9: Vanishing Act
The Rangers, at times, met up for lunch when they got the chance, which was admittedly not often but they still did. Of course, ponies did wonder what two royal guards, a farmer, Celestia’s disgraced personal student and a wonderbolt in training had in common. It wasn’t them all being different races, as that was normal for a land of friendship. Even if, admittedly both Robert and Autumn attracted the curious look or two.
“Okay, so here’s what I don’t get,” Sunset said over a hayburger, her face a mess and hardly looking like a lady. Then again, nobody had ever really excused her of such. “What’s Radiguet’s plans? I mean, as far as I can see his current monsters just seem to be assholes for the sake of being assholes. I mean, what’s the point of dressing everyone up in a ridiculous costume?”
Evidently, nobody had ever accused her of being subtle either.
“He’s trying to draw our attention away, that’s my best guess,” Shining theorized, in a low voice. “He wants to distract us, while he enacts some larger plot.”
“Well, I for one?” Vapor said through a mouthful of hayburger making even Sunset look a little green. “I say we thank him! I’m having the time of my life here, being a superhero.”
“Were you raised in a barn? Don’t you have any manners?” Sunset accused.
“Well, nopony back home in Stratusburg ever complained…” Vapor said.
“Stratusburg?” Shining asked in confusion. “...never heard of them.”
“Boondocks?” Robert mused and Autumn nodded.
“Yep, definitely boondocks!” she agreed.
“Boondocks?” Sunset and Shining asked in unison and confusion.
“Boondocks, you know…?” Robert trailed off making a little motion with his fingers like he was picking a guitar. “No, you don’t?”
Here, he and Autumn shared identical grins before Robert broke out into what had to be song.
“Ba na now now now now now now now,” Robert started off with an unusual look in his eyes, seemingly actually cheery for once. So it seemed even he wasn’t quite so above it all. Miming a banjo, he and Autumn played off one another.
“Da na nong nong nong nong nong nong nong!” Autumn continued, nobody apparently really getting what they were going for even if they did it anyways.
“Ba na now now now now now now now!’ Robert chimed back, with Autumn picking up.
“Da na nong nong nong nong nong nong nong!” Autumn said before the two broke down into giggles. Looking at the others' expressions, she said: “No, neither of you? Seriously?”
Shining facepalmed and muttered: “I’m surrounded by idiots…” to himself.
“You two need couple counseling or something?” Sunset deadpanned. “You’re both incredibly… incredibly… Gaaaaaagggh… I don’t know what you two are, but you’re something else.”
“Couples Counseling?” Autumn said. “...where’d you get…?”
“Autumn, baby, honey…” Robert deadpanned. “No no, it’s alright! We're in a safe place; we can be ourselves here!”
Vapor just burst out laughing at this, slapping her knee.
“There is a time and a place for weirdness, and that time is all of the time,” Autumn said with a sage little nod and a wily little grin. “But seriously, me dating him, much less marrying him? Eww, hell no.”
“I’m offended, like I seriously am,” Robert said in a deadpan drawl before quipping: “Well, guess you just haven’t figured out what I have to offer.”
“Well, yes I have but I’d rather let Rarity be surprised in that department…” Autumn drawled in return. “I mean, let’s face it. You’re already living with her, and you have spa dates with her. I can hear the wedding bells ringing already, all you have to do is invite me to the baby shower.”
“You’re reaching,” Robert replied though not without a blush. “She’s way out of my league anyways. She likes guys with big paychecks, and even nicer clothes.”
“Oh, I dunno,” Sunset joined in on the teasing. She’d swiftly soon regret it, as you’re about to see. “Rarity does like men in uniform…”
“It’s still beastility, though, thank you. I’d rather not have to arrest myself,” Robert said, still in that deadpan drawl he’d perfected so well.
“I mean, is it really beastility if they can consent?” Autumn returned. “Because, oh trust me, Rarity can certainly do that!”
If you looked closely, you could see Shining trying to stuff napkins up his now bloody nose.
“So you’re saying if a regular non-anthropomorphic pony could consent, I should screw them as well?” Robert questioned.
“...boy, we’re plumbing new depths this week aren’t we?” Sunset sighed.
“So you’re saying you want to ride a little pony?” Autumn asked with a wily grin. “Because, you know, if that’s your fetish I won’t judge…”
“...and here I was hoping to actually get to eat lunch…” Sunset uttered to herself looking skywards as if to question why oh why did she get landed with these two as teammates. “Annnnnnnnnnnyways, weren’t we talking about a certain someone’s plans?”
“Plans to screw little ponies?” Autumn and Robert teased her and Sunset gave a truly loud groan of suffering.
“...I suppose I set myself up for that one didn’t I?” she asked.
“Yeah, you kinda did,” Autumn agreed.
“Not helping,” Sunset sighed before she clapped her hands together. “Anyways, as we were saying and not as you were saying! Radiguet’s probably keeping us off balance right? Working from the shadows? Or… Is he testing us? Does he have some strict code of honor, and he’ll only battle us if we’re worthy opponents?”
