointed on the back of Cheerilee's neck. Cheerilee tried to turn about and back hoof Vinyl, but she was too slow.

“Guide of the Fallen!” The attack blasted Cheerilee towards the roof and crashed right into it. She created a deep dent and after a moment Cheerilee fell unceremoniously to the ground and unmorphed. Vinyl panted hard and stood on unsteady hooves.

“Two.” Vinyl breathed. She stumbled towards Ditzy. Ditzy readied her weapon and fought back her nervousness.

“You can’t have much energy left.” Ditzy pointed out.

Vinyl gave a small chuckle. “You’re right. But if I’m on my way out, it’s going to be like an explosion. Sure, it quickly dies out, but it leaves devastation in its wake.”

Vinyl seemed to brighten for a moment. “Pink vs Pink? This is an awesome way to end the fight!”

In an instant Vinyl blurred and disappeared and Ditzy closed her eyes and prepared herself for anything ready to sense the other mare with her special talent. She felt Vinyl’s approach and blocked a punch with her staff. Despite her attempts to keep up, she couldn’t stop every punch or kick sent her way. She reeled from a hard kick to the chest. Ditzy noted Vinyl was getting slower little by little, drained of so much energy, but she was still too fast and Ditzy fell to her knees after a barrage of punches. She gritted her teeth and stood up only to get knocked to the ground again after a faint that looked like a kick to her midsection. Vinyl summoned her crossbow and unleashed a volley of bolts into the prone Ditzy. Ditzy howled in pain and screamed after the next attack kicked her into a wall.

Get up. Ditzy screamed to herself. This isn’t over yet! She fought the urge to outright weep from the pain. It was hard, but Ditzy got back to her hooves, bo staff at the ready. Ditzy knew the fight was lost. Vinyl was still too powerful, but Ditzy refused to give up and called upon images of Dinky to gain strength. She closed her eyes and centered herself and emptied her mind to focus on only Vinyl’s next attack. She perceived Vinyl’s movement, but Ditzy wasn’t afraid. Ditzy was at peace and ready for whatever came next. Vinyl was moving around her in a confusing pattern. Ditzy couldn’t let herself get distracted by it. There.

Vinyl pointed her crossbow at Ditzy’s head from behind, but Ditzy was already moving. As Vinyl appeared behind her, Ditzy swung her staff and hit Vinyl square in the chest as Vinyl got ready to fire, but Ditzy wasn’t done.

“Gales of Destruction!”

The winds violently threw both Rangers around, and Ditzy howled when she impacted the ground almost blacking out from the impact and pain, but her attack had hit home. The tornado sucked Vinyl into itself and she flew towards the ceiling hitting it so hard it ruptured. Vinyl exploded and fell to the ground like a meteor creating a deep crater. Ditzy couldn't see Vinyl at the moment but heard the Mercury Ranger's morpher fall to the ground and crumbled into dust.

"Yes," Ditzy said weakly to herself. A victory dance would be nice, but she felt too tired at the moment. She unmorphed and just laid there on the ground. She was fighting a losing fight with her drooping eyelids. Ditzy gave in a found herself in a deep sleep.

Comments

[the other sans]

She couldn’t worry about their petty swabbing right now
but could not avoid being hit Vinyl hit several of her blind spots
but she underestimated the destructive range of the beam and blown away from the impact
unleashed a bright white light from her horn making Ditzy winced
A faint allowed Ditzy to catch Vinyl by surprise
Her special talent was detecting subdue air currents and she
but Vinyl's horn lit up with light making Ditzy winced in pain
again after a faint that looked like a kick to her midsection

1. Squabbling.
2. Not avoid being hit as Vinyl hit several.
3. And was blown away.
4. Wince.
5. Feint.
6. Subdued.
7. Wince.
8. Feint.

[Fetch]

One thing that keeps me going 'why': Sagittarius should have the bow, not Cygnus. Sagittarius' symbol is an arrow.

[Rixizu]

9843747

Ditzy herself doesn't have a bow, but her Zord does. If that makes any sense. It's a giant centaur robot with a bow and arrow. Besides, Ditzy has terrible depth perception. Giving her a bow would be a bad idea.

[Pandas Delightful]

I honestly thought they'd incapacitate her with classical music. It was implied a while ago that it puts Vinyl to sleep, but I guess that was just a gag.