> Vinyl Dawn
>  by LucidDreamer
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Day By Day
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Vinyl sat on a hillock, her eyes closed. Her breathing was slow and calm. A soft breeze rustled her bright blue mane and tickled the white fur of her ear, causing it to flick. The small shifts of her body made little noise, even with the white plates of armor covering her. Though that same armor wasn't all that comfortable. It did do its intended job for the most part.
The breeze rustled the long grass and tree branches. The only other sounds were the soft humming of the Grazers 'feeding' nearby, accompanied by the rhythmic thuds of the patrolling Watchers.
In the distance, Vinyl could hear the louder thuds of a Thunderjaw. What it was doing, she didn't particularly care. She lived for these moments of peace. The times when her sister and her weren't fighting for their lives against the machines that tried to kill them. Though normally they only tried when one of them either missed a stealthy kill shot, or did something to antagonize them on purpose.
Then again, Vinyl always did prefer the louder option. So it was usually up to her to attract the attention of their prey, while Aloy snuck around for a better vantage point.
Aloy always prefered the stealthier approach. The stealthier option worked most of the time. Which is why Aloy was out hunting and gathering resource, while Vinyl stayed here. Aloy wanted to upgrade one of her bows and the best way to do that was 'farming' machine parts. The best way to do that was by sneaking around and stealth killing a bunch of Scrappers.
Vinyl gave a soft giggle and opened her eyes.
Irises of crismon, streaked with light blue, looked out over the world. Dark clouds loomed over snow capped mountains in the distance. The blue sky overhead was slowly being taken over by those same clouds. Looked like snow. It was probably going to be heavy. The last snowfall still hadn't melted off, a light dusting was still on the ground not enough to cover the tall grass and bushes, but enough to be noticable. Made for good tracking though.
On the note of tracking. Vinyl's eyes lowered to the small herd of Grazers at the bottom of her hilly vantage point. The strange, antlered, quadruped machines 'fed' Their heads absorbing nutrients from the ground. They occasionally walked around the patches of tall grass, scuffed away the snow, and lowered their heads to 'feed.'
A Watcher walked into her vision, slowly plodding along. The long necked and long tailed biped paused. It raised its head and looked around. The bright blue light of its single eye-lense shone over the various Grazers.
Vinyl smiled and closed her eyes. There was a light hum from her horn and a feeling like something clicking. When she opened them again, the world had shifted. Everything had darkened and was tinted in a bluish light. The Grazers and Watchers were outlined. The path the Watcher had been taking showed up as foot imprints on the ground. As she looked at the Watcher there was a light hum. Suddenly different parts of the Watcher lit up in bright yellow. Information filtered into her mind. It wasn't anything new. Yes, the main weak point was the central eye-lense.
There was another hum from her horn. She levitated an Arrow out of her quiver. The blue light of her magic shone clearly through the blue fog. If she wanted to, she could take out the Watcher for some parts.
Vinyl bit her lip as she levitated the arrow in front of her eyes. Then again, that'd spook the Grazers and get the Watchers on her flank. With a sigh she slid the arrow back into her-
"Vinyl!" Aloy's voice shouted into her ear.
"Gah!" Vinyl yelped. Her vision swam as everything shifted back to normal. With a painful twinge, her magic broke and the arrow clattered to the ground. There was a high-pitched whine as yellow light covered her. Vinyl shook herself and looked down to see the Watcher and a couple close Grazers staring right at her. Their eyes had turned a bright yellow.
"Uh Oh..." Vinyl murmured as she got to her hooves and backed away slowly. At her movements, she noted that the rest of the Grazers and the other two Watchers were staring at her. Suddenly all three Watcher's eyes turned red in unison. As one, they let loose a horrible high-pitched wail. The Grazers immediately bolted away, splashing through a stream nearby. As they did, the Watchers did the opposite and bolted towards her.
