Magora's ship opened fire.
Ratchet ignited his hoverboots and evaded to the side, while Vendra flew straight up. A line of powerful laser blasts ripped through the pavement where they'd just been standing.
Purple energy flared brightly around the airborne space witch, forming a protective shield around her body.
Magora's attention was instantly drawn to the glowing threat above her and the Talon's guns moved to track the small Nether's form.
But Vendra didn't stick around. Her powers were as recovered as she could hope for, but still fairly weakened overall. She probably wouldn't be able to stop a direct hit from the Talon's main guns.
Instead, she used her small profile and maneuverability to weave back and forth through the sky, steadily rising upward and keeping her opponent two steps behind her.
"Hold still!" the warlord roared over the ship's external speakers after another volley of shots missed their mark.
Magora's fire whizzed past Vendra as she rose. The Talon launched homing rockets at her next, but the skilled space witch only had to apply a tiny amount psychic force to their noses to send the flying off course.
Magora growled in frustration as she increased her ship's altitude to chase Vendra. She swore she'd kill the slippery space witch, even if it meant splattering her against the windshields!
But Vendra kept rising further, dodging to the side to avoid another salvo of bullets. She redirected her path to a particularly tall Vullard building, before rapidly increasing her altitude just before hitting it.
Consumed by Blood-lust, Magora almost slammed into the scrap metal structure, but years of piloting had her pulling up just in time, "Where do you think you're going, Witch?" Magora demanded mockingly as she tilted her nose straight up in pursuit. "The sky might have no limit, but only 'I' can survive in the vacuum!"
Vendra scowled, taking offense at the underestimation of her powers, but that line of thought was neither here nor there.
What 'was' here, however, was the top of the tall Vullard tower she'd been steadily climbing with Magora right behind her and the moment the Talon crested its roof, 'there' was Ratchet waiting with his Warmonger already aimed.
There was a moment of surprise as Magora pulled back on her thrusters, but she quickly realized it was too late.
"Space-rat!" she roared, before her voice was drowned out by the screams of half-a-dozen rocket-propelled warheads.
Explosions rippled across the starship's body, shaking it violently and leaving blackened holes all over its hull.
Vendra took this opportunity to fly in, intent on adding her own firepower to the assault, but before she could, an orange dome of energy wrapped itself around Magora's ship.
Vendra halted just before unleashing her attack and frowned. She was a little annoyed, but not surprised to see that the Agorian starship had the same shield and auto-repair function as the hydra tank.
A sense of irritation rubbed at her as she watched the starship's armor plating repair itself.
Instead of focusing on that, however, she shifted her attention to the three protruding versa-fuses that had been exposed. With a now familiar ease, she reached out with her powers, gripped one of the large fuses in psychic energy, and ripped it out with a flick of her wrist.
Magora roared with anger as the rebound explosions caused the Talon to pitch and yaw out of control.
Vendra hovered over to Ratchet, where he stood giving her an approving look. She returned it with one of annoyance.
"Don't just stand there patting yourself on the back. Do the one thing you're good for and shoot her down!"
Ratchet's lips pursed indignantly, "I 'will'," he sneered back. "I'm just waiting for Magora to get it under control."
Vendra looked confused, "What?".
But Ratchet didn't answer. Instead, he shouldered his weapon and followed the spastic Talon fighter with his targetting reticule, waiting for its chaotic and unpredictable movements to subside.
Inside the ship's cockpit, Magora wrestled with the controls, and after much effort, finally managed to pull it up into a stable hover.
The experienced Lombax grinned as his target went perfectly still. The instant in time between when an enemy regained control and before they could counterattack created the ideal window to press the advantage. He pulled the trigger with reflexive precision.
… But nothing happened.
Ratchet blinked as his Warmonger remained silent and the familiar recoil of its rockets was mysteriously absent.
He quickly pulled the trigger again, but still nothing happened.
It was only then that he realized there were no more rockets on his weapon and a quick glance down revealed the 'zero' on his HUD's ammo counter. He'd been so focused on what Vendra was doing and getting the perfect shot lined up that he'd completely lost track of his ammo.
Ratchet turned to Vendra and gave her an embarrassed look, "I swear, this never happens."
Vendra's eyes sparked with intense disapproval.
Ratchet's eyes flicked back to the Talon, widening with concern.
He then spun around and ignited his hoverboots, blasting off straight towards Vendra.
