Battle of the Bats
Vida kept her face impassive as she let go of her consciousness and followed the tug in her mind… a thread that tied her to Lilith.
"I damn hope this shit works…" She gave an exasperated eye roll as she touched the bark of a tree, willing it to transport her to wherever the sire bond was calling her.
She burst out of a dried desiccated tree in the middle of a wasteland.
"You are finally here." Came the cold smooth voice as Lilith came into view.
"Yes, my queen." She answered.
"Did you get it?" Lilith asked eagerly.
"Yes, my queen." She repeated drolly, taking out half of the scroll of Fireheart. It was a risky bet but the rangers had agreed unanimously that she would need something to keep Lilith from suspecting her. Besides, they already had made a copy of the scroll.
"Excellent!" The vampire said ecstatically, snatching the parchment from her hands. She snapped her fingers. Other vampires stepped out of the shadows, all of them with blank faces, completely under Lilith's thrall. One of them, the D.J. from the party stepped forwards and handed Lilith the other half of the map. She joined the map, using her powers to stitch the two halves.
"Mount Feugo!" Lilith exclaimed gleefully on recognising the magical landmark.
Vida's eyes flickered. She and the other rangers had learnt about various locations in the magical forest. Udonna and Lena had insisted they do so, in the rare case that they get lost while travelling through the trees.
"Thanks to you, I will have enough power to crush Bandora! The power of Fireheart and that of my vampire army, I will be undefeated!" She gloated.
"At what cost?" Vida asked.
"What?" Lilith asked bewildered at the pink witch speaking to her without any command.
"Look around. You condemned all of these people, including me to a cruel fate just because you wanted an army? You took away our lives, made us into bloodthirsty monsters!" The pink witch walked towards her, a determined gleam in her eyes.
"What… You should be under my thrall!" The villain stuttered as she staggered back.
"Not anymore!" Vida snarled, taking out her morpher. "Magical Source, Mystic Force!"
In a flash of pink light, she transformed into the pink ranger, though she felt different.
"Get her!" Lilith screamed at the other vampires, who leapt at her, only to be blasted backwards by bolts of lightning.
"What!" The vampire queen exclaimed in shock as eight figures glimmered into existence… the rangers and Lena, who were already morphed as well as Nai and Mea.
Chip lowered his crossbow, which was still smoking from summoning the thunder bolts.
"Get them all!" Lilith screamed, just before Vida punched her. Chip, Madison, Nai and Mea rushed to her side while the others held the vampire underlings at bay.
"You really think I would be defeated by you fools! I am the queen of the vampires!" She bared her talons, slashing through Vida's armour, throwing her back. Nai and Mea caught her before she fell to the ground and the other two rangers leapt at the villainess, Chip firing his crossbow and Madison swinging her trident, unleashing elemental attacks that forced the vampire back.
"You came after my sister!" Madison screeched, striking her again with her trident.
"Enough!" Lilith thrust a bolt of dark energy at the blue ranger which she countered by summoning a tidal wave. Lilith coughed as the wave crashed over her. Before she could retaliate, lightning bolts hit her one after the other, electrocuting her.
"Vida, listen to us." Nai said. "They may be able to hold her off but they won't be able to defeat her."
"Remember what we told you. Embrace the dark magic, the hate and let it loose." Mea instructed.
Lilith yelled, finally shaking off the attacks and running at Chip with unnatural speed, grabbing him by his helmet and slamming him to the ground, cracking his helmet. She turned to Madison, blocking her trident with her hands, and wrenching it from the blue ranger before tossing it away. She landed a powerful kick on the blue ranger's chest, sending her skidding backwards.
She turned towards them with a menacing gleam in her eyes.
"And who might you two be?" She mocked.
"Someone you shouldn't trifle with if you know what's best for you…" Mea warned, linking arms with Nai seconds before Lilith threw a orb of dark magic at them.
There was a huge explosion that threw Vida back. She coughed, rising to her feet.
"NO!" She screamed, unable to see through the dust and believing that their new allies were so easily decimated.
Lilith was cackling maniacally.
"See the stupidity of your actions, Vida! You brought this on yourself. We could have fought Bandora together but you… you just had to snoop into matters that weren't yours and come after Fireheart!"
"All this because I took half the map?" Vida asked disbelievingly.
"Why else?" The queen scoffed.
"Someone knows how to hold a grudge." Another voice cut in. It seemed as if it was two voices speaking together.
The dust settled to reveal a single individual where Nai and Mea stood. She looked familiar to Lilith and Necrolai, except her face and torso seemed to be painted with a layer of shiny gold and the rest of her skin was purple.
"Who are you?" Lilith asked warily.
