Kamen Rider Alchemy

by Layton13

Rating: teen
Tags: Adventure, Equestria Girls, Kamen Rider, Violence, Crossover, Main 7 (EqG), Romance, Original Character, Mystery
Length: 425692

Stray magic is running rampant through Canterlot City and people affected by it turn into dangerous monsters. But through the use of an ancient family heirloom a new hero tries to save the city.

Canterlot City has been the staging ground for many magical incidents in the past year and now it seems that it is only going to get worse. Stray magical energy is attaching itself to people with deep routed desires and turns them into dangerous monsters. The city appears helpless before the onslaught of the strange beasts and no one seems to be able to protect it.

That is until a newcomer arrives in Canterlot City. Someone with a family history deeply connected to magic and the fantastical. With an old family heirloom, he will try to turn the tides in the battle for the city.

He is Kamen Rider Alchemy!

First cover art by RamenDriver

New cover art by dot-emcee

Published 2018-04-15 05:10:12 UTC
Last updated 2019-06-30 21:02:06 UTC

Rebirth of a Hero - Flaming Heart of Justice

After Phoenix had taken place on the couch and started to stretch his limbs his brother returned to what he actually wanted to discuss with him. “So, how does it feel? Did it hurt? Saw any ancestors that were bound to the driver or discs? Tell me everything!”

“Great, it felled like I had infinite energy if I were unstoppable. I can’t properly describe it. No, it did not hurt, actually quite the opposite. The disc healed the injuries that I suffered through my attempt to absorb the attack. Yeah, trying to get the magic that way is not really viable. The disc can’t take in that amount of magic in such a short time, and the rest of the attack still affects the user, so I’m not doing that again, period, because I like living. And to your last question, no! Why do you even think that? No one besides myself has used the discs, so it’s rather unlikely that the spirit of someone would have bounded to them? By the way, the idea is just laughable!”

“Didn’t you think recreating the magic discs was laughable?” His brother countered, all with a smug grin on his face.

“Difference, unreasonable against no evidence of such!”

“Fine. Still, it’s a shame that the monster escaped, with the stuff it was spewing from it, it seemed to not be the type for that.”

“I think that was a facade or rather what it wants to be. The thing seems like the standard cliche of a ‘revolutionary’ from a terribly written book. His short temper is only adding to this, but whatever it’s not like we will stumble over it out of sheer luck.” Phoenix jokingly said, just to frantically look around. Thunder was just giving him a confused look. “What? I at least had to try; it's not like it did any harm.”

His brother just rolled his eyes and added: “That is not how it works, you can not simply rely on luck. Besides you are not really lucky.”

“I like to counter that with the fact that I’m still alive, found a magical anomaly and recreated an artifact our family had worked on for centuries and all this on my first day in Canterlot. If that is not lucky, I have to ask what is?”

“Point taken. However, I would still not count on your ‘luck,’ since if one thing is certain, then it is that something like luck can be gone as fast as it appears. So, what are we going to do regarding that monster, we can’t let it run around, that only will get people hurt and find it is damn near impossible since we have no leads, we are no detectives, and this city is big, so searching for it is a rather fruitless endeavor.”

“We could simply call out for it. I did get under its skin, so maybe it falls for the bait?”

“And how would you do that? If you wait in some public place you bring civilians in danger, and the chance that the police asks some unpleasant question is relatively high, since, you know, vigilante.”

“We could simply wait, that is also an option. I don’t think he is the type to lay low, too much of a hothead.”

“We don’t have many other options, have we?” Thunder begrudgingly agreed with his brother.

--------------<

Next day peace had returned to the city, even if it was only superficial. At least in the pizzeria, everything was normal. Summer bossed him around under the pretense of teaching him the ropes.

“Move faster we don’t have all day.” Summer was trying to get Phoenix to speed up his pace since was blocking the door to the rest of the restaurant.

“Sorry, I think you have given me too many orders. I can’t open the door!” Indeed, he was struggling to balance four plates, all of them with the biggest pizzas they had, with his hands and on his arms.

“When you work in the restaurant business you have to be capable of something like this, if you are not, I suggest taking another job.”

“As if I could do that. This is basically my rent; I’m lucky I get paid anything. So job switching isn’t really an option.”

“I know, so stop complaining and start learning.” With that, she playfully stuck out her tongue. “By the way, want to do something tomorrow evening? I wanted to go jogging through the woods and was looking for a training partner. Since you know, training alone can be quite boring.”

“Jogging? Doesn't this involve walking or running? I’m not the sports guy, to much stress and doing stuff. Sorry.”

“Oh, well then that can’t be helped, your loss.” She seemed somewhat sad about his answer.

“I think that is a wonderful idea, why don’t we all three go jogging together. See it as a teambuilding exercise. And you could use some training anyway Phoenix.” Thunder had just hijacked their conversation.

“Sure why not, the more, the merrier.”

“Isn’t that my choice, or did I missed the meeting where it was decided that you can choose what I do or not do?” He seemed somewhat irritated by them deciding over his head what he was going to do.

“Yes, you missed it, yesterday when you were driving around town without any idea how to get back.” Thunder seeming to find Summers response rather funny.

“Fine! I see I have no say in the matter. I hope you two take it easy with me, my constitution is horrible, so please have mercy.”

Devilish grins began to form on both the waitresses and cooks faces. Phoenix didn’t like this one bit, not one bit.

“Right, orders! I have to go! Now!” And with that, he pushed the door open with his shoulder and stumbling out of the kitchen, luckily not dropping anything.

After he had delivered the plates to table seven and nine, he caught a glimpse of the program on the TV and stopped for a moment to listen to it.

“ Like you probably know, this street was the scene of the recent monster attack. The damage from its rampage is still quite visible and if it hadn’t been for the mysterious hero Kamen Rider Alchemie, who knows what would have happened.” While the reporter was saying that a video of the monster flying out of the alleyway was playing in the background. Apparently, they hadn’t been able to see what had happened in the alley and he was thankful for that. The moment Alchemie stepped into the video he felt pride in what he had done. “The police have yet to release an official statement regarding the masked vigilant but we did manage to get an interview with mister Pharynx, the security-chef of Change Industries. And we give the mice to our young reporter Fresh News.” A rather muscular man with dark cyan skin, short, washed out ruby colored hair and a violate suit with amaranth tie could be seen standing next to a young woman with light brown skin and hair that was a darker shade of brown. Her grey suite sold her reporter look.

“So mister Pharynx, since your employer seemed to be the goal of the attack what have you to say about the prospect of your company being attacked?”

With a rather growly voice, he answered her question: “I’m shocked that someone would attack our company. Sadly it doesn’t matter how much good you do some people will hold grudges against you, how petty they may be, and apparently, our monster from yesterday is one of these people. With the situation as it is I have decided to triple our security forces to make sure our CEO is not harmed by this beast. On that note, our CEO madam Crisela has decided that the damage caused by the monster attack will be covered by our company since it was on its way towards our headquarters it is our responsibility to clean up this mess.”

“What a selfless act by your CEO. I know companies that would not have done this or even thought about the possibility. Next question, what is your opinion on the masked vigilante that calls himself Kamen Rider Alchemy? He stopped the monster before it could reach your company.”

“While we are thankful for his help, we, however, think that any vigilante is acting against the law, so he should confess to the police and ask to help them in the case. If we let comen people take the law into their own hands, we will arrive at an age of …”

A massive explosion could be heard in the background, both the reporter and the security-chef looking in one direction, shock spreading on both their faces. Then a crackling voice could be heard booming from offscreen: ”Yes, fear for your lives, run before the new god of this world! To prove this, I will break down this castle of oppression!”

Nearly all color had leafed Phoenixes face. Before he could see any more, he rushed into the kitchen, nearly knocking Summer on the ground.

“Hey. Watch out.” He just ignored her and dashed through the back door. Once outside the building, he sprinted towards his bike only to stop a meter in front of it. He reached into his pocket and took out the Alchemy Driver, subsequently placing it in front of his waist. The metal strap, again, expanded from the driver and pulled tight around him. The next thing he did was take out the fire disc and place it on the pole in front of the driver.

\ MAGIC DISC DETECTED! /

At that moment Summer opened the back door to look for Phoenix, who in turn didn’t notice that the door he, moments ago, just stormed through had opened again, proceded with his transformation.

“Henshin!”

\ FLAME DISC ACTIVATED! /

With this the flaming whirlwind formed around him again, devouring his body. Seconds later the gold and red armor of Alchemy Flame Mode had formed around him.

“What? You are … How can you … I can’t believe it!” Summer shouted from the depths of her lungs, the most confused she had ever been.

At this moment Phoenix blood froze, he had forgotten that she could simply follow him. He had just revealed his secret identity to someone he didn’t even know for more than a day. And with that, he turned around to face the waitress. “Well, shot. That wasn’t planned.”

“You are Alchemy? This … I can’t believe it. So that was what you did yesterday. How did you get this power? Do you have superpowers besides the armor? How long are you Alchemy? Tell me everything!”

“I don’t have time for this right now, please I will explain everything to you, but I have to deal with the hothead from yesterday first. So please go back to work, when I’m back, we can talk but not now.” And with that, he jumped onto his bike, which turned into its Alchemy form again and drove towards Change Industries. All the way mentally kicking himself in the ass for being too careless.

Summer was left standing there, mouth hanging wide open, still shocked by what she had just witnessed. The brother of the boss was that vigilante Kamen Rider Alchemy. What was she supposed to do now? Go to the police, ask Thunder or just forget she ever saw something? After another minute she decided to hear his side of the story first before making any premature decisions she would regret later. For now, she would just continue working and wait for him to return, even if the lust for answers nearly consumed her.

--------------<

At the Change Industries building utter chaos was spreading. People were running for their lives, some without really thinking about the consequences of even trying to hide inside the headquarters of the company. The reporter had as well moved inside the building, trying to, against better judgment, get more material off the monster by dragging her cameraman along. Pharynx had managed to gather some of his personal together to stand up against the beast. The five-man he had managed to get hold of were desperately firing at Napalm trying to hinder him from entering the lobby. The bullets, unsurprisingly, doing no damage to the beast, which in turn retaliated with a barrage of fireballs.

During the ensuing chaos, a little girl had stumbled into the situation and hide behind a mailbox, crying for her mother. Since she was so close to the monster and its attacks, it was only a matter of when she would be hit in the crossfire. Then suddenly a teenage girl, that had until now observed the situation from a safe distance, had begun rushing towards the girl. Thankfully the red and yellow-haired girl didn’t draw the beats attention, thanks to the attacks of the Change Industrie security forces.

Reaching the child, she tried to comfort her: “Hey little girl, are you ok?” The girl, apparently too terrified by the whole situation, not answering. “There is no reason to be afraid, I’m Sunset Shimmer, what is your name?”

This managed to get through to the girl, which in turn responded, still crying. “My … my name is … is Sunflower. Do you know where … where my mom is?”

Sunset began to smile. “I’m sure she is somewhere in the area and looking for you. I can bring you to a safer place, and we can look for your mother together. How does that sound?”

Sunflower, wiping her tears away, noded. “Good … Thank you.” And with that, she picked up the girl and started to run as far away from the monster as possible.

Unfortunately, Napalm had seen the two and began growling. “So there was this horrible noise coming from. Something like this sound is unbecoming for the ears of a god. Burn in the fires of hell you brat!” And with that, he readied his hand for a shot at the two girls.

“Hey, kitty, wrong target!” As the beast interrupted his attack and started to turn his head towards the origin of the voice, its face made contact with the wheel of a bike. The weight and velocity of the bike were enough to knock the monster off his feet. With a screeching sound, the bike came to hold and revealed that Alchemy had arrived.

“You again! This time I will end you!” Napalm had already begun to rise to his feet. His eyes burning with pure hatred for the rider.

“You are welcome to try, but I’m not sure if you possess the necessary skills to put me out. But you have certainly sparked my interests.” He had dismounted his bike and removed his fire disc from the Alchemy Driver. The disc started to glow.

\ Flame Disc Attack Mode! /

\ Flame Saber! /

After the glow had subsided, the rider was holding a razor-sharp katana in his hand. The blade was forged out of an orange metal with golden patterns resembling flames worked into it, while the handguard had taken the form of the disc. The handle of the sword was wrapped in red cloth bands. Gripping the handle with both hands, he charged towards the raging monster.

Napalm retaliated with throwing three of his usual fireballs. Alchemy, in turn, slashing at the first, causing it to explode upon impact with his sword. The second fireball suffered the same fate. One last strike from the flame saber cut the last one clean in half, both halves exploding behind him.

Having already closed the distance between himself and the monster he once again swung the sword, this time hitting his opponent, sparks spewing of where the blade hat hit him.

“Ahhh! This… this can’t be true! What foul tricks are you using? I’m invincible. Invincible!”

“Oh its simple, I just got an edge over you!”

Napalm snapped, this was enough he would not be humiliated by this clown. “Argh! Die! Die! Die!”He unleashed a barrage of blows on Alchemy who in turn blocked every single blow with the Flame Saber. The last hit pushing him several feet away, but unable to break his block.

“I think its time to give you back some of your own medicine!” He placed his hand on the handguard and started to spin it, the blade beginning to glow with immense energy. “Flaming Slash!” Alchemy then swung the sword diagonally, sending a wave of flaming energy direct at his opponent. Napalm still raging because of his opponent charging headfirst into the attack. As the wave connected a massive explosion consumed Napalm, after the impact the monster could be seen falling to his knees, unable to move, clearly exhausted.

“How? I … I’m a god. I can’t be beaten! I can’t!”

“Napalm, you have used the power you were given to harm innocent people, destroy what others hold dear and glorify yourself as a god. By the magic that was bestowed upon me, I deem you unworthy of your powers and will now take them from you!” He grabbed the handguard of the Flame Saber, which in turn began to glow again. Holding the flame disc again in his hands he put it back in the driver and started to spin it again.

\ Flame Disc Maximum Power! /

The magic of the disk began to gather in his right leg. Alchemy jumped into the air, adjusting his position in midair till his stretched out right foot was facing the monster. He started to spin creating a flaming whirlwind while rotating. And with this, he began to speed towards Napalm, speed growing the closer he got.

“Flaming Whirlwind Kick!”

As the attack connected a massive explosion engulfed the monster, Alchemy coming to a screeching hold several feet behind the beast, or what had formerly been the beast. A young boy with grey skin and a red mohawk now laying in his place. Next, to him, a strange lighter could be seen, it had the form of a flame and had red-orange colors with the motive of a lion engraved in its front. Phoenix stepped closer towards the strange lighter, his flame disc reacting to the unknown object.

“Seems you were no match for me.”

The next thing he did was remove the fire disc from his driver and pointing it at the lighter. From it, energy flowed into the magic disc. A few moments later the lighter had changed forms, now a standard silver like any other. It was early silent when the Rider walked back to his bike, mounting it and speeding away.

--------------<

After he returned from his excursion, Phoenix was assaulted by Summer and a barrage of questions regarding Kamen Rider Alchemy, thankfully Thunder managed to delay the inevasible till the restaurant had closed shop for the day. As soon as the last customer had left the “Magnum Opus” Summer had rushed both brothers up into there living space, unable to hold any of her questions for much longer.

“Answers! I need them! Now! Tell me everything.” She finally released the barrage of questions, visibly exhausted from being denied solid answers for so long.

“You don’t mind if I take care of the explaining, Phoenix might forget important details and or just answer incomprehensible.”

“Hey, that is not true!” Thunder raising an eyebrow was seemingly enough for his brother to admit: “Ok, maybe it’s better if you explain it. Was never that interested in it, to begin with.” With that, he stretched himself, apparently to hide his frown from the both of them.

“Oh, but you seemed to have so much fun with it.”

“Hey, that is something tangible, I can actually do stuff with the armor, not just play the egghead.” He defensively returned.

“As much as you bickering amuses me, answers! Now! Please?” Their eyes shifted to the blue-haired woman, her inpatient look bringing them back to the subject at hand.

“Fine, fine, I think you have waited long enough. But where to begin? Oh, I know, ever heard of the theory that there are more universes out there then just ours?” She nodded. “Well, that theory is true. At least for one, but bear with me this will sound crazy, Equestria, a world populated by talking ponies.”

The look of utter confusion spread on Summers' face, trying to grasp what she just heard. “Ponys? A world populated by ponies? Ok, now I know you're messing with me.”

“As much as I would say the same in your situation, no I’m telling the truth. It is a land of magic, monsters, talking ponies, unicorns, and pegasi. Our ancestor, a unicorn by the name Fools Gold, created the Magic Discs and the Alchemy Driver to create a Philosopher Stone by combining the five fundamental elements of magic. A Philosopher Stone supposedly can transmute every material into another one, can grant eternal life and many other things. He used the discs as storage devices for the elements and the driver as the focal point to concentrate them to create the stone.”

“Wait, wait, time out! You are ponies?!”

“No, our ancestor was a pony, however, the rest of our family, besides his wife and his children, are descendants of humans. We are more part human then we are pony, and since he lived over six hundred years ago, even these parts are so diluted that they are minuscule.” Thunder explained to her.

“So, no ponies? God, this is confusing. But if he was from this pony world how did you end up here?”

“Well before he could test his creation, Shadow Gold, his research partner, tried to claim the driver for himself to rule Equestria. Fools Gold used the magic discs to create a portal to this world and fleed with his wife and children. Shadow could not follow, and since he was unable to recreate the discs, he could not continue his quest for world domination.”

“Sounds like a villain from a comic book. So he fleed with that thing,” she pointed at the Alchemy Driver.“ and these discs and your family had them ever since?”

“Na, the driver yes, but the discs were destroyed, these are recreations. Fools tried to create a philosopher stone here, but only managed to blow himself up. The discs were destroyed, and our family decided that recreating them would be our goal in life. Believe me; it’s a pain in the but.” Phoenix had interrupted their conversation, arms crossed and with a look of annoyance on his face.

“And again, you leave out important details. The day our ancestor decided to turn his theory into reality, he closed himself off from everyone and apparently put the discs into the driver. Then a big explosion and release of magical energy ravaged his body. As his wife came to him he was already dead; the magic discs were broken, only the Alchemy Driver had survived the release of the magic. Thankfully he had taken about twenty additional discs with him, so we were able to rescue a bit of magical energy from the shards of the discs this day. Sadly not enough and so our family decided to travel the world and search for a way to recreate the discs. One interesting thing, however, two hundred years later someone stole twelve of our discs, which in turn only left us with eight. Phoenix holds six at the moment, one fire, he managed to restore yesterday, one water, one earth, one wind and one thunder disc. None of them, besides the fire disc, are in any condition to be functional. There is also one empty disc he is carrying around, just to be sure. We have long lost the way to recreate a blank disc, but with the lack of magic in this world it would be near impossible to anyway.”

“So who stole the discs?”

“Beats me. Probably didn’t know what it was anyway.” The older brother replied.

“I wouldn’t say that. Nothing else was stolen besides the discs. The thief probably knew exactly what he was looking for. But we don’t know. The theft is a mystery to this day.”

“I see. Anyhow, why does Phoenix have the driver and the discs? He doesn’t strike me as the most, you know, reliable person.”

“What is that supposed to mean? I’m very reliable, thank you very much!” All he received were rather skeptical looks. “Fine, maybe not. It’s tradition in our family that the oldest son is entrusted with the driver and the discs to restore them too there true form, or some crap like that. Point being, Gramps was getting too old to travel the globe anymore, and I was next in line. So I’m now the so-called ‘guardian’ of them.”

“I knew you weren’t chosen for your talents!” The bluenette exclaimed.

“I pretended like I didn’t hear that.”

“Oh, I can repeat it if you want.” She replied with the most innocent of smiles.

“Summer would you please stop provoke my brother. Don’t you have more questions?”

“Oh shot, yes. What was that thing that attacked the city anyway? I have never seen something like that before.”

“We have no idea actually. Ok, that is not exactly true. After I pummeled him into the ground, it turned back into a boy. Next to him was a strange lighter, charged with magical energy, fire magic to be exact. I absorbed it with the disc. I assume he was turned into that monster because of it, at least that is the most likely explanation I can come up with, but that doesn’t say much.” Phoenix seemed rather thoughtful as he spoke.

“No, I think you are on to something here. He was probably transformed into that … that thing through the magical artifact. When you beat him down he apparently lost the strength necessary to hold onto this form. The question is only where did it come from?” Thunder agreed with his brother much to Phoenixes surprise.

“Wait, did you just agree with me? I think I have to mark this on my calendar. My idea was validated by Thunder Cloud, I’m shooked.” Phoenix replied to his brother, every word using sarcasm.

“You are welcome. Any other questions that demand an answer, Summer?” Thunder turned his attention towards her again.

“Well two, first; I assume Phoenix is going to continue playing hero, am I right? So he is probably going to leave us alone in the restaurant quite often, isn’t he?”

“Well the life of a hero is a hard one, we can’t decide when we have to work.” His answer only got him unanimous groaning.

“I take this as a yes. Probably the best answer I will get from him anyway. Second question; Why Kamen Rider? I never heard the word Kamen before, what does it mean?”

“I don’t know. It was the name Gramps drilled into me to no end. Just seemed right to use it.” He tried to answer her question.

“It means masked. The word belongs to an ancient equestrian civilization. Fools Gold found the plans to the driver inside one of their ruins. Apparently, they had used the drivers for their warriors. They called them Kamen Riders. He thought continuing to use the name would be a sign of appreciation for their part in his research. So were that all of your questions, or have more pilled up?”

“Nope. I’m golden. Still, all this sounds so weird. I don’t know if you are messing with me or if you are sincere.”

“Believe what you want, we gave you the answers you wanted. But now it’s our time to ask you something.” With that, she looked over to Phoenix, somewhat surprised. “Please don’t tell anyone about this. I don’t want the police trying to arrest me because I play the hero. And I don’t want someone to target people around me to get to me. It makes things so much easier if no one knows.”

“If you want no one to know you really should work on hiding your secret identity, you are awful at keeping it.” She snarkily replied.

“Dolly noted.”

“And no need to worry, I think your secret is safer with me than with you. I will not tell anyone about this. So if someone finds out who you are, it’s probably on you.” She smugly grinned.

“Thank you, and I thought I had to beg, so you don’t tell it. That makes things easier.”

“Wait, wait, beg? Dammit, I gave in too early, can I see that anyway? Please?”

“Nope.”

“Well anyway. It’s good to have you onboard. I don’t think I could have handled him alone without going insane.” Thunder interrupted the two.

“Oh come on, why am I always on the receiving end of these jokes?” Phoenix had slammed his hands over his head in annoyance.

“Simple, you have the most delightful responses to it.” His brother teased him further. Summer began to laugh, slowly after that Thunder joined in. It took Phoenix some seconds, but ultimately he also started to laugh. At least it wouldn't get dull with these two around.

--------------<

Night had set over Canterlot City, most people felled more comfortable in their homes after the recent monster attack. The only people that still choose to leave the save walls of their houses had either something essential to do, hadn’t a place to stay, were of the shady variety or in one particular case all of the above.

A figure stood over a beaten and bruised man, blood beginning to pour out of wounds all over his body. The back-alley around them was completely trashed. Trashcans lay around; some just knocked over some dented like a truck had hit them. Scorch marks could be seen all over the alley, some of them did somewhat look like slashes from a blade while others looked more like claw marks. The figure slit something into his pocket and readied himself to leave until something called out for him.

“You imbecile, why did you need to make such a scene. You are going to draw the attention of the police on us. Next time I expected more professionalist mindset from you, not that of a sword-wielding idiot.” A voice, apparently coming out of nowhere spoke to the man.

“I’m sorry master, but he left me without any options. I asked him to give over the key, but he refused, and after that, he was beyond reasoning. I had to act quickly, or we would have drawn even more attention.”

“Fool. You didn't intimidate him enough, he saw you as weak. Be happy that your little exercise didn’t alert any police or worse Alchemy.”

“With all due respect, I can dell with this amateur, if this is what you wish me to do master.”

“No, you will not! Alchemy belongs to me, I want to fell the satisfaction when I ultimately crush him beneath my heels, and you will not take this away from me with your constant screw-ups.”

“As you wish my master.” The figure started to bow, even if there was no one beside him and the beaten man in the alley.

“Good. Now continue. I don’t want my servant to be caught next to a dead body.” The voice spoke a final time until the alley once again was dead silent.

With that, the figure left the alley. The light of streetlamp shined on him as he stepped out of the shadows. A man in his early twenties could be seen, his skin and black hair with red stripes in it now clearly visible. He wore a brown leather jacket with a white t-shirt underneath. A purple gem necklace was hanging around his neck. He looked around once to make sure no one saw him and started to move away from the crime scene. “Well, well, it seems things are starting to get interesting.”

When Lightning Strikes Twice - 3, 2, 1, Go!

With the defeat and subsequent arrest of the fire monster Napalm, or by his real name Crimson Napalm, a student of the local Highschool CHS, Canterlot City was able to relax again. And with someone like Alchemy watching over them, many felt save again, even if there were some voices that questioned the motivations of the masked vigilante. The police still hadn’t given a statement about their position towards the hero that had now two times managed what they could not, protect the citizens of Canterlot.

Phoenix was lying on the couch of his brother'sliving room, the apartment too small to house more than one bedroom. Ultimately it didn’t matter much to him; he could sleep nearly everywhere, and Thunders couch was by far not the most uncomfortable place where he had taken a nap. Sadly his attempts at taking a well-deserved long nap were thwarted by his younger brother. Thunder was a morning person and always way too cherry, even if he had just awoken from his slumber. Quite the opposite to Phoenix, who was slightly cranky after awakening.

Thunder had marched into his living room and had shouted out:” Good Morning Phoenix! Enjoy your free day!”

His brother reaction to the rude awakening was to unceremoniously fall off the couch and plant his face firmly on the floor. “Thunder, can I ask you something?” Still sleepy he asked his brother.

“Sure, what?”

“Did you need to wake me this way? Seriously, it’s rest day at the restaurant. I thought I could, at least for one day, sleep the appropriate time? Like till two AM. Or something. You know I hate waking up early.” Phoenix seemed not amused by the antics of his brothers today. After managing to regain footing, he started to stretch himself, to at least get rid of some of his sleepiness.

“Oh, come on, it is such a beautiful day, you can’t just sleep for more than half of it. At least not under my watch.”

“Didn’t I earn some sleep after the last two days?”

“I thought the guy was so easy to beat that you didn’t even have to try? If that is true, I’m sure you will be fine or are you going to be out for days after beating something that challenges you?” He mocked his brother.

“Me and my stupid mouth. Fine, you win, I won’t sleep through half of it.” With that, he grabbed the remote for the TV and started to push the buttons on the device, the monitor flickering to live. “I will, however, watch TV for the rest of the day.” He laughed, apparently quite proud of his reply. Thunder just buried his face in one of his hands.

“You never change, do you?”

“Nope!”

“Anyway, I don’t think your day is going to work out quite as you planned. Summer is coming over here soon. She wanted to hang out before we go jogging together, or did you forget?”

“Jogging?” After a short moment of silence, Phoenix continued. “Oh, shot. I totally forgot about that. Oww, oww, I think I hurt my leg after falling from the couch. I can’t come jogging with you. I’m so sorry.” Now he was holding his right leg and giving the best pain-drenched face he could come up with.

Thunder didn’t buy this for one second. “Realy? So you realize the pain just now? Oh no, I think I know what you have. You suffer from a severe case of slackeritis; there are only two ways of curing this. Amputating your leg or jogging, lots and lots of jogging. Let me get my meat cleaver; you can get a belt and bandages.” Thunder began to move towards the stairs leading down to the kitchen.

“Fine, fine, you win. Didn’t expect this to work anyway. Wait, what did you mean with Summer is coming over here soon? How soon? And why am I just now hearing of this?”

“Oh, in about ten minutes or so. She asked me yesterday after we had answered her questions and you decided to take a trip with your bike.” Thunder replied.

“Oh, ten minutes. Wait ten minutes?!” In an instant he had jumped up from the couch, now standing in his pajamas. “And you tell me this now? Why didn’t you start with this? And why does something like this always reach me last?” With that, he dashed towards the bathroom with new clothes clutched under his arm.

His brother was laughing at the reaction of Phoenix: “As I said, you reacted so entertainingly when someone teases you. And you didn’t disappoint, that was just great.”

“Ha, ha, very funny.” And with that Phoenix slammed the door to the bathroom shut. Thunder taking the place of his brother on the couch and changed channels to a cooking show.

--------------<

After dressing himself in his usual orange t-shirt, and his jeans replaced with black sweatpants, he had joined his brother on the couch and waiting for Summer to arrive. While he wasn't really interested in what Thunder had switched to it was better the just sitting around and doing nothing. Furthermore, he wasn’t keen on starting another argument with him, at least not now and so resigned himself to his fate.

True to Thunders words Summer arrived shortly after that. In her blue t-shirt, with a sun and small swirls, which were meant to symbolize wind, next to it, printed on the front and dark blue sweatpants she had made sure to be ready for their jog through the nearby woods, a popular location for many joggers.

“Hey, guys. Oh, Phoenix you’re awake, honestly didn’t expect you to be.” She said to Phoenix when she walked up the stairs to the living room.

“Well, I’m always good for a surprise.”

“He wouldn't be if I wouldn’t have woken him up.” Thunder intercepted from his place on the couch.

“Yeah, that does sound more like him. Why didn’t I think of that first?”

“Hello? I’m still here.” He proclaimed to them, waving his arms over his head to make them recognize he was still in the room.

“Oh? I didn’t even realize. I’m so sorry we won’t forget it again, I promise.” Every single word from her was using sarcasm. A delighted smile was forming on Thunder lips, all while Phoenix quietly sighed.

“Oh, right. I totally forgot to make snacks. Be right back.” With that Thunder left the room and walked down to his kitchen.

“So, since no one is keen on giving me the information I’m just going to ask, what did you want here? The jogging is for four hours, so why did you come this early?”

“Just wanted to get to know you a little more. Work is not the best place for that, too many distractions and duties, you know.”

“Can I sing you a song about duties.” He snarkily replied.

“No thanks. I heard about this enough yesterday. I wanted to know more about you, besides the whole Alchemy business. Hmm, why not start with something simple. What do you usually do on your free days?”

“Oh, that is easy. Nothing, ok to be more precise watch TV, and nap. Oh, and if the weather is nice and I’m in the mood, I take my bike out for a ride.”

She didn’t seem impressed: ”Well, that is certainly … something different from what I tend to do. I just can’t sit still. I need to move, do something or I will go crazy.”

“Well different people, different interests. Would be kind of lame if everyone would like the same stuff anyway. What could you even talk about if that were the case?”

“Fair point! Mh, I personally don’t care much for bikes so care to explain what you like about it?”

“Oh, it’s hard to describe. You just feel free, the wind that pushes against you, the speed and how the landscape just rushes past you. You can just leave all the worries of the world behind you.”

“Hm, I get the same feeling when I’m running, you just leave everything behind you, shut off your brain and can just relax. Nothing worries you, nothing can harm you, there is nothing in the world but you. And after you are done, you are so KO that you can sleep like a brick and be refreshed for the next day.” She replied while dreamingly staring off into the distance.

“While I don’t get the whole working out thing, I know what you mean. Maybe this day won’t be as bad as I thought.”

“Hey! Come down! I have some bruschetta for you, a small snack before the workout keeps you full of energy.” Thunder screamed up the stairs. And with that, both stood up from the couch and get their share of the food.

--------------<

After finishing their lunch and talking about different sports and motorcycles they had decided to start the workout they had arranged the day before finally, much to Phoenixes dismay, it was agreed that they would start with walking the way to the woods. It took them nearly an hour, and he was already out of breath.

As they reached the edge of the forest, he called out to them: “Wait! I … I can’t … I need a break.” The exhaust was visible in his expression, sweat running down his face. His arms were hanging down like a wet towel.

“Oh come on, that was the warmup. Are you really that out of shape? I think we have to come here three times a week so that you do not collapse from a walk through the town.” Summer had stopped, turned around and was now jogging on the spot. “I’m sure you can push a little bit more. Fifteen minutes and you can take a break, just hang in there a little bit longer.”

“I knew it; you want to kill me.” Phoenix gave her a pleading look, apparently hoping for some mercy.

But before Summer could reply Thunder joined the conversation: “Don’t fall for it. He still can go on. That is his ‘I don’t want any more’-look not his ‘I’m done’-look. If you give even an inch, you will just make it harder for you in the long run.”

“What have I ever done to you Thunder that you have to torture me so much?” His brother asked him, annoyance in every single word.

“Oh the list is long, should I write it down?” Thunder jokingly replied.

“Don’t worry Thunder; I was just about to say that he should pull himself together or the next break will be in thirty minutes.”

“You are evil, both of you. I hope you sleep with open eyes Thunder.”

Thunder and Summer just chuckled and started to continue deeper into the forest. Small trails lead through the undergrowth. On their way through the trees, they came across some people who, just like the three, were using the sunny day for a little bit of exercising. Some older, some younger. And just like Summer had promised him, they did indeed take a break after fifteen minutes of running.

Phoenix had slumped down, leaning his back against a tree. His look had lost focus, now just staring into the air. “Here, have some water, we don’t want you to fall over in the middle of the training.” Thunder hold a water-bottle in front of his face, playfully shaking it to get his brothers attention. Phoenix wasted no time, grabbed the bottle and empty it into his mouth. “Hey, hey! Slowdown. If you drink it all at once, you will still be thirsty.” Forcefully pulling the bottle away from his lips, to save at least some of the water for later. “You are always so hasty, can’t you just think for a second?”

Before he could reply he was interrupted by someone screaming Summers name. “Hey, Summer! Nice to see you!” A girl with blue skin, rainbow-colored hair and a dark blue tracksuit were walking up to them, quite fast actually. She seemed to be rather athletic and showed no signs of exhausted. That could not be said about her friend, an amber girl with red-orange hair and orange tracksuit was trying desperately to keep up with her. Her face spoke for itself, she was exhausted, and the sprint that her friend had just pulled didn’t help in the slightest. Phoenix recognized both girls from two days ago; they were part of the bunch that had sitten in front of the podium of the school.

“Hey Rainbow, nice to see you too. I see you had the same idea as me?” She replied to the teenager that had just reached them.

“Sure, schooles over for the day and why waste this sunny day. And with the race coming up some training wouldn’t hurt, even if I don’t need it. Am I right Sunset?” She yelled over to her friend. She had just caught up with her.

“Never do this again, Dash, please.” The girl, apparently called Sunset, replied to her friend, completely out of breath.

“Oh come on, it wasn’t that bad. Hey, Thunder didn’t expect you to be here. You seem more the, you know, not-sports-guy.” She continued the conversation.

“Well, you are not wrong. But I had the fabulous idea that this would build our team spirit. So we three decided that it would be a great idea to get to know each other more.” Thunder, even though he was covered in sweat, still hadn’t lost any of his flamboyant attitudes.

“Three?” Rainbow asked while raising an eyebrow. Sunset quietly pointed at the miserable figure of Phoenix leaning against the tree. “Oh! Ups didn’t see you down there. Who are you anyway?”

“That is my brother, Phoenix Feather. He had moved to hear just two days ago. And since he is new, he still needs to work on getting to know Summer and working with us together. So we decided that jogging together would be beneficial for him.” Thunder explained to the curious girl.

“Without my consent, I might add.”

“Your brother? I didn’t even know you have a brother. Nice to meet you, I’m Rainbow Dash, the sports star of Canterlot High.” She turned to the sitting Phoenix and extended her hand towards him.

Taking her up on offer he did the same. As the shaking hands, he replied: “Nice to meet you too. So from where do, you know my brother? You don’t seem to be the type of person he would hang out with, no offense.”

“None took. You are probably right. I know him because he makes the best pizzas in town. And what is better than a good pizza after some training. We are somewhat regulars there.”

“We? So you and … what was your name again?” He replied now looking over to the exhausted amber girl.

“Sunset. Sunset Shimmer, a pleasure to meet you. Yes, our friends and we go there relatively often, your brother sure knows his craft.” Sunset replied and just like Rainbow extended her hand for a greeting.

“Can it be that I have seen you before somewhere? Your face just rings some bells in my head.” He asked her after returning her gesture. “Oh, now I remember you were the girl that saved the little child yesterday, weren’t you?”

“She sure did! Man, she looked so cool, just rushing in, nearly as awesome as I would have been. The difference would have been I wouldn’t have needed help from this Alything guy.” Rainbow said before Sunset could answer herself.

“I think his name was Alchemy. And that you would have just raced in, grabbed the girl and left is not really impressive now isn’t it Rainbow?”Sunset chuckled.

“Maybe.” She muttered under her breath.

“Anyway, it sure is impressive to save a little girl from a situation like this. You could have been hurt, or worse. I’m impressed, to do something like this requires some guts.” Phoenix tried to regain the control of the conversation.

“I just couldn’t stand by and not do anything.”

“I knew exactly what you mean,” Phoenix whispered to himself.

“Did you say anything?”

“Oh, I said you are a real hero.” He frantically tried to reply. Sunset raised an eyebrow at his strange reaction.

“Thanks. But the real hero is this Kamen Rider, without him I would probably be bacon. Where he got the magic to do, it still wonders me, though.”

“Magic? Why do you think he used magic?” Now he was interested, he wasn’t sure, but the girl seemed to know more than she let on.

“Ehh … I don’t know, that is just how it looked, the flames out of nowhere and all. Magic is just the first thing that came to mind.” Now she mirrored Phoenix reaction only a few moments ago. She defiantly knew more then she let on.

“When we are talking about magic anyway, I heard some rumors that strange stuff is happening in the city, especially at your school. Is there any merit to them? Since you know, three meter-women and cracks in spacetime are quite out of the ordinary. Do you know anything about that? I would like to know if I only can leaf the house into protective gear.” He added chuckled.

“We sure do know ab…” As inconspicuous as possible Sunset had jammed her elbow into Rainbows side. “Ow, what…?” A quick look from her friend silenced the teenager, and she continued:” absolutely nothing. Hehe.” A smile that couldn’t be more suspicious had formed on Rainbows face, eyes staring off into the air. Now it was Phoenixes turn to raise his eyebrow.

“Sure. Nevermind I will just be careful, what is the worst that could happen anyway.” Phoenix replied with an earnest smile. Rainbow wanted to say something, but a quick look at her friend stopped her before she could even get one word out.

“Yes, with that monster the other day it is probably the best to be a bit more careful,” Thunder added. “Who knows maybe the next one isn’t so far of. Maybe it might be just around here. Or not, who knows.” Everyone just looked at the cook with a confused expression.

“Well it is certainly not impossible, but probably rather unlikely. The incidents before were all separated by a certain amount of time. I think we are probably the safest we can be right after the attack.” Sunset was the first to react to what Thunder had just said.

“Probably and even if, that Alchemy guy is still around, I’m sure he can kick any monsters butt,” Rainbow added, her energetic personality resurfacing after her rather a pathetic attempt to lie to the three.

“Would be fun to see him in action once, he seemed so cool on TV yesterday. The way he beat up that hothead was so awesome. I could really get used to that.” Phoenix had joined in on the praise of the armored hero. Thunder and Summer were just signing in return.

“So, since you are here why don’t you run with us? I’m sure the two slackers could use another good lead.” Rainbow offered Summer.

“Sure, I think the two, especially Phoenix, could use someone who pushes them harder.” She replied

“I’m fine with only you. Thank you very much.” He tried to prevent the inevitable, knowing very much that he wouldn’t be able to anyway.

“Oh, he sounds so thrilled about us joining in.” A wicked smile had formed on both there faces.

“Is she always so evil?” He asked Sunset.

“Usually not, just when it is about sports. She can become rather pushy in that regard.” She smiled in return. That didn’t help him to get this uneasy feeling out of his stomach.

The only way he could reply was with a loud:” Gulp.”

--------------<

Things had gone from bad to worse. The “sports star of CHS” had managed to ignite the spark of competition in Summer and now both were pressing everyone to move faster. Much to Phoenixes dismay, but he wasn’t the only one, Sunset, as well visibly exhausted, seemed to have the same feeling. Both had fallen behind the main group. Summer and Rainbow had taken the lead, unsurprisingly, and kept exhilarating there speed only to fall back to the other could catch up, more or less. Thunder had managed to somewhat keep up with the two girls, but even he started to feel spent.

“Seriously, your friend has too much energy, that is just not normal.” He managed to say to Sunset, all while trying to keep Rainbow and Summer in his line of sight at least. “How did she even get you out here. You don’t seem to enjoy yourself that much?”

“Her usual training partner is ill, and she asked around if one of us could help her out. And I was the only one that had time and wouldn’t fall over after ten minutes of continues running. But now I’m starting to think this was a bad idea. What would I give for ice and someplace to sit right about now? But the thing is Rainbow would do something like this for any of her friends, so it is only logical that I do the same.”

“Well, friends, you could sometimes strangle them, but deep down you need them. You can put up with a lot of crap as long as they are there at the end of the day. God, I'm philosophical. That running is really not good for my head.” Phoenix chuckled while trying his hardest not to lose the group.

“You could say that friends can be rather good at forgiving your flaws. If someone knows that it’s me.”

“Now you make me curious. What exactly do you mean by that?” His exhausted had taken a backseat in exchange for his curiosity.

“Well, I was the biggest bully in my school. Like super mean. I acted like everything belonged to me, and I could do whatever I wanted to everyone. To be totally honest I kinda could, everyone that dared to oppose me was crushed beneath my heel, and I ruined their life. I still feel horrible for what I did. And at the Fall Formal, everything just came to its boiling point. I did probably the worst thing I could have done, but Rainbow and her friends pulled me back from it. And they did this after I had sabotaged their friendship, they still forgave me and helped me get back on my feet. The last thing I could do is go training with her because without them I probably would still be a bully.” The most sincere smile he had ever seen had formed on her face. It was infectious and Phoenix couldn’t other than to smile too.

“You seem to have some good friends. For the longest time, I only had my brother. My gramps was rather strict and didn’t leave me much free time. He was fixated on an ancient family tradition that I was obligated to carry on. Thunder was always eager to impress gramps, I think he wanted the duty for himself, hey I would have let him, but nope, first born son and so on. He made the whole ordeal barrable. Because as much as we bicker if I entrusted my life to anyone, it would be him. God, working out really messes with my head, I babble out my personal history. That is your fault with your sappy story; you brought me in the mood.” Sunset just laughed at his accusation.

“Move slowpokes!” A female voice was shouting behind them.

As they turned their heads a girl with light blue complexion, blond hair and black tracksuit with golden stripes and blue running shoes with a yellow lightning bolt on them just rushed past them. Sunset managed to stay on her feet, Phoenix, on the other hand, landed face first in the dirt. “Ow, did anyone get the number of that truck?” He jokingly asked.

Sunset, who had stopped to help him up, replied: “No, but I know her. She is from Crystal Prep, another Highschool in the city. Used to be all up and might, well until the friendship games. But apparently, some bad eggs still haven’t changed much. I think her name is Lightning Dust, she is their star runner, but couldn’t compete, thanks to a broken leg. Since then she has doubled her training.”

After getting on his feet again, he replied: “I think she could spare just a few seconds and apologize.” As he spoke, he tried to get rid of the dust that had gathered on his t-shirt.

--------------<

As Sunset and Phoenix recovered from there encounter with Lightning, she had caught up to Rainbow and Summer and started to talk to them. “You are not like the snails behind you; you are fast, I can see that, so why gimp yourself just to drag that lot with you?”

“Because they are my friends and that would be rude. And besides that, I need someone that can push me, training alone is no fun. And if you are only here to insult them, you can buzz right of.” Rainbow replied.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to be rude. But if you need someone to push you why not race me, I yearn for a good challenge.” A competitive glare had manifested in her eyes.

“Hmm, I’m not sure, I don’t want to abandon my friends.” Rainbow seemed somewhat hesitant.

“Oh come on, just a quick race around the forest, there is a path that leads directly hear again just takes five to ten minutes. They won’t even know you are gone.” Lightning kept pressing her to accept.

“I’m sure they understand. I can wait here and tell them where you are. And I think they are going to appreciate a short break. Sunset and Phoenix are awfully far behind I think we should let them catch-up.” Summer encouraged her friend.

“Ok, fine but don’t cry when you eat my dust.”

“Now that’s the spirit.” With that, both readied themselves for their little race.

“Three! Two! One! Go!” Both girls raced off and left a dust cloud behind.

“Chough, chough! Damn, they are fast.”

“Hey were did Rainbow go?” As she turned around, she could see that the three other members of their little jogging party had also arrived.

“Oh, she is racing that girl that just came by. At first, she was hesitant, didn’t want to leave you alone. But I thought you could take a break and Rainbow an actual challenge, so I talked her into it. I think she is having a blast right about now.”

“Oh I hope she lets her taste dirt, I don’t want to be the only one today.” Sunset chuckled andSummer just looked at both of them rather confused.

--------------<

Further away from the two combatants were trying to pass the other. Both of them were pretty evenly matched and didn’t give an inch.

“You are not bad; I gotta give it to you, this is not boring.” The Crystal Prep student smirked to Rainbow.

“You are also not half bad, but I won't let you win, that is not my style.” She replied.

“Well, it seems you have to look for a new style because this one belongs to me.” Lightning returned.

“We will see about that.” With that, both of them increased their speed even further. Rainbow was slowly starting to get ahead of Lightning, bit by bit. As she realized this Lightning increased her speed by a considerable margin and began to overtake Rainbow. The rainbow-haired student just smirked a little and maintained her pace.

As the trees rushed past them the distance between Lightning and Rainbow increased ever so slightly, occasionally Rainbow picked up her speed to close the gap but never reached her.

“Reaching your limit already? I expected more from you.” Lightning shouted behind her.

“Oh please, you would be surprised. I still will beat you.”

“Doubt it!”

Their way up until now had been relatively devoid of people, but soon a large group of joggers was coming their way. While Lightning didn’t slow down and kept rushing straight ahead, Rainbow readied herself to evade the group. Some of them were pushed aside when Lightning stormed through there midst, some jumped out of the way before they were pushed aside, but all of them were not amused and started shouting at the blond-haired girl. She just chuckled in return.

Rainbow had already moved to a position where she could just run past them without running into anyone. “Sorry, that wasn’t planned, sorry!” She shouted towards the angry group while racing past them. “What was that? Couldn’t you walk past them?” She yelled at Lightning.

“Oh, please nothing happened, and they should have seen that I wanted to go there. It’s really their fault, not mine.” She just shrugged her off, seemingly not caring about what she had done. “You should rather worry about how you like your dust; I could get you some mustard because the goal is not far away anymore. Prepare for the bitter taste of defeat.” She started to laugh, but this was precisely the opportunity Rainbow had waited for, in a moment she had increased her tempo immensely and was rapidly catching up to Lightning.

As she was again head to head with her she smirkingly replied: “Sorry, but not today, see you later.” And with that, she had overtaken Lightning, the later unable to realize what had just happened. Rainbow was widening the gap between them with every second. The goal and her friends were already only two hundred meters away, and she was getting closer with every second.

“No, I have to be faster, losing is not an option, not an option! Faster, I need to be faster, faster, faster!” Her shoes started to spark, and she picked up her pace.

Only fifty meters and Rainbow had won, but she wasn’t going to relax just about now she still had some energy left she could put in her sprint, and with the footsteps of Lightning behind her getting ever closer she had no choice, she also picked up her speed to the maximum. Both opponents were getting ever closer to each other and the goal. None of them thinking about admitting defeat.

“And Rainbow is first!” Summer shouted as Rainbow crossed the finish line, a split-second later Lightning had also arrived, both girls panting heavily, visibly exhausted.

“Yay, I did it! That was fun we should do that again sometime. But you really need to save your energy for the last sprint. You just used it all up too quickly, and I could overtake you quite easy. But with a bit of practice, you could even beat me, maybe.” Rainbow extended her hand as a sign of respect, but Lightning just slapped it away.

“No, I need to be faster, I can’t lose, I need to be faster!” Her voice seemed somewhat unhinged; she didn’t take the loss that well. Her boots started to spark again. “I will not settle for second best; I will become the fastest there is! I need to be faster! Faster!”

“Are you ok? I know losing sucks, but it’s not the end of the world.” The concern could be heard in Rainbows voice as she stepped closer to Lightning to calm her down a spark of lightning hit her. “Ow, the hay? What was that?”

Lightning was now staring directly at her; her eyes had changed color, her golden eyes now a dark blue, sparks were erupting all over her body. The shoes that had moments before sparked were now glowing. “I will be the fastest!” And with that, her entire body was consumed by a blinding light.

As the light had subsided in Lightning’s place now stood something different, something terrifying. Another monster had appeared, and it didn’t seem pleased. Its stature was not so different from what an average human looked like. The main part of its body was colored in a dark blue, her upper body, legs and half of her arms were had taken an electric blue tone. The transition between the different body colors was rigged, like a thunderbolt, and had a gold line separating them. The shoes had taken over her legs to the knees and had thunder like wings extending at her heel. Her face had taken a round shape, gone was her blonde hair, replaced with the dark blue of the rest of her body. Two horn-like things expanded from the sides of her head like on her body they were electric blue with golden lines separating it from the darker shade of blue. Her mouth, now only a golden thunderbolt that was trapped between two points, was continually moving and her square eyes glowed in the same color.

“Yes, yes. Yes! Now I will never be slow again; I’m the fastest, I will prove it to all of you. And I will start with you!” She pointed at Rainbow, small lightning bolts rupturing everywhere from her body. “You will race me again, and this time you have no chance!” Every word she said was accompanied by light crackling. Phoenix had started to quietly retreat in the direction of some trees, trying to find a more secluded place. Until now no one had noticed his sudden exit, and with Rainbow shouting back at Lightning he hoped that it stayed this way.

“Race you again? No! You are cheating, besides who knows who you might hurt in this form. You already caused so much chaos when you were normal. I’m not risking that!” Rainbow was furious, that girl had lost and now used magic to give her an edge over her? How pathetic, and the worst part, she had no idea what she could do now. If she let loose here, it could hurt her friends and some innocent bystanders that were in the area.

Meanwhile, Phoenix had managed to get out of sight, and no one had even noticed. “Well, didn’t expect that, but hey the day was not a complete waste. Yay?” With that, he pulled out the Alchemy Driver and put it in front of his waste, the driver reacted like always, looping around it. Before transforming he looked to his left and right, trying to prevent the mistake from yesterday from happening again. When he didn’t see anyone he sighed in relief and put the flame disc into the driver.

\ MAGIC DISC DETECTED! /

“Henshin!”

\ FLAME DISC ACTIVATED! /

The flame whirlwind appeared around him, changing his form into that of Alchemy. As he looked around, he noticed that the spot he had transformed in now was now burned. “Ups.” Rubbing his hand behind his head, he moved closer to the monster, trying to forget this little case of arson.

“You will race me, or your friends will suffer the consequences!” As she spooks more sparks were surging of her body. But before Rainbow could reply to the monster, a burst of fire consumed the spot Lightning had been standing a second ago. She had managed to dodge the incoming attack.

Kamen Rider Alchemy stood in the direction the attack had been fired from, Flame Saber in hand, seemingly disappointed that he missed. “Hey Sparky, I gotta admit, you are not slow, but I assure you, in the end, you will be dead last!” He spoke to her in his usual mocking tone.

“Oh, you. I didn’t think you show up, especially not this early, but whatever against my speed you are nothing. Shall we test it.” She dared him, a particular form of arrogance in every single of her words.

“Make my day!” With that, he unleashed another swing of his sword, trying to hit the speedy girl. To his dismay, she easily dodged his attack and rushed closer towards him. Quickly he tried to hit her with more attacks, only to see every single one miss the monster. As Lightning was close enough for close-quarters-combat, she planted her fist firmly in Phoenixes stomach. Unable to match her inhuman speed his defense was quickly broken, and he was sent flying. The sparks that erupted from his stomach were only an appetizer of what was to come.

“Ow. God that hurt. But don’t think I’m done with you Sparky. That was only the warmup. You are so grounded!” This time he adopted a defensive stand, trying to counter her when she got close.

She just chuckled and charged electricity in her hands. “Oh, this is not good!” Just as he had finished speaking she threw the first lightning bolt towards him. He managed to dodge it, just barely. But the second one was to fast for him and hit him in the shoulder. The pain surged through his body and before he could recover he was struck by three more bolts. Forced to his knees he breathed heavily, trying to regain his fighting stance.

“Pathetic. I at least thought you would be a challenge but this, wow am I disappointed. I think I will end it quickly, so you don’t have to live with the shame of losing.” She stepped closer towards the injured Rider, seemingly raveling in her victory. As she was standing over him admiring her victory, she asked him one thing: “Any last words?”

Alchemy looked up at her and chuckled: “You are not the brightest are you?” And with that he slammed his fist in her face, sending her trembling back. Before she could regain control of the situation, he bombarded her with a flurry of punches keeping her disoriented. Channeling his magic in his right fist he tried to finish her, but to Phoenixes dismay Lightning managed to dodge the attack. He only managed to slam his fist into the ground behind her. A strange seal was manifesting at the impact point. But nothing happened beyond that.

“What? I thought I was going for an explosion?” At this moment the strange seal erupted into an earthshattering explosion sending Phoenix flying. “What? I … just what?” Alchemy had landed unceremoniously on his back, confused about what had just happened.

“You little… Well, I have to give you credit for that move, but in the end, it didn’t help you one bit.” She charged one last lightning bolt and aimed at Alchemy. But before she could unleash her devastating attack, a blue blur rushed past her, taking the rider with it. “What?”

“Over here! You want a race, ok fine; you get your race. But kid gloves are off!” Rainbow had appeared next to Lightning, a small sky blue medallion now hanging around her neck.

“Good, you finally turned around. But I don’t want to race you right now; I want to crush you at your best. Tomorrow, same time, same place. If you don’t come you friends will regret it.” With that Lightning raced away, completely forgetting Alchemy was still around.

“Rainbow are you insane, what if she loses again? God knows what she would do.” Sunset rushed over to her friend.

“I know, but what else I could have done. If I hadn’t stopped, her Alchemy would have been fried. What a hero he turned out to be.” She replied, with some level of disappointment in her voice.

“It seemed he had no way of doing anything against her speed, hay I couldn’t even keep up with what she was doing,” Sunset replied.

“Maybe. Where is that guy anyway? Did he flee? What a coward!” The distaste in Rainbows voice had only increased.

--------------<

A small distance away, the beaten Rider tried to find a secluded spot to turn back. His entire body arched, he really had taken a beating. “That didn’t go as I had imagined. I really shouldn’t rush in like that again. If Rainbow hadn’t been, I would have been fried.” As he stepped through the undergrowth he suddenly heard a voice calling out for him, he froze in place expecting the worst and a fist full of lightning in his face.

“Freeze!” A light blue woman, with light and dark blue hair, was aiming a gun at him. She invoked a rather powerful aura around her with her dark blue jacket and light blue T-shirt underneath it. “I’m agent Ocean Skys of the MRG, and I demand that you stand down!”

Phoenix had raised his hands, all thanks to that commanding aspect of her voice. “Ehm, hello, nice to meet you?” He tried to reply, unsure what was just happening.

“I’m just here to ask you some questions. First, who are you?” She continued, completely serious.

“Well, I think I’m relatively well known. I’m your friendly neighborhood Kamen Rider! You really should watch more TV.” He jokingly replied.

For a moment he thought he had seen the faintest ghost of a smile on her face, but in an instant, her poker face was back. “Funny, I’m mean your real name. Who are you under that mask?”

Now Phoenix was starting to shift from confused to uncomfortable. He really didn’t want to answer any of her questions. “Ok, first and foremost, could you put that thing away? If you shoot me who know where the thing might ricochet of too.” He was bluffing he didn’t know what would happen if he was hit by a bullet and he wasn’t stupid enough to test that later. And surprising Phoenix she indeed lowered her gun. “Thanks. Second MRG? Never heard of that before.”

“It’s a government agency that researches mysterious phenomena around the country. MRG is short for, Magical Research Group, we had our eyes on this city since the fall of last year. And with the recent monster attacks, I have been authorized to command a small strick force and deal with the problem by every means possible. We were in the area since we received readings of magical energy in this very forest for a few days and now have the manpower to investigate. I saw your ‘battle’ and followed you here.”

“Wait, government agencies? Oh wow and I thought monsters were the weirdest it was going to get. Now the government is in on it too. I feel like I’m in way over my head.”

“Quite possible. A civilian isn’t prepared when his life is on the line. Regardless, I thought since you are a vigilante and I have every right to bring you in why not work together? It would be beneficial for both of us. We can help you find the monsters, provide medical treatment for your injuries, make sure for your family, as well as friends, are protected, and you wouldn’t have to worry about any police officer asking silly questions. In return we expect you to gather data about the magical phenomena you face. And I’m sure we can come up with a plan for Corrupted number seven.” She offered him, slowly stepping closer towards him.

“Wait, wait, time out. One thing after another.” He had raised his hands in confusion. “First, Corrupted?”

“That is the name we gave these monsters. They are corrupted by magic, so it is quite the fitting name, don’t you think?”

“Well, there are worse names out there. Anyway, back on track. You want me to help you? I’m flattered, but no thanks, as far as I know, you could just lie, and I would never jeopardize my secret identity so easily. I don’t trust you. The offer sounds interesting, but I prefer my independence so if you excuse me I have to leave.” With that, he turned around and began to leave.

“Fine, but the offer stands hotshot. If you are interested, just come over to the police station or ask a cop about me, and we talk. If you want trust first, I can deliver. I respect people that stand in for what is right, and I don’t want to make this more complicated then it needs to be. As long as you keep the collateral damage to a minimum and don’t use your powers for something that is against the law, besides the whole superhero business, you are tolerated. To prove to you that I’m sincere I will hold a press conference tomorrow and make sure that you can do your hero-duty as long as you play by the rules I have laid out for you.” She waved the rider a goodbye and marched in another direction.

“Thanks? Wow, this did go better as expected. Oh well, Thunder is going to be interested in the offer. But first things first I need to beat Sparky. Well and I think I have the right plan for the situation.” He mumbled to himself as he moved towards a secluded part of the forest.

When Lightning Strikes Twice - The Last Shall be the First

Night had set over Canterlot City, Thunder and Summer still sitting inside the Magnum Opus. Thunder was walking around, unable to sit still. “Dammit, this idiot. It has been hours, and he still hasn’t come back. I think he has gotten lost again. And of course, he didn't take his phone with him. Sometimes I could just strangle him.” The nervousness was written on his face.

“Calm down; I’m sure he will come soon.” She tried to calm her boss down.

At this moment the bell above the door rang as someone stepped inside. It was Phoenix, and he didn’t look good. His entire body was covered in sweat, and he looked utterly exhausted. Small bruises covered him, all the result from his fight with the Corrupted. He stumbled more forward then actually walk. All in all, he looked miserable.

“Sorry that I’m so late. I totally blow it. I failed you both because I didn’t think this through.”

To Phoenixes surprise his brother ignored what he had to say and went straight for a hug making him wince in pain: “Ow, ow, I appreciate your concern but, could we wait with this till I don’t feel like a walking corpse anymore.”

“Sorry.” He immediately released him from his grasp. ”Where were you anyway? We have been worried sick because of you.”

“Well, I couldn’t get the seal that appeared when I hit the ground out of my head, and I needed some way to get her next time. I realized I don’t even have full knowledge of what I’m actually capable of. So I decided I need time to figure that out before I face her again.”

“You want to do what? In your current condition? Are you insane? She ripped you apart today, what are you expecting if you go there tomorrow, battered and bruised? Can’t you just once think your action through? It is always the same with you. Heal first and think of a plan before you rush in again.” Thunder was furious at the apparent recklessness of his brother.

“I have a plan, and it is going to work, believe me. And I can’t just lay back while people are in danger, that is not how I roll. No matter if I’m hurt I just can’t do nothing.” Now Phoenix was getting aggravated too.

“If you are dead, you can’t help anyone, so just knock it off!” With that Thunder stormed into the kitchen.

“You know he is right, do you?” Summer asked him, a concerned look on her face.

“Yeah, I know. But sometimes doing the stupid thing is the only right way. I have a plan, and I’m sure I can pull it off, just wait. I’ll show him that I’m not useless.”

“Sounds to me you want it to prove it to yourself as well.” Phoenix just stayed silent, trying to avoid eye contact. “Are you sure that you have to do this? There is no shame in retreating to fight another day.”

“I know, but if I don’t stop her now who knows who might get hurt and I have to thank Rainbow in some way for saving my life. So what better way is there then bet Sparky?” He chuckled only to stop all of a sudden and hold his side in anguish.

“Are you ok?” She rushed over to him supporting him so he wouldn’t fall over. “Do you need something? Should I get Thunder?” Concerned could be heard in her voice.

“No, no. I’m fine, just exhausted. I don’t want to bother you but do you have something to eat; I’m starving?”

“Oh, yes. Thunder already prepared something when you would come back. It’s in the kitchen; I get it for you.” She let him sit on one of the seats and rushed off to get his dinner.

“I might have overdone it. But at least I now know what this seal was. Still, I hope I’m ready to fight tomorrow.” He muttered to himself, lost in his thoughts.

Summer returned with three huge sandwiches and a bottle of water. “Here now eat. And if you need something don’t hesitate to ask.”

“Thanks!” Wasting no time he bit into the first of the three groaning in a happily. He needed really that right now.

“Wow, you sure are hungry.” Standing there awkwardly for a second, unable to say a single word, she finally broke the silence: “Are you sure you can beat her. She mopped the floor with you today. I was afraid for you the whole time and for how the boss would react if something would happen to you. You should have seen the face he made; it was that of utter fear. It was unsettling; I never want to see that face again. Promise me you won’t die tomorrow, for the bosses sake.”

Phoenix was stunned by her request; he hadn’t thought how his friends would react if he actually died. “Sure, I can’t really leave you alone with him, now can I? I promise that she will not kill me.”

“Good. Now eat and then time for bed, you will need all the energy you can get for tomorrow.” She had gotten her usual confident tone back.

Phoenix sighed and sarcastically added: “Yes, mom!” Summer just chuckled.

--------------<

Like yesterday the sun was shining through the gaps between the leaves that were shielding the forest-ground from its light. Rainbow was stretching herself, awaiting her opponent. The air was tense; she didn’t know if or how she could beat Lightning. And even if she won she was uncertain what would happen after that. She doubted she would give up this easily. She had pressured Sunset into not telling anyone about her race with the monster today because she didn’t want them in any danger if things went south. Still, the fire-haired girl didn’t let her go entirely on her own and had accompanied her to the forest.

“You are really sure you need to do this?” Sunset was still trying to change her mind.

“Yes, I have to; I’m not letting my friends get hurt because of me being too much of a coward to go through with it.”

“Admirable. Willing to risk your own life for others is never easy, but have you thought about how your friends might react if you actually lose it?” Someone said from behind them.

“Pah, I won’t, it’s as simple as that.” She replied, only to realize that the voice didn’t belong to her friend. “Wait, who?” She turned around; the moment she saw to how she was talking to she frowned. “What are you doing here? Get pummeled into the ground again. I don’t need the help of some coward. The chance that I can save your sorry butt again is next to zero.”

After a short moment of silence he replied in a mellow voice: “I know, by the way, thank you for yesterday, without you she would have probably gotten me. And I can understand your reaction; I blew it last time. I rushed in with no plan and thought I just could beat everyone. But this time it will be different, I have a plan, I promise you.”

“And why should I trust you, you can’t even protect yourself. You are just going to repeat what happened yesterday. Let someone handle it that actually beat her.” She seemed rather angry, but Phoenix could swear he could hear some concern in her voice.

"You are not getting rid of me, not if I can do something. You know, I’m not that smart, so the idea of liking my wounds and fighting when I’m at full strength is lost on me.” He chuckled.

“Fine, you can stay.”

“Thank you.” Phoenix moved his head in the direction where the voice came from. Sunset had stepped closer to him. “Without you, I would have been toast.”

“Umm, no problem. You really don’t have to thank me.” He seemed somewhat taken aback by what she had just said to him. “Like really, it comes with the job or something like that. It’s really no big deal.” He seemed rather uncomfortable.

“Aww, how heartwarming, want to hug him before I reduce him to a smoldering corpse?” Their heads suddenly turned in shock as they heard that crackling voice.

“Leave him out of this; you race me. This is between you and me. I didn’t invite him, so just ignore him.” Rainbow was the first to regain her composure.

“Oh, I could use a small warmup. Are you up for the task Alchy? Or are you going to run away with your head between your legs again?” She started laughing, small bolts of lighting erupting from her monster form uncontrollably.

“No, this time I will beat you, I assure you that. But I will give you an out, turn back and give me your magical artifact. You can step away from all of this, I promise.”

The uncomfortable laughter grew to even more unnerving highs. “Giving up, why? I beat you once, and I will beat you again. You are to slow for me. Slowpokes should know their place. And I intended of showing you exactly where you belong, beneath my heals.” A mad spark was apparently visible in her eyes; apparently, she was already too far entranced by the magic, unable to give it up.

“I at least needed to try. So you want to rechallenge me? This time you will not get the upper hand on me Sparky.”

“Oh sweet, you actually think you can win? Do I really need to remind you what happened last time, or do you remember yourself? I can show you again.”

“Hey, this is between you and me, why won’t you listen to me?” Rainbow tried to get their attention back to her, but it was all in vain.

“I think I’m going to ignore that offer, Slowpoke.”

The air around Lightning started to surge, small bolts of electricity were hitting nearby objects, and electricity connected the tops of her horns. “What?! I’m the fastest there ever was; you have no right to call me slow!” Lightning was fuming with rage, how dare this loser call her slow.

“Oh did I strike a chord? I’m sorry I shouldn’t have been so insensitive since you don’t want to talk about your shortcomings. I’m truly sorry.” He replied in his usual mocking tone.

“Ok, that’s enough; I will make this as long and painful as possible, and after that, I’m going to beat the girl.”

“Ahm, Dash, I think we should get out of the battle zone. I would prefer it if I’m not electrocuted or burned to a crisp.” With that, she grabbed her friend and dragged her further away.

“Hey, let me go! This is my race.” Rainbow was struggling furiously against her friend's attempt of dragging her away.

“No discussion Rainbow. They are going to fight, and you wouldn’t want to be injured if you have to race, now would you?” Rainbow just signed knowing that she was right and ceased her resistance.

“Fine then I just have to beat you, shouldn’t be so hard since you are so slow.” His hands and feet began to glow in orange shimmer. He made a forceful step towards his opponent, but this was the moment Lightning had waited for and rushed towards him. Phoenix reacted quickly and delivered a punch in the direction he expected the Corrupted to appear. Sadly Lightning saw the attack coming, and he just hit the ground, his right hand stopping to glow for a moment. Immediately after his missed swing, he used his hand that had hit the ground as support to deliver a roundhouse kick. Lightning dodged in the last second and his attack again only hit the ground.

“You see, you can’t hit me.” She taunted him and delivered a punch to his stomach letting electricity flow through his body. Alchemy flinched but didn’t falter and used the opportunity to hit her again. To her delight, he still missed her and only hit the dirt beneath her feet.

“Was that all? And I thought you were the fastest. Really disappointing, you are just not as fast as Rainbow.” He continued his futile efforts to hit her, kicks and hits continuously only hitting their battlefield.

“You little… You seriously don’t learn, do you? Then I’m going to make it crystal clear. You! Are! No! Match! For! Me!” With this, she charged towards the rider and let electrical punches rain down on him, all while he still was determined to hit her. But even when she was attacking him relentlessly, he didn’t hit her. After a few seconds of the constant barrage of attacks, she let him breathe for a moment. “Now you see, all you will do is hurt you more. Your efforts are futile; you have no chance of winning.”

Heavily breathing he encountered: “You sure talk big but in the end, you just can’t live up to your own hype. You are slow on the uptake and slow in your fighting style. The fastest? Not by a longshot.” He keeps taunting her, even baiting her to attack him again by gesturing with his hand to come closer.

Lightning was losing patience, she clenched her fist, execs electricity erupting from her. She released the voltage through her hand, an ark of lightning hitting Alchemy. “I really don’t like a woman that can go through lightning at me. Oww!” He muttered under his breath. “That was all? Way to slow and that is supposed to be a thunderbolt? I have seen birds flying faster than this.” This time screaming so she could hear him.

The stray bolts flashed up again, why wouldn’t he stay down? No matter, she just had to hit him harder. With that she rushed towards him and planted her fist in his stomach, keeping it there. The electricity was surging through his body, sparks flying off everywhere, his pain-drenched screams were filling the clearing. “How do you like that? No one defies me, no one underestimates me, and no one calls me slow, is that crystal clear?”

“No!” With that Alchemy managed to sweep her off her feet with left leg, in turn, loses her grip on him. As she was falling, and spinning during it, he used his opportunity and retracted his left leg and planted it firmly on her backside, sending her flying about twenty meters. He removed the flame disc from the driver and started to activate it.

\ Flame Disc Attack Mode! /

\ Flame Saber! /

“And you are supposed to be the fastest? I’m slow as hell and managed to hit you. You are not fast, just not as slow as I’m. If you truly were fast, you wouldn't have been hit once. But I managed to hit you on two separate occasions. So you are slow, that is fact. Anything to say about this, Slowpoke?” Every word he spoke used with his mocking tone.

“Enough! You will pay for this!” She had completely lost it, how dare this loser do this and call her slow. He would pay. Raging lightning bolts erupted from every part of her body, hitting the ground and some trees. Then she rushed towards him.

“Gotcha!” The sound of a flick could be heard.

An orange light started to glow before her; she only now realized that every time Alchemy had missed her and hit the ground had left a seal behind. And now she was racing towards the glowing seals, unable to stop thanks to her incredible speed she was stepping closer and closer to the trap he had set up for her. As she reached the middle of the collection of seals they glowed their brightest. The following explosion sent her flying; completely disoriented she spun around in the air. Her body was overcome with unbearable pain, but the worst parts were her right heel and back, both spots Alchemy had managed to hit.

Under his helmet, Phoenix sported the biggest smile he ever had. But it was still too early to celebrate, so he channeled his magic in his Flame Saber and started to spin the handguard. “Flaming Slash!” With this, he unleashed the wave of flaming energy, which in turn hit the Corrupted square in the chest. Lightning landed face first on the ground, thanks to the injuries to her upper body, back and right leg unable to stand and to groan in pain. “All of this went down like clockwork! Well time to finish it.” He returned the disc to its rightful place on the driver.

“Lightning, you have used the power you were given to threaten, endanger and hurt people, all to satisfy your wish for speed. By the magic that was bestowed upon me, I deem you unworthy of your powers and will now take them from you!”

He placed the flame disc into the driver again and started spinning it.

\ Flame Disc Maximum Power! /

The magic again gathered in his right leg, and he jumped into the air, adjusting his position and heading straight for the monster, with his foot aiming for Lightning, the whirlwind of flames engulfing him.

“Flaming Whirlwind Kick!”

As he struck the injured monster a massive explosion consumed her. After coming to hold of her, he admired his handiwork and moved over to her. Now back in her human form, she laid their unconscious, the only thing still giving off bursts of electricity were her shoes. He took one of the nearly-full magic discs from the pocket on his belt and held it towards her sneakers. The voltage now concentrating on it. After the disc glowed blindingly bright for a moment, it changed form, now resembling four lightning bolts that curved to form a tornado. The thunder disc had been recreated.

Raising his fist into the air, he screamed: “Yes! I got it, awesome. Wuhu!” Looking around and remembering that he wasn’t alone he immediately tried to calm himself and continued: “I mean, of course, it worked.” Rubbing his head sheepishly he didn’t look at the girls, settling on a rather interesting tree branch.

“Aha, sure!” Rainbow looked at him with a skeptical look.

But before they could continue their conversation, a strange sound filled the air. It was nothing you would expect in a forest, let alone after a fight like this, where every reasonable person would get to a safer place. It was clapping, and it was getting closer.

Out of the shadows of a huge oak stepped a white man with gelled-back light blue hair. Dressed in a long, flowing white lab coat and strange, futuristic glasses he seemed entirely out of place, his clapping only reinforcing this.

“Splendid, splendid. I didn’t expect you to outmaneuver your opponent, sadly I now owe Ocean a coffee, but this is great. I couldn’t be happier, all the data I could gather thanks to you. I’m truly grateful.”

“Ahm, and who are you? Why do I always meet the strangest people in these woods?” Phoenix just stared confused at the odd figure that was accompanied by two police officers with strange futuristic looking weapons. One had grey skin and white hair, while the other had dark and light blue hair and white skin. Both had their weapons ready if something or someone would try anything dangerous.

“Oh, where are my manners? I’m Ivory Diamond, head researcher of the MRG-division that was sent here. If I remember correctly you already meat agent Skies, right?” There was a smugness in his voice that really didn’t make him appear any less shady.

“So, what are you doing here? Didn’t ‘agent Skies’ let me off the hook or something? So what is your deal?”

“Oh, sure she did, that is why she couldn’t be here today. She is too busy holding a press conference regarding our stand on you, Kamen Rider Alchemy. I’m here because, well you, or to be more precise the data of your fight. And I have to say it was magnificent, all the information from you and Corrupted number seven will keep me busy for several days.”

“Oh, that is good… Wait, what? Data? What data?” Confused Alchemy looked to the strange man in his lab coat.

“Data, information. I hope this is nothing too complicated for you. If so I can explain: When you fight you release magical energy, with these glasses, I can record and analyze the properties of these energies. What we could do with enough material, oh the possibility. I can’t await it, and you are going to help us get the data required.” Rubbing his hands together Ivory's lips had curled into a blissful smile.

“Wait, wait! Timeout! Since when have I agreed to help you, I can just break the glasses and be out of here. I don’t trust you, not a single bit. Have you ever watched a movie, the government is always evil, always, or at least incompetent. No, I will not be your lab rat.” Crossing his arms, he glared at the scientist, as good as he could with helmet and visor.

“Oh, that is too sad, but understandable. We, however, had to arrest you and everyone around you. You are threatening a government official right now, that certainly wouldn’t be so good when it comes to a judge. Yesterday agent Skies gave you the offer that we ignore your vigilante activities. She thinks you ultimately do something good for the city. However, she didn’t mention the catch last time.”

“Of course there was a catch. There is always a catch.” Annoyance clearly audible in his voice.

“You let us gather the data; we don’t get in your way. It’s as simple as that. Do we have a deal?”

“Clever, clever. Use me as your little lab rat and reap the rewards. Fine, I will let you, for now. However, if I find out that you are doing something shady with the data, you are going to regret it.”

“Sounds fair, then we have a deal.” Extending one of his hands out towards the Kamen Rider, expecting him to return the gesture. Phoenix just stood there, staring at the hand and Ivory, both being twenty meters away. Signing he moved closer, reaching out with his own hand.

“Deal!”

“Sir, I still don’t like that we are working with a someone that takes the law into his own hands.” The blue-haired officer said.

“Duly noted Officer Armor, now would you please restrain Corrupted number seven, I don’t want her to make a fuse if she wakes up.” Glaring over to the officer Ivory made it crystal clear that he didn’t want to hear about it anymore.

“Yes, sir.” With that, they moved over to the unconscious girl and started to cuff her hands behind her back.

“Is that really necessary? She didn’t hurt anyone and had no powers anymore. Besides, it was the magic that let her act this way.” Rainbow Dash had interrupted their conversation.

“Oh yeah sure didn’t hurt anyone.” A quick glare from Rainbow silenced the rider.

“This is standard procedure. We will decide later what we will do with her. Don’t worry; we are well aware of the effects magic can have on the user, right Miss Shimmer?” Sunsets face froze out of sheer shock, unable to move after hearing what the strange scientist had just said. Dash's mouth just hung open, unable to comprehend how he could know that. “Oh don’t be surprised, it is not that hard to get information about the Fall Formal incident. It was what tipped us off about this place in the first. But to get back on the topic of little Miss Corrupted over there, she will probably face no real consequences, as long as she cooperates that is. Magic can screw with someone if used uncontrolled. However she should be cautious, we will have an eye on her. Only for her own safety of course.” After he had spoken his last word he turned on the point and order the two officers to follow him, both carrying Lightning on a high-tech stretcher, they had pulled from one of their pockets. With a simple touch of a button, the small cube expanded into a two-meter-long stretcher, complete with blinking lights and monitors. He had to admit that was impressive.

“See you Alchemy.” And so he moved away from the clearing, leaving the shocked Rainbow and Sunset behind with Alchemy.

“How... How can he know that?” Sunset was the first to break the silence; utter confusion had spread through the very essence of her being.

“Well, he is a government agent; they know a lot of stuff. With all the rumors about spying on the population, it is only logical that he knows it. But one question persists, what does he know?”

“Uhm, well, you see…” Rainbow started but was interrupted by her friend.

“Just let him know if he is smart enough he will figure it out anyway. I was once not as good of a person as I’m now and ultimately I ended up becoming something similar to what Lightning turned into. A corrupted, like he called it. I enslaved the entire school and nearly did something worse, but my six friends saved me from myself. I have no idea how they found out about it and worse I don’t know what else they could know.” She had started to look at the ground seemingly uncomfortable with the entire situation.

Rainbow moved closer towards her friend and placed her hand on Sunsets shoulder. As she looked up a bright smile greeted her and the fire-haired girl visibly relaxed. “You are not going to hit her or something, right. She is not affected by the magic anymore.”

“No need to be afraid, as long as she is not affected by magic I won’t harm her.”

“Yeah, good that she is not affected by magic…” Rainbow laughed uncomfortably.

“I will just ignore that.”

“So you seem to know what is up with these MR-whatever guys. Care to explain?” Rainbow now had taken over the conversation, giving her friend time to recover.

“Oh I don’t know much, just they are a government organization, and they specialize in magical activities. That is all; it is not like the gave me a pamphlet or something. But one thing is sure; I don’t trust them, at all.” Alchemy replied.

“Oh, well better than nothing I guess. By the way thanks for the help and sorry for the way I treated you.” Rainbow now looked at him with regret in her eyes.

“Don’t sweat it. You had every right to do so. I failed yesterday, really hard. I would be more worried if you wouldn’t have reacted the way you did. So in short words, we are even. Now I don’t know if I should hope we see us again or if we not, because if we see us again the chances of you being attacked again will be high and I don’t hope that happens to you again.”

“If you knew…” Sunsetchuckled, apparently having regained her composure. “I wanted to thank you as well.”

“As I said, no problem comes with the job. So see you or not, whatever you prefer.” And with that, the rider walked off into the woods.

“You think we see him again?” Rainbow asked.

“Knowing our track record, I’m one hundred percent sure we will.”

“Yeah, probably.”

--------------<

The sun was already setting behind the mountains that surround Canterlot City, bathing everything in golden light. The light gave offa relaxing atmosphere, very much welcome after the exhausting fight and following weirdness of the day. Phoenix had transformed back into his civilian form and was now riding his bike towards the pizzeria. The wind was blowing by reinforcing the feeling of relaxation even more.

As he reached his stay and opened the door, Thunder was cooking vigorously. He had never seen someone prepare food with so much passion. He didn’t even notice him as he entered. Standing there awkwardly for a few seconds he didn’t know how to start until he finally broke the silence. “Hey!”

Thunder immediately stopped, knife held high. For a few moments that felt like hours, he just stayed silent. “Hey!” Was all he replied.

“So, I’m back. I’m sorry that I could not help you out today. I needed to finish this.” His voice wasn’t his usual cheery self; it was way more mellow and severe.

“I assume you won. How? Did you just rush in again or was actually tactics involved?” Still not looking in the direction of his brother he continued with his work.

“Yes, the slacker actually came up with a plan.” He chuckled. ”You remember the delayed explosion that blows up in my face yesterday? I trained a little after the fight to understand how it worked. That was why I came home so late. It turns out I can place magical seals on the ground and remotely detonate them. I placed them in an area and used her slow uptake and rage to lure her into a trap. In the end it I managed to pull it off. I won, she is down, and everything worked out.”

He turned his head towards Phoenix, smiling at him. “I knew you are not a complete idiot, still what you pulled today was risky, how much did you take?”

Avoiding the look of his brother Phoenix shifted his attention towards the stairs leading up to the living room. “Not much, really.” He tried to lie, with the most innocent voice he could muster. But he could not hold withstand the look of his brother. “Fine, a lot. I needed to get enough laid down so she couldn’t recover and make her so angry she wouldn’t realize what I was planning. It was a gamble, but ultimately worth it.”

“This is exactly what I was afraid of. You only care about what is right in front of you, you don’t think about the consequences, for you and others. Today everything went as planned, but what about tomorrow and the day after that. I don’t want to lose you.”

“I know, but this nagging feeling in the back of my mind, it tells me that I have to do something, anything or all the pain and misery rests all on my shoulders. I just can’t help it.” His voice started to tremble.

“You and your stupid sense of justice and righteousness.” He started to chuckle. “I can’t stop you, can I? Well if you won’t listen to reason, I will have to make sure you survive. That means you will make sure to train, routinely and know your abilities. Learning in the middle of a battle is a no go, only if there is no other way. If you can’t think ahead on your own, I make sure you do. Maybe something will stick.” He now turned entirely to his brother and hugged him.

“Sure thing,” Phoenix replied, embracing the hug of his brother.

“By the way, when did you plan on telling me that you now work with the police, or the MRG to be precise?” Thunder asked him, releasing his grip on Phoenix.

“I assume you watched the press conference, am I right?” Thunder nodded. ”Well, yesterday but, you know, didn’t work out quite that well. And working together is a little bit exaggerated. I let them watch my battle and record data; in return, they don’t annoy me regarding the vigilante thing.”

“Data? What kind of data? Can you even trust them?” Concern was spreading on Thunder's face.