The surprised Nether had no time to react before being swept up in his arms and carried clear off the rooftop.
As they fell, the top of the building exploded in a shower of scrap metal and fire.
A moment later, Magora's Talon burst through the plume of smoke it had just created and chased down the now airborne duo.
Instead of using his boots to slow their descent, Ratchet rotated in midair and pointed his feet upwards, propelling the two of them toward the ground at breakneck speed.
Vendra, having realized Ratchet had just saved her from being blasted off the rooftop, redirected the power she was about to fry him with into her wings and used them to stabilize their flight. She redirected their path as they approached the street so that they flew parallel to the ground.
With Ratchet's boots as the main propulsion, the skilled space witch focused solely on controlling their flight path, weaving through the air to evade incoming attacks.
Behind them, Magora was hot on their tail (literally in Ratchet's case) and it was all the Vendra could do to avoid the incoming shots.
Just ahead was a major intersection and Vendra pushed her powers hard, sending the two of them sideways down the sidestreet and behind the building they'd just flown past.
Magora saw her targets disappear and slammed hard on the ship's retro thrusters to try and match their turn.
The maneuver was close, Talon almost slammed headlong into the scrap metal building ahead of it, but the skilled Talong pilot managed to cut in just enough to follow her quarry without crashing.
Magora let out a triumphant roar, before blasting off down the street in pursuit.
Ratchet and Vendra kept their heads low as they watched the starship scream past them overhead. Too absorbed in the chase, Magora hadn't yet noticed that she'd lost them.
"Well, what do we do now?" Vendra demanded after the ship passed.
She was in a particularly foul mood that their plan had failed all because of someone's inability to count.
Ratchet weighed his blaster in his hand, "I could still take her down with my other weapons," he noted thoughtfully. "But it would take a lot more effort. My Warmonger does the best damage at this kind of range."
The shriek of starship engines filled the air again as Magora began to double back, "Where are you, you miserable rats!?" the warlord's voice boomed from the ship's speakers. "Come and face your doom like honorable warriors!"
Vendra's attention snapped back to the sky as the deadly Talon flew past again.
She scowled as she ducked reflexively into the shadow, "Well that's too bad Lombax," she spat. "It's not like there's a stockpile of ammo lying just around."
But when the irritated space witch received no response, she turned back around to find that Ratchet was missing.
Vendra's scowl turned to wide-eyed panic. She quickly flew deeper into the alley, knowing it was the only way he could have gone.
She flew between buildings and checked inside windows, moving only as quickly as she dared, lest Magora spot her from overhead. She could still hear the whine of engines.
She reached the end of the alley and just as she was considering using her powers to search for him, she spotted Ratchet's tan-furred hide standing right out in the middle of the street where anyone could see him!
Vendra squirmed uncomfortably just on the edge of the alley, debating whether or not she should just leave him to die as she listened to Magora patrolling like a shark some distance away. However, she knew she couldn't escape while he still had her collar remote.
With one last peak around the relative safety of the alley wall, Vendra took a deep breath and quickly flew over to him.
"Are you stupid?" she demanded in a hushed shout. "Don't answer that! Let's just get back into cover, now!"
"One second," Ratchet countered with a dismissive wave of his hand.
This annoyed Vendra, but when she turned to see what he was looking at, she spotted a green colored crate sitting nearby.
"What's that?" she questioned, her curiosity momentarily overriding her caution.
Ratchet grinned, "It's an ammo crate," he answered, before hefting his wrench and taking a step towards it.
Vendra raised an eyebrow, "What? Here? Just randomly? How can you tell? There's no markings on it and even if there was ammo in it, what are the chances that out of all the millions of guns in the galaxy, it will have what you need?"
Ratchet didn't answer, he simply swung hard with his wrench and smashed the crate to pieces.
Vendra's first reaction was stunned disbelief when she saw several warmonger rockets spill out onto the ground. Her second reaction was stunned horror when she realized the dumb Lombax had just swung his wrench through a box full of highly-explosive rockets!
"What is wrong with you?!" she shouted as quietly as she could. "Why would you smash it if you thought it was full of missiles?"
Ratchet turned to look at her and shrugged as he picked up the rockets using his wrench's magnetic field, "It's the quickest way. I'm not going to open each crate. That would take forever."
Vendra grit her teeth in frustration, but eventually she took a deep breath to calm herself and let out a sigh, "Whatever. You got your rockets, as ridiculous of a coincidence as that was, now let's go finish off Magora."