"Your worst NIGHTMARE!" She announced, diving at Lilith, purple wings flapping behind her and grabbing her by her hand, lifting her in the skies and throwing her.
Lilith screamed, falling for a second before her wings sprang up seconds before she hit the ground.
As the two vampires fought against each other in the skies, Vida ran to her friends.
"Chip, are you okay?" She asked, helping the yellow mystic up to a sitting position.
"Yeah, my head's still spinning but I will be okay." He said, "Go, help Nai and Mea, or whatever they are now."
"Yeah, I will be with him." Maddie reassured, walking towards them after picking up her trident.
"All right." Vida nodded, raising her wand. "Mystic Wings!"
"Give her hell, V!" Chip called after her as she took to the skies.
Ryan grimaced. He had been keeping an eye on the new rangers for a while, only interfering a single time. It appeared he was right after all. The city was plagued with vampires, which seemingly appeared overnight.
He looked at the five vampires he had stopped from feasting on unsuspecting teens who had been taking a night walk.
It was clear that they were newly turned, maybe with no idea of what was happening to them except for a feral hunger and an unquenchable thirst for blood.
He had knocked them unconscious and contained them within a salt circle in the safe house he had established in one of the vacant warehouses.
If it were any other hunter, they would have staked them on sight but Ryan knew better… They weren't at fault. They were victims too, just like he had been.
One of the vampires cried out uncontrollably, repeatedly trying to untie himself and flinging himself towards the forcefield. Ryan reached out with the limited telepathy Vypra had taught him and flinched backwards. They were being called by whoever sired them.
He could trace the psychic footprints to a wasteland near the outskirts of the city.
Chances were the rangers were already there, which saved him the trouble of seeking them out.
He needed help.
The only ones who could was the Mystic Force Rangers, who seemed to be using magic more ancient than anything he had ever seen.
He supposed he needed to contact them. It was sooner than he had hoped but it was necessary.
"I remember you…" Lilith smirked, dodging an energy blast and firing one of her own at the renegade vampire. "You were the psycho who betrayed the Infershia Clan!"
"I saw the error of my ways." Nightmare retorted, deflecting the attack.
"You are a fool!" Lilith spat. "Nothing more than a demented freak!"
Nightmare snapped her fingers and shards of black crystals manifested out of thin air and cut through Lilith.
"I AM THE QUEEN OF VAMPIRES!" Lilith roared, letting loose a wave of dark magic that ripped through the other vampire, causing her to split back into Nai and Mea, who quickly turned themselves into bats to keep themselves from falling.
"Pathetic!" Lilith scoffed, raising her hand, which ebbed with crimson energy, only to be hit by a bolt of pink magic that sent her tumbling through the clouds.
"Who dares!"
She looked up to see the pink mystic hovering above her, her butterfly wings fluttering beautifully, and the twin bats perched on each shoulder.
"You don't know when to quit, do you!" The queen grimaced, lunging at the ranger.
"Don't hurt them." Lena instructed as she knocked another vampire unconscious. "Direct elemental attacks may destroy them. Try to restrain them."
"Easy for you to say!" Neil mumbled, dodging another attack. He aimed his staff at the incoming hordes and the air around them became colder, encasing them from shoulder down in a massive block of ice.
Xander winced as one of the vampires snuck up from behind and bit on his neck, only to hiss as he was thrown backwards by a jolt of electricity. He slammed his axe to the ground as vines sprung from the barren soil and wrapped around the creatures, restraining them.
Nick struck his staff to the ground, and a ring of fire surrounded the vampire horde attacking him, forcing them to hiss as they stepped away from the flames.
"Impressive…" They turned around at the familiar voice to see Saizo appear out of a spell circle, accompanied by a squadron of hidiacs. "But you will need more than that to fight me!"
"Seriously, mate!" Xander said exasperatedly. "Can't you see that we have our hands full right now! Come back next week or never!"
"Insolent child!" Saizo growled. "You are speaking to the Grand-"
"We know who you are, loudmouth." Nick spat. "If you want to fight, then let's get on with it."
"As you wish, red ranger!" The knight readied his sword as he led his forces at the rangers.
Reviewer Replies:
RiveraJ88: Thank you!
Miley Pinkys: Unfortunately, yes. Only a vampire queen can walk in daylight without any adverse effect but the rangers may find a solution to that. ;)
RPM Shadow: Thanks! Don't worry about Daggeron. He will have a happy ending. :)
D.J. Scales: Thanks! Glad you liked it and the Magiranger cameos! Wolzard is not going to show up since I already introduced Saizo. One more chapter left to wrap up this arc and after that, we will get back to adapting the canon episodes. :)