“Well, data about the magic that is created during the fights. I don’t know what they plan on doing with it, and I don’t trust them, but man is they good at persuading someone. If I don’t comply they threaten everyone around me.”

“They know who you are?” The shook in Thunders' voice could not be overheard.

“No, at least as far as I’m aware. But given the track record of them, I don’t think that would stay a secret for long. However, if I find out they do something fishy with it, I make sure they pay for it.” Determination was showing on his face.

“Well, then we are stuck with them for a while.”

“Oh, there is something I totally forgot. Look at this little beauty.” He took something out of his pocket and presented it to Thunder, pride flowing through his entire body.

“No way, you completed another one? Let me see, let me see!” Thunder grabbed the thunder disc and pulled it out of the grasp of his hand.

“Yep. I’m so eager to try it out. What cool powers could be unleashed?” Rubbing his hand together in anticipation, a bright grin had taken hold of his face.

“Well sometimes, your short-sightedness really pays off. Still, don’t pull a stunt like this again without telling me your plan beforehand.”

“Sure. As long as you can give me something to eat, I’m starving.” Right on cue, his stomach started to growl.

Thunder just laughed, seemingly nothing could shock his brother and the way he always bounced back from these serious topics was always refreshing. “Sure thing, your favorite pizza coming right up.” With this, he moved back to his workplace and resumed his work.

“Thanks, you are the best.”

“I know.” He jokingly replied.

The Gathering Storm - A Flower in the Wind

The “Magnum Opus“ was filled to the brim with customers, which in turn meant that the staff was working even harder to satisfy them. It had been nearly a week since his victory over Lightning Dust, all of his injuries had healed, apparently, the driver enhancing his healing factor everytime it was used and he was thankful for that. Because if not he would probably have broken every bone he had in a month, two if he was lucky. But thanks to this neat side-effect, he was still able to work for his brother, if this was something he considered good or bad he wasn’t sure on yet.

However, thanks to the customers he hadn't much time to dwell on it. He had to rush out the orders, so his brother or Summer wouldn’t lay another verbal smackdown upon him about “not slacking off” and “doing your job” and he could live fine without that.

In the kitchen, Thunder was managing three separate orders at the same time with his usual proficiency. Right now he was spinning a pizza dough, all while picking up ingredients for the two orders and throwing them on their respective pizza. It didn’t really matter how often he saw him do something of this caliber he would always be impressed by the skills his brother possessed.

Meanwhile, Summer was busy balancing an absurd amount of plates on her hands and arms, all apparently with no effort what so ever. She even managed to whistle a cheery melody. Opening the door with her back, she left the kitchen.

Both showed that they had worked way longer in the restaurant business than him, honing their skills and growing into their respective roles. He somehow found this rather impressive, since the time he had started to work for his brother he had already broken three plates and managed to mix up two dozen orders. Seeing their capabilities was frustrating and inspiring, all at the same time.

Snapping out of his thoughts he picked up two plates, one normal fungi pizza, strangely somewhat out of place with the other, at times baffling, combinations of ingredients the “Magnum Opus“ builds its reputation on, and something that was even outlandish for Thunders restaurant, a tuna-salami-pepperoni-pineapple-apple-pizza. Whoever wanted that one surely had a strong stomach, or had no taste buds.

The first order was for a blond high school girl with a grey complexion. She wore a blue top with yellow tie and a green skirt. An innocent and sincere smile covered her face as he delivered the order, somewhat offset by her eyes that were staring in different directions. Still, it had its own charm and who could resist this pure innocent smile. She seemed to come right from school, her bag sitting right next to her on one of the chairs, hopefully, she wouldn’t forget about it.

Still, the moment she saw her order arriving her smile, even if it seemed to be impossible, grew several times larger. And it was infectious, unable to resist he adopted a similar expression.

“Here, your fungi pizza.” He put the plate next to her on the table.

“Thank you!” She said to him in a bubbly voice, only increasing the pure happiness she seemed to spread. He had to admit the work as a waiter was fun, to a certain extent, thanks to the happy smiles he could bring to the customers, even if it was hard work and he was not the biggest fan of hard work. Still, it reminded him of his “side job” as Kamen Rider Alchemy, like defending people from dangerous monsters seeing those he protected smile thanks to his actions was an exhilarating feeling that was not comparable to anything else.

Chuckling he moved on to his next order. The strange pizza for table number four, he still was wondering who would even want something like this. As he moved over to the table and customer the answer to this mystery became clearer and it only confused him more.

At table number four seat someone he never expected to see here, even less with an order like this. The customer was a woman with dark- and light blue hair and a bluish-white complexion, as well as a dark blue jacket with a cyan shirt underneath, agent Ocean Skies! She didn’t strike him as the kind of persona that would order something like that. But well, the pizza was for table number four, the worst that could happen was that he was wrong, right?

As he approached her she was absorbed by some papers in front of her. Unable to make out what was written on them beyond some graphs he made his presence known. “Uhm, hello, is this tuna-salami-pepperoni-pineapple-apple-pizza yours?”

Eyeing him for a second with a calculating look she smiled back. “Yes, that was my order, thank you.” Noticing the still somewhat skeptical look in his eyes she chuckled. “Let me guess, it is not what you expected someone like me to order?”

“Uhm, no, I would never…”

Before he could continue she interrupted him. “Yeah, I get this a lot.”

“Well, most people assume that the agent of a government organization would eat something more, you know, plain and normal.”

“Oh, now you surprised me.” She chuckled.

“Why?” He could feel every muscle in his body tensed, knowing he might have just let something slip he shouldn’t have.

“Oh, you just don’t seem like the guy that would watch the news. No offense.” She smiled back at him.

Hearing this, his body began to relax. He had totally forgotten about the press conference she had held regarding Alchemy. “None taken. Yes, I might not look like it, but stuff like this interest me immensely.” Phoenix was lying through his teeth, hopefully, she wouldn’t catch on. Ocean had given him an out and he was damned if he wouldn’t use it. “In general it isn’t normal for the police, or in this case the government to work together with a vigilante. Why did you decide to do it regardless, since, you know that could turn out bad in the end, who knows what Alchemy will do in the future. If he goes off the deep end or is just using you.” He tried his best to sound convincing, he really didn’t want blow his cover as Alchemy, again. And what better way was there than to play an Alchemyskeptical, right?

Raising one of her eyebrows, Ocean retorted: “Well, I can’t give you the official reason, top secret and so on, but I can give you why I think it is a good idea. Until now he has shown that he only wants to help people. I have no reason to distrust him, doesn’t mean I'm not cautious. I even managed to talk to him once, while he seems to not be the most, well serious person,” Phoenix smirked a little at her description of the rider. She apparently didn’t notice his reaction. “I’m sure he is no threat. At least as far as I can see, I can read people rather well and he seemed to carry his heart in his sleeve. It really wasn’t hard to get an impression on him.”

A frown could be seen for a second on his face, but the moment he noticed his poker face slipping he returned to his previous smile, hoping she hadn’t seen his short moment of weakness.

“He seems to be a rather, well how do I put it, I think simple fits the best. He doesn’t seem to be stupid, but not overly clever either. He comes off more like someone that doesn’t think too much about something and just does it. I could be way off, but his battle style and the short conversation I had with him point towards that as well. But ultimately I think he is a good person, but this could be the inner optimist in me speaking.” She continued amused.

He felled kinda flattered but tried to hide it as best as he could. “Interesting, but I’m sure your opinion isn’t the only one regarding him. I’m sure others think differently about him.”

“Like you?” He nodded.

“I personally would like to wait till I decide if he truly is a hero, but until now I remain a little skeptical.

“Fair standpoint. And yes you are not the only one with this stand, the CCPD, in general, seems rather put off by him. Probably fear he is taking their job. But I’m sure that will change as time goes on.”

“There is another thing that kinda confuses me. Shouldn’t you be at work?” He kinda felt uncomfortable asking this question, but his thirst for answers had already consumed him.

“Oh, well I have a short break, privileges of a government agent. But if something happens,” she pointed at an earplug in her ear. “I know about it asap and can move out. But I was craving for something to eat and I have only heard good things about this place.”

“Well, my brother is a genius when it comes to pizza.” He proudly proclaimed.

“Oh, your brother is the cook here? I didn’t know this was a family business … what was your name again?”

“Phoenix, Phoenix Feather and my brother is Thunder Cloud. He has built this place from the ground up and it is truly magnificent, isn’t it.” His look moved through the room with all the customers.

“Well, it looks good, I can’t say much about the food since you still have my pizza.” Ocean chuckled, glancing over at her order.

“Oh, shoot. I’m sorry, here.” Placing the plate on the table he readies himself to leave before she continued their conversation.

“No problem, it was fun talking to you Phoenix. I just have one last question for you before you are allowed to leave.” His cheery mood had vanished, replaced by an anxious feeling of dreed. What would she ask? Had she caught on? Did he say something wrong? “Wanna try the pizza?”

Phoenix just looked dumbfounded at her, for at least five seconds. “What? I don’t think that is allowed.”

“Oh come on, if I allow it you sure won’t get into trouble. And besides that, you just have to try this, it is great, believe me.”

“I don’t know, seems to be a little bit too fishy for me.” To his surprise, she didn’t react with the usual groan any of his puns received, but by actually laughing about it. “Ok, that is new. You actually laughed at my joke?”

“Sure, why not? I have a soft spot for puns.” She smiled back at him.

“Well, dame, now I can’t really refuse without feeling bad, thanks.”

“You are welcome,” Ocean replied with a smug look on her face.

“Ok, fine, I will do it.” She passed him one piece, Phoenix still not so sure if this was that good of an idea. Slowly he moved the pizza towards his mouth, closing his eyes and suspecting the worst. As his mouth closed around the slice of pizza something strange happens, he actually liked the taste, even if comen sense demanded that it would taste awful. “Hmm. That actually tastes good.”

“You see, not strange at all, now give me. I’m starving.” With that, she tore the slice out of his hand and took a huge bite. “Hmmmm! Great! I can’t even …” Her face had filled with complete bliss. “Well, apparently your brother is indeed a genius. I need more of this. I think I have found my favorite break restaurant in the city.”

“Well, I’m sure Thunder is going to love this. So, yeah, have a nice meal. I think I should get back to work before someone sees me. So yeah, good luck with the whole monster business and so.” As he walked back towards the kitchen he waved he really hoped he hadn’t screwed this up.

“Thanks.”

As he reentered the kitchen Thunder was about to look for his brother, assuming he was again slacking off. “Ah, finally. What were you doing? Here take this.” Giving him a few plates he intended to send him out again.

“Yeah, yeah, I know, but there is one thing I need to let you know first. It’s about one of our customers.”

“What have you done. Stumbled and thrown the order in his face?” His right eye began to twitch nervously.

“What? No! I did nothing wrong. Seriously why are you always expecting the worst of me? Anyways, you remember that government agent that gave the press conference a week ago?”

“Ocean Skies? Yeah, I remember, that woman with the dark and light blue hair? What about her?” Sunner had intersected into their conversation.

“Well she, right now she is eating one of your pizzas.”

“Oh, well ok, nothing too out of the ordinary. She has to eat somewhere I presume. And you just brought her the order and left again, right?”

“Ah, well, not really. I had a little chat with her.” Trying to avoid the look of his brother he had fixated the stairs leading to the upper floor. Starting to sweat, just made the situation even more unpleasant.

In unison Summer and Thunder just facepalmed themselves. “You have got to be kidding me? Not even you could be that stupid. Sure talk with one of the persons that are interested in Alchemy’s identity the most. Masterfull planning, flawless I say.” The annoyance in his voice was clear.

“Well, I thought I could get some information out of her.” Phoenix had a voice was timed, knowing that coming off to confident in his decision would only lead to an angrier Thunder.

“A flawless plan, someone like you tries to outplay a government agent in her own game. I’m… How… What were you thinking? She can play you like a fiddle, even before the first-morning-coffee. Did you blurt anything out and please say no.” He started to look more anxious with every passing second.

“I don’t think so, I even attempted to throw her off. I was skeptical towards Alchemy so she wouldn’t catch on.”

“Ok, let's hope it worked, even if the chances are minuscule. Did you at least get something useful out of her?” Thunder seemed to calm down a bit, but still, he was rather on edge.

“Well, from what she told me not much. She supposedly trustees me and thinks I’m a good person. However, some of the police have a relatively negative opinion of Alchemy. But that’s about it.” He tried to come off as convincing but know very well that this was not much.

“Well, better than nothing I guess. Let’s hope this doesn't become something regular.” The uncomfortable look on Phoenix faces just let him sign. “Let me guess, she likes it so much that she will become a regular, doesn't she?”

“Yep!” He tried to smile, but it just looked face.

“Just go out there and bring the people their orders, I need a moment.” Knowing fully well that right now the best thing he could do was just follow orders he left the kitchen as soon as possible.

“Sometimes I could just… Nevermind, let's hope he didn’t screw this up.”

“I’m sure everything will work out in the end. At least I hope it does.” Summer tried to comfort him.

“Yeah, we can only hope.”

--------------<

He had evaded his brother for the remainder of the day since he didn’t want to test his luck. Thankfully he had managed to arrange that he wouldn’t have to train on his day off and so when the next morning came he decided that he would explore the city. He really hadn’t much time to do this since his arrive approximately two weeks ago. And knowledge of the city's layout would help him reach the location of a monster attack far quicker, that was ultimately the reason he used to convince his brother.

As he casually walked through the streets of his new home examined his surroundings. Surprisingly nearly everything he could ask for could be found in the city. All kinds of stores from clothing too music were easily reached from his brother's restaurant with a five-minute walk. And if he really needed something specific there always was the mall with movie theater, animal shelter, kiosks with different bits and pieces and many other things. Granted it was a little further away, but not too far off that it was inconvenient.

Further landmarks of the city were the Starswierld Observatory, located on top of a hill near the outskirts of town, the Easyglider Stadium, a sports stadium that always was well visited, especially during matches of the Canterlot Wonderbolts, the team having inspired Canterlot High as well as Crystal Prep in the naming of their sport teams, Wondercolts and Shadowbolts respectively, and the Everfree Park with its amphitheater, the place where the “Battle of the Bands” had taken place and subsequently the second magical incident that had ravaged the city.

While he hadn’t time to visit every spot, he had managed to snatch a local map from a bookshop called the Golden Oak. And after his long stroll through the city, he was looking for a quieter place where he could rest for a short while and the White Tail Park was the perfect location for that. Not too far off, but still a somewhat secluded place, even if it was in the middle of the city. Sadly his plans were shattered by a huge group of people shouting and waving singes.

He could just search for another place to rest but now this had sparked his curiosity. He continued his way towards the park, trying to figure out what the fuss was all about.

Phoenix singled out a group of five, all approximately at the age of Highschool students. He even recognized one of them, the boy with green hair, red shirt and brown jacket he had seen on his first day in town. Next, to him stood, girls with a mellow expression, like nothing could even shake her. She looked remarkably similar to the boy, same hairstyle; just instead of green, her hair was red. Her complexion was a light shade of green and she wore a baggy orange dress and bandana with daisy pattern. Maybe they were brother and sister?

The three others stood close to each other. First was a pale yellow girl with cherry-colored hair and a strangely shimmering rose embedded into it. Her lime green dress fitted her quite well. Her expression, however, was, well, aggressive; the anger could clearly be seen on her face.

Next to her magenta girl with green hair was waving her shield around, though not quite as aggressive. On her orange and yellow dress, two daisies were printed. And the last member of the small group was another girl with pink complexion. Her blond hair mixed well with her white dress and the lily in her hair.

“I don’t want to interrupt, but what is going on here?” He asked the group.

The green girl with the red hair was the first to answer: “Dude, they want to flatten this park and build a new animal shelter her. But that would destroy the aura of this place. You get me, right?”

“I only understand half of the words you just said, but correct me if I’m wrong. They want to build an animal shelter, but that would mean they will tear down this park? Right?” He tried to make sense of what the strange girl just had said to him.

“Right, bro. Normally that would be totally radical, but that park is the chillout area of so many people that this would blow, really hard. So we do what has to be done, protest.” The boy in the red shirt tried to explain to him.

“Aha, sure. Well, there goes my break in the park.” He signed.

“See, they destroy everyone free time.” He replied, Phoenix just staring at him unsure of what to reply. “When they ruin your free time as well, why not help us, bro?” And before he could even answer a shield was pressed into his hands.

“What!? I didn’t even agree. Don’t drag me into this.” He shoved the sign back towards the boy.

“Pah, we don’t need someone that gives up that easily anyways. If we want to save the park and the flowers we have to push harder.” The aggressive girls had replied, shooting daggers with her eyes at him.

“Rose, he just wanted to ask what was going on. He has no stake in this; don’t get mad at him, please.” The lily girl tried to calm the girl, apparently called Rose down.

“Pah, if people just keep looking away nothing is going to change. Normal people will get pushed around by these big corporations, we have to strike back and this is the start.” A fierce look in her eyes started to worry him.

“I see, admirable, to a certain extent, but don’t you think that your attitude is a bit, I don’t know, extreme. I think you are only going to make the situation worse if you act so hostile? Just a suggestion.” Phoenix was starting to feel uncomfortable, that girl had an air around her that seemed dangerous.

“We have tried being nice and it has gotten us nowhere. It’s time to change tactics or nothing will change.” Her conviction was kinda admirable, if not somewhat misguided.

“Ok, well that has nothing to do with me anyways, so I really can’t tell you how to do it. So I leave you to your own devices and look for someplace else to…” Before he could finish a black limousine drove in, honking so the crowd would let them trough.

A butler with black skin and greenish blue hair exited the car and opened the door, a young man with green skin and orange hair exited. His purple business suit didn’t quite fit the more limited look of the man. The crowd had gathered around him, shouting and waving the signs even more vigorous as he walked through their middens.

Rose look darkened, anger replacing the aggression. She gripped her sign even harder, increasing the intensity of her voice even more.

“Who is this?” Phoenix asked the girl with the two daisies on her dress.

“He is one of the two sons of Crisela Change, the head of Change Industries. His name is Thorax Change, he is the head of public relations. He tries to keep the goodwill towards the company alife. Probably heard of what is happening here and is trying to get this sorted out.” She replied, all while staring at the newcomer.

“So, I assume Change Industries is responsible for the new animal shelter that is being built here? Why? Is something like that not responsibility of animal protection organizations?” He was somewhat confused why a successful company like Change Industries would build an animal shelter.

“In the last six months, they have started to do this frequently. They call it the “City development plan”. They build anything the city might need, a shelter for the homeless, repairs towards old buildings and stuff like that. Their public reputation has skyrocketed.”

“Huh, thanks,” Phoenix replied, now intrigued what this Thorax would say.

“Pah they have shown their true colors. Just don’t care about the small people. They will ruin this beautiful place and with it the flowers.” Rose interrupted their conversation, her anger growing with every passing second.

“I’m not sure if flowers are that important.”

But before Rose could retaliate the new guest started to speak: “As you know we plan to build an animal shelter here, since this part of the city sadly has none. We didn’t expect that our plans would be met with so much opposition. I wanted to inform you that your complaints have been heard and we are currently…”

“Bolox! You don’t care about us at all. You will ruin one of the only green places in the neighborhood. And all for your own gain!” Rose had interrupted the young man, shouting at him with an amount of contempt that was just uncalled for.

“Rose, stop! You are just going to make it worse.” The girl with the lily in her hair tried desperately to reason with her friend.

“I’m sorry that it appears this way, but I assure you this is not my intended. I will try my best…” Thorax tried to calm the girl down, even if he really wasn’t comfortable with the whole situation.

“Enough! I will stop this travesty right here and now. It is time to push back against the oppressors!” In her hair, the rose started to glow, Phoenix already suspecting what this meant. The wind started to increase in speed and intensity and in mere moments started to spin around the girl. It didn’t take long until the wind was so strong that it blows signs and anything light around. It was getting so bad that seeing Rose in the whirlwind was becoming increasingly hard. At this moment a bright light enveloped the eye of the storm and blinded the bystanders.

After the light had subsided the wind started to die down as well. Rose form had shifted into something more malevolent. Her shoes now reached up to her thighs, taking on a black leathery color. Instead of the conformal ones, she worn before now they had transformed into high heels. A dress seemingly stitched together out of red rose petals covered her body. Her skin tone had changed into a light pink. Thorny vines wrapped around her body, especially around her forearm. Her arms were covered by rose-red gloves that reached up to her upper arm. A cape made out of stitched together rose-leaves hanging over her shoulders reaching to her knees. Roses' lips had taken a deep shade of red, her eyes covered by her new “hair”, a rose, complete with pedals, how she could see without eyes was a mystery to him, but after the events of the last two weeks, he really didn’t question it too much. Seeing without eyes was by far one of the more normal things he had experienced.

Roses’ lips curled into a devious smile, apparently directed at Thorax, but without eyes that was rather hard to determine. The young man was shooked, but strangely not terrified, just shocked, like he hadn’t expected something like this here. For a brief moment, Phoenix could see how he started to clench his fist, but Thorax stoped this nearly immediately. He began to raise his hands, so too not come off as threatening and tried to defuse the situation: “Ok, I know that you are angry, but no one needs to be hurt if we just talk this through. Doesn’t that sound good.” While he spoke the gathered crowd was storming off, trying to get to a safer place, far away from the Corrupted. Phoenix followed suit, but for different reasons, he was looking for a place to transform.

“That is all you can do, talk! Talk and tell lies, but times are about to change and you will be the first to feel it. A new era blossoms!” She proclaimed while pointing at Thorax, who looked disappointed. But he had not much time to contemplate his emotions and start another try to talk her down since Rose send a storm of razor-sharp rose petals, carried by the wind she had summoned, in his directions. Thankfully he was able to dodge her attack, but it was indeed a close call. The pavement that belonged to the path behind him didn’t have so much luck, where the pedals made contact with the ground massive cracks formed that wound themselves through the stone plates.

Meanwhile, Phoenix had managed to reach a deserted alleyway that was just perfect to transform. Checking again, just to make sure he truly was alone and he pulled out the Alchemy Driver and placed it at the usual spot. The belt shoots out and looped itself around his waist again. As usual, he placed the flame disc in the driver and started to spin the disc.

\ MAGIC DISC DETECTED! /

“Henshin!”

\ FLAME DISC ACTIVATED! /

After the flames of his transformations had died down and he was armored up Phoenix wasted no time and sprinted back towards the park. Even if he had only been gone for approximately two minutes the park was recked, the path that leads through it was cracked and badly damaged, some trees had fallen over and the entire place was covered in rose petals, all courtesy of Rose. And in the middle of it all stood she, Rose, in her monster form seemingly not happy in the slightest.

“Why won't you just stay still and let me kill you already!?” She was facing Thorax, who, to Phoenixes surprise, while sweaty, was completely unharmed. How he managed this trick he was not sure but he had to admit for some rich kid that was impressive.

“Hey, Thorny, would you please be so kind and let this nice man alone.” Rose stopped in her onslaught on Thorax and looked over towards the newcomer.

“You. You are the hero the city is up in arms over. Come here and help me so a new era can blossom for Canterlot.” She spoke to him in a booming voice that was somewhat uncomforted.

“I think I pass. Being the head of a social revolution is not really my thing, to much work and people that are just misinterpreting what you preach. But I have an offer for you, turn back, give me your artifact and I make sure mister rich kid will forget this ever happen. I won’t uproot you and you will face no consequences. Doesn’t that sound good?” He was hoping it would work, even with all evidence towards the contrary.

“Oh, that is sad. And I thought you truly were a hero, but in the end, you just lack the ambition to remove the weeds from the garden. This is nothing I like to do but for a future were everything can blossom I have to end you, but be assured it is for a good cause.” The wind was picking up again, this time it was blowing in Alchemies direction. Seconds later a swarm of rose petals was racing straight towards the rider.

While he was evading the incoming projectiles he was speaking to himself out of sheer frustration: “Why does this never work? This is so frustrating. Why can’t there be one Corrupted that is just: ‘Oh I’m sorry, that sounds great. Let me turn back and no one gets hurt.’ Is that really asking too much?”

During Roses attack on Phoenix Thorax had used his opportunity and hightailed out of the park, Alchemy seeing this and smirked underneath the helmet. While he evaded the increasing number of petals that was coming at him he slowly closed in on her.

As Phoenix finally reached her, he was channeling magic into his fist, planning on planting a signal on her to detonate later. Sadly she had realized what he was planning and just leaped up into the air, floating several meters above the ground. Phoenix just punched the air. But before he could come up with something else she had entangled him with one of the vines that wrapped around her forearms, lifted him up and smashed him into a nearby tree, sparks flying off during the impact.

“Realy you can fly? Oh, that is just unfair.” He was starting to stand up again, not sure what the best way to approach this new situation would be.

“Had enough? My offer still stands, help me lead this town into a rosy future!” Phoenix couldn’t believe that she even attempted this, what was she expecting? That he would turn on the people he protected on a whim? Then an idea formed in his head.

Not wasting any time giving the Corrupted an answer he took the flame disc from the Alchemy Driver and it started to glow again.

\ Flame Disc Attack Mode! /

\ Flame Saber! /

After the disc once again had transformed into the Flame Saber he prepared himself for his next attack. “How is that for an answer? Flaming Slash!” Spinning the handguard he swung the sword and unleashed the wave of fire magic that raced ever closer towards Rose. She just chuckled and unleashed a powerful gust of wind that extinguished the attack before it even reached her, to the utter shock of Phoenix.

“Oh come on, that can’t be true! Ok, fine let’s trie this. Flaming Barrage!” This time he unleashed not one but five waves of fire magic, hoping the greater amount of attacks would make her unable to snuff the flames out, sadly he was dead wrong. She just summed another gust of wind, this time with the dreaded rose petals and send it towards Phoenix. The flames were blown out just ass easily like the first time, but now his attack being canceled was not the worst that happened to the rider. The petals continued their path towards their destination and hit him, everywhere. Sparks were flying, while countless small objects collide with his body, the force of the attack, combined with the wind sending him flying.

As he landed he lost the grip on the Flame Saber, which turned back into the flame disc. His entire body arched, he was hardpressed to find a spot that the petals didn’t hit, expect his back. But he managed to stand up again while picking up the flame disc. “Ok, Flame Mode is not going to cut it. Oh, Thunder is going to be furious but I have no choice, even if I still haven't mastered it.” He placed the flame disc onto a socket at the side of the belt and took what was on the one next to it. The thunder disc. “Ok here goes nothing.” After placing the thunder disc onto the buckle of the belt he started to spin it, just like always.

\ THUNDER DISC ACTIVATED!/

His body was enveloped by the whirlwind again, only this time instead of fire, it was composed of lightning. As the magical energy subsided again his armor had changed. The crimson of Flame Mode had been replaced with electric blue, while the gold was still unchanged. His shoulder plates now looked like a collection of lightning bolts that were pointing upwards and behind him in a right angle. The symbol of fire on his left chest had vanished, now replaced with a lightning bolt, symbolizing the thunder disc. The horns on his helmet had taken a lightning motive, complementing the rest of the armor relatively well.

“Resistance is futile against Kamen Rider Alchemy Thunder Mode!” He proclaimed, having regained his confidence.

“Oh, and a color swap should intimidate me? You still can’t reach me. So just give up and I just might let you live.” Every single word she spoke using confidence. While she spoke police sirens could be heard closing in on them. One of them belonging to agent Ocean Skies bike.

“Oh, you will be shocked.” He proclaimed. “Let’s just hope this works.” He muttered to himself. He positioned himself into sprinting position, focusing his goal, Rose. The moment he started sprinting a dustcloud had taken the place he had stood only a moment ago. Alchemy already having bridged the distance between the two of them, in one single second, to the disbelief of Rose. Every movement he made was accompanied by electricity sparking off of him.

As he was close enough he jumped towards his enemy, using his momentum he easily reached her and delivered a swift strike to her face. She was unable to react to the inhuman speed he now possessed and was hit dead on, sending her crashing into some bushes, disoriented from the attack.

The police that had gathered around the park just watched in awe at the Kamen Rider and his new powers. Agent Skies now wore the same strange glasses Ivory Diamond had the day Phoenix defeated Lightning Dust, apparently taking care of the gathering of the data this time.

Wasting no time he rushed over to Rose the moment he again had ground under his feet. Sprinting towards her he didn’t bother to stop after he hit her once, instead of turning around and hitting her from another angle. He continued this tactic, continuously striking her on different parts of her body, sparks flying with every contact. She was unable to retaliate since he moved to fast for her to recognize where he was and by the time she did, he already was somewhere else.

Everything seemed perfect, Phoenix had her exactly there where he wanted her. But then, through his continues shifting of directions, he lost his balance and fell. The momentum sending him spiraling towards a group of bushes, crashing into them. That was the moment Rose had waited for, she summoned the worst storm jet, complete with her dangerous petals. Police and Alchemy were kept down and she arouses into the air.

“You stand in the way of this beautiful garden that is Canterlot City. I will deal with you another day.” With these words, she ascended higher and higher. After she had reached a suitable hight she flew towards the center of the city with its skyscrapers, and descended again, disappearing between the buildings.

“Dammit!”Phoenix slammed his fist on the ground, out of sheer frustration. He had managed the speed the whole time, why now? Couldn't he just manage it a little long?

“What was that? You let her get away. Like I expected, in the end, you are just not up to the task.” The police officer with the blue hair screamed at him, while running in his direction, weapon ready.

He was about to give an angry reply but could swallow it just in time. Thankfully someone else came to his aide. “Officer, Armor, if you would be so kind and not antagonize our local hero. Instead, I think helping him up takes priority now.” Ocean demanded from the young officer. He begrudgingly followed her orders helping Alchemy stand up again.

“Thank you very much.” He replied somewhat jokingly. Shining Armor really wasn’t amused being teased by the rider.

“So, new power I see, Ivory will love this. From what I could gather it has the same magical-energy-signature as Lightning used, correct?” She now was taking to Alchemy, seeing rather interested in his Thunder Mode.

“Well, not surprisingly, both lightning magic.” He replied while stretching himself.

“So, what can it do. You don’t have to answer if don’t want to, however.”

“Oh, how friendly of you, I can decide to not tell you about my powers that are none of your business. Appreciated.” He replied rolling his eyes, knowing fully well that she wouldn’t be able to see it anyway.

“Sarcasm is unbecoming of you.” She dryly replied.

“Have you meat me? Sarcasm is basically a side dish for me.” She just snickered at his response.

“Show a little bit more respect for a government official please!” Officer Armor tried to chastise Phoenix who in return just stared at him.

“Officer Shining Armor, I think your colleges need your help right now more. I think I can handle this for now.” There was an unsettling undertone in her still rather friendly voice and Shining Armor know that he really should just follow her order for now, or things would soon become uncomfortable.

“Yes, Mam!” And with this he returned to his colleagues, helping them gather any evidence they could find.

“So where were we again? Oh, right, your new powers. Interested in giving me a rundown?” Ocean continued like nothing had happened.

“Sure. You will figure it out anyway, so why not. Thunder Mode makes me fast, like really fast, sadly no increased reaction time besides the one I get from being Alchemy in general, which means a high chance of hitting something while using it. Just like what happened here, still haven't gotten it completely under control. You would be surprised how hard it is to just turn around without stumbling over your own feet. But I’m sure I get used to it eventually.”

“Hmm, interesting.” She had scribbled everything he had just said on a small notebook before she continued. “Have you tried using it more sparingly, from what I have seen you used it the whole time without break. Don’t you think it would work better if you use it as an attack and after that turn it off? That would give you time to concentrate and take in your surroundings again. Just an idea, I have no idea how it feels, so take this with a grain of salt.”

“That could actually work, the biggest problem was maintaining the concentration during the speed, but that could solve that problem. Until now I thought I could just learn it through repetition, but seeing it from this angle that could work just as well. Thank you.” He thanked her, this time without joking around like with Shining Armor.

“I’m glad I could help. But there is still something I wanted to ask you. Do you know the Identity of Corrupted number eight?” While at first smiling back at him her demeanor changed as she got back to business, becoming stoic again.

“Not, much. Her name was Rose, I think, however, I don’t know if that is simply a nickname. She seemed relatively young, probably highschooler. Relatively pale yellow skin and cherry-colored hair, but that is all. I would however not suggest confronting her, that probably won’t end well. I don’t think she is all that keen on authorities right now. I already tried the whole talking her down thing and, yeah didn’t work. It would be probably better if you would let me handle this. I just have no idea where to find her.”

“Fine, we let you handle this. But you need to know where she might strike next. Let me help you. Why did she transform?” Ocean looked sincere in offering her help, but you could never be too sure with these government agents.

“Well, she was one of the protesters here. Already relatively angry before that Thorax appeared. He apparently wanted to defuse the situation, but she was to lost in her rage and didn’t listen, transformed and started this whole mess by attacking him.” Phoenix recalled, trying to figure out where she would strike next.

“Ah, she apparently was after this Thorax. Then she will probably attack him again to finish the job. At least that seems the most logical, but monsters sometimes don’t think logical.” She added.

“Hmm, probably. I will keep this in mind. So bye.” He was just about to leave when she called out to him again.

“Wait, so what is your plan now?” Ocean asked him, quite confused.

“I have no idea, but I probably will come up with something and if I have to walk up to the Change Industries and demand to speak to Thorax. I will figure it out.” Before she could ask further questions he had already left, and thanks to his new form way to fast to even try to argue with some more.

“Great, let's just hope he won’t cause too much chaos. I probably should warn Thorax that he might want to see him or something like that. If he would have just waited or a few more minutes I probably could have arranged something. But nope, he just runs off. Sometimes I wonder if I made the right call. Well it’s already too late for this now, isn’t it? I will just have to endure this. Ivory, I hope your research pays off soon. I don’t know how long this city can take him alone. It just seems like he really needs someone to get him more focused.” She spoke to herself, organizing her thoughts and any possible further actions. Se really didn’t care what others thought about her way of focusing. She was just hoping that everything would work out just fine.

The Gathering Storm - The Wind of Change

Night had set in while Phoenix had recited the events of the day to his brother, both resting on their couches. Thunder listening carefully so he would not miss something important, only nodding and asking for specifics when needed. Since it was off day at the restaurant Summer had decided that she would spend her free time on her own was not present right now. Thunder already knowing full well that he would have to explain today's events to her tomorrow.

“And then I said goodbye and left. Yeah, that should cover it. Any questions left?”

“Well, a few. First, what is your plan? Following him in civil isn’t really a good option since he probably has bodyguards, or if he didn’t have some until now after the monster attack for sure. You would probably be spotted immediately since you are not stealthy, in the slightest. So that is out of the picture and not even you are insane enough to walk up to Change Industries and just ask to see him.” As Phoenix didn’t reply to him Thunder already knew the answer, still, a glimmer of hope remaining and so he asked: “Right?”

“Well, you see, I really have no better idea and it seems to get around convoluted setups by being blunt and cutting straight to the target. They know the police at least accept me and after today I’m sure he would want me at his side. But if you have a better idea I’m willing to listen.” He wasn’t completely convinced by his own idea and if Thunder could come up with something different he would be quite happy, knowing fully well that his plan had some serious holes in it.

“I got nothing, maybe you could have worked out something with agent Skies but we still don’t know if we can trust her. So ultimately I wouldn’t suggest that option either, so yeah your plan it is. Oh, I have a bad feeling about this.” No one was happy about their situation, they really had no connections, no skills that would help them in their current predicament and were totally inexperienced. Until now they had gotten lucky, news reports or just stumbling over the monster. But they needed to think off some way to find the Corrupted that was consistent.

“Damn and I hoped you would have something. This is going to be awkward. Really not looking forward to this. Your second question?”

“Yeah, second question. How was the first field test of the Thunder Disc? You already told me the abridged version, but I want more detail on it.” Thunder was relatively down to earth, which really worried Phoenix. Usually when he acted that way the situation warranted it, seeing him now so reserved really didn’t help him wind down after the day.

“Well, for the most part, rather well. Like I said, I managed to hold her down and change my direction relatively often. So all in all, ok. But at a certain point, I just couldn’t keep it up, like always. If this continues like this I will never be in complete control of Thunder Mode. However, I might try something that agent Skies suggested. Use it more as a way to attack and switch it off again. Maybe that will work till I have the speed fully under control. By the way sorry that I used a power I hadn’t fully mastered.” He expected another one of Thunders verbal smackdowns but what followed took him by surprise.

“You tried to do it without Thunder Mode and I personally prefer it if you survive thanks to unperfected skills then you always doing what I want. I have to trust you here, I don’t know how the situation was. I’m sure you made the right call.” A smile had sneaked onto his face making it possible for Phoenix to relax a bit.

“Thanks.” This single word carried his entire gratitude and happiness over the trust his brother apparently had in him.

“No problem, but you really should go to sleep now. You need every bit of energy you can get for tomorrow.” While he was still talking he had stood up and walked towards his bedroom. “Night.”

“Sure, night.” Phoenix still wasn’t entirely sure about the plan. “I really hope this will not feel so dumb when I actually am there.” He hoped, still having his doubts about that and went to bed.

--------------<

“This is the worst plan I ever had.” Standing before the Change Industries building in his Alchemy armor he really felled out of place. Not helping much were the pedestrians that walked by eying him rather confused and he really couldn’t blame them. A hero standing fully armored in the streets looking up at a skyscraper was something rather strange and he would probably react the same way if he saw something as bizarre as this.

“Well, here goes nothing.” After one last breath, focusing his resolve, he entered the skyscraper. The interior was pleasant enough. The glass front of the lobby made it possible to see the pedestrians outside walking by. The floor was covered with a venomous green carpet and the walls were painted in a cold blue. A small seating area, consisting out of three blue couches, was occupying the left corner of the room. On the right side of the lobby a reception desk, made out of a dark brown wood, was located. The receptionist was a woman with light blue skin and green hair, that was bound into a ponytail.

All eyes in the room had shifted towards the rider the moment he had set foot inside. If standing outside was uncomfortable, he couldn’t even begin to describe how he felled now. Their looks were like daggers tearing through the armor and right into his flesh, staring at him with confusion, shook and even some in fear. The receptionist meanwhile just stared in utter confusion at the new guest.

After standing around for a few moments, unsure of what to do next, he started to walk towards the reception. The atmosphere was tense, no one comfortable with the situation, Phoenix avoiding eye contact with anyone, even if his helmet covered his face and subsequently his eyes. The way towards his goal being some of the most awkward in his entire life.

As he finally reached the reception desk, after what felled like an eternity, he was about to ask for Thorax, but apparently, the receptionist had found the courage to speak first. “Wel… Welcome to Change Industries, how… how may I help you?” Her awkward question didn’t help in the slightest to ease him into this entire situation.

“Well, my name is Kamen Rider Alchemy and this is going to sound weird, but I need to speak with Thorax Change, head of public relations. It has to do with the attack on his life yesterday.” He really was surprised that he had managed to reply something so well structured. The moment he had spoken his first word everything else just seemed to fall into place.

“Uhm… I’m not… I don’t… Give a moment.” She was totally overwhelmed by the situation. It was just too weird. Picking up the phone from the reception she died in some numbers, presumably those of Thorax's office and put the receiver near her ear, waiting that someone would respond. “Hello, here is Urtica, the receptionist. Here is someone that likes to speak to mister Thorax. No, as far as I’m aware he has no appointment with mister Thorax. Well, I’m not sure if that is possible, you that person is, well, Kamen Rider Alchemy. He says he has something to discuss with mister Thorax about the attack on his life yesterday. Aha, yes, as you wish.”

While she was speaking with whoever was on the other end of the phone Phoenix uncomfortably looked around the room, but thanks to the helmet it seemed like he never let his look from her. After she had hung up the phone she stared at the rider until she spoke: “Mister Thorax is willing to meet you. His office is on floor fifty-one.” After having said that she shifted her look towards a woman with cyan skin and hair with a slightly darker shade of blue. “Delilah, would you be so kind and guide our guest towards his destination?”

The woman in her orange business suit nodded and signaled him to follow her. But before he did this he still needed to do one thing. “Thank you very much.” And with this done he hastily followed his guide towards the elevators at the end of the room.

Delilah had already opened the door to the elevator and was waiting patiently for the Kamen Rider to catch up. She seemed to handle the situation more professionally then Urtica had, not even batting an eye because of him. She gestured him to enter, which he quite happily obliged, leaving the lobby and all its staring inhabitants behind as the doors closed again.

Sadly the relive of leaving the unpleasant looks behind him only lasted for a short while until he realized that he still wasn’t alone. Granted it was better since now only one person was standing right next to him, silent, yes defiantly uncomfortable.

The elevator was climbing the building, slowly, floor for floor, and still, no one dared to speak a word, it really mad this whole situation awkward. A woman in a business suit standing next to someone completely clad in electric blue armor, not saying a single word, he couldn’t stand it, he had to do something or he would go crazy before they even reached the halfway point.

“So, your name is Delilah?” He tried to break the ice and this was the first thing that came to mind.

“Hmm?” she looked over towards him, seeming somewhat perplexed. “Yes, my name is Delilah.” She apparently didn’t quite understand what Phoenix was trying to do.

“Well, it is a pleasure meeting you.”

She tilted her head in confusion, still not sure what he was attempting. “Thanks, the honor is mine.” She really wasn’t the talkative type, he had to try something different.

“You are Thoraxes personal assistant, or …?” Phoenix tried again to spark a conversation with Delilah, hoping this time it would actually work.

“No, I’m, you could call it a tourist guide? I lead visitors towards their destination. Of course, I’m not the only one that does that, there are two more since people come and go on a regular basis and one alone couldn’t guide every visitor.”

“Hm, certainly interesting. Thanks for your answer.” He only was glad that he could at least spend a small part of the trip upwards, not just staying silent.

“Ding!”

“Oh well, our short trip ends here, if you may follow me.” She stepped out of the elevator leading him towards his destination. They passed another receptionist sitting at her desk waiting for visitors. What was somewhat strange was that this floor only had three doors, two relatively near to the elevator after the small reception room and one at the end of the hallway. She led him towards one of the doors positioned on the side of the hallway and knocked once.

“You can come in Delilah!” Someone with a gentle voice replied from inside the room.

She just nodded and opened the door and made it clear that Phoenix should enter first. Nervously he stepped inside the office of Thorax. The room had a glass front behind Thoraxes desk, giving a magnificent look upon the city. Like the rest of the building, the walls were colored in a cold blue and the carpet still was the same venoms green. Bookshelves covered the walls and flowerpots made the entire office a lot livelier. Between two bookshelves on the right side of the office was a door, probably leading towards another room, probably for company meetings. In the middle of the room stood a desk with three chairs standing around it, sitting in one was Thorax, smiling at the newcomer.

“Ah, Kamen Rider Alchemy, it is a pleasure meeting you.” While he spoke he stood up and walked towards his guest. ”Well, meeting you and not being attacked out of the blue. I have to thank you for saving me.” He had bridged the gap between them and now hold his hand out, Alchemy somewhat unsure doing the same, ending in a handshake.

“Well, you hold out pretty well yourself, I was really impressed that you didn’t even get scratched. By the way sorry that I burst in unannounced.”

For a moment he thought he had seen Thorax face shift towards something more uncomfortable, but moments later he chuckled and rubbed his head with his hand, seeming somewhat embraced. “Oh, that. I was just lucky if you hadn’t saved me I would have been, well, let's not think about that now. And for you coming unannounced, not really, agent Ocean Skies already warned me that you might visit me today. And apparently, she was right. So what brings you here today? I’m sure it is not because you wanted to hear me thank you.”

“Well, no it’s not, but it’s indeed a nice bonus.” Thorax chuckled a little as he heard the response of the rider. “But, I’m actually here to discuss the attack from yesterday with you.” His voice shifted from his usual goofy tone towards something more serious.

“Figured as much. So what do you want to know, if I know the girl? Why did we decide to build at this spot? Or something else? For number one, no I never saw he before and if I can’t remember. Second, the park was one of the cheapest lands we could buy and since it had fallen into disrepair with only a handful of people actually caring for it, we saw it as a service for the community to build something useful there.”

Phoenix was somewhat overwhelmed with his eagerness to help, he had expected that this would involve far more convincing and sweet-talking, but he wouldn’t complain if thing, at least for once, went his way. “Well, this might sound somewhat strange, but I wanted to ask if it would be possible to follow you around for the day. She might target you again and I can’t let you get hurt only because I was to slow to arrive.”

“So you want to use me as bait, I see.” He replied, seeming relatively nonchalant about it.

“N… No! I would never do something like that. I just want to protect you, that is all.” He had been caught and Phoenix really wasn’t comfortable with the situation.

“Please, you don’t have to lie. You can’t let this thing just walk or fly around and harm people. And I’m your best bet to catching it. All I want is for you, to be honest with me.”

Now Phoenix really felt awful, he had taken this all with a level of calmness that was unnerving and he had lied to him, granted he had thought this would probably yield the best results but still now it just felled wrong. “Ok, you are right. I wanted to use you as bait, but I never intended to let harm get to you. I’m sorry that I lied to you. I think I will leave now and won’t waste your time anymore.” Head hanging he was ready to leave the room as Thorax started to laugh. Confused he just stared at the young man.

“Oh, that is good. Nono, it’s fine. I wanted to hold another press conference in the park anyway to try to reason with her and you tagging along will help if things go south. So, what do you say?”

This had taken Phoenix by surprise, he wanted to be used as bait. That was, interesting, but he wouldn’t let this golden opportunity just get to waste. “If you insist, I would be happy to play the bodyguard.”

“Then we have a deal!” He replied.

“Deal!”

“Still, one question. What would you have done if I had refused to help you?” Thorax asked curiously.

“Probably just followed you without permission.” He sheepishly replied.

“I will pretend I never heard that part.” He said, shaking his head in defeat.

“Probably for the better.” Alchemy replied chuckling sheepishly.

--------------<

To Phoenixes surprise he wasn’t the only one that would accompany Thorax, as they left the building together, he was greeted with a full squad of police officers and a smugly grinning Ocean Skies.

“Well, well, who do we have here? Kamen Rider Alchemy. Do you want to talk a little bit or run off again? You could have made this so much easier for me and simply stayed a little longer, I could have arranged everything, but no, of course not, that would be too easy, wouldn’t it.” She greeted the rider.

“Well, maybe, but look worked out didn’t it?” He tried to be his usual cocky self, hopefully, she wouldn’t realize that in reality, he was rather embarrassed about the whole situation. He was thankful she couldn’t look past his red bug eyes.

She just chuckled and shook her head. “Well, fine, let's move. We have a VIP to protect.” With that, she signaled everyone to make themselves ready. “You will be right next to me with your bike, we will form the rearguard, so we can react quickly if something goes array. Any objections?” Skies had gone into full-on business mode and he knew better than to speak out against her, especially when he had no problem with her approach.

“Works with me, just don’t get in my way when she comes back.” He replied, already moving towards his bike, that he had held in its transformed state thanks to a seal he had placed on it.

Like his armor, the bike had changed into an electric blue form when he touched it in Thunder Mode. As he mounted his bike and got in position behind the limousine of Thorax Ocean pulled up next to him on a white and blue bike, complete with MRG logo on the side.

As the convoy started to move he followed foot, not wanting to lose them, but he really didn’t need to worry about this problem with the ludicrous speeds his bike could achieve. The four police cars and two bikes surrounded the limousin, keeping an eye open for any sign of a Corrupted or other complications, but everything looked save, at least for now.

They had driven for at least ten minutes, still nothing. Phoenix was getting antsy, expecting Rose to appear any moment now. Ocean, on the other hand, started to suspect that Corrupted number eight would wait til, they had reached the park again, just to make a statement. Still the quietness, besides the engines of the vehicles, was unnerving, like something would happen any second now.

A sudden crashing sound interrupted their thoughts, moments later the two armored police cars that formed the head of the formation passed them, badly damaged, tires wreaked, windshield cracked and rose petals covering them both.

Knowing fully well what that meant Ocean was the first to act. “Cover the VIP, but be careful, you are no use to me if you get yourself killed. Thorax, try to get somewhere where she doesn’t have the air superiority. I and Alchemy will try taking her down!” She gave orders over her communicator to her underlings and Thoraxes driver.

The limousine took a sharp turn right, heading for an underground carpark, all while evading storms of rose petals. Phoenix managed to make out where the attack had come from, right in front of them Rose, in her monster form, hovered several meters over the ground, unreachable for him at the moment. At least as long as he was on his bike. But before he could stop and gather momentum to reach her Ocean pulled out her high-tech gun and took on a shoot at the Corrupted, all while still riding her motorbike.

Rose didn’t even bother to dodge, expecting that the weapon wouldn’t even harm her. To her utter shook Ocean did indeed manage to hurt her, sparks flying off from the impact point, stunning her for several seconds. They used this precious time to increase the distance between them and her. But the shook didn’t last long and she already had started to attack them with the petals again, Phoenix and Ocean narrowly avoiding them.

Thankfully the next underground carpark was only one hundred meters away, funny enough that one was built not three months ago by Change Industries, sometimes fate seemed to be gentle.

While the rider and the agent dodged the attacks of the monster officers from each car opened their windows and took aim at their target, firing at it. Most of them missed but two actually hit their goal, but this only enraged Rose more, retaliating with her signature attack. The two last cars were hit, one crashing into the glass front of a restaurant, hopefully, no one was hurt during this, while the other driver lost control and the car started to overturn sailing right past them. They only had thirty meters till they reached their destination.

To the dismay of Phoenix and Ocean Rose now had shifted her priorities, now aiming directly at Thorax car with her attacks. One of her attacks actually hitting the rear window, shattering it in the process, with only fifteen meters to go Thorax driver started to turn during full speed and he actually managed relatively well, avoiding attacks from Rose, managing to almost reaching their destination more or less unharmed, almost. During the last moments of the daring maneuver, she managed to hit the car dead center on its side, sending it spinning out of control before they lost line of sight with the limousine as it crashed into the underground carpark.

Meanwhile, the car completely lost control and started to lose ground, spinning wildly in the air until it came to a stop, laying upturned in the middle of the parking area. Miraculously Thorax didn’t seem to be hurt that much, so was his driver, both unbuckling themselves and starting to crawl out of the wreak. At this moment Rose swooped into the carpark, looking for survivors. Right behind her, the two bikes also reached their destination.

“Hey Rosy, big mistake following him here, because now you are going to get grounded.” She spun around noticing both of them standing between her and the exit.

“Oh the lapdogs of stagnation arrive, but ultimately your efforts are futile. I’m the fertilizer that will nurture this flower of change.” Rose retorted, letting nothing getting in the way of her “nurturer of change” stig.

“Ocean, I hope you brought enough weed killer because it’s time for a little gardening.” Before she could answer, he had already charged straight towards the Corrupted, fists glowing with magical energy. Phoenix started with a swift smack to the face with his right fist, followed up by a left hook before delivering a devastating kick to her stomach, using the force of the impact to push himself further away from her.

The sudden attack and speed of it had left Rose somewhat disoriented and so she had no time to react before he again rushed at her with superhuman speed, this time from the right, kicking her in the side and retreating again. The pain was irritating but she had to concentrate or he would simply continue to pummel her into the ground. He dashed forward again, the moment he regained footing, but this time she was prepared and unleashed a storm of rose petals around her, trying to shield herself from any further attacks.

In the last moments before he would have run head first into the vortex of flower petals, managed to change his direction slightly so he missed the razor-sharp whirlwind, but only just barely. Still, his change in directions had made him stumble, just barely managing not to land face first on the pavement. He came to a screeching hold a few meters from the next wall. “Damn, that was close, I have to be more careful because if not I’m just going to run into one of her traps.” He muttered under his own breath.

Meanwhile, Thorax and his driver had managed to reach a door that would lead them to the next floor and so to safety, all thanks to Oceans help, who had rushed over to them while Rose was distracted. While both of them left through the door she stayed to record the date for Ivory, even if she would have liked to stay with them, her duties came first. She had crouched behind one of the concrete pillars that stabilized the place as she ordered a few of her man to pick up Thorax with her communicator as an explosion pulled her back into what was going on around her.

On the other side of the carpark a car just exploded, apparently Rose had tried to kill him with one of her petal-gusts, but thanks to his speed Alchemy had dodged the attack.

“Missed, me. But really, are you that bad when you are out of your element, I expected at least a little bit more from you. Or do you have a bad case of aphids, would certainly explain that lackluster performance up until now?”

The rider was really starting to get on her nerves if only he would not be so fast. She had to think of something before this situation became unsalvageable. What had he said about “out of her element”? That might just be the solution she was looking for.

Unleashing another gust of wind towards her opponent she hoped this would keep him down long enough so she could leave this place and have air superiority again. To her dismay, this hope was shattered nearly instantly, as she raced towards the exit Rose was tackled and through to the side. Apparently, Alchemy had hit her with his shoulder and stopped her from gaining the advantage again.

Phoenix didn't waste any time and charged towards her, delivering one kick towards her face, she frowned in pain. Faster then she could even realize it happening he had changed positions and kicked her again, this time in the stomach. This continued for a while, she had lost track after the fourth hit she had to endure. With one last kick to her back, she was through further away from her goal.

“One last chance Rosy, surrender now and everything will be fine.”

She had managed to stand up again, even if she still was shaking and just looked in his direction until she replied: “Screw you, I’m not finished yet. I will crush you and use your rotting body as humus for the bright future of this town.” She was panting heavily, but her rage kept her going, she couldn’t lose, not until she was done with him. But she noticed one thing, there was something strange on her stomach, a weird symbol, she didn’t know what it did but she was sure it belonged to Alchemy and that meant it was bad news.

“Well, I kinda hoped you would say that. Because that means I can test one of my new toys on you.” He chuckled and removed the Thunder Disc from the driver and hold it in front of him.

\ Thunder Disc Attack Mode! /

\ Thunder Tonfa! /

The disc began to glow brightly, a second light appearing at his other hand. As the light faded the Thunder Disc had doubled itself and transformed. Alchemy now was holding two tonfa with electric blue as its base color and golden decorations all over it. The weapon was made out of two sticks, a larger one and a shorter one that was fixed relatively at the front of the weapon, but not so that the end of the larger stick would be behind his fists. The Thunder Disc was enabled right over the handle.

“Resistance is futile!” Before Rose could react with an annoyed groan at the horrible pun she was hit right in the face with one of his weapons, electricity surging through her body. The next strike followed right after the first, as well surging with electricity, disorienting her further. The strikes that came afterward were just blurred, but she felt every single one of them. Alchemy struck all over her body, legs, arms, stomach, back and head. He spared no part of her. As he retreated the world just seemed to spin and blur before her eyes, it was a wonder she still could stand, but she had to endure, she had to stand up for the small people, she had to win!

He arranged his arms so he would be able to spin both Thunder Discs, that were placed on his weapons. The next thing he did was channel his magic into the Thunder Tonfa and as they were fully charged he spun the discs. “Electrical Discharge!”The front of the tonfa disappeared, revealing that the weapons were hollow inside. Next, he holed out his arms in front of him, the magical energy gathering inside the hollow part of the tonfa. “Clear!” He unleashed a fury of punches, every single one releasing a lightning bolt. Strangely not a single one hit the Corrupted.

“You missed.” She jokingly said.

Phoenix just ignored her and turned his weapons back into their disc-form.

“Rose, you have used the power you were given to hurt and endangered others as well as force your will onto them. By the magic that was bestowed upon me, I deem you unworthy of your powers and will now take them from you!”

While he spoke he placed the Thunder Disc back into the Alchemy Driver. After he had finished he spun the disc, just like he had done with the Fire Disc.

\ Thunder Disc Maximum Power! /

The seals all over her body started to glow, to Roses shook. She didn’t know what was happening, but she was sure it couldn’t be anything good. At the same time seals all over the underground carpark began to glow, the lightning bolts that had “missed” her. He had done it deliberately, she now realized this.

Alchemy started to charge towards her, as he had covered the half of the way towards her, he also started to glow and moments later he had transformed into a lightning bolt that headed straight for her.

She could only watch in horror as the bolt of lightning hit her and past right through her body and headed straight for another seal on the wall of the room. As he hit that one as well he again changed his direction, again towards her. He hit her again and aimed for her again, just with more speed than before. It was at this moment she noticed that the seal he had already hit and from which he bounced back at her was gone, but she had no time to dwell on this as she was again struck by the magical bolt of lightning.

With every time the bolt bounced off of a seal its speed increased, returning to deal even more damage to Rose and with every hit sparks flew off of her. At that moment the bolt passed again through her body this time heading straight forward towards the exit of the parking lot, only to hit a seal right in front of her and right back at her. For a moment she swore she could see a ghostly image of Alchemy heading straight for her with his right leg stretched out, but before she could see more the bolt struck her one last time, unleashing unimaginable pain all throughout her body.

Phoenix came to a screeching halt right behind her as a massive explosion consumed the room, thankfully sparing Ocean. After the explosion had died down only Rose was left behind, courses, but still unharmed. He stepped closer towards her, remembering the strange rose she had in her hair he pointed one of the unfinished Magic Disc at it. A green glow erupted from it, flowing into the disk which also started to glow the same way.

After the light had subsided he no longer did hold a blank disc, but a green one in form of a spinning whirlwind. The Wind Disc. But at the same time, two balls of light emerged from the rose and hovered for a few seconds before him, one dark blue, the other orange. Before Phoenix could react both of them shoot off towards the exit and disappeared.

“Oh, I have a bad feeling about this.”

“Agreed, but we shouldn’t worry about it now, let’s finish this first,” Ocean replied while handcuffing Rose.

“Yeah, you are right. By the way great idea with the whole underground parking lot. You made this significantly easier. Thanks.”

“No problem, I just did my job.” She replied.

“And thanks for arranging the meeting with Thorax, you really helped me there too.”

“Again, no problem. If you wouldn’t have run off like you did this would have been even easier. Next time just talk to me, makes it easier for the both of us.” Ocean encountered, hoping to strengthen the relationship between the rider and the MRG.

“Maybe, I still can’t trust you, but I will keep it in mind.” He replied, still dought present in his voice.

“Fine, by the way, Thorax said he was on his way towards the press conference and asked you to be there.”

“Sure, why not, I have nothing better to do anyways and that seems like a good way to wrap this up. Tell him I will be there.”

“Sure.” She replied while reaching towards her communicator.

“Thanks, so see ya!”

“See ya.”

With that, he had mounted his bike and rode off towards the park to see Thoraxes press conference.

--------------<

The press conference had already started and Thorax was just about to come to a conclusion as he saw Alchemy in the distance with his bike.

“And before I come to an end I have to thank one person in particular,” Phoenix just came to a halt as he heard what Thorax was about to say: “Kamen Rider Alchemy, he made it possible for me to even be here. He and the police protected me from our guest that interrupted my speech yesterday. He not only saved me from her he also saved her from herself.” He pointed at the rider, who in turn just stared at the head of public relations of Change Industries.

Thankfully no one could see behind his helmet, because if that would be possible they would notice that he had taken a crimson red shade out of sheer embarrassment. While he appreciated the fact that Thorax thanked him did he really need to do this in public? For a moment he considered just riding off again but managed to stand his ground, no matter how awkward this was. He then raised his hand and waved back at Thorax, hoping it didn’t look too forced.

“But moving on, I hereby declare that we will stop any attempts to turn this park into something else.” A loud gasp went through the advance, they hadn’t expected that someone that was attacked by a crazy girl actually would listen to her, even after she was dealt with. “We have grossly miscalculated the importance this park holds for all of you. We thought to replace it with something that would help the community, but we were wrong and I will personally make sure that a situation like this will not repeat itself. If I fail, I apologize in advance.” The stunned silence of the audience quickly shifted towards booming applause.

Thorax had just managed to wrap every single person here around his finger. Change Industries would probably profit much from this boost in public support thanks to his actions. In a sense this was somewhat scary Phoenix had to admit.

“And we will not abandon our original plans completely, I already have three different locations we can shift the construction too. Not without speaking with the locals first of course. Thank you for your attention.” Thorax left the podium that had been arranged at the park and headed towards the rider.

“Thank you for your help, I couldn’t have asked for a better bodyguard.”Both shook hands when a blinding light flashed went off, a reporter had taken a picture at the right moment. “And I hope we see us again one day.”

“Thanks, but I’m not sure if this would be a good thing, I usually only appear when a monster attacks and I won’t wish that upon you.” Thorax just chuckled. “So, bye."

And with that Alchemy mounted his bike again and drove off before the reporters could bombard him with their questions.

--------------<

It was the early afternoon as Phoenix returned to the “Magnum Opus”, on his way he had turned back into his civilian form. Parking in the hallway connected to the restaurant he headed straight for the backdoor.

Thunder and Summer were working in the kitchen, preparing food for the customers as Phoenix entered, arms hanging limply from his side.

“Oh, hey Phoenix and how did it go? Did you win?” Summer asked him in her usual cheery demeanor.

Phoenix just grunted in approval and continued his trot towards the stairs.

“Anything else?” Thunder ask, not expecting much of a conversation from his brother.

He just held out the Wind Disc and grunted: ”More, tomorrow. Tiered, will sleep now.” And without giving them any chance to reply he already dragged himself up the stairs.

“Wow, I have never seen him that tired. Is that something that is common for him?” A bit of concern in her voice.

“Only if he actually is really spent. The entire day in armor probably was a bit too much. Let him sleep. I’m sure he will be back to normal tomorrow.” He assured her.

“Good, but he shouldn’t expect any special treatment only because he overdid it today.” She chuckled.

“You know, sometimes you are evil.”

Summer just chuckled: “Oh, I know.” A mischievous grin forming on her lips. After a short moment of silence, Thunder and Summer started to laugh wholeheartedly.

Wings of Freedom - Shocking Beauty

Four days had passed since the incident surrounding Rose and Thorax and the city had returned to normal, well as normal as it would get anyways. On the next morning after his rematch with Rose Thunder had basically pulled him out of bed and demanded answers. Phoenix just grunted “Later!” and went back to sleep, well attempted would probably be the more fitting term. Only the threat of Thunder dumping a bucket of water on him finally managed to get answers out of him.

He explained to Thunder and Summer, that had come early today, about his awkward conversations in the lobby and elevator, the strange meeting with Thorax, the fight with Rose and the subsequent his first use of the Thunder Disc in a battle situation where he didn’t land face first on the ground. The adrenaline that had flown through his body and the rush when he finished Rose off.

As he came to the creation of the Wind Disc, Thunder could barely hold his excitement, sadly his screeches of joy were snuffed out the moment Phoenix mentioned the two spheres that had left the magical artifact the after he had absorbed the wind-magic. He asked him about every minute detail, even how the air smelled, but ultimately they settled on: “Keep an eye out for them.” Sure like hadn’t figured that out himself.

Thunder remained firm about his assessment of Ocean, not that Phoenix objected to this. He didn’t trust her either, but both had to admit working closer together with her would probably yield better results and would lead to fewer victims. Phoenix just had to be careful not to let his identity slip.

The days went by, Ocean indeed coming basically daily, Phoenix chatting quite often with her, all to Thunders dismay. He still feared that he might reveal his secret identity by accident, but Phoenix ensured him that wouldn’t happen. Just to be sure he always let Summer keep an eye on him during their conversations.

Like all week long Ocean had come to the pizzeria and again ordered a rather surreal pizza. This time a pineapple-strawberry-apple-ham-pizza, after the third strange order he had simply accepted it and if all of them were as good as the first one he really wouldn’t question her.

“Here is your order Ocean, I hope it tastes better than it sounds, but I’m sure you will like it.” He joked as he handed her the plate.

“Don’t they teach you how to properly talk to a customer? I’m sure joking about their choice of food is not the normal modus operandi.” Ocean teasingly replied.

“Probably, thankfully I never learned this job.” Phoenix smugly replied.

“Oh, that explains way too much.” She chuckled; nearly swallowing one of the pizza-slices the wrong way.

“And what is that supposed to mean?” He replied, pretending to be hurt by her words.

“Oh, only that you are not as organized as your coworkers, even if the chef apparently really likes large ham.” She chuckled for a moment before continuing. “I only mean this in a good way, of course.”

“Mhm. Sure.” He didn’t look convinced.

“Hey at least I can hold a conversation with you, Summer and Thunder are a way too focused on their work, they generally run off before it gets interesting.”

“Let’s hope you are not that way at work.” Phoenix just smugly looking back at her, thinking he had won this rounded.

Rolling her eyes she simply replied: “I think there is a small difference in protecting people and making pizza.”

“Well, it all is a matter of perspective really.”

“Oh really? I would love to see that perspective where protecting lives is equivalent to a simple waiter, no offense.”

“Fine, you win. You are the biggest grump on the job with a good reason behind it. Are you happy now?” Phoenix face had turned into a frown, seemingly not pleased that he was beaten by her.

“Eeyup! Very much. Oh don’t look at me like that; I’m sure you will someday be as grumpy as me.” She chuckled, raveling in her verbal victory.

“Yeah, I think I pass. Enjoy your meal!” With that, he turned around and walked back to the kitchen.

“What?! I will be right there!” Before she even could take one bit from her order she stood up and began moving towards the door.

“Ocean? What is wrong?” He had turned around looking at Ocean with a worried look.

“A monster has attacked a shoe shop not five minutes from here, sorry I have no time to pay, have to move! You can have the pizza.” She was clearly in a hurry and rushed out the door, leaving Phoenix just standing there.

It took him a few moments to realize what had just happened, the moment it dawned on him he rushed back into the kitchen. “Thunder where is the next shoe store in the area. Approximately five minutes away?”

“Why? I thought you disliked clothes shopping? Why the sudden change in attitude?” Thunder stared at his brother in utter confusion.

“What? No! Corrupted-attack, at the store. Tell me where?”

“What? Why don’t you say that sooner? That would be ‘Canterlot Carousel Footwear’, just go there, turn right here and left here and you should be there. Now go, we have already wasted too much time.” He basically shoved Phoenix out of the door.

“One last thing, Ocean has said I can have her pizza, could you put it in the fridge for later?”

Thunder just looked at him completely baffled: “Priorities Phoenix, priorities!” After he had said that he smiled the door towards the back alley shut.

“Ok, fine, maybe not the best time, but come on pizza.” As he spoke he pulled out the Alchemy Driver and the Flame Disc, putting the driver at his waist and letting it loop around it. As it had finished he placed the disc in as usual.

\ MAGIC DISC DETECTED! /

“´Henshin!”

\ FLAME DISC ACTIVATED! /

As the flames subsided again he dashed towards his motorbike and rode off towards his destination.

--------------<

Thanks to a few police cars that blocked his way he didn’t manage to get to the screen of the crime as fast as he liked, all because of some over-enthusiastic police officers that refused to let him through and it’s not like he could have simply burst through the barrier, that would probably only have complicated the situation. The worst part, it took him three minutes to convince them that they should talk to agent Ocean Skies. As they finally relented he could hear the shouting from the other end of the communicator. Phoenix really did not envy them.

After finally having been let through he did not waste a single second and raced towards his goal, but as he arrived he was greeted by a sight he was not pleased with. The shop was in shambles, windows lay shattered on the street, shoes scattered everywhere and worst off all, no sign of the Corrupted. A few police officers were already present looking over the crime scene, under them agent Ocean Skies.

As Ocean saw him arrive, she immediately rushed over towards him. “I’m so sorry for this. I don’t know what has gotten into them, I’ll make personally sure something like this doesn’t happen again and at least I now know who is on maintenance duty for the armory in the foreseeable future.” Her face had shifted into a frustrated grimace, she apparently really wasn’t happy with the entire situation.

“So, what did I miss? Judging from what I see here apparently a lot.” Eying the surrounding area again, he was preteen sure that was an understatement.

“Yeah, a lot probably fits quite well. Come, I show you what we have been able to deduce.” Leading him towards the shop she constantly shifted her head, probably looking for any clues she might have missed. As both of them entered the store the destruction was even more visible, shoes lay everywhere, the floor, behind the counter and some even inside the overly large ceiling lamps. Phoenix wondered how that even happened.

They reached the backside of the store, a door that leads towards an office, torn from its hinges lay inside the rest of the store. Apparently, something had come through here. Another door leading towards a back-alley lay inside the office. When he looked around the room he saw a woman cowering in the corner, she had light blue skin and orange hair with amber stripes. She wore a dark dress with a golden belt. A blanket was laid over her shoulders and officer Shining Armor was comforting her. As he saw Alchemy enter he gave him a calculating look but ultimately returned to his job. At least he had his priorities straight thought Phoenix.

“So as far as we can tell our Corrupted blew the door towards the office open and proceeded to do the same to the next door. Miss Saddles her was shocked by the entire event and sadly we didn’t get much from her. Granted, something like this would take everyone by surprise. Anyway, our Corrupted then proceed to steal something from the shop.”

“And what? Money, or a lifetime supply of shoes?” Alchemy asked the agent, quite interested what the thief was after.

“No money and not a lifetime supply of shoes either. As far as we can tell from the testimonies of the witnesses the Corrupted only took one pair of shoes.” She seemed rather perplexed about this, why just steal one pair if you could have a truckload of them? It didn’t make sense.

“Wait, let me get this straight. Our thief only took one pair? Someone caused all this chaos and that just for a lousy pair of shoes. A single pair? I would at least take as much as I could carry. What an awful thief.” Phoenix was baffled by this, what a wasted opportunity.

“If you are finished reviewing the work of criminals can we return back to the case at hands?” Ocean was not amused by Alchemy drifting off the topic.

“Oh, sorry, just got carried away. Not that I would ever steal something, for the record.” He was rubbing his helmet in embarrassment.

“Sure!” She seemed not entirely convinced. “But back on track. The pair of shoes she stole is worth three hundred dollars.”

“Wow, not cheap. It knew what it wanted apparently.” He was just speaking out loud to gather his thoughts, not expecting to get a reply.

“What did you just say?” Ocean apparently had noticed something he was missing.

“I said: ‘It knew what it wanted apparently.’ What is so fascinating about it?” Now he was confused, but sure Ocean knew something he didn’t.

“It knew what it wanted. The Corrupted probably tried the shoes out already, so it knew they would fit them. If I can get the footage from the surveillance cameras we might actually have a clue who our culprit is.” Her face had lightened up; apparently, the small breakthrough had made her quite happy.

“Of course, I knew that.” A swift look from Ocean was enough for him to break down. “Fine, I didn’t but still you could at least thank me for coming up with the idea.”

Ocean chuckled and replied: “Fine, thanks for the tip, even if it was just pure luck.”

“Oh wow, thanks. I feel so valued.” Ocean chuckling had shifted into laughter, Phoenix just sighed but it didn’t take long until he had joined her.

“I gotta give it to you, you are indeed funny.” Surprising Phoenix she actually seemed sincere.

“Now I actually feel valued. Wow, thanks.” He kinda felled awkwardly, thankfully his helmet hid his face that gradually turned deeper shades of red.

“Anyway, where were we? Oh right, the Corrupted stole a pair of shoes and proceed to walk out the same way he entered, not without leaving quite the mark on this place. The repairs are not going to be cheap. Let’s hope the surveillance cameras survived this. If not we simply have to wait for miss Saddles to calm down so we can ask her personally.”

“Sounds about right. So the Corrupted just walked out the door and vanished? Probably turned back, hide the shoes and used the ensuing chaos to disappeared without a trace. Clever little monster. By the way, how did it look?”

Thinking for a bit she gathered her thoughts and replied to the waiting rider: “Well, from what we could gather from the witnesses it apparently had light blue skin and wore a gold armor. Oh, and as it screamed lightning erupted from its body, which was what wrecked the shop by the way. That’s all, well until we can get the footage from the surveillance cameras.”

“Great, that means I’m going to be shocked to the core again, looking so forward to this,” Ocean smirked at his annoyed tone. “Haha, funny I’m going to feel pain, truly this is the highest form of comedy.”

Her smirk turned into a light chuckle. “Oh, come on, as if you would just lose. You are way too stubborn to let this happen.”

“I will take this as a compliment. So what now? It’s not like I can do much since you know the Corrupted has escaped.”

“Hmm, right and I don’t think to let someone untrained search a crime scene is that good of an idea, so how about this. You come over to the police station at five pm tomorrow, I’m sure we will have searched the footage by then and we can discuss it. Does that sound good?”

He wasn’t entirely sure, he still didn’t trust her but it was his best bet for finding the culprit behind this strange robbery. “Fine, tomorrow 5 pm, I’ll be there. So see ya.” He waved his hand and walked back to his bike.

“Good, see you tomorrow.” She waved back at him feeling good that her attempts on forming a better relationship with the vigilante seemingly were actually working.

“Let’s hope this works.” Mumbled Phoenix to himself as he mounted his bike and drove off towards a secluded alleyway to transform back.

--------------<

“Mhh, I see. So the Corrupted was already gone when you arrived. That is not good, that means he, she, it is still out there.” The “Magnum Opus” had closed for the day and Thunder, Summer and Phoenix were discussing the robbery at “Canterlot Carousel Footwear”.

“Yeah, and we have no idea where it went afterward, probably just turned back and went her way like nothing ever happened. That is the first of them that did that, all other went completely berserk. Let’s hope Ocean can get a lead on the case, I don’t want to let that monster run rampant. It is only a matter of time till someone gets seriously hurt.”

*Ding*

“Oh, pizzas finished.” Phoenix jumped over to the oven, every step clearly showing his excitement for his dinner.

“I still can’t believe you are going to eat that… thing.” Summer look was filled with discussed, completely opposed to Phoenixes anticipating grin.

As he placed the pizza on a plate he replied: “Yeah, I know what you mean, I first thought that as well, but as Ocean forced me to try it I was surprised that it actually tasted so good. Let’s hope pineapple-strawberry-apple-ham-pizza is just as good.” Licking his lips in anticipation he picked up one slice of pizza.

“Sure it ain’t something else?” She asked, trying to mock him.

“Hmmmm! That is sooo good!” He had taken the first bight and judging by his expression it did indeed taste just as good as the last one. “Did you say anything Summer, I didn’t listen?”

“No, nothing of importance, just forget it.” He sighed heavily.

“Good, I’m a master at that.” He replied jokingly. Summer just groaned in annoyance and let her head sink into her hands in frustration.

“Now, could we please get back on track?” Thunder had let this little diversion going on for far too long and had decided that now was the best time to return to their original conversation. “So, you have an appointment with agent Skies tomorrow at the police station. I hope you are careful because…”

Before Thunder could continue Phoenix had choked down his food and finished his sentence:” We can’t trust her, I know. Don’t worry I will wing that. In the end, we will have a lead on the monster and the MRG is going to be none the wiser about my secret identity.”

“That is exactly what I’m afraid of. Don’t get me wrong, I trust you, it is only that you have the tendency to get yourself in problematic situations. Frequently, I might add.”

“Wow, feeling the confidence from my brother, appreciate it.” He sarcastically replied.

“Oh, come on. I’m sure you will manage it, just be careful and don’t trust anyone. I don’t want to see you in court in the near future and the Alchemy Driver used by the government, capiche?” Thunder seemed worried, Summer couldn’t really fault him for that, they were talking about Phoenix here after all.

“Yes, mo… Yes, Thunder.” He replied rather soberly, avoiding eye contact with his brother. Strangely Thunder did the same.

“Good, I think you should take the day off tomorrow, so you can be faster there if another robbery happens. Just make sure to take your phone with you, so I can call you if something happens on TV.” Thunder voice had shifted from worried to more serious.

“Fine, I think I go to bed after the pizza. I want to be well rested tomorrow.” And without another word, he was again occupied by his food.

“Good, then that is settled.” Thunder replied.

Phoenix gobbled up his dinner, under the disbelieving eyes of Summer, who for the life of her still didn’t understand how someone could eat that and after finishing went to bed, awaiting his meeting with Ocean the next day at the police station.

--------------<

“Well, it isn’t as weird as the Change Industries thing, but it’s damn close.” He said to himself, having just parked his bike in front of the police station. Some cops looked rather confused at the man in crimson armor standing right just standing there and staring at the building.

Not wasting any more time he took one last breath and began to walk towards the front entrance, but before he could even lay hands on the door it swung open nearly hitting him in the process. Outside stepped a man with white skin, blue hair and a long flowing lab coat, he was arguing with a woman in dark blue jacket, agent Ocean Skies, and Ivory Diamond respectively.

“I still don’t understand why I’m here meeting with this dimwit, my time would be better utilized by continuing to analyzing the data from the last Thursday. What have I to gain by tagging along while you play the tour guide?” Ivory was quite annoyed by what Phoenix could gather, still, it was no reason to talk so low of him.

“Ivory, please. Could you just this once be so nice and just do what you are told. There no price for questioning your superiors, so just listen to me. If we can strengthen our relationship with Alchemy we finish our work here way faster, don’t you want that? So please just help me.” Ocean and Ivory had stopped as the opened the door, now arguing under the doorframe.

“Fine, but only because the sooner I’m done with this the sooner I can get back to work. I hate it when you have a point.” Ivory grumbled back at her.

“See was that so hard? And now please only show the best of you, I don’t want Alchemy to see… oh,crapbaskets!” The rider just waved at her sheepishly, standing not three meters away from the door. Oceans face began to take on a crimson shade out of sheer embarrassment. “Oh, Alchemy you are already here. On time like how it can be expected from a hero. Ni… Nice to see you.” She tried her hardest to salvage the situation. The nervous chuckle didn’t help her much, however.

“Hey Ocean, hey Ivory, nice to meet you. Do you two need some time to discuss something, I can wait?” He replied, Ocean turning an even darker shade of red.

“Of… Of course not, we were just having a… a discussion between colleagues, you see, nothing to worry about.” She gave back the most forced smile in human history, or at least the one he had ever seen. “So, you wanna come in, I can show you the station, so next time you come over you know where to go.”

“Sure, why not, it’s not like I would waste anyone's time.” He answered giving a quick glance over to Ivory.

“Good, good. I assume you already meet agent Ivory Diamond? He is the head of our science division here; he is responsible for all the weapon upgrades the local police have been provided with.” She gestured to one of the officers standing next to them and his futuristic gun.

“Ah, I see and these weird glasses as well I presume? For what are they used anyway? When there is a fight I always see you use them.”

“Well, you see,“ He seemed to have hit a conversation piece that she wasn’t entirely comfortable with.” they help us gather data. We use the data gathered to enhance our equipment, like the guns, so we can at one point fight this threat with you side by side.” She had recovered rather quickly from her initial shock and had returned to her usual confident self. Still, he felt like she didn’t tell him the whole truth, but right now he really couldn’t do much about that.

“Ah, I see. It is a pleasure to meet you again agent Diamond. I’m glad you could spare some of your valuable time for me.” Phoenix replied shaking hands with the scientist.

“It’s a pleasure for me to Alchemy; I would always make time for the likes of you.” He answered, keeping his calm, apparently Ivory was more professional then he had expected from the man.

“Then with the introductions out of the way, I think we can start our little tour. If you may follow me Alchemy.” She gestured him to follow her and enter the police station.

As they stepped through the front entrance they were greeted by a relatively large room. To reception desk stood at the opposite end of the room, the floor was covered in white tiles with some blue ones thrown in ever so often. The walls were painted white and the room was filled with seats, so if the line would ever become too big the people could just take a seat and wait patiently.

“You see, this is our reception area, here the people of Canterlot City can come and tell us what is wrong. If you ever need to talk to me, just talk to one of the receptionists, they will notify me that you are here and I will be on my way as soon as physically possible. And I’m sure if you ask nicely the people before you will let you through.” She explained to him, Phoenix listening to every word carefully, maybe he gets something useful out of this, even if the chances were minuscule.

“Oh, I’m sure they will, at least most of them. There is always that one guy that just doesn’t has his priorities straight.” He replied.

“Exactly, sometimes people just don’t get when something is more important than their petty reasons.” Ivory agreed with Alchemy, staring casually at Ocean, who in return just rolled her eyes. Phoenix grinned under his helmet at the scene.

“Moving on, the next stop is going to be our local laboratory, it’s right here around the corner. You can’t miss it.” She started to move again Alchemy and Ivory following right behind her. “We converted the break room into a provisional lab. It’s connected to our headquarters in Manehattan, so even if we don’t have our complete equipment here we still can study everything just as effectively.”

“Yeah, something like that.” Ivory mumbled under his breath.

Ocean just ignored him and opened the door to their lab. The room was filled with computers and strange machinery. Four other men and woman in lab coats were running around hectically, lights flickering and strange graphs on the monitors. Phoenix didn’t grasp what was done here, but he assumed it had something to do with the data they gathered and magic in general. On one table he could see two small metallic objects, not bigger than a battery. They were connected to a web of cables, leading to several of the computers. The entire room felled relatively cramped, probably since this room was not built for this purpose.

“Here is my workplace where I turn magic into science.” Ivory explained, straightening his glasses, excitement clearly audible in his voice. “I would love to explain every single thing here to you, but sadly I have to get back to work. Ocean, you can manage our guest right?”

Ocean sighed in return and encountered: “Sure, I can handle him. I think we should leave him alone for now, don’t you think?” She asked the rider.

“Sure, why not.” And with that Ocean again began to walk out the door and down the corridor, Phoenix following right behind her.

“I’m sorry if he seemed rather, how do I put it, uninterested in you. That is just how he is. Usually, you can’t even speak to him when he is absorbed by his studies. I’m already thankful that I managed to get him out of the lab.”

Phoenix just chuckled, finding amusement in the situation. “Don’t worry, I won’t hold it against him. He does his job, I do mine.”

They reached a door at the end of the corridor. At once Ocean opened the door and signaled him to enter. The room seemed to be an office, bookshelves lining the walls and a desk in the middle of the room. The desk was positioned in such a way that it faces a large monitor that was mounted on the wall.

As they stepped deeper into the room the monitor sprung to live, after a few seconds an older woman had appeared on it. Her complexion was a dull grey and her hair was black. She wore a dark grey business suit and had a stern look on her face like nothing short of an earthquake would make her lose it. “Hello, Kamen Rider Alchemy. I’m Monochrome, head of the MRG. I’m glad to finally meet you, even if it is not in person. I have heard many good things about you, I just wanted to confirm them with my own eyes.”