The irritated space witch turned in the direction of the distant starship noises, but Ratchet stopped her, "Wait," he said, his gaze still fixed to the spot where the now destroyed crate had been. "I only got a few rounds. I'll need a few more to take down that Talon."
Vendra looked around, but she didn't see any other ammo crates, "There's nothing else here. We need to go-"
But just then the circular metal ring that the crate had been sitting on opened up and another ammo crate shot out and up into the air. By the time the box landed, the ring had closed again.
"What the-" Vendra began, but Ratchet immediately smashed it and this time ammunition for his blaster fell out.
He clicked his teeth, "Tch, bad luck."
Vendra blinked at the audacity of the statement coming from 'him', "Are you kidding me!" she shouted in a near rage. "There just happens to be an ammo dispenser randomly in the middle of a city street and it just happens to be randomly filled with ammo you need? Why?"
Ratchet looked at her pensively, as if he'd never asked that question before, "I don't know, but I see them all the time. Have you never seen them before?"
"I don't use guns!"
Ratchet just shrugged and that was seemingly the end of it.
Vendra felt the urge to press the issue, but before she could go further, the screech of jet engines echoed off the building walls. She spun around and saw Magora's Talon fly out from behind a building, coming to a stop with its nose pointed down their street.
"There you are!" the enraged Agorian roared over the speakers.
The urge to shout 'I told you so' flooded Vendra's mind, but a more pressing desire to not die took priority.
The young Nether quickly began flying towards the cover of the alleyway, but paused when she realized she was alone.
She turned, "What are you doing?!" she demanded of the seemingly oblivious Lombax who still stood above the ammo dispenser.
"Hold on, I don't have enough rockets yet."
Vendra blinked, "Are you kidding? I know those giant ears of yours can hear what's coming!"
He didn't answer her, even as the sound of Magora's approach was already shaking the nearby buildings.
Vendra looked from Ratchet to the incoming Talon fighter. Magora would be on them in seconds!
The whine of the ship's weapons charging filled Vendra's ears and the panicked space witch found herself standing between them and Ratchet.
She took one last, longing glance at the relative safety of the nearby alley, before squaring her shoulders and turning to face the warlord. Setting her feet, she let power surge into her palms. She was prepared to block any incoming attack, despite knowing she wouldn't have the power to stop more than a shot or two at most.
Magora's evil laughter boomed from the Talon's speakers as she put on even more speed, making a beeline for the two of them and lining up her guns.
"Say goodnight, Witch!"
Booms echoed through the street, shaking the buildings and the ground with their force, as nearly a dozen air-burst mines detonated beneath Magora's Talon, sending streaks of burning metal shrapnel up into the fighter's underside.
Magora roared in confusion and anger as her Talon spun out of control and her shots went wide.
Vendra simply stood there and watched. Blinking in a dumbfounded stupor at the chaotic scene before her, until Ratchet appeared at her side loading the last few rounds of fresh rockets into his Warmonger.
"All loaded," he informed her matter-of-factly.
The confused space witch felt her powers drain from her hands as she slowly turned to look at him, "When did you set those mines?" she questioned, too relieved and flabbergasted to shout at him.
Ratchet hefted the now fully-loaded rocket-launcher to his shoulder and shrugged, "I put them down the moment I saw the ammo crate dispenser. I mean, it was right out in the middle of the street!" he noted with a laugh.
Slowly Vendra let the words sink in and the stupidity she felt for worrying about him began to boil into anger. Topped off with the memory of how she'd jumped to protect him from a non-existent threat, Vendra's cheeks reddened as she opened her mouth to scream.
"Engaging!" Ratchet declared, cutting her off before she could say a word as he pulled the trigger on his Warmonger.
A stream of screeching rockets erupted from the weapon, drowning out any noise of outrage Vendra might have been making.
Magora, who had just now managed to regain control of her ship, shook the dizziness from her head and turned her guns on the hated space-rat and witch, only to be greeted by a wall of explosive warheads.
Fire blossomed along the ship's hull as the poor Talon's armor plates were shredded. The combined damage of rockets and air-burst mines put the fighter into repair mode and the orange shield deployed to protect it from any further destruction.
Ratchet turned to Vendra and gestured toward the two exposed Versa-fuses, giving her the honors.
Vendra stared at the relaxed expression on Ratchet's face and her eyes narrowed, "We're not done discussing this," she stated, before reaching out her hand and gripping a fuse with her powers.