“No no, it’s the former,” Shining put in. “He doesn’t see anyone as worth his time, he’s just that arrogant. He’s working on something, though what I can only guess! I’ve reached out to my contacts, there have been shipments of iridium stolen. On the exact same days we’ve had to deal with his monsters.”
“Iridium… Iridium…” Vapor searched. “Isn’t that the metal they add to other metals to make them harder?”
“Yeah, it is…” Robert mused. “To quote a certain movie series? I’ve got a bad feeling about this…”
“Mirror mirror on the wall, who’s the prettiest little filly of all?” Cozy Glow asked as she did a twirl around her room.
“Do you mean in this castle, because if so that’s hardly a contest…” Gray said as he walked in. Cozy Glow tossed the mechanical life form a dirty look.
“Um, excuse you, privacy!?” she squawked indignantly. “What if I’d been changing?”
“I’m a robot and you’re a pony, I hardly think I would care about what I might see,” said Gray.
“Point,” Cozy conceded. “Guess I won’t ask you what dress looks best with what if I get invited to the Gala this year! Now, if you have any actual business…”
“Radiguet needs another monster to distract the rangers,” Gray replied. “It’s your turn.”
“Well, if that’s the case…” Cozy trailed off before she placed a hand to her chin in thought. “Anyways, I feel pretty jealous of all those ponies in their nice clothes and their nice mane styles. I think it’s time to even the score, don’t you think? Make me the only pony to be adored!”
“Or, you know, you could just get that Rarity pony to make you the prettiest filly alive. Put you on the cover of Glitz Girl,” Gray suggested. “There are perfectly logical ways to go about this!”
“Hello, villain?” Cozy chimed in. “I have to be petty, and oh by Boreas I feel petty today!”
The first thing that they heard were the screams. As the rangers rounded a corner, they heard the snap of a camera and a mad cackle. A crowd faded away into nothingness, as a monster pranced about happily. He could only be described as a walking camera.
“Oooooooooh, power rangers! Now, there’s a money shot for you! And with my new wide-angle lens, it’ll take me but a moment to line you up!” the monster, his name was Shutterbug but of course, said.
“Sorry, school picture day isn’t for another month!” Sunset drawled as she and the Rangers summoned their morphers. “Take off, wings rise! Falcon Ranger Power!”
“Take off, wings rise! Swallow Ranger Power!” Shining barked.
“Take off, wings rise! Owl Ranger Power!” Autumn called out
“Take off, wings rise. Condor Ranger Power,” said Robert, as ever, not bothering to even pretend to be excited.
“Take off, wings rise! Swan Ranger Power!” Vapor chimed putting on her best ‘superhero voice’ as power raced through them, and their uniforms appeared in flashes of light.
“With the reach of a Falcon! Power Ranger Red!” Sunset lead.
“With the speed of a swallow! Power Ranger Blue!” Shining declared.
“With the strength of an owl! Power Ranger Yellow!” Autumn grinned as she cracked her knuckles ready to deliver a beatdown.
“With the swiftness of a condor. Power Ranger Black.” Robert sighed, once again barely giving any effort into his pose.
“With the grace of a swan! Power Ranger White!” Vapor shouted, and as ever they called in unison: “Power Rangers, Sky Strike!”
“Man, do you ever stop with your screaming and morphing hooey?” Shutterbug asked. “You could drive a monster deaf! Probably already have at one point!”
He focused his lens, and Sunset realized what was about to happen as she motioned for the Rangers to roll to the left. Sure enough, not a moment too soon as the building behind them faded away. Sunset grit her teeth, this one was going to be tricky.
“So, which one are we labeling this guy, what category?” Robert asked as he slashed through the inevitable Reverser drones. “The asshole for being the sake of an asshole category?”
“What do you think?” Autumn asked as she split-kicked two Reversers. Sunset, nearby went into a spin, her sword generating so much wind and flame it sucked away the mooks in a pyronado.
Shining, meanwhile, ran alongside a wall before spinning off of it and drawing his sidearm. Firing several shots, he downed the insectoid creatures. Landing on his back, he quickly flipped himself up and combined his gun with his sword. Firing a powerful piercing beam, he downed another squadron of the mooks. Teleporting around the battlefield, he slashed and struck down assorted minions. He was then sent flying into a shop stall by a punch from Shutterbug.
“Now, smile for the camera…” the monster said before he was sent staggering by a series of laser blasts from Autumn, Vapor, and Sunset. Sunset charged in, her sword alight with fire as she struck him with a Burning Reign.
Spinning away to avoid a swipe from the monster, she threw up a shield just in time as the dimension blast fired an energy blast at her from his lens. Another bolt came, and it smashed through Sunset’s shield, the mare barely holding it back with her blade. Finally, she gave in, and thrust her blade upwards sending the energy blast skyrocketing.