“Greetings… I’m sorry but I was not informed about this meeting. So you are the head of the MRG, interesting. It is a pleasure meeting you as well.” Phoenix was rather perplexed by this sudden turn of events.

“I’m sorry, I strictly ordered agent Skies to not tell you. I think that a person shows there true colors when they are thrust into a stress situation. I just wanted to test you.” Monochrome replied, her voice sounding confident but at the same time relatively, well monotone. Ocean meanwhile looked uncomfortable at the ground.

“Hmh, ok and what did my reaction tell you about me if I might ask?” Alchemy asked in return.

“Well, you are quick to act, first and foremost and it seems you don’t have much to hide beside your identity since you were so quick to answer. Or you are just a great actor, but given the reports agent Skies gave I think the former would be more accurate.”

This scared the rider a bit since she was more or less right. He hoped he wouldn’t let something slip that could out him as a rider towards her.

“I just wanted to talk to you, get a feeling for your character. I wanted to see if agents Skies made a mistake trusting you, but it seems she did make the right call after all, at least according to her reports. But that should be it if you don’t have any questions left.”

“No further questions.” Phoenix was somewhat overwhelmed by the direct way the conversation had taken.

“Good, then I will be looking forward to our next talk. Until then.” The monitor went dead, Monochrome not even waiting for him to say goodbye.

“Well, that was quick.” He said still a little confused by the whole thing.

“I’m sorry, she is rather systematic. It can come off as rude sometimes, but helps in keeping an organization like the MRG on course.” Ocean tried to make the situation more clear.

“You seem to know her rather well.”

“Well, she is my mother after all.” She simply replied.

“Say what now? She is your mother. Strangely it didn’t really feel like she was your mother, she was detached. Not what I would expect from a parent.” Phoenix was rather taken aback by this revelation.

“Well, yes she is my mother. And you are not wrong, she generally separates work and private life. That is just how she is. It is admirable, she can concentrate on something so much that she completely blocks out everything else. And that is important in a position like hers if she screws up how knows what might happen. I still haven’t reached that level of professionalism yet.” Ocean answered him, still staring at the monitor with a distant look on her face.

“Depending on who you ask, this is not a bad thing!” He encountered.

Ocean looking loosened itself from on the monitor and looked over at him and smiled back. “Maybe, but it can be rather helpful, especially in situations where you have to make a quick decision.”

“I usually rely on my gut. Until now that worked out.”

“Whatever works out for you. However, I think we should get to the reason you are really her. I have the data we could gather from the surveillance cameras right here, do you want to go through the results with me?” She took a CD from her desk and plugged it into her computer. After a few seconds, the monitor went on again, this time showing a bunch of pictures, apparently customers.

“Fine, so what did you find out?”

“Well sadly not much. We went through the footage that was available to us, which is only for a week, after that time it gets deleted to save space on their computers. All in all, we found seventy people in the entire week that had tried the shoes, eight when we only take the last two days into consideration. Sadly that is not much and we currently have no other leads either.” She seemed frustrated by the fact that they had reached a dead end.

“Well, at least I learned something today.”

A new spark had appeared in her eyes. “And what is that?”

“Always ask for disposable socks in shoe stores, the amount of people that have already tried the shoes is scary.” And the newfound energy had vanished without a trace, instead, her head slumped down and she now was staring at the floor.

“Fascinating.” She deadpanned in return. “But can we stay on topic please?”

“Sorry, was just a tad bit distracted. So what are we going to do?”

“I actually have no idea. We don’t know if and where it might strike next and no idea who it is. Right now the only thing we can do is wait and hope we are fast enough. Or if we are not we can gather new information. Basically, the only thing we can do is wait and don’t like this one bit.”

Right as Phoenix was about to respond her communicator began to beep and she reached towards her ear to activate it. “Yes, yes, what?! I’ll be right there and I won’t be alone. Alchemy, Corrupted number nine has been spotted again, this time at the mall. Do you want to tag along?”

“Do you even have to ask?” He replied, Ocean just chuckling, and both raced towards their bike to reach the scene of the attack.

--------------<

They raced through the city, head to head, towards the Canterlot mall. In the distance, they could already see it. An imposing square building, the walls were painted yellow and a giant glass dome was placed on top of it, spending natural light for the inside of the mall. But all this was secondary now, what counted was stopping the Corrupted before it got away again.

As soon as they reached the mall they hit the brakes hard, coming to a screeching hold. The moment their respective bike stopped they jumped off and ran towards the entrance. On their way inside a mass of people were coming their way, thankfully both were able to evade the wave of people quite well, Ocean just more gracefully the Phoenix.

They had reached the central area of the mall, the hall was cross-shaped, every part housing different shops. Escalators made the upper floors accessible. In the middle of the hall, a fountain was located, on the top of it stood a huge marble ball, just stabilized through a small stone pillar. As they look around the hall they could see one shop with broke windows, that had to be their target.

And just like on cue the Corrupted stepped out of the shop, in its hand holding two rings, a necklace and a pair of earrings. Like in the descriptions given by the witnesses it had a light blue skin and was clad in golden armor. Now that he saw it in the flesh he could make out more. Its appearance was female, at least if the breast were any indications anyways. Her armor covered her forearms her upper torso and lower legs. All thought the armor was engraved with seemingly ancient inscriptions, it looked like it originated from an old jungle civilization. She had several gold plates strapped around her waist, covering her at this part of her body, between them dark brown leather hold it together. Her face was covered through an elongated golden mask shaped like a horse skull. Her eyes were a sinister shade of electric blue.

The moment she noticed the both of them her body tended, her left fist clenching tight around her loot. “Oh no, that is not good.” She mumbled to herself before addressing the rider directly: “Look, Alchemy I’m not here to fight, just let me take this and I won’t harm anyone. Just let me go and we forget about this ever happening. I’m not one of these crazy monsters that attack the city.” She desperately tried to persuade him.

“Hey, Goldy do you seriously believe this will work? You think asking me nicely will let me overlook your blatant robbery in the middle of the day? I don’t think so! I have a different suggestion, give back what you have stolen and will work out something with agent Skies here. So how about that?”

“I know that wouldn’t work, then there is only one thing I can do…” She took one deep breath and continued: “running!” And without a second wasted she stormed off towards the next exit.

“Wait, what? Hey, stop!” Phoenix was rather baffled by the way this situation had developed and dashed after her. While she was running straight for the exit her gold armor seemed to slow her down just a bit, but that was no problem for the rider who was getting ever closer.

“Let me alone!” She shouted back at him, apparently terrified of him. Well, who could blame her, he had taken down a few of her kind already and she apparently didn’t want to become the next in that ever-growing list of Corrupted.

A loud bang brought him back to reality. Ocean had unloaded a warning shot at the Corrupted, aimed in front of her, she just shrieked and ran back the direction she came from, right into Alchemy arms.

“Thanks, Ocean!” He screamed back to her. “And now to you!” As she ran towards him, eyes closed and screaming in terror he almost felled sympathy for her, almost, he still needed to take the magical artifact from her and if she wouldn’t separate from it willingly she had to go down. And with that he slammed his fist right into her face, knocking her off her feet.

“Owww! That hurt! What is that thing made out of? Diamond?” He was holding his right hand in pain. Phoenix hadn’t expected that the armor would be so sturdy, he had to remember to hit a part of her body that was not protected.

The Corrupted meanwhile was crawling back towards the wall of the mall, absolutely terrified of him. “Come just give up, give me your artifact and we are done here, I see that you are terrified. You don’t have to do this.” He spoke to her, trying his hardest to calm her down while stepping slowly closer towards her.

“Leave me alone!” She screamed holding her hands in front of her face to protect it from potential attacks. That was when it happened, lightning erupted from her palms, straight towards Alchemy. He hadn’t anticipated an attack like this and was hit by the blast without any chance to evade it. As the bolts of lightning connected sparks erupted all over his armor and he was sent flying, crashing into one of the windows of a shop.

“Why, why do always have this?” He lay there for a few seconds before standing up again. Thankfully she hadn’t moved and was just staring at her hands, probably as surprised by the attack as he was. “Ok, Goldy, kid gloves are off.” With that, he charged straight ahead towards the Corrupted.

She noticed him coming for her and shrieked for a moment before she muttered to herself: “No! You can do this, you can do this! Take this!” She unleashed a bolt of lightning towards her opponent. Alchemy, this time knowing the attack was coming easily evaded it, letting it hit the store behind him. The Corrupted stepped back out of shock, unable to continue her attack. This was all the time Phoenix needed to cross the gap between them. She was just about to attack again as Alchemy delivered a side kick to the right side of her stomach, where she wasn’t protected by her armor, sending her flying back towards the fountain, holding her side in pain.

“Look, this is your last chance, just give up and this will be over.” He tried to calm her down one last time, hopefully, the pain would convincer.

“No, no, no! I can’t lose here, not now!” She screamed, Phoenix just sighed preparing himself for his next attack. Then sumthing unexpected happened, a glass panel of the dome overhead shattered and something shoots down in front of the Corrupted. It took Phoenix a moment to realize what it was, one of the energy balls after the fight with Rose, in particular, the orange one. It hovered there for a few more moments until it split itself into eight smaller balls of energy which started to change form while blinding the rider with intense light.

As the light had subsided eight identical monsters stood where the ball of magical energy had been seconds ago. They were muscular and wore metallic armor over their upper body, their forearms, and their lower legs. The armor itself was dark grey and underneath it, their skin was orange, just like the ball of energy they emerged from. Their face was covered by a metallic mask with a hole in the middle of it, which glowed in a bright orange. They looked towards Alchemy eying him closely, he started to feel uncomfortable. A sudden scream let him stager one step back, the monsters rushing towards him.

He reacted quickly sending the first monster flying back with a well-placed kick into the stomach, below its armor. The next one was greeted with a roundhouse kick to the face, ending with its laying on the ground. The rest of them hadn’t just stood there like idiots but had actually surrounded the rider. A punch to his face came from behind but he managed to dodge it at the last second and punching it into its stomach in return.

As this was going on the Corrupted had used the distraction and was running for one of the exits. “Halt, don’t move.” Ocean had pointed her gun at her. The Corrupted just turned around and unleashed a barrage of lightning bolts towards her. Thankfully it only hit the ground in front of her, but as she had recovered from the attack the Corrupt had already left the building. “Dammit!”

Meanwhile, Phoenix was starting to get overwhelmed, he had managed to evade most of their attacks until now, but they didn’t seem to stay down. It didn’t matter if he managed to knock them out, they would just recover. He had to think of something and that fast or this would end badly. Then an idea snaped into his head, pushing one of the monsters off he rushed through the gap and managed to get a few meters away from them.

He then removed his Flame Disc and it holds it in front of him.

\ Flame Disc Attack Mode! /

\ Flame Saber! /

He now did hold the weapon in his hands and charged straight at the eight monsters. Phoenix slashed them every time they came near him, every hit releasing sparks from the impact point, making them stagger back. As one did not fall back that much he used this golden opportunity and stabbed his sword directly into its stomach. Sparks were flying everywhere and moments later the monster collapses and exploded, leaving nothing behind.

“So you can be killed. Great, I think it’s time for shish kebab.”

He stormed at another monster plunging his sword straight through it and pulling it out in the last second to block an attack from one of its comrades. After his block, he slashed his attacker multiple times with his sword after the fifth hit he collapsed and like his comrades exploded. The rest of the stepped back, concerned over the fact that three of their comrades were taken down already.

“Ha not so high and might now, are we? Well, let's finish this.”

He started to spin the disc on his sword. “Flaming Slash!” The energy gathered in his sword and he unleashed it at the remaining monsters, hitting every single one of them, all falling towards the ground, but before they even made contact with it exploded. A small part of the attack continued its path and hit the pillar that supported the marble ball on the fountain. As the ball fell into the fountain water splattered everywhere.

“Ha, gotcha!” Seeing what had just happened the only thing he could say was: “Ups! Wait, priorities, where is Goldy?” He started to look for her but could not find her.

“She got away,” Ocean replied holding her gun in one hand while she removed her high-tech glasses.

“Dammit, oh well fine, we’ll find her, especially if we can get the footage from the jewelry.”

“Yeah leave that to me, we can handle this. So what were these things right now?” She asked him, curious if he knew something about them.

“I don’t know, but I have a good guess. They were the magical energy that remains after I absorbed Roses artifact. And now they have taken physical form. At least that is my best guess.”

“Hmm, remnants of magic you didn’t absorb. Interesting. But why did they help her?” Ocean wondered.

“Maybe they are drawn to strong magic? I don’t know. So what are we going to do now?” Phoenix wondered, thankful to leave that to someone who was familiar with similar situations.

“Mhh, I know what I’m going to do. Search the crime scene, question witnesses and most importantly, look through the footage of the surveillance cameras. Hopefully, this will let our circle of suspects get a little more manageable.”

Phoenix thought about her idea for a few seconds but could not find any flaws in her plan. “Sounds good, I assume I can’t really help on that front. So, tomorrow at the same time so we can get through the results together?”

“Sounds good. So see you tomorrow.” She reached her hand towards him wanting to shake hand with the rider.

Phoenix obliged and answered. “So, until tomorrow.”

As he walked out the Ocean muttered to herself: “This is going to be fun explaining all the collateral to mother. She is not going to be pleased.” She sighed and went to work and looked for clues in the ruins of the jewelry store.

Wings of Freedom - Take Off!

Well, here he was again, standing in front of the police station, just this time in his Thunder Mode. If it came to battle with the Corrupted again he could gap the distance between them quite easily without wasting time changing forms.

This time he ignored the suspicious looks of the police officers to the best of his abilities and headed straight for the entrance. Energetically he swung open the door and as expected everyone immediately stared at him with a mix of shock and confusion. Standing in the doorframe for a second he was starting to question if his approach was actually that good, but well it was somewhat late for that. So his only option was to just swallow up his nervousness and go through with it.

And so he did, as he set his first step inside the station his nervousness started to weaken and with every step further into the room his confidence grew. “Ahm, excuse me, but I have a meeting with agent Skies in about five minutes and I would be extremely grateful if you might let me through, it will only take a minute.” He proceeded to simply ask everyone in the room and only got even more confused looks back.

Expecting that this had all gone horribly wrong he was about to expand on his request as a familiar voice prevented him from doing this, even if he wasn’t entirely happy to hear it. “That won't be necessary, I will take care of our … guest.”

After he had spun around, looking for the origin of the voice, his eyes centered on the person that had spoken up. Officer Shining Armor, the oh so friendly police officer that had a relatively, interesting opinion on the rider, sat on one of the chairs in the room, looking straight at him. “Officer, Armor, it is nice to meet you. Though I hadn't expected you to be my guide.”

“It wasn’t my decision, but I will do my job. That is what I’m trained for, even if I might not like it. If you would be so kind and follow me, so we don’t waste any more time than necessary.” He replied, politely but still, he didn’t seem happy with the situation, while he stood up and walked towards Alchemy.

Shining Armor leat the way towards Oceans office, out of the entrance hall of the police station. As they had left the room Phoenix asked the officer a question: ”So, if you already were in the room when I entered, why didn’t you say something? Could have spared me that embarrassing question.”

“Oh, that. I wanted to see how you would react in such a situation. If you would simply run past them, or actually ask. Well, at least you got manners.” He replied, not even looking back at him.

“I’m sensing a pattern here. First Monochrome, then you. If you keep this up I might get the impression that you don’t trust me.” He replied jokingly.

“Well, you are a vigilante we don’t have much about. We don’t know your goals, morals, origins of your powers or who you are and if you have any form of combat training. And we supposed to trust you with the protection of our city and its civilians. Allow us to be at least somewhat skeptical, especially with all the collateral you cause.” He encountered.

“I can’t find much wrong with that approach; still would a little bit more friendliness hurt so much. And for the collateral part, rather a little then what the Corrupted might do if we wouldn’t stop them.”

“True, still what happens when you don’t realize that there are more things that get destroyed then simple buildings because you didn’t look. You are not trained for this at least that is what I think. You don’t act like a police officer. You don’t take this seriously; you joke around, don’t observe your surroundings and ultimately just endanger more people. I think we should have taken you ‘thing’ a long time ago and placed into more capable hands. While I can respect the fact that you put your life on the line for people you don’t know, I think someone with more experience would do even more good with.”

“I…” Phoenix was about to reply as he was interrupted by a voice he was quite happy to hear. Shining was not as happy.

“Very well thought out point’s officer Armor, still, I think you should not simply dismiss his way of handling things quite as fast as you might think. You might actually learn something new.” Agent Ocean Skies replied, smiling at both of them. She had apparently left her office for some reason he wasn’t too interested in right now.

“With all due respect, I don’t see what I might learn from him. He rushes in without observing the area and just stumbles around the battlefield until he manages to pull through. He’s not qualified.” Shining encountered, looking completely convinced by his opinion.

“Well, sometimes unconventional means are just what you need. Ever heard something along the lines of: ’The best swordsman doesn’t fear the second best swordsman, but the worst, because he can’t predict what he is going to do.’? Alchemy acts in the spur of the moment, quick, on instinct and so you can never truly predict what he might do. He throws his opponents of, in more ways than one. That is how he fights. Still, this can backfire, just remember his fight with Corrupted number seven. He went in without any plan and just tried to win, to catastrophic effects. I think he would work best with someone at his side that can give him the outline of a plan and he can fill in the gaps.”

“If you think so. I will think about it, but now I think I should get back to my computer. I still have a lot of paperwork to do. If you would excuse me.” And with that, he left the two and returned to his workplace.

“Thank you, for standing up for me,” Alchemy said to Ocean while rubbing the back of his head.

“No problem. Still, he has some points that you should work on. I had a rather hard time explaining the collateral damage you caused yesterday to my mother.”She replied while they walked the last meters towards her office.

“Oh, I’m sorry. That was not planned, I should better watch out next time.”

Maybe, on the other hand, there were too many unknown factors that your actions were excusable. Still, this time it was collateral, but what if next time it is not and instead civilians. You just have to have a better grasp on your surroundings.” She spoke to him while entering her office.

“Yeah, you are right. So what have you found out?” He replied, closing the door behind him so no one would listen in on their conversation.

“Well, more than last time. She stole two rings, a necklace and a pair of earrings. In total worth four thousand dollars.” As she mentioned the four thousand dollars Phoenix just whistled one short time, apparently impressed by the value of the accessories. “And the good part is we have a way smaller circle of suspects. Still, we could only narrow it down to eight, but still, better than nothing.” Ocean seemed generally happy that things were going as well as they currently were.

“Hmm, I didn’t expect that so many people were interested in the same things. But well makes sense that people share similar tastes in fashion. Even if I don’t get it.”

“Yeah, while that is interesting, I think we should discuss our actions in the near future. First and foremost, what are we going to do now?”

“Well, I was hoping you would come up with that since you know, your plans are better than mine. And you already said, I work better at the moment and with a little bit of guiding, didn’t you?” He asked rather cocky.

She chuckled a little until she responded: “Clever, clever. Using my own words against me. But I will play your game. Our plan, for now, is to wait. We have not enough evidence to get a search warrant, at least not as fast as we would really need it, and that would be today. If the pattern of Corrupted number nine is going to be consistent she will attack another shop today. So, our best course of action would be to simply wait it out. I would offer you a cup of coffee but I think I already know your answer.” She answered Alchemys question.

“Yeah, not a big deal. I’m not the coffee guy anyways. So waiting it out it is. I can work with that; let's hope it doesn’t take too…”

Before he could finish his sentence Ocean had already silenced him with holding out one of her fingers, signaling him to be quiet, while the other one was pressed against the communicator in her ear. “Hmmm, yes, I understand. We will be right there.”

“Let me guess, she is at it again?”

“Yes, this time at ‘Carousel Boutique’. Just this time the clothing store, not the shoe store.”

“She is starting to get predictable. Anyways let’s go then.” With that, both made their way towards the crime scene.

--------------<

They arrived at the boutique without any problems, besides some angry drivers that were annoyed because they needed to make room for the both of them. The building had a purple-blue exterior and two glass windows; well it had two glass windows. Now they lay shattered in front of the building. A sign that someone had paid this shop a visit. And this someone just casually walked out of the exit of the shop.

“Oh, come on. Why do I always have the worst timing?” She frowned a plastic bag in her right hand.

“Well, you know. Maybe because karma is a cruel mistress.” Phoenix spoke while dismounting his bike.

“You don’t think we could talk this out? You let me go, no one gets hurt. I think you like talking, don’t you?” She desperately tried to avoid a confrontation.

“Hey Goldy, how about, you give up, bring this back, give me your artifact and everyone is happy. Sounds good? That is the only offer I’m going to make. So, yes or no?” He was not going to discuss this any further, especially with what she pulled yesterday. He could live without another fight against some Remnants.

“Well, that is a no. I think a tactical retreat is in order.” And with that, she shot a barrage of lightning in the direction of Ocean and Alchemy. Realizing that Ocean wouldn’t probably be fast enough to dodge the attack and would be severely hurt, he builds himself up in front of her and took the full force of the attack.

To surprising himself, it didn’t really hurt all that bad. Sure it was unpleasant and stung quite a bit, he had expected much worse. “Huh? Was that a weak attack or something? That didn’t really hurt.”

“Thanks and so on and it is great that you are not hurt, but you seem to forget something. She is getting away!” She had covered her face with her arms during the attack but now saw what happened around them.

“What? Oh, shoot, I’ll be right on that!” Using his super speed he rushed over her and delivering a kick to her side, right below her armor.

She groaned in pain but strangely she didn’t fly a few meters away, which confused both her and Alchemy who had taken a battle stance, both arms near his head and ready to strike.

“What, this usually works. Ok, just try again.”He charged at her again, striking her from the front, then turning around and attacking her from behind, continuing to constantly shift his attack-angel. After a few seconds, he came to a stop in front of the Corrupted.

While she looked like she had taken some damage, it just seemed like he had only lightly bruised her. "That is all? I expected a bit more, especially after yesterday. Maybe I have just grown so much stronger. Yes, that has to be it. Now, I’m unbeatable, not even you can do something against me!” She screamed and pointed her hands in his direction.

Phoenix was pretty sure she was not stronger than the last time they fought; still, he would not let an opportunity like this go by without capitalizing on it. The moment she unleashed her furry of lightning he had already started circling her, aiming for the back of the Corrupted and hoping that this time the damage would be more substantial.

But as he was about to attack something hit him in the side, sending him flying for several meters. As he rose his head to see what had indeed hit him Phoenix felled the weirdest sense of Dej-Vu. In the place, he had stood mere moments before now hovered a familiar orb made out of dark blue energy. The other orb that had escaped after Roses defeat, and if his last encounter with one of those was any indicator this would be relatively annoying.

And indeed it would be. The orb split into eight smaller ones, just like yesterday, which in turn slammed into the ground and gave off a blinding light. After a few seconds, eight monsters stood before him, just like the ones he fought before, complete with armor on their upper bodies, forearms, and lower legs, as well as the helmet with only one eye, just this time glowing in a dark blue light. The other thing that had changed about them was that their skin now was, just like the light from the eyelike hole, a dark shade of blue.

To his dismay, the Corrupted was nowhere to be seen. Probably had used the light to escape into one of the alleyways, without anyone noticing. Didn’t matter right now anyway, he couldn’t let these Remnants run around like that or they would undoubtedly cause harm to someone. They could simply get the footage from surveillance cameras again and maybe catch the culprit this way. But right now the only thing that was important was to destroy these monsters.

“Ok, you wanna dance, fine. Just make it quick. Right now I don’t have the patience for this.” And with that, he removed the Thunder Disc from its place on the driver and hold it out towards his opponents.

\ Thunder Disc Attack Mode! /

\ Thunder Tonfa! /

A familiar light enveloped his arms, subsiding again after a few seconds, just like always. He now did hold the Thunder Tonfa in his hands, small surges of lightning erupting from them.

The Remnants had, however, not just stood idly by while he summoned his weapon, rather the moment they had seen an opening they had unleashed a fountain of water from there glowing eye sockets, and the moment Alchemy could see again the water was already too close to dodge, so hitting him with its full force.

Pressing him against the wall of the buildings on the other side of the street, unable to move, thanks to the overwhelming force of the water the Remnants had unleashed on him. To his relief, his helmet prevented him from drowning outright, still, he was sure the air would at one point just run out; he had to think of something quick. Thankfully he had held his grip on the Thunder Tonfa the entire time, and with that realization, an idea began to form.

“You know, I never was that good in physics but one thing I learned was that water conducts electricity, and oh look I have an electric weapon and you attack me with water. I hope this revelation shocks you to the core.” With that he focused his magical energy into his weapons and the moment the first bolts of lightning erupted from them they raced through the water towards his opponents, who were to slow to react, getting shocked and dropping onto their knees.

“Grrrr!” They growled in pain, trying desperately to get onto their feet again.

Phoenix wouldn’t let them, well at least without some smack onto their heads first. So he charged towards the first one he could reach, poor thing didn’t know what hit him and sent it flying several meters forward. But he wasn’t done with it, charging further he only stopped right at the point where the Remnant would land. The moment his opponent came into reach he delivered a devastating kick towards the monster, its body bending in an unnatural way, almost at a ninety-degree angle. The force from the first punch and the following kick was enough to let the Remnant fall to the ground completely motionless, and after a few moments, it exploded into nothingness.

“So, who is next?”

The Remnants stepped back, unsure what they should do next after seeing what had happened to their comrade. Well, all but one who charged straight for the Kamen Rider. That was all to welcome for Phoenix since now he hadn’t to choose who he would attack next. As the monster saw that he was charging towards him it swung its right fist in the rough direction he would be. Alchemy, of course, saw this and ducked under his swing and retaliating with an uppercut with his right tonfa, sending the monster several meters into the air. Electricity was surging throughout the body of the monster and a trail of sparks was trailing off from where he had struck it. As it reached the highest point of his ark it simply exploded.

“That was easier than expected. Last time they took more punishment before they decided to explode, strange. Doesn’t matter right now, just roll with it.” He muttered to himself and charged towards his next target.

That was simply the closest opponent to him and he wasted no time and swept it from its feet, but before it could even land on the ground he slammed one of his tonfa into its stomach, nailing him into the pavement. Like the rest, his electrical energy was surging through its body and after a few seconds, it explodes, just like his brethren.

Wasting no time he pinned the opponent closest to him against the next best wall, holding him there for a moment. “Hope this is enlightening.” After this horrible pun, he unleashed lightning from his tonfa, letting the Remnant scream in agonizing pain.

Alchemy released the monster, that in turn just slide down the wall. As he came closer to his next target the Remnant he had left behind exploded, but right now he was more occupied with his current opponent. That one had anticipated that it would be next and had unleashed another fountain of water, this time just on a much larger scale. The best way for him to evade this attack was to just circle the enemy and attack from behind.

It was not too hard to circle his opponent since he was just so much faster than him, still, he had to be careful, maybe the Remnant would just be lucky, he could not risk this, especially because he was starting to fear he might not have given himself enough time to get a grasp on his surroundings again after this prolonged use of his super speed. He evaded the fountain of water just barely and now had managed to get behind it. Using his momentum he slammed his weapon right into his helmet. To his surprise, the helmet shattered on impact revealing that there was nothing under it. The monster collapsed, like the rest electricity surging through his body and exploded.

“Hah, really? That was pathetic, your buddies from yesterday put up much more of a fight. I’m actually a bit disappointed. Wait, where is the rest?” He wondered the last three were nowhere to be seen. Had they escaped?

The moment he had finished his sentence a gut-wrenching scream could be heard from the boutique. Wasting no time he raced towards the origin of the scream.

As he reached the entrance to the shop he could see that the last three Remnants had surrounded a girl with white skin and purple hair. She was dressed rather fancy, maybe she worked here. The strange part, however, was that there was a wall of ethereal diamonds separating her from the Remnants that pressed against it with their entire body. The girl, on the other hand, seemed to struggle to try to prevent them from pushing the diamonds in her direction.

Not wasting another second he dashed towards the three monsters, knocking the first one out with an uppercut towards his face, the second received a roundhouse kick right into his stomach, sending him flying into the wall opposite to the girl and the last one was hit straight into the face with his weapons, shattering its helmet. All three exploding mere moments after one and another.

But before Phoenix could ravel in his victory he was pushed by something from his left. Before he even had any idea what was happening he had been pinned to the wall by the ethereal diamonds. The girl that had mere moments ago pushed against the barrier now had suddenly no force pushing back at her and had stumbled a few feet forward and with that apparently had the barrier, much Phoenixes dismay.

As she looked up and towards Alchemy she pressed her hands over her mouth and screamed: “Oh, my goodness! I’m sorry, are you fine?” She seemed genuinely worried about him. And before he know it, she had let the barrier disappear and he fell face first onto the ground.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. I just hope you like the shape of a hero stamped into your wall.” He jokingly replied while standing up and stretching some of his muscles to loosen up again. “Far more important, are you ok. You seemed to have quite the problem with them, glad that I could help.”

“And I’m really grateful for that, mister Alchemy wasn’t it, right? Rainbow and Sunset told me about you and how you helped them.” As she spoke he noticed a purple necklace around her neck, quite similar to the one Rainbow had worn when she saved him. That couldn’t be a coincidence. Two girls that knew each other apparently had superpowers and both had a similar necklace.

“Oh, yes, the girls from the park. How are they? I hope they haven't run into any more trouble. By the way, what were these strange diamonds just about now?”

Her relaxed expression suddenly shifted into panicked. “Oh, that, that is… is … well…”

“Ok, I see, you don’t want to talk about it, let me guess. A magical artifact that turns you into a Corrupted. Am I right?”

“What? No! That would be laughable. This is a magical geode I found in Camp Everfree and no it does not turn me into one of these repulsive monsters. It just gives me superpowers. We would never use it for something like that, quite the opposite we use it to stop them, just ask anyone from our school, they will surely vow for us.” She seemed rather hectic, seemingly not sure what to say in a situation like this.

Before he could respond Ocean came in through the entrance, seemingly not pleased with how the situation had developed. “Sorry, lost her. So what happened in here?”

Now he had a decision to make, would he trust the girl, she seemed nice enough and it seemed like she was speaking the truth, but could he really let her keep a magical artifact like this? “The three Remnants had gone back in here and attacked this lady here. I saved her before something bad would have happened.” He had just hidden something very important from agent Skies, he really hoped that this would not bite him in the butt later.

“Hmm, good work Alchemy. But one thing, Remnants?”

“Oh, you know, they are remnants from other Corrupted and you already named the Corrupted. The least I could do is name the new ones if this is alright of course.”

“Hmm, ok, fine. I will let Ivory know this; by the way, I actually like the name. Certainly better then Corrupted. Still, we should get back to business. Young lady, who are you by the way?”She asked calmly, not trying to frighten her.

“My name is Rarity; I work here when I’m not at school. I know this place like one of my purses.” She replied, still seeming somewhat antsy.

“Wait, you work here. I don’t want to put too much pressure on you, but what was stolen?”

“Oh, of course, that was a black dress with parts of it being pink and…”

Before she could continue she was interrupted by Ocean: “I think we get the picture, thank you. Then I have another question for you.” She pulled out eight pictures and showed them to the girl. “Did any of these were here the last week and, or tried the dress on?”

She thought for a few moments until she started to smile. “Oh, yes. Pixel Pizzaz, the girl on the third picture, she goes with us to CHS. She was here yesterday and tried it on. And she said something about having a photoshoot with Photo Finish tomorrow after school and about looking good for it. Wait you don’t mean that she was that ‘Corrupted’ that robbed the store, no she would never do something like that.” She had pressed her hands over her mouth in shock after coming to the realization.

“Yeah, we think so. But don’t tell anyone about this, we don’t want her to catch on. Do you understand?”

“Yes, I do, still if I could help in any way possible…”

Again she was interrupted by Ocean. “No, you are not qualified for this situation; you have no skills that would help you combat a Corrupted.”

Chuckling nervously she replied: “Yeah, I don’t, fine I will stand out of it, but if you need help you know where to find me.”

“We will sure keep that in mind; just stay here for a bit longer some officers will ask you some questions regarding the whole thing that happened here.” Rarity just nodded. “Alchemy, would you come with me for a moment, I have something to talk to you about.” He nodded in return, hoping his little lie would not be discovered.

She leat him to the other end of the room and started talking: ”We need to talk about how we proceed from here. I would say we should follow here and if we are in a more secluded place then the school we can confront her.” Phoenix relaxed; she had not noticed that he had withheld important information from her. “However if we have to act fast we have to through caution to the wind and step in. Who knows if she has something bad planned for this Photo Finish?”

“Agreed, so when and where do we meet again tomorrow?”

“I would say twelve a clock at CHS, we still have time to discuss the plan and we are prepared for unforeseeable things happening. What do you think?”

Phoenix thought about it for a few moments but the simply nodded.

“Good, then till tomorrow. I’m still letting the footage from the surveillance cameras be looked through, just to make sure.” She replied, seemingly happy to have the control of the situation back.

Alchemynodded and walked out the front door towards his bike. Ocean just sighed in relieve, finally, it seemed things began to fall into place. But the thing she was the happiest about was the fact that Alchemy actually worked well with the police and the MRG if they caught the Corrupted soon she would have a better leg to stand on when her mother asked about the trustworthiness of Alchemy. She just hoped that tomorrow would go well, without too many complications.

--------------<

Like planed they had met up around twelve o'clock and now were observing the front entrance of the school from a small van parked severe streets away. Small drones, courtesy of Ivory, not bigger than a fist, had been deployed all around the school and covered every possible exit. If Pixel Pizzaz, Photo Finish left the building they would know. There was a joke in this situation somewhere, a few adults spying on two teenagers, but he was sure Ocean was not in the mood for it right now.

“So, how is it going for you?” Phoenix asked Ocean for a moment looked perplexed towards him.

“What do you mean?”

“You know, with the police and all. If everything is going fine or do you have any problems?” He was fishing for a good conversation topic, so this wouldn’t be so awkward.

“Ah, that. Yeah, pretty much business as usual. The police still are somewhat iffy on the MRG, feeling we are stealing their job, still, the new guns made it a bit easier. Ivory is even more eccentric the usual, but that usually means he is onto something big, looking forward to that actually. But besides that nothing noteworthy. And how is your life right now?”

“Good, good, everything fine. Like you, business as usual. Nothing noteworthy. So on what is Ivory working on right now?” That had sparked his interest.

“Well, I can’t really tell you, top secret, sorry.” She seemed to be uncomfortable with the subject; still, he was too interested right now to just let it go.

“Oh, come on, I would love to hear what it is.”

She was about to answer him as they heard a high-pitched alarm sound. “Oh, look there they are, let’s continue this conversation never.” She had rushed over to one of the monitors inside the van and had taken up one of the headphones. “They are leaving the building, be ready to follow, but stay as inconspicuous as possible.” She had shifted into her work mentality, determined to finish this here and now.

“As inconspicuous as you can be with a big black van, that is.” He jokingly added. As his reward, he received a look from Ocean that basically said, “Not now”.

The van started to move; always stopping when they would come to close and if they started to get too far away from the signal of the drones to be picked up they started to move again. That went on for roughly forty minutes and thankfully no one seemed to notice them, at least not their targets. While they were waiting for them to get to their destination, hopefully, a relatively secluded one, he had taken a look at one of the monitors and the two girls.

The first was a light blue girl with white hair and purple sunglasses. She wore a black dress with white stripes at certain places and pink accents. Besides her school bag she carried a photo-case around, she was probably Photo Finish. The other girl had a yellow complexion with purple-blue hair that lost intensity the longer it got that she had bound into two pigtails. She wore the dress that had been stolen just the other day, as well as the stolen jewelry and shoes from the other robberies. The only thing on her that probably wasn’t stolen were two bows in her hair with a weird eye in the middle and a strange ribbon over her chest, if he had to bet that was probably the artifact that turned her into a Corrupted.

The van finally came to a halt as they reached a park with an amphitheater. They had to leave the van behind to follow the two girls.

As they crouched through the park, and hide in the bushes he muttered: “You know, this is just ridiculous.”

“Would you shut it, you can complain later.” While she had to agree that someone in bright crimson armor sneaking through a park was absolutely ridiculous, but what other options did they have.

Alchemy just mumbled something incomprehensible to himself, but stop shortly after and just followed Ocean as inconspicuous as possible.

They finally reached the amphitheater. Ocean had pulled out a small tablet and was watching their targets from afar. They had gone up the stage and Photo was taking pictures of Pixel, they seemed to enjoy themselves. “I don’t think we are getting a better change any time soon. I think it’s time for you to take center stage.” She spoke to the rider while grinning a bit.

“Sounds good to me.” He replied and left their hiding spot, coming into view of the two girls. Photo Finish didn’t even realize he had entered until Pixels expression had turned into one of utter terror.

“Hey, Goldy, nice seeing you. Oh, you have gone under the models, I’m sure your mug shots will be equally as good.” He replied jokingly while walking towards the stage.

“Photo Finish demands to know wat is happening here!” The other girl asked Pixel, who in return started to sweet.

“I… I don’t know… he probably has the wrong girl.” She replied, with every second that went by she became more anxious.

“Well, no. I’m sure I got the right one. The one that robbed a shoe store, jewelry and a boutique. And surprise, surprise, all the items that were reported stole are right worn by misses Pixel here. Anything to say to for yourself, Goldy?” He asked, knowing fully well that he had just cracked her lie wide open.

“Wat?! You stole all of zis, Photo Finish can’t belive it!” She was clearly in shock and stepped a few steps back closer to the edge of the stage.

“No, I can fix this, just let me get rid of him and we can talk it out.” She tried to calm her down. “And now for you.” The strange ribbon on her chest started to glow and erupt sparks. Again a blinding light engulfed her and after a few second vanished leaving only the Corrupted number nine in her place. The force of the transformation was too much for Photo Finish, pushing her over the edge of the stage and knocking her out cold.

“Now you are going to pay!” She growled and unleashed a surge of lightning towards Alchemy. He dodged the attack thanks to the long way it had to travel, wasting no time he charged towards the stage.

Pixel apparently had gotten used to her powers tried to redirect her attack so it would hit the rider, but he observed the movements of her hands and managed to evade every course correction before it hit him. That continued until he came to the edge of the stage and Pixel was unable to aim at him from her angel.

She stopped her attack and stepped closer to the side of the stage, she could nearly see him, but at this moment Alchemy leaped over the edge and delivered a devastating punch towards her face, sending her tumbling back. “Missed me?” He joked.

“You, you. I will kill you; you have ruined my chances with her. I’m going to make you pay for this.” She hissed unleashing another barrage of lightning. Like before he dodged the attack and moved closer towards her, just this time she interrupted her attack and blocked his attack.

“So, Goldy, you only did this for love. Now I feel kinda sorry for you, kinda.” Right as he finished his last word he continued to hit her with a punch to the side of her head. To his surprise she did not block but retaliated instead, punching him right into the stomach, electricity surging through his body.

Staggering back she didn’t stop and hit him two times, both electrical charge as well, right into his face. Putting all his resolve into one punch he tried to counter-attack, but thanks to the pain he felled all throughout his body he missed and stumbled a few steps forward. She used this golden opportunity and kicked him right in the back sending him flying and he landed near the edge of the stage.

Ignoring the pain in his body to the best of his abilities he stood up again, facing his opponent. She just growled and charged directly at him. He managed to hit her in the face and it seemed to be quietly effective, but she hit her mark as well, his stomach. As the electricity surged through his body, sparks flying off from the impact point, she increased the force behind her attack again and Alchemy was sent flying over the small wall separating the amphitheater and the rest of the park.

“Was that all?” She mocked him.

Thankfully his fall had been cushioned by a bush; still, his entire body was numb. “Ok, that didn’t work. I can’t get close to her and Thunder mode dose nearly nothing. Ok, fine how about something new.” He muttered to himself, grinning under his helmet.

He stood up and removed the Flame Disc from the Alchemy Driver, pulling the Wind Disc from its place on the belt he placed it into the Driver and spun the Disc.

\WIND DISC ACTIVATED!/

An emerald wind enveloped the rider and after a few seconds released him again. In the place of the crimson armor now was an emerald green one with golden accents. The fire symbol on the chest now was replaced with one that represented wind. His horns now were stylised like whirlwinds and his eyes were bright red. Around his neck, a white scarf flowed in the wind.

Still somewhat numb from the previous shocks wind began to gather around him and after a second he started to hover over the ground. Then he shot back towards the battlefield and a confused Pixel. “What? This is impossible.” She exclaimed and was hit by the rider as he flows by and landed on one of the last lines of seats in the theater.

“Oh, quite the contrary. It just happened. I’m here to blow you away.” He replied pointing his finger towards her.

He removed the Disc from its socket again and hold it in front of him.

\Wind Disc Attack Mode!/

\Hurrican Bow!/

Like always a bright light enveloped the Disc and subsided quickly after it had appeared. This time he holds an emerald green bow with golden markings on it in his right hand. The bow was curved and its front was equipped with a sharp blade, undoubtedly for close quarters combat. Small golden swirls that looked like flowing wind decorated the weapon. The Wind Disc was mounted over the grip.

“Say cheese.” He joked as he pulled the bowstring. An emerald energy arrow appeared out of nothing and he took aim. As he released the arrow it shot straight towards Pixel, who had no time to react and hit her in the shoulder, sparks erupting from its impact point.

She screamed in pain but kept a clear enough mind to retaliate, unleashing her lightning attack. Alchemy had no problem evading it now, thanks to his ability to fly. And it didn’t stop him from unleashing more arrows on her. At a consistent rate, he rained magical arrows down upon her, all while she was unable to do anything against it. She could not escape, she could not hit him and she could not defend herself against his attacks. Even her constant barrage of lightning did nothing to stop him since he easily dodged it.

Landing at the entrance of the amphitheater he spoke: “Let's finish this!” While he spoke emerald energy was channeled into his weapon. He had reached towards the Wind Disc and started spinning it. “Arrow Storm!” He pulled the string of the bow again and an arrow formed, like the times before. He aimed into the air above them and released it. As the arrow shot into the air, it did not change its path but stayed in a straight line towards the sky. That was before it suddenly disappeared into a magical seal, moments later a few dozen of smaller seals appeared above their heads and unleashed a barrage of an arrow heading straight for Pixel.

“No, this… this can’t be. No … I just wanted that she liked me. Why does life hate me so much.” She stammered until she was hit by the storm of arrows, every hit letting sparks erupt from her body. As the attack was over she just kneed their, painting and unable to even move.

He wasted no time and removed the Wind Disc from his weapon and it back into the disc form.

“Pixel Pizzaz you used the power you were given to steal and destroy. By the magic that was bestowed upon me, I deem you unworthy of your powers and will now take them from you!”

He placed the Wind Disc back into the driver and started spinning it.

\Wind Disc Maximum Power! /

The emerald energy gathered in his right foot and as it reached its limit he charged up into the sky. It became increasingly hard to see him as he ascended. Then he suddenly stopped and aimed directly at the Corrupted and shoot straight down, only increasing in speed as he came closer to his target. While he charged for his goal he started to spin, a tornado forming around him. As he finally reached Pixel he struck her right in the chest, at the moment of impact an extremely strong wind waved past everyone, nearly blowing Ocean away. As the wind subsided Alchemy stood behind the girl that had lost her monster form and now lay on her back.

He stepped closer and held out his Thunder Disc and absorbed the magic from her ribbon.

“Please, tell… tell her that I’m sorry. I through ower friendship away just because I wanted to… wanted to be together with her.” Pixel weakly said, to Phoenixes utter surprise. Usually, the Corrupted would be out cold after one of his finishing moves.

“She doesn't have to tell her. Photo Finish already knows.” A voice came from the edge of the stage. “Please, don’t take her to jail. It was za magicks, that made her do it!” She begged him.

“Listen, kid, I have no way of helping you here, that is all on agent Ocean Skies. But I’m sure she will see that she was manipulated by the artifact.” He assured her.

“Well, I see you can decide to form me apparently,” Ocean said from behind. “But you are right, I think I can get her punishment down to something like community service, but she has to be punished some way.”

“Thank you. And after you are done with that, why don’t we go eat something together?” Photo Finish asked her friend. Pixels response was to hyperventilate and simply faint, probably a mix of excitement and battle fatigue.

“I think that was a yes. Anyways, I think you have this handled here Ocean. I will leave the rest to you if that is ok.”

“Yeah it’s fine, see you.” She waved to the rider and began to move to Pixel to handcuff and prepare her for the transport.

“See ya!” He replied and flew off towards a quiet place to turn back.

--------------<

Two days had past and Phoenix had returned to his waiter job at the “Magnum Opus”. Like usual, the restaurant was filled to the brim with customers. Right now he delivered a bunch of pizzas to a group of eight people. Four of them he had already meet, Rainbow Dash, Sunset Shimmer, Rarity and surprisingly Lightning Dust.

Most of their orders were relatively mundane, paprika, apples, some with pineapples, besides one with candy corn, it was nearly as weird as Oceans pizzas, but only nearly. He placed the last order down in front of the girls and said: ”Here is the rest. I hope you have a good meal. By the way, I’m impressed that you let Lightning eat with you since you know…” He rubbed the backside of his head, knowing fully well that he shouldn't have started this conversation. He was just so interested how these girls came to their decision.

“Well you know, we think everyone deserves a second chance and we would be really hypocritical if we wouldn’t do that.” The purple girl replied, apparently her name was Twilight Sparkle.

“Yeah, Sunset if I remember correctly.” He replied.

“Yeah, something like that.” The girl in question answered.

“Thank you girls, I’m so glad you gave this chance to me.” Lightning replied seeming really happy.

“By the way, would you be so friendly and ask Thunder if he could come over her for a second darling?” Rarity asked him.

“Sure thing, let me just… Ahhh!” As he turned around his brother stood right in front of him. “When did you… how did you… what?” He stammered as he desperately tried to regain his composure while everyone started to giggle at his reaction.

“I just heard that Rarity asked for me and here I am. So whit what can I help you, mademoiselle?” He asked her in his usually showy way.

“There is this fashion show next Wednesday and I wanted to ask you if you would come with me. I will take part in it and you would be perfect for pointing out last minute changes. What do you say, darling?” She asked him in her sweetest voice.

“What I say? Fantastic, I would love to, seeing all these beautiful clothes will bring me new ideas for my own creations. I will be there.” He proclaimed.

“Oh no, now there are two of them,” Phoenix exclaimed in utter shock. Everyone else just laughed. Well, he had to look on the bright side, a day all to himself, at least if everything went according to plan.

Life is a Runway - Step into the Limelight

The week had gone by like nothing. The city was peaceful again, no Corrupted dared to rear its ugly head and no reports of Remnants. And Phoenix was glad about it; while fighting as Alchemy was fun; it still meant that something was going very wrong. He was glad about every day that went by without the need to play the hero. Still, didn’t mean he could let his training slip, especially with Thunder as his brother, he pushed him so he would become more familiar with his powers. It was not like he didn’t understand that, he just treasured his free time. And today would be one of the rare occasions where he would get some of it.

Thunder was invited by Rarity, the girl he saved from some Remnants last week, to help him in some last minute preparations for a fashion show at “Carousel Boutique”. And since today was also off-day at the “Magnum Opus” he would have the rest of the day to himself. He had waited for this opportunity. His work as a waiter combined with his duties as Alchemy had left him drained.

Well, all that was still a little bit away since Thunder would only leave around two pm, in the meantime, he would have to bear the excitement of his brother, something he had grown quite skilled at in his youth. Still, it was always a test of patience his brother was determined to make as hard as possible.

Thunder had spent the entire morning walking up and down the apartment and mumbling to himself: “What am I going to wear?”, “Where is my cellphone?” and “Does my hair look good?” were only a few of the countless questions he asked himself out loud.

“Relax, it’s not like you are on a date or something.” Phoenix tried to calm his brother down, for Thunder's sake and for his own.

“Of course not, but still this is a fashion show, you have to look good or I will be the laughingstock of the entire day.” He frantically replied, not bothering to stop and simply continued to pace up and down through their living room.

“You know that only the models need to look good, not the guests?”

“Sure, but still a little class never hurt anyone, now did it. Oh, why am I even asking, you don’t know anything about that anyways.”

“Oh, I can appreciate good clothing, especially a good suit.” Phonix started to grin while Thunder just groaned.

“Anyways, you know what to do while I’m gone? Let no one in, don’t touche any ingredients and most important, and I can’t stress this enough, don’t, under any circumstances are you to touch my recipe collection!” He had turned to Phonix and was eying him carefully.

“As if anyone would steal that, they could just throw some ingredients together and stumble upon one of them.” One look from his brother was enough that he backpedaled immediately. “I mean, sure. I’m not touching anything, just going to sit here and do absolutely nothing. Ok?”

“That is good to hear, so you could help me with some last minute things before I go, only if you want of course.”

“Knowing what your ‘only if you want’ means, sure it’s not like I have much of a choice.” He replied dryly.

“You learn fast I see, at least that.” He chuckled back and both went to do the last things Thunder wanted to be done before he left the house.

--------------<

Time flew by like nothing and Thunder and Phoenix stood at the front door of his restaurant.

“So, just be careful. And if there is any problem, just call me. Let’s hope the pizzeria is still standing when I’m back.” He sighed looking at Phoenix.

“Oh, come on, I’m not that bad. You should know that, we lived together for an eternity.” He replied starting to get annoyed.

“Oh yeah, that is why I’m worried. Do you remember what happened to my books?”

“Well, you know, that wasn’t really my…”

Before he could finish however Thunder continued: “And what happened on my seventeenth birthday?”

“That could have happened to anyone.” He was starting to get sweaty, why did he need to do this now?

“And do not forget the noodle incident, or do I have to elaborate?” He asked his brother with a smug smile on his lips.

“Ok, fine maybe I can be pretty destructive, but come on, you trust me, don’t you. I can handle a few monsters, so please I can handle an empty restaurant,” he started to break down, hoping this wouldn’t turn into one of Thunder’s endless tirades.

“Sure, beating up people is a valuable skill in keeping a shop save,” he replied sarcasm oozing from every word he spoke. Phoenix just rubbed his head and stared into another direction. “Oh come on, I trust you. I’m sure nothing too terrible is going to happen. Just be careful.”

“Yeah, sure. I’ll be careful,” he replied, still somewhat embarrassed.

“So see you later.” And with that, he walked away waving his hand towards Phoenix.

After waving back he closed the door and walked back towards the door of the kitchen as he suddenly heard a knocking on the door. Sighing he turned back and opened the door.

“Did you forget anything Thunder, I’m sure… You are not Thunder!” Infront of him stood a woman with light yellow skin and electric blue hair in a blue t-shirt and brown jacket, a motorbike helmet under her arm. “Summer, what are you doing here? You should know that today is your free day.”

“Oh, of course, I know that. It’s just, my friends are all busy and I didn’t want to waste the day. So, I thought, the boss isn’t here and we hadn’t really time to get to know each other that well, why not spend the day with you. Sounds good?” Not even waiting for an answer she continued. “Sounds good!”

“Nice that I have so much control over how I spend my free time again. Like really, did any of you ever hear about the concept of asking someone? I have and would love you two to apply it more often. Starting with, asking me how I want to spend my free time.”

He was about to close the door again but Summer continued: “Oh come on. This will be fun. Trust me, we can have fun without the boss around getting on our nerves.” She stepped a closer and whispered: “And you can show me your suit, I never really seen it anyways.”

She was getting uncomfortably close. Phoenix stepped back, Summer using the opportunity and stepped inside the restaurant, closing the door behind her. “Sure, see yourself in, not like could stop you,” he grumbled. ”By the way no. I will not use the Alchemy Driver in here, or how do you expect me to explain the burn marks on the floor while I transform. And no, I’m also not using Wind Form, that just causes too much work cleaning everything up again. So forget all about Alchemy for the day. I would love to have an off day without turning into Alchemy, thank you very much.”

“Partypuper! Ok fine, no Kamen Rider business, but come on, hanging out would be super fun. A little company wouldn’t kill you, would it now?” She playfully asked.

“Fine, you can stay. Well as long as you follow Thunders rules, that means: Let no one in, well already broke that one. Not even a minute, that is a new record. Don’t touche any ingredients, that means you have to buy your own food and touching his recipe collection is strictly prohibited. Did you get that? Fine, don’t break them or I will suffer.” Admitting defeat, he knew that she would probably annoy him till he obliged or never let this down. He would simply spare himself the suffering and just let her have her will, couldn’t be that bad could it now.

“Yay, I knew that would work. Come, let us seak a nice place to sit and have some fun,” she cheered and walked directly towards the kitchen, opening the door and disappearing behind it.

“I hope you have more fun than me right now Thunder because I think my plans for a nice quiet day just evaporated into thin air.” He sighed and followed Summer.

--------------<

Indeed Thunder was having a blast, all the different outfits worn by the guest alone inspired him to so many different new pizzas. What would the actual clothes look like that the contestants designed, he was really getting excited about the actual show?

“Oh, this is so great, I can’t wait for it anymore. A thousand thanks again for inviting me Rarity. You can’t believe how many ideas are forming in my head. I might actually overflow with them,” Thunder basically just blabbered out, so excited was he about the whole thing.

“I know darling, still I would need your help right about now for a while. You don’t mind do you?” Rarity asked him sweetly.

“You don’t have to ask, I have been dying to see the best dresses of the day anyway.”

“Oh, you are flattering me, but we shouldn’t waste any more time now should we.” With that, she gestured him to follow her into a side room of the boutique. Here the contestants could place the finishing touches on their outfits. When they entered they could see Rarity's competitors, in total there were four others with their respective assistants.

From what he could see at a first glance, the competition was quite good, they certainly weren’t amateurs. Good stitching, well-balanced colors, and well-rounded shapes made their outfits quite the fierce competition for Rarity. Not that this would be a problem, since her designs still were probably the best in the rooms, well at least if it was up to him anyway.

In one corner of the room, a girl with yellow complexion and whitish purple hair in a purple dress tended to her creations. Three dresses, the first one being a long flowing yellow dress. The second was a similar cyan dress and last a pink dress in the same style with a stylish feather hat.

The second contestant was a boy in a white designer suit with blue sleeves. His skin was a light brown, but the most distinct thing about him was his hair that was curled up in something he couldn’t quite describe. Maybe a mixture between a pompadour and a spiral. Adding to that his hair was a mixture of bright blue and lighter and darker shades of pink. But he had to admit together it looked quite good.

On his clothes rack also hung three pieces of clothing. First was a neon blue one with light blue trousers and a cape which was magenta on the inside. His second piece was a short white dress with bright blue, light blue and magenta stripes around the skirt. And the last dress was yellow for the most part, but the front was a mixture of different colored squares in white red and green.

The third opponent had set up shop in one of the darker corners of the room, a girl with grey complexion and dark grey hair. She wore a short black dress with spider net-like design worked into it. Her creations reflected that quite well, the first being a long black trenchcoat with an absurd amount of straps on it. The second one was a combo of a leather jacket with spikes around the collar and a dark trouser, both obviously black. And her last piece was a black t-shirt with matching trousers, as well as a hoody with spider-web motive.

Her last opponent was a Crystal Prep student, she had pink skin with bound back purple hair and a light blue scarf. She seemed rather confident, next to her stood her assistant, a pale girl with short light blue hair. Compared to her partner she seemed rather shy and timid. The first outfit she had brought was a blue dress with purple accents that left the back exposed. Her next dress was a practice the opposite, mainly purple with blue accents and last another purple dress with blue straps crossing over the chest and a belt in the same color. All of the outfits had one thing in common, the material that was used for the purposes parts was accented by a complex pattern, drawing the observer in.

Rarity eyed the competition but ultimately moved towards her clothing, Thunder following right behind her. “Here are my beauty, what do you say,” she pointed at the three dresses she had designed. First was a long flowing dress in green and cyan with pink highlights separating the different fabrics. A golden sun emblem was mounted right above the chest and white wings extending towards the shoulders of the wearer. The second dress, like the first on, was long flowing, but this time it was made out of a dark blue fabric that turned brighter the further it went on, ultimately archiving a bright night sky blue. The dress was decorated with small white dots that represented stars and a crescent moon on the chest. At the feet, light blue stones were mounted. The last one was made out of a cyan fabric and decorated with a darker blue and purple layer under it. The entire dress was crisscrossed with thin lines and whenever where the lines meet a gem, or more precise colored glass was placed.

“Wow, I have never seen such beautiful dresses, no beautiful is not enough, breathtaking,” he encountered, stunned by Rarity's creations. “I don’t know how you could improve upon them in any way, shape or form.”

“Oh, my thank you, but there is no such thing as perfect dear,” Rarity wasted no time and walked over to her cloth rag, ready to lay the finishing touches on her creations. “So what do you think, I still need to choose the colors for the last few glass crystals. If you’ll help me I’m sure this will lock glorious!”

“Hhh, I think this one would work perfectly here and that and this one here and there.”

“Oh, this is excellent, it’s like you can read my mind,” Rarity exclaimed

While they were discussing the placement of the last details two other contest tests came closer towards them. The Crystal prep student with her assistant and eyed the new arrivals curiously. The smaller girl fixating on the star-dress in particular and eyed it curiously.

“My, Rarity your designs are gorgeous. You have to show me some of your tricks someday.” She seemed friendly enough but something just was off about her. Maybe it was the way she talked or something different, but Thunder was not comfortable around her. “And who is your little assistant here, or should I say big assistant?” she joked, pointing at him and laughed for a short while “Okay?”

“Oh Suri, that is Thunder Cloud. Thunder this is Suri Polomare, she is a student at Cristal Prep and an old friend from when we were younger, you know even younger. Thunder owns a pizzeria in the city and he volunteered to help me today, darling.” Rarity replied joyfully but was still occupied by stitching on the last details of the dress.

“He owns a pizzeria? That doesn’t sound like the type of person that would know a lot about fashion, no offense.” She chuckled shortly and added: ”Okay?”

“Oh, really? I’m sure Thunder didn’t take it to hard, did you now darling?” she asked looking over at her assistant who in return only shook his head. “And believe me, he is magnificent when it comes to design and similar things.”

“I see, but isn’t it a bit late for improvements for your dresses, the show starts in about one hour. Usually, you finish that beforehand and leave it not until the last minute,” Suri was rather skeptical about the way Rarity was doing things.

“I like to let the location inspire me so it fits in better, you understand dear?”, Rarity asked the girl, still looking only at her work.

“Hmm, oh that makes total sense, I wish I would have come up with that,” she continued smiling.

“Oh, by the way, dear, who is your little friend here? I have never seen her before. Is she also from Crystal Prep, or from somewhere else?” While she talked Rarity smiled at the young girl, she finally looking away from the dress she had been fixated on for the entire conversation. The girl nervously smiled back at her.

“That is my assistant, Coco Pommel. She asked me to teach her in the way of needle and thread. She is doing adequate, however, her speed has to improve or she will never really bring it far.” While Suri spoke Coco looked at her feet, seemingly disappointed by the words of her mentor, apparently contemplating if she wanted to say something.

“But taking your time with something can also be quite effective. What good does it do for you if in the end you just manage to deliver an insufficient piece of work? You have to put your very soul into whatever you're doing, no matter how long it may take,” Thunder had spoken up, feeling like he could bring his opinion to the conversation.

“Sure, that is important, but you have to work with deadlines. You of all people should know that very well or are your customers ok with simply waiting an eternity for their food?” She countered looking at him with a confident look in her eyes.

“Touche. Sure if I take to long my customers won't come back, but if you rush it and deliver a pizza that is not fully finished and soggy they will leave as well. You have to find the right balance or you will not succeed, just like everywhere else,” he had started to philosophize, his eyes staring aimlessly at the ceiling, lost in his thoughts.

“Aha, interesting, I will keep that in mind, but now I have to bid you adieu. I have my own clothes to tend too, I hope you understand.” With that Suri turned around and returned to her own dresses.

Coco meanwhile didn’t move from the spot she stood at and shyly looked at the floor, twiddling her thumbs. “Ahm, miss Rar… miss Rarity, one of your dresses is… there is a…”

Before she could finish what she wanted to say Suri called out to her: “Coco, would you be so kind and come over here I have something I would want to talk with you about.” She immediately turned around and rushed towards her mentor, not without blurting one last: “Sorry!” out.

“Hmm, wonder what she wanted,” Thunder thought out loud.

Rarity immediately returned: “Probably simply liked one of my dresses, don’t you think dear?”

“I have got to be honest, but I’m not entirely positive about that. It seemed she wanted to say something else, but right now we have bigger problems to deal with. Emerald or sapphire, which one do you think would fit here.”

Rarity simply nodded and went back to work: “You know, I think a ruby would work wonders here.”

“Perfect, why didn’t I thought of that. I hope Phoenix is having as much fun as we have here.”

“I’m sure he is,” she replied to her assistant.

--------------<

Phoenix wasn’t sure if he was happy right now or seriously annoyed. Summer had invited herself without asking him first or caring what he wanted to do today. No, she simply showed up at the doorstep and basically just walked in. Still, he liked her company, she was funny and working with her was always entertaining, but this, it just didn’t sit right with him.

They had moved up a floor and now sat in the living room just talking to each other what they should watch. “No, no, no. We are not watching the soccer match between the Seaddle Neighers and the Canterlot Wonderbolts. You know I don’t like sports.”

“I only thought you don’t like doing sport. You don’t have to do anything just sit here and watch. Oh come on, I would love to see the game, that one is important. And I want to see the Wonderbolts kick ass. Please. Pretty please?” Summer begged, giving him her best puppy eyes look she could muster.

“No and no. Even watching sport makes me feel physically exhausted and by the virtue that I live here, I decide what we are going to watch. And I have just about the right thing right here,” Phoenix pulled out a set of four blu-rays of the new Power Ponys TV season. The cover showed the six heroes and her sidekick standing in the center of the cover. Looming over their heads were six villainess figures looking down upon the heroes and a city in the background.

“But can you actually watch that, aren’t you physically exhausted when they fight, like with sports?” Summer mockingly asked him.

Phonix grinned smugly and answered: “Oh, no that is only when something actually looks taxing or is boring, like sports. Something that is entertaining like a fun superhero series is not exhausting, it is a delight,” Phonix encountered, stretching himself as he spoke.

“Sure it is fun and that is definitely the only reason you watch it and not because of you playing a superhero in your free time, “Summer jokingly retorted. ”and in the time you should work,” she muttered to herself.

“Oh come on, I’m not that narcissistic. And I have a simple explanation for that: two of them have similar powers like Alchemy in his different forms. First Fili-Second with her super speed is similar to Thunder Form and Zapp has lightning based powers as well. And by watching this show I might pick up some nice ways of using my powers in a creative way.” Phoenix’s grin was as wide as it could be, knowing fully well that he had won this argument.

“Fine, fine, whatever, we watch your stupid show. Happy now?” The annoyance clearly audible in her voice.

“Eeyup, pretty much,” he grinned back at her.

“I just have one question left, why are called Power Ponies. They don’t look like horses to me and as far as I remember their powers are not tied directly to horses either. So why the name?”

“Oh, that is a great question. Allow me to elaborate: Before time, before space and before the universe there was…” he didn’t come any further because Summer already had cut him off.

“If I had known that you would recite the complete history of an entire fictional universe to explain this to me I would have never asked in the first place.”

“Oh come on, it won't take that long, just let me start again and…”

“No! I’m not interested anymore, just going to roll with it. Just put the stupid thing in already so we can start. Maybe this will be at least somewhat entertaining.” She grumbled a little annoyed.

“Fine, if you are not interested in it I can’t help you. But before we start I have one question for you, how did you end up here in the first place. Simple job interview or is there more to it. Knowing my brother it’s probably more,” Phonix joked and looked over to his coworker.

“Well, when Thunder came to Canterlot City I was basically jumping from job to job, never staying long with one, nothing really satisfied me. I initially wanted to become an athlete, my specialty was sprinting, but I just never was good enough and had to accept this. What was even worse is that my father was a professional in this field and he had trained me from small on and to say that he was disappointed was an understatement. He was devastated and I just couldn’t see him like this anymore, so I decided to start working, whatever was available so I could move out from home and not see the look of disappointment on his face,” her usual upbeat attitude had vanished, now acting way more mellow.

“I… I’m sorry that I dug up this uncomfortable memory of yours, I didn’t know. You don’t have to continue if you don’t want to,” Phoenix asked her, taken aback by the story she had told him.

“No, no it’s fine. I’m over it and that basically thanks to Thunder. The day he arrived in the city I had just terminated my last job, I worked retail. That was just one of the many jobs I had and like the rest, I just didn’t feel comfortable with them. So I was there, walking aimlessly through the city as someone called out to me from the entrance of the train station, your brother obviously. He asked me about the way to an address in the city, the one to the ‘Magnum Opus’, well the building before it became the ‘Magnum Opus’ anyway,” Summer seemed to get happier with every word she spoke.

“Let me guess, you helped him?” Her happiness seemed infectious, Phoenix’s mode raising, just like hers.

“Yeah had nothing better to do anyway. So I lead him towards his destination. During our little trip, he kept blabbering on about pizza, the art of cooking and the creations he would be able to bring to his customers. The strangest part, I actually liked it. I listened and replied a few time, to my surprise time was really flowing by and as we arrived at his goal I didn’t want it to end. He offered to continue our conversation inside and I happily obliged.”

“Sounds just like Thunder, he can lull you in and before you know it hours have passed without you even realizing it. He is a master of sweet talking, but you should know that you worked with him for over half a year.”

“Yeah, I learned that this day. He even managed to get me to talk about my father and current situation and I only knew him for about two hours. That is talent if I ever saw it. And of course, after I told him my sob story he offered me a job, at first I didn’t really know how to respond, he was nice, pleasant to be around and I was jobless so this seemed like a perfect opportunity. And ultimately he convinced me and I had this job ever since,” Summer concluded her tail and looked over to Phoenix.

“Yep, that sounds like Thunder. Glad this worked out so good for you in the end. Funny how the life sometimes goes, if you wouldn’t have to meet Thunder that day who knows what you would do now.”

“Yeah, yeah, sure, fascinating. Not to be rude, I didn’t come here to ponder about philosophy. So are we going to watch your stupid superhero show or not?” Well, she was back to usual, not sure if that was something positive or not.

“Sure, sure, let me just put in the disc.” Standing up he took the first case and turned on the TV.

After he was finished inserting the disc into the blu-ray-player he returned back to the couch. “Aren’t you forgetting something?” Summer asked him with one of her eyebrows raised.

“Not that I remember, TV is on, the disc is in and I have the remote. Everything is perfect.”

“Yeah, everything is perfect, expect the light is still on, would you be so kind and turn it off?”

It took a second to realize what she meant, it came crashing down upon him. She was right: “Oh, ups. I just going to turn it off, just one moment.” He stood up, walked over to the switch, turned the light off and returned to the couch.

“Thanks,” she in return thanked him and they started to watch the series, Phoenix way more enthusiastic then Summer.

--------------<

Meanwhile, the last hour of preparations had passed and everyone was forced to leave the room the clothes were stored.

“I hope we managed to get everything as perfect as possible,” Rarity worried

“I assure you Rarity, everything is just about as perfect as it can get. I’m sure you will win,” Thunder tried to assure her.

“I know, but this is still so exciting and nerve-wracking!” Rarity basically squealed out, which turned into nervousness as she continued.

His attempted to calm her down was interrupted by someone speaking through the speakers that usually played music. “The show will start in exactly fifteen minutes, all contestants are to gather in the backroom immediately.” The voice sounded rather uptight and not patient, they probably shouldn’t waste any time.

“Oh, miss Hemline calls us, we should probably hurry,” Rarity urged Thunder to move as quickly as possible, but still not in a too ungraceful way.

As they reached the door leading to the room where the outfits were stored someone was already waiting for them, a woman with dark grey complexion and short greyish-pink hair. She wore a dark purple blazer with golden outlines and a white shirt underneath. Completing her outfit were pink trousers. Her name was Prim Hemline Rarity informed him as they came closer.

“Oh, Rarity, I see your time at my boutique has indeed improved your punctuality, sadly your competitors are not here yet, they should really be more on time. Let us wait inside for them, hopefully not for too long,” as she spoke she opened the door. What they could see inside surprised everyone. A monster was currently working on Rarity's dress with the moon on its chest, completely oblivious that someone had opened the door.

“How dare you!? You will leave your filthy hands from my creations, or you will regret the day you were born!” Rarity was furries, how dared this … this thing touch her dresses. Thunder was rather taken aback by Rarity's sudden angry demeanor, well but he could understand her if someone tried to mess with his pizzas he would react similarly.

Now the monster had realized that it had been discovered and stood up, now facing the three. It was clad in a white and black dress that reached up to her knees. It resembled somewhat a maid outfit, strangely enough. Her legs were covered in long frilly black and white socks and she wore black high-heels. The little of skin that could be seen had a pale purple color. The face of the Corrupted was covered by a black veil and her long flowing purple hair blocked out any attempts at seeing it. The most strange thing about her was her hands, or more precisely where her hands should be. Her left forearm was replaced with a giant scissor and her right hand looked more natural, at the first glance. Her fingers were made out of needles, the rest of her forearm was covered with a black glove with a frilly white end.

Her posture seemed rather shocked and scared, probably because she expected that no one would find her. Rarity, on the other hand, had clenched her fists and was staring at the Corrupted with unbridled anger, if looks could kill the monster would have evaporated into thin air. Seconds later something hit the Corrupted, letting it stager a few steps back.

It was Rarity, she was throwing etherial demands at the monster, every single one shattering on impact, apparently not doing much damage, still, it was enough to keep the Corrupt occupied.

“I will call the police, be right back.” Before anyone could reply, Thunder had bolted and reached a somewhat silent corner. On his way there he had seen one of the other contestants, the one with the strange hair, coming his way. The moment he had reached his destination he pulled out his phone and dilled one of his saved numbers.

--------------<

After having watched the three of the series Summer was discussing what she had seen with Phoenix. “And I say, it doesn’t make any sense. They have no lead on him and he could probably just lay low and sell the damn diamond. He is supposedly a master thief and he just thinks: ‘Oh no they are on my trail, just steal the next thing.’ How can you be that stupid? Of course, he gets captured. I’m at loss for words.” Summer was raging about what she saw as an idiot villain.

“Do I need to remind you not too long ago we had a girl that broke into three different shops on following days, knowing fully well that I was on her trail and still continued. And all that just to impress a girl into becoming her girlfriend. Quite frankly, I can see this happening in real life as well,” he encountered, all while sporting a smug grin.

“Small difference, lovestruck high school girl against a supposed master thief that should know better. He didn’t want affection or admiration, he wanted money. He had the diamond, he had money, so why continue?”

“For the thrill? I don’t know, haven’t seen enough of the character yet. Not everything is always logical, sometimes a motivation seems completely asinine but makes sense for the person in question.”

“Oh, now you are just trying to cover for a series you like. Don’t try to claim that there is a reason for this, you don’t even know if he comes back,” she retaliated, not to be outtalked by Phoenix.

“Well, it is a comic book adaptation. Chances are he resembles his comic counterpart and they just haven’t given enough screentime to properly develop him,” Phoenix offered.

“Still, failure of the series to not present it. And then there is Maniac. She has basically won if she just kills them, but nope just ravels over her victory, leaving them enough time to escape and beat her. Who is stupid enough for that?” she seemed to get more and more annoyed the more she talked about the stupidity of the villains.

“If I think about it right now, there come two people to mind that would do exactly that, Napalm and Rose. The first talking about ‘how much better he is than anyone else’ and Rose about ‘shaking of the bindings of the guy at the top and growing a new future’.”

Before Summer could counter Phoenix’s phone started ringing. “Sorry, I have to take this. Hey Thunder, did anything happen? Wait, what? What?! Oh dammit, be right there.” Ending the call he looked to Summer and told her: “Corrupted at the fashion show. Of course, because I can’t have one free day. Whatever, lucky you, you might actually get to watch your soccer game, I will be back eventually.”

With that, he stood up and walked towards the stairs, on his way grabbing his jacket and with it his Alchemy Driver and the Magic Discs.

“Wait, I coming to. I’m not letting another opportunity go by where I could see you kicking ass.”

Phonix was stunned for a second, then retorted: “That is stupid! You're stupid! Stop being stupid! You will not come with me. I’m not intentionally endangering you. It will already be annoying with civilians around, I’m not adding another one on top of this.”

“But..”

“No, but, you're staying and that is the end of that. If you excuse me, I’ve got a monster to stop.” She had never seen him so, serious and angry. It was kinda scary. But she really wanted to finally see him in action again, the only time until now was the first fight with Lightning and she remembered what a letdown that was. Screw him, she could do what she wanted and she would finally see him in action, this time hopefully kicking ass and not on the receiving end.

--------------<

After transforming in the back-alley he had rushed towards “Carousel Boutique” on his bike, as he arrived it had only been six minutes, hopefully, the Corrupted hadn't already left the boutique. Right now the only thing he could do was to move as fast as possible and hope for the best.

Thunder was already waiting at the entrance for him, the rest of the spectators had already left the boutique, probably less graceful then they expected.

“So, where is it? And is there anything else I should know?”

“In the backroom with all the clothes, thanks to Rarity it’s still there, but I don’t know if she can hold it any longer,” Thunder replied in a hurry, guiding him to the room he had talked about. Rarity was standing with her hands stretched out, like she was pushing something. She was clad in a strange sapphire and light blue outfit, probably just her outfit for the day. Next to her stood an older woman with dark grey skin and greyish pink hair. As he came closer he could see why she was holding her hands in this strange position, she had apparently summoned another one of her diamond barriers and was holding off the Corrupted as best as she could. He could see that the diamond had several cracks, she probably couldn’t hold it up any longer.

“Good job. Without you, the Corrupted probably would have escaped. I’ll take it from here.” Phoenix said to the purple haired girl and readied himself for when she would cancel her barrier.

“Oh, please darling would do it again in a heartbeat. And could you grant me one request: Make her pay for what she did to my babies!” She replied, breathing heavily. Apparently holding up the shield for so long had left her exhausted.

Seconds later the barrier disappeared and the Corrupted stumbled towards Alchemy who had waited for this opportunity. The moment she came into reach he punched her dead center into her face, sending her flying and crashing into the wall at the end of the room.

While she lay there incapacitated he stepped into the room, loosening his hand by moving his fingers. As Phoenix stood over her, he tried something he always did: “Hey Needle, how about that, you surrender, give me the thing that granted you these powers and I will make sure you get off scot-free. And as an added bonus this time, I’ll protect you from Rarity, she seems kinda livid right now.”

“I… I can’t, I still haven’t finished yet! I’m sorry.” With that, she swung once with her scissor-arm, cutting Phoenix at his lower-legs, sweeping him off his feet.

“Ow, that hurt… I assume that was a no. Fine with me, then I just have to teach you how to behave.” He returned, and pulled himself back up, even if his legs still hurt a bit. The Corrupted had already made it halfway through the room and was headed for the exit, Alchemy hot on its trail.

As she had passed the doorframe, the three bystanders had decided to leave thankfully, he had caught up to her and tackled her to the ground, sending both tumbling around. Alchemy was the first to get back up again and used this golden opportunity to deliver a strong kick to her stomach, sending her into the main area of the shop.

Still, that was not enough to knock her out and she came back on her feet in no time. Alchemy rushed towards her and tried punching her in her face. To his annoyance, his attack was blocked, in a reflex reaction, she had stopped his fist with her scissors. She realized this soon enough and scratched him with the needles on her other hand.

By having to take a step back she had forced him on the defenses. She wailed on him with attacks from her left arm and with it the giant scissors. While he evaded most of the attacks and even could get some counterattacks through she had the upper hand and that gave her the chance to deliver a devastating cut to his chest. The force of the attack sent him flying a few meters back, sparks flying and leaving him on his back. But he couldn’t just give up her, pulling himself back up he faced his opponent. She had in the meantime looked around the room, apparently searching for a way to escape.

“Ok, maybe entering a sword, or scissor fight with just my fist wasn’t my smartest idea, but that can be fixed.” While he spoke he removed the Flame Disc form the driver and hold it out in front of him.

\ Flame Disc Attack Mode! /

\ Flame Saber! /

Now holding his weapon in his hands he charged back at the Corrupted. The first clash was in his favor. It was delivered with so much force that her arm was forced to the side and without hesitation, he followed up with another strick, this one hitting her dead center, cutting from her right shoulder down to her left waist, like usually sparks erupted from the cut.

Stumbling back she tried her hardest to block the attacks of Alchemy, but thanks to his fighting experience and the training he had during the downtimes she was simply outmatched. Every time she tried to block or retaliate, he had already seen her movement and countered respectively, ending in a slash across her front. The last strike he landed was so devastating that she was lifted off her feet and slammed into a nearby wall.

“So let’s finish this shall…”

Before he could activate finish his sentence he was interrupted by someone screaming from his left.

“Yay, exactly like that! Give her the rest! Wuhu!”

To his utter shock, it was Summer. What did she do here, didn’t he tell her to stay at the restaurant.

“What on earth are you doing here?! Leave, now!” he shouted at her, it seemed he had something to discuss with her later. But before he could turn back to his opponent he was hit by something and pinned against the wall, funny enough the same he had been pinned at by Rarity last time, he could even see where. He had been pinned to the wall by several needles and string, making it basically impossible to move his arms more than a bit.

“Dammit!” Shouting frustrated he could only watch as the monster ran back towards the back of the boutique and into the woman's toilet. “Of course.” Thankfully he had kept hold of his Flame Saber and his hands were just close enough to the handguard so spinning the Flame Disc was actually possible. After gathering the magical energy into the weapon he managed to spin the disc and with the flames was able to cut the string holding him against the wall.

While running towards the toilet he grunted towards Summer: “We will talk about this later!” As he reached the toilet he didn’t even think about how inappropriate this was thanks to the anger that had suddenly filled him and just rushed inside. Th Corrupted was nowhere to be seen, just two girls one with pink skin and bound back purple hair. Next to her was a younger girl with pale skin and short light blue hair. Bouthe cowered in the corner of the room and looked in shock at the rider.

“Oh, sorry. I didn’t want to scare you. Did you see a monster wearing a maid outfit coming through here?” Phoenix trying his best not to look too intimidating and he was probably failing terribly. A man in armor just rushed into a woman's toilet and asked for a monster, yeah that was totally normal and soothing.

The girl with the scarf was the first to answer: “She… she escaped through the window. She turned her body into a string and just went through the open window. Isn’t that right Coco?” She still seemed somewhat scared but she looks like she had calmed down a bit.

Not the other girl, she still was extremely nervous and threatened. “Ye… Yes. She… she did.”

“Dammit and I thought I could actually finish this in one go. Sorry again that I scared you.” With that, he left the room, only now the weirdness of the situation kicking in and with it the embarrassment.

As he returned to the main room of the boutique a heated argument had erupted between the apparently arrived Ocean and the woman that had waited with Rarity while she held off the monster.

“I can not just cancel the show, that would ruin my reputation and devastate these young ones,” she pointed at Rarity and three other kids, all while sounding somewhat upset.

“I agree, if we let ourselves be affected by these monsters we only will live in fear. If we don’t stand our ground now we can all crawl into a hole and hide forever. And like I always said: ‘The show must go on’!” Thunder encouraged her, very much to Phoenix’s dismay. He should know that this was a stupid idea and would only endanger everyone that would be suicidal enough to go to the show again after what happened today.

“With all due respect, but this is stupid. You are endangering everyone who comes to it again and if anyone gets hurt it is square on you. Please reconsider this again,” apparently Ocean had the same opinion as he had, this entire idea was completely idiotic.

Phoenix wanted to agree with Ocean when the older woman spoke up again: “Duly noted, but the show will go on tomorrow, so we can salvage what was destroyed today.”

Ocean reacted with simply signing in defeat and adding: “Fine if you insist, but under one condition we will personally make sure nothing happens and I will hear nothing regarding our presence.”

“Acceptable, it will help my guest to feel safer. Then we are finished here, I still have some arrangements to make. If you would excuse me.” With that, she turned on the spot and disappeared into the employee area of the boutique.

“And I thought leaving Manehatten would prevent me from running into this type of people again. Guess that was just wishful thinking.”

While she wanted her frustrations Rarity was talking to Thunder. “Oh, that is simply dreadful. You can’t come tomorrow and see how this all ends and that after you helped me so much. I’m sorry darling.”

Thunder just smiled back and returned: “Oh, Rarity, it’s not that bad. Sure it’s sad that I can’t see you win, but I still can send Phoenix with you. Summer can fill in for him, shouldn’t be a problem and he can make some pictures of you winning so I can see it.”

“Oh that is wonderful Thunder,” she happily replied.

Wait, what? Phoenix could see what Thunder was planning, getting him to the show so he could engage the monster as fast as possible, clever idea. Still, he would like to be asked first, in general, which right now he couldn’t because he was playing the part of Alchemy, that was evil Thunder really evil. When he came back home he had a few things to say to Thunder and Summer. While he thought about it, he clenched his fist without even realizing it and only noticed it when someone spoke to him about it.

“Everything ok?” It was Ocean, openly concerned about him.

“Huh? Oh, it’s nothing, just a bit frustrated that the Corrupted escaped. And I thought I could finish it in one go,” he replied, probably not as convincing as he liked it to be.

“Hmm. Ok then, but if anything is bugging you just talk to me about it, even if it’s vague,” Ocean replied, still concerned for her ally.

“If you don’t mind, I’ll leave now. I need some time to think about what just happened. But I assure you if the Corrupted comes back tomorrow I’ll be here.”

“If you say so, ok. I can handle everything here. Hope you are better tomorrow, see ya.”