Ratchet blinked in confusion, "Discussing what?" he questioned innocently.
Vendra just glowered, hating that she couldn't enjoy this… much, as she ripped the fuse from it's housing.
Magora's shields fell and more explosions tore through her ship.
When the shaking stopped, the Agorian pirate gripped the controls of her craft tightly and through the cockpit window, both Ratchet and Vendra could see the look of fear in the warlord's expression.
Ratchet fired again, but Magora had already thrown her ship into full retro fire, backing the starfighter away at great speed, She only just missed the salvo.
The cheated Lombax snarled in frustration, catching Vendra a little by surprise, "Come on!" he barked. "She's got one fuse left. We need to finish that thing off before she tries to escape!."
His hoverboots ignited before he'd finished speaking and he was instantly in hot pursuit.
Vendra followed and together the two of them chased down the fleeing Agorian.
Ratchet expertly fired more rockets at the ship, many of which found their mark.
Magora desperately tried to avoid losing any more of what little health she had left, all the while returning fire with self-guided missiles of her own, but Vendra had their defense covered. Laser blasts and kinetic rounds were one thing, but rocket-propelled explosives were easy to grab and redirect into the nearest building.
Even over the sound of battle the focused space witch caught a few grunts of disapproval from her goodie-goodie handler. She knew they were about the collateral damage to Vullard settlement, but Vendra just shot him a look that dared him to say anything about it.
The Lombax said nothing.
Another of Ratchet's rockets struck Magora's ship and a long trail of smoke billowed from it's engines. The situation was getting desperate for the Agorian Warlord, but she was also starting to pull away.
So focused on chasing down the dying Talon, Ratchet almost didn't see a smoking vehicle of some sort lying in the road ahead of them. The Lombax had to swerve to avoid it, increasing Magora's lead by a precious few meters.
Vendra, however, glided smoothly over the debris.
The Former villain knew that Ratchet's newly restored magazine of rockets was already running low and there were more and more misses between each hit as the Talon's engines continued to outpace the Lombax's hoverboots.
Vendra ground her teeth in frustration. She doubted Magora's ship was still space-worthy, but all it would take one or two more obstacles in their path and the fleeing warlord would have enough time to redirect her thrusters up and it would be the last they saw of her.
Slowly, Vendra began pulling ahead of Ratchet.
Her powers were almost depleted and it took a lot of effort, but she was still faster than the lombax. More importantly, she was still faster than the sparking, burning engines of the half-dead Talon.
It was the sight of billowing black smoke and sputtering exhaust that beckoned Vendra forward. She could tell just by looking that the craft was on its last leg. One more hit from Ratchet's rocket would finish it, but so would even a weak blast of electricity.
It was dangerous. She knew that without Ratchet to cover for her she could be easily overwhelmed should Magora turn and fight, but she couldn't let the hateful warlord escape...
Something strong caught hold of Vendra's wrist, slowing her down and holding her back.
Confused, she spun around to find Ratchet's hand gripping her, and a knowing look from him pointed in her direction.
Irritation sparked in the space witch's eyes. She wasn't happy that he'd suddenly grabbed her again, but she was even more annoyed that he'd seen through her thoughts. She hadn't even pulled ahead a few inches, but the ever vigilant hero had known exactly what she'd intended to do.
Vendra wrenched her arm free and glared at him, hesitating to argue as she felt the warm, heavy sensation on her wrist. She eyed the appendage suspiciously.
A screech of straining engines pulled her attention back to Magora's burning ship.
The Talon had stopped fleeing, turning hard in mid-air as it spun to face them.
Ratchet quickly raised his Warmonger, lining up the shot that would end this fight, but a series of missiles came screaming out of the Talon's weapon bays.
Vendra reflexively raised her hands to divert the inbound rockets, but before they reached her, they detonated, covering the street in front of them in burning phosphorus and thick smoke.
Both Ratchet and Vendra came to a halt just at the edge of the opaque wall.
"She's trying to get away!" Vendra shouted as the fear that their enemy might escape filled her.
"No…" Ratchet countered, in a voice so on edge that it gave the space witch pause. "She isn't."
Vendra's brow furrowed, "Then what's she doing?"
Magora grinned at the wall of white smoke she'd created. It didn't matter that the status bar on her dashboard indicated that she was just one shot away from being blown out of the sky. All that mattered was that she never let them take that shot.