Shining charged in, and tossed his royal guard’s shield. Like the world’s deadliest frisbee, it bounced off Shutterbug, before it boomeranged back to Shining’s grip. He simply roundhouse kicked it back towards the monster, the cycle repeating a few times until Shutterbug got wise. As the deadly discus came towards him, he snapped a photo, and into his album the weapon went.
“Okay, now that’s just cheating!” Shining muttered. “Oh, my boss is going to kill me…”
“How about I kill you first?” Shutterbug offered before he directed another energy blast Shining’s way. The stallion threw up a shield at the oncoming attack, and when Shutterbug tried to pour on the power? Shining threw up another shield and then another. Both Sunset and Robert leaped out from behind him. Sunset was firing an energy arrow from the Falcon Summoner, and Robert sending an arc of energy slicing towards the monster. The creature staggered, and both Rangers’ eyes widened under their helm as they realized just how much punishment he could take.
Sunset reevaluated her earlier statement. This monster wasn’t going to just be tricky, he was going to be a right pain in the ass.
Starswirl worried. There was far too much violence in the world today. At the risk of sounding like one of those ponies, they needed an alternative. This much chaos risked attracting them, the scourges of the ice and the snow. The demons of the north.
Equestria could never suffer under their wraith ever again. His student. Clover the Clever had managed to banish them once. ...but the question was, could it be done again?
Personally, Starswirl didn’t want to find out.
The battle heated up, and now the Rangers were forced into a war on two fronts. Chase after Shutterbug, or deal with the giant-sized Reversers. Lovely, Sunset thought to herself.
One problem at a time, she told herself.
““Summon Zords, now scramble wings!” Sunset called as the roar of jet engines split the sky.
They could deal with Shutterbug later. Right now, they had more immediate problems.
“Megazord mode, began transformation now!” Sunset said, taking a little chip from her Morpher with the others following suit. Metal clanged toward, parts shifting and twisting as the zords came together.
The Reversers charged, and the massive mecha spun in a circle striking them all down. Another group charged forwards, before the Megazord brought out a naginata. It impaled one of the insectoid creatures, before tossing the body at the others. Firing its fists like rockets, the Megazord watched stoically as they went up in explosions.
Meanwhile, Shutterbug had managed to climb to the top of the tallest building he could find, and watched the fight. All was going according to plan. Sunset spotted him, and her eyes widened as she realized what he’d planned.
“One step ahead of us, this whole time…” Sunset thought in horror before she called out: “EVERYBODY JUMP!”
“What?” Vapor asked, blinking in confusion.
Sunset gestured wildly to the dimensional beast below. “ABANDON SHIP!”
“It’s technically a mecha…” Vapor wanted to point out.
“No time for semantics, now come on!” Sunset shouted, grabbing her by the arm as they all leaped out just in time, only to watch the mecha fade away. They now stood atop the same rooftop as Shutterbug, the monster cackling as the zord vanished into his photo album.
“Okay, now I’m really mad!” Sunset growled, drawing her sword as it crackled with an angry white-hot flame. “Just for that…”
Let it be said, Vapor loved being a superhero. She’d read plenty of comics, and she’d always dreamed of putting on a cape or a cowl. Her teachers called it a stupid dream, that she should set her sights a little lower. And yet, here and now, she had actual superpowers and was one of the idols of Cloudsdale, if not the entire nation. Nobody knew who she really was, so no glory in her personal life, but well secret identity and all.
She loved her life. That being said, some days were… well, more frustrating than others.
“Why are you doing this?” Vapor asked the monster she currently faced. “Why? What’s in it for you?”
“Same thing as you!” Shutterbug called, dodging a Burning Reign from Sunset and slamming his palm into her chest. She staggered, and Shutterbug kicked the mare backwards into Robert and Autumn’s arms.
“We are not the same!” Vapor cried, the White Ranger diving to the left to avoid a punch. Shining swung his sword, only for Shutterbug to catch the blade in his hands. Vapor and the others could only watch in horror as Shining faded away. It was only later the rangers would realize they’d been demorphed with this act.
“Oh, but aren’t we?” Shutterbug asked. “You seek fame and glory for your feats, if not irritably heroic ones and me? I seek fame for my famous photography skills!”
With another snap, away went Robert.. Autumn roared in rage as she slammed a fist into the monster’s chest, making him stagger. She shared a nod with Vapor, and together they shot the monster off the building with beams of energy from their side arms. All three rangers ran off the building to follow, extending their wings to glide down to the next rooftop where their opponent awaited.
“You’re a monster,” Vapor decided. “I never thought I’d say this about anyone, but I hate you. Those were my friends!”
“Friends are fleeting, photography lasts forever!” said Shutterbug in return. He fired an energy beam at the Rangers, only for Sunset’s horn to glow. The attack vanished into a miniature black hole.