“See ya,” Phoenix simply replied and turned around to leave the building and walked towards his bike. While he mounted it he was already thinking about what he would tell his coworkers and it wouldn’t be pretty. And with these thoughts in his mind, he drove off towards a good place to turn back.

Life is a Runway - The Joys of Creation

“Seriously, what were you thinking?! I specifically told you to stay at the restaurant, but no, miss irresponsible here runs into a dangerous battlefield against my orders! And for what? Because she wanted to see the fight! And I thought I was reckless and on occasion stupid, but this takes the cake! I can’t fight properly when you are around because I have to make sure that nothing happens to you! Do you understand this?” Phoenix was shouting, something that felled completely unnatural and strangely unsettling to Thunder and Summer.

After the incident at “Carousel Boutique”, she had taken Thunder home. As they arrived at the “Magnum Opus” Phoenix was already waiting for them, seemingly completely calm and rather stoic. He had asked them to come inside and take a set in the empty main room of the restaurant. As soon as they both did what he had asked of them, he started screaming, releasing all of his pent-up anger upon the two. And the worst part? He had every right to do so.

Summer weakly replied: “I’m…”

“Could you please wait just a tad bit longer? I’m still venting!” Phoenix had interrupted her before she could finish. “And because of that, she escaped! One moment of carelessness is enough that something can go horribly wrong! Thankfully she just bolted, but what when she attacked you? There are over thousand ways that could have gone wrong! Do you get that now?”

Summer just nodded, the entire time he had spoken not being able to look him into the eyes and letting her head hang low in shame.

“And then we come to the thing that annoys me the most, you constantly decide things for me without even asking how I feel about it! Not enough that I was forced to come to this damn city to look for magic I didn’t care about in the first place! No! If I have a day to myself you either change my plans or invite yourself without even asking! Hello, I’m capable of making my own decisions! I can spend the day alone without someone coming over and just deciding to spend time with me! It is my life, shouldn’t I be the one making decisions about it? Apparently not because Thunder here thinks making decisions with me present, but unable to object is completely fine!”

“I was trying to get you to the show tomorrow so you can stop the Corrupted when she reappears,” Thunder tried to defend himself.

“Oh, I know exactly why you did what you did and the plan is not bad! However, you could have asked me beforehand! Told Rarity something along the lines: ‘I’m sure Phoenix would love to go with you, I just have to ask him,’ or something like that! I just thought coming here would finally enable me to make my own decisions! But no, I just get bossed around by my brother and his employee! You should know that I don’t like it when something is forced upon me!” Phoenix breathed heavily; it seemed he had finally finished his tirade.

“Phoenix, I’m sorry,” his brother replied, guilt clearly audible in his voice.

“I’m also sorry Phoenix,” Summer added.

“Good, that is good. I think I need some time alone to cool off a bit. If you excuse me I’m going for a walk,” And with that, he left the restaurant leaving the two others behind to ponder about what just happened.

“We fucked up, royally.” Summer was the first to break the silence.

“Yeah, we sure did,” Thunder weakly replied.

“That was just stupid and selfish of me; I just wanted to see him fight. He always tells us about these awesome fights and I have never really seen him in action. Well, I saw him on TV, but that can’t compare to seeing him fight for real. I don’t know, I just wanted to see him once and since most of the time I’m stuck here as a waitress the chance of actually seeing him fight is relatively minuscule,” she sighed, letting her head hang low in the process.

“Don’t take it too hard. Moping won't bring you forward. It’s good that you recognize your mistakes because then you can avoid them next time. Something I should learn myself. It’s not like I’m completely innocent in this entire fiasco. I should have known better. Phoenix hates it if someone tells him what to do. And I really can’t blame him for that,” he replied, seeming somewhat absentminded.

“What do you mean? Why can’t you hold it against him?”

“Well, we told you about the whole guardian of our legacy thing. Well, it is not only just looking after the discs. It entails way more, traveling the globe for magical anomalies, protecting the discs with your life, having children to pass the responsibility on to and gaining extensive knowledge about the Alchemy Driver and the Magic Disks. A large portion of his childhood and the years following it he had to devote nearly his entire free time to learning with gramps. He basically had his entire future planned out for him. I can only imagine the shouting match between gramps and Phoenix when it was decided he would move here, probably lasted several days.”

“That… is awful. Now I feel even worse. Why didn’t any of you tell me? I could have avoided this entire thing,” she replied completely shocked.

“I thought if Phoenix wanted to tell you he would at some point. I’m just telling you this now that you understand where he is coming from. Phoenix finally has control over his life, well when he is not working at least. And we kinda undermined that.”

“Damn, do you think he can ever forgive us?” Summer asked, sounding a tad bit worried.

“Oh, sure. When Phoenix gets angry he usually gets relatively loud and vents his frustration, how rare this might be. But ultimately when he has done that he calms down relatively fast. And as long as you avoid the thing that got him angry in the first place everything will be fine,” Thunder replied, his voice giving off a nostalgic vibe.

“I hope so, would be kinda awkward working with him when he wouldn't like me anymore. Would miss his attitude,” Summer jokingly added.

“I’m sure this whole thing will sort itself out, just be patient.”

“Thanks, you always know the best words to cheer me up,” she replied, smiling back at him.

“Oh, please, you are flattering me.” He began to rub the back of his head with his right hand in embarrassment.

“Oh, you are so cute when you are embarrassed,” Summer added, with a devilish smile on her lips.

“Ahm…” was all he could reply while his face turned deeper shades of red. Summer just laughed.

--------------<

Phoenix was walking through the street of Canterlot City, the sun was about to set and most people were on their way home. While the presence of Alchemy was reassuring most still didn’t want to be caught outside at night. Especially with a dangerous murderer on the louse that left his victims in horrible shape. From burn wounds to electrocution and one case of drowning seemed to indicate the guy was quite well equipped, experienced and extremely dangerous. Well, nothing he couldn’t handle.

Still, it made him feel a bit uncomfortable that someone like that could just walk through the city unnoticed. Maybe he should go after the murder, but then what could he archive what the police couldn’t. Even if he would find the culprit what would he do, punish him unconscious and deliver him to the police? His word would probably not hold up in court. And that was if he actually found the guy, what was quite the task in a place like Canterlot City.

Well, right now it really didn’t matter; he still had more urgent matters to think about. Thankfully the little stroll through the city and the thinking about what currently was going on in the city had allowed him to calm down a bit. He might have been a bit too shouty when confronting the two; still, he had a point. The way they acted since he came here was not ok and Summers actions today in particular. He simply hoped they had learned their lesson and could leave today behind them.

“Hey, Phoenix! What are you doing here?” Phoenix heard someone shouted out for him, but right now he couldn’t make out who it was.

As he looked around he heard it again: “Over here Phoenix!” Finally, he managed to find the source of the voice. It was Ocean, sitting on her motorcycle and waving in his direction. He hadn’t seen her thanks to the dimming light making it harder to see.

“Oh, hey Ocean. Nice to see you, even if I didn’t expected to today. So how was your day?” he asked her, still a bit tense.

“Fine, the usual really. Corrupted attacked a fashion show. Sadly Alchemy was not able to apprehend Corrupted number ten. Happens. What was more infuriating was the owner of the boutique where the contest was held insisted to move the show to tomorrow. Completely ignoring all the danger that this might cause. To at least salvage the situation I decided the best course of action was to over my assistant in protecting her guest. Let’s hope nothing too terrible happens tomorrow,” she sighed, clearly not convinced by her own words. “Hey, wanna continue this conversation somewhere more comfortable? There is a nice donut shop nearby.”

“Sure why not, I’m starving anyway,” Phoenix replied, his stomach unleashing a mighty grumble.

“I see,” Ocean chuckled.

--------------<

Like Ocean had said, the donut shop was only three streets away. The shop was basically just a window from which the customers could order their donuts and a few tables and chairs standing on the pavement. The owner was a middle-aged man with light amber skin and tousled brown hair. He wore a white suit with a hat in the same color.

Phoenix and Ocean had sat down on one of the free tables, both having a donut in front of them. The donut was glazed pink and had leaves and a star on it. “Let’s hope it tastes as good as it looks,” he hoped.

“You never tried one of Joe’s donuts before, did you? Believe me; they are great, nearly as good as Thunders pizzas.”

“If you praise them so much, I’m sure they are great,” Phoenix replied, afterward taking a bit of the round convection. “Mhh. Your sense of taste never disappoints.”

“I know, now, where were we again? Oh right, how my day was. Well, after the Corrupted left I could gather a few pieces of evidence, primarily that it didn’t destroy much. The outfits of four contestants were tempered with, but none of them were actually damaged. They described it more that someone had fixed small flaws with them. They assume that Mrs. Hemline would notice the changes and disqualified them for tampering with the outfits after the time limit had expired. But, I don’t buy it. They said the differences were minuscule and extremely meticulous, someone who wanted them disqualified would probably leave quite obviously tells. The whole thing just confuses me.”

“Hmm, interesting. But isn’t that all classified information? Are you even allowed to tell me this?” Phoenix was starting to get a bit nervous.

“Oh, yeah sure. But I work best when I can bounce ideas back of someone. And the information is nothing special anyway, wouldn’t tell you about other stuff, however. And as the leading agent in Canterlot City, I can make exceptions. So, what do you think about all of this?”

“Hmm, I think you are right, something seems off about this. But I can’t quite put my finger on it. Sorry,” he replied, feeling bad that he could not help her with this.

“Hmm, like I thought. Thanks, I will ponder over this a bit more, but to more pleasant topics. How was your day?” Ocean asked him, after taking a bite of her donut.

“Mhh, could be better. I had an argument with Summer and Thunder today. Right now I’m trying to get my head clear by taking a long walk around town,” he replied, his good mood had vanished in an instanced, now sounding rather somber.

“Ouch, I’m sorry that something like this happened. What did they do wrong anyway?”

“Well, I never had much of a say in the matter of what happens with my life and my future and coming to Canterlot City I finally thought I could live my life the way I wanted. But since I arrived Thunder and Summer just have been bossing me around, not caring about my opinion. And today Thunder decided that I would spend tomorrow at a fashion show, something I just don’t care for, without asking me first. That was the straw that broke the camel’s back, I can decide what I want to do, dammit!” Phoenix had started to raise his voice and with his last word he had slammed his fist onto the table. “Oh, sorry. I just got carried away a bit.”

“No, it’s fine. You kinda remind me of someone, my sister Star Catcher. My family is known for the fact that we all become police officers, well, all besides her. She never was much into the whole family business; she wanted to become an athlete. And she did, now she is running marathons, quite successfully I might add. Not surprising my mother was not pleased, she shouted at her and the argument went on for an entire week. Yeah, Star left the house shortly after and has not returned since then. As you can guess her relationship with mother is strained to say the least,” she sounded nostalgic as she told him about her sister.

“I like your sister. Hope your relationship with her wasn’t too strained by all of this. Siblings are something wonderful, you argue, you fight, but ultimately you know they are always there for you. Thank you, I think you helped me calm down a bit. I’m sorry I probably should catch some sleep for tomorrow. See, ya,” and with that he left, waving as a farewell.

Ocean simply replied: “See, ya!” and finished her donut before returning to search the streets for anything suspicious.

--------------<

He never felled more out of place than right now. Not even the time he walked into Change Industries as Alchemy was that strange like staying between an army of fashion fascinated. Granted he didn’t stick out like a sore thumb thanks to Thunder who had laid out an orange shirt for him to wear. While he didn’t consider it his style he knew he was right and just accepted it without much complaining.

“I really feel out of place here,” he sighed while looking around for at least some person who looked as lost as he did.

“Oh, come now darling, you fit right in, just follow my lead. And it’s not like you have to make any big speeches, just take some pictures for your brother. I’m sure you are a great photographer,” Rarity replied, walking beside him through the crowd of people.

“I know, but still, it just feels weird and I have been through some weird stuff already,” he replied while chuckling a bit.

“Oh tell me about it, this year has been quite eventful.”

“So, Thunder told me that this monster meddled with you outfits yesterday. What exactly did it do?”

“Well, that might sound weird, but it fixed some minuscule mistakes, strangely enough. Some I didn’t even notice, granted sometimes if you work on something for a while it becomes increasingly hard to see the flaws in it, but still,” Rarity replied, seeming a bit puzzled by the strange behavior of the Corrupted.

“Hmm, that does sound weird; well we can’t do anything other than to just hope she doesn’t come back.”

“Hmm, so I will be back in the side room and make sure the dresses are fine, you can make some new friends, I’m sure you find some nice people here,” Rarity returned and walked off, leaving Phoenix to his own devices.

“Great and now what am I supposed to do? Talk with someone about fashion? Nah, I know jack about fashion and I sure nobody is here that shares any of my interests. Great, just great,” he muttered, not amused by the fact of being left alone in a sea of strangers.

“Hello, apparently I’m nobody, nice to see you,” someone said behind him. In an instant, he turned around and looked into a familiar face.

“Holla!” Phoenix staggered back a few steps until he finally regained his composure “Never do this again Ocean, ever!”

“Oww, but it was so fun. Don’t you agree?” she chuckled.

“No, surprisingly not. What are you doing here any… Oh right, playing security service for the owner. My condolences.”

Ocean snickered a bit and returned: “Oh, it’s not that bad. They have free food and since I’m a government agent they don’t bat an eye if I take a bit more. Want some? They even have brownies, wouldn’t have guessed, this being all high society stuff and all, but hey I take what I can get.”

“You got me by food,” Phoenix jokingly replied, Ocean laughing a bit about his response.

“Of course I did, come it’s over here. So how is it until now, enjoying yourself?”

“Meh, Rarity is pleasant to be around, but besides her?” He stepped closer to her and whispered: “A bunch of snobby fashion admirers, personally don’t care to interact with them in any way.”

“Oh, come on now, they aren’t that bad. I’m sure there are some that you could hold a conversation with. Haven’t found them myself, but I’m sure they are here, somewhere.”

“Yeah, probably, but I’m not interested in a wild guess chase.”

“Probably. By the way, you look good in that shirt. I assume it was not you who decided that it was appropriate, am I right?”

“Well, I’m full of surprises after all.” She eyed him, apparently not convinced. “Ok fine, Thunder chose the shirt. Said something about dressing properly. As much as it annoyed me he was right.”

“So, you reconciled with your brother, or not?”

“Not really, there wasn’t any further argument, but made up, I don’t think that counts,” he replied somewhat ashamed.

“Well, I suppose that things like these take there time. But still, you should get this dealt with as soon as possible, at least that is what I’m thinking.”

“Yeah, you are right. I’m not even really angry anymore, well as long as they don’t try to pull this again at least. But now to more pressing matters brownies here I come!”

“Tsk, take as much as you want,” she chuckled while shaking her head. Phoenix took the first confection and stuffed it into his mouth.

“Mhhh, greate, more.” Without wasting any time he grabbed the next brownie and took a huge bite of it.

“Well, at least it’s not going to get boring,” Ocean sighed, taking one of the sweets as well.

--------------<

After about an hour Rarity had returned after finishing some last preparations for the show. She wasn’t really relaxed, probably a mixture of nervousness from the contest and a possible return of the Corrupted. “I’m sure everything is going to be fine. That monster wouldn’t dare to attack with so many police officers around. I’m sure your dress is safe,” Phoenix tried to reassure her.

It didn’t seem to work. “But what if she does. My career will be ruined!” The last part was more crying than actually talking, but still.

“Oh, come on. Nothing is going to happen and even if, you are talented enough that you will get many more chances, I’m sure.”

It seemed like Phoenix had been able to calm her down, even if some people still had looked over to them to see where the crying originated. “Thanks, you know what calms me down, just like your brother.”

“Well, I have experience with emotional people, I lived for over twenty years with one in a house,” he chuckled.

“What is that supposed to mean?” she looked not please with his assessment with her.

“Ahm, I mean, you are so strong characterwise you don’t have to hide your emotions, that is what I meant.” While he spoke Phoenix rubbed the back of his head with one hand, hoping she would actually buy that, well it worked on Thunder, so it was not completely out of the realm of possibility.

“Oh, thank you, dear.” Phoenix releases a sign in a release. “Still, don’t think I didn’t understand what you really meant,” she jokingly added. Phoenix just chuckled nervously.

“Ahhhh!” A bloodcurdling scream could be heard throughout the room. In an instant, all conversations had stopped and it was so silent you could hear a needle fall. The cheery atmosphere had evaporated and replaced with uncertainty and dreed. The voice came from the room where the outfits of the contestants were stored. He already suspected the worst.

“Monster!” And with that, his suspicions were confirmed. The Corrupted had returned to finish what she had started. The question was now, where to transform and how to get away unnoticed.

Then it hit him, there was that alley between the boutique and the next building Pixel probably escaped through. While it wasn’t perfect, right now it was his best option. He rushed out the door as fast as he could, losing Rarity in the avalanche of people storming out of the boutique, that was probably a good thing since now he hadn’t to find a reason to slip away to transform.

Thanks to the general panic no one noticed him slipping into the alley and pulling out his driver. He kinda felt bad for the cops and Ocean that probably tried to get the situation under control, but people that were running for their lives general weren’t that cooperative. Didn’t matter right now anyway, he had bigger fish to fry.

Wasting no time he placed the Alchemy Driver around his waist and pulled out the Flame Disc, his best choice as long as the Corrupted would stay inside the building. Phoenix then placed the disc into the driver.

\ MAGIC DISC DETECTED! /

“Henshin!”

\ FLAME DISC ACTIVATED! /

After spinning the disc and the appearance of the whirlwind of flames he rushed back into the building, made significantly easier because the flood of people had subsided and the boutique was basically empty except for the police officers and Ocean. She meanwhile organized her man and had put one of the strange futuristic glasses on.

“Ah, there you are. Didn’t lie when you said you would be there when we need you.”

“Yeah, sorry I didn’t keep you company, fashion just really isn’t my thing. And didn’t want to steal the contestants special day just because a local hero stood in the audience,” he lied, hoping she would buy it.

“Makes sense, and don’t worry, I had good company. But that doesn’t matter right now. She is right there were you meat her last time.”

“Good, a criminal always returns to the scene of the crime.” And with that, he rushed towards the backroom and the Corrupted. Like last time Mrs. Hemline was standing at the door, just as shocked as yesterday. Inside stood the Corrupted next to Rarity's dresses, her scissor-arm hovering over them, shaking heavily. If she could have seen this she probably would have exploded, the Corrupted could count itself lucky.

“Hey Needle, what are you doing? Didn’t no one tell you that you should repair clothing, not destroy it?”

As she heard his voice she immediately turned around and stared at him. Even though her face was still covered by the black vail, you could clearly see her shock through her body language. The shaking hadn’t stopped but had actually increased and she trembled a few steps back.

“I’m sorry,” she spoke with a quiet voice, still audible for Phoenix. But before he could ask what she meant the Corrupted rushed towards him, swinging her left arm at him. The scissor-blade just barely missed him. After stepping out of the way from the attack the Corrupted didn’t slow down, her next attack followed immediately and Phoenix used his increased strength to get a bit of distance between him and her by jumping back several meters.

“Well, not interested in a bit chitchat then? Fine, we can finish this quick if you want.” While he spoke he removed the Flame Disc from the driver, however, he was not able to materialize his weapon thanks to the Corrupted constant attacks. He evaded the first two relatively easily, but the third was a close call since he attempted to summon his weapon again.

He realized that this wouldn’t work, so change of planes. As he evaded next swing with her scissor-hand he retaliated with a kick straight to her stomach, sending her crashing into one of the cloth stands. While she was busy getting back up he used his bought time to finally summon his weapon.

\ Flame Disc Attack Mode! /

\ Flame Saber! /

Now with his weapon in hand, he rushed towards his opponent who in return frantically swung her left arm at him. As both blades clashed sparks erupted from them, the combatants taking a step back and eying there enemy closely. Moments later they clashed again and again, no one managing to get through the defenses of the other. After three failed attack attempts the Corrupted saw an opportunity and tried to claw the rider with her other hand and actually succeeded, forcing him to take a few steps back.

Another slash with her left arm followed, letting sparks erupt from the impact point. But as she was about to follow her attack up with another strick with her needle-hand Alchemy retaliated, slashing her across the chest and pushed her back. Before she knew what had just happened he had struck her again with the Flame Saber and then once again sending her flying towards the entrance of the boutique.

“Well, how about we finish this, hope you don’t mind the heat,” and with that, he started spinning the handguard of his weapon, which in turn started to glow. “Flaming Slash!” The wave of magical fire energy hit her right as she was about to stand up again, still, she was able to hold her scissor-arm in front of her. After the attack had hit the blade a massive shockwave shocked the boutique to its very core, the windows shattered and the Corrupted was through outside through the now shattered windows.

“Perfect, no more cramped spaces. That means I can go full speed,” Alchemy muttered to himself as he put away the Flame Saber and in return took the Thunder Disc from his belt, put it into the driver and started spinning it.

\ THUNDER DISC ACTIVATED! /

A whirlwind of lightning enveloped him and the second it subsided and revealed his blue and gold Thunder Mode he charged at his opponent with inhuman speed hitting her right into the chest, leaving a seal on it.

Meanwhile, Ocean had rushed over to the window and was staring at the scene that took place right before her eyes. Alchemy was hitting the Corrupted again and again from different sides, rushing past, hitting her and stopping behind her for a second only to repeat the process again. “Perfect, I couldn’t have wished for a better outcome.”

The Corrupted was still standing but was breathing heavily. Alchemy had stopped moving, now looking at his opponent. “How about you give up? You can’t match my speed and I could end this without hurting you. Just surrender and I make sure that it is considered.”

“I… I’m sorry, but I can’t. Please forgive me.” Without any further warning, she launched the needles on her right hand like projectiles at him. While he did manage to evade three of them the last two still managed to hit him since he was unable to recognize what she had planned.

The two needles did hurt but still, that wouldn’t take him out of the fight. “Ok, fine. Then I will show no mercy.” He charged to behind her, but strangely did not hit her; instead, he removed his Thunder Disc and held it in front of him.

\ Thunder Disc Attack Mode! /

\ Thunder Tonfa! /

After the Thunder Disc had stopped glowing he now hold the Thunder Tonfa in his hands and without even a second thought he charged towards his opponent. The weapon was even more devastating than the normal punches beforehand. The force of the strike was so strong that it lifted her from her feet, but before she could even notice this she was hit again, changing her path and then, again and again, leaving her completely disorientated.

Then after about ten consecutive hits, he slowed down and came to a stop about ten meters in front of her. Since he didn’t keep her airborne anymore she landed unceremoniously on the ground, groaning in pain. Still, this didn’t stop her, she was about to stand up again as Alchemy positioned his weapons in a way so he could spin both discs.

The weapons started to glow and as they had reached the maximum of energy that they could hold he started to spin both discs simultaneously. “Electrical Discharge!” The front of the Tonfa disappeared again and revealed the hollow inside in which the magic energy had gathered. He held his arms in front of him and shouted: “Clear!” He then unleashed a flurry of punches, each of which released a bolt of lightning that hit different parts of the walls and street, just not the Corrupted.

“You used your powers to temper and destroy what others worked so hard on. By the magic that was bestowed upon me, I deem you unworthy of your powers and will now take them from you!”

While he spoke he had transformed the Thunder Tonfa back into the Thunder Disc and put it back into the Alchemy Driver. When he was finished he started to spin the disc again.

\ Thunder Disc Maximum Power! /

The seals all started to glow, it didn’t matter if they were on her body, the street or the walls. He then started to dash towards her. After a few steps, he had turned into a lightning bolt and hit her right into the chest, going through her body and heading for one of the seals on the ground. As he reached the seal he bounced back towards her, just way faster. He went right through her again, all accompanied by immense pain and headed for another seal.

This process continued until nearly all seals had disappeared and Alchemy was still accelerating. The last seal was placed right in front of the Corrupted who was arching in pain. The bolt headed for the seal, on his way passing through her body again and headed for the seal. As the bolt bounced back for a second you could see Alchemy with his foot stretched towards the Corrupted heading straight for her. The bolt hit her dead center and a massive explosion enveloped her, meanwhile, Alchemy had reappeared behind her.

In place of the Corrupted now lay a girl with blue hair and pale skin, next to her was a strange needle. It had elaborate designs and something was just off about it. “Well, that is the artifact. So what could it be? Maybe metal? So what is metal magically made of? Maybe…” He pulled out one of the blank discs and hold it towards the needle. An orange glow was sucked into the disc, but unlike the other times, the disc didn’t change form. “Well, that was earth magic, too bad that it wasn’t enough.”

After the artifact had returned to its original form a red orb of energy emerged from it and disappeared just as quick as it had appeared. “I’m sorry, I didn’t want to do this.” Phoenix looked towards the girl in shock, she was awake, that was impressive.

“What do you mean?”

“I never wanted to… wanted to destroy the work of others. I’m so sorry,” she replied, her voice showing how weak she must be right now.

“But you did, why?” Now his curiosity was sparked, something wasn’t right here.

“Suri… the toilet…” before she could finish what she want to say unconsciousness finally took a hold of her.

“Take a nap, will be good for you. What did she mean with Suri and toilet, however? Wait, I saw her with this girl in the toilet yesterday. She could, no she had to have seen her. She covered for her. I think I have something to discuss with her.” As he looked around he immediately noticed the girl with the purple hair trying to leave the scene as inconspicuous as possible.

“Hey, you! Didn’t I see you yesterday with her in the toilet?”

She jumped as she heard that he had asked her something. As she turned towards the rider he could already see that she was hiding something: “What, I … I don’t remember. By the way I… I have something to do so I will be going.”

She was about to leaf as Ocean came towards them. “So you finished things here. What are you two talking about anyway?”

“Well, I think she knows more than she leads on. She knew that that girl over there was the Corrupted. I saw her yesterday together with her in the toilet right after the fight with the Corrupted. She had to have seen how she turned back and she covered for her,” Phoenix replied.

“Hmm, she covered for her friend, but still you should have told us.”

“Yeah, that was exactly…”

Phoenix, however, interrupted her: “No, I don’t think that is what you did. If the words of your ‘friend’ over there are to be believed, you set her up to this. Yesterday she only fixed the dresses, but today it looked like she wanted to destroy them. That doesn’t really add up. And then we have you, someone, who might only found out yesterday, she acted differently and apologetic through the entire fight. So what do you got to say about this?”

“I…”

“And don’t even attempt to lie, we will find out and it will only worsen your situation.” Ocean really started to scare him right now. She was so serious and apparently he wasn’t the only one, Suri was shaking and her face was consumed with terror.

“I… I…” Suri's leg gave in and she sunk to the floor. “Ok, yes. I saw her and blackmailed her. She was so scared she didn’t notice that I hid in the girl's toilet. I covered for her and forced her to destroy the outfits of the others so I would win by default. I… I’m sorry!”She started to bawl her eyes out, Phoenix even started to feel somewhat bad for her.

“Fine, you're still in big trouble. You used a Corrupted for your own gain and that without any magical corruption that clouded your judgment. I hope you realize that,” Ocean said to the girl while she put handcuffs on her. Phoenix hoped that he would never be on the receiving end of something like this when Ocean was so ruthless.

“So… I think I’m done here, I have something to take care of somewhere else. So if you excuse me.”

“Good, thank you for your help here. See ya!” Ocean replied and waving him goodbye with her right hand while holding another pair of handcuffs for the countess girl in her left.

“See ya!” He returned and dashed off with his superspeed.

Before she moved over to the uncounted girl she pushed a button on her earpiece and started to talk: “So Ivory, how was the data this time?”

Something buzzed in her ear and a second later she heard a familiar voice: “Perfect, I think it might actually be enough.”

A bright smile had formed on Oceans face and she returned: “Oh, sometimes I could kiss you!”

“Ahhhmm.”

“So, we’ll talk later, I still have something to do here. See ya!” And with that she cute the connection and returned to her work.

--------------<

The pizzeria had closed for the day and its three workers. The atmosphere was somewhat tense and no one dared to speak even a single word. The memory of yesterday evening was still fresh in their minds. Phoenix had asked his coworkers to stay for a bit after the restaurant had closed for the day since he had something to talk about with them.

Phoenix was the first to break the uncomfortable silence: “I’m sorry, at least for the way I reacted. I shouldn’t have shouted at you, that was just uncalled for.”

“Well, you had every right to. Everything you said was true and I should have known better. I’m really sorry,” Thunder replied, still trying to avoid eye contact with his brother.

“Yeah, I’m sorry as well. I could have caught on to that as well. Promise, I won't crash your planes anymore without asking beforehand,” Summer added, remorse in her voice.

“Thanks, still I kinda fell bad for the way I told you this, I could have done things differently without putting a strain on our friendship, but I chose poorly and I’m sorry for that.”

“Don’t sweat it, we all fucked up. We just have to move on and not do this anymore. It’s as simple as that but at the same time it’s extremely hard.”

“Wow, Thunder, never saw you as the philosopher. I know you are good with words, but this? Was he always like that?”

“Yeah, he was. But apparently, he has become better at keeping it to himself,” Phoenix jokingly replied to Summer.

“So, since we all apologized, how about I make you all a pizza, we leave this behind us and look forward to a brand new day?” Thunder asked them both.

“Oh, that sounds fantastic, I’ll take pepperoni, ham, and chilies,” Summer widely replied, while on the edge of drolling.

“Yeap sounds good, I’ll take a pineapple-strawberry-apple-ham-pizza.” Everyone was staring at Phoenix with a mixture of disgust and confusion. “What? It tastes good!” Summer and Thunder burst out in laughter, all while Phoenix looked at them with annoyance, well for about two seconds, after that time he joined them in their laughter.

--------------<

Meanwhile in a warehouse in a more or less abandoned district of Canterlot City, a few less than trustworthy individuals were talking to each other. There were about seven of them, four standing very close together with a fifth in their midst. The two others were facing and eying them carefully.

“So, you got the money?” one of the two said, both were Corrupted. The first one was relatively nimble, but still quite scary. His body was clad in dark purple corals that resembled an armor and what was visible of his skin was a dark shade of blue. His head was nothing more than an incomprehensible mess of corals and two holes with a purple glow radiating from them. The second was a hulking mass of muscles with a grey armor, orange skin and a skull mask as a helmet.

The four-man opposite to them were built quite bulky and wore ragged and ripped clothes stained with dirt. The man surrounded by them was way more slender and looked kinda like a rat actually and he sounded like one as well: “Well, yes, or to be more precise the first half. You get the rest when that bastard is dead.”

“Why can’t we just…”

But before he could even finish his partner smacked him upside the head. “Because a satisfied customer comes back you moron! A dead one does not. Do you get that?” His partner just growled in annoyed approval.

“So, that is good. Our little friend is already as good as dead. Keep the money re…” He suddenly stopped mid-sentence.

Loud steps echoed through the entire warehouse and they steadily came closer. The tension had risen to uncomfortable levels and everyone was staring in the direction of the footsteps. Then two red buggy like eyes emerged from the shadows, eying everyone closely.

The blue Corrupted was the first to break the silence: “Is that one of your men?”

“N… No!” Was all that the rat-like man could stutterer out.

“Then I’m going to crush him!” With this, the orange Corrupted charged towards the mysterious figure.

“Wait! Dammit, then I have no choice.” He cursed and rushed to help his partner. All while everyone else in the room stepped a few meters back, completely terrified of the two Corrupted and their opponent.

What followed were numerous agonizing cries in pain, but no one heard them scream. They were at the mercy of the mysterious figure.

Fully Charged - Scanning Charge!

It was pitch black and everything just felt fussy like he was floating. At first, he had no idea what had happened and where he was without any way to actually focus on anything. His mind was constantly stumbling over itself and he lost repeatedly track of his thoughts. He didn’t know how long he spent in this state; time seemed to simply fly by, but at the same slow done to a crawl. After what felt like an eternity something caught his attention. He thought he had heard something, something familiar. A voice? Who was it? It was distant but it grew clearer by the second.

“I thi… wa… up!”

Still, he could not quite make out what was being said. Some simple words could be made out, but nothing substantial. But one thing was clear, it wasn’t just one voice, there were multiple. As the voices got clearer his other senses started to return as well. He felt that he was lying on something soft and comfortable. The first thing he tasted was something vaguely similar to iron, but not quite. A sweet smell sneaked up on his nose, the scent of food, tomatoes, cheese and many other. It was distant, but definitely there.

After a while, light slowly started to enter his vision. First only for short burst, like a heartbeat, but over time it turned into a blurry image before him. Something blue was right above him, but he just couldn’t figure out what it was. A new scent had reached his nose, it was sweet and fresh, like a summer breeze. As he finally managed to open his eyes further he looked into a beautiful face, small cute nose, a smile that could melt the coldest heart, flowing long blue hair with light blue strands and dark purple eyes that looked like amethyst.

“Well, you certainly are a man of his word Phoenix,” she said, he still not entirely sure what he saw and simply groaned confused in return. She just chuckled and replied: “Well, you said you can manage to get back home and well you did and even managed to get about there steps inside the building until you collapsed and fell unconscious. You are stubborn, you know that?”

“Thank goodness you are ok. I really was getting worried about you,” another feminine voice spoke to him.

“Oh, you are ok. Thanks, thanks, thanks. I’m so glad. Do you know how worried I was, do you? Never do this again!” A male voice cried out next to him, just out of sight, it sounded more like the person was weeping with a mix of happiness and sadness.

Then it hit him in an instant. Ocean, Charge, the Corrupted, his beatdown and who was leaning over him. Phoenix shoots up in an instant, nearly hitting Ocean with his head, but thankfully she managed to get out of reach before that happened. But before he could say anything a sudden burst of pain shoot through him, starting from his stomach. He clenched the aching part of his body and slumped back onto the couch he was currently lying on.

“Wow, take it easy. You did take quite the beating back there. You should be glad that it only amounted to a few bruises, in the end, thanks to the armor and the disc. It’s a miracle you don’t have any internal bleeding. You should just stay put for now and we can talk a bit. If you feel up to it that is,” she had put her hand on his shoulder to keep him down and was sounding rather worried. That was when he noticed that he was shirtless and was covered in bandages. As he looked around he spotted a worried looking Summer and Thunder, who was currently boiling his eyes out while also sporting the brightest grin he had ever seen.

Phoenix sighed in response and ceased his attempts to sit up again. “Fine, fine. Just talking, sounds rather nice about now anyway. So, let’s start with the most important thing. How? How did you know I was Kamen Rider Alchemy?” He started at her with a stern look.

“Oh, that. Well, I think I have to explain a few things before we can come to that. Let’s start with something simple. You remember our first meet and I said something along the lines that we found magical energy readings in the area?”

“Now that you mention it, yes you did. Didn’t really think about it that much since I had other things to worry about. Let me guess, you have a way of scanning for magical energy and somehow found me?” he asked somewhat absentminded, while he could finally think somewhat clearly again this was still a bit much for him.

“Exactly! We have basically a radar that can scan the entire country for magical activity, specifically magical wavelengths. Additionally we have one of those devices build for a smaller radius, in other words for the city and surrounding area. And there was one place we constantly detected a specific wavelength from. I’m sure you can guess what I’m talking about,” Ocean continued all while keeping a perfectly relaxed face.

“It was the ‘Magnum Opus’, wasn’t it? Dammit, I should have thought about that,” He sighed, kicking himself mentally for not thinking about this possibility.

“Now, now. You couldn’t know. It’s always the unexpected stuff that derails a plan. So after we had the location marked as a place with a frequent magic user I already had a suspicion. So we used a few of the drones you saw during our monitoring of Pixel to cover the area and gather evidence and look what they found,” she smirked and waved a stack of pictures in front of Phoenixes face. Like expected it were pictures of him turning into Alchemy, Phoenix grimaced in a mixture of embarrassment and annoyance.

“Remember me to smack Ivory upside the head when I next see him,” he gritted through his teeth. Ocean just smiled at him with a short snicker. “So, you know I’m Alchemy… Does that mean anything regarding our agreement changes? Am I now under observation? Have to follow your lead? Or something where you exploit me in any new ways?”

“Well, the agreement is going to change slightly, but in your favor actually. Since we now know who you are we can actually communicate with you, which is going to make both our lives so much easier. So, what is next on your long list of questions?”

He let his eyes wander while trying to sort out his next question. “Hmm, next question, next question. Oh, yes. How did you become a Kamen Rider? That one sparks my interest right now,” he replied while eying her skeptical.

“Well of course. Well, where to start, ah yes. The first time you meet Ivory he explained the process of gathering data from you and on the Corrupted if I’m not mistaken. We primarily use the gathered data to advance our techs, like weapons, tracking devices and much more. However, a few years back we managed to recover something from an ancient ruin,” as she spoke she pushed a button on a rather bulky belt buckle he only now spotted. After a bright glow, the belt buckle had transformed into the belt Phoenix had seen her wearing as Charge.

Ocean then pointed at the red-gem-stone embedded into the belt: “This is the Charge Stone and the belt around it is the Charge Driver. We found the stone in a tomb that was sealed about three thousand years ago. We also found inscriptions on the wall of the tomb that told of a great hero that thought in a gruesome war. It also told us that this warrior used elemental magic to achieve his strength. Together with our knowledge of magic and the information from the tomb we managed to develop the Driver. Sadly, that wasn’t all we needed to get it working.”

“Wait, wait, you found something this magically potent in this world?” Thunder interrupted them, to both Phoenix and Oceans annoyance.

“What do you mean with ‘this world’?” Apparently, he had awakened her curiosity with his statement.

“Ahmm, what I mean… Well I… You know,” Thunder was stuttering and trying to come up with a coherent answer.

To Oceans surprise Phoenix just started to laugh, well until he had to holds his side in anguish. “Ouch, still worth it. And you said I would let something slip. I the end it was you.” Thunder just glared at him with an intensity that was downright scary. “Hey, all in good fun. Come on, admit that it is funny.” Thunder just grumbled something unintelligible and looked away, meanwhile, Summer snickered a bit at the frustration of her boss.

“I don’t want to interrupt anything, but what are you talking about?”

“Oh, yeah. Ever heard of the multiverse theory?” Alchemy asked her. She nodded, with a curious look on her face. “Well, it’s not just a theory, it’s reality. And our ancestors come from another world. And you have to believe me on this, a world populated by talking horses.”

Ocean just stared at Phoenix like he was out of his mind. Well, you couldn’t really blame her, the story did sound nonsensical. “Ok.”

“What do you mean with, ok? I expected a bit more bafflement on your part, your reaction is actually a bit of a letdown.”

“Yeah, when you work long enough in the MRG, stuff like this just get normal. If you saw a man polymorph into dozens of animals every minute, something like this just loses its shock value. Sorry.” Ocean just shrugged with a nonchalant expression on her face.

“Ok, then. That was the short version if you want more detail just ask Thunder, I’m sure he is willing to tell you more. Are you Thunder?” He just nodded while wiping away some sweet with a handkerchief.

“Thank you, Thunder, so where were we again? Oh right, the Charge Driver. The missing parts to get the Driver working. We were missing the elemental magic to get the Driver in working condition, until then it basically was just a nice belt. And that was when you appeared. You were the perfect test subject. Alchemy powers work on elemental magic, just like that of Charge. By gathering data from your battles with the Corrupted we could finally manage to get the Charge system working.”

While Ocean spoke she pulled something from her pocket. A small metallic object with electric blue marks on it, it was one of the small batteries like objects he had seen in the lab of the MRG. “This is the first Charger we managed to finish, the Thunder Charger. And all thanks to you Phoenix.”

“Oh, now I’m flattered, “ he retorted while grinning.

“And now that you know the details, I’m sure you are going to let us gather the data by showing it off to us.” Ocean looked at him with expecting eyes.

“Sorry, no. I might trust you, but not the MRG. I'm keeping that as a kind of insurance so you don’t remove me from the board.” She stared at him completely disappointed.

“Oh, ok. I understand. It’s unnecessary but, if you think so, I’m ok with it. If you change your mind, just tell me. Oh, that reminds me, here.” She was holding something in her hand close enough that he could reach it. Phoenix grabbed the note and took a good look at it. There were numbers written on the note, he just didn’t know what to make of it right now. “That is my number, call me if you need to.”

Phoenix was speechless and started to blush a bit. “Wow, thanks. You serious about the whole working together thing. I appreciate it.” Meanwhile, Summer and Thunder snickered as silent as possible at the two. Ocean seemed to ignore it while Phoenix just glared at the two who just smiled back as innocent as possible.

“No problem, so any other questions left?”

There were still some questions left he wanted to ask but he started to feel that his energy was starting to leave him again, the conversation had been taxing, to say the least. “Well, yes, but I think they can wait. I just feel a bit drained right about now. Can we continue this another day?”

“Oh, oh, sure. You still aren’t in top condition. I think it was enough for today, just lay down and heal. And when you feel comfortable with it just call me,” as Ocean spoke she stood up and smiled down at the tiered Phoenix.

“Thanks. By the way, thanks for saving me again.” Ocean just nodded and smiled back. “So, see ya!”

“See, ya!” With that, she walked towards the stairs. As she reached them she looked back one last time and smiled at the three, waved with her hand a goodbye and walked down towards the kitchen and ultimately the exit.

After they heard the back door close again Summer teasingly said to Phoenix: “Phoenix, you Casanova, you managed to get her number. When is the first date?” Thunder just burst out int laughter shortly followed by Summer.

“Haha, funny,” Phoenix just sighed. He was too tired for this.

After a while, Thunder had managed to calm down enough that he could ask Phoenix something: “So, she knows that you are a Kamen Rider. What do you think of it?”

His brother stayed silent for a few moments, his expression visibly tensed. “I’m not entirely sure myself, but right now I think I can trust her. She seems like a good person, but how much that actually means, I don’t know.”

“If you trust her I think it’s ok. So if she asks about our past again, should I tell her everything or keep some parts to myself?” Thunder seemed rather unsure about the whole situation.

“Mhh. I think it will only cause more problems then it would solve. You know just tell her.” Thunder just nodded. “I think I’m going to sleep a little, if you two would be so kind and leave me for a while, that would be great.” He smiled at them with an exhausted expression.

“Ok, just rest a bit and recover we are going down,” Summer immediately returned.

Thunder, however, remained right where he was standing and looked rather serious towards his brother. “Promise me one thing, don’t die. I don’t want to lose you to this. Just make sure you are safe.”

Phoenix chuckled a little at the remark of his brother. “As safe as you can be as a Kamen Ride.”

Thunder smirked back at his brother and followed Summer down the stairs. “Sleep tight.” It didn’t take long until sleep took hold of Phoenix and he drifted into a dreamless sleep.

--------------<

The time just seemed to fly by, four days had already passed since the fight with the two Corrupted and the first appearance of Kamen Rider Charge. Phoenix had spent most of his time sleeping and healing. Ocean in the meantime had snatched Thunder for a more in-depth talk about their family history. She was especially interested in the origin of the Driver and what happened to the stolen Magic Discs. But she didn’t just come for the information, she still visited daily for her pizza and to ask how Phoenix was doing.

Just like today, she had finished her meal and had entered the kitchen, something Thunder had allowed her begrudgingly. Both of them were having a rather enthusiastic discussion about toppings on pizza when they came back to Phoenix. “And I tell you, strawberry and squid just works perfectly together if you want a second opinion on the matter just ask Phoenix.”

“Ok, ok, fine. You win, I’ll try it. Speaking of Phoenix, he is doing quite well, that was what you wanted to ask, am I right?”

Ocean looked rather perplexed for a moment, but then just chuckled: “Mhm, I’m becoming predictable. But yes, how is he? I assume well.”

“Yeah, pretty much. He should be top fit in a few days, but he can already walk again without it causing pain. That, however, means that he can annoy us down here. I’m somewhat tempted to let him work again, but I don’t think that is such a good idea. Right now he should be sleeping upstairs. Pretty much all he does, sleep and annoying us down here. But hey, I’m glad he is feeling better.”

“That sounds good,” Ocean replied while leaning against to wall with a grin on her face.

Thunder lowered his voice a bit: “So, do you have any new leads regarding the two Corrupted that attacked the CIT?” He sounded somewhat worried.

“Until now, no. Corrupted number eleven and twelve have kept a low profile. No new reports and we didn’t pick up any magical wavelengths. It’s like they dropped off the face of the earth,” she replied somewhat frustrated.

“Well, I’m actually glad about this, so Phoenix doesn’t get any stupid ideas,” he sighed while looking up the stairs.

Ocean was just about to reply as she heard her earplug be. “Wait, I have to take a call.” Thunder just nodded. “Hey Ivory, what is it? Hmh, hmh. What!? They are where? Ok, I’ll be there as soon as possible.” Thunder looked to her in worry. “Eleven and Twelve are at it again and this time they are attacking the ‘Fancy Bank’.”

“Well, then what are we waiting for?” A voice came down the stairs and seconds later an orange man with red hair and red T-shirt stepped down, much to the frustration of Thunder and Ocean.

“Phoenix! Why are you here, you should be sleeping!” Thunder asked his brother in an irritated tone.

“Well, it’s quite hard to sleep with so much noise when you two discuss pizza toppings down here. Not important anyway, because thanks to that I actually caught that, by the way, squid and strawberry are just delicious,” he lightheartedly replied and proceeded to walk towards the back door.

“No Phoenix, you are not going out there like this. You are still hurt,” Thunder vehemently protested, much to Phoenixes annoyance.

“Look, I’m fine and I’m not just sitting around here and let Ocean fight these two alone. Believe me, with the Magic Discs I’ll be fine,” he sighed while looking pleadingly at Ocean.

“He is right, you are still hurt. And I hold my own against them quite well last time. I’ll be fine, but you, you still need to recover.”

“You did, but never get too confident of your powers, believe me,” while he was talking he placed his hand on his shoulder. “And I’m not staying here and no amount of arguing is going to convince me.”

Thunder was about to reply as Ocean sighed and retorted: “Fine, I have no time for this. You can come along, just make sure you won’t get hurt. I don’t want to hear a tirade from Thunder.” Thunder was speechless, how could he be ignored like this, but before he could protest the two had left the kitchen already, leaving him there. Oh, he was going to have a talk with the two later.

Outside Phoenix and Ocean were sprinting towards their bikes and stopped right in front of them. Phoenix pulled out the Alchemy Driver and let it loop around his waist. Meanwhile, Ocean pushed the button on her belt buckle and let the Charge Driver appear. Phoenix took out the Thunder Disc and placed it in the Driver. Ocean took out her Thunder Charger an put it into the cylinder of the belt.

\ MAGIC DISC DETECTED! /

\ SCANNING CHARGE! /

While Phoenix spun his Magic Disc Ocean spun the cylinder of her belt and both yelled in unison:

“Henshin!”

\ THUNDER DISC ACTIVATED! /

\ 50, 80, 100! THUNDER CHARGE! /

Around Alchemy a whirlwind and out of lightning appeared while his armor was formed. Ocean, on the other hand, was enveloped by a blue sphere that sometimes released short bursts of electricity. After both the sphere and the whirlwind had disappeared both Riders stood in their electric blue armors and were ready to move out.

“So, you also yell ‘Henshin’ when you transform. Where did that come from?” asked Phoenix somewhat perplexed. He had expected something different or nothing at all.

“I might have asked Ivory to program ‘Henshin’ as the voice command for activating the Driver after I heard you use it, all thanks to the drone,” she sheepishly replied.

“Aw, I’m flattered,” he smugly returned.

“You can be flattered later, we have a job to do,” Ocean replied rather matter of factly.

“Ah, good point. Then let's finish this, shall we?” Ocean just nodded and leaped onto her bike while Phoenix did the same. Her bike hadn’t changed that much, it still was blue and had the MRG logo printed on it, but now it had a similar tube on both of its sides as Charge had on her legs. And just like the ones on her legs it glowed electric blue. But he had time to admirer Oceans bike later, right now they had two Corrupted to beat and no time to waste. And with that, they raced out of the alleyway and towards their destination.

--------------<

The police had gathered around a big marble building in the center of Canterlot City. Large pillars decorated the exterior and gave the building a certain feel, like you just were insignificant in comparison to it. This building was the ‘Fancy Bank’, the biggest bank in Canterlot City and one of the oldest building this city had to offer. But right now, no one was admiring the architecture of the building or withdrawing money. No, the atmosphere in and around the bank was tense. Policemen pointed their guns at the exit and no one dared to even speak.

Two monsters had suddenly appeared in the bank and forced everyone that was in the lobby to run for their lives. Those unlucky few that hadn’t been able to escape were scattered throughout the building, completely terrified. Surprising the police, apparently, the two Corrupted hadn’t taken any hostages and instead decided to move towards the safe as soon as possible.

Outside officer Shining Armor was walking up and down between the police cars that secured the bank and muttering to himself: “Where is she? She should have been here minutes ago, what is taking her so long?” The wrinkles on his forehead were a good indicator that he was not in a particularly good mood and his colleges noticed. As he reached for the earpiece to contact Ocean again he heard something approach, the sound of engines. That had to be her.

He orders the other policemen to make room for the approaching motorcycle and as soon as they had managed to open the barrier a little bit, two motorbikes came through and stopped right behind the barricade. Two figures in blue armor dismounted and looked directly at him, Alchemy and Charge respectively.

“So officer Armor, how is the situation right now?” Charge asked him with a voice that made it clear she didn’t want to waste any time right now.

“They are in there. As far as we know they didn’t take any hostages, but some civilians are still trapped inside. Apparently, they managed to crack the vault, they should be on their way out!”

“Good, we’ll take care of that then. Be ready if they manage to get outside and to extract any civilians if possible. Otherwise, stay guard.” And with that, she turned away from him and gestured the other Kamen Rider to follow her.

As they moved up the stairs outside the building Charge made sure Alchemy understood how this would go: “Make sure to not injure any civilians and try not to cause too much collateral. Understood?”

“Not my first day on the job and fine I’ll do my best not to bring the building down on top of us.” Ocean just sighed somewhat amused and both stormed inside the building, Phoenix with his Thunder Tonfa and she with her drawn Charge Magnum. As they looked around the main hall of the bank it was empty. Large pillars decorated the room and the huge hall felt somewhat unsettling thanks to the lack of people in it. They advanced slowly and carefully making sure that they didn’t fall into any traps the Corrupted. As they had reached the center of the hall, something could be heard from the opposite side of the room, laughter.

Alchemy and Charge sprinted as quick as they could behind the next pillars and waited for the arrival of the voices. The spider and the bat Corrupted walked out from a hallway that presumably leat towards the vault, both caring duffel backs with them, probably filled to the brim with money.

“Ha, that was easy. Should have done that from the start and we didn’t even have to deal with these bastard Kamen Riders. It couldn’t have gone any better, the only thing left are the cops outside, but that should be easy,“ the red one boasted.

“Yeah, easy. Still, I would have loved to teach that new Kamen Rider bitch a lesson. Shooting at me, who does she think she is?” The bat growled rather enraged.

At this moment Charge stepped out and fired at the two surprised Corrupted, equally distributing the six shots between them. Both tumbled backward from the impact and before they even realized that they had been ambushed Alchemy charged towards them, knocked them both of their feet with a well-aimed kick to their shins and within a second stood beside Charge.

“Hey Bats, hey Spidy. Well, I don’t know you very well, but I know Charge and she an infinitely better person than you, on basically every level.” She just chuckled while she reloaded her gun. “So, you know the drill, give up, make it easier for us all. And will even get off relatively easy. Doesn’t that sound good?”

The red Corrupted just galed at him and growled while he stood back up, throwing the remaining duffel back of him that he hadn’t already lost. His partner however just glared at the two Riders with absolute contempt until he broke the silence: “You insulant little bastards! You are going to regret mocking me. I’ll go to ripe you limb from limb!”

“Oh, try it. Maybe you could actually be a threat if you wouldn’t be such a coward and actually take part in the fight,” he mocked the Corrupted. The reaction to his comment came quick, the Corrupted screeched and released a devastating shockwave that would have hit them if they didn’t have super speed.

After they had taken cover behind a pillar Ocean sighed: ”Great, you needed to make him angry, didn’t you?”

“Hey, I prefer to fight raging idiots, they tend to be quite predictable.”

“Fine, but let's concentrate on the grounded one, Twelve can wait.” Phoenix nodded in agreement and both leaped from out from behind the pillar simultaneously, not a second too late as they saw how Eleven had thrown two fireballs towards the pillar, demolishing it behind them. But that didn’t stop them for even a second. Charge was the first to strick the monster with her baton, letting a trail of sparks erupt as she hit it. As Charge lowered her body with the swing Alchemy immediately delivered a flying kick right into the Corrupted chest and right above Charge, missing her by a few centimeters. After the Corrupted staggered back and he had landed close to it he performed a backflip, during it kicking the Corrupted into the lower part of his head, letting it stagger back even more.

This was her opportunity, Charge unloaded her entire magazine into the chest of the Corrupted. Alchemy, who had landed again after his little trick didn’t waste any time and used his chance to charged towards his opponent to punch him right into the stomach with his tonfa, at least that was the plan. Meters before he could deliver the devastating punch he noticed something in the corner of his eye, shockwaves. Alchemy just barely able to evade the insidious attack of the other Corrupted, rolling around the floor for three seconds before screeching to a hold in a kneeling position.

“Dammit! Hey Bats, l thought you didn’t like being called a coward? Well, you are really bad at convincing me of the opposite,” he shouted up towards the Corrupted that was currently flying over him. Moments after he had finished his taunt his opponent had unleashed another one of his soundwaves towards him. But thanks to the fact that he currently was focused on him, Phoenix could evade the attack quite easily.

Meanwhile, Charge had reloaded her revolver and currently was aiming at Twelve. With one last time breathing in, to steady her aim she shoots at her target. Sadly the Corrupted had managed to dodge the shot thanks to his frantic style of flying. Not letting herself be distracted she followed up with two more shots in rapid succession, both missing its target just barely.

While she was distracted and Phoenix was continuing to taunt number Twelve, Eleven had recovered from his earlier beatdown and pointed his right arm at Charge, who right now was concentrated on his partner. The Corrupted chuckled quietly and released his fireball that headed right for her. To his dismay, she actually had managed to dodge the attack and had unleashed the last three bullets in her revolver at him.

Alchemy had heard the commotion the Corrupted and Charge had caused and immediately realized that this was a perfect opportunity to attack. Using his super speed he dashed towards Eleven, Charge followed suit, both reading their weapons for an attack. But like before, Twelve interrupted their attempted of an attack with one of his soundwaves.

After evading the attack Alchemy and Charge rushed behind the next best pillar. “This is not working,” she hissed frustrated. “Every time we have the upper hand, the other one stops us from capitalizing from it.”

“Yeah, noticed. So what is your plan?”

“Divide and conquer. You distract Eleven while I make sure Twelve is as far away as possible, then we see how we proceed.”

“Sounds good,” he noded. “Anything more specific on my part or…”

Charge interrupted him: “Nope, you work better with improvising anyway. I’ll tell you how we proceed after we got them separated.”

“Good! I think we should move!”

Both ducked out from behind the pillar, which just like the last one had been crumbled thanks to Elevens attack. While Charge was drawing the attention of Twelve on her by firing at it continuously, Alchemy had used this opportunity to slam one of his Thunder Tonfa into the chest of his opponent, sending him staggering back. He used this short moment of disorientation to charge to two pillars that the Corrupted was standing between and hit them both with his tonfa, leaving behind one of his seals.

After the Corrupted had recovered from the previous attack he noticed that Alchemy was just standing roughly five meters before him, not doing anything. He was just about to unleash an inferno upon him as in an instant he slammed his two weapons together and before he realized what had happened lightning surged through his entire body, stunning him quite effectively. The two seals Alchemy had laid down now were connected by an arc of lightning. And the Rider didn’t waste any time and rushed towards his target and unleashed a fury of attacks culminating in one extra strong punch that sent the Corrupted sailing halfway across the room.

Meanwhile, Ocean was getting frustrated with her opponent. Twelve was just too agile and managed to evade every single shoot she had fired up until now. And to make matters worse, he had picked up on her magazine size and used her downtime to retaliate. This approach just wouldn’t work, she needed to try something different. An awful smile crept onto her lips underneath her helmet. She had an idea.

Her first course of action was to reloaded and continue her barrage on the Corrupted, getting him into a position more suitable for what she had planned. It took quite a few shots until the Corrupted had been pushed back against one of the pillars that decorated the main hall of the bank. During her previous attempts of hitting the slippery monster, it had taken quite a bit of structural damage on its upper portion, basically perfect for her plan.

Twelve was expecting the next round of shots to be fired at him any second now, but what actually happened took him by surprise. Charge had sprinted towards the pillar, removed one of her batons from her belt and obliterated the lower portion of it. Letting it fall in the direction of the monster, leaving it temporarily stunned. That was all the time she needed. In a split-second, she had reloaded her gun and unloaded the six rounds right into the chest of her opponent, all before he even had a chance to react.

Like last time he had been hit, he crashed down towards the floor after he had been hit. Charge seizing the opportunity she stashed her gun and run towards the other end of the hall and immediately came back, using her momentum to punch the Corrupted right into the face, sending him flying right through the doors of the bank.

Right now Alchemy was about to strike against his own opponent again as he heard someone screams out for him from behind: “Alchemy! Switch!” He looked over his shoulder to see Charge walking towards him while pulling out her revolver. It didn’t take long till he saw the doors of the bank, or what once was the doors of the bank that now were missing. He didn’t need to ask where Bats had gone, it was quite obvious.

“Gotcha!” No more words needed to be said, he knew what was to do. Ignoring his own opponent he rushed towards the exit of the bank. Eleven apparently didn’t like that he had been disregarded so easily and readied himself to send the Rider a nice fireball as a parting gift, but Charge stoped this rather quickly after reloading her gun with three well-placed shots.

In the meantime, Alchemy had reached the burst open door and was standing atop the stairs of the building, looking down upon the Corrupted and several police officers that had pointed their guns at him. Twelve was slowly starting to get back up and glared daggers in the direction of the bank. “This bitch! I’m going to tear her apart!” he shouted, letting several of the officers step back in shock.

“My, my, language. Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?” Alchemy chuckled while he removed the Thunder Disc from his Driver and replaced it with the Wind Disc. “You know, now that you are alone and in the open, you actually have to fight yourself for once. Let’s see how you hold up in an actual fight, but I don’t like your chances.”

\WIND DISC ACTIVATED! /

With that, he spun his Wind Disc and he was enveloped by an emerald whirlwind. After the wind had subsided he was clad in his emerald and gold armor with the white scarf. Without hesitation, he removed the Disc again and hold it out in front of him.

\Wind Disc Attack Mode!/

\Hurrican Bow!/

After the glowing of the Disc had ended he hold the Hurrican Bow in his hand again. While the transformation and summoning of the weapon had taken place the Corrupted had swung himself up into the air and was trying to flee the scene. But Alchemy wouldn’t let his opponent escape that easily, not if he could prevent it. As he meticulously pulled the bowstring an emerald energy arrow was formed and precisely aimed at the back of the monster, lingering on it to get the shot just right. Then he released the bowstring, letting the arrow find its target, letting him plummet back down towards earth. “Gotcha!”

Twelve lay around two hundred meters away from the bank, right in the middle of the road, just inside the restricted area around the crime scene. His back hurt horribly, still, he wasn’t done just yet, he still had to pay the Riders back for ruining two of his planes and he would make them pay, slow and painfully. That was when he spotted something green rocketing towards him, only to realize moments later that it was Alchemy who was aiming his bow at him. Without proper time to reacted the Rider had fired another arrow towards him, hitting the Corrupted in his shoulder, sparks flying while Alchemy landed behind him. Twelve was crying out in agony but still forced himself to turnaround to face his opponent.

“You… You bastard, I’m going to rip you apart limb from limb!”

“Huh, it’s like you are on a record or something Bats. Can’t you say something new, this is getting old,” he dismissively replied while using the time to spin his Wind Disc again. His opponent just growled at him in ever increasing rage. “Arrow Storm!” And so he pulled the string of his bows tight, like before an arrow formed from thin air, aimed directly above him released the devastating projectile. It flew quite a while until it disappeared into a magical seal, moments later it was replaced with dozens other, smaller, seals that rained down arrows on him from above.

The Corrupted hadn’t just stood there and let Alchemy just do as he pleased, no he was about to try to escape again. Spreading his wings he was about to fly out of the danger zone as he heard a quiet snip. At this moment he could feel an immensely powerful wind forming right on his back where the first arrow had hit him. Within seconds his wings had been, quite painfully, twisted together, making any attempt of flying completely impossible. “Arrrgh! What… How!?”

Alchemy just cocked his head in amusement as he witnessed the barrage of arrows rain down on his opponent, leaving him in a groaning bundle of agony on the street. In the meantime, he removed the Wind Disc from the weapon and placed it back into the Driver. “Bats, you used your powers to steal, endanger and insult people. By the magic that was bestowed upon me, I deem you unworthy of your powers and will now take them from you!”

After he had finished his little speech he started to spin the Disc again.

\Wind Disc Maximum Power! /

Emerald energy gathered in his foot and after it was fully charged he flew up into the air with immense speed. After he had reached a hight in which he was only recognizable as a green blur on the horizon he shot down in a spinning emerald tornado, increasing in speed as he descended. The moment his foot made contact with the Corrupted a powerful wave of emerald energy was released and blew everything in the neared vicinity that was not fixed to the ground away. Behind him lay a skinny looking man with grey skin, black hair, and rather fancy looking sunglasses. Next, to him lay something that looked like an old flip phone, just with the two parts of it looking like wings.

He walked over to the strange phone, removed the Wind Disc from his Driver and pointed it at the strange thing. It didn’t take long until the Disc started to glow and absorb the magical energy of the phone until it turned back to normal.

Alchemy was about to leave as he heard something from behind. “I’m… going to… kill… you!” Bats apparently had managed to stay conscious and wasted his last seconds to threaten him.

“You know what, just give it up. Makes life so much easier for the both of us.” And with that, he flew back towards the bank, passing six police officers that rushed to arrest the former Corrupted. The last thought Twelve had before unconsciousness claimed him was his revenge against the person that had humiliated him so thoroughly, Kamen Rider Alchemy.

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While Alchemy had dealt with Twelve Charge had been dealing with her own opponent. After she had shot him to cover Alchemys escape she had continued to dodge his attacks and reload to be ready to retaliate. The tubes on her leg had stopped glowing after her last use of her super speed, which meant right now she couldn’t speed towards him and give him one with her Stun Batons.

There fight until her speed was recharged boiled down to Charge dodging his attacks and retaliating with her revolver. In a few instances, he had gotten rather close to hitting her, but thankfully she managed to evade every last attack. Then she heard a quiet ‘ping’ and smiled underneath her helmet. Grabbing one of her batons she rushed towards her opponent, jumping over a stream of fire he had unleashed and unloading three bullets into his face, temporarily blinding him. As she came into swinging distance her baton smacked down upon his head with enough ferocity to pull him off his legs. Before he even had any idea what was going on Charge followed up with a kick to his stomach that sends him flying into the next pillar, letting it collapse on top of him.

As he struggled to stand back up again and his eyes started to recover the first thing he saw was the end of Charges revolver barrel. The only thing he could do at this moment was to give an annoyed groan and moments later the last three bullets of the magazine blinded him again. He didn’t even have enough time to properly cry out in pain when he was grabbed and thrown into the next best wall, parts of it crumbling down upon him.

Eleven probably would have just given up at this point in time if he hadn’t been so damn angry. Under immense pain, he managed to get back onto his feet, still somewhat wobbly and shaky. To his surprise Charge hadn’t attacked him again, she had holstered her weapons and just stood there in fighting position like she was waiting for him to make a move. Regardless he started to gather his remaining magic in his right arm and charged towards the Rider. Still, no reaction, nothing, she just stood there, eying her opponent closely. As the Corrupted was two meters away from her and was moving his arm back so he could hit her with even more force, she finally reacted by spinning the cylinder on the belt.

\ Maximum Charge! /

In an instant time slowed to a crawl, everything moved like it was submerged in pudding. However, she had already experienced this phenomenon and knew what would come next. Charge grabbed the shoulders of her opponent and lifted herself off the ground. Moments later her right foot slammed into his chest, immediately followed up by her left, then by her right again. She continued this pattern for what felled like an eternity, slamming her feet countless times into his chest. She finished her attack with one final kick that sends her flying backward while making a backflip and landing a few meters away from her opponent.

After this time resumed at a normal pace. The Corrupted was send flying from the enormous amount of kicks he had received, right through a wall and landing in an empty office, turning back shortly thereafter. Now a bulky man with bluish-grey skin, orange hair and bore played unconscious the carpet. Next, to him lay a keyring in shape of a spider which gave off an ominous vibe. She walked over and grabbed the strange artifact.

At this moment she heard someone clap. In a second she had turned around, picked up her gun and pointed it at the somewhat shocked Alchemy.

“Relax! I’m just impressed by your performance, that’s all. Don’t shot people that compliment you, it's generally considered quite rude.” She just sighed and lowered her weapon. “That’s better. Good job. By the way, what was that about not causing too much collateral?” Alchemy smirked while looking around the wreaked main hall of the bank with its collapsed pillars and broken walls.

“Well, I did say it to you, so technically I didn’t do anything wrong. Practically, I’m going to get chewed out by mother,” Ocean sighed in a mixture of shame and annoyance.

“Just ask her what is worse, a robbed bank or a bit collateral.”

“I appreciate your tips, but I don’t think this is going to work. Oh, by the way,” she throws the strange keychain at Alchemy who managed to catch it, even if it was somewhat frantic. “Eleven had this, take care of it.”

“Thanks!” Without wasting any more time he pulled out the Flame Disc and absorbed the magic from the artifact until it returned back to its original form.

“Oh, by the way, there is something I wanted to discuss with you when you were fit again. Can you come to my office the tomorrow? It’s important,” Oceans careless attitude that she had just displayed had vanished and the focused officer had returned.

“Sure, but why not now?”

“Still got stuff to do here and I think you deserve a bit of rest.”

“Fair enough, so tomorrow your office, anytime or sometimes specific?”

“No specific time, when you are comfortable with it. Just say to the receptionist that you have an appointment with me, you don’t even have to come as Alchemy. Sounds good?”

“Sure, sounds perfect.”

“So,” she stretched out her hand for a handshake “on many more victories battles!”

“Ditto!” Alchemy replied enthusiastically and followed suit both now holding their hands in a tight and comfortable handshake. After a few seconds, they released each other's hands again and he was the first to speak: “So, see ya!”

He had already walked towards the exit as Ocean finally replied: “See ya!” Under her helmet she smiled, while the partnership with Alchemy still was lacking in certain areas, ultimately she thought she could get him to share. She didn’t even realize that she was holding her hand when she was snapped out of her thoughts by her colleagues that asked her how to proceed with the crime scene. Ultimately the whole thing devolved into a standard clean up after a battle, well besides the recurring of the lat civilians that were still stuck in the building. But Alchemy didn’t witness any of this, he was already back on his motorbike and was driving home, wondering what Ocean wanted to talk with him about.

Author's Note

And this marks the second chapter for Kamen Rider Charges introduction ark. I had a lot of fun writing this one.

So, did you enjoy the chapter as much as I did?

Family Business - The Dark Side of Canterlot

Even if he had been here once already, this felt especially awkward and uncomfortable. Until now he always had his mask and armor to protect him, now he stood in front of the police building in his normal leather jacket and a red T-shirt. Additionally, no one would recognize him if that was something positive or negative he was not sure yet. On the one hand, he wouldn’t have to endure awkward looks from everyone, on the other hand, however, he had to do everything the normal, tedious way. Well, he couldn’t really turn into Alchemy right in front of the police station, now could he?

One last breath steading his resolve and he stepped towards the building, not a single person even looked at him, just a normal citizen going to the police, at least that was what it looked to them. As he stepped through the door he looked around the room, but sadly it didn’t seem like someone was waiting for him. He had called Ocean over the phone beforehand and told her that he would like to talk with her in an hour, all while Summer and Thunder had giggled like little schoolgirls. But to his dismay, she had told him to ask at the reception for her. And so the thirty-minute wait began, on three separate occasions he thought of leaving and simply coming back as Alchemy, but ultimately decided against it.

Finally, it was his time to talk to the receptionist. “Hello and welcome at the Canterlot City Police Station, how may we help you?” She asked, looking quite bored and disinterested.

“Ahm, hello, my name is Phoenix Feather and I have an appointment with agent Ocean Skies,” he replied, still somewhat uncomfortable in this whole situation.

“Mhm, let me see,” she taps away at her laptop for a few moments until she looked back at him. “Yes, I’ll let her know that you are here sir.” She then picked up the phone that was standing next to her and spoke: “Yes, someone named Phoenix Feather is here to see you. Mhm, yes, understood.” She put the receiver back down and returned her look towards him: “She said she is sending someone, you are welcome to take a seat while you wait.” While she spoke she pointed at a few chairs that were placed along the wall.

He nodded, thanked the woman and sat down. A few minutes passed until a familiar face came towards him, officer Shining Armor. He came directly towards him; apparently, he had been shown a picture of him. “So, you are Phoenix Feather. Nice to meet you. I’ll bring you to agent Skies,” he coldly greeted him.

He sighed mentally; apparently, the officer was just consistently grumpy, great. “It’s a pleasure meeting you…”

“Oh, please, you can stop this charade. I know who you are, you don’t have to hide it,” he sighed in annoyance. That was a little shock for Phoenix. He hadn’t thought about it until now, but it seemed so logical now. Of course, she wouldn’t be the only one knowing who he was.

While he stood up and followed Shining Armor, who was quickly leading him towards Oceans office, he asked the question that was burning on his mind right now. “So, you know. Ok, but a question, who else does? The entire police force?” Phoenix eyed the officer curiously, wondering if he would try to hide something from him.

“No, only a select few. All MRG agents that have a high enough clearance level, so, for example, agent Skies and doctor Diamond. Additionally, eight officer’s agent Skies selected personnel to work together with her, myself included.”

Phoenix nodded, still, his body had tensed during the whole conversation: “Thanks. I don’t want to be rude, but are they trustworthy? I don’t want anyone I know to get wrapped up in this whole thing.”

Shining Armor snapped around with disgruntle look on his face, well until he came to the second part, after that his expression softened a bit. “You trust agent Skies, don’t you?” Phoenix nodded and looked over at him. “Then what is the problem. If you still have doubts I can assure you, they are the best of the best.”

Phoenix relaxed a bit and replied: “Thank you.”

He just shrugged “What is so special about this? I just gave you the information you asked for?”

Phoenix just shook his head and returned: “No, you said what I needed to hear and I appreciate that.” He smiled back at the officer.

“If you think so. By the way, called it.” Phoenix just looked at him confused, trying to figure out what he meant. “I mean that you have no real training, you are just a normal civilian.”

He sighed, the hopes that officer Armor would actually warm up to him shattered in an instance. “Yeah, more or less. No cop-training, that is true, but would switch it in a heartbeat.”

Shining scoffed dismissively: “As if you would get through police training. From what I’ve heard you are a lazy sloth that doesn’t take anything seriously at all, you would be thrown out during the first week.”

“Maybe, maybe not, who knows, but it probably beast Gramps training by a huge margin.” Shining just looked at him skeptically, but remained silent. Their conversation had to end anyway; they had arrived at Oceans office.

The officer knocked on the door and a female voice called out: “Come in!”

Before Phoenix could open the door, Shining said one last thing with a deadly serious expression: “So, before you leave. Make sure that you are careful. If you overstep you bounders I’ll personally bring you in!”

Phoenix just looked back at him with an unwavering expression “Understood, but in all fairness, your boss was the one that caused the most collateral in the last fight.” A smug grin had appeared on his face. Shining just grunted dismissively and left him standing in front of the door.

Not wanting to let Ocean wait any longer he opened the door and was immediately greeted by her: “Ah, good to see you Phoenix. I hope officer Armor was not too unfriendly to you. On the bright side, I think he is slowly warming up to you.”

Stoping fully into the room he sighed: “Well if he is, that is going to take a while. But nice to see you too Ocean.” He closed the door behind him and sat down on one of the seats at her desk. “So, what was it you wanted to talk to me about?”

Ocean expression darkened all of a sudden, like a switch, had been pulled. “You remember when we talked about the serial killer that currently is terrorizing the city?” Phoenix nodded, now quite interested in what she had to say. “And the fact that we discussed that our culprit might be another Kamen Rider?” Her voice grew ever more tense as she continued.

“Yes,” he replied, this was not going in a direction he liked.

“Well, just see for yourself,” she handed him a stack of pictures. When he got his first glimpse of what was on them his heart nearly stopped and his orange skin color turned into something closer to a peach. There was a person on the pictures and to his dismay, he knew the outlines of this person oh so well. What looked at him from the picture was a perfect mirror of Alchemy, well almost perfect. Instead of a colorful armor with golden ornaments, this figure was clad in all black expect similar ornaments like Alchemy, just these were a dark blue instead of his golden ones. Two red bug-eyes stared at him. He had never realized how intimidating a Rider could look like, especially in the dark. Then his eyes caught something that shook him to his very core, slowly his entire body started to tremble, his mind desperately wanting to find any excuse to dismiss what he saw, but no, it was real and he knew what this meant. A Magic Disc had been placed on his Driver, that could only mean one thing.

“Fuck!” Ocean looked over to him, somewhat taken aback by Phoenix's rather crude language. “Oh, no. Why? Why? They shouldn’t even be here. This can’t be real, this just can’t be. But here it is. Why can’t this stupid family stuff not leave me alone?” Phoenix slammed his fist on the table, letting the whole thing shake.

“Do you need a minute? Something to drink, so you can calm done?” She asked with genuine concern.

He looked over to her in silence, not sure how to respond. “I… I… I think I’m ok. That whole thing just came out of nowhere. Still, don’t know what to think right now. How about you continue, for now, maybe a bit more information helps me organize my mind a bit.” After he had finished speaking he looked back at the pictures in his hands, staring at them, looking for something that would tell him what to do next.

“Well, if you say so,” she still looked at him with concern. “So, our suspect broke into the Horse Clinic, the survivor of his last rampage was there at the moment. He was physically and mentally in very bad shape, but the doctors assumed it wouldn’t take long until he recovered from his shook. Sadly our new Kamen Rider here decided he didn’t want any witnesses around. He entered the building through the window, apparently, he knew where his victim was stationed, severely hurt the officers that were protecting him and finished what he started.” After she had spoken the last word, she lowered her head, partially in guilt, partially in sadness.

Phoenix just looked at her with shock, he hadn’t expected something like this. “When did this happen? Did you try to stop it?”

“No, I did not, neither of us did. We were to busy with Eleven and Twelve trying to rob a CIT. He used this night to silence his witnesses forever. And we couldn’t do anything against it!” This time it was Ocean that had slammed her fist on her table, sighing in frustration.

“Wait, you knew about this since…”

“Night from Friday to Saturday. I didn’t want to bother you with any of it though. You would just have worried for nothing and I didn’t want to complicate your short recovery phase,” she sighed, trying to avoid eye contact with the other Rider. “And don’t tell me you wouldn’t have worried about it. I might not know you for too long, but I know you enough that this would have hindered your recovery.”

Phoenix grimaced, she was right but still, she had withheld information from him. This was all so much for him right now, evil Riders, Shadow Golds family and now the trust issues regarding the MRG reared their ugly heads. But ultimately she probably was in right, even if he didn’t want to admit it. “Yeah, probably the right thing to do. But next time just tell me, please.”

“Sure, I’ll keep it in mind. So, what do you say about all of this? Probably nothing good.”

“Understatement. I really don’t know what to say. All my life I have been told horror stories of the family of Shadow Gold, but seeing one of them in the flesh, even if it is only a picture just makes me uncomfortable. Who would have thought that coming here would uplift my life to such a degree? But one thing is for certain, I can’t let this Rider just roam around the city like he owns it. As much as I don’t want to, I’ll have to face him if I really want to protect this city and its people. And I’m not letting you deal with this alone. Oh boy, in what did I get myself into?” he sighed, not entirely sure if he really was ready for this.

“Well, that is the life of the protector, nothing ever goes your way, but you still have to make it work. I’m sure you can pull it off and it’s not like you are alone, you have me and your friends, that will help you during and outside of a battle. If you ever need to talk about something, just ask,” Ocean smiled at him with a smile that could calm down a rampaging bull. He couldn’t other than smile back.

“So, what are we doing now?”

“Well, we already set our team on looking for consistent magical frequencies in the city, comparing them with old ones outside of the city and look for witnesses that might have seen the Rider. Furthermore, we will place some of Ivory’s drones through the city so if we pick up the possible signature of the Rider we might actually get some more pictures. But this will take a while and might not be successful. I’ll also advise the night patrols to report any suspicious activity directly to my team. We will find him, one way or another.” The sheer determination that Ocean was radiating, really managed to get him pumped up.

“Can I help in any way shape or form?” Phoenix asked anxiously, wanting to help solve this problem.

“The best way you can help is to take your smartphone with you and tell me if you find something suspicious. Oh, and of course make sure that the city is safe, that is the most important thing of all,” she chuckled, while Phoenix somewhat deflated, still he kept his newfound smile.

“Ok, I can do that. So is there anything else?”

“No, that was all. I still have a lot of paperwork to do, and I’m sure you don’t want to watch me during that.” Phoenix just chuckled and shook his head. “Good, so, just make sure you are safe. See ya.”

“I’ll be careful. See ya!” he replied and left her office. While he was standing in the more or less empty corridors of the police station he wondered how Thunder would react to the whole thing. Probably he would start with a simple, but annoying ‘told you so’, or a variation of that. He sighed and started to leave the police station, this would be a long day.

--------------<

After leaving the police station he still wasn’t sure how he should react to the whole situation. He really didn’t want to be roped into the family business more then he already was, but he couldn’t simply ignore this if all that he had learned was indeed true and from the looks of it, it indeed was. He had spent the last three hours just driving around Canterlot City and the surrounding area. It helped him to finally calm down a bit. Canterlot City really was beautiful, a shame that it wasn’t really peaceful.

The constant monster attacks had left the city in a somewhat tense state. While many trusted in the Kamen Riders to keep them safe, the general amount of people on the streets had decreased, many only leafing the house when it was really necessary. It kinda was depressing, a city that seemed so peaceful and lively, being so empty. As relaxing as this little excursion was, he had to head back and tell Thunder what he had learned. Even if he didn’t want to.

As he walked through the back door of the ‘Magnum Opus’ Thunder immediately jumped him and was bombarding him with questions about his little trip to Ocean, why it had taken so long, what she wanted and so much more. After a very exhausting progress, Thunder was finally finished with his endless questions. Before the chef got any new ideas Phoenix asked in return: “So, when are you going to say it?”

“Going to say what?”Thunder looked at him quite perplexed.

“I know that you want to.”

“I have not the slightest idea what you are talking about.”

“Just say it, say ‘told you so’ I know you are just waiting for the right moment. Let’s just get it over with,” he sighed, lowering his head, awaiting the dreaded words. To his surprise, Thunder just started to laugh.

“Oh, this is good. No, while it is tempting, I don’t think it is warranted. You were not wrong in believing that there might be a more logical explanation out there, even if you were wrong. We still only know that he uses Magic Discs, it still might just be the equivalent from this world, even if I don’t believe it. But if you really want to, told you so.” Phoenix just chuckled and sighed, sometimes he just couldn’t predict what his brother would do.

“And you said it anyway… You just wanted to mess with me, didn’t you.”

“A bit, still, I meant what I said. But on another note, are we going to tell gramps about this? I know you generally keep it short and don’t really want him involved, but this. I don’t know, I think he should know, keeping him in the dark just feels wrong,” he was nervously eying his brother while he spoke, trying not to upset him with his opinion.

“You know what will happen when he finds out that there is someone else using Magic Discs to become a Kamen Rider, probably someone from Shadow Golds family.” Thunder avoided eye contact with his brother. “So, you do know. He is going to come here and boss us around. We don’t need him here, and I don’t want him here either. I enjoy it here, I don’t want him to ruin it. I don’t want to play by his rules again, he is so set bend on his old traditions that he probably will only make everything harder in the long run. I think we really shouldn’t tell him. Everything is working out here, so, please don’t involve him, please,” he was basically bagging with his best puppy eye look.

“What is when we need his knowledge. Are still going to refuse his help?”

“No, if there really is no other way, then fine, I’m going to bite the bullet and ask for help. But until then, I think we can manage on our own.”

“Ok, if you that is what you want, fine. But the moment we need him, no complaining, no moaning, we call him. Did I make myself clear?” Thunder stared at his brother with an intensity that leads Phoenix to step back a bit.

“Crystal clear.”

“Good, but there is still one thing that bugs me. How do expect that this will not reach him some other way? Until now I’m glad he didn’t ask questions about the Charge and the possibility of a murdering Kamen Rider. But if this new enemy shows himself on TV gramps is going to know. This is just going to buy us time, not get rid of him forever, you know that.”

Phoenix smiled weakly and replied: “Yeah, I know, but still, even if we can only stall it for a month, it’s going to be worth it. Or do you want to hear his ramblings about responsibility and family tradition again?”

“I think I pass. To be honest, I’m quite glad I don’t have to listen to him anymore, it can stay that way for a while longer. So we deal with that problem when it comes up. Ok, fine with me.”

“Oh, thank goodness and I thought for a moment you wanted to tell him. That means we can relax for a while longer and I’m all for that.”

“Good, so that this is finished, I think I’ll go for a walk, do you want to accompany me?”

Phoenix eyed his brother for a moment then simply replied: “Nah, I’ll pass. I think I’ll ride around with my bike a little bit, do you want to come?”

“Sorry, no. I promised Summer to meet her at the park, so maybe another time.”

Phoenix snickered at his response: “Oh, of course, don’t want to bother you two, just tell me everything afterward.”

Thunder suddenly turned several shades of red and stuttered back: “N… no, not like this. No… not that she isn’t attractive. I mean… I think I’ll be going now. Later.” And with that, he stormed off downstairs, his head still as red as a tomato.