Entirely caught by surprise, Vinyl backpedaled. She turned and almost slammed face first into a tree. She managed to shift just enough that, with a hiss, her shoulder hit the bark. Her armor took the hit, but her shoulder would still probably bruise.
She had more important things to worry about.
Her hooves managed to make purchase on the snowy ground and she pushed off the tree right as a Watcher slammed into where she'd just been leaning. She bolted forward with no real plan in mind. The wails of the Watchers shrieked right behind her as her hooves pounded over the ground. She ducked behind another tree.
"Vinyl!" Aloy's voice called into her ear again.
A Watcher skidded past her, sliding on the snow. Vinyl's horn hummed to life and an arrow was yanked from her quiver. Her eyes lined up the shot. "I'm a little busy Sis!" She snapped as her horn hummed louder. She felt the building energy along the shaft. With less than a thought, the arrow shot forwards as she released her grip on it.
It whizzed through the air. Unfortunately the Watcher had managed to right itself and the arrow only tore off a chunk of plating from its back.
"Vinyl I need your help!" Aloy sounded quite panicked.
"Gimme a sec!" Vinyl snapped back. "Watchers!"
"Watchers? What did you do?" Aloy asked as the second Watcher appeared to her right. With a howl it tried to leap at her. Vinyl ducked and tumbled forward. She was now face to face with the first. She growled as the Watcher backed up. Her horn flared once again, and she yanked something off her back that was made for such situations.
A hammer of silver metal, with a head of white plating, smashed into the Watcher's head. Said head ceased to exist in any tangible form as the hammer (fully engulfed in bright blue energy) smashed it to useless scrap.
"You surprised me!" Vinyl yelled. "I cried out and now this is happening!" She whirled around as the second watcher made to leap at her. Vinyl set herself, reading to swing again.
Only for something to smash into her side.
She was thrown to the ground as her hammer dropped in front of her with a thud. "Right... There were three of them..." She groaned, feeling her side lance with pain.
"I could use your help if it's not to much trouble!" Aloy called out again.
"Gimme a sec!" Vinyl snapped.
A dull blue haze covered her vision as she got to her hooves. Her horn thrummed a deep bass note. The two Watchers seemed to be backing off. Vinyl growled and grit her teeth.
"Oh no you don't...." She breathed, raising her head as a pulse ran up her horn. Snapping her head forward a bright blue ball of light and sound rumbling towards the Watchers. The snow disintegrated and the ground cracked as the ball rolled forward. The Watchers didn't appear to know what was happening, seemingly lost in their processes.
On contact with the first Watcher, the ball burst in a deep note that rattled Vinyl's bones. The Watcher was torn apart, shards and scraps flying in every direction.
The second Watcher was only a tad more lucky, staying in mostly one piece as it was thrown a good distance away, now missing it's legs and tail.
Vinyl's head swam as her vision returned to normal. She dropped to her haunches. "Hooo.... Man....." She lightly shook her head trying to clear it. Her side ached and her horn stung a bit.
"Vinyl!" Aloy called again.
"I'm coming, I'm coming." Vinyl shook herself once more and got to her hooves. Her horn twinged a bit as she retrieved her hammer and slung in over her back. "What's got you so bothered? Scrappers aren't that hard to deal with."
"I got the attention of a Thunderjaw!" Aloy yelped.
Vinyl's eyes widened. "What?! Why didn't you start with that?! I'd've not wasted my Tearing Blast on some stupid Watchers!"
She closed her eyes as the world shifted. On opening them, the world was once again dark. There was a ping not far off with the text Aloy next to it.
"Doesn't matter! Anything would be helpful! I'm out of Tearblast Arrows!" Aloy yelled. Now that Vinyl had a moment to listen she could hear the cacophonous noises of the Thunderjaw in the background.
Vinyl shook herself one final time as the blue darkness faded away, leaving the ping in her vision. She stomped a hoof, narrowed her eyes, and set her jaw.
"Don't worry Sis. I'm on my way."