The rooftop crumbled, as twin hands of concrete and steel erupted from below. They tried to capture Shutterbug, only for the monster to dive forwards. He tackled them into the new hole created by Sunset’s spell, and inside the building the battle progressed. Obviously, in such a confined space there was hardly any room to move and of course, mistakes were made.
Another snap of the camera, and away went Autumn. Now the party was down to two.
“Run, Vapor!” Sunset shouted, shoving herself in between both Shutterbug and her fellow mare.
“I won’t leave you!” Vapor cried, even as the dimensional beast lined up his shot.
“GO!” she shouted, and then…
SNAP!
While all this happened, Radiguet took advantage of the chaos. He needed to go shopping! You see, a man had his groceries and so did a monster.
To the diamond dog mines he went. Slashing down the guards, he directed a bolt of lightning towards another guard. There were only ashes left.
Coldly and methodically, he made his way towards the center of the mines. No witnesses were allowed to be left behind. Kicking open a cart, gemstones spilled out all across the cavern floor. But Radigeut was a very picky shopper. He didn’t want rubies nor did he want emeralds. Nor he did desire topaz or diamonds. No, what he needed was a geode.
He had plans, big plans and all of Equestria would tremble at his name.
Vapor’s mind was a blur, her body practically running on fumes as she tried to process all that she had seen today. She felt as if she was about to crash. So much for fun and games, right? No, Vapor Trail had gotten a very harsh reality check.
Because of her, her team was de… Vapor choked back a sob. No, she couldn’t say it. Saying it, even in her head, would acknowledge it and force it to be true. It couldn’t be! It simply couldn’t.
Vapor found herself crashing up against a tree, fighting back another sob. How could she have screwed up so badly? She reacted too slow, and now? Vapor’s sadness changed to frustration and rage, and she lashed out, slashing at the tree. With one clean strike, it toppled over like that of a domino, crashing to the earth.
“Wooooooooooowww,” said a voice, bitingly sarcastic. From out of the timberlands stepped Zen-Aku, an unreadable glint in his eyes. “You sure showed that tree, didn’t you?”
“What do you want?” Vapor mumbled. For another thing, why couldn’t she morph? No, she knew why. The morphers were connected in an intricate fashion. If even one of the other morphers was rendered inoperable, so were the others.
“You looked like you needed a friend, and given that this is the land of friendship…” Zen-Aku drawled. “Thought I might give it a shot!”
“Haha,” Vapor laughed sarcastically. “Now what is it you really want?”
“Oh well, I tried to be nice about it, but obviously that won’t work with you throwing your pity party…” Zen-Aku sighed to himself, the wolf tossing a glance skywards. “I’m going to be frank with you, clean up your act. Sunset wouldn’t want you throwing this party of one for yourself. None of your teammates would!”
“Yes, well, not sure it really matters at this point does it?” Vapor said, bitingly sarcastic.
“They’re not dead, not yet. Just trapped in Shutterbug’s infernal photo album. But, you know, if you want to keep on feeling sorry for yourself, go right ahead!” Zen-Aku retorted.
“You don’t know how I feel!”
“Like a whimpering pup,” Zen-Aku groaned. “Of course I don’t know how you feel, I’m not you. Not sure I want to be! But you can still save them if you get your ass in gear!” the wolf continued.
“Not sure I can…”
“Well, we can fix that can’t we?” Zen-Aku replied. “But I’m going to offer you a deal.”
Here, he drew his blade. Vapor’s eyes widened.
“You beat me, you can continue on your merry little way. If I beat you, you hear me out, deal? Better make up your mind fast, time’s running out!”
“Fine!” Vapor shouted and charged forwards with a battle cry sword in hand. She slashed, but Zen-Aku sidestepped. Another slash yielded the same result. A third and final slash Zen-Aku caught with his blade, and a simple twist of his crescent blade disarmed Vapor. He kicked her to the ground and held his sword at her throat.
“If that was even but a decade ago, you’d be dead at my feet and bleeding out, your blood beginning to pool,” Zen-Aku replied. “Thankfully, I’ve changed since even if all the same, I have no time for your bullshit. Neither do your teammates, for that matter!”
As he helped her up, Vapor asked: “Alright, then how do you suggest I save them?”
“With a bit of help,” said Twilight as she strode up, with her and the rest of the mane six wearing their Elements. Vapor’s eyes widened. “No, don’t worry, we don’t know who the rest of your team is. But Zen-Aku sought us out, as he apparently has a theory.”
“Well, one of us knows who the other Rangers are, but a lady’s allowed her secrets, correct?” Rarity thought to herself.
“Yes, gave poor Twilight quite the fright,” Zen-Aku said looking moderately embarrassed. “I have to work on that. But all the same, I have this feeling that the Elements could give your Sky Shift Morpher a temporary boost. A temporary one, but a boost nonetheless. What’s that old phrase, never look a gift horse in the mouth? Or a gift pony in this case!”
Nobody else seemed to appreciate his attempt at humor, save for Vapor who cracked a slight grin and Pinkie who giggled.