His brother just burst out into laughter. “Oh, come on that was just a little bit payback. Thunder?” His answer came in the form of a door that was slammed shut. “Shes, talking about taking things too seriously. Oh well, he’ll calm down. So where did I put the helmet again?”

--------------<

The rest of the day had gone on without anything noteworthy. And so the next one approached and it shaped up to be just as normal a day as the last one. Ocean had come to the ‘Magnum Opus’ for her daily pizza and Phoenix was currently taking her order. “So, just to be sure, you want a salam-ham-pineapple-chili-olive-pizza. Did I miss anything?” He eyed her curiously, not because of the strange order, no he had long since gotten used to her peculiar, but strangely infallible, sense of taste, no just to not screw up her order, something that did not get easier as time went on.

“Exactly. You’re getting better at remembering my orders. Maybe one day you won’t even need that block.”

Phoenix rubbed the back of his head sheepishly and replied: ”Ah, too much effort. I think I’ll stick with what works for now. Opposed to you, I think the whole time you have eaten here you never ordered the same pizza twice? I thought you like them, why not order something you found especially tasty again?”

“Oh, well, if you don’t mix things up everything becomes so damn predictable, even if you deal with magical monsters nearly on a daily basis. When you are off work you just have to spice things up and always eating the same just lets me feel stuck.” After she had finished she visibly deflated and let her head rest on the table. “Isn’t it the same for you?”

“Not really, I personally stick to what works. There is something calming in the familiar. On the other hand, since I came to Canterlot City nearly every day holds a new experience. This city is crazy and strangely that is whats charming about it.” His eyes wandered off towards to windows that gave a good view on the street and the pedestrians walking by.

“Yeah, Canterlot sure is strange and unusual. But I agree, that is what makes the city charming. It never gets boring here, every day something new that turns your world upside down. Even if it ain’t a Corrupted. Oh, by the way, with Charge finally active, our new player on the board and the highest reported number of magical incidents since the founding of our organization, my mother has decided that Canterlot will get it’s own MRG branch, with separate office and lab. Ivory is completely giddy about the news, apparently happy that he gets to work in a real lab again,” she chuckled.

“Good for him, just one question…”

Before he could finish whatever he wanted to say Ocean interrupted him: “And yes, you still have to work with officer Armor together. Only because we move to another building doesn’t mean we stop working with the local police force. I’ll even take the officers on my team with me. So, you still have to get along with him or pretend to. I’m sure you’ll manage that,” she slyly added.

“Ah, what you are willing to put up with,” he smirked, then added. ”Could be worse. At least he’s just concerned, kinda understandable really.”

“While I don’t agree with his position on the Kamen Riders, he does his job pretty much flawlessly. Sometimes life can have a twisted sense of humor. But enough of that, while I like chatting with you, I’m sure Thunder might be growing a bit impatient right now. I think you should go back to the kitchen, or you have an angry Thunder on your hands and I’m sure you don’t want this right now.” She smiled at him, Phoenix just chuckled nervously, put the block back into the pocket of his apron and was about to walk back into the kitchen as someone called out for him from the side.

“Hey waiter, get your lazy ass over here!” The rough voice originated from a man with a grey-brown skin, an unkempt stubble and brown hair. An old black hat with a white band around it was placed firmly on his head. The man furthermore wore a black worn out suit with a red scarf. His expression was that of general unpleasantness and annoyance.

Ocean and Phoenix looked over to the man in confusion for a moment, until he snapped out of it and walked over to the rather unfriendly man. “Is there a problem sir?” He asked while keeping his annoyance with the customer hidden. He had a half-eaten ham-pizza on his plate, his cutlery had been thrown on his plate without care and all over the table, some parts of his meal had been splattered all over the table.

“Damn well there is! But I won’t waste my time with your sorry, unimportant butt. Get me your boss, or you are going to regret it.” With the last word, he slammed his fist on the table, his glass falling over and the beer in it flow out, covering a good part of the table in it and subsequently dripping down to the floor. “And now look what you’ve done!”As the man raised his voice the heads in the restaurant began to turn towards the two. Ocean was about to stand up and tell the man to knock it off, but as Phoenix just shook his head, she begrudgingly relaxed.

“Now, where is your boss?! Get him here or I’ll search him myself!” He growled at the waiter while tipping impatiently on the table.

“Maybe I could…” He tried his best not to sound annoyed to the unpleasant man but was interrupted before he came any further.

“You listen to me you little shit, you get your boss out here in ten seconds flat or…” Like Phoenix before him, he also was interrupted mid-sentence. But to his surprise not from Ocean, but the kitchen door slamming open.

“What is this for a hullabaloo out here?” Thunder had left the kitchen and looked around the room until he spotted his brother and an angry looking man. “Phoenix what did you do? I leave you alone for five minutes and you cause a tumult in my restaurant.”

Phoenix couldn’t even get one more word out before Ocean had stopped Thunder right then and there: “Phoenix did nothing wrong, that guy is just an unpleasant douche.”

The man looked at her with a look of total destain and added: “Let the grownups talk missy and wait for you abomination of a pizza. So where were we?”

Ocean was furious and ready to arrest this unbearable person but Thunder signaled for her to relax and let him handle the situation. “What seems to be the problem here sir?”

“Look, waiter, oh and you too missy, this is how you talk to a customer.” Both just rolled there eyes and swallowed their anger. “So, this is a nice restaurant you have here.”

“Did you just want to talk with me about my restaurant? I’m rather busy, so if that was all, I would love to go back to cooking, if you wouldn’t mind sir.” He was about to turn around when the man spoke again.

“Would be a shame if something happened to it.” Thunders smile he had worn during his conversation with the man vanished in an instance. Ocean jumped up from her seat and Phoenix just stared at the man in shock. Every conversation in the restaurant died down in an instance, the silence just made the whole situation tenser.

“What?”

The man chuckled and continued: “Oh, you know, it would be truly dreadful if someone would destroy it. But, don’t worry, I can protect you, for a little few of course.” A devilish smile had sneaked up on his lips as he was staring at Thunder.

“I would like you to leave my establishment, sir!” Thunder still was calm, but man was he making sure his message would come across. “Right, now!”

“I would listen to the man, or I’ll be forced to arrest you,” Ocean added while staring daggers at the man.

“And I thought we could handle this like civilized folk.”

“Pah, you and civilized, laughable,” Phoenix mocked the man that upon hearing what he had said began to stand up.

“I see, someone volunteered to be the example.” The man pulled something from his suit, a golden brass-knuckle with engravings of a birds head on it. Within a split second, he had charged over to Phoenix, slipped on the weapon and punched him right into the stomach. As the brass-knuckle made contact with Phoenix it started to glow and the next moment he found himself in the kitchen, around him splinters of the door. Then he felled the pain, not as bad as the first time he fought Elven and Twelve, but still quite painful. His back and stomach arched and as he started to stand up again.

Outside Ocean immediately draw her gun and screamed at the man: “Hands in the air and drop all weapons, you are under arrest for racketeering and assault. You have the right to remain silent. Everything you say can and will be used against you.” Everyone in the restaurant had jumped up from their chairs and stares at what was transpiring right next to them.

The man just laughed, letting Ocean the grip on her gun even more: “ Oh, you think you can bring me in? Oh, how cute missy. You are not dealing with your average criminal, oh no, you are dealing with someone beyond human. And I’ll show you.” The moment he finished speaking the brace-knuckle started to glow again, enveloping him in its light. Ocean immediately opens fire, knowing full well what this meant.

But all her efforts were in vain and just were blocked by the magic surrounding the man. As the light subsided the man had changed into a Corrupted. His skin had taken on a yellow-orange color. His stature was muscles and imposing, adding to this, his body now was covered in grey, stonelike armor. The hands of the Corrupted had transformed into vicious grey claws, the hand with the brace-knuckle still wearing it. But the most distinct thing about him was his head, instead of the human-shaped he had mere moments ago, it had changed into an elongated face with a beak. It resembled very much a bird with poison-green eyes.

The normal patrons of the restaurant started to scream in terror and run towards the exit. The Corrupted just cackled as he watched the civilians storming towards a safer place. Thunder and Ocean stared at him in shock. “So missy, see what I mean. What you gonna do now? Run like the rest?”

Oceans eyes narrowed, letting her weapon fall towards the floor and growled at the Corrupted. “Well, there is only one thing I can do.” And with this, she pushed a button oh her belt buckle which turned it into her Charge Driver. The Corrupted eyed her curiously. Thunder used this opportunity to run into the kitchen and towards his brother. Meanwhile, Ocean had pulled the Thunder Charger from her pocket and inserted into the Driver.

\ SCANNING CHARGE! /

“Henshin!”

\ 50, 80, 100! THUNDER CHARGE! /

After the blue ball of energy had subsided she stood there in her electric-blue armor, taking a battle stance and eying Corrupted number Thirteen carefully.

“No way, you are that new Kamen Rider? You messed up Rogue and Withers quite well, but you won't get me,” he cackled and rushed towards her.

His first swing was quite slow, so easy to dodge for her, well it would be if the ‘Magnum Opus’ wouldn’t be so cramped. So, it was quite a bit harder to evade his attack, still, she managed by ducking under it. In the corner of her eye she could see that his claws left green shimmering energy behind, whatever it was, she didn’t want to get in contact with it. Before her opponent could attack again she retaliated with a swift punch to the stomach, sadly while he was pushed back, the armor protected him from any further damage.

The Corrupted simply shrugged it off and tried to slam against her with his shoulder, to his surprise Charge disappeared right before his eyes, letting him stumble and fall on his face a few meters away from the exit. Charge in the meantime was breathing heavily in relive, still somewhat surprised that using superspeed had actually worked. She had managed to dodge the attack by just a few centimeters and still managed to not hit the next wall, table or chair. Still, it was dangerously close.

--------------<

“Phoenix what happened?” Summer screamed near his ear. She had couched down next to Phoenix looking concerned at him.

“Why am I in the kitchen?” He wondered with a look of utter confusion on his face. With a pained grimace on his face, he managed to bring himself into a sitting position. Moments later the room outside was consumed by a blinding orange light. Then it came all back to him in an instance. He jumped up despite his pain and pulled out the Alchemy Driver. He was about to put it on as Thunder stormed into the kitchen.

“Oh, thank goodness you are ok. Are you hurt?” he asked him in a rushed tone. As he spoke the room was again enveloped in light, just this time it was blue.

“No, no, I’m fine, but what is going on out there?”

“That unfriendly customer turned out to be a Corrupted and now Ocean is fighting him. That is basically what it came down to.” Thunder replied, still eying his brother carefully.

“Well, ok, that explains the free flight into the kitchen. You don’t mind if I do this here?” he pointed at the Alchemy Driver. “If you don’t want to, I think I could…”

“Right now I couldn’t care less. Just get this monster out of my restaurant. Please!” Thunder had interrupted him and pressed the Driver on Phoenix waist which subsequently looped around him.

“Ok, as good as done boss! Just take few steps back, I don’t think we want flambe here,” and with that, he put the Flame Disc into the Driver. Summer and Thunder rushed towards the other end of the room.

\ MAGIC DISC DETECTED! /

“Henshin!”

\ FLAME DISC ACTIVATED! /

After the flames had died down Alchemy ran out of the kitchen to help Ocean. Meanwhile, Thunder and Summer looked around the kitchen, especially the burned spot where mere moments ago Phoenix had stood. He simply sighed in defeat.

“You know, it could have been worse,” Summer tried to cheer him up. Thunder simply nodded in return.

In the main room of the restaurant, Charge was struggling with the Corrupted as Alchemy arrived. She just had used her super speed to evade the Corrupted and was breathing heavily. “Oh, there you are. And I thought you managed to injure yourself again.”

Alchemy just shrugged and replied: “Nah, but the whole ordeal was quite disorientating. So, how is it going?”

“Could be better, it’s a bit too cramped in here. Can you get him outside, by any chance?”

“Ah, I’ll figure something out,” Phoenix casually replied and redid himself for the next attack of the Corrupted

“Good,” she chuckled and also entered a battle stance. While they were talking their opponent had managed to stand back up and eyed the two Riders carefully. Then his claws started to glow and without hesitating charged towards them.

The moment Charge saw what was happening she reached for her Charge Magnum and unloaded three chambers on him. To her dismay the Corrupted had managed to block her attack with his glowing claws, he had swung them around and managed to slash the shots in midair. This would have been impressive if he wouldn’t be charging right at the two.

As Thirteen came into swinging-distance he clawed seemingly at random at the Riders, but both managed to escape the onslaught of his attacks. While dodging Charge fired the last three shots in her revolver at the Corrupted, this time actually hitting him. To her dismay, while her attack had struck his armor, it didn’t seem to do much. The electricity surged through him but didn’t seem to affect him in any meaningful way. Quite the contrary, it just made him angrier.

“You bitch! Stop that and let me crush your head like the little bug you are!” He charged at her, claws glowing. Charge grabbed hold of one of her batons and was about to strike as Alchemy dropkicked the Corrupted into a nearby table, crushing it in the process. Charge used this opportunity, reloaded her revolver and shoot Thirteen six times, with the same effect as before.

The next thing she did was holster her weapon and instead switch to her other baton. Right as she had taken her other weapon the Corrupted had begun to stand up again. Alchemy was the first to strike again, punching him into the beak and right after into the stomach. While the monster seemed to feel the pain from the first hit, the second only resulted in Alchemy shaking his hand in pain and the Corrupted laughing.

A Stun Baton to the face shut him up, followed up by another one. Charge wailed on her opponent, not relating, pummeling him with her strikes time and time again. Still, he remained standing, not letting her get the better of him. While she hit him with her batons in the face, his claws started to glow again with the green energy. Suddenly his claws shoot towards Charges arm that was swinging down on him, grabbing hold of it while she flinched thanks to the green energy reaching her.

As she was about to slam the other baton in his face, he punched her with his free hand right into the stomach, sending her flying into the wall on the other side of the wall. From the place where she had been hit a green smoke rose up.

While distracted by what happened to Charge Alchemy failed to notice Thirteen rushing towards him. In the last moments before the Corrupted smashed his fist into his stomach Alchemy caught him in the corner of his eyes, sadly he was not able to react in time and was sent flying like his partner and crashed into a table that had been abandoned during the attack. He landed in a position where he could see that his opponent turned his attention back to Charge, who was still on her knees catching her breath.

He tried to stand up again, but he would be to slow and ultimately wouldn’t reach her in time. She had noticed the Corrupted walking towards her and had drawn her revolver, reloading it as fast as she could and fired at Thirteen. Like before the shots simply seemed to be ineffective against the Corrupted, not stopping him in his track, only slowing him down. Alchemy was unsure of what to do, he wouldn’t reach her in time if he tried to simply attack him again and using the Flame Sabres Maximum-Power-attack would also take to long. Then an idea struck him as he looked frantically around.

“Well, well missy. Should have really stayed silent and not gotten on my bad side. Well, now it’s too late for that,” he chuckled with a disturbing undertone as he stepped closer and closer to the kneeing Kamen Rider.

“Hey, Birdy! Catch!” came from his side. As he looked where the voice came from a metal serving plate came sailing towards him. The Corrupted easily caught it and turned his attention to the other Rider.

“Pah, you thought this piece of junk would hurt me? Pathetic!” Thirteen started to laugh at the apparent stupidity of the Rider.

Alchemy joined in with a chuckle. “Yeah, that would be pretty stupid. Thankfully this is not what I had in mind!” And with that, he flicked with his fingers. The plate started to glow on the side pointing away from the Corrupted and as he turned it around he saw for a split second a red seal before it consumed the room in a massive explosion.

As the dust settled you could make out the destruction that had been created thanks to Alchemy’s actions. The rest of the tables and chairs had collapsed and slight burn marks could be seen. The floor was pitch black, the windows had shattered and now lay on the street. Charge, however, seemed to be fine, just a bit black thanks to the thrown up ash. Thirteen was nowhere to be seen, but judging from the sizeable impact crater outside the restaurant he probably was catapulted outside and simply left.

“You’re ok?” he asked Ocean who had managed to regain her footing.

“Yeah, thanks to you. But dammit, he got away,” she replied, still heavily breathing.

“That’s, not that big of a deal. We’ll find him again. What I’m more worried about now is how am I going to explain this to Thunder. He is going to have my head on a platter,” Phoenix sighed.

“No, no! What happened here? I heard something loud and came back to see what was going on, but… what… Phoenix! Explain!” Thunder had barged in and after seeing what happened to his precious restaurant had sunken to his knees.

“Ahm… well… you know… We were in a precarious situation and, well… the only option left was to use a seal and… well, you see what happen. Please don’t be angry!”The further Phoenix got the more hectic he became and in the end, he shielded himself with his arms, fearing how Thunder would react.

Thunder looked shocked at his brother the simply slumped down and buried his head in his hands. “Ok.”

“Please, I had no… wait, ok?” Phoenix now sounded completely confused. He had expected a verbal smackdown or unbridled anger, but not an ‘Ok’.

“If you say you needed to do this I trust you… just… just let me grief. Why!”After that, he broke out into tears.

Seeing his younger brother boiling his eyes out in the ruins of his restaurant, that minutes early had still been brimming with life unsettled Phoenix. He slowly stood up and walked towards his brother, crouched down next to him and let his hand rest on his shoulder. “I’ll make sure we catch him, and then you can tell him exactly what you feel, ok Thunder.” Thunder just nodded and continued sobbing. “Good, just let it out. Everything is going to be fine.”

Family Business - Booster On!

After a long and drawn out evening trying to calm Thunder down that involved sobbing, screaming, a lot of curses and hugging he had worn himself out enough that he had fallen asleep. After they had managed to carry him into his bed without waking him up again Summer and Ocean had left him in Phoenix’s care, not without assuring him they would meet up again tomorrow to discuss what they would do regarding the new Corrupted and the ‘Magnum Opus’.

The night went by pretty uneventful and to Phoenix absolute delights without his brother waking up and starting to cry again. It was already noon when Phoenix woke up; quite surprised that Thunder hadn’t woken him up, especially because Ocean and Summer would soon arrive. Then he remembered, the Corrupted, the completely destroyed restaurant and how Thunder had taken it. After dressing he looked into his brother's bedroom. Everything was dark, windows completely shut so no light could enter and on the bed lay a curled up Thunder hiding under his bedsheets.

Phoenix carefully stepped into the room, leaving the door open so the light from outside could come in. “Hey Thunder, how are you doing?” No reaction. “Thunder?” Still nothing but silence. “Hey, we’ll get him and then you can let all of this behind. Ocean and Summ…”

In an instance, Thunder shot up and shattered the silence that had filled the room until now. “No, it won’t! You can’t just punch the problem in the face this time! The restaurant won’t magically fix itself! I… I don’t know if I can manage to keep it running if I lose so much time and money during the repairs. Don’t you get this? I… I might lose this and then what? You can’t say it’ll fix itself, it won’t and I don’t know how to fix it, or if I can fix it at all! So just leave me alone!”

Phoenix just stood there, stunned at the outburst of his brother. He tried to respond sever times, only for the words to simply not come. His usual brand of coming up with his words on the go didn’t seem to work, leaving him standing there, stammering like an idiot.

“Thought so. Just leave me alone, like I just said.” With that, he crawled back under the blanket, turning away from Phoenix and stayed silent.

Phoenix still just stood there, staring at the blanket that hides his brother. How could someone he knew so well, who had endured and surpassed him at nearly every opportunity just give up? It didn’t fit, that just couldn’t be true. He had never stopped, even when the challenge seemed impossible. Seeing this way was just wrong. “Ok, if you want that.” Thunder again didn’t answer. “But, just so you know, Summer and Ocean will be here any minute now.” Still nothing. “We’ll discuss how we can get this bastard, so if you want to join us, just come out and join us.” As expected, no answer came from Thunder. “Ok, I hope you get better.” After he had finished his last sentence he carefully closed the door behind him.

It didn’t take long until Ocean arrived and since then, the front door and associate windows had been destroyed in the fight yesterday she just walked in and up the stairs where she was greeted by an uncharacteristically somber Phoenix. “Hey Phoenix, how is it going? Huh, where is Thunder? I would have expected him to be here.”

His head lowered and he replied soberly: “In his bed. He didn’t want to be here. He is still crushed from yesterday and I think it only got worse. He is worried about how he can keep the restaurant afloat while the repairs are taking place. And I don’t know what to say so he feels better. I’m not the right person to cheer him up, that was always his thing. Whenever I feel bad he helped me out of it and now I can’t help him. I... I just feel so utterly powerless.” He slammed his fist on the couch he was currently sitting.

Ocean stood there for a few seconds; she hadn’t expected something like this right the moment she entered. “Well, I’m sure he’ll get through it. Just give him time and everything will work itself out. Right now the best thing you can do for him is to catch Thirteen so he can’t cause any more harm then he already has. Focus on that for now and the rest will come when the time is right. My mother always said you should solve one problem at a time.” Sitting down next to him, she tried to let him focus on something else.

Looking over to her, she simply smiled something that made him feel somewhat more at ease. “You’re right. The best thing to do is to beat him so nothing more happens. So, how are we going to find the guy?”

“Well, it was a long and taxing night, but I managed to get a lead. His name is Biff and oh boy does he have a criminal record; extortion, dealing, robberies, and kidnapping, basically nearly everything under the sun that could land you in prison. And every time someone got close to catching him, he just jumped city's, rarely visiting a city twice. And here it gets interesting; there is one city he visits quite frequently. Guess which one,” she asked him with a smug smile on her lips.

“Canterlot City?” He hesitantly replied.

“Bingo. Canterlot City is apparently something like home to him. After a few other cities, he always comes back here and then basically disappears off the radar. No one can find him.”

“Well, that is just great. And how are we supposed to find and stop him then?” After her first answer, he had been ecstatic, but after she continued his excitement had died down in an instance and he visibly deflated.

“I was getting to that. This is just speculation, but it’s believed that Biff is part of a criminal organization that operates out of Canterlot named ‘Tartarus’. It’s a group of criminals that basically work as contractors. You task them with a crime and they will carry it out. For example, robbing a bank or assassinating someone you want to see dead,” she continued calmly.

“Aha, while fascinating, how exactly does that help us find him? If anything, this makes it only harder to find him.”

“Like I said, I was getting to that,” she sighed and continued: ”It is generally not much know about ‘Tartarus’, well except for one detail. They have a rather strict code of honor that all their agents have to follow, never do something criminal if a customer didn’t order it. Anything that furthers the ultimate goal is ok, as long as it wasn’t requested how the job had to be done. And I think no one would hire a costly criminal for something so trivial as extorting a restaurant. This has to be something he did on his own, I just know it,” she enthusiastically slammed her fist on the table and grind confidently at Phoenix.

“Ok, that is something, but how do we get this information to his superiors? If they are so untouchable as you claim this isn’t really an option. How do you get in contact with them, not even speaking about how dangerous this might be;” he nervously shifted around on the couch.

“Oh, don’t worry, that is something I’ll do on my own. I’m not dragging you into that one, at least not without your armor. And I know how to contact them, don’t worry. The modus operandi is that you have to ask in one of Canterlots less privileged suburbs for them, preferably in a bar and if they are interested they come to you. While I can see the potential danger, there is not much we can do otherwise other than wait and hope that we are in the area. So what do you say?” Ocean looked over to him curiously, waiting for his answer.

“I don’t know. That sounds really dangerous, but I have no other idea. But if it doesn’t bother you, I would like to hear Summers opinion on the whole thing. She probably will have nothing else either, but it would feel somewhat wrong if we don’t ask her. Come to think of it, where is she anyway? She should have been here half an hour ago, that is unusually for her, especially considering Thunders current state. She wouldn’t let us wait.” Phoenix voice grows more worried the longer he spoke, looking nervously to Ocean.

“Now that you mention it, yeah that is strange. But I’m sure she is fine. Why don’t you call her, just to be sure?” She replied rather calmly, but he could make out a few worried undertones in her voice.

Somewhat nervously he pulled out his cellphone and searched Summer number. His breaths grew more uneven as he got closer to the number he was searching. After finally finding and calling it, his heart picked up the pace with every ringing that went by without an answer. Then finally the ringing stopped and someone answered: “Hello, who is there?” Phoenix has skipped a beat, this wasn’t Summer’s voice, it was raspy and sounded malicious. Worst of all he recognized the voice.

“What have you done to her you fucking bastard,” he shouted into the phone. Ocean immediately jumped up and looked at him in shock.

The voice on the other end of the line just laughed back in sick delight: “Oh, what I have done. Nothing, yet. What you have done, on the other hand, oh that is another story. You should have just given me my money and let it at that, but no, you had to play the hero and try and stop me. And now you pay the price.”

His hand grew tighter around his phone and he started to grit his teeth. “If you have even laid one finger on her I swear I will…”

“Tst, tst, didn’t you learn from last time? Now listen, you little shit, first of all, you will be nice to me, do you understand?” Phoenix just gripped his phone tighter and growled back. “Do you understand?!” Biff shouted back at him.

This was enough to get Phoenix to back down. “Understood. So what do you want?”

“Now we are talking. You will get me double the money I originally wanted, as a warning, you know. I want two thousand, and that every month, do you understand me?” Phoenix grunted a yes. “Good, then meet me at the construction site near Change Industries, you should be able to find it, around six PM. But leave your cop-friend out of it, or missy here is going to regret it.” A muffled sound could be heard from the other end of the line that was quickly drawn out by Biffs laughter.

For a short moment, he contemplated to just throw the phone on the floor and simply mop the floor with the bastard, but ultimately cooler heads prevailed. “Fine, I’ll be there. But if I find even one scratch on her, you can be sure that you will eat your next meal through a straw. Did I make myself clear?”

“I don’t think you are in the position to make any threats,” as he spoke Phoenixes eyes narrowed and he was about to reply as he was interrupted again: “But, I’m in a good mood and damaging the product is generally frowned upon, so why not. I will not harm her in any way, as long as she stays put, did you hear that missy? Stay put and nothing happens. So get my money and you get you pest back. Don’t let me wait, I hate that!” And without any chance to ask any further questions the line went dead.

“Dammit,” he cursed and threw his phone on the couch.

“So, what happened?” Ocean looked at him in a mixture of concern and uncertainty.

“That damn bastard kidnaped Summer and now is holding her ransom. Worst part is, he doesn’t want you there.”

“So, what are we going to do?” She looked at him as uncertain as he was.

“I… I don’t know. Dammit!” He kicked the couch in frustration. “Calm, I need to calm down. We still have time till six. We can work something out.” He steadies his breath and concentrated on his breathing. “Hey, why don’t you think of something and I tell Thunder, maybe this will get him to snap out of it.”

“Sure, I think he should know. I’ll try and think of something till you are done.”

“Thanks!” He stood up and slowly walked over to Thunders bedroom, carefully opened the door and closed it behind him. “Thunder, I know you want to be left alone but this is important.” Like before he didn’t get an answer. “I don’t know how to say this, but… you know what screw it. Summer has been kidnaped by the bastard that wrecked your restaurant. He called us out to give him money in exchange for her freedom if you want to help come outside. If you don’t, just stay here, but we are saving her, with or without you. So you can either continue moping or take this head-on, just like you always do. Your choice.” And with that he left the room, slamming the door shut behind him, the light fading again from the room.

--------------<

Time had gone by like nothing and now he stood before the construction site closest to Change Industries, approximately ten minutes before the meeting. On his back was a somewhat heavy black backpack that dangled loosely from his shoulder. One quick look to either side of the street to make sure no one saw him and he walked past the fences that looked of the site from the masses.

Inside everything seemed abandoned and materials were lying around. The entire side was shrouded in darkness, while you still could see what was right in front of you, what was further away was a different story. He stumbled through the dark half-finished corridors until his eyes caught a dime light coming from one of the larger rooms.

As he stepped inside the room, he managed to make out a few leftover materials like metal grids and sacks of cement. But what truly caught his eye were the four figures in the middle of the room. The first one was quite easy to identify, it was Biff, who was casually flipping a coin and didn’t even look in his direction as he entered. Behind him were two thuggish looking guys and between them Summer. What surprised him was that her legs and arms had been bound behind her back. Also, a dirty rag had been pulled between her lips. She was staring daggers at her two captors.

Without looking towards him Biff started to talk: “How do you tolerate her? I have never had such an unbearable victim in my long career. Just give me the money and we can get this over with as soon as possible. The sooner I’m rid of missy here, the better.” He finally looked up and tilted his head in confusion. “Wait, why are you here? I thought your boss would come, or does he simply not care for her? Wow, that is sad but understandable. That she is still working for him is a miracle. To be honest, I don’t really care, just give me the money.”

Summer was getting quite noisy in the background; apparently, his comments had riled her up again. Her two captors just sighed and one of them held a knife to her through, letting her protests die down as soon as they had arrived. Phoenix just glared at them. “Shut up missy, the grown-ups are talking. Where were we again? Oh, right, the money, now!”

Phoenix growled, but ultimately decided to throw the backpack over to Biff. As he was about to catch it, however, two energy bolts struck his underlings, letting them fall back, letting loose of Summer in the meantime. The sudden loss of support had caused her to lose balance and was now plummeting towards the ground. But to her surprise, she was stopped mid-fall, as she looked up she immediately recognized the face, Thunder. He quickly swept her up and rushed with her in his arms as far away from her kidnappers as possible.

Biff, however, was stunned, so much so that he had failed to catch the backpack with the money. His confusion didn’t last long however and he quickly pulled something out of his pocket and put it on his fingers. In the meantime Ocean stepped out of the shadows and into the room, now standing behind him.

“You little shits, you think this is going to works simply because you are Kamen Riders? Newsflash, it won’t! And now I’m going to rip you limb from limb!” He growled while staring at Phoenix.

He was somewhat surprised that he had apparently figured out his identity, but right now he really hadn’t time to think about it. As quick as humanly possible he pulled out the Alchemy Driver and attached it to his waist. In the meantime Biff started to glow, the moment Ocean saw this she fired her gun at the transforming Corrupted, but as expected it was blocked by the excess energy of the artifact. While this was going on Phoenix put the Magic Disc into the Driver.

\ MAGIC DISC DETECTED! /

“Henshin!”

\ FLAME DISC ACTIVATED! /

Both transformations ended nearly simultaneous and immediately both fighters charged screaming at each other, ready to slam their fist into their opponent. A fierce poison green glow enveloped Thirteens fist, all while Alchemy’s fist started to glow in a fiery orange. As both their fists meet a shockwave rocked the entire construction site, some materials falling over. Both combatants were pushed back, Alchemy clutching his hand while Thirteen just shook it off, having not taken any lasting damage from the attack.

Ocean in the meantime had thrown away her weapon and quickly activated her driver. And put the Charger into it as soon as she could.

\ SCANNING CHARGE! /

“Henshin!”

\ 50, 80, 100! THUNDER CHARGE! /

After the orb of energy had released her she could see the aftermath of the little confrontation between Alchemy and Thirteen. And the way it looked the Corrupted was about to attack again. In an instant, she rushed over to the monster and managed to kick his legs off the ground from under him. As she slides to a screeching hold a few meters away from the monster, Alchemy used the opportunity to strike Thirteen with his other glowing fist, sending him straight through the next wall and out of sight.

“Hey Birdy, you know, this would usually be the part where I ask you to just give up and make it easier for all of us, but I’m going to make an exception for you just this once. You just have taken it too far. Acting only for your own needs, fine, attacking me, fine, but I’ll draw the line when you drag my friends into this, scratch that, when you drag innocents into this! Everything that follows is entirely on you,” he growled and cracked his fists while looking at the newly formed hole in the wall.

It didn’t take long until two green glowing orbs were visible in the darkness, Charge shooting at them as soon as possible. The six shots hit their target, illuminating the room behind it in short bursts of light, but ultimately not even slowing him down. Soon the two clawed hands reached out of the hole, gripping themselves on the wall and Thirteen lifted himself through the opening, staring enraged at the two Riders. “You! Will! Regret! This!”

The second he had finished his threat Biff charged at his opponents, claws starting to glow mid-charge and swinging primarily at Alchemy. The first attack was quite easy to dodge by simply stepping back, as well as the next one, both missing the Rider completely. As he tried to pull that trick again he lodged against the wall behind him, while the attack missed him this tactic wasn’t viable anymore.

And so, when the Corrupted readied himself for a punch at Alchemy, Charge jumped into action. Since he had his back turned to her it was easy for her to unleash a fury of hits with her batons on the monster, all directed at his back. To her dismay, the constant barrage of attacks didn’t even slow him down, instead the electricity that was conducted from the batons just frizzling out over his body. While she fruitlessly tried to harm the Corrupted, he had continued his attack on Alchemy slamming his fist there where mere moments ago his head was, the Rider already having dodged the attack, now rolling on the ground to get a good distance between the two.

Shortly after he had gotten out of range, Thirteen suddenly spun around and slammed his fist right into Charges stomach, sending her flying through the room and crashing into a bunch of leftover building material. During her short flight, she had lost her Stun Batons which were lying on opposite sides of the room. She carefully tried to get up again, all while Biff laughed in amusement at her: “See missy, that is what happens when you try to stand in my way. And after I’m done with the both of you, I think I’m going to visit your friends. I’m sure we are going to have a blast together!”

“Shut up! I’ll make sure you will not lay a finger on them! And I’ll make sure of it with this!” Charge shouted back at him, during this, she pushed a button on her Driver that ejected the Thunder Charger from it. As she was putting the Charger away she pulled out another one, this time it was red. After pushing it into the cylinder of the Driver she spun it again.

“Charge up!”

\ 50, 80, 100! FIRE CHARGE! /

A fiery red energy sphere enveloped the Rider, revealing a new suit. What was previously blue now had been replaced with crimson red and her eyes had changed to green. All over her armor, small little metallic exhaust pipes were placed. Charge stretched herself a bit and then sprinted at the Corrupted: “I hope you had your fun because now play-time is over.”

“Oh is it now? Then show me what you got, it won't be enough,” and with this, he rushed towards.

“This!” The engines on her backside suddenly sprung to life, propelling her forward. At the same time, an engine at her elbow started to go off as well and before Thirteen could even react her fists was firmly implanted into his face, the engine on her elbow only increasing in intensity. The force of the punch and subsequent increase in intensity of the engine were enough to send the Corrupted sailing through the room, back into the wall he had forced Alchemy into and subsequently through it.

Alchemy just watched as Charge flew through the new hole in the wall and seconds later Biff came flying back through it, landing in the same leftover supplies as Charge had. It didn’t take long for Charge to return as well, landing next to him.

“Damn, Fire Charge seems quite capable. Why you didn’t you tell me about it?”

“You ask this now? Of course, you do. Well, no time, that’s all. You know now, so what is the big deal?” She just shrugged and readied herself to engage Biff again.

“Fair enough, so let’s just finish off that idiot,” he replied, readying himself for battle as well.

After Biff had finished standing up he shouted at the two: “Enough! I’ve had enough of you! And now you will pay the price!” With that he Lunged himself at the Riders, both hands glowing in the fierce green.

Charge immediately activated her boosters and flew towards the Corrupted, only to change directions midflight and strife around her opponent. After being behind him she again changed her direction, this time towards her opponent, ramming her foot into his back, propelling him forward even more. Alchemy responded with a swift kick into the face of Thirteen, sending him back to Charge.

As he came sailing towards her, she delivered a roundhouse kick, further enhanced with her boosters, extending his flight further and right into the next wall. “Alchemy!” she shouted, he just chuckled and flicked with his finger. A massive explosion could be heard in the distance. “You don’t mind when I finish this, do you?”

“He is all yours, but promise me one thing, make sure he regrets messing with my brother.”

“Oh, don’t worry, he will,” she replied and shortly thereafter spun the cylinder on her Driver.

\ Maximum Charge! /

The exhaust pipes all over her suit started to glow before the engines on her back started up and she followed the Corrupted through the wall. It took her a few seconds but she finally reached him, right now in the process of standing up. As she was mere meters away from him she slowed down through the use of the engines on her front, stopping right in front of him. Before he could react in any way shape or form, she delivered a devastating uppercut that sent the Corrupted through the next several floors.

Without wasting any more time she jumped up and angled herself in a suitable position through the use of the boosters all over her, so she faced the Corrupted with her feet. The moment her position was just right all boosters currently facing away from the target started to go off all at once with full force, accelerating her directly towards him. It didn’t take long until she made contact, her force slamming him through even more floors of the building. This continued until they reached the highest floor, the moment she smashed him through the ceiling of it a massive explosion consumed the both of them.

After it had dissipated Biff was laying on the roof, completely knocked out, his brass knuckles next to him. “And that is what you get for messing with us!” Ocean said exhausted, steam coming off of her exhaust ports. She calmly walked over to him, picked up the artifact and continued: ”You are under arrest! You have the right to remain silent. All you say can and will be used against you.” While she spoke she handcuffed him.

It didn’t take long before she heard a familiar voice: “Well, he is out for the count. Good job.” As she turned around she saw Alchemy landing next to her.

“Just doing my job. Still, thanks. By the way, he dropped this,” she throws the knuckle towards him, Alchemy catching it midair and carefully regarding it. After placing it on the ground he took out one of the blank magic Discs and pointed it at the artifact. It didn’t take long before the magic was absorbed into it and the Disc started to glow in a yellow-orange. A blinding light enveloped the Disc and after it had subsided it had changed. Now instead of wight it was yellow-orange and rather ruth around the edges.

“Yes! Four down, only one to go!” Alchemy shouted in delight, raising the hand with the disc into the air.

“Good for you. Hey, I can finish everything up here. You can meet up with your brother, I know you want to.”

“I… Thanks Ocean. See ya!” And with that, he jumped off the building.

“See ya!”She replied to the air, shaking her head in amusement.

--------------<

It hadn’t taken him long to find his brother and Summer. The later currently in the process of letting her frustration over her kidnapping out. “And do you believe it, they smelled like they hadn't showered in weeks and one of them was always next to me. It was awful. Add to that that this stupid gag tasted just like they smelled and this is undoubtedly the worst day of my life. I hope he regrets it now!”

“Oh, believe me, after getting smashed through roughly thirty floors, he is regretting it,” he replied jokingly while stepping out of a backstreet.

“Phoenix!” She shouted and rushed over to him, nearly crushing him with her hug. “Thanks for saving me! Huh, by the way where is Ocean?”

Phoenix was rather taken aback by her reaction, but his surprise turned int discomfort rather quickly. “Summer. Summer! Air!” After she heard that she immediately let go of him and looked rather embarrassed. “Thanks. Oh yeah, Ocean is dealing with Biff, so you have to thank her another time. Oh, when you mention it, did you thank Thunder already, without him, I’m not so sure we could have pulled this off so smoothly.”

“Oh, I already thanked Thunder, but you know, why not again,” before she even finished she had walked back over to and hugged him, just as hard as Phoenix, if not a bit harder. “Thanks, Thunder, a thousand thanks.” Unlike Phoenix, he didn’t complain and just let her hug him. It did take a few seconds before she finally releases him from her hold.

“Like I said, no problem. I couldn’t just let you in the hands of the roughens,” he replied rather awkwardly while rubbing the back of his head.

“I’m glad you are back to normal Thunder. Seeing you so glum just felled wrong. Good to have you back.”

“Yeah, thanks for getting me back on track. Just moping around doesn’t solve my problems, still doesn’t mean that they just have evaporated into thin air,” he soberly said, only for his expression to suddenly change into a smile. “But with you two, I’m sure we can handle everything the world throws at us!” He quickly grabbed both of them by their shoulders and brought into a comforting hug.

As he released them again they had reached the ‘Magnum Opus’ after Thunder looked at the ruined front he sighed once more and all three stepped inside. To their surprise, they were not the only ones in the charred remains of the restaurant, a rather bulky man with grey skin and slick black hair was leaning against the wall to the kitchen. What seemed especially odd was that he wore a black suit and held a briefcase in his hand.

“Ah, glad that you finally arrive, a pleasure meeting you. I’m truly sorry for what happened to your restaurant, Mr. Cloud,” the strange man said, looking cooly at the three.

“Thanks, but if I may ask, who are you? I never saw you in my restaurant before,” Thunder replied rather confused by the stranger.

“Oh, of course. You may call me ‘Cerberus’ and I think you already meet one of my, I would say, employes. You might know him under the name Biff. He was the one responsible for this whole mess. Again, I’m deeply sorry.” While he spoke he gestured at the room with his hand.

The atmosphere in the room suddenly shifted drastically, no one dared to say a word and just stared at the man that called himself ‘Cerberus’. “Hmh, not a surprising reaction. People tend to be afraid of me. But I assure you, I’m not here to cause you any more harm. I’m actually here to tell you that my men will take care of Biff and make sure nothing happens to you,” he calmly continued.

“Well, a bit late for that. That asshole already kidnapped me! Without the Kamen Riders, I would probably not be standing here! Thanks for your help,” Summer was the first to break the silence and was actively hostile towards him.

To Phoenix surprise, the man stayed perfectly calm and simply nodded. “I’m sorry that I didn’t act quick enough. I’m entirely to blame for that. As an apology please allow me to cover the repair and the profit loss you might suffer during the repairs. It’s the least I can do to make up for the failings of my employes.”

Again everyone in the room was left speechless. They had heard about the rules of ‘Tartarus’, but hadn’t expected their boss to be this loyal to them himself. What came next shocked Phoenix and Summer even more: “I appreciate the offer, but I have to decline. I can’t take so much money from someone who hurts others to get it. I have to do this myself not with the help of someone like you,” Thunder calmly replied.

The two others were expecting Cerberus to simply lash out at him, but he stayed rather calm. “I understand. If that is what you wish for, I will honor your demand. However, I can’t just leave without making it up to you and your friends, especially after I failed to deal with the situation quick enough. So, how about that, you can call me anytime and ask a favor of me,” while he spoke he reached into the pocket and pulled out a small black card. “And I will not take no for an answer this time.”As he walked towards the exit he gave Thunder the card, he reluctantly took it and stuffed it into his pocket. Have a nice day.”

After the man had left the restaurant Phoenix was the first to speak up: “Why didn’t you take the money. You could have gotten yourself out of this situation easily. This was basically gift wrapped for you.”

“I know, but would you have done it? You know where the money comes from don’t you?” He looked at his brother with a raised eyebrow.

Phoenix sighed in response: “Yeah, I know. Still, how are we going to fix this?”

“Well, if the customers can’t come to you, you have to come to the customers. The kitchen is still perfectly fine; we are just switching to a delivery service for the remainder of the repairs. And just to make this clear, Summer is going to deliver the pizzas, not you. I don’t want the pizza to be cold just because there happened to be a monster attack; I have seen enough movies to know that sending you out there wouldn’t work.”

He just chuckled: ”That is more like it. Glad to have you back, brother. And the plan is actually good, like nearly all of your plans.”

“Yeah, that is indeed more like it,” Summer added.

“Thanks, but there is still one thing that bugs me. How did the Corrupted know that Phoenix was Alchemy? He shouldn’t have known that,” Thunder said, his forehead covered in wrinkles.

“Yeah, that was weird, but I’m sure Ocean is going to figure it out. I think we deserve a bit of peace after today.”

“Yeah, you are right. How about I’ll make us something to eat. How does that sound?” His question was met with audible applause and soon they were eating their well-deserved meals.

--------------<

In a dark office somewhere in Canterlot City a man was sitting at his desk and was going through some files. “Well, that was a wash. Biff really didn’t live up to his reputation. We basically served him everything on a silver platter and he still screws it up. If we would just deal with them personally we could…” His little rant was interrupted by a sudden painful stinging in his chest like someone was slowly pushing a small metal road through it.

After he had fallen from his chair another, angrier, booming, voice spoke up: “You will do what I want you to do. No arguing, no complaining, no questioning me, you will do what I say and that is the end of that. Do you understand that?”

“Un… understood!” As sudden as the pain had come it had also disappeared. The man now gasping for air and holding his stomach, sweat was dripping down his forehead.

“Simple death is too good for them. No, we are going to make them suffer, and when they beg for death we will grant it to them. Did I make myself clear?”

“Yes… master,” the man was slowly crawling back up while using the desk as support. His eyes had an exhausted look in them.

“Good, then stop wasting time and get out there. Only because the imbecile failed doesn't mean you can slack off.”

“Yes, master.” The man carefully staggered over to a cloth rack in the office retrieving a jacket and a head from it and made his way to the door for his nightly duties.

To Protect a Butterfly - The Silent Protector

This was so boring; his eyes were growing heavier with every passing second. Why did he have to patrol the city anyway, the MRG had their scanning system that would detect any magical activity in the city. This just felled pointless to him and all because Thunder thought having him hang around the restaurant would only distract them, as well as being a waste of time.

While he was glad that he was back to his normal self, he hadn’t looked forward to his usual pushy demeanor. Well, at least he wasn’t alone; Ocean had offered to take him along on her daily patrols. At least he wasn’t wasting his fuel by riding around the city aimlessly with his bike. The last few days had been relatively quiet, except for another murder. This time an artist that had been found in his apartment just this morning. Right now the two were driving towards the scene of the crime in one of the MRG’s cars.

“Remind me why I’m going to a crime scene again, I missed this part. I’m not trained for this, so why? I’m just going to ruin things,” he sighed in confusion. Thunder had woken him up especially early today and basically shoved him out the door to a waiting Ocean.

“I just wanted to see what you think about the whole affair. Besides, I’ll keep an eye on you so you don’t screw this up. So don’t worry, I’ll scream when you do something wrong,” she jokingly replied.

“Oh, that makes it so much better. Ahm, Ocean, just one question,” as he continued his voice grew more subdued. “The victim… is it still…”

Ocean gulped once and then answered with a stern look on her face: “Yes, it is still in the building. If you don’t want to see it, you can come in later when, you know, we got the body to the morgue. You don’t have to see this.”

Phoenix remained silent for over a minute, the atmosphere in the car couldn’t have been more awkward. Then he finally answered with a weak voice: “I… I think I should go in there. If I hide from every disturbing thing and refuse to face it I can quit right here. If I just turn away from the darker sides of this how can I protect the people from it? So I’m coming with you, for good or for ill,” he finished with a sober voice. During his answer he had pulled out the Alchemy Driver and now stared at it, phasing out the world around him.

He was only pulled back when he heard Ocean calling his name: “Phoenix! Are you there? Can you hear me?” A look of concern had formed on her face as she carefully squinted over at him.

“Wah… what? Did you say something? Sorry, I just phased out,” he hastily replied, stuffing the Driver back into his pocket.

She sighed in response and repeated herself: “I said, ok. If that is what you want, then we’ll do it, just to remind you, if you don’t want to, you don’t have to. No one is going to look down on you because you didn’t want to do it, I assure you.” Phoenix just nodded and absentmindedly looked out of the window of the car. “So, how is the delivery service idea panning out for Thunder? I know he only got it running, but still.”

“Oh, good, good. Being known for good food sets you up for a good first outing. It should cover the expenses we are going to have to face during the repairs and all that without dirty money,” he had turned around again and smiled at his fellow Rider.

“Yeah, glad Thunder didn’t take the money from the guy. Still, I can somewhat respect that he offered it in the first place, well as much as you can respect an underworld kingpin anyway. Still, a shame that I wasn’t there to arrest him after he basically admitted that he was a criminal. And now I don’t know if we should hope that we meet him again or not. It’s tempting to remove that blight from the city, but at the same time, probably will cause a lot of problems before and after the arrest. What do you think?”

“Well, like you said, he is a criminal but doesn’t really fall under my jurisdiction. I’m a vigilante that fights monsters and as far as we know he ain’t one. Still, knowing about him just feels wrong. This city is so peaceful, well if you exclude the monster attacks that is, that something so despicable existing in it just doesn’t sit right with me. Looking away never was my strong suit. But right now I think focusing on the other Rider has priority, right?” His voice was shaking a bit as he reached the last part of his response.

“Yeah, probably the best thing we can do right now. Still, something bugs me about this whole thing. The number of magical energy readings in Canterlot City has skyrocketed in the last two weeks and we have no explanation for that. The fact that one of his underlings had an artifact might mean that others might have as well. Especially since further research on two of the last victims of our murdering Kamen Rider was part of his gang. Specialized as hitmen. The interesting part, we received two magical energy readings near the location the night of the murder and one at it. Assuming that the one belongs to our killer, the two others would probably respond to the victims. At least that is what I’m thinking,” Ocean replied, tipping on the steering wheel nervously.

“Knowing our rotten luck, probably. That would mean that this would become our problem as well, great. Not only are we dealing with murdering Kamen Rider, no, we have to deal with a potential criminal organization made out of Corrupted. Sounds wonderful. You know, I never expected my life to be this, you know, stressful. I could live with the occasional monster attack now and then, but this has begun to get excessive,” sighing while sinking back into the seat of the car.

“You get used to it, eventually. Especially after a month in a remote region of the mountains, an ancient temple and magical traps that apparently like to screw with you. That was a mission,” a look of complete exhaustion had taken over her face as she kept looking at the street in front of them.

“You know, that actually sounds somewhat fun, at least if you compare it with the one week trip with gramps into the mountains. Worst week of my entire life.”

“Is your grandfather really that bad that you would take possibly deadly traps without your Driver over him?” She looked over to him with a somewhat unconvinced look on her face.

“Ok, maybe not that bad, but still, glad that I finally have a good distance between me and him. You wouldn’t believe how cranky the old geezer could get. But he has his good sides, just buried deep down, that’s all.”

“Huh, if you say so.” The care grows ever slower until it completely stopped. “By the way, we are there.” Without wasting any more time she left the car and slammed the door shut behind her again. Now alone in the car, after sighing again, he slowly stood up and opened the door on his side, stepped out and stretched himself. “So, just to be sure, you want to do this?” Her look was of genuine concern.

While he avoided her look, he still replied with. “Yes, I have to do that, for myself.” Ocean just nodded and led the way into the building. A rather modern house, apparently the artist was rather well of. They walked past four police officers that made sure no one entered the crime scene. Some of the officers looked at him rather confused, probably couldn’t really blame him. After a rather long climb up the staircase, both arrived at the highest floor and with it a door covered by police tape.

Before they were allowed to enter both were handed white bodysuits. After they had managed to put on their respective new clothing they finally were allowed to enter the crime-scene, well would be if Ocean hadn’t stopped him right as he was about to. What followed was a rather lengthy explanation of what he could and couldn’t do. What it basically boiled down to was, don’t touch anything without my permission, don’t get your DNA anywhere, don’t take anything with you and leave everything as you found it. What he was allowed was to tell her when he saw something interesting and stay close to her.

After they finally finished both entered the apartment. The first thing they noticed was a rather large room with a glass front giving a good look over the city. The room itself was a mixture of kitchen and living room, nothing too out of the ordinary. The state the room was in however was something else, chairs were laying around, the table was cut in half and scorch marks could be seen all over the stone floor. Other interior was thrown around the place like a tornado had ravaged through the house. All while a small army of police officers was searching every knock and cranny of the room, placing small paper signs with numbers down, taking pictures and trying not to step on each other's toes.

The first few moments in the apartment were spend just watching the officers do their job. In a way it was impressive, so many people working together for one single goal, making sure that the tragedy that had happened here would not repeat itself. He was only snapped out of it by Ocean, who wanted to head to another, room. The moment she mentioned ‘the body’, it felled like the temperature suddenly dropped several degrees. A cold shiver ran down Phoenix's back and his breath grew heavier.

Still, he trotted after her, his eyes frantically wandering through the room, looking onto whatever seemed interesting at the moment. First, a slashed open pillow with singed feathers that were scattered all over the floor, then a broken glass bottle and last one particular large scorch mark on the wall. As they entered a small hallway, that leads to the rest of the rooms, even more, scorch marks and broken furniture littered the way. The air reeked of smoke and burned wood and it felt almost as if there was still heat given of off them. Still, it couldn’t come up against the coldness that crept up on him.

With every step further into the corridor, his feet grew heavier, making each subsequent step even harder. His breath grew more infrequent as well, sweet was pouring down his forehead and back. Slowly Phoenix body started to shake and as they reached the door, after what felt like an eternity, he could not hide it anymore.

“Phoenix, are you ok?” She had stopped right before the door at the end of the hallway and now was looking at him with concern. “You really don’t have to do this, really. We can just leave and you can wait in a café nearby and I’ll tell you everything afterward.”

Phoenix breathes in once and then replied slowly: “No, I need to do this. I just need to.” And with this, he clenched his fist, took a deep breath and stepped into the room.

The room was probably the worst of out of all of them. The scorch marks were everywhere and covered nearly every surface of the room. No part of the furniture was left whole, ever chared or cut to pieces. The windows had been shattered and a cold wind was blowing through the room. Then his eyes slowly focused on what was lying in the middle of the room. Even as he was trying to breathe slow and deep his breath grew ever more irregular and fast. His eyes seemed to refuse to wander to what was in the middle of the room. But slowly and steadily he convinced himself that he had to see it.

What lay there was a man, not older the thirty, unmoving. His skin was grey-blue while his hair was black. His clothing consisted of a brown shirt a paintbrush on it and black trousers, both completely torn up with wounds all over his body. Small blood splatters covered the floor around him. The worst was his eyes, staring at absolutely nothing and were completely glassy all while his face had a pained expression on it. And then there was the gaping hole in his chest like a pole had been rammed through it. His shirt was soaked in blood and the smell of it nearly made him puke right here and there, only quickly placing his hand over his mouth saved him from contaminating the crime scene.

He must have stared at the body for a while as he heard someone say something to him from behind. In a heartbeat he had spun around, now breathing heavily and stared at the person that had startled him so much, officer Shining Armor. “Everything ok? Do you need a moment?”

While wiping away sweat from his forehead he slowly replied: “No, no. I’m fine. Just ignore me.” During his reply he tried to avoid any eye contact with the officer, not wanting to give him any more ammunition to antagonize him.

“You are not fine, I can see that.” Phoenix looked even further away from the officer. “And there is no need to be ashamed about that. You just saw a dead body, not a picture or video, a real one. You think me or agent skies just took it when we saw our first one. No, I can’t speak for agent Skies but I couldn’t sleep properly for a whole week. Every time I close my eyes I saw her staring back at me with these glossy, dead eyes.”

Phoenix was quiet for a few moments, just staring at the officer. He had expected mockery or a comment over how unprofessional he was, but this, not in a lifetime. “I… I didn’t expect your sympathy. Thanks,” he replied, still not grasping what had actually happened right now.

“Really, you think that low of me? Well, I suppose. There is no shame in admitting that this is uncomfortable for you. It would actually concern me more if you hadn’t reacted this way. Shows you truly care. Means you are not a complete lost cause,” he chuckled, Phoenix after hesitating for a moment joining in.

“So, you can play nice,” both turned their heads and spotted Ocean smiling at both of them, apparently she had listened to the whole conversation. “And I thought you two will never get along.”

“Being nice to someone doesn’t mean you trust them.” And with that, he walked out of the room and left the two behind.

“Yeah, I think getting along might oversell it a bit, sorry,” he sighed and turned back to Ocean.

“You tried, but if I’m going, to be honest, I think he is slowly warming up to you, at least a bit. But regardless, we shouldn’t waste our time here and get back to business.”

He just nodded and followed her through the room to a man in the same white jumpsuit like they kneeling next to the body. “So, what can you tell me about our victim Doc?” She looked expectant at the man.

He in return stood up and opened a tablet he had previously wedged between his arm and body. “Well, our victim is the twenty-nine-year-old Paint Brush. A rather successful artist that has made a name for himself in the art world. He lived alone and has only a mother that also lives in the city. The most likely cause of death was probably the wound in his torso. Time of death was around three AM in the morning. We also found this next to his body,” he held up a paintbrush in a plastic bag, some blood plates were visible on it. “Probably the artifact or what once was the artifact.”

Ocean looked at the man with a rather confused look in her eyes. “So, you say the time of death was roughly around three AM? How did no one hear a thing at this early in the morning? The apartment looks like a major struggle had taken place here and without the shadow of a doubt caused a lot of noise, but no one heard anything? Strange, any idea Doc why this could be the case?”

The man just shook his head and replied: “Well, nothing more the ‘magic’ sadly. I don’t know to be honest.” He turned back to examine the body and didn’t pay them any attention anymore.

“Looks like the modus operandi of our serial killer. Scorch marks, a random object next to the victim and no witnesses. Did anything catch your eye?” He just shook his head and returned his gaze to the moving body before him.

“Dammit, oh well, nothing major anyway. I just wanted to see if you would see something that we wouldn’t,” she replied, but Phoenix wasn’t really listening. He just stared at the dead body in front of him. Slowly his disgust and uncomfortableness turned into sadness over the lost life and then into anger. His fist clenched together with growing intensity. Deep down his blood was starting to boil like never before. A low growl escaped his lungs and his face took on an angry expression.

“No,” he muttered under his own breath.

That was when Ocean noticed that he hadn’t answered her until now. “Phoenix?”

He ignored her and simply continued to mutter to himself. “Not again!”

“Phoenix? Are you ok?” She reached over to him, laying her hand on his shoulder.

In an instant he had turned around he stared daggers in her direction, at least for a second until he shook his head and looked far more relaxed. “Is something Ocean?”

She looked at him with concern for a second longer then replied: “No, but I think you might need a bit of fresh air. Might get your mind a bit off of this. It seems to affect you quite a lot. So, why not take a little walk, eat something and let us work here. You did your part, so just take a short break.”

He was about to protest, but her stern looks mad him stoop right before he was about to object. “Ok, sure, why not. Even if I don’t think I need it. Should I get something for you too? Like, maybe a donut?”

Her expression softened a bit then she replied: “Why not, get me something as well.”

He slowly turned around and walked towards the door only to turn around again and ask something: ”Hey Shining, do you want something as well?”

The officer just looked dumbfounded for a moment until he simply replied: “Sure, I’ll take two plain sugar donut.”

Phoenix weakly smiled back. “Good, got it. So, see ya!” Without waiting for an answer he walked down the hallway and towards the exit of the apartment. As soon as he was out of sight his expression turned into the angry grimace he had before Ocean had snapped him out of it.

“You think he is ok?” Shining asked Ocean, who in return eyed the officer somewhat surprised.

“I… I don’t know, but I’m sure if he isn't he can get through it. Just to be sure I’ll keep an eye on him. Do you think he is ok?” She asked in return in a subdued voice.

“My honest opinion, no, not right now. But if he really has the quality that you see in him, he will get through it.”

“I hope so,” she sighed and returned to her investigation as did Shining.

--------------<

Shortly thereafter he was walking through the streets of Canterlot City, not entirely looking where he was going. His hands were stuffed into his pockets and his eyes stared aimlessly at the ground. A random can that lay in his way was swiftly kicked aside, rolling onto the street, every time it bounced clanking loudly. Some eyes moved their glances towards him, but right now he couldn’t care less. He wasn’t even sure where he was going, this part of the city was unfamiliar to him.

He wandered around aimlessly for about ten minutes, his anger still fresh and still hadn’t found a place to eat, and it was frustrating. Was this area too good for a common bakery or what? He was about just throw in the towel and look up the next bakery on his phone as he heard someone call out to him. He quickly lifted his head and looked around the area to figure out who had called out to him, but to his annoyance, he could not make out someone that looked familiar enough to call out for him.

Then he heard the voice again, this time actually able to figure out where it came from. Right behind him and after a bit of searching he managed to figure out who he was looking for, one of Thunders customers and someone he had to spend a bit of time with, Rarity. Next to her were two of her friends, a purple girl with glasses, as far as he remembered was her name Twilight, and a pale yellow girl with pink hair that was standing a bit behind her two friends, Fluttershy.

“Hey, Phoenix. Nice to see you here. How is Thunder doing, you know after this dreadful incident?” She waved at him with a bright smile, Twilight also joining in, as well as Fluttershy, who still didn’t step out from behind her friends.

“Hey girls. Well since he had a good standing with his customers, everything is working out just fine, even if he is somewhat annoyed over the, how did he phrase it, oh, right, ruckus that the workers are causing and fearing that he will go insane over it. So, the usual really,” he weakly giggled a bit, but ultimately it died down rather quickly.

“Darling is everything ok?” She sounded somewhat worried and the three girls stepped closer to him.

He just sighed in return and replied: “I’m fine, just a bit angry at the moment, but really nothing you girls should worry about. I’m fine.” The three girls didn’t look convinced in the slightest. He was just about to walk off as an idea struck his head. “You wouldn’t know where the next bakery is, would you?”

Before Rarity could say anything Twilight had pulled out her phone, tipped on it a few times and shout: “Ha, got something. Not five-hundred meters from here; even got five stars. I can tell…” She didn’t get any further since Rarity clamped her hand over Twilights mouth, rendering everything afterward into incomprehensible mumbling.

“Or we could lead you to it. I’m starving anyway and I haven’t properly thanked you for coming to the fashion show with me. So why don’t I pay for your meal, as a form of thank you? You don’t mind girls, do you?” Both her friends just shook their head. She smiled at him with the most innocent expression he had ever seen.

“Well, I’m getting something for two friends as well, so I’m not sure if it would be…”

“I insist on it. If it’s only for two friends I can assure you I can pay. You seem to need a bit of cheering up anyway, so what do you say, dear?”

Phoenix sighed in return but ultimately related: “Fine, why not. A bit of company won't hurt me. So where is that bakery now?” That was when his stomach started to growl, his anger had distracted him apparently enough that he hadn’t noticed how hungry he truly was. The girls just chuckled at this.

--------------<

It hadn’t taken too much time to reach the bakery and within a few minutes, the four were sitting at one of the tables on the small plaza before the shop. He couldn’t quite put his finger on it, but the plaza with its fountain in the middle seemed somewhat familiar. Still, right now he was enjoying three chocolate muffins and a hot chocolate. Next to him stood two small paper bags, one with two plain sugar donuts and one with the weirdest thing he could find, mayoress-donuts. As strange as it sounded, Ocean would probably like it, he hoped. The three girls had settled for a cup of coffee each, two blubbery muffins for Twilight and Fluttershy and a piece of cake for Rarity.

“So, now darling, what is it that made you so angry? It has to be something awful to get someone like you so riled up,” she asked him after having taken a sip of her coffee.

Phoenix was just about to bite into his second muffin as he was interrupted by Rarity's question. He slowly closed his mouth again placed the muffin back down. The anger he had felled before now returned, the fragile relaxation he had recovered just now shattered in an instant. “Really, Rarity, I appreciate this, but this is something I don’t want to bother you with it. I’m fine, just give me some time.”

This time it was Twilight who replied to him: “You know, not telling anyone about your problems only leads to more of them. Every time I see my brother lately, he is always stressed out and he refuses to tell me. Even when I asked his girlfriend, she couldn't give me any answers and it is eating him up, I can see it. I also had problems with fitting in and I wished I had friends as good as the ones now to talk to. Baring it alone only creates more problems. I can assure you that.”

“It’s really sweet that you girls want to help me, but there are just things you have to deal with at your own pace. Still, I very much appreciate. On another note, you asked how everything for Thunder and me is going, how is it for you. Is school as boring as you would imagine it?” Phoenix jokingly replied.

Fluttershy seemed to be about to speak as Twilight answered him quite enthusiastically: “Oh, great, how could school ever be boring? Especially with such good friends.” While she spoke she quickly glanced over to a purple neclair that hung around her neck, one that was rather similar to the ones her friends wore.

“Yeah, sure, as if sitting in a room half of the day an listening to someone blabber on about useless stuff seems so fun,” someone muttered, but still audible for Phoenix.

He looked confused around, this hadn’t been one of the voices of the girls, no, this one was more masculine. “Who was that? Twilight, who was that?”

Her expression suddenly shifted from her previous relaxed look to something more nervous. “What do you mean? I didn’t hear anything, did you girls?” She frantically looked to her friends, while making one of the most unconvincing expressions he had ever seen.

“Positively not,” Rarity immediately joined in, shifting nervously on her seat.

“I… I didn’t hear anything,” Fluttershy basically squeaked out.

While he eyed them rather unconvinced, he finally relented and sighed in defeat. “Ok, probably wasn’t anything.”

“Puh!” There it was again, he jumped up from his seat and frantically looked around for the origin of the voice. That draw some confused looks towards him, but right now he didn’t really care. In a short moment, while he was looking away from Twilight, she bumped her backpack slightly with her hand. The moment he looked back, it seemed like nothing had happened.

“Seriously, what is that?” He was slowly sitting back down, taking a rather large bite out of his muffin, and chewing it rather forcefully. “You have to have heard it this time. Come on girls,” he pleadingly looked at them, awaiting a response.

To his dismay, they just shook their head. “Are you sure you are alright? You nearly seem as paranoid as Shining when something involves Alchemy,” she nervously chuckled, hoping that she could shift the conversation into another direction.

Phoenix just chuckled: “Someone named Shining that is skeptical of Alchemy, that… that sounds familiar. Wait, your brother is not coincidently named Shining Armor and works for the local police?” The chuckle quickly died down and was replaced with confusion and disbelief.

“Actually, all that is right. Wait, you know my brother?” Now it was Twilights turn to stare at him in disbelief.

“Well, that’s a long story but it basically boils down to, you know,” he stammered a bit, but it didn’t take long till he regained his composure and continued, even if it was still a bit fast: ”I know this woman that works for this MRG organization, that takes on the monsters with the Kamen Riders. And she asked me to hang out in her breaks with her. And just half an hour ago she texted me to get something to eat,” pointing at the two paper bags. “Not the first time, one of them is for Shining, the old grump. But that you are his sister just… just is surprising, you are so friendly and he is always so grumpy.”

She just chuckled a bit and replied: “Oh, he just is really concentrated on his work mostly, but if you actually get to know him he is really nice and someone you can depend on. He can just be somewhat hard to get to know, that is all. I’m sure if you spend enough time with him you two will become friends.”

“Hmh, maybe, he seemed to be a bit nicer in the last few days, who knows. Wouldn’t hurt at least trying.”

“So, who is that girl you were talking about? Perhaps your girlfriend?” Rarity asked with an innocent smile on her face.

The hot chocolate he had just sipped from was suddenly ejected from his mouth and onto the floor. What followed was a massive coughing fit until he finally recovered enough to answer: “What!? No. Ocean is just a friend, nothing more.” He still coughed through his answer but it seemed the majority of it was over.

“Are you ok?”Fluttershy asked concern in her voice.

“Yes, yes, I’m fine just need to breathe a bit,” he replied, still catching his breath. His head had taken a deeper shade of red, however, if it was because of embarrassment or his previous coughing fit was not really clear.

“Are you sure? You seem awfully defens…” Rarity's snarky comment was interrupted by someone running past them, grabbing Fluttershy backpack and nearly throwing her off the chair.

Jumping up immediately he raced after the thief, who had dashed into an alleyway, Phoenix hot on his trail. As he reached the alley the thief that was clad in a dirty green jacket with hoodie and scarf were currently running over some trashcans to get over a metal fence that separated the small alley. Phoenix picked up his speed and hoped that he would make it over the small fence in time.

While he climbed he looked in the direction where the thief might have gone, spotting him just running around the corner of the alley. Cursing under his breath he finally managed to pull himself over the fence, that was when he heard a scream of utter terror, picking up his pace again he rushed around the corner and stopped right then and there. The backpack was hastily through to the side, it content scattered on the ground, but what had him caused to stop was neither of those things, it was what was standing right in front of him.

A giant muscle packed beast stood before him, its skin made out of magma and charred rocks floating on it, somewhat resembling armor. Its hands, torso, and legs were all covered in the rather rough rocks that were slightly moving over the body. At this moment the beast turned around and you could see that the head of the beast was clad in some sort of rock helmet and reminded him in a way of a skull. Glowing red eyes stared at him out of empty sockets. But the strangest part was the ears; they were massive and hanging over his back like two capes. The whole beast reminded him somewhat of a rabbit, a rabbit born in an active volcano, but a rabbit nonetheless.

An unearthly scream was unleashed by the monster, snapping him out of his little shock state. Without even a second thought he pulled out his Driver, put it on and placed one of his Magic Discs in it. At this moment he heard voices coming from the other end of the alley, he had to act quickly. And with that, he spun the Disc.

\ MAGIC DISC DETECTED! /

“Henshin!”

\ THUNDER DISC ACTIVATED! /

After the lightning that had surrounded him had subsided he was clad in his blue armor and ready to take this rabid, that looked like it came straight out of Tartarus, on.

The moment he had entered his battle stance the Corrupted already charged straight at him. With his super speed, it was not really that hard to dodge the attempted bodyslam of his opponent. Still, the limited space he had to work with didn’t make it any easier. Right now Alchemy was hugging the wall as the colossus stumbled past him and right into the next wall. Shrill scream could be heard from around the corner.

Without a second thought, he raced back around to confirm his suspicions. And indeed they were correct, Twilight, Rarity and Fluttershy all had climbed over the fence and stared in shock at the monster. What was strange about this, however, was that all three wore different clothing. Rarity the same as she had worn at the time Carousal Boutique has been overrun by Remnants and the other two outfits that were rather similar.

Twilight had an outfit that was made out of blue and purple material, some crystals on her back that resembled wings and a purple goggle. Fluttershy, on the other hand, had an outfit consisting out of lush green, light blue, and pink, with no wings on it. As he took a closer look he spotted rather large ears and ponytails on all off the girls. But he was not the only one that had noticed the presence of the girls, the Corrupted had as well. After stepping away from the wall he had just run into he stared at the girls, tilting his head slightly and slowly started to walk towards them. The spot of the wall he had just touched melting behind him.

“Oh, no you don’t” and charged straight at his opponent, during which he jumped of the ground kicked with his full force right onto one of his armor plates. The Corrupted did indeed stop his advance towards the girls, but just slowly turned around and stared with his burning eyes at him, a truly terrifying image. And just like expected the monster slammed his fist right there where the Rider had just stood mere moments ago, the concrete under his fist starting to melt.

“Hey Bunny, would you be so kind and step away from the ladies? Thanks!” The Corrupted again charged straight at them, Alchemy again evading the Colossus, even though he could feel the unbearable heat coming off of the beast. This time it crashed into some large trashcans that started to melt soon thereafter. “And now to you. I don’t know what this get-up is you are wearing, but you shouldn’t be here. Let me deal with this Corrupted, don’t worry I’ll make sure he doesn’t cause any damage,” as quick look over the already partially melted alley and added: “Well, any significant damage.”

He expected the girls to nod and leave the way they had come from, but to his dismay, that was not what happened: “Darling, please. As if we could leave you alone with this ruffian. Don’t worry we can take care of ourselves, right ladies?” Twilight nodded confidently while Fluttershy nodded way more subdued.

At this moment the Corrupted shoot back up again, roared and started to walk towards them. He was about to rush towards him again as Rarity hold out her arms towards the monster and said: “Don’t worry, I got this.” Moments later a swarm of ethereal diamonds rained down upon the Corrupted. The behemoth covered his face with his hands and actually stumbled back a bit and back into the wall, which began to smoke again. “See, we can be helpful.”

He was about to reply as the Corrupted unleashed another deafening scream, Rarity, and the others clutching their ears. With the attack that held him against the wall gone the monster finally advanced again and this time it through a ball of lava straight ta him, ignoring the girls completely. Before he even attempted to evade the attack, the lump of lava stopped midair. A look of confusion had taken over his face and he tilted his head, trying to figure out what had just happened.

“Good, job Twilight!” Rarity shouted out. As he turned his head to find out what she meant, he could see Twilight holding out her arms, quite similar to how Rarity had done it moments before. She was struggling to keep the magic up, sweat dripping down her face and her expression was rather tense. After seeing how much effort she put in stopping the attack he didn’t waste any time and removed the Thunder Disc from his Driver and hold it out in front of him.

\ Thunder Disc Attack Mode! /

\ Thunder Tonfa! /

Moments later he held his weapons in a firm grasp and charged straight at his opponent, slamming right into his stomach. This time he didn’t hit its armor and the weapon simply went through his body, before the tonfa could actually start to melt he quickly pulled it out again. The wasted time with this attack was quickly punished as the fist of the Corrupted slammed into his stomach, sending him flying towards the girls. Twilight quickly let go of the lump of lava and caught the Rider before he could land.

Still, his stomach felled like it was being cooked and he had only been hit with the hot stone. After Twilight had let him down, he managed to reply while gritting his teeth in pain: “Thanks!” All three girls looked worried at the Rider, Fluttershy probably the most. The Corrupted was about to charge straight at him again as something blue shoot past him and straight for the Corrupted.

It was Charge; she landed on the chest of the Corrupted with her feet and pushed herself back, landing right next to him. “We leave you alone for half an hour and you get into a fight. Why am I not surprised.”

“Good to see you too Charge. Can we hold this off till later, right now I’m kinda busy,” he replied while slowly standing back up. As they spoke he turned the Thunder Disc back into its original form.

“Sure. But who are these lovely ladies? You know that you should not bring someone to work do you?” She asked him somewhat unnerved.

“Hey, we are here of our on fruition and can defend us just fine,” Rarity interrupted Alchemys answer.

“Right, we can help. Just ask Alchemy,” Twilight added. Meanwhile, Fluttershy weekly nodded.

Charge looked at her partner looking for an answer. He just shrugged and put a new Magic Disc in his Driver. Meanwhile, Charge had pulled her Charge Magnum out and fired six shots at the slowly approaching behemoth. While all shots found their target it didn’t seem to affect it in any way shape or form. “Dammit!”

\ MAGIC DISC DETECTED! /

\ EARTH DISC ACTIVATED! /

An orange whirlwind consumed the Rider, small rocks could be seen all around him. As everything had died down again, he stood there in a yellow-orange armor, the golden ornaments that decorated all his other forms were still quite visible. On his chest, the symbol had changed to one that represents earth. His shoulder pads looked similar to a rock, ruth, and uneven. The horns on the helmet now looked rather rocky as well, with unsymmetrical sharp edges. And his eyes had taken on a light blue color.

During his transformation Charge had rushed towards the Corrupted and had pulled out her Stun Batons. She evaded the lumps of lava the monster was throwing at her with ease and within a second she had crossed the gap between them. Moments later she was wailing on the Corrupted and slamming her weapons continuously down on him. The Corrupted was slowly getting pushed back against the wall, well until one of her attacks missed her opponent, to her utter shock. As she glanced over to her weapons she noticed that they had started to melt, the moment she looked back at her opponent she was greeted with a hot fist to the face.

Like Alchemy before she was could hit the ground, just like Alchemy she was caught by Twilights magic. To his release, her helmet hadn’t started to melt but was rather charred. Then a new voice could be heard coming down the alley. “Charge? Are you here? I came as fast as I… Twilight?! What are you doing here?”

Suddenly Charge fell unceremoniously to the floor and Twilight stared in shock at her brother. “Shining, I can explain this,” she stammered, trying to find her composure again.

Meanwhile, the Corrupted gathered energy in his fist and was about to throw it at Alchemy. As the monster unleashed another one of its screams he immediately spun around and saw how the Corrupted was throwing a huge lump of lava in his direction. Reacting quickly he slammed his fist on the ground, jumped back and flicked his finger. Not a second too late a pillar made out of earth erupted from the ground, the moment it came into contact with the newly formed pillar the entire alley was covered in a thick dust, making it impossible to see what was going on.

Expecting an attack he readied himself, but to his surprise, nothing came. The dust had settled enough that he at least could see relatively clearly he noticed that his opponent was nowhere to be seen. Without wasting any more time Alchemy rushed around the corner only to find nothing besides the previously disregarded backpack. “Dammit, it got away!”

It didn't take long before someone caught up to him, to his surprise it was Fluttershy. She frantically reached for her backpack and looked inside. Then she relaxed in an instant and retrieved a small white bunny from the backpack and began to cuddle him. “Oh, thank goodness, you are ok Angle. I was so worried.” The rabbit meanwhile was gasping for air. “Oh, sorry.” She loosened her grip on him and apparently the rabbit was quite pleased with this.

“Now to you young girl. Do you know in how much danger you were?” he could here Shining Armors rather angry voice coming from around the corner. He sighed and walked back towards the rest of the group, Fluttershy following close behind after she had picked up her backpack again.

As he could see the others again he noticed that Ocean had transformed back. Her face had taken a bit of damage, small parts of the skin on her cheeks had been scraped off and her flesh had been exposed. Adding to that was the fact that her face had was covered in ash, all in all, she looked rather beat up. “Everything ok?”

“Nothing major, it’ll heal in time,” she replied, wincing as she spoke.

“Ok, if you say so,” he replied, not entirely convinced.

“Just… just let me explain Shining,” Twilight desperately tried to calm her brother down.

“Oh, I would love to hear that one. And believe me, we have time,“ he replied rather annoyed.

“I have the feeling this is going to be a long day,” he whispered to Ocean, she just sighed.

“And you!” The officer pointed at him. “We are going to have a talk, do you understand me!” Now it was his turn to gulp in dread.

To Protect A Butterfly - Like a Rock in the Surf

It was uncomfortably silent in the grey room. There was nothing in it besides a table, five chairs and a large mirror. Light blue light shined down on all five persons in the room. Twilight was the first to speak up: “Shining, I can explain this.” She pleadingly looked at her brother.

Her older brother was about to answer when Ocean stopped him and replied: “I would love to hear it. Especially what these are,” she held up three separate plastic bags with three different necklaces in them. The girls winced and looked at each other nervously. “Come on, you are not in trouble. Just tell us.”

“Not in trouble? They were in the possession of magical artifacts and worst of all she,” he pointed at Twilight, “didn’t even tell me!” Shining was furious and probably would have gone on even more if she hadn’t stopped him again, his sister lowering her gaze to the floor.

“Officer Armor, these girls might have been in the possession of magical artifacts, but until now, none of them used them for any illegal activity, as far as we know. This is unprecipitated until now everyone in possession of one has fallen victim to their influence and turned into a Corrupted. I would like to know what is different about them or are you implying your sister would misuse them.” He shook his head, still, his stern look on Twilight didn’t weaver. “Then, you may carry on Miss Sparkle.”

“Ok,” she weakly replied, avoiding the look of her brother. “It all started during the Friendship Games, a contest between Canterlott Highschool and Crystal Prep.” She was interrupted by Ocean, who had tipped around on the tablet that lay before her.

“Oh, yes. The Friendship Games incident. You were corrupted by stray magic if the information we could gather was correct. While it is certainly interesting to hear the events from your perspective, we have no information about these necklaces, so are they connected to the incident or not? However, I would like to hear about the other incidents later, like the one at the Fall Formal, the Battle of the Bands and if you are connected to the incident in the mall of Canterlot. But right now I’m more interested in how you can use magic without being corrupted or using a Rider System to bypass the effects,” she looked at the three girls with a calculating look, somewhat diminished by her plastered up wounds that had quickly been treated.

“Oh… Ok. Girls?” Twilight she quickly glanced at her friends next to her, an uncomfortable expression on her face.

“I think being honest would be the best option right now dear. If we are not, they’ll figure it out as soon as they question Applejack. You know how bad she is at lying,” Rarity sheepishly replied, trying to avoid eye contact. Meanwhile, Fluttershy just silently nodded in agreement.

“Ok, these are geodes we found in Camp Everfree. The moment we entered the camp each and every one of my friends and me started to develop magical abilities like telekinesis, the ability to create ethereal constructs out of nothing or to talk to animals.” She gestured to herself, Rarity and Fluttershy respectively.”The geodes managed to corrupt the director of the camp. She was possed by the wish to keep the camp alive.” Her expression had taken on a more sober tone. “She became overwhelmed by the magic and tried to force everyone that was currently at the camp to stay with her there forever. We managed to recover the geodes and to save her and everyone at the camp. And ever since we used the geodes to help people.”

Ocean looked concentrated on her tablet until she finally sighed and retorted: “So, we don’t have much on anything regarding Camp Everfree. We have some strong energy readings in a short time period, but besides that, nothing. We would greatly appreciate it if you could fill us in on this whole incident in more detail later. But back to the geodes, you say you used them to help others, I assume quite frequently? They match smaller magical energy readings we picked up all over the city.” The three girls nodded nearly simultaneous. “Fascinating, I’m sure Ivory will want to have a word with you later. I hope you don’t have anything planned for today because this is going to take a while. But this still doesn’t answer why you were not corrupted by the geodes, like anyone else that came into contact with magical artifacts.”

Twilight seemed rather intrigued by the question as well, and after a short moment, she replied: “Well, I don’t know for sure, but when we use our magic we generally do it to help people, not for our own desires. Or it could be connected to our bonds through the magic of friendship,” she added, Ocean staring at her in confusion.

“Magic of friendship? You wouldn’t be surprised if I found this quite strange. I might have seen my fair share of weirdness in this line of work, but the magic of friendship does stretch it a bit. No offense.” Ocean looked at the three girls not particularly convinced.

This time Rarity was the first to respond, and she huffed quite displeased at the Ocean: “With all due respect. We have saved seven people with these powers from themselves, we should know what we are talking about.” After she had finished she held her head up and crossed her arms.

“Exactly, I can assure you that the magic of friendship exists, if not this world wouldn’t even be here anymore,” Twilight added, without even once losing eye contact with Ocean. Fluttershy just weekly nodded in agreement.

“Well, if you insist, maybe there is something to your claims, but I just can’t fathom it. Regardless, I’ll ask an expert on the subject if there is any basis for your claims, or if you just don’t grasp the finer details of magic.”

“Oh, you have an expert on magic in your organization? Of course, you do, your name is the Magical Research Group after all. Could I meet him, I have some interesting theories on how magic works in this world and would love to discuss them with someone as, or even more knowledgeable on the subject as me. Oh, this is going to be great, talking about different wavelengths, energy readings and…” She stopped her gleeful rant as she noticed that everyone in the room had started staring at her. She giggled sheepishly why rubbing the back of her head: “I’m sorry! Before I came to CHS I studied magic and the chance to exchange data with someone that is an expert on the subject kind overwhelmed me.”