"All Magora's Raiders!" the wicked warlord barked into the Talon's communication array. "Your glorious leader has broken the space-rat and the witch. They stand ready to fall... but I am a gracious commander and I offer the honor of the killing blow to you, my dear warriors. Come and show me who among you is most worthy of their heads!"
Roars of excitement and bloodlust filled the air as the smokescreen faded.
In the middle of the road, Ratchet's fur stood on end as he and Vendra felt the rumble all around their exposed position. Together they watched as the last remnants of Magora's Raiders vacated their hiding places, pouring out onto the streets and rooftops from the surrounding buildings.
Ratchet should have known that no Agorian would consider running if there was even a sliver of hope for victory. The cunning warlord had led them straight into a trap.
Now that Magora was safely on the other side of her soldiers, she reclined in the pilot's seat of her beaten-up starfighter and sneered down at her two opponents who faced their doom, "Now go!" she shouted encouragingly. "And I'll give the now vacant position of second-in-command to whoever brings me the Lombax's fur hide!"
The promise of a promotion spurred the slobbering Agorian mob into a frenzy. None of them seemed to notice how badly Magora's ship was damaged as they shouted their glee and charged toward the two enemies standing before them.
Reacting quickly, the experienced Lombax threw out a series of Tesla Spikes, creating an electric wall that held back the waves of Agorians, but it was only a temporary respite.
"That won't hold for long," Ratchet said aloud, before switching to his blaster and firing into the crowd.
Magora's grin widened as she witnessed her opponents' pathetic last stand.
The Lombax was inflicting yet more casualties to her already depleted forces, but she knew he'd already spent the lion's share of his munitions in his battle with her.
For just a moment, the warlord grimaced as she thought of the damage he'd done to her raiders, but just as quickly she shook the thoughts away. Once word of her triumph over the galaxy-famed Ratchet and infamous Vendra Prog spread, the number of new warriors eager to join her band would be without end!
Magora laughed gruffly at the thought. It wouldn't be long now. Already the Lombax's electric barrier was about to give and even his pet space witch appeared to be at the end of her rope.
The experienced Agorian commander didn't know how Vendra's powers worked, but she'd fought enough opponents with strange abilities to know that there was a limit to everything and the poor little Nether had clearly reached hers. The tiny creature hadn't even sent out a single spark in their defense. She simply stood there, letting the Lombax do all the fighting, almost like a statue...
A series of taps sounded to Magora's side, pulling her from her thoughts as she turned to see what it was.
When she did, both the humor and color drained from the Agorian's face… There, just inches from the canopy window, floated Vendra Prog.
The space witch's face was split into a bone-chilling grin and purple energy danced forebodingly around her tiny body. Bright tendrils of electricity licked the Talon's hull, clawing across the glass as if searching for a way inside.
The two stared at one another for a long moment before the comprehension clicked in Magora's mind.
"H-h-hey, let's not be hasty here," the terrified warlord began in a placating tone. "M-maybe we can work something out? You know, villain to vil-"
Purple light flashed around Vendra's hands as she released her power. The blood-thirsty space witch didn't want to talk. She didn't want to banter, or monologue, or even to savor her enemy's final words and pleas… She just wanted Magora dead.
Purple electricity danced across the Talon's hull, causing instruments in Magora's cockpit to glow, before exploding over the helpless warlord in a shower of glass and metal. The auto-repair sequence activated and the final versa-fuse popped out, but Vendra ripped it from its socket before the shields could even rise.
Two loud booms shook the air, one right after another, as the ship's engines became overloaded and burst.
Magora roared as her ship shook, "Argggghh! You miserable space witch! I'll hang your head on my dashboard! I'll make seat covers from your skin!" But the shouts became cries of panic as she lost control and began to spin through the air, "Ugh, I wish I'd kept the airbaaaaagggs!"
The Agorian radios all went silent as the warlord's ship slammed into the ground before erupting in a plume of smoke and fire.
Vendra eyed her handiwork with grim satisfaction, 'That's for being a stereotype,' she spat inwardly, proud of herself for not saying the words 'before' striking the final blow like some kind of idiot villain.
She turned to see if the Lombax was still alive, knowing the only way this moment could get any better was if he wasn't, but searing pain exploded across the smug space witch's back. She knew immediately the feeling was coming from her wings. They were starting to cramp from overuse.
She looked down at the street below, vicious Agorians staring up at her with gleaming eyes and swords, as her powers failed and she slowly fell.