“I don’t know how long you would have after we do this, my best guess is five to ten minutes. Should be enough time for you to retrieve your friends!” Twilight theorized.
“Retrieve…?” Vapor had to question.
“They’re inside a roll of film,” Twilight said as if was the most obvious thing in the world. “Don’t you know how cameras work?”
“Twilight, we’ve talked about this dearie,” Rarity said. “Not everypony is as smart as you.”
Twilight flushed a bright red.
“Alright, if this turns me into She-Ra…” Vapor smiled. “I say bring it on! But what about Shutterbug’s army? He’s got plenty of Reversers standing between me and him, and I don’t want to waste my morph till I get to the big guy.”
“Relax, we’ll take care of them. You’ve helped protect our town for a few months now, and it’s time we return the favor!” Rarity decreed. Vapor forced back another sob, this time happy tears threatening to break.
As the Elements charged up, Vapor could do nothing but embrace their white light. And she felt a new power race through her. And she smiled, Shutterbug was in trouble now!
Meanwhile...
“Snap, snap, cheese!” Shutterbug laughed like a loon as he continued taking pictures for his new portfolio. In the streets, ponies collapsed as their souls floated away into his photo album. He slammed it shut, chuckling. “And they say a picture paints a thousand words. Well, mine must be painting a million! Such art, such still life!”
He was then kicked in the face and knocked backwards as Vapor rebounded off of his body, spreading her wings and floating to the concrete below. Like an avenging angel, her back was to the sun, looking more determined than ever to stop this madness.
“Actually, I’d say your photos are only worth one word. Crap,” Vapor remarked. “Just a personal opinion, art’s always been subjective but the majority vote is in. Your work sucks.”
“Ah, so the little pegasi returns for round two huh? Just to clean up her mess?” Shutterbug asked. He noticed Vapor’s flinching, and if he could, he might have grinned at the sight. “Oh, so guilt eating away at you? About how you failed to save your friends? So I have to ask, have you come to die? To join them?”
“No, I’ve come to stop you,” Vapor declared pointing right at him. “Don’t worry about your thugs, my friends are taking care of them. Something you could stand to learn a lot about, I think. Friendship does make the world go around, in case you missed the memo. Pretty sure you did, yeah…”
“Overrated, but do you really think you’re going to stop me?” Shutterbug asked. “You lost before, and that was with a full team. What makes you think you’re going to win this time? Let me pontificate upon your sorry state. You're only second rate! One snap and one flash, and you’re out of the fight!”
“You’ll have to catch me first!” Vapor said, blowing a raspberry driving the dimensional beast into a furious indignant rage. Vapor, for her part, had spotted a nearby warehouse and thinking fast flew into it. But she had to reach it first, and the now enraged monster was snapping photos left and right.
Taking cover behind a wagon, she heard a snap and then the wagon shimmered before vanishing into thin air. Vapor ran for cover again, but this time decided to kick a barrel towards the dimensional beast nearly toppling him due to simply how top heavy he was. She kicked another barrel towards him, but with a SNAP! her improvised ammunition vanished into nothingness.
Vapor panted and sweated, terrified beyond all measure. She had a plan, but she needed to reach that warehouse before she could even put it into action. And this camera hog was not letting her at any cost. “Come on Vapes, you’re a wonderbolt in training. You passed Spitfire’s drills, you can handle this idiot! Your friends are counting on you! Just gotta…”
An idea came to her like a bolt of lightning.
“Hey, get back here before I lose the light! I want to get your good side, you’re bound to be a money shot!”
And then he found himself caught up in a whirlwind, sent flying with barrels impacting him right and left. Vapor took her chance, and ran into the warehouse kicking up dust and dirt in her wake.
The warehouse was mostly empty, long and the floor covered with dirt. Nowhere near as much cover as she would have liked. But it was still manageable for her purposes. Hiding behind a shipping crate, she heard the dimensional beast’s distinctive cackle and her breath caught in her throat. “Oh white ranger, come out come out wherever you are… You’re graceful like a swan, elegant! You’ll be worth a lot to me!”
“Oh, I’m sure…” Vapor whispered as she looked skywards and spotted a long chain hanging from the ceiling.
“Time for a before and after shot!” Shutterbug called, before he snapped his photo. Vapor scrambled just as her cover faded away. He, as he lined up another shot, called out: “Stand still! Hope you’re ready, cause my focus is all on you now…”
Then, Vapor came from above, swinging like Tarzan as she kicked the monster in the face again making him stagger. Swinging to a pile of container crates, she vanished into the darkness. The dimensional beast swore, at this rate he was going to run out of film before he got her! Snapping several more photos, the containers vanished. But Vapor was nowhere to be found. Quickly checking his portfolio, the monster’s eyes widened. No White Ranger!
Then barrels bombarded him from above, clattering and crashing all around him.