“Well, Ivory is a rather eccentric, but if you are cooperative I can ask him. However, I can’t promise you anything since Ivory has a mind of his own when it comes to stuff like this, but I’ll try my best.”

“Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you so much,” she energetically replied, her eyes basically sparkling.

Ocean was about to respond as Shining spoke up, having stayed surprisingly quiet for a while: “That is all well and good, but why didn’t you tell me about these geodes? I’m your brother don’t you trust me? Or were you scared that I would take it away from you because I work with the MRG?” A look of disapproval was directed at his sister.

“I… There… I just never found the right moment to tell you, especially after the incident during the Friendship Games I didn’t know how to tell you without worrying you too much. I wanted to tell you I just didn’t know how,” she pleadingly looked at her brother.

“I… You know Twiley, you can come to me with all your problems, you don’t need to be afraid of what I might say. If you just talked to me about this I would have listened,” he smiled back at her, and she quickly joined in.

“I don’t want to ruin this delightful sibling bonding moment, but you haven’t told us what happens to our geodes after we are done here, or what will happen to us for the matter,” Rarity spoke up, her voice rather fragile and doubtful.

“Oh, of course. Well, first we are going to go through all the magical incidents you were involved with in great detail and that will probably take a while, afterward, I’ll let Ivory question you about your magic and all other things connected to it. And after that, we will see what happens with your necklaces if we are going to keep them for further study or are we going to give them back to you. But you are not in any sort of trouble, you didn’t do anything other than help people as far as we know so we can’t charge you with anything, besides that I like to reward bravery and the willingness to do the right thing,” she finished and eyed the three girls carefully.

“Ok, if that is what you want then ok,” Twilight answered not entirely convinced. ”Just one question, is Phoenix ok? We run after him, but couldn’t find him after the battle, did you find him?” The three girls stared at her in a mix of anticipation and fear.

To their relatives, she smiled as she heard what they had asked: “Oh, Phoenix is fine. We found him shortly thereafter and he is ok, said he ran away as soon as he saw the monster right down the alleyway. Said Alchemy saved him and so on.” After having heard her response the last concerns were washed away from their faces and all three relaxed.

--------------<

In another room with a few tables and chairs, Phoenix and Ivory stared through a large window and observed the conversation. As he listened about the part of him running away as soon as the monster appeared he started to frown. “Run away as soon as I saw the monster, couldn’t have made it sound more heroic, like: ‘Phoenix chased after the thief’ or something like that.”

Ivory was quick to reply with a rather smug grin on his face: “Oh, I think she did hide your identity wonderfully. Better as you ever did. She gave you a good and convincing alibi, what more do you want?”

His frown still not disappearing, he begrudgingly replied: “Yeah, sure, but it could still have been a bit more dignified. I don’t know, just feel like I’m being undersold.”

The scientist just stared at him somewhat perplexed: “What do you mean? I hope you don’t want to…”

Phoenix immediately interrupted him, waving his arms in front of him, his face turning crimson: “Oh, goodness, no! What are you even thinking? I just don’t want to look like a complete scaredy cat.”

Ivory adjusted his glasses and continued: “Well, that makes more sense. And the one I thought you wanted to impress already knows the full story, so lying here wouldn’t help your chances.” A smug smirk crossed his lips as he stared at Phoenix.

Even if it didn’t seem possible, he turned even deeper shades of red and started to stammer: “I… I… I don’t know what you mean.” His eyes were frantically wandering all over the room without any clear goal in mind.

Ivory's smirk only grows in intensity as he witnessed his reaction. “Oh, come on now, you know what I mean. I might spend a lot of time in my lab, but basic social interactions are not beyond me. Even I am capable of noticing it.”

“I… You… I mean… On a completely unrelated note, what is your opinion on this magic of friendship stuff? Ridiculous, or actually has some merit to it?” He had put up his most sheepish of grins and was internally being that he would take the bait.

Ivory sighed but ultimately relented and returned: “Well, the idea that the bonds between humans could create magic at first sounds poposturus, but it might actually hold up to scrutiny. We had several cases where magic affected the mental state of the user. That the opposite might be possible is actually not outside the realm of possibility. Still, I have to research this particular theory for a bit.”

“So, if you want to research this ‘magic of friendship’ what are you gonna do with the girls? They are the only ones that have experience with this kind of stuff. You are not going to keep them around and performed inhumane experiments on them, will you?” He nervously looked at Ivory, who just looked rather annoyed back at him.

“Sometimes I wonder if people just watch too many superhero movies. No, I will not break the law and keep these girls as test subjects. Seriously, what are you even thinking of me? I’m not a mad scientist, I’m a normal one. I know it is hard to believe, but not everything is like in your little comic book world with supervillains and heroes. We live in a perfectly normal world where people act like normal human beings,” he replied back with a rather agitated tone.

Phoenix just snickered and returned: “And you say that to the superhero who is currently dealing with a monster attack basically weekly. Oh and the one that is currently hunting a supervillain.”

“Point taken, but to come back to your original question. My plan is to ask them if I can run some tests on them, completely voluntarily. With how much Miss Sparkle seems to be interested in a talk with me, this shouldn’t be too hard. And I’ll keep the ‘geodes’ for a while as well. I’m interested if they are fundamentally different from other magical artifacts. And afterward, we will decide if we can give them back since I would like to study their effect on the subjects for a prolonged period of time,” his expression had filled with glee and anticipation, rubbing his hands together while he spoke.

“Don’t let Shining hear you. I think he won't appreciate it if talk about using his sister as a guinea pig. Just saying.”

The scientist just huffed and returned: “Oh, I’m well aware of this. I’m not stupid. I know who to talk to about what. And with the new laboratory that is going to be ready next week, I can finally work in an acceptable environment again and I can stay as far away from officer Armor as possible, so I don’t have to be careful around him.”

A look of confusion crossed Phoenixes faces: “Wait, I only heard about the new buildings recently. How can it be that it is already near its completion? I know the MRG is good, but this takes the cake.”

Ivory smirked back at him and smugly replied: “Oh, not only the laboratory but the local headquarters as well. Both ready within the next week. And you would be surprised how fast you can make something like this happen if you use already existing buildings and just modify them. Also helps that we already started the process before you even became active. This area was too interesting to just let unexplored, you know.”

“Makes sense. So, you don’t mind giving me the addresses of the new buildings? I would rather learn it from you guys then come here and ask for directions,” he sheepishly smiled at Ivory.

He in return just sighed: “Just ask Ocean, she’ll be very willing to help, I’m sure of it. But one thing, don’t visit me, like ever! I can finally concentrate on my work again and I don’t want someone like you to interpret my research. Did I make myself clear?”

“You know, I’m starting to think only Ocean is a nice person here.”

“Did I make myself clear?” He repeated with growing intensity.

“Yeah, yeah sure. I’ll just visit you when Ocean insists on it. Understood, you don’t like me, I get it,” his voice growing rather agitated.

“I wouldn’t call it disliking you, I just prefer to be uninterrupted when I work. You are, how do I put this? Oh, right, bearable is the word I was looking for. It could be so much worse.”

This had taken him somewhat by surprise. “Thanks? I guess. Maybe you aren’t as bad as I thought. Maybe you might actually like me one day.”

“Don’t push it,” he coldly replied.

“Sure,” he chucklingly replied.

“Ah, it seems Ocean is finished with her interrogation. We should probably stay a bit longer so the girls don’t figure out your identity.”

While Ivory had spoken Phoenix had pulled out his Driver and one of the Magic Disks. “Yeah, about that. I wanted to speak to the girls again before they are going to be occupied again for awhile, so to say. You don’t mind do you?”

The scientist stared at him for a moment. “I thought you wanted to keep your identity secret? Or do you want to… No, not in here!”

But it was already too late to stop him. “I would step back a bit.” And right thereafter he had equipped the Driver, placed the Magic Disc inside it and started to spin it. Ivory jumped to the edge of the room as quickly as he could.

\ MAGIC DISC DETECTED! /

“Henshin!”

\ WIND DISC ACTIVATED! /

After he had finished his transformation he had dawned his emerald green armor, now standing in a room that had been consumed by utter chaos. Papers lay around, the chairs and tables lay on the floor and worst of all Ivory were glaring at him with completely windswept hair. “You imbecile! Why didn’t you think for a moment before you did this? I could have gotten you a broom closet or something more subtle, but no you had to make a complete mess out of this room.”

“Yeah, sorry. I didn’t think too much about it. Just thought, this wouldn’t cause to much trouble, should have waited for your ok,” he sheepishly rubbed the back of his helmet with his hand and stared at the wall, avoiding Ivory's glare.

“Breath Ivory, breath,” he muttered to himself. “Just think about the laboratory and all the experiments you are going to make.” After a short while of heavy breathing, he continued. “What are you still doing here? You already are transformed, so go out there. Don’t look at me like that, what done is done, at least use it.”

He stared at him for a moment and then rushed towards the door, not without shouting back: “Thanks, and I’ll make it up to you!” And with that, he slammed the door shut behind him, nearly catching his scarf in the door.

“Uh, Kamen Riders. Why can’t they just act like normal people? They are driving me nuts,” he sighed and started to pick up the pieces of paper that had been scattered throughout the whole room. “At least he didn’t do it intentionally, I think.”

--------------<

Outside Phoenix nearly run into Ocean and just managed to stop merely centimeters before her, she staring him right into his red bug eyes with a rather confused look in his eyes. He, in turn, looked back, both standing there awkwardly for a few seconds.

“Hey Ocean, I see you are finished with the interrogation.” She awkwardly nodded back at him in return. “You wouldn’t mind if I talked to the girls for a moment, now would you?”

She continued to stare at the Rider for a few more moments till she flatly replied: “Sure, why not? Just don’t make it too long. We are on a schedule here.”

“Thanks, Ocean. You are the best.” And with that, he walked past her and towards the girls.

“Thanks, I think,” she replied with uncertainty in her voice and just kept staring at where the Rider had been mere moments ago.

“Hey girls. Nice to see you. Hope the Ocean and Shining weren’t too rough on you,” he waved at them, they all seeming somewhat perplexed by the sudden appearance of the Rider, all three just shaking there heads. “Fantastic, you wouldn’t mind if I talk to you for a moment?” Before the girls even had any chance to react he already continued: “Great, I just wanted to thank you girls for the help. Really, I’m impressed that you didn’t just run away from the Corrupted when you saw it.”

After a few more seconds of awkward silence, Rarity was the first to speak up again: ”Oh, thank you darling, but we really didn’t do much.”

“Oh, don’t sell yourself short. You really helped us out. You can be proud of that.”

This was when Fluttershy weakly returned: “I… I’m sorry I couldn’t help.” Her gaze had wandered towards the ground.

“Oh darling, you did everything you could.”

“Exactly. That you didn’t run away and stood by your friends, this in and of itself is impressive. I don’t know many people that would stand by their friends whatever happens.” She slowly shifted her gaze over to where her friends and Alchemy were standing. “And besides that, if you are really connected to the previous magical incidents in the city, I have to thank you twofold.“ He pulled out the Flame Disc and showed it to the girls. “Because if I never heard of the magic in this city I never would have come here and if that were the case I would never have become a Kamen Rider, so thank you, girls, really.”

Twilight immediately stepped closer and examined the Disc thoroughly. Alchemy just staring at her, unsure of how to react as he heard the voice of Fluttershy again. “Thank you. I’m glad we could help.” Her voice now sounded a lot less stressed and timid, a smile having replaced her unsecured expression from before.

“No problem. But judging from how officer Armor is looking at me I think I should let you back to whatever he wanted to do with you… That sounded worse than it actually is… I think I’ll just leave. See ya!” With that, he slowly stepped away from the girls, who looked at him either with shocked or confused expressions and was about to hush into a broom closet to turn back as Ocean reached out for him.

“Hey Alchemy, I wanted to talk to you for a moment. Officer Armor, would you please get these girls to my officer?” Shining nodded I return and lead the girls down the hallway, all while keeping an eye on his sister in particular.

Before he could answer Ocean had opened the door to behind him and shoved the Rider into the room. The room was small and with the two of them in it, they were nearly pressed against each other. “Sure Ocean, why not? But are sure that this room is small enough? We could look for a looker if you want.”

Oceans face turned red as she replied: “Yeah probably should have checked beforehand what kind of room this was. Sorry,” she chuckled rather embarrassed, pressing herself as hard against the wall as possible. “So, the thing I wanted to talk to you about is I… I’m sorry.”

“What? For what exactly?” Confusion was carried in Phoenix voice and he tilted his head slightly.

She shifted her gaze towards the wall, avoiding to look into his glowing red eyes. “For screwing up today and for Thunders restaurant. If I hadn’t failed he wouldn’t be in this situation and we would have caught the Corrupted. I’m so sorry.” Her voice was relatively low and devoid of her usual confident tone.

“You don’t have to. Really. We all screw up from time to time. I had my fair share of screw-ups as well. The only thing you can do is suck it up and don’t make the same mistake again,” he flatly replied, to the utter shock of Ocean.

“What do you mean? Are you not mad? Why?” In complete confusion she looked at the rider, trying to piece together how he could react in such a way.

“Well, next time you just don’t do it again. Just learn from your mistakes. What else can you do? It’s normal to fail on occasions. But besides that, you have been very helpful. I should thank you instead of receiving an apology. Don’t sell yourself short.”

“But… but there are people that don’t screw up or at least turn failures into successes. How can you be ok with me failing?” Now her voice was growing louder and more secure.

“Don’t be ridicules, everyone screws up. No exceptions! As long as you make an honest effort to improve and give your best, there no shame in failure,” Alchemy replied, his voice sounding rather subdued.

Ocean remained silent, staring at him for a few moments until she finally replied: “Ok. If you say so. Thanks.” Without much more, she slowly opened the door, slipped out of the closet and closed it behind her. Phoenix stared after her in confusion for a few seconds afterward.

“What was that all about?” He asked to himself with a rather confused tone. After what he had regained his composure he removed the Disc from the Drive, turning back into his civilian form.

After this, he started to stretch himself, as best as he could in the rather cramped closet. “Ah, I have never felt better. Strange, usually I'm always rather spent after transforming.” After he glossed over the Magic Disc in his hand he started focused on it. “Could it be?” Then suddenly the events of the morning came rushing back at him, his grip on the Disc tightening. “Well, this could be useful. I won’t let something like this happen again!” He growled in a low tone.

He stood there for at least a minute, staring at the Disc, then quickly put it back into his pocket. He slowly and carefully opened the door to the closet and peeped his head out. After making sure no one was around to see him leave he slowly exited the closet and walked down the hallways of the police station.

--------------<

The waitress was carrying a plate with six coffees and a hot chocolate to a table with seven girls. Three of with were some rather tired Twilight, Rarity, and Fluttershy. The previous night had been rather long, the questioning about all their adventures had taken until way past midnight and drained the three girls. As the waitress put down their respective cups they immediately grabbed onto them and let them trickle down their thoughts.

“That bad?” A girl with orange skin, blond hair and a massive cowboy hat asked looking at the three with a raised eyebrow.

Rarity quickly slammed down her cup and stared at her. “Yes, Applejack! I lost my beauty sleep thanks to this… This nonsense! And now look!” She pulled down her sunglasses she had decided to wear and pointed under her eyes. “Look at these dreadful eye bags. If anyone sees me this way my reputation would be ruined!”

“Aha, to be honest Rarity, I don’t see anything,” Rainbow replied with a rather confused look on her face.

Rarity quickly pushed the glasses back up and returned in shook: “Ah, of course, it is bad. I dare you don’t tell this to everyone. I have to change my sleep-schedule around three hours today to counteract this travesty. You know how much time I will lose?”

“Three hours?” Rainbow flatly replied, sipping on her own cup of coffee. Rarity simply gasped for air, struggling to say anything.

But before Rarity could go on another of her tirades Sunset Shimer turned in and asked Twilight: “So, what exactly did you tell them?”

After drinking the last drop from her cup she calmly replied: “Well, we told her everything, well expect any mention of Equestria. I don’t feel comfortable with telling them about it.”

Sunset nodded in return, letting off a sigh of relief. “Thanks, Twilight. I don’t think telling them about the magical land populated by ponies would have been the best course of action. So what did you do about the second Twilight?”

“I… I just said her name was also Twilight Sparkle. She was rather surprised at first but just accepted it after saying something along the lines of: ‘wouldn’t be the first time I meet someone with the same name’. Still, I don’t think she believed me entirely. I just let out any other instance when Equestria was involved.”

While they spoke a young man with light purple skin and purple hair just paid for his coffee and walked towards the door. Meanwhile, a small white bunny was looking around the small diner when his gaze fell on the man. The eyes of the bunny started to squeeze together and he hopped out of the backpack that was laying next to Fluttershy on the bench, in his mouth a red and black carrot.

“Ui, ui! Did you ask them if they have any super-secret techno stuff lying around? Or some classified alien ships? Oh, oh why not sentient toy cars?” All stared at Pinkie in bewilderment but before anyone could ask Pinky already added: “Oh, and Fluttershy, Angel just went outside.”

The usual rather timid girl immediately looked in the direction Pinkie had gestured and jumped from the bench. She just caught a glimpse of Angel slipping through the now closed door. “Oh, no Angel.” Without wasting any time she stormed after her pet. The moment she rushes through the door a bright red light started to blind her. As the light subsided the monster from yesterday stood before her and right in front of a young man, who had fallen his but in utter shook.

Her friends now reached her and, just like she, stared at it with expressions of utter shock. Sunset was the first to regain her composure and reached for her necklace, letting a bright red light envelop her. After it had subsided she now wore an outfit composed of red and yellow, black pants and golden boots.

Twilight was next to reach for her necklace but just grabbed nothing. Realization soon hit her that she had left her geode at the police station. Panick quickly grabbed ahold of her, until an idea hit her. While her other friends, minus the Rarity and Fluttershy, were engulfed in bright light, she pulled out her phone and started to look for one particular number. “Hello, Shining Armor, we kinda could use your help…”

--------------<

Not five minutes later police sirens could be heard in the distance. The four other girls had in the meantime kept the Corrupted busy, Pinkie throwing whatever she could get her hands on at the monster, the moment her projectiles touched it, a pink explosion consumed the monster, sadly it didn’t seem to much more than annoying it. Meanwhile, Applejack was just tossing everything that wasn’t nailed down at the Corrupted, to much the same effect as Pinkie. Rainbow was trying her best to save any civilians that could get in the crossfire with her super-speed. And Sunset and the other three girls were currently keeping the young man save and hiding behind the corner of the diner.

As they finally heard the sirens of the ever closer coming vehicle all of them sighed in relief followed up by a second sigh as they saw who was on top of the car. Alchemy was kneeling on the roof of the vehicle and aiming with his bow at the Corrupted. As he let go of the bowstring an emerald green arrow made out of pure energy whizzed towards the monster and hit it right in the shoulder, staggering back from the impact.

After he had fired his shot he jumped off the roof of the car and slowly descended towards the ground, the car he had just jumped off of screeching to a sudden halt. “Hey Bunny, are you stalking these girls or do you just have really bad luck?” Fourteen just screamed at the newly arrived Rider and stormed towards him. “I think we’ll take it from here girls. Thanks for keeping him occupied.” With this he jumped back up into the air, firing his arrows at the Corrupted as he passed it from above.

\ SCANNING CHARGE! /

“Henshin!”

\ 50, 80, 100! FIRE CHARGE! /

While Alchemy was bombarding the Corrupted with arrows Ocean had stepped out of the car and transformed into her Fire Charge Form. The moment Fourteen looked at the unexpected sound she was already rocketing towards him with her boosters, clocking it right into the jaw with enough force to let it stager backward.

Without wasting any time she quickly followed her attack up with another punch straight towards the monster's chest, supported with her engines, letting the Corrupted tremble back. Her barrage continued, letting several more punches rain down on her opponent until the stone breastplate of the Corrupted cracked and steam erupted from the crack.

Before the steam could cloud her vision she jumped back and out of reach of the Corrupted. Another arrow struck the monster before it could attack again, letting out a deafening raw that let the girls clutch their ears in pain.

“Alchemy, I think that is enough! Switch!” Charge screamed towards her fellow Rider who had taken up position on one of the rooftops and was aiming right at their opponent.

“Got it!” he screamed back and let the last arrow lose on the Corrupted, landing dead center on his head, the beast landing on his back, the street under him starting to steam and melt. His bow turned back into its Disc-form and he jumped right next to the Corrupted. The next thing Alchemy did was to switch the Disc in his hand with the orange Disc and placed it into his Driver.

\ EARTH DISC ACTIVATED! /

After the transformation had occurred he had just enough time to counter the incoming attack of the Corrupted with his own punch, both fists meeting halfway. To everyone's surprise, the fist of the Corrupted was pushed back and Alchemy followed up with another attack right towards the already cracked breastplate, sending the monster stumbling back in pain. Meanwhile, Alchemy was shaking his smoking hands, more or less ignoring the Corrupted to cool down his hands.

The Corrupted, on the other hand, had regained his footing and was now readying himself for an attack. Alchemy manage to catch the movement of his opponents, quickly removed his Earth Disc from the Driver with his still fuming hands and held it out in front of him.

\ Earth Disc Attack Mode! /

\ Boulder Shield! /

After the bright orange light had subsided he held a yellow-orange shield in his hand. It was circular and had its Earth Disc mounted in the center of the weapon. But he had no time to actually inspect his new weapon as Fourteens fist slammed right down on the shield, forcing Alchemy on his knees. While the shield withstood the enormous heat the Corrupted emitted it did not shield its wearer from its effects. Slowly the Rider was being cooked in his own armor.

On another part of the battlefield, the young man finally started to relax as he witnessed the arrival and apparent superiority of the Kamen Riders. “Puh, thank goodness the Kamen Riders are finally putting an end to this stupid rabbit. What have I done to get constantly jumped by this stupid thing?”

At this moment something in Fluttershy's brain just clicked into place. “Wait, what do you mean with constantly? Wait! You are the thief that stole my backpack yesterday!” The face of the thief suddenly turned rather pale and he was about to run off as he was jumped by the three other girls, pinning him to the ground. “And if Angel followed you then this means… Oh no!” Before any of her friends could ask what she was talking about she immediately run out on the street and scream desperately: “Angle, don’t!”

Suddenly the force of the attack of the Corrupted grew less intense. This was all Alchemy needed, with one flick of his fingers, all over the body of the of the Corrupted emerald-green seals appeared and every single one of them unleashed a small whirlwind. With another shove, he pushed the hand of the monster back and threw the weapon straight for one of the seals. As the shield reached its target it produced a sound like it had hit solid rock and indeed the wind had cooled the flowing lava down enough so the shield could actually deliver a blow to the Corrupted.

When the shield bounced back he quickly caught it with his other hand and throw it back at Fourteen. Like, before the weapon let the monster stager back and raw in pain. The process was repeated two times, both accompanied by a deafening raw of the Corrupted. After he had caught the shield again he moved his hand over the Magic Disc mounted in the center of it and started to spin it. “Earthen Buzzsaw!”

The entire shield was surging with orange energy and as he threw it with all his strength towards the Corrupted it appeared like the edges of the shield turned into teeth. The moment the weapon made contact with the opponent it picked up in speed, letting a stream of sparks erupt from the Corrupted. After the weapon had ground itself deeper and deeper into the enemy, Fourteen was thrown back and landed on his back, groaning in agony. The shield immediately flew back to Alchemy who in return removed the Magic Disc from it and placed it into his Driver.

“Bunny, you used the powers that were bestowed upon you to attack other people and destroy public property. By the magic that was bestowed upon me, I deem you unworthy of your powers and will now take them from you!” With that, he started to spin his Magic Disc.

\ Earth Disc Maximum Power! /

As orange energy began to gather in his right foot he jumped up and started a continues front-flip. As he started to descend towards the Corrupted he stretched out his right leg and at the moment of the contact slammed it down hard on the Corrupted. The entire area was consumed by a massive explosion, as the smoke settled only Alchemy remained standing, in front of him a small little white bunny with a black and red carrot next to him.

“You got be kidding me. We were manhandled by a damn bunny?” He slowly and weakly said, staring in bafflement at the bunny.

“Angle!” A voice came from behind him and in an instance, Fluttershy rushed past him and picked up the little bunny. “Is everything ok? Please wake up!”

“He should be fine. Just a bit spend after the fight,” he replies still somewhat confused by the whole situation. He slowly walked up to the two and removed the Fire Disc from his belt, pointed it at the carrot and absorbed the magic in it. “By the way, thanks for the help. Without you, I would have been cooked alive and I would rather avoid that.” Fluttershy just nodded and cuddled the still uncounted bunny.

“I think we should clean up here. I’ll gather up the girls and our little animal friend, you can go back into the car and cool off a bit,” Ocean jokingly replied.

Before he could reply he heard another voice calling out for them, it was Twilight and next to her three of her friends and a man that seemed somewhat familiar. “Can you take this guy with you as well? He was the one that stole Fluttershy's backpack the other day!” The man in question just smiled uncomfortably at them. Charge and Alchemy just looked at each other and chuckled.

--------------<

After picking up the girls, the bunny and the thief the day basically went by like yesterday. After a questioning of the girls over the events of the day the four new ones were questioned separately from the other three. As their necklaces were confiscated Rainbow was the one that complained the most, but ultimately she had to accept that she was not winning this argument. Surprisingly Sunset was the one that was the most nervous. But ultimately everything went rather smooth.

Now the moon had risen over Canterlot City and Alchemy was riding through the illuminated streets of the city. Infront of him one of the scanners of the MRG he had received from Ocean. He was following a particular signal tonight, one he hoped he would reach rather soon. It had appeared five minutes ago and was even rather close. And since then he had raced through the city in an attempt to reach it in time.

Not far anymore, only one turn into an alleyway and he would reach his goal. He raced down the empty alley and finally reached the small park he had been trying to reach since the signal had popped up. The park was in rather bad condition, trees had been cut in half, benches trashed and scorch marks were scattered all over the park. And in the middle of it was a figure standing in front of an unconscious man that lay in the remains of another tree.

Two red glowing bug eyes stared at him from a distance as he came to a halt right at the edge of the park. It casually held a spear in its hand. The figure seemed to be clad in armor and wore a helmet with horns coming off from it. He would recognize this armor everywhere, it was his armor, the armor of Kamen Rider Alchemy. He slowly dismounted his motorbike and walked towards the person in armor: “I finally found you…”

Author's Note

Well, that was the introductory ark for Earth Mode.

Like always constructive criticism and feedback are very much welcome.

The Terror from Below - The long Arm of Crime

There he was, the one that had rampaged through the nights of Canterlot, hunted his victims and ultimately killed them, the one that was wearing an Alchemy Driver and using Magic Discs, the evil Kamen Rider.

As Phoenix approached the figure, it tipped onto something on his hip and in an instant he could hear sounds that had previously not been there. The sound of smoldering wood, footsteps in the grass and the nearly silent groans of the victim that lay in the remains of a tree. It was unnerving, until now he hadn’t noticed the silence that had lingered over the scene, but now he realized, it had been very silent beforehand. The two Riders slowly enclosed on each other, Alchemy activating his Thunder Tonfa, the nameless Rider holding his spear like he was ready to gut his opponent at any moment.

\ Thunder Disc Attack Mode! /

\ Thunder Tonfa! /

“So, you have been looking for me?” The voice of the figure echoed through the night, to his surprise it sounded just like his voice when he wore the suit, somewhat distorted, but ultimately quite normal. But as generic as the voice sounded there was one thing he could make out, he was male. “Then tell me, what did you want from me?”

“I want answers. Who are you, why are you doing this and where did you get the Driver and the Magic Discs?” Alchemy shouted at the man in his black armor with crimson highlights.

The dark Rider just chuckled and relaxed his posture a bit, Alchemy, on the other hand, did not, he still was ready to attack the man at any moment. “Well, I think I might be allowed to humor you. I think you already know where I got the Discs, but the Driver, that was homemade thanks to the notes of your ancestors.” Alchemy tightened the grip on his weapons, continuing to stare at his opponent.

“What I am doing? The same thing as you. Saving the city from monsters, I’m just more thorough.” In an instant Alchemy had charged at him and slammed one of his weapons directly at his stomach only to be blocked by his spear. Still, the Rider was sent back several meters to the other end of the park where he came to a screeching hold.

“Save the city!? What you are doing has nothing to do with saving, you are a murderer!” He immediately continued to charge at his opponent, but the moment he was about to reach him he had rammed the tip of his spear into the ground below him. What followed was a massive explosion that consumed his entire body and the area around him, sending Alchemy flying backward the moment he came into contact with it. As he rolled around the ground, twenty meters away from his opponent, his body aching from the sudden change of direction and the force of the push, he heard something early familiar.

\ THUNDER DISC READY! /

As he looked in the direction of the sound a lightning blue whirlwind with spots of black in it consumed the Rider and after a few seconds revealed his new form. The formally crimson highlights now had changed to electric blue and his horns now resembled lightning, just like his did. In his hands, he held two blue and black pistols aimed directly at him. “Oh, you think so? Well, I really don’t care.” While he had spoken Alchemy had managed to get back on his feet and was about to charge at him again as two shoots suddenly hit him, sending him flying again. “By the way, to answer your last question, it’s Alkahest, Kamen Rider Alkahest.”

When he next looked where his opponent had been standing he just stared at an empty spot, Alkahest no longer standing there. As fast as he could muster he got back on his feet and frantically tried to figure out where he had disappeared to. His answer came in the form of two shots from Alkahest’s guns, one impacting at his right shoulder and the other in his stomach, sending him staggering back. Gritting his teeth he tried to ignore the stinging pain that came thanks to them.

Before the next attack could actually hit him he charged at his opponent, avoiding the next two shots meant for him barely. But to his dismay, his opponent hadn’t just stood around and waited for a tonfa to the face and just like he, had activated his superspeed. Now two people in armor were racing through the park, one taking potshots while the other one was desperately trying to get a solid hit on his opponent. While the first one actually manages to occasionally hit his target and letting him grunt out in pain, Alchemy had no such luck. He just couldn’t catch up to Alkahest, always nearly exactly the same distance away from him.

The destructive chase ended with Alkahest managing to hit Alchemy right at the head, sending him into the next best tree, letting it come down upon him. Suddenly a voice could be heard in the remains of the tree.

\ WIND DISC ACTIVATED! /

What had mere moments ago still been a pile of wood now was thrown around the park without any regards to collateral. The already wrecked park suffered even more, benches were crushed under the weight of the remains of the tree, statues were shattered and some of the wood pieces even managed to knock over several more trees. And in the midst of it all stood Alchemy in his Wind Mode, his posture tense and with every breath, his body shook. Then, he quickly gripped the Wind Disc and ripped it from the Driver, activating it shortly thereafter.

\ Wind Disc Attack Mode! /

\ Hurrican Bow! /

While the weapon formed in Alchemy’s hand Alkahest was already working on switching his Disc, as he was about to insert it into the Driver an arrow made out of emerald light headed straight for his head.

\ WIND DISC READY! /

Like before, an emerald and black whirlwind of pure energy consumed the Rider, every attack Alchemy threw at him being rendered useless by it, revealing Alkahest own Wind Dissolve Form. Just like his other two form, the only thing that had changed were the highlights, now emerald green and his horns, now resembling clouds in the wind. In his left, he held a large tower shield that was primarily black in color with small highlights of green that resembled wind. Meanwhile, his other hand held firmly onto a black and green crossbow he had pointed directly at Alchemy.

Growling he draw his bowstring again, aiming at Alkahest, who just stood there, unmoving. The moment he released the arrow and unleashed it on his enemy he quickly pulled his shield in front of him, it starting to glow and the arrow just doing nothing as it hit its target, not even a sound could be heard as it collided with the shield, Alchemy just silently cursing his opponent.

Alchemy’s silent curse was however cut short as something hit him right in the chest, letting him stagger back several feet. Moments later he felt the sensation again, letting out a sharp groan while continuing to be pushed back. Two more followed, the last one knocking him off his feet and landing unceremoniously on the ground while clutching his chest. While he lay there, riddled with pain, he tried to slowly return to his feet, even if every bit of movement was agonizing, he bit by bit managed to stand up again, all while the red eyes of Alkahest stared directly at him, like he was staring into his very soul.

The moment he finally stood on his feet again he started to spin the Wind Disc on his weapon and draw the bowstring again. “Arrow Storm!” Like the times before Alchemy had aimed directly above him and as the arrow shoots straight towards the sky it eventually disappeared into a seal that had opened up in the air. After a short moment a bigger version of it appeared and from it, a barrage rained down upon Alkahest, who in return just raised his shield over his head and awaited the onslaught of arrows that would soon descend upon him.

The entire area around him was coated in a thick dust, Alchemy desperately trying to see if his attack had actually worked. As the dust started to settle a single figure stood in it, first small outlines could be seen, the shape became more distinct until finally, Alkahest stood amongst the small craters Alchemy’s arrows had coated the area in, unmoving and staring directly at him. For a moment he just stood there, his mouth open underneath his helmet, staring back at the man in armor, then a cold shiver run down his spine. His right hand started to shake, then his entire arm, the shaking slowly crawling along his body until every part of it was consumed by it.

As Alkahest made one step towards him, he reacted by taking a step back, completely by instinct. Then as he made the next step he followed suit again, screaming internally to stop but as Alkahest advanced again he just stepped back again. That was when he turned back the Hurricane Bow into its discform, put it away, replaced it with Flame Disc and spun it.

\ FLAME DISC ACTIVATED! /

The moment the fiery whirlwind had died down he immediately removed the Disc again and held it out in front of him, his hand still shaking violently.

\ Flame Disc Attack Mode! /

\ Flame Saber! /

As the sword had formed in his hands he quickly grabbed onto it with both hands and with a bloodcurdling scream rushed towards his opponent: “Aaaaahhhh!” Alkahest in return simply removed his own Magic Disc and replaced it with another one, spinning it the moment it was properly inserted into the Driver.

\ FIRE DISC READY! /

Phoenix advanced all while Alkahest was consumed by a black and crimson whirlwind of energy. As the energy finally subsided he was only five meters away from the evil Rider, raising his sword he rushed further and brought down the Flame Saber upon his opponent, to his utter dismay he hit resistance far quicker then he had anticipated, his slash had been stopped by the lance Alkahest had wielded earlier. With a swift motion, Alkahest pushed Phoenix back a few steps and brought his spear down on him, he on the other hand frantically tried to put his weapon between him and his opponent.

This continued for several more swings and with every single attack Phoenix was forced back more and more, Phoenix dumbstruck by how fast his offensive had turned back into a defensive, his breath growing more and more erratic as the battle went on, his heart beating faster and faster, only to skip a beat as Alkahest managed to fling his weapon away with his last blow. Unable to do anything he could only watch as Alkahest slammed his spear right towards his chest, the weapon seemingly moving in slow motion as it pierced his armor, sending unbearable surges of pain through his entire body.

As he flew backward, his entire armor started to slowly dissolve, the moment he hit the ground again it was gone, leaving only his Driver and Magic Disc behind. For a few second nothing in the world mattered besides the pain that surged through his body, he didn’t even notice Alkahest stepping next to him, pointing the tip of his spear at him. “Well, you were entertaining, I gotta give you credit for something, but now I think I have to end it.” Phoenix was snapped out of pain as he heard what the evil Rider had just said, his muscle sprung into action, ignoring any pain he made have had, slowly crawling away from his opponent, desperately trying to save his life even if he knew he couldn’t escape the Rider, that all didn’t matter at that moment.

Alkahest was about to strike Phoenix down as a scream of pain cut through the night and another voice could be heard: “Enough! This kill does not belong to you! I will strike him down, not you! Did I make myself clear?” Phoenix had turned his head towards Alkahest who was holding his chest in pain and saw firsthand how the eyes of the Rider glowed purple with every word the voice spoke, letting another cold shiver run down his spine.

“But I have him right here, no way of escape, he can’t fight back! If we kill him now we won't have any further compl…” His rant was cut short by another streak of pain and him staggering back.

“Did! I! Make! Myself! Clear!” The voice bellowed. Alkahest just gave back a pained groan of agreement. “Good, then get back to the task at hand.” With that the purple glow in his eyes disappeared again, leaving only the glowing red eyes behind. With a grunt of disapproval, he stepped away from Phoenix and walked back towards the park.

At first, a wave of relaxation washed over him, whatever had saved his life he was grateful, small tears of joy formed inside his eyes. This joy immediately disappeared as he saw where Alkahest was heading, towards the man that still lay unconscious in the remains of a tree. His breath stopped immediately, unable to draw in anything more as he watched in horror as the Alkahest slowly stepped closer and closer towards the man. “No, no! Stopp, I beg you, please, anything but that!” He desperately screamed at the Rider who just ignored him and continued his way towards his victim.

The screaming continued and Phoenix started to crawl towards the man in a desperate attempt to do anything. Then his blood basically froze inside of his veins as Alkahest reached down and helped the man out of the rubel, in his other hand his spear. With one swift motion, he rammed his weapon through the gut of his victim, Phoenix let out a pained scream that quickly turned into sobbing. He couldn’t save the man, another victim had been claimed by the monster that wore the armor of a Kamen Rider and he hadn’t been able to do anything about it. He had failed, not just him, but everyone in the city. Warm tears rolled down his face, blurring his vision.

Meanwhile, Alkahest pulled his weapons from the still warm corpse, pulled out a white Magic Disc and absorbed the magic from the thing that lay next to his victim, afterward the bland Disc turned into a Flame Disc. After he spared one last look over at Phoenix he started to walk towards one of the alleys that lead to one of the main streets, leaving the sobbing man behind. In the distance police sirens started to come closer, they would soon be arriving, but right now Phoenix couldn’t care less, he was to busy sobbing over his failure.

--------------<

The light in Ocean’s office was warm, welcoming and in a strange way calming. He hadn’t spoken much since Ocean had picked him up from the scene of the crime, only the bare minimum to explain the situation. She had left him here with a mug of hot chocolate and said she would be back soon. So while he waited for her to return he started to look around the room for anything that could get his mind a bit distracted from what had just transpired.

The first thing his eyes caught onto was a picture of two small kids and an older woman with grey skin and black hair. The two girls, on the other hand, looked both nearly identical, both had a bluish-white complexion and light and dark blue hair. All three were smiling. He stood up from his chair, placed the mug with the hot chocolate on the table and picked up the picture, examining it closely. All the bad things that had happened this night seemed to simply slip away, being drawn out by the innocent picture of the two children and the woman.

The small moment of peace was however rudely interrupted by Ocean slamming the door open, sighing and walking over to Pheonix. He just winced the moment he heard the woman come in and hastily placed the picture back on the desk, smiling innocently at her.

She looked not good, she held a coffee mug in one hand and a tablet in the other, her expression was exhausted, her eyes only half open. To perfect the picture she only would have needed to yawn one time, but she didn't, instead staring Phoenix and the picture he had quickly returned to the desc. “You know, I don’t have any problem with you looking at my stuff. I put the thing there out in the open to look at it, as long as it is out in the open you can take a look.” She sounded tired and not as fast as usual.

Phoenix chuckled a little and returned his gaze towards the picture. “Yeah, probably right, you startled me, that is all. I hope I’m not asking anything too personal, but is this you in the picture?” He pointed at the child with the somewhat more subdued smile.

She picked up the picture and stared at it for a few moments, a heartwarming smile creeping onto her lips. Then she softly replied: “Actually, no. This is my sister, I’m the other one.” Phoenix seemed somewhat surprised by her answers, raising one of his eyebrows slightly before looking back at the picture in confusion. Ocean just chuckled: “I’m not surprised. Everyone always thinks that is me, it has kinda become something I expect.”

“Yeah, I can see how everyone thinks that is you. The girl seems way more subdued, just like you are.”

She just smiled back at him. “I hear that a lot and it’s not surprising actually. I wasn’t always the more responsible and mature one of us two, that was actually Star Catcher. She always would get me out of stupid situations I managed to get myself into. Kind changed as we grow older, she got a liking to sports and was getting more confrontational, while I started to get interested in police work. And when we were teenagers we basically had switched, I was the responsible one and she was the one that always got into trouble, as much as she wanted to deny that, claiming that she would always watch out for me and get me out of every situation. Ah, good times.”

He listened carefully, smiling all the way through, all the while looking at the picture that still seemed somewhat surreal, especially the brightly grinning Ocean on it. “Would have loved to see that firsthand. I mean you getting into all sorts of trouble, just for the contrast. You are the one that gets me out of trouble, so seeing you get saved by your sister sounds fun.” She looked at him with a raised eyebrow and sly smile on her lips, in return he quickly added: “Just to see the difference, you know. Would love to see your sister at some point, she seems like a good sibling. I’m sure we would get along quite well.”

“Well, she will be here in a few weeks for a while during a racing competition, I’m sure she would love to meet you and probably your brother as well. It has been far too long since we meet each other, so why not.” Her smiles suddenly withered and she returned to her more serious expression. “Anyway, we should get back to the task at hands. So what exactly were you doing there?” Her eyes felt like daggers that could tear through his very soul, his regained lightheartedness was quickly snuffed out and the dread returned, his smile quickly changing to a frown.

“Well, I was just driving around town, nothing special.” Phoenix couldn’t have made a more suspicious expression, even if he had tried.

Ocean just stared at him, raising an eyebrow and replying: “Sure, driving around Canterlot City at three AM with a magical energy detector and in full Kamen Rider gear. Like you do. Seriously, you think I’m stupid? Just tell me what you were really doing.”

He looked somewhat nervous, his eyes darting around the room for a few seconds until he finally sighed and returned: “Ok, fine, I couldn’t sleep. I knew that this… this monster is running around town and possibly murdering his next victim and I just couldn’t only stand on the sidelines, I just couldn’t and so I decided why not ride around Cantorlot City and maybe actually find him. Worked out a bit too well it seems.”

Ocean looked at him with a rather stunned expression, it took her a couple of moments to actually formulate an answer. “I know what you mean. That knowledge that you are one of the few that can actually make a difference and when you sleep peacefully someone else might just be in grave danger, it is hard. You can’t sleep, but that is not the way to go if you do not take care of your own needs like sleep you just create more problems. If you let someone die because you were too tired that will drive you insane, I have seen it. Some of my former colleagues just couldn’t bear the pressure and it always ended badly for them. The best outcome was that one of them missed a shoot and with that caused the death of a family, he quickly quit afterward.”

Avoiding eye contact with her he just nodded and replied: “Ok, I won’t go out there if I’m not in good physical condition.” Ocean was about to say something else but he quickly continued: “So, I assume you want to hear what happened and what I might have found out about our Kamen Rider, am I right?” She was about to say something, but then simply nodded. “Well, I found him as he was just about to… to kill the victim. Something that was quite strange was that everything was completely quiet, well until he touched something on his belt.” Ocean nodded while tipping away at her computer. “And then, I… I asked him some things. Well, it seems my brother was right. When I asked him about where he got his Driver and Magic Discs from he replied that I should know where he got the Discs from. And regarding the Driver, he said he made that one himself from the notes of Fools Gold. So, yeah it seems like my family history actually caught up to me. I’m one-hundred percent certain he is one of Shadow Gold descendants.” After he had finished speaking he slammed his fist on the desc.

“Everything ok?” She asked with a concerned look on her face.

It took him a moment to register what she had just said. “Yeah, yeah, I’m fine, just a bit angry that I couldn’t stop him, that’s all.”

“You know, if you need to talk to someone, I can make sure that one of our personal psychologists will talk with you, no worries about your secret identity. But if you don’t feel comfortable, I’m a good listener as well. Just so you know.”

Phoenix just nodded and soberly replied: “No, I don’t need to. I just have to work harder, that is all. Anyway, I actually found out the name of our mystery man. He calls himself Kamen Rider Alkahest.”

After tipping away at her computer for a few moments she sighed and turned back to Phoenix. “Well, we don’t have anything on someone calling himself Alkahest, sorry. But at least we know his name now, maybe that will help. But I can’t promise anything, but at least something was gained from this travesty tonight. There is just one thing I wanted to ask you, how did he get away?”

Suddenly his throat felt like it had been sewn shut, breathing had become extremely hard in an instance. “He… He just left me. Something seemed off about him, his eyes suddenly turned purple and he started to talk to himself and said that only he would kill me. I… I don’t really know what he meant by that, sorry.”

“Well, that is certainly wired, I can’t deny that. I’ll tell Ivory about it later. Anything else?” Phoenix just shook his head. “Well, I think that was it then. You just should go home, it’s enough if one of us is losing sleep over this.” Phoenix was about to reply as she continued: “And I will not hear a no here. You need sleep, now go. I want to see you top fit tomorrow.” He just grumbled something that somewhat sounded like a ‘yes’. “Good, then see ya!”

“See ya!” With that, he walked towards the door, looked one last time back at Ocean who now was tipping away at her computer and the closed the door behind him.

--------------<

The early afternoon sun shined down upon the beach of Canterlot City, it was quite the busy day, at least half of the beach was plastered in towels and children were running through the still open spots. Even if school had only just ended students could be seen everywhere, some sunbathing, some swimming and some just playing volleyball. The constant sound of joy could even be heard at one of the cafés that were located at the edge of the beach and near the road.

At this particular café, a group of man was sitting around a table, six in total. One one side of the table sat Thorax with his brother, both clad in business suits of exceptional quality. Next to them to them stood two men with black complexion and short emerald hair, like their superiors, both wore black business suits, they also wore black sunglasses and an earplug, both just standing there, motionless and directly at the other two man.

One of which was a rather muscular man with bluish-grey skin and grey hair. Unlike the two Change Industrie representatives, he wore a light blue shirt with a black tie and dark blue trousers with suspenders. A smug grin was present on his face at all times, casually leaning back in his chair like he had nothing to worry about in the whole world.

Thorax was the first to break the silence: “So, what is your offer today Mr. Well-to-Do?” He already sounded rather annoyed and stared at the bulky man before him.

“Well, like always I’m offering progress! And I heard Change Industries is all for progress.” He bellowed over the table, some patrons from the other side of the veranda started to look in their direction, Thorax sheepishly signaling to them that everything was perfectly fine, they just shrugged and continued to drink their coffee.

This time it was Pharynx to replied with his rather grumpy demeanor: “Well, yes Change Industries is indeed interested in progress, without it everything on this planet dies. We understand that contrary to you Mr. Well-to-Do. You use it as a nice buzzword, that is all.”

The eyes of the man narrowed as he replied: “Huh, you certainly speak from the hearth.”

“Strange I thought I was speaking from my mouth,” he dryly replied.

After a heavy sigh of the man, he continued: “Anyway, I know very well what progress means, it is my life motto. If you need any further proof then just look at any single one of my recent projects and you will see, my name brings success!”

Now Thorax started to grin and confidently replied: “Oh, we did and to be honest, we were not impressed.” The previously friendly mask of Well-to-Do shattered in an instance. “From the looks of it, it seems you build the respective building and then sell it to the highest bidder, who in return pays you royalties for the name. I wouldn’t call that progress in any way, you just build stuff and sell it, there is no risk here, you just use a tried and true formulae. I would actually call this stagnation.”

A low growl came from the man as he tried to twist this in his favor: “What are you talking about, I develop useless land that no one uses to its full potential and make something worth selling off! Isn’t that progress?”

While Thorax looked at the man with a somewhat unsure look Pharynx confidently replied: “No, it is not. Only building something doesn't mean progress.”

Thorax nodded in agreement. “Exactly and with that, we wanted to tell you that we have thought thoroughly about your offer but came to the decision that we will not take it. We also don’t want any further offers. Still, we thank you for your interested to do business with Change Industries. We hope you understand.”

Now he was angry, his expression had turned into a grimace of anger as his fist slammed down on the table, spilling the coffee that had been standing there: “What do you mean you won’t sell? This reached place is not even worth half of what I offered. You will never make anything close to what I would pay you. Are you completely out of your mind?”

Thorax had visibly jumped back in his seat and needed a moment to calm himself first but ultimately replied rather calmly: “What we mean is that this public beach will stay a public beach and will not be remodeled into a private one for your big hotel. This is not about the money anyways, this is because our mother wants to give something back to the city that raised her and made her who she is today. I’m sorry, but this is not negotiable. Have a nice day.” With that Thorax and Pharynx stood up and left a bill under their cups, enough to pay for the entire table and a hefty tip on top of it.

As Well-to-Do spoke up again he sounded way more subdued, but a certain level of malice could be heard in his voice: “Well, we’ll see about that.” Thorax and his brother didn’t bother to look back at the man and continued walking towards the parking lot. “Would be a shame if no one would come here anymore,” he threateningly continued, letting of a low chuckle after he finished.

Like on cue screams could be heard from the previously rather peaceful beach. The two brothers running towards the fence of the veranda and stared down on the beach. To their shock they saw how the people were running away in masses, all screaming like they were chased by Cerberus himself. After a quick glance over the area and the fleeing people, Pharynx finally spotted the cause of the commotion, a monster.

The creature appeared to be rather big and muscular, well at least its torso. It was primarily covered in light blue corals, its head was completely integrated into its torso and contrary to the rest of its body consisted of a gelatinous mass, similar to a jellyfish, with two eyes and no mouth. Its feed were two dark blue tentacles that grew wider the further they were away from the main body, ending in something that could actually supüort the monster. His arms were also two dark blue tentacles that reached quite far out and we're currently trying to grab hold of anything he could get his slimy arms on.

Thorax looks over to his brother who just shook his head, he in returns just cursing silently. As Thorax did thisPharynx step away from the edge of the veranda and headed straight for Well-to-Do, grabbing him by his suspenders. “What have you done?”

With a smug grin, Well-to-Do calmly replied: “I don’t know what you are talking about. I have nothing to do with this. But it has to be bad for the beach if everyone is afraid of sea monsters.”

“You little… I’m going to…“Pharynx was about to slam his fist right into the face as Thorax called out for him.

“Stop! This is just going to let us look bad.” Begrudgingly Pharynx lets go of the man and started to walk back to his brother, only for him to turn back halfway through.

“I hope for you that this is not your doing, or we are going to make sure you will never get any significant work ever again.” With that, he continued his walk to his brother who in the meantime had pulled out his smartphone and started tipping on it.

After he had finished he pulled the phone up to his ear and started to speak. “Yes, hello. Here is Thorax Change and I’m currently at the Canterlot beach. I wanted to report a monster attack. Yes, yes, understood. Thank you very much!” He turned to his brother after he had put away his phone and continued: “The MRG should be here rather soon. Let us keep an eye on Mr. Well-to-Do for the time being.”

Well-to-Do just shrugged and sat back done. “If you insist. But I have nothing to do with this.” Both brothers eying him rather unconvinced.

--------------<

It didn’t take long before the sound of engines could be heard approaching. As they draw closer Thorax could make out that it were two motorbikes that were headed for the beach and if his ears did not mislead him he recognized at least one of them. With a loud screech, both bikes came to a halt just at the edge of the road that leads to the beach and tow figures clad in armor jumped from them down towards the beach, Kamen Rider Alchemy and Kamen Rider Charge respectively.

The beach had been completely abandoned, towels and parasols lay scattered around the place, the emptiness was somewhat uncomfortable. Not a single sign of life could be seen, well besides the seagulls that were currently devouring the leftover food the people had forgotten during their mad dash for safety. They found all that, but not a single Corrupted in sight.

Charge quickly pulled her Charge Magnum and slowly advanced through the rows upon rows of towels, looking for any sign of life. Alchemy meanwhile followed her carefully, quickly looking from side to side like something would jump up from the ground any second. As they slowly made their way towards the water something carefully wound itself towards an abandoned mini fridge that lay relatively close to the ocean, sliding its slimy appendages around it and with a quick motion throw the fridge at the tow Riders.

Charge was the first the notice the incoming projectile and quickly dashed out of the way, multiple towels flying after her. Alchemy noticed moments after her and with a mad hump to the side narrowly avoided the device slamming into him, landing in a quite impressive sandcastle. The fridge, on the other hand, landed behind them with a loud crunch as it was crushed the moment it his the wall of one of the shops.

“Well, someone is not really happy to see us,” he joked as he returned to his feet, brushing off any sand that had stuck to his armor. “I hope I won’t find sand everywhere tonight.”

The moment Charge came to a screeching hold she immediately pointed her gun towards where the fridge had come from. Seconds passed, no one dared to say anything, she just staring towards the ocean, looking for any kind of movement. Then a loud shoot shattered the silence that had permeated the air until now, a light blue bolt of energy shot towards the tip of a dark blue tentacle that had just popped up from the water.

A loud screech echoed through the empty beach as the bolt connected and the tentacle returned underwater. Seconds later two tentacles burst through the surface and rushed towards the two Riders. Charge refused to move and instead unloaded what remained of her magazine at the encroaching appendage that was heading for her. All five shots connected, letting it twist in pain. But apparently, it didn’t stop the limb for long as it quickly grabbed onto a parasol, and throw it at her, Charge quickly dashing out of the way and reloaded her gun.

Alchemy meanwhile was stuck avoiding the tentacle that was constantly trying to grab him. During one of his many dodges to the side, he managed to dismount the Flame Disc from his Driver when he dodged out of the way next time he held out his Disc and it started to glow.

\ Flame Disc Attack Mode! /

\ Flame Saber! /

The tentacle was about to grab onto him as Alchemy cut through it with his newly formed weapon in just the right moment. The piece of the tentacle that had been separated from the main body flopped around for a bit until it turned into water and splashed all across the sand. When he looked back at the rest of the appendage water had begun to form around the cut end of it, restoring the separated limb. With a flash, the water had again formed into a solid limb that continued his attack at the Rider.

In the meantime, Charge was furiously firing at the Corrupted. While she managed to hit it with every shot it didn’t seem to amount to much and she was forced to avoid all the random objects the monster was throwing at her. And that had actually worked for the most part, but as she was about to activate her superspeed again it refused to work. That was when she noticed that the tubes on her legs weren’t glowing electric blue anymore, silently cursing she was hit by the newest object the Corrupted had gotten ahold of, another mini fridge. It slammed against her, what had still been inside shattering and drenching her in various liquids. “Ok, maybe a change of tactics is in order.” With that, she removed the Thunder Charger from her Driver, replaced it with the Fire Charger and quickly spun the cylinder.

“Charge up!”

\ 50, 80, 100! FIRE CHARGE! /

A red ball of energy surrounded her and as it subsided again she now wore her red armor. Without wasting any time she unloaded her magazine on the tentacles. Like the last time the appendages flailed around in pain, but unlike last time, smoke was coming off of them and burn marks remained. She quickly got a hold of her baton and charged towards the Corrupted, all while reloading her weapon. The moment she closed up to the limb she slammed a steaming hot baton down on it, smoke erupting the instant it made contact with the weapon.

Another bursting scream could be heard from the water and suddenly four more tentacles burst through the surface of the water, rushing towards the two Riders with unbelievable speed. They first reached Alchemy, while the first appendage was still attacking him from the front as unrelenting as ever, the second one was about to attack him from the side. With its inhuman speed it aimed to crash into him, thankfully he managed to avoid the attack narrowly and managed to slice of the part of the tentacle that had past him, but just like the times before it just regrew itself.

But to his dismay, he had forgotten about the last tentacle. Suddenly it wrapped around his waist, tightening with every second, threatening to crush him if he didn’t do something fast. The other two limbs weren’t just standing around and doing nothing, they were attacking the Rider as well, the first one wrapping around his arms and the second wrapping around his legs. The ever-increasing pain that surged through his body as the tentacles tightened their grip on him was mindnumbing, still, he held onto his Flame Saber. While his body was crushed he managed to slowly but steadily force his hands closer together, as the finally were able to touche he managed to spin the Disc of his Flame Saber. “Flaming Slash!”

The enormous heat that emanated from the weapon was enough to lighten the grip of the tentacles and with a quick slash he was able to separate himself from the invasive limbs and managed to cut them to pieces as well, leaving them to fall to the ground and dissolve into water.

Charge was currently still evading the constant attacks of the tentacles, her boosters gave her an edge over them and with her Charge Magnum and baton, she smacked down any appendage that actually managed to get close to her. Still, they got closer and closer, she couldn’t do this any longer and as she managed to get a glimpse over to Alchemy, who had just managed to gain a short breather period and screams: “Alchemy! Change to Wind and bombard the water, you might actually hit him and make it fast!”

After he heard her scream to him he quickly deactivated his Flame Saber and put it back on his belt. While he did this he quickly took the Wind Disc, placed it into his Driver and spun it.

\ WIND DISC ACTIVATED! /

The emerald whirlwind managed to knock the approaching tentacles back again so the transformation could proceed without any problem. The moment the whirlwind had died down he quickly grabbed onto his Wind Disc again, removing it from the Driver and held it in front of him.

\ Wind Disc Attack Mode! /

\ Hurrican Bow! /

With the tentacles approaching again he wasted no time and spun the Wind Disc on the bow, magical energy began gathering into the bow. “Arrow Storm!” He quickly drew the glowing bowstring and unleashed the arrow straight towards the sky, moments later he was grabbed by the tentacles again and slammed to the ground.

Meanwhile, the arrow gained on altitude until it disappeared into a seal in the sky, seconds later a bigger one appeared right where the arrow had disappeared and unleashed a storm of arrows upon the water. Every arrow shot straight down towards it, crashing through the surface like raindrops. The moment the first ones hit the water the grip the tentacles had on Alchemy weakened and to his relive actually retreated towards the water, Charge witnessed the same phenomenon.

And with that, the tentacles returned to the ocean and only left the two Riders behind, both breathing heavily staring at the ocean, awaiting the return of the limbs to attack them once again, but no, the ocean remained as calm as he could be. Silence had fallen over the beach. “Well, that was certainly something.” Charge just nodded in return. The sound of sirens let them both shift their gaze towards the road and the arriving police officers.

Author's Note

And with that our antagonist actually has a name.

Like always, constructive criticism is very much welcome.

The Terror from Below - A Stormy Day

The beach was in shambles, the remains of towels, parasols and the occasional mini fridge lay scatter across it, all in all, a complete mess. Still, at least there was no Corrupted terrorizing the bathers anymore, for now at least. Still, it was a shame that culprit had managed to slip away without anything they could have done to stop it.

After the two Riders had made sure that their opponent had indeed left, they were approached by a familiar face, Thorax. He had come down from one of the cafes that were located next to the street that ended near the beach. Thorax was wearing his usual purple business suit that felt somewhat out of place on the beach. “Hey, Thorax, what brings you here?”

“He was the one that called us. You should know that I told you.” Alchemy just cocked his head in confusion. “Besides the dwindling memory of my partner, I’m glad you are ok Thorax. So, if you would be so friendly and explain to us what happened here?” After she had finished she removed her Fire Charger from her Driver and reverted back to her civilian form.

Thorax eyes widened in surprise at this for a moment, it took him a few seconds to formulate a response: “Oh, agent Skies, I didn’t know you were the new Kamen Rider. Congratulations.”

Ocean chuckled in return and with a warm smile replied: “Thank you, but I would like to get back to what happened here before we arrived.”

Thorax quickly nodded and continued: “Well, the thing is me and my bother were here to negotiate about selling this beach. And as we tolled the potential buyer that we decided to decline his offer, well, he more or less threatened us that something might happen to the beach.” At this Ocean curiously raised one of her eyebrows. “Moments later the Corrupted appeared. We decided that we probably should keep him here just in case you wanted to ask him some questions.”

“You didn’t force to stay, did you?” Ocean asked him with a somewhat worried undertone.

“Oh, no. We said he should stay and he didn’t resist in any way shape or form.” Ocean posture visibly relaxed after hearing this. “If you may follow us, he is back with at the café with my brother.” And with that, he led the way, Ocean right behind him.

As she looked back towards the ocean she noticed that Alchemy was still staring towards the water and hadn’t moved an inch. “Hey Alchemy, are you coming?” She shouted back towards him.

In an instant, he swirled around and looked in her direction. “Huh? Oh, I’m coming!” He quickly caught up to the two and followed them, still, Ocean kept an eye on him the entire way to the café, but nothing else noteworthy happened. As they approached the veranda where the man had witnessed the Corrupted attack they could see one a man with dark cyan skin, washed out ruby hair and a purple suit standing near the stairs towards the beach and eying the three carefully, all while he occasionally quickly glanced over to a muscular man with bluish-grey skin and grey hair.

“Ah, it is a pleasure to meet the two heroes our lovely city. Truly a special day in my quite accomplished live, miss…” As soon as the three were in earshot the man started to basically scream towards them, gained at least a raised eyebrow from Ocean.

“Agent Ocean Skies, pleasure meeting you Mr….”

A confident smile crept across his face. “Well-to-Do is my name. A quite successful businessman if I might say. And your friend is a bit shy or what?” He pointed with a finger towards the still armor-clad Alchemy.

“He prefers to stay anonymous, so you just may call him Alchemy.” She quickly shifted her gaze over to Thorax. “So, he is the one you suspect I presume?” A quick nod from the man confirmed her suspicions. “So, Mr. Well-to-Do, I hope you don’t have any appointments coming up today, I’m sorry, but we have to ask you some questions about this whole affair if that would be ok.”

The man just sighed heavily and returned to his seat at the table. “Well, it’s not like I have much of a choice, have I. Well then, what is it that interest you so much? Can’t be anything regarding the monster attack just now since I have nothing to with that.” As he spoke a smug smile spread across his lips.

“Oh sure, you are as innocent as a could get. Please, next time you open your mouth actually tell the truth you waste of space,” Pharynx interjected, staring daggers at Well-to-Do. The man in question just rolled his eyes and ignored him.

“So Thorax, why don’t you tell us what exactly happened here and why you suspect our friend here of being behind the attack that has just taken place?”

He in return quickly nodded and began to explain what had happened today: “Well, Mr. Well-to-Do here had asked us if we would be interested in selling this beach to him, so we set up a meeting with him today. The end result was that we told him that we had declined his other, like so many before, but we still appreciated his willingness to do business with us. That was when he started threatening us and the beach, moments later this… this thing attacked the beach. We are sure he is responsible for this,” he pointed the thing at Well-to-Do.

“And just like I said, I’m not involved. Your accusations won't hold up in any court. Please agent Skies, tell them this. I would love to leave now since these two failed to provide any sort of tangible evidence. It was a pleasure meet…”

Before he could finish his sentence Ocean signaled him to stop and listen: “While they might not have provided much in the form of actually tangible evidence I won't dismiss their claims that fast. I would like to talk to you at the police station a bit more in-depth about this whole situation. I hope you don’t have to leave the city in the near future since I would like to have you around the city while we investigate this monster attack. I hope you understand.”

Her answer consisted of unintelligible mumbling and a following “Okay!” But you really didn’t need any words to understand what Well-to-Do was thinking, he was quite displeased with how this had gone.

“Good, I’m glad we could come to an understanding. Gentleman,” she shifted her gaze towards Thorax and Pharynx. “I also have to take you with me for further questioning. I hope you have no problem with that.” Both shook their head. “Good, I’m glad you are all so cooperative, it makes our work so much easier. If you excuse me for a moment, it seems officer Armor wants to talk about something.” She quickly pointed towards the officer in name and quickly left the three man, Alchemy and their bodyguards all by themselves.

After a few minutes of awkward silence between all of them, Pharynx finally managed to spark a conversation. “So, you are Kamen Rider Alchemy, the one my brother spoke so highly about. Well, to be frank, I’m somewhat disappointed. You know how to fight, at least on a rudimentary level, but your technique is just too flawed. And you claim to be the protector of the city? Why the MRG still keeps you around when they have Charge at their side, someone infinitely more capable then you, is beyond me,” he spoke coldly.

It took him a while to respond, just staring at the man in the meantime, Thorax just shaking his head. “Maybe, all I know is that Ocean trusts me and that is all I need to move forward. Not that I couldn’t do better, far from it, there is much I still need to learn until I,” he stopped for a short moment only to resume moments later. “Until I can make this city save. I know that I still am not doing enough, but moping around that Charge is so much better then I’m ain’t going to solve that, I just have to move forward and try harder, that’s it.”

Pharynx just huffed in return and continued: “Well, at least you accept it. Still, I would have thrown you out of my security team a long time ago. You are just not fit to play the hero.”

“Pharynx! Would you please stop to antagonize Alchemy!” Thorax nearly shouted at his brother, who just chuckled and stepped away from the Rider. “I’m sorry, but he is somewhat of a perfectionist. If someone doesn't fit into his rigorous standards he will not let it down. The best thing is to just ignore it and move on. By the way thanks for saving me again, oh and thanks from Pharynx as well,” a dismissive huff could be heard in the background. ” Even if he doesn't want to show it, he is very much grateful.”

“Aw, thanks I appreciate the praise. Still, I let the thing get away, there is no way around that. But oh well, next it won’t get away. Anyways, how is it going for you at the moment? Any problems with Corrupted or something magical, or just the normal boring business stuff. Did you run into the little flower girl again?” He jokingly replied, while staring towards the ocean.

“Actually yes, well at least that I saw Rose again. She apologized to me about what she wanted to do to me and the entire mess. While the apology was somewhat on the theatric side I’m still glad she learned from the experience and it’s not like she was entirely in control of herself. Still, I would prefer it when she sticks to peaceful protests next time, I’m not interested in another monster hunt with me as they pray,” he chuckled.

“Well, I’m glad she learned from being an angry plant monster without eyes. Really, the fact that she had no eyes still weirds me out, it still is on the fifth spot on my ‘weird stuff list’.”

Thorax gave him a quite puzzled look. “You have a ‘weird stuff list’?”

Alchemy just shrugged with his shoulders. “Sure, why not. Helps to keep this insanity at least somewhat sane, or something like that. Add to that, that it’s just plain fun and I gotta say again, why not?”

Thorax continued to star at the Rider for a few more moments until just shook his head and shifted his gaze towards the sea. “Sure, why not. I heard of weirder stuff that keeps people sane, especially in the business world. Besides that, everything is working out fine and the projects we are currently working on in Canterlot are coming along smoothly and with no major hiccups, for the most part. And mother is currently very happy since she is getting closer in tracking down something she has been looking for for ages.” He was about to continue as he was suddenly interrupted by his brother.

“Thorax!” He shouted from behind them, a fierce look in his eyes that was directed straight at his brother who winced in return and stared back at his brother in utter shook.

After he had recovered a bit he continued: “Sorry, I was rambling again. You probably don’t care about what mother is doing in her spare time anyway.” Alchemy was about to disagree as he hastily continued. “Oh, look! Agent Skies is coming back. Too bad we have to cut this conversation short. I hope we can talk at some point later again,” he chuckled awkwardly and his eyes were darting around the place, but not once did they cross Alchemy’s.

And indeed Ocean was approaching, next to her Shining. “So, I would be ready to get you all back to the police station now. Officer Armor here will handle everything here. So, if you gentlemen would be so kind and follow me so we can finish this up as quick as possible?” She pointed towards several police cars that were placed on the parking lot of the beach. Everyone just nodded and grunted in agreement and without wasting much more time they were headed for the Canterlot Police Department.

--------------<

After they had managed to cram all six into different police cars they had left for the station. What followed was a long and tedious interrogation of everyone present. It took until deep into the night till they actually finished, all while trying to bare the annoyed Well-to-Do, a really grumpy bodyguard, two other rather aggressive bodyguards and an extremely displeased Pharynx. But eventually, they actually managed to finish the whole thing up and send the witnesses back home, not without telling them to stay within the city borders so they could question them later again.

That was when the door to the room next to the interrogation room suddenly was slammed open, inside the doorframe stood Ocean, arms hanging on her side like wet towels, her expression was a mixture of tired and exhausted and with a loud sigh she stepped inside and slammed the door shut behind her. “Why can’t we have a bit of breathing room between these cases. That is the third day in a row that we have to deal with this bollox. And given our track record, number fifteen is going to come back tomorrow. I just want a week without a monster attack, is that so hard?”

While she had spoken she had made her way across the room and had slumped down on a chair and was staring with half opened eyes towards Phoenix. He just chuckled: “Meh, I think it's not so bad, could be worse.”

Ocean just stared at him with a raised eyebrow. “Oh, yeah, sure, could be so much worse. Anyway, how are you still so energetic. You were the one that was out and around Canterlot at three AM. That is just not normal, you have to tell me your tricks at one point.”

Phoenix just chuckled somewhat nervously until he replied: “Oh, I have my ways, a magician never reveals his tricks.”

Ocean crossed her arms and cocked her head in return, staring at her fellow Rider. “Mhm, good that you are not a magician then, you are actually allowed to talk about this stuff.” A sly smile crept onto her lips as she stared at Phoenix.

Starting to rub the back of his head with his hand he awkwardly smiled back at her. “Magician, alchemist, whatever, close enough. So, my lips a sealed,” smugly smiling back at her.

“Oh, you are just a tease.” A quick look at her watch let her groan out in annoyance. “It seems I have something to do right now. Hey, do you wanna come to Ivory with me?”

“Sure, why not. At least it won't be boring. What did you want from him anyway?”

“Oh, it’s connected to today's fight. We finally got enough data to finish another Charger. Guess which one.”

Surprise turned to confusion, as he tried to figure out what Charger they had finished. After a full minute of thinking about it, he just shook his head in defeat. Ocean just looked at him in a mixture of shock and confusion. “The Wind Charger of course. It’s the Disc you had for the third longest and used quite frequently. Thought you actually would figure that one out, you are usually not that slow on the uptake.”

“Huh, probably just had a moment of stupidity, that’s all. Didn’t you need to talk with Ivory.”

In an instant, she shot back up from her chair and rushed towards the door, Phoenix smiling right behind her. “So, when is he going to move to his new lab? He said something about this week.”

While still marching forward she hastily replied: “Oh, in the next two days. Tomorrow they are going to pack everything up and move it. The day after that it is going to be fully operational. Oh right, still need to give you the address. I’ll send you a message with it later. Oh, and before you asked, we are moving the rest of the stuff as well that day and moving it towards the new MRG building downtown. You are going to love it, we even have a room where you can transform without leaving burn marks. You wouldn’t believe how pissed of Shining was about the fact that you wrecked our little observation room.” Chuckling a bit as she finished.

“Thanks, what would I do without you?”

She quickly looked over her shoulder, throwing a smug glance over to him. “Probably laying six feet under. Eleven and Twelve really did a number on you.”

He just shrugged. “Probably. But hey we are here.” He quickly pointed at the door that would lead them to Ivory’s laboratory, Ocean just smiling while shaking her head.

“Well, at least you admit it.” With a swift knock on the door, she entered without even waiting for an answer. “Hey, Ivory, how is everything coming along.” The man in question was currently sitting at a desk and had just placed the seemingly finished Charger down as he looked over his shoulder and frowned.

“Ocean, nice to see that you are interested in your new equipment and only two minutes late. Where you to busy making googly eyes at each other.” In an instant both their faces turned crimson.

“No, we did not!” Phoenix instantly shot back.

“Of course not!” Ocean counter just as quickly, both their faces had taken on a crimson color.

All while Ivory silently giggled at the two Riders. “Relax, it was a joke. You really should have seen your faces, priceless. But back to what you actually came for.” He picked up the Charger he had previously placed down in front of him and throw it to Ocean. “Here, just finished this, even with this subpart equipment. Would have probably been finished a lot faster if Phoenix here would have just helped us with the development.”

“Sorry, not happening.”

Both Ocean and Ivory just sighed in unison. “Thanks anyway, Ivory. Will put it to good use and looking very much forward to the next one you are going to finish.”

“Oh, please, being able to work with this stuff at all is reward enough. And I would like to get at least a bit more done for today, so if you tow would be so kind.” He pointed towards the door.

“Sure, we won’t bother you anymore. Phoenix!” With that, she grabbed him by his arm and dragged him out of the room.

“Next time just ask,” he said quite annoyed.

“Sorry, Ivory can get rather, well, pushy when you don’t get out of his way. But look at the bright side, you can leave sooner.” Phoenix just chuckled. “So, how about we meet at the beach tomorrow at, I would say, ten AM. Does that sound good?”

“Sure.”

“Good, then sleep well. I want you in peak physical condition tomorrow. See ya!”

“See ya!” Both quickly went their separate ways. As Phoenix walked past the next corner he stopped and pulled something out of his pocket, the Earth Disc and stared at it. “I’ll make sure to be top fit tomorrow.”

--------------<

The rest of the night came and went by with nothing of importance happening and on the next morning, fifteen minutes before ten AM Ocean arrived at the beach. It was pretty much empty, except a few people that apparently had taken the day off and were enjoying the early morning sun. And then there was the man with the light orange complexion, red and orange hair and the red t-shirt, Phoenix. He was currently standing at the edge of the parking lot and staring towards the beach, not even noticing her.

“Huh, didn’t expect you to be here so soon, but deferentially a welcome surprise.”

The moment Phoenix heard the voice heard her voice he immediately jumped back and spun around, staring directly at her. “Who’s there? Oh, it’s you.” His complete shook quickly turned into a far more relaxed expression.

“Sorry if I startled you, but I was just glad to see you.” Phoenix nodded in agreement. “It’s a beautiful day isn’t it.” Again, he nodded, afterward he shifted his gaze back towards the beach. “A shame that we can’t really enjoy it. Sometimes you just forget how beautiful something like a simple sunny morning can be.”

“Yeah, really one of the most beautiful things I have seen today,” Phoenix absentmindedly replied.

She quickly glanced over towards him and with somewhat curious expression asked in return: “So, what were the other beautiful things you saw today? Your bed, breakfast or something else?

As he was about to reply they heard screams coming from the beach and the few people that had actually been there running in terror, just like yesterday. Both Riders looked at each other and quickly ran behind the car Ocean had arrived in, quickly looking around the parking lot to see if someone could see them. After making sure they were in the clear Phoenix pulled out his Driver and let it loop around his waist, while Ocean pushed the button on her belt buckle that let her Driver appear. Then Phoenix pulled out one of his Magic Discs, placed it into his Driver and started spinning it. Ocean pulled out one of her Chargers, put it into the Driver and similar to Phoenix spun the respective part on her Driver.

\ MAGIC DISC DETECTED! /

“Henshin!”

\ WIND DISC ACTIVATED! /

\ SCANNING CHARGE! /

“Henshin!”

\ 50, 80, 100! FIRE CHARGE! /

Both Riders were consumed by magical energy and as they emerged from it didn’t waste and rushed towards the beach. On their way their people in their bathing suits came towards them, still screaming and with terrified looks in their eyes. Some seemed a bit more relaxed as they saw the two Riders, others tried to stay as far as possible away from them and others simply didn’t care. And neither die both of them, their goal was the Corrupted and the people that still might be in danger.

While they were running towards the beach Alchemy quickly removed the Wind Disc from his Driver again and let it transform into his weapon.

\ Wind Disc Attack Mode! /

\ Hurrican Bow! /

To their relieve there were no more people near the monster or more precise, it’s tentacles. Four of them in total that were slivering around the beach pretty much aimlessly, well until the two Riders came closer to them, in an instant, they shoot towards them. Charge had already drawn her gun and one of her trusty batons, so the moment they reached her, they were being slammed to the ground with her weapon and the ones that were still further away got kept at bay with precise shots from her Charge Magnum.

In the meantime, Alchemy had evaded the grasp of the two tentacles that had headed for him by simply flying out of their reach, or at least that was what he had thought. The moment he had turned around to retaliate the three tentacles were again rushing towards him. As quickly as possible he drew his bowstring and as he was about to unleash the emerald green arrow at his opponent it was already too late and the two limbs crashed into him with full force, letting him tumble down towards the ground.

Despite that, he had still managed to hold onto the bowstring and with a swift motion, he managed to face the tentacles that again were shooting directly towards him. Releasing his hold on the string he unleashed the arrow towards his opponent, the moment it made contact a powerful whirlwind was unleashed that threw the attacking limbs back several meters, spreading them in the process, water landing all over the beach. It didn’t stop them, however, as quick as they had been destroyed they regenerated back into their original form.

While he had gained a small headstart, the appendages were hot on his trail and would ultimately catch onto him if he didn’t do something quickly, his constant attacks on the tentacles were slowing them down, but this was not a permanent solution.

Charge was in the meantime struggling with her own two tentacles that were relentlessly striking at her. She just had smacked both of the appendages away from her as a third one grabbed her from behind, trying to jank her towards the water. As she was quickly forced closer and closer towards the waster she instinctively activated the engines all over he body, letting the Corrupted scream out in pain.

The moment the tentacles began to loosened their grip and were about to retreat towards the water, she quickly gripped onto one of them with her hands. For a few seconds, both the Corrupted and Charge were struggling to drag the other in their direction, well, until Charge activated her engines again and was boosting towards the edge of the beach, the appendage still firmly in her hands. Even the inhuman strength of the Corrupted was no match for the force of her engines and so Fifteen was slowly dragged from the depths of the ocean and towards actually land.

The instant Charge had started to pull the appendages of the Corrupted the ones following Alchemy stopped dead in their tracks and quickly turned around, rushing towards his partner. “Oh no, you don’t!” Drawing his bow again, he quickly let arrow after arrow rain down on the three limbs, halting their progress as best as he could.

Charge had meanwhile managed to actually drag the Corrupted onto the beach, with its jellyfishlike head staring at them in pure contempt. “Alchemy! Now!” Charge shouted towards him, immediately after he heard this he started to spin the Wind Disc again.

“Arrow Storm!” The arrow shot straight up into the air, disappeared into the familiar seal and moments later a barrage of arrows was raining down on the Corrupted.

The beach was consumed by a massive cloud of dust and sand, making it impossible for anyone to see what had transpired. Then suddenly the limb Charge still firmly held onto started to pull back again, nearly dragging her with it. Charge activated her boosters again, starting to pull the Corrupted out of the dust cloud. Besides the fact that his armor had been shattered it seemed like no harm had been done to him, his now exposed flesh looked just like his head and tentacles.

“Alchemy! Switch!”

“Roger!” With that he flew over to where Charge was still playing tug of war with Fifteen, the moment he landed next to her, he reverted his bow back to its Discform, replaced it with another Disc and spun it.

\ EARTH DISC ACTIVATED! /

After the transformation he quickly grabbed the tentacle and started to pull, holding the limb in place. “Well, let’s take this one for a spin.” Charged pulled out her new Charger and ejected the old one. With a swift motion, the two Chargers had switched places and she started to spin the cylinder again.

“Charge up!”

\ 50, 80, 100! WIND CHARGE! /

The ball of energy consumed her again, this time it was emerald green. After the energy had subsided she now was armored in her new form. The formal red undersuit now had taken on an emerald green color. Her eyes had changed back to their original red color. The exhaust pipes all over the armor were gone, now looking again like her Thunder Mode. There was one quite apparent difference though, two propellers encased in metal rings that were mounted on her back. The Charge Magnum had been replaced with a silver and green rifle that was connected to her back with a long green tube.

A gust of wind from her propellers kicked up some of the sand on the beach and with that, she ascended into the air. As she had reached a sufficient hight the propellers on her back slight shifted, letting her move closer to the Corrupted. After flicking a switch on the weapon she pulled the trigger, a whirlwind emerged from the weapon, directly hitting the Corrupted. With its force the whirlwind managed too pull the monster out of the water, Fifteen flailing around, desperately trying to grab onto anything. She quickly changed the direction the rifle was facing, dragging the Corrupted towards the beach.

After she had managed to get the monster out of the water and over solid ground she flicked the switch again, in an instant, the whirlwind didn’t pull the monster closer to her but instead started pushing it, Fifteen slamming against the ground, unable to move. It desperately tried to move its tentacles outside the wind that currently traped him. However, the moment its arms reached the edge of the whirlwind they were shredded to pieces, water splattering everywhere but the center of the whirlwind.

“Well, let's finish this!” She spun the cylinder on her Driver again, the tube that connected her weapon to her started to glow in a bright green.

\ Maximum Charge! /

It seemed like green energy was traveling towards the muzzle of the weapon, then it suddenly stopped and moments later a beam of green energy shoot out from the riffle, heading straight for the Corrupted. The beam completely consumed its target and a large explosion originated from the point it had hit the earth. After the beam had stopped the dust cloud around the Corrupted slowly dispersed, leaving only a short blue man with brown hat, grey stubble and black suit remained, next to him a dark blue seashell necklace.

Alchemy was the first to reach the target, quickly pulling out one of the blank Magic Discs and pointing towards the artifact. As he was about to absorb it Charge descended from above, managing to get a quick look at the artifact. It seemed oddly familiar, then it hit her. “Phoenix, stop!” But it was already too late, the magic was transferring into the Magic Disc. The moment Phoenix realized what she had shouted the magic already had been stripped from the necklace.

“Sorry, I didn’t know you wanted to get a look at the artifact,” he hastily replied, bowing his head in shame.

She only sighed in return and replied: “Forget it, you couldn’t have known that. Next time just wait for me. It was just that I already saw this thing once.”

That left Alchemy speechless, at least for a few seconds. “What do you mean?”

“Well, I saw one that looked exactly like this one on a trip to an island near the coast. The local population reported that they were supposedly attacked by large tentacles that came out of the sewers. Ultimately we traced down the one responsible, an old fisherman that hated how everything had changed. He thought by destroying everything technological would bring back those happier times. The thing he used to summon these tentacles was a necklace exactly like this one.” She pointed at the now normal seashell necklace.

“But, you took it, don’t you have a place where you store these items?” Alchemy sounded somewhat confused by the sudden turn of events.

“Yes, we do. We store all of the artifacts we acquire in different warehouses around the country. The seashell should be in warehouse thirteen. I think I have to look into this.” Before she could continue she heard a groan coming from the man next to them. “Oh, I completely forgot.” Her previous confusion was swept away and replaced with her usual seriousness. “You are under arrest! You have the right to remain silent. All you say can and will be used against you.” Before the man could make any attempt to flee he was cuffed. “And I hope you are willing to talk because I’m in a really bad mood right now.”

--------------<

In the small interrogation room inside the police station, Well-to-Do was again sitting at the metal table, his expression one-off complete annoyance. Then the door opened again, agent Skies entering, right behind her officer Armor. “Oh, officer, agent Skies, what gives me the honor of seeing you two again so soon? An apology because it is apparent I had nothing to do with this.”

A small smile appeared on Ocean’s face as she turned to face him. “Oh, no. Not that. I think, listening to it firsthand is probably the best way to explain it to you.” She pulled out a tablet and pushed something on it.

“So, you want me to trash the beach? Did I get that?” A rough voice could be heard.

“Yes, I want this damned beach to be completely destroyed. Until now these damn Change Industries idiots always declined, but if no one comes to the beach, they have to sell.” A second voice could be heard, this voice was unquestionably the one of Well-to-Do. He in return turned pale, gasping for air.

“I couldn’t care less about your reasons. Just give me the money and everything will be taken care of.”

“Huh, you are really ‘straight to business’ person. I like it. Her is your money, you get the rest when you are done.”

“Good, there is just one question left, how far am I allowed to go?”

Silence filled the air for a moment, only cars could be heard in the distance. “I don’t care, get me the beach and your job is done.”

“Very well, and don’t worry, Tartarus always delivers.” That was where the recording ended.

“I… This can’t… How is this?” Well-to-Do stammered. “Who brought you this?”

“An anonymous witness. We checked everything and it fits. The recording has not been tampered with. This is your voice on this, undeniably. Your mercenary also already talked after we showed this to him. You are under arrest! You have the right to remain silent. All you say can and will be used against you.” With that, she put the handcuffs she had been holding in her hand on him.

“I… How could I be caught? No, no! this is a lie! A lie! Mark my words Charge, I will make sure you get fired, you hear me, I’ll make you pay!”

“Mhm, we’ll see about that.” Shining Armor quickly led the man away towards one of the cells.

--------------<

A knock on the door let the woman pale green woman with the orange hair look up from her desk. The black business suit she wore only increasing the confidence she radiated. “Come in.”The door opened with a quiet squeak and a man stepped into the room, Pharynx. A pleased smirk covering his lips as he stepped closer.

“I assume this means that you have taken care of our little friend, right?” Her voice was cooled and calculating.

“Indeed mother. The fool will no longer be a problem, I made sure of that,” he proudly replied, his smirk only growing with every passing second.

“I hope so. Did you make it convincing?”

“Of course mother, I was always quite the actor, they should not be able to tell the difference.”

“Good, then you can go. I hope the next time will be a bit quieter. Limit the interaction with the Riders to a minimum and tell your brother that as well.” She returned to her work that was neatly laid out on her table.

“Yes mother, as you wish.” With that Pharynx turned around and quickly left the room again, closing the door behind him.

Author's Note

And with that ends our excursion to the beach.

Like always, constructive criticism is very much welcome.

A Party Planner Never Forgets - Party Pooper

The next day had been surprisingly peaceful, no new monster attacks or anything out of the ordinary. All to Oceans utmost delight, she enjoyed the peace and quiet the day brought with it. The new office inside the new MRG building might have helped as well. The first time since she had actually felt at home since she had arrived here. A realm of her own and not one that was just borrowed. And the best part, she had a great view of the city, from inside her office.

She was sitting at her desk, tipping away at he laptop as she heard a knock coming from the door. “Come in.” She didn’t even look up from her work to see who entered as the door slowly opened and closed again.

“Ahm, agent Skies, there is someone that wants to see you.” Shining Armor spoke up, his voice sounding rather unsure. As Ocen looked up from her workplace she could see that the officer was sweating and even more pale than usual.

“Who exactly wants to speak with me? As far as I know, there were no appointments scheduled for today,” she replied, her curiosity growing with every second.

“Well, yes, there were no appointments scheduled for today and our guest has arrived without any form of actual announcement. But, well, I think she can do that.” Now Ocean just raised an eyebrow, looking directly at the officer, who in return just avoided her gaze.

“So, who is it? Tell me, I’m not a fan of the pronoun game.”

“The director of the MRG. Mrs. Monochrome.” That was the moment Oceans hearth nearly stopped, her skin turned unnaturally pale and sweet started to drip down her skin.

“Why didn’t you say that sooner? Oh goodness, what am I going to say? I have let her wait for too long. Fast, get her and say I’m terribly sorry for letting her wait,” she spoke with extreme speed and fragile voice. While she spoke she gestured Shining to hurry and leave. The officer quickly obliged and left the room as quickly as possible. Meanwhile, Ocean was frantically rearranging what she had put on her desk.

It didn’t even take a minute until the door was opened again, this time a woman with grey skin and black hair, dressed in a dark grey suit stood before her. Her expression was impossible to read as if she wore a stone mask. “So, I see you made yourself at home here already. I hope it was quick and to the point. Still, your desk does look messy already. You know how important it is to keep order, do you?” her voice was cold and quite firm, demanding authority.

“I’m truly sorry, I didn’t know you would visit us, mother, if I had I would have…” But she was interrupted by Monochrom with a swift motion of her hand.

“I told you time and time again, don’t call me mother when we are at work. I’m the director, remember that. And there is no excuse for any of your shortcomings. You need to keep your underlings always in top form, otherwise, you fail as an agent. But for the most part, you seem to have everything under control,” she continued, completely ignoring Oceans attempts of explaining the situation to her. She just noodling without any further attempted to explain herself.

“Yes, director,” she replied in a mellow voice, avoiding eye contact with Monochrome. “So, what is it, that you took the long way from Manehatten all the way over here? It has to be something important. Coffe?” She gestured towards a brand new coffee machine on one of the shelves near the window front.

“No, thank you,” Ocean slowly nodded. “But back to your question. I’m here because the situation here has escalated enough that my presence is warranted.” Her cold stern look seemed to pierce through Ocean, letting out a pained sigh.

“You really didn’t have to, I have everything under control.”

“Sure you have and the fact that a murderer with superpowers is still on the run, a crime syndicate is using magical artifacts and that you still couldn’t stop the Corrupted epidemic shows this phenomenally. I have to step in or we will have a major crisis on our hands. And I would like to avoid this.”

“Yes, director,” she bowed her head in shame, her posture deflating visible.

“Good, then tell me where Alchemy is, I wanted to talk with him. See if what you told me about him actually is representative of reality,” Monochrome continued, while she spoke turning around and staring out of the window.

What followed was an awkward silence that stretches on for several moments. “Ehm, well, I might have given him a day off so he can have a day to unwind. He has been somewhat absentminded the last few days. So, I thought a bit of free-time would be good for him,” she slowly shifted from one foot to the other.

Monochrome just shook her head and continued: “Oh, well, then bring him here. As if the Corrupted would care if he has a day off. And if he truly needs a day off he might not be the right one for the job. You need nerves of steel if you want to protect the innocent. If he lacks them, we need to take away his Driver.”

“Mother… I mean, director. Please, you can trust me with this, Phoenix is cut out for this, he just needs to grow into our line of work. We all did and I would like to avoid a repeat of some other situations we had in our past.”

She just sighed, replying slowly: “Fine, we will continue our partnership with him, but if he shows that he is indeed not up for the task I’m confiscating his Driver. Did I make myself clear?” Ocean just silently nodded, her eyes staring towards the floor.

“Good, then we should move on to the next point. I would like to have an extensive tour through the building. I still need to take a few calls before that. So, you get me Alchemy here and in five minutes you are going to show me our new building.” Without even waiting for an answer she had already left the room, leaving her just standing there, staring at the door.

“That could have gone better,” were the words with which she finally broke the unnerving silence that had permeated the room until now. She slowly pulled out her cell phone and after a short while of searching dialed in Phoenix’s number.

--------------<

Meanwhile, Summer and Thunder were working in the kitchen of the ‘Magnum Opus’ trying their hardest to actually get the orders out in time. Ever since the restaurant had temporarily closed and replaced with a delivery service, they hadn't gotten a quiet moment at work. Too many people were calling them and ordering pizza. Apparently caused by the fact that since the restaurant didn’t relly on reservations anymore and now was just a call away, more people had started ordering. That, in turn, leads to an increased workload, somewhat of a double-edged sword.

“Summer, can you get me the pineapple?” he was currently putting the topping on three different pizzas simultaneously. “I’m somewhat busy right now,” he finished with a slight chuckle, all while not averting his gaze from his work.

“Yeah, yeah, give me a moment.” All while she was currently pulling a few of the delicious treats out of the oven. “Or do you want that our food gets burned?” Thunder just shook his head frantically. “Good, then patience, you get your pineapple soon enough.” After she had put the different pizzas on the workplace she quickly grabbed one from a fruit basket “Catch!” and threw it towards the unexpecting Thunder.

As he heard her warning he quickly looked up, saw the pineapple that was heading straight for his face and with a surprisingly quick reaction grabbed it, placing it down next to him. “Thanks! But next time, just walk over, I would like to avoid getting something in my face if I can avoid it.” She just shrugged. “What was I expecting?”

“Hey, you caught it, didn’t you? And a bit of exercise didn’t hurt anyone, now did it.” After a quick look of Thunder, she added. “Ok, maybe it did, but come on, nothing happened.”

“Forget it, we have work to do anyway. I think we should get the next batch of orders out. Pack them up and of you go.” After he wiped off some sweat with a handkerchief he continued, his voice sounded somewhat spend. “You know, having a set number of customers was a lot less stressful.”

Summer just chuckled: “Oh really, who could have guessed?” after a deadpanned look from her boss she continued: “Yeah, you are right. Can’t wait till we got the restaurant back. Somewhat miss the guests, even if they sometimes drive me nuts. Kinda gets lonely here. Don’t you agree?”

“Yeah, kinda does. Miss the happy faces when they get their food, always put a smile on my face.” Thunder’s gaze shifted towards the clock and he let out a heavy sigh. “Anyway, you should get going. I don’t want to hear any complaints coming from the customers that we are not fast enough. That means no chatting with the customers, did I make myself clear?”

Summer just chuckled a bit while rubbing the back of her head. She was about to reply as something caught both of their attention, something was making a strange noise. Something like a loud ringing that came from upstairs. Both of them looked at each other with confused looks on their faces. “What is that?” Summer finally broke the silence.

“I don’t know, but it sounds familiar…” At this moment something seemed to click in his head and his expression shifted like ha had a major revelation. “Oh, it’s Phoenix cell phone. Wait, what does this do here?” Summer just shrugged, all while the rining continued. “Ah, Summer, could you take the call? I’m a bit busy right now and what if it is something important.”

Summer let down the pizza carton she currently was holding and sprinted up the stairs. As she arrived on the upper floor she quickly spotted the phone laying on the living room table, shaking from the rining. With a quick dash she reached the little device and after at least a minute of rining answered the call. “Hello?”

“Hey, Phoenix, thank goodness you finally picked up. I need to talk to… Wait, you are not Phoenix.” On the other end of the line was Ocean, speaking extremely fast into her phone.

“Nope, it’s me, Summer. The idiot apparently forgot his phone here as he went to the festival. Why are you calling him anyway? I thought he had a day off. Did you want to ask him out or something,” she slyly added.

“What? No, no, no! How do come to such a conclusion? That is not why I… I don’t have to justify myself in front of you!” Ocean usual confident tone had disappeared the instant she had started to speak again. Summer just silently chuckled at her reaction. “Anyway, forget about that. Where is Phoenix? I need him at the MRG right now.”

“Oh, you need him?” A devious smile appeared on her lips as she spoke to the distressed agent on the other end.

“Would you cut this crap out! Get me Phoenix! Now!” Heavy breathing could be heard from the other side.

“Ok, got it. But there is just one teeny tiny problem. He is at a festival quite a few blocks away. And since he left his phone here we can’t reach him, sorry.” She quietly replied.

“Dammit, of course. What else. The day I need to call him he forgets his damned phone. Everything is working out just fine.” A loud thump could be heard from the other side of the line. After a few moments of silence from both sides, she continued. “Sorry. I know it’s not your fault, but today just everything seems to go wrong.”

“No problem. Hey, I can just give you the address and you can pick him up. How does that sound?”

“Thanks, while I can’t personally come, I think I can send officer Armor to pick him up. I hope Phoenix is ready to listen to his tirade the entire way here. Seriously, how can you forget your phone when human lives might be on the line,” what followed was an exhausted sigh.

“Wait, human lives? Did something happen?” The speed of her voice picked up significantly.

“What? No. Nothing besides my mother coming by for a surprise visit and wanting to see him. So just slightly less bad.”

“Wait, your mother?” She sounded quite confused.

Ocean quickly interrupted her and continued. “Doesn’t matter, just give me the address. I don’t have much time here.”

“Ok, ok. Got it. He is at the Spring Festival at the shopping mall. The one with the huge glass roof. You know?”

“Yes, yes. Thanks, I’ll send Shining over there as soon as possible.” And without even saying goodbye she had hung up, leaving Summer just standing there dumbfounded.

After a few moments, he heard the voice of her boss shouting up to her. “Who was it?”

That was what had snapped her back to reality and she quickly responded. “Ocean called. She wanted to talk with Phoenix. Told her he forgot his phone. Now she is sending someone to pick him up. That’s all.” While she shouted back towards him she made her way down the stairs until she was again standing in the kitchen.

“Of course he forgot his phone. Not that surprising, especially since he had been rather distracted the last few days. He nearly even fell down the stairs this morning. Still, I’m going to have to give a speech about keeping something like your phone on yourself at all times.” Summer just chuckled at his reply. “Oh, not that we forget. You still have to deliver a few pizzas. So, get going!” He pointed at a box with a few pizzas in it.

“Yeah, sure. Be right back. Don’t try to burn down the shop while I’m gone.” With that, she grabbed the box and made her way towards the back door. A silent chuckle was all Thunder gave in return.

--------------<

While this little exchange took place Phoenix the already walking around the previously mentioned Spring Festival. A good portion of the parking lot around the mall had been covered in food and game stands. From the usual affair like hotdog, burger, and other stands there were a few that caught the eyes of everyone that looked for something a bit more out of the ordinary. Food from other regions of the world and games from there too. All this was in a strange way comforting for him.

He had just gotten a burger and was about to bite into the delicious little treat as something startled him, so much so that he nearly dropped his food. A shrill, energetic voice shouted directly into his ear: “Hey! Nice to see you here Feenie!” In an instant he jumped back several feet, turning around and staring at a pink girl with extremely fluffy hair grinning at him.

While breathing heavily he spoke to the girl that was still staring at him with big eyes and wide smile: “Never! Do! This! Again!”

The girl just looked at him with a puzzled look on her face and replied: “Aw, but I wanted to surprise you. Didn’t that work?”

Now Phoenix was the one that looked at the girl with a puzzled expression. “I… I mean sure you did, but…”

“Yay!” She just jumped up in the air, to the ever-growing confusion of Phoenix.

“What do you mean yay? I nearly got a heart attack. Do I look like I enjoyed that? How do you know my name anyway?” Slowly his breath started to go back to normal and he began to calm down again.

“Oh, Feenie, I never forget a name. That would mean I would forget a friend and I make sure that something like that never happens.”

After a few moments of silence, he continued: “Ok, that is nice to know, but how do you know me?”

Now the bright smile on her lips suddenly deflated, leaving her with a heart-wrenching frown. Well at least for a few seconds since she suddenly shifted back to her bright grin. “Aww, you don’t remember me Feenie? Come on, it wasn’t so long ago. You served us at your brother's pizzeria. I’m sure you remember me.”

Then it hit him, it was one of the seven girls with the magical geodes. The ones that had eaten at the ‘Magnum Opus’ a while back. “You were the one that wanted candy corn on your pizza, didn’t you. Your name was, let me think for a moment, Pinkie Pie, wasn’t it?”

Pinkie just bounced up and down again. “Ding, ding, you win!”

“What? What do you mean I win? What did I win?” His confusion just grew and grew with every passing second.

“You won the ‘Guess-my-name-game’ silly. What else would you have won?” She quickly pushed her hand inside her hair and seemed to look for something, then before Phoenix could ask her what she was doing she pulled something out of it, against all laws of physics. “Here, you win!” With that, she handed him a bottle of mayonnaise with a rather strange label: ‘For the winner of the Guess-my-name-game’.”

That was the moment Phoenix brain just refused to understand what was at this moment transpiring right before his eyes. He just nodded and put the bottle inside of his pocket, all the while weekly noodling at Pinkie. All he could reply was a weak: “Thank you.”

“Aww, there is no need to thank me. You won, that is your prize. You might actually become the champion. Come to think of it, you are the only one that played this game, so you are the champion already.” And as quick as she had pulled out the first bottle she had produced a second one, this one reading: ‘For the Champion of the Guess-my-name-game’. Seconds later he held this new bottle in his hands, staring at it, not knowing how exactly he should respond.

Should he just leave, or just to be sure, run as fast as he could? No, that would be rude. Just ignore her? Not quite as rude, but still. Aske her what she wants? Nah, that would be too easy. Before he could continue to think about it any further he heard her bubbly voice right next to him. As he quickly spun around she was again smiling at him. “Oh, you are back.”

“What do you mean back?”

“Oh, you just stared at me with this exact expression for two minutes,” while she spoke her expression quickly changed to one of complete and utter bewilderment. He in return just stared back at her in bewilderment. “Yes, exactly that one,” she pointed at me.

Phoenix struggled to reply anything to the girl, it felled like his brain was slowly beginning to melt. Then he finally managed to get a few words out. “Wait, minutes? I was thinking for like twenty seconds, tops. How can I star at you for two minutes straight?”

“I don’t know, but I stopped the time. Her, look,” with that Pinkie shoved her smartphone in his face. And low and behold, it indeed showed a timer with exactly two minutes on it.

He nodded in return and added: “Of course you did. What else was I even expecting?” After a heavy sigh, he continued. “So, where are your friends anyway? I’m sure they would love to spend time with you,” he quickly added under his breath. “And I can have a bit of a break from this insanity.”

“Oh, the others will be here in about half an hour. I just came earlier because I couldn’t wait any longer. And seemed to be a good decision, otherwise, I would have never meat the champion of the ‘Guess-my-name-game’, now would I?” There was something in her voice and just cheerful attitude that was infectious. While he still was completely confused by the insanity that was happening right before his eyes he let escape a little chuckle.

“Ah, so your friends will be here in an hour?” She just nodded, just as energetic as usual. “So, what are you going to do till then?” He raised one of his eyebrows as he looked at her.

She quickly pointed to a stand a fifty meters away. “Probably try to win some plushies. You can never have enough plushies!” He followed the path that her finger was pointing with his eyes. As he noticed where exactly she was pointing he tried to concentrate to see what kind of stand she was talking about. But the harder he tried to focus on the stand the blurrier his vision got, until he everything appeared as an unrecognizable blob.

He quickly shook his head and as he looked again everything seemed normal. He even could make out what kind of stand it was, one where you throw a ball and knock over some milk bottles. He chuckled again. “Hey, you know what, I wanted to see your friends again anyway. The last time I saw a few of them it didn’t end so well.”

“Sure, why not. But first things first. Plushy here I come!” With that, she sprinted towards the stand leaving a perplexed Phoenix behind her. Strangely enough, it didn’t feel as strange as a few minutes ago, maybe he had simply started to roll with her tiredness. Whatever it was, he probably didn’t have much time to dwell on it. Just shrugging with his shoulders he started to slowly follow Pinkie, who had already reached the stand and was energetically talking with the owner.

As he had managed to walk half of the way there he heard a loud scream coming from behind him. As he turned around he could see a stampede of people running towards him. Seconds after Phoenix had jumped to the side the people were already rushing past him, pushing each other, it was utter chaos. As he looked over to where the people were coming from he spotted the origin of the commotion. A Corrupted, of course, it was a Corrupted.

The monster seemed rather slender but was still quite muscles. Its skin was a dull grey color and it was equipped with a set of shining metal armor that covered his chest, upper arms, and legs. His face resembled that of a skull, just that its teeth were made out of sharp metal blades and the fact that on top of its head it had a collection of sharp, pointy metal thorns. The eyes of the Corrupted were empty except for a malicious red glow that emitted from them. But the worst part about it was its arms and hands. Every finger was equipped with a long sharp blade that grows out of the back of its hand, bending when the beast moved its fingers. And to make matters worse the blades on the monster's fingers reached down to its knees.

It was slowly walking throw the rows of the festival, methodical looking at each stand and row as if it was searching for something. Whenever someone came to close to it, the beast would snap around and stare at them, but after a few seconds just ignore them and move on. It was strange. A quick look towards Pinkie confirmed that she had not budged an inch since the Corrupted had appeared, she now had a small red rabbit in her arms that she quickly pushed inside her fluffy hair and stared at the Corrupted.

After a few moments of quickly shifting his gaze between the Corrupted and Pinkie, he rushed out of sight, between the rows of tents. After he had made sure that no one was able to see him he pulled out his Driver and one of the Magic Discs.

\ MAGIC DISC DETECTED! /

“Henshin!”

\ WIND DISC ACTIVATED! /

The emerald whirlwind of magical energy that surrounded him was so strong that it nearly blew away the stands next to him. Some of the less secure objects around him sadly did not fare so well and were now landing all over the festival plaza. But all this didn’t matter right now. He could listen to Oceans complains later, right now he had to stop a rampaging monster and he intended to do just that. He quickly removed the Wind Disc from his Driver again and turned it into its weapon form.

\ Wind Disc Attack Mode! /

\ Hurrican Bow! /

Just as his weapon had taken form his opponent stepped into his line of sight, apparently still looking for something. The falling debris didn’t seem to bother the Corrupted that much, even as a small teddy landed straight on his head, it just looked up once, shook his head and moved on. Before it could look in his direction he had drawn his bowstring and fired one of his arrows at the monsters face. To his utter dismay, he actually missed and the shot just sailed right past his head and demolished one of the innocent stands next to him.

Unsurprisingly the Corrupted had noticed his little sneak attack after his botched attempt and now was staring directly at him with his seemingly soulless glowing eyes. They were somewhat hypnotic in a certain way, it was like they could see directly into his soul. As much as he wanted to look away from them his eyes refused to break the contact. So he completely missed the fact that the blades of the monster started to glow a fierce red.

As the Corrupted slashed at him from a distance he was quite surprised by the sudden wave of crimson energy coming his way. Still, he managed to react just in time to avoid being hit by it. Alchemy simply flew over the attack. While the Corrupted looked at him in disbelievement he again drew the string of his bow and unleashed an arrow directly at his opponent. This time it was headed straight for his head and would definitely connect, would it not be for the fact that the monster managed to block the attack with one of its claw blades.

Mere moments before the attack actually connected with its face a quick slash with its sharp limps was enough to redirect the attack into another one of the stands. The Corrupted just chuckled and retaliated with another one of his energy wave attacks. Alchemy again avoiding the attack narrowly, this time it passed him by mere inches away from his helmet.

He was starting to lose his patience and started to circle his opponent in the air, dodging everything it threw at him, even if it was a rather close call at times. While he was evading everything his opponent could throw at him Alchemy let arrows rain down upon the Corrupted. Most were simply deflected by the monster, some didn’t even hit their mark, it only got worse as the fight continued, but there were about three that actually penetrated the seemingly unbreakable defenses of the Corrupted, sadly beside letting it stagger back a bit they didn’t seem to do much, the Corrupted simply continued his attack.

After a few dozen attacks on the monster, Alchemy had to admit that this would not work. So after landing behind some stands to change tactics, he noticed something just as he was about to change his Disc. Pinkie was standing right next to him, looking around the corner, watching the Corrupted. “Hey Pink, what are you still doing here? You should be as far away from here as possible, this can get very dangerous.”

She quickly turned her head around and replied: “Oh, I’m just making sure big bad meanie there doesn't do anything bad.” With that, she returned her gaze to the monster that was currently looking frantically around the now pretty much empty festival area.

“Hey, that is my job. You are just going to endanger yourself here, especially without your geode. So just let me handle this.” He was about to continue with his change of tactics as he heard a growly voice call out something. It was Similiar like someone was rubbing two rusted pieces of metal together, a rather unpleasant sound.

“There you are! Finally found you!”

This could have only come from the Corrupted and indeed seconds later Pinkie exclaimed a simple “Ups,” and rushed past him and away from the stand. Moments later the stand she had hidden behind simply exploded thanks to one of the energy waves of the Corrupted. Alchemy had no time to react and was hit by the attack and landed several meters away. An entire stand had collapsed on him. Everything seemed so blurry, a mixture of different colors and shapes was all he could see.

Then he heard the something: “Are you ok? Did the big bad meanie hurt you?” It was Pinkie, calling out for him. This was when he could recognize what was in front of him again, at least to a certain degree. Without much effort, he managed to stand up again, the rubel that had buried him simply falling to the wayside.

“Yeah, yeah I’m fine. But you should really get out of here.” With that, he turned his weapon back into its Disc form and replaced it with another Disc which in turn was placed in the Driver.

\ EARTH DISC ACTIVATED! /

Without wasting any more time he removed the Disc again and activated its weapon mode.

\ Earth Disc Attack Mode! /

\ Boulder Shield! /

Pinkie didn’t even have time to answer as the Rider charged towards his opponent shield in hand. Halfway there he threw the shield at the monster. The Corrupted in return managed to block the attack again, but against what it expected the shield didn’t land on the ground but returned to its owner who simply caught it again.

Now that he had managed to actually close the gap between them he started to slam his shield against his opponent, managing to let it stagger back a bit. Retaliation didn’t take long and the claw blades of the Corrupted were slashing down on Alchemy who always managed to put the shield between himself and the enemy. Still, with every slash of the monster, he was pushed back even more.

Just as the Corrupted tried to attack him again he managed to slam his fist right into its stomach or to be more precise there where its stomach would be wouldn’t it be protected by its armor. While the monster again staggered back in pain it was only a short victory for him as his vision started to get worse again. Everything was starting to get unrecognizable again. He didn’t even saw the first attack coming, a clean slash from his shoulder, over his stomach that let him cry out in pain. It stung excruciatingly, like someone had just carved something into his flesh.

The second attack didn’t feel much better, again was he slashed from shoulder to stomach, just this time from the other shoulder. The pain was starting to get unbearable, the inability to actually brace himself from the next attack of his opponent made the thing just so much worse. His vision grew worse and worse with every passing moment, now everything seemed to melt together in a massive black blob.

Then it hit him, the third attack of the Corrupted and this time it was one of the energy waves that had hit him. He was lifted off the ground and sailed straight into something, probably a few meters away. Before he could even think about standing up again everything came crashing down on him, burrowing him alive under a mountain of debris. And the worst part was that after everything had fallen on top of him his armor started to dissolve and within moments he lay under the debris just as Phoenix. The pain was surging all throughout his body, every little bit of movement let it only get worse like he was poked with a one hundred degree hot metal stick. His vision was getting even worse now. Additionally, everything was getting harder to hear as well, like someone had stuffed cotton into his ears.

Then something caught his attention. Something loud, something that sounded like gunshots. He concentrated the rest of his slowly dwindling mind on figuring out what it was when he heard a familiar voice. He could not really place it right now, but he knew the voice from somewhere. Thanks to the fact that his ears seemingly refused to pick up everything that was going on outside he could only hear parts of what was said. “Get awa.. im! If you did any… to him I swea… will regret…” Then a loud explosion filled the air. What followed was silence as he slowly drifted further and further into unconsciousness. Right before he lost the rest of it he could hear one last thing: “…ok?” Then everything went black and silent.

Author's Note

Like always constructive criticism is very much welcome.

A Party to Remember - Rise from the Ashes

He didn’t know what had happened; the only thing that was still present in his mind was an immense pain and a following darkness. Now a bright light was blinding him, making it impossible to see where he was. As he tried to shield himself from the agonizing light with his hands they suddenly stopped shortly after he started to move them. Consecutive attempts yielded the same result; he just couldn’t raise his hands.

After the third attempt, he started to feel that there was something around his wrists. He carefully tugged at them again, it felled like some sort of leather, preventing him from moving his hands. His breath started to speed up and grow uneven. But before he started to wildly tug on the things that held him secure he managed to calm himself down again, still, this entire situation was more than a little uncomfortable for him.

After he had regained his composure again, at least for the most part, he noticed that he was lying on something soft. His wrists were chained to the side of the soft thing, probably a bed. It didn’t take him long to figure out that his feet had also been incapacitated, both also chained to the bed. After a few more moments the light in the room finally started to get bearable.

While still painful to look around he could make out that he was in a plain white room with green curtains separating the room into smaller parts. On the opposite side of the room stood another bed, empty. As he looked down at him he could make out that he wore some lime green clothes, something that looked like an overly large painter smock. Next to him stood a strange beeping machine with a monitor. All of this didn’t make any sense.

The moment the confusion had set in a stinging pain went through his whole body, forcing out a pained grown of him. While this was happening the machine that was standing next to him increased in frequency and volume. He hadn’t noticed it until now, but his chest was arching like crazy, only increasing in intensity as time went by. Every second the pain only increased, like someone was slowly carving away his flesh, layer by layer.

After what seemed like an eternity a door he could not see was slammed open, letting everything in the room shake, some things even threatening to fall over. “Where is this idiot?” A voice shouted out to him, a voice he would recognize everywhere. And indeed seconds later his brother was charging towards him, only coming to screeching halt centimeters before his bed.

Before he could even make any attempted to ask him what was going on here he was cut short by him: “You are the biggest idiot I have ever seen! How can you do this to me? You know how worried I was about you? No, of course not! You… You… I’m, glad you are ok.” The expression of his brother was a mixture of relive and anger.

After a few seconds of stunned silence, Phoenix just chuckled and relaxed a bit, letting his head sink back into the pillow behind his back. “Don’t worry, I’m fine. And will be even better when I actually pummel this stupid Corrupted into submission. Just untie me and I will get right on that.”

But nothing happened and just silence filled the room. After about a minute of Thunder avoiding the looks of his brother who still was laying there awaiting him to reply, he weakly replied: “No! No, I will not do that, not before someone else had a little talk with you.” Right on cue Ocean stepped in sight of the strapped down Rider, a cold and determent look on her face.

Without saying a single word she walked right towards him, eyes not even for a second breaking contact with his. “He… Hey Ocean, nice to see you. I heard you wanted to talk with…” He was cut short rather rudely by her with a hard slap to the face, Phoenix out of shock just tugging at his restraints again.

“Oww, what was that for? You know that it is not a good idea to hit someone in a hospital bed.” Was all he could muster as he stared at them in confusion while his cheek stung like it had just been hit by a truck. He increased his efforts to break free from his restraints, tugging ever harder at them.

While Phoenix was trying his hardest to get out of the restraints that kept him bound to the bed Ocean just remained calm, early calm. She spoke no word and just stared at him with her cold expression; it only caused Phoenix to struggle even harder.

“I just have one question for you. When was the last time you slept? And getting knocked out by a Corrupted doesn't count.” He was about to reply as she added: “And don’t even think about lying to me, I know when you do.” She was not loud, she was not aggressive but she still sounded threatening, so much so that Phoenix stopped any attempt at breaking free from his restraints and instead just stared at her. With every passing second, the situation just got more and more uncomfortable.

It took him an entire minute to even get a single word out, all while Ocean just kept staring at him with that look that seemed to get right through him and into his thoughts. “I… You know… You remember the day we, you know, investigated that murder?” She just nodded, without breaking eye contact for even a moment. “Well, yeah, basically since then.” The embarrassment was unbearable, his head was steaming and the worst part she still had his eyes in some sort of hypnosis, or at least it felt like it. He could just not look away from her, try as hard as he wanted.

“Wait, what do you mean you haven’t slept since Saturday? That is one hundred and twenty hours? How could he not sleep for so long, he didn’t seem very sleepy and exhausted, wouldn’t that be the case?” Thunder interrupted their little staring contest, to the relive of Phoenix. A look of confusion was written on his face as he stared at the two.

Ocean was the first to break the silence as she coldly replied. “Well, if his Driver functions similarly to mine, I think that should not be a problem. Whenever I change the Charger and transform into another form my energy is to a certain extent restored, minor wounds and general energy. That way you can jump into the battle at least somewhat refreshed. I have the suspicion that Phoenix here just used this little trick outside of battle to skip sleeping.”

He just sighed in return and let himself slump back into the bed. “Yeah, that is pretty much what happened. I used the Discs to regain my energy and skip sleeping. I was always in top form, why wouldn’t I use that. I could get more training done that way. I thought it would be wrong if I wouldn’t do that. And no one could notice since I was top fit. It is perfect; I can actually catch up to you when I work more.” A smile of pure joy crept onto his face as he went on. But as he saw Oceans disapproving frown it evaporated as quickly as it had appeared.

“Oh, Phoenix.” Her sigh was not one filled with disappointment like he had expected, but one filled with pity. “You know there are more reason why we actually sleep then just restoring energy? Only because you don’t have to worry about lack of energy doesn’t mean you can simply skip sleeping.”

Phoenix just looked at her confused. “What do you mean? What else is sleep for besides resting and recharging your batteries?”

“Well, you are right. It is to ‘recharge your batteries’, but that does not only mean that you restore your body to full energy. It also is so that your brain can process what happened to you. You need to sleep so you don’t go insane and the Discs can’t help you with that, trust me. I have seen it happen time and time again. If you don’t sleep enough you started to get easily distracted. Your mind doesn't work like it is supposed to and it gets harder for you to think. And if you stay awake for even longer you even start to hallucinate. There is more to sleep then simple replenishing your energy.”

Phoenix just lay there, stunned, his mind searching for any excuse he could find to tell her she was wrong. “I… You know… That doesn't mean that that happened to me. Magic might take care of that as well. I didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary.”

She just sighed. “You know how often I heard the ‘I didn't notice anything’- an excuse. Too often to keep track of it. Like I said, I have seen this time and time again and you hit every symptom that was not caused by lack of energy. Ever since Monday, you have been slow on the uptake and extremely absentminded. Add to that that you started to function sloppier and sloppier on the battlefield. And judging from what officer Armor told me it was even worse in your fight with Sixteen. You can't fool me.”

“I… I… Wait, Shining was at the festival? Where? I did not see him.”

“I send him there since you forgot your phone. He came in right as the attack started, he saw the whole thing, just couldn’t get to you thanks to the battle. He saw everything. But that doesn't matter right now; we are talking about your reckless behavior, not about officer Armor.“ Phoenix shifted nervously in the bed; well as good as he could at least. “You wanted to train more so you could protect them better didn’t you?” Without even waiting for any kind of answer she continued. “But what you did was the exacted opposite. You endangered civilians because you did not care about your wellbeing and didn’t simply ask me. I would have trained you. But no, you acted without consoling me and without knowing the full contexed and endangered civilians with your recklessness.”

“I… I…”

“I wasn’t done. You ignored any help I offered you. I tried to help you, but no, you just ignore me. I actually thought you were starting to trust me, but apparently no, you don’t. I don’t even know why I didn’t tell mother about all of this. Right now I don’t know if we shouldn’t just confiscate your Driver and give it to someone more capable who can use it responsibly,” she continued her tirade, still with that cold and confident tone, mixed with a bit of disappointment.

“Wait, what do you mean with ‘didn’t tell my mother’?” He asked in confusion.

Ocean just sighed and continued. “She has just come to the city today. She wanted to see you, that was the reason I sent officer Armor to get you. She doesn't think you have it in you to be a Kamen Rider. Right now I don’t know why, but I didn’t tell her about your little stunt here. She only knows that a Corrupted got the better of you, so right now you can still keep your Driver. But if you don’t learn from this, it is gone faster than you can say ‘Ups’. Did I make myself clear?”

Phoenix simply nodded, letting his gaze drift down towards the floor. After a few minutes of awkward silence, Ocean spoke up again. ”Good, I think we are done here. Why don’t we let you catch some sleep?” She gestured Thunder towards the exit, who in return looked back at his brother one last time, sighed and slowly trotted towards the door. Right behind him was Ocean, who, as she turned off the light and closed the door simply added: “Sleep tight.”

--------------<

It had been a few hours had passed since Ocean and Thunder had left the room and left him alone in the dark. Well, it was almost completely dark, only the light of the machine next to him eliminated the room. He hadn’t managed to get a second of sleep since then. Whenever he closed his eyes for a bit a feeling was nagging on the back of his head telling him that he could spend his time way better. Added to this was the fact that the images of Alkahest victims kept appearing in his mind constantly, nagging on him how he failed them.

He was starting to get restless and about to start tugging on his restrained again as he heard the door slowly opening and closing again. The tension in the room started to rise again, growing with every footstep he heard that was coming closer and closer towards him. He was about to scream for help as someone stepped into the light of the monitor revealing officer Armor. “Puh, it’s only you. And I thought I might have a problem.” As far as he could tell with the limited light Shining just raised his eyebrow. “So, let me guess, come to gloat and proclaimed ‘told you so’? Come on, let’s get this over with.”

To his surprise, the officer just remained silent, snatched a chair that was standing on a table just out of sight, placed it right next to the bed and set down. He continued to play silent as he crossed his arms and stared at him, making this whole thing somewhat awkward.

After what felt like an eternity he finally spoke up. “So, you haven’t slept in five days so you could train more?”

“Yeah, pretty much. Come on; tell me how stupid I was so I can be alone again?” He replied in a dismissive tone.

“Oh, you are stupid and an idiot and don’t think everything through…”

“Yeah, yeah, I get it. I’m the inexperienced and stupid idiot. Someone else should have been Alchemy. I know, I know. It is like you are a broken record,” he scoffed.

“If you would be so friendly and let me finish. Like I said, you are stupid and an idiot and don’t think everything through, but in the end, you at least did it for the right reasons.”

Now Phoenix was confused, had he just said that he did something right, at least in some way? “Wait, wait, what? Did you just say something positive about me?”

Shining chuckled in return. “Oh, don’t think that is going to become the norm. I just have to give credit where credit is due. You wanted to help and protected, so you decided that you would need to train more, that is good. Means you are not just sitting around all day and expected things to magically work out. But the fact that you sacrifice sleep for that, even if you are not physically affected is really stupid. Add to that that you didn’t even ask any of us to help you and you have the recipe for a disaster. So, why did you do this? I have a suspicion, but I want to hear it from you.”

Phoenix was stunned, he couldn’t reply for a few moments so out of left field was all of this. After he had gathered his thought he weakly replied: “Ok, I’ll tell you. But promise me, don’t mock me for this.” Shining nodded in return. “The reason I did this was basically all due to the fact that I saw Paint Brushes corps. It made me angry and discussed. I couldn’t sleep that night and decided to look for Alkahest and with the Magic Discs avoid any problems that would lack sleep cause. Didn’t find him, obviously, so I did it again next night and this time… this time I found him and he destroyed me. He murdered that man right in front of me and I couldn’t stop him even in the slightest. I… I just couldn’t let this happen again.”

“Like I already said, there is no shame in admitting the fact that a corpse affected you. I know what you mean. I can get consumed by it as well, but I have friends that can snap me out of it. But you, you just ignored these people. You carried that burden yourself without any kind of reason. Trust me; no one will think less of you simply because you ask for help.”

He just nodded in return. Shining was about to stand up again and leave he heard Phoenix speak up again. “Thanks.”

Shining replied with a soft chuckle and: “Don’t worry about it. But just so you know don’t expect this to turn into a regular thing.”

A smile crept onto Phoenix’s face as he replied: “Figured as much. Oh, by the way, there is something I still haven’t told Ocean about since she left me here. You know, there was one of the friends of your sister next to me at one point during the fight. Why she didn’t flee is beyond me but there was something else that was just strange. At one point in the fight, she stuck her head out so she could get a glimpse at the monster and the Corrupted saw her. His reaction was rather interesting. He said something along the lines of ‘there you are’. I think our friend might have been looking for her.”

In an instant Shining’s posture had changed, while he had been quite relaxed up until now he was now rushing towards the exit and without even any kind of goodbye had left the room, leaving a rather taken aback Phoenix behind. “A little goodbye would have been nice,” he muttered to himself as he kept staring at the closed door. That was when his eyes started to get heavy and he slowly drifted into a peaceful sleep.

--------------<

It was the last day of the festival and three days had passed since the last attack on it. Still, this had not discouraged people from rebuilding and at least enjoys one last day of it. Under the eager attended was one special student of CHS, Pinkie Pie. Even after what had happened last time she was still eager to attend the rest of the festival, one monster attack would not ruin her fun that was for certain.

As she walked through an alleyway her necklace bounced up and down thanks to her energetic way of walking. The alley was empty, except for her, apparently, not many people know of this shortcut. As she was casually walked through the alley she could hear footsteps coming from behind. As she looked back she spotted a girl with lime green skin and blond hair. She wore a shirt and skirt consisting out of a wild array of colors. Pinkie knew the girl, she was another student of CHS, her name was Party Animal. She enjoyed party nearly as much as Pinkie herself did. In an instant Pinkie had rushed over to the girl and now was grinning directly at her.

“Hey Party Animal, are you also going to the festival? Oh, we could go together that would be so fun!” The girl just looked with contempt at her, Pinkie just looks back in her best-confused expression possible. “Did I do something wrong? Did I miss your birthday? Oh no, that has to be it! I’m so sorry!”

“Shut up!” She barked back, shoving Pinkie back a few feet. “Goodness, you are so annoying. No, you didn’t forget it, you threw the best party I have ever seen,” she almost growled at Pinkie. “Your parties are always the best, no competition.”

“Aww, thank you. I’m just doing it to make people happy.”

“I said shut up! You know, because your parties are always so good no one asks me to host one for once. You even held one for me on my birthday, the one time where I could finally host a party again, I even had everything already ready, but you, you ruined everything. My parties just can’t compete with yours! I once actually got to hold parties and not just attend them!”

Pinkie had taken a few steps back out of shock. “I… I’m sorry; I didn’t know you liked party planning as much as me. Why didn’t you say anything, we could have planned one together. There is nothing better than having fun with friends. How about we plan the next one…” But she was cut short by Party Animal, who was only fuming more.

“Enough! You had your chance, but you threw it away. Now you will pay!” She quickly draws a Knife from her pocket, one that had a quite peculiar form; it almost looked like a needle, at least the blade. Within moments she was consumed by a bright red light that made it quite hard to see. Right at the moment, the light began to subside Pinkie threw something at the monster. It was a bunch of sprinkles. The moment they hid the body of the newly formed Corrupted they exploded into a pink cloud, letting the monster grunt out.

While the Corrupted was blinded Pinkie was rushing towards the end of the alleyway as something fell down next to her. “I’ll take it from here. Good work!” With that Charged boosted towards the Corrupted who right now had managed to finally regain his vision. The first thing she saw was a red fist smashing her right into the face, letting sail right into the next wall and ultimately through it. She landed rather unceremoniously in an empty warehouse; only the empty shelves were still standing.

As she was about to stand up again and rush towards the giant hole in the wall Charge was already charging at her with her engines. The only thing she could do right now was to shield herself from the impact by crossing her arms in front of her like a shield. And not a second too late as Charge slammed her fist right at her, letting her slide back a few steps. As Charge dashed forward to deliver her next blow Sixteen finally managed to go on the offensive.

The Corrupted was about to counter with her claws, which would deal a massive blow to her as something stopped her mid attack, one of Charges batons had halted the attack. And within another second the Corrupted was slammed in the chest with the other baton, trembling backward a few steps.

“You! You are just getting in my way, like that other costumed freak I pummeled into the ground a few days ago. I warn you, if she gets away thanks to you, you will regret it!” The Corrupted growled at her.

“Good, that is exactly where I should be!” She retorted and started to swing her batons again. Sixteen, on the other hand, was not just standing there and simply countered with her own blades, letting the Corrupted and the Rider trade blows for a while. Both were unwilling to budge even an inch. When one lost ground it didn’t take long for them to retaliate and in return force their opponents back.

After they had traded blows again, which ended in a stalemate, just like countless times before Sixteen growled at Charge: “Why? Why are standing in my way? You don’t know how annoying this girl can be. When she is gone everything will be fine again and I can finally host parties like before. Everything will be like it was before she took my place. Everything will be good again.” Sixteen was about to charge towards her opponent again as a loud flick could be heard echoing through the warehouse.

“Hey Blady, you really need to stop living in the past. You will lose sight of what is in front of you,” a voice boomed through the room, the Corrupted stopped dead in his tracks and frantically looked around the room for the origin of the new voice. “Really, killing a girl just she makes better parties than you is really petty. Why not ask for help or just try harder. Surely murder is not the best option here.”

“Show yourself so I can smash your head in you know-it-all!” She growled back into the room, all while still frantically looking for the newcomer.

“Sure, just let me give you one last piece of advice. If you let yourself get consumed by what happened you will never be ready to face what will come next. That is why I will keep moving forward towards a bright future!” With that Alchemy threw his shield, it bouncing off a wall and hitting the Corrupted right in the face, letting her tumble backward. Like usual the shield bounced back and was caught by Alchemy who was just now stepping out of the shadows.

“Oh, it’s only you. And I thought someone actually dangerous was here. This should be easy.”

“If you think so, you are welcome to try, but I have to warn you. I’m properly rested,” he jokingly replied, Charge just chuckled.

That was enough to get the Corrupted fuming and she charged towards the new Rider in the room. Completely missing the fact that Charge was still next to her. Before she could even get halfway towards him she was hit in the back with both of Charge’s batons slamming down on her, basically cementing her into the ground.

She didn’t even have any chance to react as Alchemy’s shield came rushing towards her and her face. Like a wet sack of flour, she was thrown through the air and crashed into one of the shelves that promptly crashed down on top of her. “Uh, you are so going to regret this!”

“Highly doubt it.” Charge dryly replied as she unloaded her Charge Magnum on the Corrupted, who in return cried out in pain. “You should notice that you are completely outmatched. Surender and we will make this as pleasant as it can be.”

“Screw you! I will never surrender to the likes of you. I will again become the best party planner in all of Canterlot City!” She started to laugh uncontrollably as she stood up again, parts of the shelf falling off of her. In an instant she had slashed with her claws into the air, unleashing one of her energy attacks on the two Riders.

Alchemy was the first to react and rushed in front of Charge, covering them bot with his shield. While he was pushed back by the sheer force of the attack, it was still not enough to force him of his two feet. The moment the attack had gone by Charge jumped over her partner and rocketed directly for the Corrupted, slamming her into the wall again with a devastating punch to her gut.

And right afterward Alchemy had caught up to the two and grabbed their opponent at the neck. With a swift motion, he threw the girl back out of the hole she had been thrown inside. She rolled on the hard asphalt outside for a while, her senses completely scrambled. She didn’t even know where up and where down where.

“Blady, you used the powers that were bestowed upon you to attack other people and destroy public property and tried to murder an innocent young girl. By the magic that was bestowed upon me, I deem you unworthy of your powers and will now take them from you!” While he spoke he slowly walked outside the huge hole in the wall and towards the beaten and battered Corrupted. With a satisfied motion, he started to spin his Disc the moment he stepped close enough towards the girl.

\ Earth Disc Maximum Power! /

Like before orange energy was starting to gather into his right foot, he jumped up and started a continues front-flip. As he started to descend towards the Corrupted he stretched out his right leg and at the moment of the contact slammed it down hard on the Corrupted. A massive explosion consumed the Alleyway and made seeing anything basically impossible. As the dust had settled down there stood the girl again, her legs shaking, but still conscious. Next to her the strange knife.

He carefully stepped closer to the girl, she kept her eyes on him and slowly staggered backward, nearly falling over when she was caught by Pinkie. “Gotcha!” With a confused look Party Animal looked up towards the bouncy pink girl that had just saved her from a rather hard fall. “Are you ok?” She smiled at her with the most sincere smile he had ever seen.

“Why? Why did you catch me? I wanted to kill you.” She croaked out weakly, staring at her in disbelief.

“Oh silly, because you are my friend. Why wouldn’t I help you?” Words failed the girl and instead tears started to form in the corner of her eyes. “Sorry that I didn't notice how much you love organizing parties. If you would have told me I would have asked for your help.”

This was the last straw for Party Animal, she broke out into tears that dripped down her cheeks.”I’m sorry, I’m so sorry! I hope you can forgive me. And I would love to plan a party with you Pinkie.” It didn’t take much longer after that until she drifted into unconsciousness.

Meanwhile, Charge had joined them and inspected the artifact carefully. She then tossed it over to Alchemy who managed to catch it. “Take it, this shouldn’t be anything we have encountered before.”

“Got it.” And with that, he pulled out his Flame Disc and started to absorb the magical energy from the artifact. When he was finished and the knife had reverted back to a normal one an orange orb of energy emerged from it and flew off towards the horizon.

“Hey, thanks for giving me my necklace back and that I could help you,” Pinkie basically screamed at them, still holding the unconscious girl in her arms. “Tell me when we can do this again.” The bright smile on her lips just grows ever bigger with every passing second.

“I don’t think this is such a good…” Alchemy was about to say as he was interrupted by Charge.

“We will make sure to call you when we need your help again,” she added, to the utter bafflement of Alchemy.

After the rest of the Ocean’s team had arrived and she turned back into her normal outfit both Riders were standing a few meters away from the two girls, enough so they could not be heard. Alchemy was staring at her in disbelief, at least as good as he could with the helmet still on. She just chuckled a bit and replied with a simple: “Gets her off my back for a while. I have no intent to call her for anything for now anyway.” That made more sense to him and he quickly nodded.

A few moments of silence followed, they were only interrupted by Alchemy speaking up again. “I’m sorry. I fucked up, again. I should have just asked for help.”

After a few more moments of silence Ocean started to smile. “Well, at least you are learning. Maybe we can still make a respectable hero out of you.”

Both just chuckled in return when suddenly seemingly out of nothing Pinkie poped in from behind them. “Oh, are you having a bonding moment? Can I join in?”

Both jumped back a few steps thanks to the sudden intrusion of one pink smiling girl and simultaneous both of them shouted back at her.

"Pinkie!”

“Pinkie!”

The girl in question just started to laugh back at them. It didn’t take long before all three were laughing.

Awaken the Monster - The Cry of the Manticore

The air in the room was tense. While the small office looked lovely with its large window and bookshelves lining the walls, but right now, Ocean couldn’t care less. She was frantically walking up and down, mumbling to herself, all while Phoenix was casually leaning back in his chair. She had switched her usual blue jacket and light blue t-shirt for an expensive grey business suit and had made sure she looked the best she could.

Phoenix also wore some quite formal looking clothes. Ocean had shown up on his doorstep at five am. in the morning, rudely waking him up from his slumber, something he found quite funny. She had stormed in and shoved him into a black suit, complete with matching tie and shoes. He thought he looked ridiculous, but all his complaining didn’t help him one bit. Before he had even realized what was going on, she had dragged him to one of the vans of the MRG, shoved him inside and was off. Where exactly? He didn’t know then, but it became quite apparent after a while.

It hadn’t taken them too long until they had arrived in the downtown area and right in front of a massive skyscraper with the letters ‘MRG’ on the front of it. The façade of the building was mostly made out of glass with two big concrete that separated the building into three parts, it all looked quite nice. Still, he had not any time to admire the building since Ocean was dragging him along again.

After a long and quiet elevator ride, they had finally reached her office that towered over the city. It was quite the view. But like before he had no chance to admire it since Ocean was finally telling him why she had dragged him over her at such an early hour of the morning. She had arranged a meeting with her mother who still wanted to meet him and currently was trying her best that nothing would go wrong.

Meanwhile, Phoenix was leaning back in his chair and listening to her going on about everything that could go awry. In a way, it was quite funny to see the one that was always in control of the situation frantically stumbling around the room and come up with more and more ludicrous reasons this could end in a disaster. Well, it was funny until she reached the ten-minute mark and was still coming up with more and more reasons, it had grown quite annoying.

“Ocean, Ocean. Why don’t you just sit down, drink a cup of water and breathe?” He basically shoved her on the chair and pressed a glass of water in her hand that started to violently shake the moment she touched it. “I’m sure this is going to be fine. If one can pull off a perfect impression, it’s you. So don’t worry too much, we will wing this. Why are you so worried anyway? You have me with you, what could possibly go wrong?”

She just stared at him for a few moments until her shaking increased, even more, nearly spilling a drop of it onto Phoenix, who jumped out of the way in the last second. Oceans expression was stressed and covered in wrinkles. Her breathing picked up again, and her eyes were darting around the room seemingly at random. “It’s because of you I’m so worried.”

Phoenix sighed in return but could not prevent a little smirk to cross his lips. “And what is that supposed to mean? Do you think I’m going to screw this up?” She nodded in return after she had taken one sip from the glass of water, painstakingly making sure that she indeed not got any of it on her suit. “Goodness, you are more worried that if a monster hoard would rampage through the city. She is your mother for crying out loud, how bad can it get?” A heavy sigh escaped his lips as he looked at the mere shell of a woman he had come to know.

After she had finished the last sip of her glass of water, she quickly placed it on the table and replied quite fast: “She has led the MRG for over ten years and served it for over twenty-five. She is the best director our organization ever had. She has more solved cases on her back than anyone else in the MRG. She is a living legend and notorious for her perfectionism. She never failed, not once, in the end, she always succeeded. She has saved the world countless times over. If everything is not perfect, who knows what might happen? I certainly don’t want to find that out, and I’m not planning to. Now tell me what you are not allowed to say again.” Her look was that of pure determination mixed with utter anxiety as she looked at him.

Meanwhile looked at her with an expression that perfectly showed how out of touch he was with this situation. This could be very well the most important “talk” in her life, and he was just not taking it seriously, she could just strangle him. That would just not look so good, so it was out of the picture for now. What infuriated her, even more, was his response. “Let me think, the sleep thing was number one. No jokes, apparently she has no sense of humor and nothing that questions her authority.”

“You forgot the most important thing! Do not, under any circumstances call her anything other than Director, she hates that! And don’t forget to over her coffee. She is certainly going to refuse, but she is always pleased when someone offers it to her,” she continued, still with her talking speed that was quite hard to keep up with.

Phoenix raised his hands defensively as he casually replied: “Sure, sure I got it. Madam likes to be pampered. Goodness, you think I am not good with people. People love me, they always laugh with me. Don’t worry, we got this.”

“Yeah, more like over you,” she added under her breath. “Why does this not raise my confidence in any way shape or form? Just promise me, don’t do anything stupid,” she added with a heavy sigh.

Phoenix in return raised an eyebrow and looked at her with an unconvinced look. “When did I ever do something stupid?” A simple glance from his partner was enough to let him back peddle immediately. “Ok, that was stupid. But besides that?” She just continued to stare at him with the same expression. “Ok, maybe that too, and that, oh and that one was foolish. Ok, I think I know where you are coming from, but come on; you have to trust me here. I’ll do my best so don’t worry.”

“Oh, because you trusted me so much,” all she gained from that was a frown from Phoenix. “I know will try your best, but from what I have seen of you, you are just not a person that mother is going to like. Just talk when you are asked, be quick and to the point and talk as little as possible. Please, I beg you,” she looked at him with eyes that screamed out in desperation.

After a few moments of heart-wrenching staring from Ocean he relented and defeated replied: “Fine, I’ll play it low. No talking if not asked, be to the point and keep it to a minimum. Happy now?”

Before she could reply, someone knocked rather forcefully on the door. In an instant, the already tense atmosphere in the room skyrocketed. After a few moments of unbearable silence and shook Ocean finally spoke up: “Come in.” She sounded confident, but her expression was a different matter entirely. It seems like she was about panic at any moment now, but as the door slowly started to open it was quickly replaced with an emotionless expression that just added to the unnerving atmosphere in the room.

“Ah, Director, a pleasure that you could make it,” she replied happily. Still, her eyes seemed to scream something more along the lines of: “Oh, we are so fucked.”

Through the door stepped a woman in her late forties in a black business suit and determent expression. Monochrome, the director of the MRG and in a way the woman that decided if he was an unauthorized vigilante or a partner to the MRG, so no pressure really.

“Ah, agent Skies, of course, I could make it. I’m never late, you should know that.” Ocean just nodded hastily. “So, you are Phoenix Feather, am I right?”

“Yes, mam. Phoenix Feather, or like I’m more commonly known, Kamen Rider Alchemy. I think we already meat, in a way.” He casually replied, as he quickly glanced over to ocean she looked at him in shock, as if to tell him to stop. “Ah, by the way, want some coffee?” he quickly added.

Monochrome quickly looked over to her daughter who looked as stoic and innocent as possible. Still, some small little sweat drops were slowly running down her face. After a few seconds, she merely sighed and returned her attention back to Phoenix. “No, thanks. I don’t like distractions during work as anyone should. I recently went through all the information we have on you and your fight data, and I must say I’m not really impressed. While agent Skies vouches for you that does not mean you are beyond scrutiny. Especially after your last failure.” The entire time she spoke, she sounded somewhat monotone, but still, every word she spoke was like it had weight to it and made him more and more uneasy.

“Oh, well, you win some, you lose some.” Right as he had finished Ocean, who was standing behind Monochrome was frantically waving with her hands, signaling him to stop. Frantically he added: “I mean, won’t happen again,” while rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. Ocean leads merely her head sink into one of her hands and shook her head in defeat.

Monochrome looked at him for a few more moments without any sort of reaction and then merely continued: “I hope so; still you will pick up your training. We will not tolerate any form of laziness here. Agent Skies, you will see to that you will be as qualified as any of our own agents in no time.”

There was a nagging feeling in the back of his head that started to grow as time had gone on and he had continued to talk with the director of the MRG, a feeling of dislike that was steadily increasing, but until now he was not able to place it, but now it was getting more evident by the second. “You know, Ocean and I already came to this conclusion,” he copied replied, sporting a slight grin. While this was happening, Ocean was staring at him in utter shock and horror.

“I see, then why have I not been informed about this? I demand that every bit of information is brought to me. I don’t want to be left in the dark,” she replied, in her voice, the slightest bit of anger could be heard as she continued to stare directly at Phoenix, who in return simply stared back.

“Ah, my deepest apology, we only decided that yesterday and planned to tell you this today Director. It won’t happen again,” she basically begged for forgiveness, something Phoenix could only look at in disbelieve.

“That is not an excuse agent Skies. I hope this will not happen again.” She quickly nodded. ”At any rate, I would like to continue. Next, I wanted to get to your performance agent Skies, and I have to say…” While she was speaking something interrupted her. All eyes in the room immediately darted towards Ocean and her ringing cell phone. While Phoenix looked more in surprise at her Monochromes expression was more annoyed than anything.

With a silent nodded from her mother, she picked up the phone and answered. “Hello Ivory, what is it? What? I’ll be on it as fast as possible! Where exactly? Got it!” While first, she sounded rather nervous and hasty, the moment she received an answer her expression changed to something more focused and confident. “Extremely high magical energy readings in the Everfree Forest. Possibly Corrupted activity. Awaiting permission to leave director.”

Monochrome didn’t even waste any second with this and simply replied: “Permission granted!” Ocean immediately started to rush out the door. Alchemy, on the other hand, stared one last time at Monochrome who stared back at him. He was only snapped out of it as Ocean called out for him. He quickly rushed after her, leaving the room and the Director behind.

He managed to catch up to Ocean at the elevator. “We two will have a talk about this,” she stared at him with an expression that could kill if possible. Phoenix quietly gulped in response as the elevator doors closed.

--------------<

Meanwhile inside the forest stood a small house made out of wood, seemingly forgotten by the rest of the world. Inside a young woman had currently finished dressing and was just now leaving the bathroom. She had pale white skin and dark emerald hair that was neatly brushed and reached down to her shoulders. She wore a brown tank top and some jeans and was right now absentmindedly walking down the stairs while listening to music on her phone.

From the kitchen, someone was screaming out to her, it took her a few times till she actually realized this through her headphones. Quickly pulling them from her ears, she screamed back: “What is it Pinecone? Can’t you leave me at least alone until breakfast is over?” She sounded quite annoyed, and her previous carefree attitude was quickly washed away.

“Well, I would if you wouldn’t waste forty minutes in the bathroom. The visitor hours start in one and a half hour, and we still haven’t started the preparations,” a male voice called back to her. As she finally reached the kitchen, her brother was standing next to the kitchen table and was holding two bowls of cereal he was in the process of placing down on it. His skin was a light brown, and his hair had a darker shade of brown. He wore a simple green T-shirt and short beige pants.

“Oh, give a girl a bit of time to get ready. It’s not like we will get any visitors that early anyway, if at all. Who wants to waste their times here at all? Seriously!” She countered with quite an annoyed undertone as she rolled with her eyes.

“It doesn’t matter if there might be no visitors that early in the morning, there is the chance that there will be. You can’t simply say to your boss that you will come an hour later simply because you think no one is going to come and expect to be paid.”

“Tsk,” she dismissively replied. “That would be a good argument if I actually would get paid. Seriously, I still only have enough money to buy one pair of shoes each month, that is just wrong,” she frowned back at him.

“Well, if you would just be more responsible with money we might be able to talk about this, but right now,” but before he could continue, he was rudely interrupted by his sister.

“Oh, yes. Be more responsible with fifty dollars? Are you kidding me? At least let me take a part-time job so I can earn my own money, but nope mister ‘responsibility’ here, says no,” she shot back at him, her expression shifting from annoyed to angry.

“Fifty dollars is more than enough, you don’t have to pay for anything when it comes to food or clothes. You should be thankful that I give you anything at all Emerald,” she just huffed in return. “And we have been over this. I need you here; I can’t handle everything on my own. Without a helping hand, everything here would collapse. You really should show more respect to what our ancestors have built up here and devoted their lives to. What could be more fulfilling?”

She just deadpanned back: “Working as a police officer, firefighter, or a gaiadamn fast food worker for all I can care. Nearly everything is better than sitting around this forest for your entire life. There are so many great things out there, but no, I have to stay at this stupid shrine.”

Pinecone just sighed and encountered: “We have been through this a hundred times; this is the most important thing you could ever do. You are part of this family, and I need the help. It is your duty to stay here, and that is the end of it. Now, eat your breakfast and just help me. We might actually still manage to finish everything before the first visitors come.” He pointed towards one of the bowls and proceeded to sit down on one of the chairs, staring expecting at Emerald.

“Fine, whatever. But mark my words, one day I will escape this stupid place. You just wait and watch,” Pinecone just rolled with his eyes and lifted his spoon towards his mouth as a loud sound managed to catch them both off guard. He dropped his spoon right into his bowl and letting milk spill everywhere, but right now he couldn’t care less. The earbursting sound had come from the direction of the shrine, and that could not mean anything good.

“What in Gaia's name was that?” Emerald was the first to speak up again, all while her brother was jumping up from his seat and rushing back up the stairs, leaving his sister behind in the kitchen. “Hey, where are you going? At least clean up your mess!” But no response. “Pinecone?” She started to get a bit worried.

Then he came back running down the stairs, even skipping the last few steps downward, landing right in front of Emerald, who just stared at him as if he was out of his mind. In his right hand, he held a small wooden box, one she had never seen before in her entire life. “Hey, what is that?” He simply proceeded to rush towards the door, apparently completely ignoring her. “Hey, I’m talking to you. Can you explain to me what is going on here?”

As he finally reached the door and had opened it, he turned back one last time and replied: “Stay here, I’ll be back soon. Under no circumstances are you to leave the house! No circumstance, got that?” She only nodded slowly, staring at her brother in confusion. And with that, he slammed the door shut and was running through the woods to Gaia knows where.

“What was that?” She mumbled to herself and returned to her own bowl of cereal. She took one look at the mess her brother had just caused and sighed, proceeding to get a towel to clean it up. “Seriously?” She sighed one last time and went back to cleaning.

--------------<

While this was going on, in another part of the woods were two people slowly making their way through the rows of trees in front of them. Ocean was currently at the front, leading the way, while Phoenix was trotting behind her.

“I still can’t believe what you did back there. She has the authority to take your Driver away, and you try to provoke her? Have you lost your mind?” Ocean was currently going on a tangent and nearly screaming at her partner as they walked through the forest, her expression a mixture of anger and bafflement.

“What authority? Last time I checked this thing belongs to me. I didn’t sign any contract that would give it to her. If she wants it she has to take it by force,” he grumbled back at her.

That prompted her to stop right then and there. “What authority? She is the head of the MRG! She can let the entirety of the organization come down upon you with as much as a single word. You just don’t piss her off!” Ocean’s annoyance and anger just grew more and more with every passing second.

“If she does that she can be sure that she will regret it. Seriously, some respect would be nice.”

“Respect? She was to the point that was all. She did not disrespect you in any way shape or form,” she countered quickly and with conviction.

“Yeah, not buying it. Seriously, I’m not one of her underlings, she can’t order me around. No one can,” he growled back at her.

“Oh and all the times I ordered you around don’t count or what?” Ocean looked skeptically back at him.

“That does not count. I chose to follow your orders willingly because I trust you, not because you demand it,” Phoenix defensively replied, crossing his arms to emphasize his point even more.

“Yeah, I get that but she is the Director, you just don’t want to get on her bad side. The people that did had not a happy life afterward. So please, don’t try to get on a warpath with her,” she was basically begging him.

“Fine, I’ll try my best. Still, the way she treated you is just wrong. You give your all, and all you get is complaints thrown into your face. And to make this even worse, you are her daughter, and she just insults you. I’m probably not going to be friends with her.”

“But she was right with everything she said. I still have much to learn and failed in so many ways. She is perfect, and I’m not. If I ever want to be an actually good agent I have dedicated all of my life to this,” The determination in her eyes was almost scary.

“Weren’t you the one that told me not to be consumed by this, at least in some way? Trust me, you are doing great. You managed to stop every Corrupted that came in your way, helped me since even before becoming a Kamen Rider, have by far the better planes when it comes to us two, and without you, I would probably be six feet under. If she thinks you are not good enough, then no one is. Believe me, you are the best person for this job.”

Ocean was stunned, for a few seconds, she just stood there with mouth standing slightly open, staring at Phoenix. “I… Thank you.” She started to blush a little and avoided eye contact with Phoenix. “That means a lot to me that you think that. Still, I shouldn’t just dismiss everything my mother said. I still can improve and have to improve. I just have to work harder and as you said, avoid the mistakes I made.”

After a few moments of silence, he was about to reply as he heard something from his right. In an instant, he spun around and stared through the rows of trees in front of him. Ocean soon followed his gaze towards the direction he was looking. At first, both could not see anything and after a few moments just assumed it had been an animal, but then they caught something poking through the trees for a short moment, something dark blue.

Then it peaked through the trees again, and this time they could clearly see it. It was a Corrupted, clad in dark blue and orange armor, or at least it looked like armor. His entire body was clad in dark blue armor with orange decorations on the knees and shoulders. The armor somewhat looked like scales, and on his arms, sharp blades were sticking out of the armor. His head looked like a moray while the back of his head was coated in orange. His eyes were glowing yellow.

“Well, it seems we found our energy readings. So, wanna pummel this thing into the ground?” While he pulled out his Driver and was fishing for one of the Discs in his other pocket, he looked expectingly towards Ocean.

She just started to smile and replied by pressing the button on her belt buckle. As she pulled one of her Chargers from her pocket, she quickly added: “No Fire Disc, you are just going to start a forest fire.”

He just sheepishly looked at her for a second only to reply with: “Of course not, that would be stupid.” He then proceeded to pull out the Wind Disc and after putting on his Driver proceded to activate it. Ocean in the meantime had also pulled out her Charger and put it into her Driver.

\ MAGIC DISC DETECTED! /

\ SCANNING CHARGE! /

“Henshin!”

“Henshin!”

\ WIND DISC ACTIVATED! /

\ 50, 80, 100! THUNDER CHARGE! /

\ Wind Disc Attack Mode! /

\ Hurrican Bow! /

After both their transformations had run their course both stormed towards their opponent with Charge rushing ahead and Alchemy directly pulled his weapon and aimed for the Corrupted. But before either one of them actually managed to attack the Corrupted, the monster simply seemed to crouch, and a rock the size of Phoenix’s head came sailing towards them. Charge managed to dodge the attack at the last second, but just barely, screeching to hold right behind a tree.

Alchemy watched this all unfold, and as the rock headed for him, he quickly jumped out of the way. He could even hear it rush past him and crash into a boulder behind him with one massive crash that probably could still be heard a few kilometers away. Then there was another sound, something like a rattling chain. Looking back he could only see how the rock was flying back towards him on a metal chain, unable to dodge he was hit by the boulder this time, sending him flying into one of the many trees, which quickly crashed down on him. His shoulder, the place where the rock hat hit him arched horribly.

Charge, on the other hand, did not fare any better, she also noticed the incoming danger far too late and was caught by the chain and pulled through the tree she was currently hiding behind, landing unceremoniously on the ground. Contrary to Alchemy she was holding her stomach in pain.

“Well, well. What do we have here? Two annoying Kamen Riders. I think it is payback time for our comrades you put behind bars. Oh, this will be fun,” the moray Corrupted chuckled as he walked towards Charge.

“Wait!” Another voice shouted out to the Corrupted. “Don’t let your guard down. These Riders are a tricky bunch.” Another Corrupted stepped into view. His body was made out of rocks and covered in metallic armor. His chest, legs, arms, and shoulders were included in the armor. His shoulders were made out of stones. At the end of his arms were however not any hands and fingers. Instead, there were two rocks; one of them had just been used to attack them. His head was similar round and covered in a metallic cage that seemed to act similar to a helmet.

On command, his partner stopped dead in its tracks and eyed the two Riders carefully. To its surprise, its two opponents didn’t take long after the command from his comrade to stand up again. “Hey, Rockbrain gotta give you credit. At least you are smarter than Fishface over here,” the Corrupted above was about to rush towards Alchemy for his insurance but was stopped by a loud grunt from the Rockbrain. “So, tell me, what are you doing on such a beautiful day in the middle of this forest. I’m pretty sure it’s not a simple stroll through the woods.”

“Fuck off, that does not…” The water Corrupted was about to reply but was again interrupted. But this time by Alchemy and not his partner.

“Hey, I want to speak with someone actually at my intelligence level. Not a bumbling idiot.”

As Alchemy was mocking his opponent Charge had slowly lowered her hand towards her waist and subsequently her weapon. The moment however she pulled her gun the earth Corrupted shoots one of his rocks at her. The object rushed past her, nearly scratching her armor and crashed into some trees behind her that started to tumble over. But all this didn’t interest Charge at the moment, she was to busy with unloading her gun on the Corrupted that had just attacked her.

Sadly her attacks didn’t seem to do much, and her opponent simply shrugged them off like it was nothing. And while she was focused on her opponent, Fishface had rushed towards her. The moment she had unloaded all of her rounds on the Corrupted a wave of water headed right for her head, one she only managed to dodge at the last second. The razor-sharp wave of water even managed to cut through several trees. And without any chance to recover the Corrupted continued his onslaught of vicious attacks.

Meanwhile, Alchemy was drawing his bow again, aiming straight at the Corrupted that was currently attacking Charge. Just as was about to let the arrow shoot at his opponent the other Corrupted let one of his morningstar like rocks head straight towards him. It was quite easy for him to avoid the first attack by merely humping out of the way, as well as the quick pulling back of the weapon. What he, however, did not anticipate was the second rock that hit him right in the back, still looking out for the first one. He was sent flying several meters and through some trees, which ended with him rolling on the ground in pain.

Charge meanwhile could only watch as her partner was flung through the air. She was just distracted for a single second, but that was all her own opponent needed to find an opening, letting one of his attacks hit her. Staggering back in pain she clutched the place where the attack had hit her and was utterly incapable of blocking the next attack. What followed were several more of the attacks, each leaving her in a worse state than before until like Alchemy she was knocked off her feet and was rolling around the ground in agony.

“Well, well. It seems the Kamen Riders aren’t what they are made out to be. Now, let's see how loud you can scream.” The water Corrupted cackled as he walked towards Charge’s injured body.

“Leave! You are not welcome here!”

“Who is there?” The Corrupted frantically started to look around the area, trying to make out where the voice was coming from.

“I said leave! I won’t repeat it again.” And with that, a man stepped into sight with light brown skin and brown hair, under his arm holding a wooden box.

As the Corrupted saw him, it immediately started to laugh. “Good one. Now leave so I can have some fun with these losers here.”

The man just sighed and slowly opened the box, grabbed something from inside it and threw the box away. He now was holding a strange oval object in his hands that he quickly put on his waist. In an instant, a white glow surrounded his waist and moments later a black belt had formed around it, holding the strange device in place. He then proceeded to pull on two handles on either side of the thing, letting the device open in the middle and revealing a round hole right in the center.

Both Corrupted stared at him in confusion, but as he held out a green coin, the smarter one immediately went wild. “That is it! That is it! Get it, get it!”

While this was happening, he put the coin into the hole in the middle of the device. Right afterward it shouted out.

\ UNLEASH THE MONSTER! /

With a quick motion he closed the belt-like device again and screamed:

“Henshin!”

\ AWAKEN: MANTICORE! /

A green etherial beast emerged from the belt. It had the body of a lion, as well as its face, batlike wings, and a massive scorpion tail. While the creature made out of energy emerged from the belt, the Corrupted had started to attack the man. But both their attacks just didn’t harm the beast in any way shape or form and simply bounced off it. The creature then turned around and headed straight for the man, enveloping him into a bright green glow.

As the light faded, he was clad in green armor, similar to the ones of Alchemy and Charge. His chest plate was covered in a dark green chest plate and an emerald undersuit. At the portion where neck went over into the chest armor, a thick fur line was drawn. His shoulder pads had the form of scorpion tails, and his arms sported several emerald plates protecting it. The hands of the armor ended in razor sharp claws with the end of the glove covered in light brown fur, just like the shoulder pads. A similar design was designed could be seen on his legs, also with fur on the end of the armored boots. The most striking thing, however, was the helmet, it had the form of a lion head with the mane simply being represented by darting out portions of the helmet. The new Rider looked at them with glowing red eyes.

“I’m merciful today. Leave, and we can forget what has happened here today.” Alchemy and Charge were stunned. Another Rider right in front of them, they had not expected that.

The first Corrupted to react was, of course, Fishface who merely threw his attacks at him, hoping the Rider would not be able to evade the attack. But to his dismay the new Rider simply jumped up and started to fly through the forest, wings appearing on his back that looked similar to batwings, easily evading everything the Corrupted could throw at him. While he was dodging the attacks of his opponents grabbed hold of something on his belt.

As he flew closer and closer towards his opponent, he pulled a green whip from his belt. The weapon was separated into smaller parts that mimicked the appearance of a scorpion tail. The next attack that was headed his way was quickly destroyed, just like the following ones. The new Rider landed right in front of the Corrupted and ready himself for his next attack.

“You… You… Who are you?”

“I am the guardian of this forest. Kamen Rider Monster. And I will not tolerate any invaders that walk on this holy ground.” Whit that he swung his whip again, letting it loop around the waist of the Corrupted and with one quick and powerful pull send him sailing far away. The only thing that could be heard from him afterward was his screams that grew ever quieter and at last a loud crashing sound.

“That idiot. Anyway, just give me your Medals, and we are going as fast as we appeared. Doesn't that sound good?” The other Corrupted tried to reason with Monster, but he just pulled out another one of his Medals and replaced it with the one he currently was using.

\ AWAKEN: SPHINX! /

Just like before an ethereal beast emerged from the belt, this time an orange cat-like being with wings and a strange headpiece. His armor had taken on an orange color. Every bit of fur on the suit had vanished, and the shoulder pads had taken on the form of wings, all while the head also had the strange headdress. His eyes had taken on a bright blue tone. The wipe he was previously holding was gone and replaced with two massive claws that were incorporated into his armguards.

Without even waiting for the Corrupted to attack him with his weapons he rushed towards him. The moment the first rock came flying towards him he managed to block it with his weapons, sending it crashing into a nearby tree. And as the second one was heading for him, he just repeated the process. After he had crossed the distance between them, a few quick slashes with his weapons managed to set his opponent off balance and with another well-placed strike tumbling back a few meters.

“Fine, you win for now.” With that, the Corrupted slammed his “fists” on the ground, and the earth just seemed to swallow him whole, letting him disappear in nearly an instant.

The new Kamen Rider simply stood there and sighed heavily. Alchemy and Charge just staring at him, unsure of what to say.

“I hope you have a good explanation for this,” he dryly said. Both of the other Riders just staring at him in confusion.

Awaken the Monster - Responsibilities

“So, I want you two to give me a good explanation what you are doing here. I don’t like people like you near our shrine,” the new Kamen Rider finally asked them, his voice making it quite clear that right now had little patience to spare. He had introduced himself as Pinecone, he apparently took care of a shrine devoted to the local forest goddess, Gaia Everfree. He had led them to his house in which his little sister, Emerald Marble, was still waiting for his return. She did look quite surprised at the appearance of two armored figures that then quickly proceded to enter the house, but her initial confusion promptly turned into giddiness. Apparently, she was a fan of the Riders. After a small discussion that seemed oddly familiar to the both of them, they finally had sat down the kitchen table, the breakfast still on it.

Alchemy was the first to speak up: ”Oh, you know. We just like to fight monsters in our free time.” A swift kick from Charge to his shin let him quickly curse out in pain and add: “Don’t you watch TV or at least read the newspaper? We are the Kamen Riders that protect the city. You have to have heard from us. You being a Rider and all yourself.”

Emerald looked at them as if her eyes would jump out of her head any second from now, but before she could even attempt to ask what he meant by that Pinecone continued: “Oh, I heard of you. Playing superhero and all that. Personally don’t care as long as you stay away from my forest. So, again, what are you doing here?”

Charge intersected before Alchemy could dig them into an even deeper mess: “We are here because we received readings that a lot of magical energy was currently active in the area. We went to investigate where it came from. Just making sure nothing dangerous comes into the city so we can stop it before it crosses the borders. It causes fewer problems for anyone involved.”

Pinecone grumpily replied: “It caused more problems for me.”

“And we apologize for that. I hope we didn’t cause too big of an inconvenience for you. But we are willing to make up for our failings. If you want our help, we are willing to give it to you. You just have to ask.”

Pinecone directly stared back at her and raised an eyebrow: “And how do I know that I can trust you? I don’t even know your names. I’m not leaving the protection of my family legacy to some costumed freaks.”

“Says another costumed freak,” Alchemy huffed under his breath. A quick glance from Pinecone let him know that he had not been quite enough.

“Ok, seriously. What do you mean by that? Can anyone explain to me what exactly happened out there? I’m feeling left out here! Pinecone a Kamen Rider? That is ludicrous, isn’t it brother?” Everyone in the room quickly shifted their heads to the screaming girl that stared at them quite agitated.

Charge was the first to break the silence. “You don’t know? You brother saved us from two monsters that were rampaging through the forest. He called himself Kamen Rider Monster. I thought you knew about it,” she slowly replied, tiring to calm the girl down.

To her dismay, she missed the mark by quite a margin. Emerald stared at her brother in a mixture of disbelieve and anger. What followed was an ear-bursting tirade directed at him, leaving no room for any attempts to even explain himself. “What?! And I hear this from someone else? I’m- You are just- Talk to me!”

All eyes were on the new Rider now, eagerly awaiting his response. The seconds in which nothing happened were dreadful. It almost seemed like Emerald would lunge at her brother any moment if the wouldn’t answer fast enough, but while everyone else was afraid of exactly this happening he just sighed in annoyance and remained surprisingly calm. “Emerald, you know that I had no say in the matter. It is one of our family secrets that are restricted to the oldest child. I couldn’t tell you, even if I wanted to. You understand that, don’t you?”

This was the moment something seemingly snapped inside of Emeralds head. “What! You tell me that these stupid traditions are more important than telling your sister? Are you shitting me? No! No, no, no! You are not getting out of this one with your stupid talk about legacy and responsibility and such crap. What would have happened if you told me? My brother is a superhero, and I don’t know about it. When would you have told me? When you got torn apart by monsters? Or never?” With that, she stormed out of the house and slammed the door shut behind her leaving everyone else stunned behind.

Pinecone just shook his head and returned: “Give her some time, and she will cool down like she always does. So, where were we?” He said all this so casually that now Alchemy was the one to be pissed by it.

“Excuse me what? You tell me that you keep this from your sister because of some stupid old family tradition? How pathetic can you be?” His voice boomed through the house, to the displeasure of Charge and Pinecone.

“Alchemy!”

“As if you know what it means to be the inheritor of an ancient family legacy that dwarfs everything you could ever achieve. This is something you will never understand. So don’t even try to convince me. Get back to playing superhero,” he dismissively replied, not even giving him a passing glance.

That was it, he had enough. With a swift motion, he yanked the Alchemy Driver from his waist and slammed it down on the table. “Oh, you couldn’t be more wrong even if you tried. I know exactly what you mean. This,” pointing at the Driver currently pressed on the table. “Is an artifact my family has been guarding for around six hundred years. I’m the current guardian of this stupid thing and am responsible for recreating other artifacts connected to it. Add to that my family expects me to create a Philosopher Stone if I collect all of them, something that is probably going to kill me. So you can shove your stupid ‘don’t know my burden carp’ up your ass.”

“Oh, so you know what it means to carry a family legacy. So why do you not agree with me? This is the way it has to be,” he asked somewhat confused.

“Don’t you get it? This legacy is bollox. What life is this if you blindly follow rules that someone you never meet laid out for you? Grow a backbone man! And if you knew about these powers why have you not used them before? Tell me? How many people could you have saved?” Right now Phoenix was in top gear, he just went on and on, just shortly stopping to breath. With every passing word, the intensity of his voice grew ever louder.

“The Monster Driver’s only purpose is to protect the Shrine of Gaia Everfree, nothing else. Using it for something as laughable as playing superhero would be a disgrace to it.”

That was it, he had enough. Rage started to overtake his senses and began to move his body on its own, guiding his hand right towards his face. But before he could even implant his fist in the cheeks of Pinecone Ocean finally screamed: “Phoenix! Enough!” This outburst from her was enough to snap him out of his rage, stopping his fist a few centimeters before Pine’s face. With an aggressive motion, he snapped his fist back from the face of Pine.