Vapor leaped down off a ledge, grabbing onto him and riding the monster like she was in a rodeo. The dimensional beast thrashed and frailed, attempting to throw her off like he was a bucking bronco. Eventually, he succeeded and Vapor extended her wings as she skidded to a halt in the dirt below.
“You’re persistent, I’ll give you that. But time’s almost up for you. I’m going to be going for the wide angle shot!” Shutterbug called, and Vapor rolled to the left as he snapped a photo. She rebounded off a wall, only for the monster to reach out, grab her and slam her into the dirt. “Watch the birdie!”
The air rippled and it roiled as thunder cracked before a jagged bolt of lightning came down, striking the monster dead on target as if he were a magnet. Vapor took her chance, and swept her foot, knocking the creature off balance and he slammed into the dirt. Never mess with a pegasus, she told herself. Really, those who could control the weather were not ponies to mess with.
The monster recovered, and it slashed at her, and Vapor let out a scream of pain. Her pristine white fur was now matted with red blood, the sleeve of her uniform torn wide open. She clutched her arm in pain, fighting through the searing hurt. Okay, kid gloves were off then. Time to take this up a level.
“You want a good shot, right? An action pose?” Vapor remarked, flicking her wrist to unveil her morpher, now glowing with the colors of the rainbow. “Well, think fast, as you’re about to get one! Harmonic Power now!”
Shutterbug was sent flying backwards by the sheer power being thrown around as Vapor morphed. When the smoke cleared, out stepped a new pink Ranger. In some ways, Vapor mused, the costume resembled the famous White Tiger Ranger right down to the gilded gold details on the helmet. But it had its own identity as well, a fine mix of pink and white, topped off with a little skirt. Bit girly, yeah, but the pink Harmony Squadron Ranger was ready for action.
“WHAT!?!” Shutterbug roared before he was bombarded as Vapor came upon him, delivering a series of lightning fast punches to his stomach. She only had about five minutes before this power ran out, so she intended to use that time well.
“Ta-da…” Vapor drawled, before she grabbed ahold of the monster by the arm, and ran up along a wall before landing atop the creature. Locking her legs around its lens, she began to squeeze. Vapor let go at the last moment, before flipping off the monster, landing in front of it. It tried to snap a photo, but to his surprise…
“You cracked my lens!” he roared in rage.
“That’s not all that’s gonna get cracked…” Vapor said as she lined up another punch. She had to recover Shutterbug’s roll of film, but that would be no easy task. She had to wait for the perfect opening.
Spinning and flipping in midair as she dodged energy blasts from the monster, Vapor went for her sidearm. She fired off a pink beam of energy only for the monster to knock it out of the air with a swipe from his arm. He launched a series of film rolls, tightening them around Vapor, but she began to pull herself away, ripping and tearing at the seams. She, with her back to the monster, kicked him in the face to break herself free. The film tore, the monster screaming in rage at the indignity of it all.
Vapor scrambled away, before striking a pose with her arms spread wide almost as if she was flying. She winked at him from under her helmet.
“Where’d you get that power?” the dimensional beast demanded to know, Shutterbug truly furious beyond all reasoning.
“Didn’t you get the memo? Friendship,” Vapor chimed. “Does you wonders! Do you believe in the magic of friendship, because I sure do…”
“Oh shut up!” Shutterbug roared, charging forwards at her only for Vapor to cartwheel to the side before spinning low and slashing at his legs with a small Chinese-style sword. Next, she implanted the blade into his foot. As Shutterbug hopped around in pain, Vapor pulled the blade away before she slashed at him horizontally and then across before spinning away with the grace of a swan.
No, the grace of a phoenix as like the legendary bird itself, she rose from the ashes and became stronger than ever before!
“Pink Phoenix power, brah, gotta love it.” Vapor said, flashing the monster a peace sign. Raising her blade, she made a ‘come forth’ gesture with her hand. And the monster met her challenge, drawing a sword of his own before the blades met. Sparks flew, as Vapor struggled to fend him off. She hadn’t had the proper training that some of the other rangers had. All she knew how to do was gymnastics and how to fly.
And fly she did, leaping backwards and extending her wings as she flew atop a ledge, kicking the remaining barrels down towards Shutterbug. Taking a running leap off this ledge, she jumped to another, before firing her side arm at the monster. Shutterbug unleashed another roll of film and pulled her back down to earth. Tugging, he pulled an angel from the heavens. Vapor kicked at his face wildly, and struggled to free herself.
She chopped at the film with a hand, letting the remaining film fall away as she cut it in half. The monster launched more energy blasts at her, and Vapor sliced them out of the air with her dao. She could feel the power starting to leave her, the mare now panting and sweating. She had to finish this up fast.
Letting out a battle cry, she charged forwards and leaped over another energy blast. Landing behind Shutterbug just as he turned on a dime, she spun and kicked dirt and dust into his face. Vapor then slashed at the monster, only for the dimensional beast to chop her dao in half. The shattered blade fell to the earth.
“So what you going to do now?” Shutterbug taunted, stepping forwards with a distinct air of renewed confidence. “Birdie’s been relieved of her talons!”
“Has she?” Vapor said, summoning a long spear, and jabbing at the creature. She shoved the blade into his chest, before lifting upwards and tossing him over her head. As she did so, Vapor spun and kicked him into a shipping crate. “Mhmm, might want to rethink that…”
As the monster charged forwards with a roar, Vapor readied her final attack. Getting into a Ryu like pose, she launched not a Shoryuken but a brilliant pink energy blast. “Harmony Bomber!”
The monster was nearly eviscerated by the full power of the elements of harmony, and he crashed through the shipping container. As this happened, his roll of film popped free and landed in Vapor’s hands just as she finally demorphed.
“NO!” the monster shouted as he struggled to stand. Vapor gave him a wily grin, and pulled the film open. All the souls trapped inside were now let free, and quickly began returning to their proper bodies. Vapor nearly collapsed to the dirt, her energy spent but feeling a great sense of relief. She’d done it, she’d saved everyone. But who was going to save her?
The question was soon answered as a wall of flame erupted between her and Shutterbug, Sunset teleporting in a red column of light. She put her hand on an exhausted Vapor’s shoulder. “Rest now, we’ll take it from here.”
Before Vapor slipped into unconsciousness, she saw her fellow Rangers morph.
“With the reach of a Falcon! Power Ranger Red!” Sunset lead, raising her sword up high.
“With the speed of a swallow! Power Ranger Blue!” Shining declared, spinning a blaster pistol in his hand.
“With the strength of an owl! Power Ranger Yellow!” Autumn grinned, charging up her gauntlet.
“With the swiftness of a condor, Power Ranger Black,” Robert said, with barely masked fury bubbling to the surface. Nobody, and I mean nobody touched his comrades. As explosions of multicolored smoke erupted behind them, they stated in symphony: “Power Rangers, Sky Strike!”
Shutterbug staggered, the flames crackling in front of him. Sunset, personally, was amazed he could still stand with the major league beatdown he’d just been handed. Oh well, they could fix that!
Letting out battle cries, they charged forwards through the fire and towards the monster only to be blasted into a wall by an eruption of energy.
Radiguet stepped into view. “It seems, once again, I must take matters into my own hands,” he said in a tone of false boredom, only barely disguising his excitement. “Bring it!”
He drew his sword and charged forwards.
“Oh boy…” Sunset said as the rangers fanned out to avoid a wide sweeping slash from the blue-skinned villain.
“For too long, I’ve been sitting on the sidelines watching plan after plan fail!” Radiguet declared as another slash of energy knocked the Rangers to their feet. “No longer! Today, you die!”
Throwing out his hand, he blasted the four Rangers out a window, and started to advance. The weakened Shutterbug reached out to grab him.
“Thank you… Master, you saved me!” he breathed out.
“Don’t think of this as that,” Radiguet replied as he raised his sword. “I just came to PUNISH you for your failure myself!”
With that, he struck the monster down.
The Rangers could only watch in horror.
“His own man… Just like that,” Shining breathed out in shock. “He… has he no mercy?”
The leader of the Reverse Empire smashed through the wall, sneering. “Well, I always found that sort of thing overrated. Gotta keep the troops in line, of course. Show them what happens if they fail, correct?”
“That’s not leadership,” Shining said. “That’s tyranny!”
“Whatever works, right?” Radiguet asked with a small shrug as the Rangers engaged him, with Shining and Robert holding back his blade with their own.
“Alright, you blue-skinned smurf, you asked for it!” Shining growled before he turned to Robert. “How do you know how to use that thing anyways? You’re a beat cop!”
“Sword, baton, all the same right?” Robert shrugged as Sunset leaped forwards and slashed right through Radiguet. Shining groaned, staring at his wingmate.
“NO, they're not!” He shouted in disbelief. Sunset pulled away from Radiguet, sheathing her sword as she snapped her fingers. There was the roar of an engine as the Striker Buggy changed to it’s cannon form, Sunset catching it in midair.
She spun, cannon still in hand as Radiguet sent an energy slash her way. Then, Autumn rushed to her side to help her fire the massive weapon. “5, 4, 3, 2, 1! Fire!”
The massive energy burst rocketed Radiguet’s way, and he never had the chance to dodge. He staggered back, hoping to hold the attack back but it looked as if that would not be. Finally, he dived to the left as the blast sheathed the roof off the warehouse.
Radiguet roared in rage, and his form shifted from a man in somewhat silly looking armor to that of a monster, a nightmarish cross between that of a fish and a bat. He lashed out, grabbing all of the rangers in whips of red lightning as flames erupted all across the battlefield. “Now, face my full fury, unbound! Die, Rangers and let your legacy end here!”
Before he could strike the final blow, a wall of magic was thrown up between him and the Rangers. Twilight teleported in, as both Rarity and Rainbow helped the other rangers up.
“Ah, the teacher’s pet!” Radiguet mocked as he returned to his normal shape. “Yep, you’re definitely Celestia’s little student. I can sense your magic all over her.”
“Leave, now. You've overstayed your welcome, ‘My Lord’,” Twilight said, though her confidence was an obvious facade. If you listened closely, you could hear the quiver of blood curdled terror. “Your reign is not recognized.”
“Yeah, what she said!” Rainbow proclaimed.
“Get lost, you ruffian!” Rarity added in.
Radiguet clutched his side in pain, Sunset’s blade actually having struck clean and true. “This is not a retreat, and don’t mistake this for mercy Rangers. We shall continue our battle another day! Because make no mistake, you are still nothing compared to me…”
With that, and a crack of lightning, he was gone. Sunset waited, and she waited. Surely, they would have to have a mecha battle with Shutterbug right? But he never grew. She let out a sigh of relief, before rushing to Vapor’s side. The other Rangers followed, and Vapor awoke with a groan.
“Uuuuugh, is he gone? Last thing I remember was…” Vapor moaned weakly, as Sunset helped her up.
“You did good girl, you never gave up on yourself,” Sunset said, though Vapor would never correct her. Lest Sunset lose her faith in her swan. “You came back for us, you stopped that monster all by yourself!”
“Yeah, remind me never to do that again. Ooooooh goddess, I think my aches have aches!” Vapor groaned. “What do you think Autumn, spa date? Just you and me?”
Autumn burst out laughing. “Oh yeah. Whatever you want Vapes, Mystic Mother knows you’ve earned it after today. Man, you kicked ass! Where can I get one of those extra Ranger forms?”
“You… you were watching me? The whole time?” Vapor’s eyes widened in shock.
“Of course we were, duh!” Autumn said clapping her on the back. “Even when we were trapped, we saw everything.”
“Everything?” Vapor asked nervously. “Even…?”
“Doesn’t matter,” Autumn said. “Important thing is? You came back for us, that’s all that matters.”
Vapor broke out into a cry, and Autumn embraced her. Nothing was going to tear them apart. Nothing.
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How would she know about that? I wasn’t aware of the fact that they had been briefed on any previous Ranger team.
The fight was good and I hope that she and everyone will be ready in the future for more sneak attacks like this.
10383742
I mean, with Vapor... she's a fan of superhero and superhero history. It's not that big of a stretch of the imagination she did her reading. And while we're on Dairanger... this moment. There's a reason this went down in Sentai history.
Amongst Super Sentai Stances, Dairanger's is famous. Largely due to how complex it is, as these are not easy poses to do.
(Rest easy, Daigo of the Heavenly Phantom Star...)
10383754
I own the Shout Factory Release of Diaranger and that pose was epic. Plus you can blaintly tell why they didn’t use the rest of the suits in the American version.
10383768
To be fair, Saban tried for years given they wanted to use the suits as 'ancient rangers' during the Lost Galaxy era. But behind the scenes, the production was a mess so... Alas!
i.pinimg.com/originals/31/c3/44/31c344c3f1b6e5a394cfb642c7cc0c8b.jpg
*the mirror flashes every filly in Equestria's present, past, and future, plus some more feminine colts*
Cozy: OH COME ON!
You couldn't resist could you?
Good chapter though.
Sorry for the delay in getting to this chapter, I had fun with it when I finally sat myself down to read it!
Glad to have gotten some focus on Vapor Trail in this one, that was pretty well-done to see her come up against the all-too-hard truth about superheroing. I also really enjoyed seeing the Elements of Harmony get to play a role in this chapter, that was an inspired touch I felt. 
10408293
Yeah, Vapor's one of those characters that's been needing a focus chapter. Like, she's always been sorta out of focus in this story even in the chapter which introduced her. Like, all she's done aside from giving a brainwashed Autumn a smack back to sense is gush about being a hero.
I decided to deconstruct, and then reconstruct her. First, I would show the harsh reality of superhero life and then show that yes, there always is a place for an excitable idealist. This honestly be my favorite chapter I've done in this story yet, from the unmorphed fight sequence to the Dairanger homage.
And that Radiguet bit, like wow. Wanted to remind people of who his Sentai counterpart really was.
I've been kinda odd about them, like I wanted to treat the show's adventures and the story's separate. Give excuses as to why neither can help the other, I've been failing at that so I just basically keep each side separate if I can. That being said, if and if I have a good enough reason, they'll crossover.
10409846
Understood. I was hoping to see Vapor get a day in the limelight (especially since she only had the one real appearance in canon that I can think of) so I was real interested to see what could be done with her. And like I said I think you did a good job, both taking her character apart and then putting it back together again.
I get what you're saying about the Elements and the Rangers. They would definitely be tricky to do together, so in some ways it makes a certain sense (at least from the perspective of a writer XD) to try and ease back on the potential workload of having to bring them together so much. But still, I think this crossover bit with them was a very inspired and well-handled addition to the story.