“Fine. I’ll leave you alone for a while. Be right back,” and with that, he stormed out of the house, leaving the two other Riders behind.

“I- I’m so sorry. He didn’t mean it, it’s just that he had a rather-“ she tried to explain but was interrupted by Pinecone.

“I’m pretty sure he meant what he said. But it is not my problem if he fails to uphold his own family legacy. He should show more respect to those who came before him. What a pathetic excuse for a guardian. But I digress. So, where were we?” His voice had grown a bit strained, and his expression had slightly shifted, now appearing more agitated than before. “Oh, right, I remember. Why should I trust you, especially with what Alchemy just pulled?”

Charge remained silent for a few seconds until she stood up from the table and removed the Charger from her Driver, subsequently turning her back to normal, something that even took Pinecone by surprise. “My name is Ocean Skies, and I am an agent of the MRG, a government organization specialized in finding and neutralizing magical anomalies and artifacts. And Alchemy’s name is Phoenix Feather. He recently moved to this city because of his family legacy. If you have any further questions, you are free to ask.” During her entire speech, she remained a calm and determined demeanor, on the other hand, Pine let his stoic facade dropped for the first time, just staring at her in disbelief.

It took him a few moments to formulate a reply and even then his voice was quite weak and unsure: “Why- Why did you reveal your identity to me? I don’t trust you and neither should you. You just endangered yourself and your partner for no reason whatsoever.”

“I just believe in the best in everyone. And if you want trust, you have to earn it. I made the first step with this, I hoped you might follow suit.”

He kept staring at her in bewilderment, only to finally break the silence that had meanwhile permeated the room. “You are insane. I don’t want anything to do with this superheroes thing. I just protect the shrine and nothing else, so you revealing your identity will bring you no closer to getting me on your side.”

“Well if you just want to protect your little shrine I have nothing to worry about, now do I? What would you gain from revealing our identity anyway?” She casually added, Pine still just staring confused at her. After a few more moments of silence, she added: “By the way, what is the name of the god this shrine is devoted to if I may ask? I was always interested in local legends and religions.”

She smiled back at him, the quick change of topic giving him new wind to continue this conversation. “Gaia Everfree. The goddess this shrine is devoted to is Gaia Everfree. She is the guardian goddess of this forest and everyone passing through it. Our family's duty is it to tend to the shrine and protected everyone that ventures through this forest from those with ill intent. The Monster Driver is a gift that has been passed down for generations,” while he spoke his voice grew more confident again.

“A nice story. This goddess seems to be one of the nicer ones I heard about. As an agent of the MRG, you tend to learn a lot about different gods and goddesses and most of the time it is nothing too pleasant, especially when they are connected to magical artifacts.”

“Of course she is one of the nicer ones. Why else would she give our family the Driver to protected the people traveling through the forest?” He defensively added.

“Definitely and I’m quite glad about it. You can only run into blood gods so often and be genuinely surprised by them. A nice guardian goddess is a nice change of pace. But anyway, I think I’ll look where Phoenix stormed off to. Should I look for your sister as well?” She asked him after stretching herself a bit.

“Sure, look for the idiot.” With the mention of the word ‘idiot’ she sighed heavily, but ultimately remained silent. “But you don’t have to look for Emerald. She can take care of herself. Just give her some time, and she will come to her senses, that is what always happens.”

Ocean didn’t look too convinced, but ultimately just relented. As she was about to stand up again, both of them heard a loud crash coming from outside the house. In an instant, both of them jumped up from their respective chairs and rushed towards the door.

--------------<

Closing the door behind him, Phoenix stepped into the forest, which was far quieter than Canterlot City ever has been. It kinda reminded him of home. The silence was mesmerizing to a certain extent, all the anger he felt not even seconds ago seemed to be washed away and forgotten. Phoenix was tempted to take a little stroll through the woods but knew better than to just leave Ocean here without any indicator of where he went.

That was when he heard something cut through the silence of the woods. It sounded like something was hitting on wood, but he could not make out what exactly was making the sound. One thing, however, he could make out was the fact that it was coming from behind the house and did not stop. Every two seconds he could hear another thump echo through the forest.

Slowly stepping behind the cabin, the curious Rider somewhat expected another Corrupted right away, but in the end, he was pleasantly surprised. After he had circled the house, he did not see another monster, quite the opposite actually. He only saw Emerald who had left the house a few minutes before him. She was currently in the process of kicking an innocent tree repeatedly, she was so focused on it that she didn’t even notice that he had come close to her.

“So, did this tree steal your money or why does he deserve to be at your mercy?” Emerald immediately jumped back by the sound of his voice, staring at him like he was some sort of monster. “Sorry, didn’t want to scare you.”

It didn’t take long for her to retaliate, her voice still shaking: “Scared? Me? That is ridiculous! I’m not afraid of anything.”

“Sure, if you say so it has to be true,” he sarcastically replied.

“What are you doing out here anyway? Don’t you have some Kamen Rider stuff to discuss?” She still sounded slightly grumpy when she brought up the Kamen Rider thing, but really he couldn’t blame her for that.

“Well, I kinda had a little shouting match with your brother. Let’s just say it was best if I just left the house for a bit,” Phoenix sheepishly replied while rubbing the back of his head.

“Oh, I heard that. About time someone told him that he is an idiot for religiously following these stupid traditions.” Phoenix just nodded slightly, earning himself a bright smile form the girl. “So, what was that with this ‘having your own legacy to hold up’ thing?”

He grew a bit more somberly. “Oh, that. Basically the same thing your family is tasked with doing, just more along the lines of traveling around the world and gather magical energy. It also involves stupid rules, and so on, the difference is, I just don’t care. I use the thing to save people, not because I have a responsibility to uphold a stupid family legacy.”

“Oh, my gosh, you really talk like one of these comic book heroes.” In response, Phoenix just chuckled nervously. “That was actually meant as something positive. We sometimes just need people that tell it if there are only good people in the world. Or something like this. Ok, I’m not good at this. I just wanted to say you are awesome and what you do is great.”

“Ok, ok, stop. I’m really starting to feel embarrassed here.” And indeed his cheeks had taken on a more crimson look, what immediately let a little chuckle follow from Emerald. “But on a different note. I think your brother just wants to protect you. He somewhat reminded me of my own brother. Don’t hold it against him. Tease him a bit over it but besides that, don’t let this get between you two.”

This left her speechless for a few moments only to counter: “You don’t hold a grudge against him for what just happened? Why?”

“Because I know that he just wanted to protect you. My little brother tried the same for me. He worked far harder than me and tried to convince gramps to give him the Driver and Discs instead of me. He wanted to get me out of this bollox. He did not succeed, but I appreciate the effort.”

“Pah, as if you know Pinecone. He is obsessed with this stupid legacy and would never do anything that would break it. He forces me to stay here, is that the actions of someone that wants to protect me,” she sounded quite defensive and angered at the mere suggestion of Pine actually looking out for her.

Phoenix just shrugged with his shoulders and added: “Siblings tend to watch out for each other, that is something I learned. I might not know his true intentions, but that is what I chose to believe.”

Before she could offer any counter-argument, someone else spoke up, prompting them both to frantically turn around. “Well, well, isn’t that cute? You don’t mind if we take the Monster Driver?” The voice chuckled, and as soon as the laid eyes on it their blood froze as they looked at the face of the water Corrupted that had fought Phoenix and the other two Riders just an hour before.

“Hey, Fishface! Don’t you know the rules? You are only allowed to appear again tomorrow. I mean seriously, are you being paid overtime?” While he spoke he slowly pulled the Driver out of his pocket again as well as a Magic Disc.

“Oh, you are the first one. Well, I’m going to enjoy ripping you apart!”

“Yeah, I’ll pass.” And with one swift motion, he slapped the Driver on and activated the transformation.

\ MAGIC DISC DETECTED! /

“Henshin!”

\ EARTH DISC ACTIVATED! /

The first thing he could see was Seventeen rushing towards him, claws glowing a deep shade of blue. With a quick dodge, he managed to avoid the attack, staggering back in the process. “Hey Emerald? I think you should run!” This was enough to snap her out of her little shock and run as fast back towards the house as she could. “Good, now we can have a little fun.”

“Oh, we will have fun!” A devious smirk appearing on his lips.

At that moment a loud the ground under his feet started to rumble and moments later a fist emerged from it, smashing right into his face, knocking him off his feet. “Ow, now that was not fair,” he groaned while rubbing his chin.

“Sorry, we don’t play fair.” Seventeen replied, a lite chuckle in his voice.

In a swift motion, he returned to his feet and casually replied: “Well, could have guessed that.” While he spoke the other Corrupted unleashed one of his energy waves upon the Rider, who barely managed to evade the deadly attack, which crashed into some trees behind him.

Wasting no time both monsters stormed towards him, blocking their attacks quite well, even managing to get in a few counterattacks. Still, he was slowly pushed back towards the house, as much as he didn’t want that. After successfully pulling off another counterattack he quickly grabbed the Disc that on his Driver and swiftly removed it turning this motion into another block. Slamming the Disc into the chest of number Eighteen, sending him sailing back a few meters, right into another tree, all while the Disc started to glow a bright orange.

\ Earth Disc Attack Mode! /

\ Boulder Shield! /

While the weapon materialized in his hands, he quickly stomped his foot on the ground one time, letting one of his seals appear on the ground. Meanwhile, Seventeen had recovered from the shock of seeing his partner being flung across the forest and was about to attack Alchemy again as he merely flicked with his fingers. Faster as it could react the earth covered by the seal rocked upwards letting it slam its fist right through the rock all while Alchemy used the sudden accent to jump off the pillar and let his shield soar at him with immense strength. The following blow was so intense that it knocked the monster off his feet and slammed him at the ground, even causing a decently sized shape being formed where the Corrupted had landed.

Catching the shield again after it had bounced back towards him he was about to rush towards the incapacitated Corrupted as he heard something from behind his head, something akin to rocks crumbling. And just as he turned around, a boulder was heading straight at him, giving him nearly no time to react. Only by using the motion of the returning shield was he able to put it between himself and the incoming projectile. The force of the impact was so immense that he was flung across the forest quite a bit, crushing through at least seven trees, each consecutive one feeling worse than the last. After his little involuntarily flight had ended rather uncomfortably with crashing into a giant boulder, he merely lay there, groaning in agony. His back ached horribly, no wonder after smashing through so many obstacles, but his shield arm was in no better shape, stinging everytime he even attempted to move it, even a little bit.

So there he was, laying there around a hundred meters away from his opponents and not even able to stand, something that seemed oddly familiar. His eyes were fixated on the two Corrupted that were slowly making their way towards him. Fishface, judging from his stance quite aggravated by the previous attack from him held his claws in a vicious position while Eighteen was just plainly walking towards him, almost like he was bored. As he saw the two walking towards him, a certain feeling started to slowly creep up again, something he had tried to buried as deep in his mind as possible, pure fear.

His breath started to grow rigged, uneven and louder with every passing second, he had to lay there. He couldn’t move or break his stare on the two monsters that were heading his way. Not close his eyes, not crawl away, nothing, he was paralyzed. Memories from the night he had been demolished by Alkahest flashed before his eyes, more and more the longer he laid there, unable to move. Phoenix was about to scream as something zoomed across the forest, hitting both Corrupted in the back and letting them stager a few foot forwards.

“Didn’t I tell you to leave? Why are you back again?” He asked them, sounding extremely irritated. A few meters away from them stood Monster, or at least it looked like him in different armor. His armor had taken on a crimson red with a black undersuit. His shoulder pads now resembled the heads of something akin to a large lizard with golden gems for eyes. The fur that had disappeared when he had dawned his Sphinx Armor had returned to his neck, gloves, and shoes. His helmet now resembled the head of a dragon, complete with emerald green eyes that stared directly at the two Corrupted who were currently scrambling to get back into a proper stance. In his hand, he held a crimson ax that looked like the claw of a dragon, while in the other holding a dragon head shield.

“You! You little insect! Give us that thing around your waist, and we might let you live,” Eighteen tried to reason with Monster, but he just ready his weapon and charged towards the two again.

“As if I would give a family heirloom to such lowlifes as you,” He almost growled back at them as he slashed across their chest while using his newly formed wings.

While Monster was keeping the two Corrupted occupied Alchemy was still laying on the ground, unable to even stand up, as much as he tried. That was when someone else rushed to his side, Charge. “Well, we can’t leave you alone for ten minutes without you getting yourself in mortal danger. Seriously, sometimes I think the best thing to do to you would be to put a leash on you,” she said with a slight chuckle, trying to hide her more worried undertones.

While she spoke, she carefully pushed him onto his back and removed his Disc from the Driver while also grabbing for another one from the belt. “You and me both know that putting a leash on me would never work,” he jokingly replied, even adding a slight chuckle only to stop right in the middle of it to hold his side.

“Probably. Now be quiet, I don’t need you flailing around during this!” With that, she put the Disc into the Driver and spun it. A quick dash out of the way later the transformation started to take place.

\WIND DISC ACTIVATED! /

The emerald whirlwind consumed the Rider and after a few agonizing seconds of waiting rereleased him, gently dropping him on his own two feet, where he staggered a bit only to find his footing shortly after that. “And? Feeling better?” Charge asked him, her voice still not the strong and confident tone she usually had.

“Yeah. I’m fine. And by the way, thanks. You saved my life again. I think I have to start making a list for that,” he jokingly replied, his voice still somewhat weak.

That was all Charge needed to let out a small little laugh, bumping Alchemy’s shoulder a little with her fist who in return just staggered back one step. “Well, if you are fine then let’s help our new ally. It would be rude for the seniors to just sitting on their asses all day while the new guy takes care of the problem,” with that she activated her boosters and rocketed towards the two Corrupted, only to just pass them, confusing Alchemy quite a bit. Well, only for a bit as she quickly changed directions and smashed right into Fishface, lifting him off the ground and rushing with straight towards the Rider.

Without even a second thought he quickly drew the bow and released one of the magical arrows at his opponent who still had no idea what was actually happening right now. Just as the bolt was about to connect Charge let go of the Corrupted and quickly ascended through the use of her boosters. With no one to hit besides Seventeen, the arrow landed dead center at his back, consuming the monster in an explosion.

Before the dust could even settle Charge was already executing her next move. Changing the direction her boosters were taking her she descended again, directly towards the dust cloud. With immense force, she dived into the cloud with her feet and moments later emerged from the other side with Seventeen under her feet. The following crash echoed throughout the entire forest and let even Eighteen and Monster glance over to them, but right now both were to focus on their own battle to really care. The spot where Seventeen had made contact with the ground was now a small crater with the Corrupted right in the middle of it, groaning in agony.

As both readied themselves to finish this fight as to their surprise, Fishface jumped up and unleashed one of his energy waves directly at them with Charge rushing towards Alchemy and slamming him to the ground, letting the attack safely pass over them and only cut down some trees and boulders behind them. “You think you can put me out of commission with something as pathetic as this? Oh, please, what are expecting from us? That we go down as easily as your other monsters? Tough luck, we are professionals, we don’t go down like amateurs!” The entire time he was speaking he was breathing quite heavily and carefully eying the two Riders, at least it seemed that way.

“Actually, yes. And we would really appreciate it if you would just give up already. I have already wasted enough time in this stupid forest,” without waiting for an answer he spun the Disc on his weapon again and pointed it towards the sky. “Arrow Storm!” And just like all the times before a barrage of arrows rained down upon the Corrupted all while Charge unloaded her entire magazine on Seventeen. That all ended with a colossal explosion that after it had faded away revealed the Corrupted still standing, however showing quite clearly that he was nearly done for with his shaking legs.

“Fishface, you used the powers that were bestowed upon you to attack other people and planned to steal something priceless from them. By the magic that was bestowed upon me, I deem you unworthy of your powers and will now take them from you!”

And like that Alchemy and Charge spun their respective parts of their Driver preparing to finally finish this.

\ Wind Disc Maximum Power! /

\ Maximum Charge! /

While Alchemy jumped up into the air Charge rocketed towards the Corrupted and clocked him right into the face sending him straight upwards. She evidently following him by changing her trajectory and aiming to force him with her foot to ever greater heights. It didn’t take long for Alchemy to rush downwards as well, both Rider charging directly towards each other, to the utter horror of Seventeen. It didn’t take long for the two to ultimately collide with each other and of course the Corrupted right in the middle of their attacks. They soon were consumed by another explosion and descended towards the ground with a scruffy blue man with black hair in their arms and a blue claw necklace.

“You- You will never win against us. There is no way you-“ The man tried to speak but was quickly interrupted by Alchemy.

“Sorry, but there is only one way for us, and that is the path towards a bright future. And I assure you we will not strive from this path.” With a heavy groan, the man fell into unconsciousness, Alchemy carefully letting him rest on the ground. “So, anything interesting about the artifact?”

But Charge simply ignored him and continued to stare at the thing. Then something unexpected happened, one of the rocks of the Corrupted was shot directly at the artifact, shattering it in the process. Where the thing had been mere moments ago an orb of dark blue energy now had emerged, seemingly scattering into smaller parts. Alchemy didn’t even think for a second and pulled his last unfinished Magic Disc from his belt and pointed it towards the rapidly scattering orbs, sucking them in. Just as he had sucked in the last one, the disc began to glow and change for, now taking on a dark blue color and looked like it had the form of waves chasing around a planet. “Sorry.”

“Dammit! I knew this thing, or at least I think I did. This damn Corrupted did this on purpose. I’ll have a good talk with him when we are done with it,” she growled, completely ignoring Alchemy. While they spoke the rock that had destroyed the priceless artifact returned to his owner, completely missing the two other Riders and Monster.

Monster was currently trading blows with number Eighteen, both not being able to really make any significant dent into the other. Still, Monster was now slowly pushing Eighteen back away from the house more and more. One particular strong slash from his ax was the one opportunity he needed, letting the Corrupted stager back a few steps and giving him enough time to formulate a counterattack.

The blade of his ax started to glow a fiery red, and he dashed towards it with his wings, slashing across his chest leaving a glowing line behind on it. Without wasting any time, he quickly changed his direction and swiftly repeated the attack just on its back. This continued for a good amount of time leaving Eighteen quite bruised and beaten behind, holding its side in anguish.

“You are going to regret attempting to steal from my family!” And with a quick motion, he opened the Driver again and switched the Medals out, quickly closing it afterward.

\ AWAKEN: MANTICORE! /

The ethereal manticore emerged from the Driver, dawning him in his Manticore Armor again. And without leaving the Corrupted any time to actually regain any sense of strength he quickly opened and closed the two parts of the Driver again, letting the Monster Medal inside glow a bright green.

\ ROAR: MANTICORE! /

And like before an ethereal manticore emerged from the device, but this time it headed for his foot. After a quick glow, the manticore had wrapped itself around his foot with the teeth right at the end. Jumping up high he angled his foot just right and dashed towards the Corrupted, the mouth of the manticore opening and biting down on Seventeen as he slammed his foot into it, letting the Corrupted be consumed by an explosion.

After everything had settled down, and Alchemy and Charge had come over to him he picked up a small rock on a chain next to an orange man with dark brown hair and threw it to Charge who caught it without any effort on her part. “Here! Take it and leave!”

“Thanks, we appreciate your help. And I assure you we will leave as soon as possible. But there are two things we still need to take care of first. Phoenix, if you would be so friendly?”

He in return just sighed and continued: “Thanks for the help and I’m sorry that I insulted you for upholding your family legacy. It might not make sense for me, but that doesn’t mean I should judge you on that. I’m sorry.”

While the apology didn’t completely sound genuine Pinecone just shrugged and replied coldly: “Thanks. Now, what was the second thing?”

Ocean sighed but continued: “Just an offer. If you ever need help, just call me,” while she spoke she deactivated her transformation and gave him a small calling card that he just held in his hands. “Oh, and we would love your help when it comes to incidents in the city. I know it is not your responsibility, but we would appreciate the help. And you never know when a Corrupted might get a problem for you here. So, that was all. Goodbye.” With that, she basically dragged Phoenix with her who had picked up the two encounters criminals, and now both were walking towards civilization.

In the meantime, Emerald had left the house again and had sneaked up on her brother who had returned their goodbye. “You are growing soft;” she playfully said letting her brother shift his head towards her.

“I’m not. They might just be of use to us,” he grumpily replied.

Emerald just chuckled and added: “I think I like it.”

The Fruits of Hard Work - Going with the Flow

It had taken them about twenty minutes to accept that they had lost their opponent, something that was growing more and more annoying with every time that happened. Nonetheless, with the help of the rest of Oceans team, they had made sure that everyone that was involved in the incident was accounted for and was sent to the new MRG headquarters, with an exception for Sunset who was taken to the local hospital, even if her injurious didn’t seem that severe.

The girls had been found still sitting in the backroom, while the two brothers were found hiding inside a broom closet and toilet respectively and needed a good amount of convincing that the Corrupted had disappeared before they are even thought about leaving their respective hiding places. All in all, something that keeps the exhausted Riders on their toes.

On their way back to the headquarters Ocean and Phoenix were discussing today's events in her car, both of them entirely spent. “Remember me to never go shopping with you ever again,” he groaned, to witch Ocean simply responded with rolling her eyes.

“Oh, and you believe I’m that bad when I go shopping? Trust me, if you think that was bad, you should go shopping with my sister. Add her extreme excitement and energy to that time spend shopping, and you have yourself a living nightmare,” a pained expression only selling her horrible memories of the experience even more.

“Oh, you have not seen true horror until you watched Thunder inspect mushrooms for five minutes, each. He forced me to go with him shopping for the pizzeria once, and it took us the entire day to finish. The guy has issues I tell you.”

“Seems to run in the family,” she added, chuckling a little bit.

“Haha, very funny,” Phoenix sarcastically retorted.

“So, what do you think? What actually happened back there? Do you think it’s one of them or someone else?” All the previously build up atmosphere was snuffed out in an instance as Ocean uttered those words, leaving Phoenix speechless and unable to answer. “Phoenix. Did you hear me?”

“Yeah, yeah, I did. I don’t know. Could be both,” shrugging with both his shoulders he looked to her, she just sighed in return.

“Oh, come on, you have to have an opinion on this. I know you think since I’m the government agent that this is my part and you are not wrong, but after all this time I hoped you would at least catch up on something. The Director is someone who doesn’t tolerate something like only being good for one thing. So don’t give this crap with ‘I don’t know’! Tell me what you think,” she replied with ever increasing aggravation.

“What do I care what she thinks. I-“

“Don’t give me that. You already made her mad; continuing to do so is just making everything harder for yourself. Why don’t you just give in this one time?” Her last sentence was spoken with such a mixture of annoyance and desperation that it was almost painful to listen too.

“Ok, fine, I’ll humor you. But don’t expect anything out of that, this is your thing after all. So, I think the guy in the back, what was his name again?”

“Flam.”

“Yeah, yeah, that one is our Corrupted. The monster came from the backroom after all, and he was completely alone. And they were already pretty sketchy after all. Just seems like the most logical conclusion,” he finished all why shrugging his shoulder repeatedly.

“And you are sure of that?” She asked him with a certain undertone. “What about the possibility that he is telling the truth? That someone else came in and attacked him out of nowhere?”

“I-“

“And why would he even attack in the first place? What is his reason for turning into a Corrupted after the artifact has only been used normally?” She continued, not even leaving him any chance to even finish his sentence.

“That could-“

“And don’t forget-“

“Ok, ok, I get it!” This time it was Ocean who had been interrupted by her partner, leaving her in a bit surprised for a moment. “I’m wrong and have missed parts, big deal. This isn’t my job anyway. I’m here to beat up those monsters not find out who they are and how to figure out what their deal is. This is what they have you for, so why are you asking me? I’m just an idiot with a magical belt!” His voice grew louder and louder with every word he spoke, culminating into a frustrated scream that was quite unpleasant for the ears.

“I know, and I never said you were wrong. I know that you are mostly the muscle in this partnership, I get that, but if you never even think about it how are you going to make a good decision at the right moment. You need the full picture, or you are more than useless out there. And I can’t just always give you the answers,” she calmly explained, seemingly not even phased by his outburst right now.

“And why can’t this be how it works. You are far better at making decisions than me. You once even said that I would be best at following orders, ok, with my own style, but still. Now you want me to make my own decisions? Make up your mind!” His frustration showed no signs of calming down, instead only grew bigger.

“Yes, I said that and still think that is true. Your,” she was searching for the right words for a moment. “unique way of thinking most often than not leads to the best outcome and is not threatened when unexpected things happen. Still, if you don’t want to think for yourself why withhold your Magic Discs from us?”

“Because I don’t trust you. Well at least the MRG.”

“Ok, I get that, but why then do you think following my decisions blindly is such a good idea if you don’t trust us. Even if you claim that you trust me personally, I still work for the MRG, and with every fight, we get closer to finishing the analysis on your Discs. So tell me, why do you think following me is such a good idea?” Now she was starting to get more and pushier and to the point, tightening her grip on the steering wheel as she spoke.

“I- You know-“

“No, I don’t. You keep claiming that you just want to live your life on your own and don’t want to be bossed around by everyone. But you just willingly give the controller away again. You burst out against people that boss you around but let me decide anything without question?” Her voice just grows more intense as she continued, letting Phoenix shifts his gaze towards the floor of the car.

“That is different, you-“ He weakly tried to reply only to be interrupted again.

“No, it’s not different. I get that you trust my judgment, and I’m glad that you do, but you are just giving the control of your life away again and this time willingly. If you want that, ok, then give me the data on your Magic Discs. What do you care what we might do with them? You just gave up your responsibility to me, didn’t you?”

This was the line that finally broke through to him. “No, I would still be responsible since my actions made what the MRG wanted possible,” he weakly replied, still staring at the floor.

“Exactly! So stop trying to shove your responsibility on me or anyone else for the matter. You want to be the smith of your own life, then be it, with everything that comes with it!” In the corners of her eyes, she saw that he quietly nodded, his expression still not as upbeat as usual. “So, what do you say about a few interrogations? After that, you can tell me what you think about this case again and this time actually put some effort into it. I’m sure you’ll get it.” She casually bumped him into the shoulder, an action that prompted a weak smile from him.

--------------<

It was already late in the night, and Ocean was still interrogating the last of the twins, Flim. Flam had been down for over an hour now, and she was still not down with Flam. As interesting as the conversation was to hear it was starting to get a bit boring. Flam was trying his hardest to avoid any answer possible and even the ones he did give were so wordy and dragged on for ages that it was frustrating to figure out what he even wanted to say. With every passing sentence, he started to believe the girls more and more that the man was a scam artist of the highest caliber, would at least fit this blabbermouth.

After the umpteenth speech of his, Phoenix was about to slam his head against the wall in frustration as the door to the side room opened, a relaxed-looking Shining Armor walking into the room, a paper bag in his one hand and a cup of coffee in his other. Phoenix sighed in relief at the sight of the officer. Finally, someone to talk to that was not to focus on his work, like the rest of the man in the room.

“Oh, hey look, someone to talk to,” he greeted the man with relief in his voice.

He in return simply raised his eyebrow and examined the Rider carefully. After a short, while his expression softened a bit, placed the bag on one of the tables in front of them, grabbed one plain sugar donut from inside it and was about to take a bite as he said: “Second one is for you by the way.”

Phoenix stared at him for a moment only to quickly grab into the bag and pull out the second donut. “Thanks,” he quickly added shortly before biting into the sugary goodness only to stop after the first bit and stare back at the officer. “Why?”

“Why not?” He merely shrugged in return.

“You know why. You can’t stand me, so why bring me something?”

“Because I thought you would be happy? I don’t know, just to be nice, I guess,” he replied still somewhat confused. This got a chuckle out of Phoenix, to the displeasure of Shining. “But I might not get you another one if you find this so funny.”

“Sorry, sorry. Didn’t want to insult you. It’s just that it doesn’t really fit your ‘disliking of me’ stick,” he absentmindedly replied while staring at his donut.

“Things can change. And I still have to work together with you, so being nice will just help me in the long run,” he sheepishly replied, rubbing the back of his head while speaking.

“Hey Shining, do you think I can be a good hero?” Phoenix asked, staring through the window into the next room where Ocean was still interrogating the shop owner.

“What? That does come out of nowhere. Since when do you care about my opinion anyway?” He just shrugged in return. “Ok, if you want. Sure you can and to be honest you aren’t doing a terrible job at it. You tried to actually improve and train. I saw one of your training sessions with Ocean,” this sported a quick glance from Phoenix and a small smirk in return from Shining. “Still a lot to learn, but you are improving. You actually try to improve and better yourself on your own accords, that is more than I thought when I met you the first time.”

“And another question, what do you think is more important, following orders or making your own decisions?” He asked the officer with a look that was strangely serious for the Rider.

With a raised eyebrow he encountered: “Well, it depends on the situation. If you are under the lead of someone else you should primarily follow orders, but you have to know when to say no and make your own decisions. If you can’t do that you will never make it, you have to know what to do at any point in time as quick as you need to. Otherwise, you are going to fail in the end. Someone that can’t decide for themselves will never succeed.”

Both of them remained quiet for a few moments until Phoenix turned around to the officer and smiled at him only to add: “Thanks. You are right, you and Ocean both are right. I have to make my own decisions. Otherwise, I’ll never be the hero this city deserves.” With a heartfelt bit, he swallowed the next part of his donut. “What would I do without friends like you?” He added, his mouth still filled with the remains of the donut, making it quite hard to understand what he was saying.

Shining nearly choked on his own donut as he heard the last part. Still coughing heavily he replied in utter shock: “What- Friend? Since when?”

Phoenix just shrugged and just added: “I don’t know, but it feels right. But if you don’t-“

“Oh, no, no. It just, out of the blue I would say.” He awkwardly retorted, trying to avoid eye contact with Phoenix. “That does however not mean that I’ll stop bugging you when you fuck up, and I’m sure I will have ample opportunity for it.”

In a mixture of sighing and chuckling, Phoenix simply said in return: “Bummer, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. Would be way too boring if that would change.”

Before either of them could continue their conversation as the door to the little side room was slammed open, in the doorframe standing Ocean and she looked terrible. Her arms were hanging limply at her side, her back was hunched over, and her expression was that of complete exhaustion. She slowly dragged her body across the room, all the eyes on her, but no one dared to even make the slightest sound. As she finally reached a chair she slumped down on it in an instant, her head landing softly on the table next to her and a loud and pained groan escaped her through.

“That bad?” Phoenix asked with a raised eyebrow, carefully eying her from a distance.

“That bad? That bad!? Are you shitting me? This day was awful! Dragging myself through this stupid shopping district and investigating every stupid stone was already awful! Then comes the fight, ok, still manageable. But I call it quits when you add four hours of interrogation on top of that with two of the worst witnesses I have ever seen. No, I had enough! I’m done for today!” She nearly screamed, her voice sounding pained and utterly exhausted like she was about to start sleeping right then and there.

“Ok, that bad. Got it.” He carefully stepped closer to her, his half-finished donut in his hand. “Here, how about a little snack that you-“ He was unable to continue as the donut was yanked from his hand and disappeared seconds later in her mouth. “Wow, it is that bad. Was it at least worth it? Got something out of them?”

It was uncanny how fast she had swallowed the small little donut, but she was already speaking normally again. “Oh, believe me, they gave me information. So much information, but at the same time so much nothing. You remember when Applejack called them con artists?” He nodded in return. “I can see it now, never going to doubt that for a second ever again. These two have that written all over them. You want something true from them? Be prepared to sit there for hours to get it out of them, slowly, painfully. This was one of the worst interrogations of my life, and I had to do it two times in a row. You know, I thought torture was illegal, but apparently not, because this was torture of the highest caliber.”

“Ouch, wow. If they can break you, then they have to be awful. You need something else like coffee or-“

“No, no, I just need my peace and quiet for the rest of the day. But before that, I think I can tell you what I got out of them. Claim to have no idea where the Corrupted came from. Say they never heard about anything magical in the neighborhood. All that crap. I got pretty much nothing incriminating out of them. So, what is your opinion on the matter? Did, or did they not do it?” She looked over to him, an excited look on her face, mixed in with all the exhaustion.

“Well, even if you have nothing to really fuel my suspicions, but I think that Flam guy is our Corrupted, but his brother is in on it,” Phoenix replied with newfound determination.

“Oh, and what lets you think that?” She asked him, eying him carefully. “I hope it is not just random guessing.”

“Nah, not really. I might not know a lot about investigations and so on, but one thing I sure know is how siblings act. I listened to you talk with them a bit and from what I could hear out is that both know more than they let on to believe. My bet is on them abusing the magical artifact, for sure!”

Ocean smiled back at him, proudly looking him over. “See, you can do it. By the way, agree with you. These two are hiding something, and I have a plan to figure this out, just have to pull a few strings to get this figured out. Might actually help on some other fronts as well.” She slowly stood up from her chair and walked towards the door again.

“You really don’t do slow, do you?” He asked with a smirk on his lips.

“Nah, that is just not my style. By the way, I’ll pick you up tomorrow. We are going to pay these two another visit.” She was about to close the door again as she turned around one last time and added: “By the way, thanks for the donut Phoenix. That was exactly what I needed.”

He just rubbed the back of his neck and replied with a cheery: “No problem.” While he spoke, his face turned a deeper shade of red, something she couldn’t even notice since she had closed the door quickly after his reply, Shining just snickered at him. “Oh, shut it!” But that only increased the amusement of the officer even more.

--------------<

“I don’t like this, I don’t like this one bit,” Pinecone said in his usual serious tone, all while staring ocean directly in the eyes, something Phoenix couldn’t hold up for more than five seconds when she looked as determined as now.

“I second that,” he quickly added, only to receive one of Oceans annoyed looks.

“I know, I know, I get it, but she is by far the best one to fool them.” This was followed by a dismissive grunt from Pinecone. “They know Phoenix and me already and that I’m one of the Kamen Riders as well. And you don’t really strike me as someone that is that good at acting,” he remained as stoic as ever. “Exactly! So, your sister really fits the best for the situation.”

“And any of your officers? Wouldn’t they work better than an untrained outsider?” He dryly replied.

“Theoretically, but we are dealing with scam artists here, they have a tendency to smell any cop that comes near them in any way shape or form.”

“They didn’t notice you,” Phoenix added.

“Hey, are you on my side or his?” She hissed back at him, Phoenix just grinning back at him. “Anyway, not like she is in any danger with three Riders around anyway, now is she? And you get something out of this as well, so just trust me on this; your sister is not in any danger.”

“Fine, but no cheating, is that clear? When this is done, you tell me when another Corrupted appears. I don’t want to be surprised when another one of them appears again.” His expression hadn’t changed the entire time he had spoken, still freaking Phoenix out, just a little bit.

“So, can we start or does anyone have any suggestions left?” Looking around one last time, no one seemed to have anything to add, so she pushed something in her ear and continued: “Ok, everything is ready; the only thing left is you. So, are you ready?”

“You can count on that! Oh, I can’t believe I’m actually helping the Kamen Riders, oh and my brother as well. Yay,” she squealed back at her, something Oceans ear was none too pleased about. “Sorry,” she sheepishly added. “Ok, I’ll go in.” With that Emerald removed her finger from her ear and casually happily walked over to the shop, the three others and Shining Armor were meanwhile cramped into one of the vans o the MRG, observing everything from a camera on Emerald's clothing and the microphone in her ear.

All of them heard the door open, followed by the ringing of a bell and quickly by the melodic voices of the two shop owners greeting her. “Welcome to Flim and Flam's Everything Under the Sun Emporium!”

“How may we help you today? Want to sell something?”

The other brother seamlessly continued where the other had stopped. “Or are you interested in buying something? Like this vintage clock?” He quickly grabbed an old wooden clock from the wall and basically shoved it in her face. “It would look fantastic with your hair.”

“Or how about this wonderful instrument?” The other brother had in the meantime taken a guitar off the wall and was now presenting it to her. It was quite the beautiful piece, covered in flame stickers, but not why she was here.

“Actually, I wanted to sell this,” she held out a dark green crystal on a pendant, an old family heirloom of her family that had been in their possession for generations. “My brother is a real stick in the mud and doesn’t want me to have a job and also doesn’t want to give me more money, my hands are kinda tied, so, how much?” She looked as expectantly at the two of them as she could. The two brothers gave each other a look of poor glee for a second before returning to their previous expression.

Meanwhile, Pinecone was grumbling a bit. “Pah, she is doing this on purpose to annoy me. But I tell you this is never going to work on me. Never!”

“Sure and the earth is flat. You are really not a good liar man.” The only thing even vaguely similar to an answer he received was an angry look from him, something Phoenix secretly enjoyed quite a bit.

“Would you two knock it off? We are not here so you can hiss at each other. I don’t want to miss our signal thanks to your bickering.” Both of them just grumbled and refused to look at each other. “Children!”

Meanwhile, something had happened in the pawn shop. Seven other customers had entered the shop, customers Ocean immediately recognized. “Oh, damn my luck. Why now?” The seven girls caught the attention of the two brothers right away and to say that they were not pleased was an understatement, something that seemed to be something the two sides could agree on.

“Oh, it’s you again and this time with the whole band. What do you want? We already told you that your junk is worthless.” Flam said, annoyance in his voice. “I mean, we already told you what your ‘treasures’ are worth, and we won’t change our opinion on the matter. So would you be so kind and leave our establishment, we have actual customers to take care of.”

AJ was fuming but was able to keep her aggression down enough to not make a scene. “Ah just wanted to take something Ah forgot last time. It might be still back there if ya excuse me.” She was about to walk past them as Flim stopped her dead in her tracks.

“Yeah, I’m sorry that you seemed to have lost something, but we aren’t letting you run around in the back of the shop unsupervised, you understand.”

“Why can’t one of you just help her search? I’m sure that could work,” Sunset added, not wanting this to break out into a fight just yet.

“We don’t have time to babysit any of you. I’m sorry, but we can’t help you. If we find anything we will let you know, but right now we are busy, and I’m sure this lovely lady here would not be too pleased when you start to search for your lost things when we talk business. So if you would be so kind and-“

He was interrupted by Emerald who merely smiled at them and said. “Actually, I have no problem with them searching for their lost things. I wouldn’t want them to go back empty-handed. So if that would be ok, they can come with us. I’m sure they are going to be as quiet as humanly possible.” The seven girls smiled back at her and nodded quickly. “Then this is set, you can come as well.”

“Ok, fine, but only two of you. The room is a way to small for all of you anyways,” Flim said and lead the three of them towards the back of the shop.

“Thank ya,” AJ added.

“No problem. I’m always glad to help. I hope you find what you are looking for. What is it anyway?”

“Ah, nothing special, just an old necklace. Ah wanted to know the price of it so we could sell it, but seemed Ah forgot it yesterday,” she returned, while Sunset was walking right next to her.

While the three girls had been talking Ocean had noticed something peculiar. “Did you see that as well?” She asked, to the confusion of her two partners. “The vase! The one next to the counter?”

“Yeah, what is about it?” Phoenix asked, still somewhat puzzled by her reaction.

“It’s the same as yesterday. Exactly the same.”

“So what? Maybe they had two?” He just shrugged, to the annoyance of Ocean.

“Pretty sure they have no other one, not with that reaction he had as it was destroyed. It was so loud that even the girls came back from the- That’s it! I got it. That was intentional, I’m sure of it. They lured the girls back out so they could do- something back there.” She was now in top gear, completely filled with energy it was almost contagious. She quickly activated her communicator and said to Emerald. “They are going to try to get you out of there through something, maybe a vase shattering. If that happens, leave, but come back right away, I want to see what they are trying.”

Meanwhile, Emerald had sat down with the man and was discussing the pendant and how much it would be worth. Flim was currently holding it in his hands and was examining it with a magnifying glass, making interesting noises as he continued. The two girls were meanwhile looking all over the floor for the necklace. Almost simultaneously the AJ cried out, and a loud crashing sound could be heard from outside, followed by Flam's frantic screaming over what a disaster this was.

“Got it!” Aj screamed in return, the three girls leaving to see what was going out outside, only for Emerald to return seconds later to see Flim standing over her pendant with a strange glowing medallion in his hand. It had a red, blue and white coloring and looked somewhat like a water drop. As she watched she noticed that another pendant slowly started to form next to hers.

“Hey! What are you doing there,” she screamed out, to the utter shock of Ocean and the rest. Flim jumped away from the table in shock as he stared at her, she confidently standing there, pointing at him. That was when a blinding light emitting from the medallion made it impossible to see what was transpiring on the other side.

“I think this is our sign! Let’s go!” Ocean in return said and quickly pushed the button oh her belt buckle, while Phoenix and Pinecone put on their own Drivers. All there jumped out of the van that had been parked and inserted their transformation devices into the Drivers.

\ MAGIC DISC DETECTED! /

\ SCANNING CHARGE! /

\ UNLEASHE THE MONSTER! /

“Henshin!” They all screamed in unison.

\ FLAME DISC ACTIVATED! /

\ 50, 80, 100! THUNDER CHARGE! /

\ AWAKEN: MANTICORE! /

The entire alley was consumed in colorful lights as the tree Riders transformed, only subsiding as it revealed their armored forms, standing next to each other. Truly a sight to behold. Alchemy needed to Charge who nodded back in return, and they started to run towards their destination.

At the same time, Emerald quickly realized the gravity of her mistake, quickly turning on the spot and storming back the was she had just come. Moments later the screaming girl ran through the shop, straight towards the door the Corrupted quickly following behind her, to the utter shock of everyone in the room. After she had pulled the door open and had escaped into the streets the door shattered into a thousand pieces, one part slicing across her ankle, letting her fall to the ground, the Corrupted standing right behind her.

“You, why couldn’t you be fooled like the rest of these imbeciles? Why? It’s not that hard. Hear commotion happening in the other room and go over there. This worked every time, but no little miss smartass here is too clever for that. You know what you might have caused here?” The monster was towering over her, pulling his fist back, ready slam it into her as something flew past them and wrapped itself around his fist. Not even one second later the Corrupted was pulled away from her and thrown into one of the parking cars, landing next to him was Monster staring at him with his unmoving eyes.

“I told you to be careful!” He bellowed back at her, not letting his gaze from the monster for even a second.

“Sorry,” she screamed back, trying not to look too embarrassed.

“Now, back to you. I would normally tell you to quite it since you have no chance of winning and I have no interest in drawing this out, but you attacked someone I care deeply about, so you are in for a beating you will never forget.” Wasting no more time he pulled his whip back and let it come down on Nineteen, who in return unleashed a massive cloud of smoke, covering the entire street and shop before barely slipping away from Monster’s attack.

Alchemy and Charge had just reached the doors of the shop as the smoke enveloped them as well, making it nearly impossible to even see anything more than five meters away from them. “Damit, he is trying to get away again!” She hissed in frustration, quickly letting her hand move to one of the other Chargers on her belt. Before she could grab onto the desired item, she heard something from behind, and with a quick dodge, escaped the attack of the Corrupted that had run up behind her and swung its fist down where she had just stood mere moments ago.

“Alchemy, look out!” She screamed at him as she evaded the next strike of her opponent. “Nineteen copied himself again!”

“Got it,” he quickly replied while punching the monster straight in the face, letting it tumble backward into the mist.

“You will never win against me here. I’m in my element!” It’s voice echoing through the smoke all around them.

“Hey, Alchemy, you think you can handle him here? I would like to help out our new friend, get him to appreciate our help,” she asked the other Rider while shooting one of the attacking copies directly in the head, letting it evaporate into mist.

“Sure, take care of that grump. This will be a piece of cake, and even if it gets hard, I still have my trump card,” he replied while blocking the attack of one of the clones and followed up with a swift kick to the head, the thing evaporating on impact.

While the two of them were fighting the copies of the Corrupted Monster ha lost his target and had spread out his wings ready to launch into the air. As he was about to ascend as a stream of boiling water, hit him right in the chest, sending him flying. As he disappeared into the mist he however quickly managed to stabilize himself with his wings and shot through the fog into the bright sky, revealing the utter chaos of smoke and haze that filled the streets under him. That was when he started to flap his wings up and down, faster, ever faster, until a mighty wind wised through the streets, taking the smoke with it and revealing what was going on down below.

He could see a group of three Corrupted where he had stood mere moments ago, as well as a group of five that had surrounded the two other Riders, or at least Alchemy, Charge was meanwhile heading for his opponents. To his relieve, Emerald was nowhere to be seen, the only thing out of the ordinary were the girls that were carefully staring through the door of the shop. “Let’s finish this shall we?” He muttered to himself as he picked one of the medals from his belt and switched it with his current one.

\ AWAKEN: DRAGON! /

The ethereal dragon emerged from his Driver and consumed him, just like the manticore had done before and clad him in his Dragon Armor, complete with his Dragon Ax in hand. Without warning he rocketed towards the ground, swinging his ax and decapitated one of the copies just as Charge punched through the other one, both Riders coming to a stop right before the last one. In a panic, it started to summon new ones, only for Charge and Monster to quickly stomp them down whenever they appeared.

“I’ll take care of the copies, you can finish of the real deal! Understood?” She screamed over to Monster, who was currently slamming his ax into the skull of one of the moist clones.

“Sure!” Without even waiting any further he charged towards the Corrupted, bringing his ax down on him and slashing it across its chest, letting the familiar sparks fly through the air. As Nineteen stumbled backward, Monster continued with another slash, letting the strange jester cry out in pain and with one last slash across the chest of the monster send it flying into the middle of the street. “Time to end this farce.” While he spoke, he opened and closed the two parts of his Driver again.

\_DRAGON! /

The ethereal dragon emerged again from the Driver and headed for his feet, while this was happening he was running towards the Corrupted. The moment the dragon reached him he jumped into the air, straight towards his target, spreading his feet while doing so. As he was about to reach Nineteen the dragon appeared again, or to be more precise his head, forming around the two legs, his feet becoming the jaws of the beast and with immense force, he smashed them together, consuming the Corrupted within a giant explosion. When everything settled down again, it revealed Film, laying there unconscious, the medallion laying next to him.

“Good job! This should take care of everything, shouldn’t it,” Charge said in relieve as she walked up to Monster who in return just grunted and pointed towards Alchemy who was still fighting the mist clones. “What? But he went down. How can that be?”

As both of them looked at the scene before them with confusion Alchemy was trying his hardest to gain the upper hand over the situation. “You know what? Screw it, I’m done playing with you!” As he spoke, he punched the closed copy through the stomach and quickly removed his current Magic Disc only to replace it with his new one.

\ WATER DISC ACTIVATED! /

As he spun, the Disc water started to form around him in a whirlwind, second later disappearing around the area and revealing his new armor. He now was clad in a dark blue, his golden ornaments only enhancing the majesty of the color. His shoulder pads had taken on the characteristics of waves and his horns as well. Alchemy quickly removed the disc again, and it started to glow in blue light.

\ Water Disc Attack Mode! /

\ Wave Trident! /

A new weapon had formed in his hands, a dark blue trident with gold ornaments. At the point where the hilt meat the rest of the weapon that leads to the ends the Water disc was mounted. “Well, let's have some fun, shall we?” He thrust his weapon forward, impaling one of the copies and quickly swinging his weapon at the next one, letting it evaporate into nothingness as well.

As the copies kept on swarming towards him, the apparent original trying his hardest to keep up the overwhelming force of his creations. For every copy Alchemy struck down another one took its place. It had gotten so bad that they were now completely surrounding the Rider, who was getting slightly annoyed by the whole thing. Before they could finally overrun him, he plunged his trident into the concrete and let a large seal appear under his feet.

“Well, let’s see if your cheap copies can take a bit of water.” With a loud snapping of his fingers, he spun the Disc again, letting his weapon and the seal beneath him glow in bright blue. “Abyssal Whirlpool!”

The seal under his feet suddenly transformed into a massive vortex of water, dragging in everything it could grab ahold of and crushing it between in its center, all besides the real Corrupted. He was just pushed around, as painful as it may be. As Alchemy ended his attack, the vortex sends the Corrupted flying towards the middle of the street where he landed face first on the hard concrete. “Your run ends here Joker because I will keep on moving forward towards a bright future and you are in my way!”

“Joker, you used the powers that were bestowed upon you to attack others and scam them. By the magic that was bestowed upon me, I deem you unworthy of your powers and will now take them from you!” While he spoke, he returned his weapon into its original form, reattached it to its Driver and spun it again.

\ Water Disc Maximum Power! /

“Tide Breaker!” Behind him, another magical seal appeared in the air, and as he jumped forward, it turned into a fountain of water, shooting directly at his opponent. As the Rider reached his opponent, a devastating kick sent the monster flying after it was consumed by an explosion, leaving only Flam behind, laying on the floor like his brother, completely unconscious, the exact same artifact like his brother had.

“Hey Charge, cache!” He threw the strange medallion over to Charge who quickly caught it and took a good look at it.

“Well, I think Ivory is going to have a field day with this one. Thanks!” She moved over to Monster who was about to leave. “And thank you for your help. We couldn't have done it without you.”

“Not a big deal. But don’t forget your end of the deal, understood?”

“Crystal,” she replied immediately, watching the third Rider turn around and leave in search of his sister. “That went actually better than expected.”

“So, everything they did will be undone now?” Alchemy asked, tilting his head a bit as he looked at Charge through his mask.

“Yeah, pretty much. This is going to cause a commotion I tell you,” she sighed in return, already wondering how many people had been scammed by these two.

“Well, better than living a lie,” Applejack added as she and the other girls were walking up to them, both Riders turning their head towards the new rivals. “Now they can’t trick honest people anymore.”

“Well, that is certainly one way of looking at it, and I kinda agree with you,” Alchemy added. “You girls are really good at getting into trouble,” he chuckled, the girls returning the gesture. “Seeya girls!” He said, waved his hand and walked back towards the van, Charge right behind him, also saying goodbye to the girls.

--------------<

A few hours later in one of Canterlot Cities noblest restaurant, ‘The Elysium’ a bulky man in a black suit, grey skin, and black hair was sitting on a table with a skinny man with lightish orange skin, blue hair and a blue suit who looked not too pleased with his companion.

“It’s a shame that you failed. But this won't be a problem, won't it?” The skinny man said, a disturbingly chilling tone in his voice that would let every ordinary man shiver in fear.

“Of course not. We always deliver on our end of the bargain. I will ensure that our best man will retrieve the package as soon as possible, of course without any further costs,” the mountain of a man replied with his deep voice after taking a sip from his wine.

“Good. Then take this,” he handed the grey man a silver suitcase, the man taking it carefully and putting it next to him on the ground. “A present from our partner, to make sure everything works out perfectly fine this time. I don’t expect any further complications.”

“Understood. You will have the artifact as soon as possible, that is a promise, and I have never broken a promise.”

“Perfekt. And don’t disappoint our partner again. You know their stands on failure, don’t you?” The skinny man slowly looked over towards the muscular man, staring him dead into the eyes without even blinking once.

“Failure is not acceptable!” He replied without even a second of silence.

“Exactly! Remember that!”

“I will!”

The serious expression of the skinny man quickly faded, and he added in a far more friendly tone: “Good after that is clear, I can’t await our meal. If it is truly as good as everyone says it is, this will be a wonderful evening.”

The muscular man remained as serious a before, not even a single smile crossed his lips. “It is, we hold yourself to the highest standards in all aspects of our business. On a successful mission!”

“On a successful mission!” He replied both clung their wine glasses together their food arrived.

Burden of the Monster - What you Hold Dear

The walk home had been a long and exhausting one; the sun was already disappearing behind the mountains, something she could sadly not see as she stepped through the forest bathed in twilight. She knew the path well; she had walked it time and time again since she was a child. She knew every rock, every tree and every oddity that could be found on the way like the back of her hand, the same way, the same stones, and the same trees, like always.

This day full of excitement and action had suddenly turned into the same old walk back home like she had experienced a thousand times until now, as dull and predictable as ever. A heavy sigh escaped her lips as she continued through the ever darker growing forest, like always. The day these two had come she thought her life would finally change, become something more and it had, for about twenty minutes. Twenty minutes full of tension, action, and genuine excitement, even if she was in danger, it didn’t matter at that moment, she never had felt more alive in her entire life than in this moment, running away from this monster.

But then, it ended. The Riders were victorious, and the threat was gone. Sure, she was happy that these two couldn’t harm anyone more and watching the fight from a nearby alleyway was awesome, but it was all over way to fast. And then it set in, the realization that her chances of seeing this again were minuscule, if not next to impossible. She had to go back to her normal life with her brother, caring for the shrine and wasting her time.

She had almost reached her home, silently it stood between the trees, the bike of her brother standing right in front of it, leaning against the wall. He apparently was already back, no wonder actually, with the bike and all, and that meant she probably was about to get another one of his famous lectures about just leaving and going home on her own and all that. She was tired of it, really.

She slowly unlocked the door and opened it as quiet as possible, tiring to not tip of her brother that she had returned, worthless as it ultimately was. “Hello, Emerald. Finally deciding to come back?” His cold voice echoed through the living room, letting her freeze dead in her tracks right there.

“Hey Pinecone. So your already back? What a surprise,” she sheepishly replied, not knowing if not moving or sprinting would be her best course of action.

“Yeah, what a surprise. Where were you? I was looking for you for over an hour and couldn’t find you. You just left,” he continued, his voice still as cold as before.

“Well, you know, that fight was so terrifying, and I didn’t want to get hurt so I-“ Before she could even finish her half-baked excuse, complete with stuttery as she was trying to think of anything that would get her out of this situation, she was interrupted by Pinecone again.

“Oh, of course, and you think walking away and right into the city would be safer than near the MRG van you knew was parking right around the corner? I see. You really think I would fall for your lies? You should know that you shouldn’t lie to your older brother,” he continued, standing up from the chair he had been sitting on for the entirety of the conversation and now was walking up to her, continuously shaking his head in disappointment.

“What were you thinking, just leaving after a monster attack? I didn’t know if you were hurt or worse. But no, you never even considered that, did you? You never do. Not about the consequences, not about your duties, about nothing at all,” Pine sighed, staring at his little sister with an expression of complete disappointment.

At this moment Emeralds uncertainty and helplessness had faded away in an instant, no replaced with anger and unbridled fury. She clenched her fist, took a step towards her brother and with all the strength she could muster smacked him right into his jaw, letting him tremble slightly. “You are the worst! Sure, I maybe should have told you I was ok, fine, but you are worse, so much worse! It’s always responsibility here, legacy here. Shut up, shut up, shut up! I had enough of it. You can shove your responsibility up your ass for all I care. You don’t care about anything else. You have the chance to do something fantastical with the powers you have, but no, of course not! It would go against our legacy!” She shouted back at him, her voice trembling through the entire house, as loud as she could get.

Pinecone just remained silent, holding his wound as he looked at her with his determined look, not seeming to back off for even a second.

“Talk with me! Come on, say something, anything! Don’t just stand there! Or are you finally realizing how stupid this damned legacy really is?”

“There is nothing stupid about this legacy. It is my duty to protect it, not misuse this power for something else,” he drily encountered, matching her stare.

“Misusing? Are you shitting me? You are not using it enough! You are just turning your eyes away from the world and shut yourself in here when you could do so much more than just sitting around her, waiting for an attack that will never come,” she continued, grabbing him by his color and staring him right into his eyes, Pinecone didn’t even flinch.

“And what would that be?” Pinecone said dismissively.

“Oh, I don’t know, help people. The city has been under attack for over a month now and you never even thought about helping out! No, everything is about this dumb legacy. Don’t you get it? You have the chance to make a difference, something countless people wish for and you are not using it. How can you be so selfish? You- you are awful. How can you live with yourself anyway? All the people that got hurt because you didn’t do anything? What is with them?” While she spoke, she stomped down with her foot one time, right next to his foot. Still, he kept his expression, not faltering for a second.

“I’m not a hero. Never have been, never will be. There are others out there that deal with this kind of stuff, and it is not me. Alchemy and Charge are the ones responsible, not me. I have my responsibilities, they have theirs. That is all,” he continued, no doubt in his voice, entirely convinced by his reasoning.

“And ever thought about making it your responsibility? Uh, you are the worst!” Without waiting for an answer, she stormed off towards the stairs and right up, Pinecone sighing behind her and shaking his head. After slamming the door to her room shut behind her, she let herself fall down on her bed, the exhaustion of the day finally setting in. “Stupid Pinecone and his stupid responsibility crap. How I hate it. He has the chance to do something more with his life, be worshiped by the people as a hero, and he just says no. How can you be so stupid?” What followed was a long groan from the deep of her heart, silenced by her pillow.

There she lay, face down on her bed, all the anger and frustration she had felt quickly melting away, giving space for sadness and heavy feeling of hollowness. It didn’t take long till her silent sobs filled the room. “Stupid, stupid Pinecone!”

Outside her brother was about to knock on the door as he heard the sobbing of his sister, even if it was muted thanks to her pillow. He remained there, staring for a good minute at the door, his expression having changed since their conversation, now having taken on softer and more somber tones. Lowering his hand again he silently walked away from the door, returning to his own room.

--------------<

The night went by like nothing, peaceful and quiet. One of the bests Phoenix had in a while, probably thanks to the fact that he had finally completed his selection of Magic Discs and actually used them all. He felt like nothing could bring him down, that was until Ocean knocked on their door and asked for him. He had expected her, but nearly forgotten about it, until now. Everything he had pushed of came flooding back in an instant, and his chipper mode was quickly replaced with annoyance and displeasure.

“You know, I sometimes hate you,” he sighed as they were driving through the city, the early morning sun eliminating the streets as they slogged through the morning commute.

“Could you please not play the drama queen right now? You knew this was coming eventually, so pleases, for the love of everything that is holy, don’t make another scene. Please!” While she spoke the wrinkles on her forehead only grew in intensity as well as her grip tightening around the steering wheel.

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll play nice. At least as long as she is around. Hopefully, she will be in a better mode today, still, would rather have it that way that I wouldn’t have to meet her again,” he sighed, during which he started to stretch himself a bit.

“Good, and if you actually do it, I’ll have a little surprise for you. But, you have to behave, understood?” She playfully replied, giving him a delightful smile, one he was not so sure meant good things for him or bad.

“Ah, ok. Present, ok. It is not one of that prank presents, now is it, just to be sure?” he carefully replied, trying to look as relaxed as always.

“Oh, don’t worry. You’ll like it. No strings attached, I promise. Well, besides that behaving thing,” she chuckled back at him, which eased his worries, a bit at least.

“Ok, fine, if you say so. Let’s hope this is good,” he jokingly replied as they drove into the parking deck of the MRG building.

“Oh, trust me, you’ll love it,” she playfully replied, a devious smile on her lips. With a silent squee the car came to a standstill, bot Riders exciting and continued their way towards an elevator that would send them up higher in the building.

“Oh, hey! Wait for me!” Came from behind them as the elevator door opened, both of them looking back and seeing that behemoth of a man in a suit running towards them. It didn’t take long for him to catch up to them, both recognizing him immediately.

“Onyx, right?” Phoenix asked, trying his hardest to remember his name.

“Right kid, you are not as dumb as you look.” Phoenix looked at him in shock, unable to say anything thanks to this out of nowhere comment. What followed was his laughter, echoing through the parking lot. “Just joking.” He looked at him somewhat perplexed and added: “You really shouldn’t take everything I say too serious kid.” Phoenix nodded in return, still his expression filled with a bit of confusion. “Oh, right, hello you two. It’s a nice morning isn’t it?”

“Yeah, would be even better if I wouldn’t have to meat Monochrome,” Phoenix muttered under his breath.

“Good morning Mr. Gleam, I-“

She was again interrupted by Onyx who merely sighed and said: “Didn’t I tell you to call me Onyx? Come on, I know that you haven’t forgotten. It’s, not that hard.”

“Excuse me, Onyx.” All three entered the elevator, Onyx pushing the button for the twentieth floor. After the door closed again, Ocean was awarded balancing from one foot to another only to weakly say after a while: “I’m sorry for my outburst the other day. I’m truly ashamed of my actions and I didn’t act like an agent of the MRG should act. I’m so sorry.” While she spoke, she bowed her head in shame, unable to look into Onyx eyes.

“Oh, don’t sweat it. I get it; you don’t want to even entertain the thought that there might be someone that might betray the MRG. I understand, but you can’t shut out the truth forever, now can you?” Onyx softly replied, his expression equally soft.

“Yeah, I know. Sorry again, I’m willing to work with you, if that is still what you want that is,” she continued, her eyes still staring towards the floor.

“Of course I would love to work together with you kid. You are a great agent, and I’m sure we can finish this in record time if you help me out,” he happily replied.

“There are records for finding a thief in the MRG?” Phoenix asked, sounding quite confused.

What followed was a hard slap on his back from Onyx with his hand and his usual laughter. “Kid, I like you! You have a good sense of humor,” Ocean looked at Onyx, seeming not entirely convinced. Phoenix just nodded slowly, not entirely sure what was happening around him right now.

“Thank you Onyx. I’ll give it my all,” she said, her voice having regained her usual tone of confidence.

“That’s more like it!” As he spoke, the door opened again with a ding. “Yeah, I have to go now. You two take care and if anything happens, tell me, not just the bad,” he winked at them, both of them turning crimson as they realized what he meant; only saved by the closing door.

The rest of their stay in the elevator was spent in utter silence, both of them staring towards a corner, trying to avoid looking at each other at all cost. The entire experience was incredibly awkward, every second that passed felt like an eternity, only getting worse with every additional second. With a loud ping that managed to knock them both out of their embarrassed state, what helped was the voice that asked them: “What's with you two?” Shining Armor said, somewhat confused by what he saw in the elevator.

Both of them suddenly snapped their looks towards him, neither of them looked, pleased. If the officer had looked a little bit more, he would have noticed that both of them were blushing furiously. He quickly added: “Uhm… I mean, good to see you, sir. Director Monochrom is waiting for the both of you in her office. Mr. Diamond is already there, I wouldn’t let her wait any longer.” Sweet had suddenly started to drop down his forehead.

“Of course Officer Armor. Thank you very much, you are dismissed,”Ocean quickly responded, trying as hard as she could to hide her blush.

“Right! And good luck you two,” and just like that he rushed away, in quite a hurry one might add.

“You sure know how to control your underlings,” Phoenix chuckled, while Ocean was slowly breathing out, having regained her usual composition again, inner and outer.

“It’s my job to do precisely that, so don’t act so surprised. Now come, we don’t want to start off with coming too late. You know, scratch that, we should be there five minutes earlier at least!” Before she even had finished her sentence, she grabbed his arm and yanked him behind her, Phoenix stumbling after her, trying not to land face first on the floor.

After a short, while he managed to get lose from her grip, quite hard surprisingly. “Yeah, I get it, gotta move, good. You don’t need to lead me around like a dog on a leash, thank you very much!” He sighed as he tried to keep up with her considerably quick pace.

“Sorry, I’m just a bit nervous that is all. So please, just leave the talking as best as possible to me. I’ll make sure we get out of this unscathed. Be quiet and polite, I think you can manage that,” she said, trying to sound as confident as always. Still, her voice betrayed her thanks to a bit of uncertainty that had managed to seep through.

“Eh, yeah, got it. I’m sure this is going to be just fine,” he casually added.

“Thanks.” As he spoke, they finally reached the door to Monochromes officer, Ocean taking a last deep breath before saying: “So, ready?”

“As ready as I will get,” he replied, the nervousness slowly rising up in him.

Without wasting any more time Ocean knocked on the door, which was quickly followed up by a loud: “Come in!”

“Ah, Agent Skies and Phoenix Feather, good to see you and on time, that is good,” Monochrome continued in her usual monotone voice. Her office was spotless, not even a speck of dust, no paper laying around somewhere where it didn’t belong or anything else what would look out of place in the office. As they entered, they could see Ivory already standing next to the door, nodding towards them as they came in.

“Of course director, we would never even think about coming too late,” ocean quickly replied, trying to remain her usual confident expression, but cracks were already starting to form.

“Good, good, as expected from any of my agents, at least it should be,” while she spoke she quickly glanced over to Phoenix, who did not change his expression even if he desperately wanted to. “So, mister Feather, you know why you are here?”

“Uhm, well, to see how I’m holding up?” He weakly replied, hoping his answer was at least partially capable.

“Well, in a sense, that is accurate. I’m judging your capability of acting as a vigilante with government authority and how you have improved since our last talk,” she continued, staring him dead in the eyes, something that quickly became uncomfortable for him, the first drops of sweat appearing on his forehead. Still, he didn’t forget to nod. “Good, then agent Skies, I would now like to hear your report on how mister Feather here has improved since our last meeting.”

“R- Right,” she shuddered a bit. “Phoenix has shown significant signs of bettering himself; first and foremost his training sections with me have already proved to be quite useful in a fight. He has also showed increased interested in the more theoretical and investigative portion of my work, with positive results I might add. I have to say that Phoenix has shown him willing to learn and improve, so my judgment on the situation is that he should continue to act as Kamen Rider Alchemy.” During her entire report, Ocean remained firm and confident.

“Ah, I see. Agent Diamond, what your opinion on this situation, if I may ask?”

Ivory cleared his thought before speaking, Phoenix and ocean looking expectantly towards him. “Well, everything agent Skies said is true. I don’t often interact with him, but in the last time, he has shown himself interested and willing to listen. So ultimately I have to say that he should remain as the current user of the Alchemy Driver, training a new recruit would just be a waste of time if the current one is adequate enough,” he finished, not shifting from his calculating tone for even a moment. Phoenix was about to say something, only to be stopped by a quick look from Ocean.

“Mhm, I see. I also received a recommendation from Mr. Gleam, which said, and I quote: ‘The kid is perfect for the job!” The two agents and Phoenix looked at each other quite confused, only to be interrupted as Monochrome continued. “In light of all this, I will let Mr. Feather keep the Alchemy Driver for a while longer.”

“Yes,” Phoenix hissed under his breath, but apparently loud enough for Monochrome to notice. “Uhm, excuse me,” he quickly added.

“As I was saying, we will keep you as the current Alchemy; however, if there is any sign that you don’t take your position seriously, I will personally make sure that you will lose the Driver. Did I make myself clear?” She coldly continued.

“Crystal,” both Phoenix and Ocean replied in unison.

“Good. You’re dismissed!” With that, she returned her attention to her computer monitor and started to tip away, completely ignoring them. It didn’t take long till the three left the room and closed the door behind them. Monochrome let out a frustrated sigh.

Meanwhile, Ocean, Phoenix, and ivory were walking through the building, Ivory as composed as ever, Ocean was visibly drained, and Phoenix was still filled with euphoria. “Yes, yes, yes, I can keep my Driver.” As the two others looked over to him, he quickly added: “Wouldn’t have given it away anyway, still, being told that you are actually good at your job is something that is good, right?”

“Yeah, right,” Ocean replied, a small smile creeping onto her lips. “I’m just glad that this went so well, I’ll have to thank Onyx for this at one point.”

“Aren’t you forgetting something?” Phoenix expectingly asked her, resulting in a rather confused Ocean. “Hey, you promised it, not me.”

“Ah, now I get it. Yeah, yeah, you behaved, so I think you can have your gift.” She quickly looked over to Ivory and asked: “Is it ready?”

“Yes, it is ready, but are you sure you want to give something like this away? I’m sure we can find a better use for it than he ever could,” he jokingly replied.

“Ivory,” Ocean sighed in return.

“I’m just joking. I didn’t do all this work to not give it to him in the end, would be a wast honestly,” he mumbled back at her.

“Ahm, interested in telling me what exactly it is you want to give me? I’m kinda curious, you know,” he playfully returned.

“Oh, I think you can stay in the dark a little longer, so, nope, you’ll have to wait just a teeny tiny bit more.” While she spoke, she had this joking expression on her face, kinda cute if Phoenix was honest.

After a quick elevator ride, filled with Phoenix pestering them about what it was, both of them not relating in any way they finally in the underground parking lot again.

“So, is I not here, or why are we back again?” He asked the two again, both of them sighing frustration as they walked through the rows of parked cars.

“Wait and see, what is so hard to understand about that?” Ocean groaned in annoyance. “Don’t worry, you’ll see it right about-“ they reached a from their position seemingly empty parking space. “Now!”

What stood before him was a beauty of a bike colored n crimson red with golden lines covering it. The bike seemed to be designed so it could also drive in more uncharted territory, something his current motorcycle lacked. What caught his eyes eventually was a symbol that resembled the one he wore when he was in his Flame Mode on either side of the bike.

“Wow, ok, I’m stunned. You made this?” Phoenix was nearly at a loss for words, not able to look away from the beauty that was standing before him.

“Oh, of course, I did. I designed Oceans bike as well, it’s unique in that regard. Was just as fun,” Ivory cockily replied, looking at his creation with an extraordinary amount of pride.

“Yeah, I asked him to build this since driving you around all the time was getting a bit tiring, no offense.”

“How could I take offense when you give me something like this?” He replied, still mesmerized by the bike.

“Yeah, ain’t it beautiful? My best one yet, the ‘A2018R’, I can tell you that. It has a maximum speed of over six hundred km/h, has over five hundred hp, can reach a speed of one hundred km/h in less than three seconds and-“ Ivory stopped, looking at Phoenix who was inspecting every inch of his new bike. “And you are not even listening to me, are you?”

“Huh, did you say something Ivory?” He quickly replied, still not averting his gaze from the thing.

“Of course,” he muttered as silent as possible. “Just that this is a damn fine bike,” he sighed with a bit of frustration.

“Oh, for sure it is!”

“By the way, there is one thing I haven’t shown you,” Ocean stepped closer to the bike and pointed to something on the fuel tank. She unclipped a communicator from what previously had seemed like radio. “This is a way for you to listen to police radio and MRG transmissions, well as long as you put in the code that is: 120418, so you can actually go on patrol alone. And this,” she pulled a new helmet, as well crimson with golden lines. “Has a build in communicator. Just push this button, and you can talk to me without any problems. And, what do you say? Like it?”

“Like it? Like it? Are you shitting me? This is amazing. Come here you!” Without a second warning, he grabbed Ocean and gave her one of the tightest hugs in her life, the pore girl so surprised and embraced that she could do nothing besides stutter weakly. He was only snapped out of it by Ivory’s increasingly louder snickering; suddenly realizing what he was doing and releasing Ocean. “Uhm, sorry,” he sheepishly added. Ocean just nodded in return.

“So, wanna take it for a test drive?” Ivory asked him, sounding himself quite giddy about the possibility.

But before he could reply Ocean's phone ringed. “Yeah. Yeah. What?! Ok, got it, be right there.” The two others looked somewhat perplex at her. “We have another case of high magical energy in the woods near Pines house, but this time it’s even bigger the biggest reading we had since you appeared.”

“That is bad, right?” Phoenix asked, his voice sounding somewhat worried.

“Yeah, pretty much. Look on the bright side, you can test your new bike right away,” Ivory jokingly added, receiving a slight chuckle from Phoenix. Meanwhile, Ocean was running over to her own bike and quickly turning it on.

“True that. Huh, apparently there is nothing like a quiet day in the city,” he muttered to himself as he put on the new helmet and let the engines spring to life. “Let’s take you for a ride my beauty!” With a loud roar from the engine, he raced out of the underground parking lot and straight for his goal, felling the wind as it passed by, Ocean right behind him.

--------------<

Meanwhile in the wood Emerald was still lying in her bed, not being able to muster up the strength to get out of bed. Pinecone had already asked her to get some breakfast, but she had ultimately declined, not feeling particularly hungry right now. After that the hours were merely passing by, nothing noteworthy happening until a loud explosion outside let her jump up and roll out of her bed and landing directly on the floor. “Oww!”

After rubbing her body where she had fallen off the bed, she quickly moved towards her window, carefully taking a look outside, what she saw did not help her to calm down. Outside were standing three Corrupted and her brother in Rider form, he apparently trying to dodge their attacks.

The first of the Corrupted looked like he was made out of wood and plants. His body was sleek and nimble and covered in what looked like brown wood armor. The only parts of his body that were not covered in the strange armor were covered in green vines instead, which included his arms and legs. His face resembled that of a flower, just that in the middle, instead of what would usually be in the center of a flower, an overgrown human skull could be seen, an ominous green light coming from within it.

Monster was currently flying directly at the Corrupted in his Dragon Form, his ax ready. The first hit did end the Corrupted staggering back, some of his armor seemingly burned by the heat of Monster’s weapon. The rider was about to continue his attack as the Corrupted pushed through his pain and unleashed a swarm of vines on him that enveloped the Rider and slammed him against the next best tree. Monster cried out in pain as he felt the vines slowly crushing his body in their embrace. Still, he wasn’t beaten just yet. His weapon burst into flames, burning the vines, even traveling along them till they reached the Corrupted, who cried out in pain. As he was about to attack the monster again, he was suddenly struck by something in his back.

As he turned around another one of the Corrupted slammed something that looked like a drill into his stomach, sparks flying as he was thrown back by the attack. What stood before him was a monster made out of black and grey stone. His body was covered in rough rocks, scattered throughout were green glowing crystals. His hands were too large drills that looked just as painful as they were and his head looked like it was carved into the stone by an amateur. Still, the glowing green eyes that stared directly at him were unsettling.

As the monster was about to charge at him again, he quickly swapped his medals and activated his Driver again.

\ AWAKEN: SPHYNX! /

The ethereal sphinx emerged from the Driver, knocking the attacking Corrupted back a few meters and changed his suit into his Sphynx Armor again, complete with the claws. Before the Corrupted could stand up again, Monster was already slashing wildly at the beast, letting it stagger back with every attack, accompanied by its pained screams. With one especially powerful slash, he sends the Corrupted flying again, right into a group of trees that quickly collapsed on top of him.

As he was about to finish off his opponent, the Corrupted suddenly dug himself into the earth with immense speed, leaving the Rider behind and open for another attack. And right at this moment, his last opponent made his move, grabbing Monster and caring him into the air, only to quickly throw him into some trees. The last Corrupted also looked humanoid, just that his body was covered in white feathers. The beast also wore a sky blue and golden armor that covered his upper body and knees. His hands were equipped with razor-sharp black claws, and his head had the form of a falcon with a golden beak.

As Monster slowly crawled out from the debris, he had been buried under he quickly changed his medals again.

\ AWAKEN: MANTICORE! /

Now clad in his green armor, he quickly ascended into the air and rocketed towards the Corrupted, ignoring all the pain he still felt, even after changing medals. Both of them raced through the trees, evading every obstacle that stood in their way. After a while, Monster had finally caught up to the Corrupted, and with one swing from his whip, he managed to grab ahold of its leg. With one swing he threw the beast towards the ground, right into a rather large rock, splintering it in the process.

About to continue his assault something grabbed him in return, vines. eH was yanked back and pulled towards the ground, as he was about to crash into the ground as suddenly something emerged from the earth. Two drilled pierced his armor, letting him cry out in unimaginable pain that continued after he was send sailing again, landing a good thirty meters away from them on the ground. His entire body arched and sparks were flying off all over his armor. He tried desperately to stand up, but every time he tried the pain just increased like he was pierced by needles that were as hot as the sun.

“Well, well, should have given up right away. Say goodbye to this world,” the earth Corrupted mocked him, pointing his arms directly at Monster. Within seconds both of the drills detached from his body and rocketed toward the Rider who could only watch as his doom was quickly approaching.

That was when everyone heard a loud roaring like it was from an engine. Right behind Monster a red and gold bike jumped up and landed between him and the incoming projectiles. With a swift motion of his sword, the figure redirected the drills, letting them crash into the ground behind them in a massive explosion.

“Need a hand Monster?” Alchemy asked him, extending his hand towards him.

Monster just stared at him, only to ask: “Wh- Why?”

“Because that is what partners do, isn’t it?” He casually replied as a second bike drove up to them, sitting on it was Charge. With a little tug, Alchemy brought the Rider back to his feet. “So don’t worry, we’ll take care of this together,” he continued as both of them dismounted their bikes, ready for the fight ahead.

Burden of the Monster - Of Serpents and Birds

“Cute, he actually has friends, and they are even willing to come to die with him. Maybe we get a bonus if we get your Drivers as well,” the earth Corrupted mocked them, new drills already growing back.

“You want our Drivers? Yeah, how about no? I’m rather attached to this thing just so you know,” Alchemy snarked back, holding his weapon ready to attack the moment any of them moved even an inch.

“Take it easy Monster, we’ll deal with them, you should not overexert yourself,” Charge meanwhile spoke to the injured Rider, the three opponents in the corners of her eyes, carefully examining them.

“No… I won’t let you fight without me. This is my responsibility, and I have to uphold it,” he countered, gripping the hilt of his weapon tightly and readying himself for the coming fight. Charge just sighed in frustration, but ultimately relented with a simple nod.

“Alchemy! You take care of the plant one, I’ll deal with the earth one and Monster if you want to help, make sure the skies are clear.” The other two Riders nodded in agreement and then stormed off towards their respective opponents. “Charge up!”

\ 50, 80, 100! FIRE CHARGE! /

As she was running a ball of crimson energy consumed her, letting the drills that were flying towards her explode on impact, however not harming her in the process. As the light had subsided, she rocketed towards the Corrupted thanks to her booster, delivering a punch that sent the monster staggering back. Before it could react, she had already caught up to him, grabbing his shoulders and slamming her knee into his stomach, complete with help from her exhaust pipe, increasing the strength of her attacks tenfold. After the initial impact, the streams of steam suddenly changed direction, pulling her leg back away from him again, only to change directions again and repeat the process, each hit letting the armor of the Corrupted crack more and more.

“Stop it!” The monster yelled, finally managing to push Charge off him with its drills. “You… You little bitch, I’m going to tear you apart, you understand me!?” Without even another moment it rushed towards her, wildly swinging its drills at her, Charge merely jumping over them and taking potshots whenever possible.

Meanwhile, Alchemy was wrestling with the vines of his opponent that were currently pinning him against a tree. “Hey, Bonehead, how about we heat things up a bit? I think you’ll like it.” While he spoke he steadily pushed his hand through the vines and towards his sword. Finally reaching it a quick spin of the handguard was all he needed to let flames erupt from the weapon and by extension through the vines of the Corrupted, letting it scream out in agony. “Huh, to hot for you? Sorry, the weather report said it would only get hotter,” he chuckled and dashed towards his opponent, slicing apart the vines that were coming his way with ease, much to the Corrupted dismay.

With every following swipe of his sword, he cut through more and more of the attacking planes until he finally reached his opponent proper, slashing across the chest of the monster, letting it erupt an ear-bursting scream, the skull moving in creepy ways inside the flower only to snap back at him with a vicious glow in its eyes. “You!” The beast bellowed in a low, unnerving voice. “You will regret this!” And without any form of warning the monster unleashed a new barrage of vines, this time like an explosion all around it, shooting in every direction, letting the vines like tentacles swing around him, one slamming right into Alchemy’s gut and sending him flying again.

The landing was like was to expecting rather ruth and worst of all, his weapon had laned sever meters before him, right in the middle of the storm of trashing vines. “Great,” he sighed and readied himself to rush towards the desired object, ignoring the pain in his stomach.

The first attack that came his way was easy enough to dodge, just jumping over it, only to realize that another one was already following right behind it, around the area where his head was. After a quick movement of his head, that was just barely enough to avoid another hit, he landed with a quick role, only to nearly be swiped off his feet by the next one that had come from behind.

What followed was a mad dash towards the weapon, only interrupted when another vine came close enough to him, which to his annoyance was quite frequent. Still, he could call himself lucky that he managed to dodge every single one that had come his way, even if in some instances it was a rather close call. After this taxing experience, he lunged forward one last time with a role, garbing the sword and slicing apart the vine that was coming directly at him, followed up by a loud screech from the Corrupted.

After a swift motion with his hands, the handguard had again been spun again, and Alchemy screamed: “Flaming Slash!” before unleashing burning wave of energy that turned a few trees around him as well as the vines of the Corrupted into little piles of ash. “Ha, finally. Now,” he looked over to his opponent who was screaming in pain trying to extinguish the flames that had erupted all over his body. “It’s payback time!”

Before the Corrupted could even realize what Alchemy had just said it was already being assaulted by a barge of slashes all over its body, every single one burning worse than the last. “Ha, like that Bonehead? Don’t think so!” Alchemy screamed over its screams like it was nothing.

While this had been happening Monster had been dealing with his own opponent. The first reaction from the Corrupted had been to just ascend into the air, and soar through the forest away from the fight only to quickly return, aiming right for Charge. This plan, however, was not to be accomplished as Monster’s wipe tightened itself around its feet again, stopping the Corrupted only meters away from its target and dragging him back into the air and right into the next tree unable to do anything at all.

As the Corrupted tumbled towards the ground again, accompanied by the remains of the tree, Monster was meanwhile hovering in the air, breathing heavily. “Damn, I can’t stop now.” With a final deep breath, he lunged himself towards the beast, about to rike with the wipe as a storm of feathers flew his way, hitting him all over his body, letting sparks rain down towards the ground.

He landed rather ungracefully next to the Corrupted who had managed to stand up again, slowly dragging itself towards the Rider, weakly cackling to himself: “Well, well, seems someone got in over their head, but don’t worry I’ll make sure this is over soon. You really should have just given us your Driver, would have made this so much easier for all of us.”

While the Corrupted spoke Monster was slowly rose up from the ground, his legs shaking heavily as he tried to remain on his foot, much to the delight of his opponent. “Screw you. I can’t and will never stop to protect this land and my legacy. A pathetic lowlife like you could never win against me! Not in a thousand years. I can’t die here and never can Monster!” Mustering all his remaining strength together he charged towards the Corrupted, surprising it with his speed and thirsty as he pummeled the beast to the ground and began to pummel it into submission like a savage animal.

Unable to respond the Corrupted could only look as fist after fist came down on his face, slamming into his beak, each strike hurting more and more, the pain stinging again and again through his face and ultimately through its body. After what felt like the dozens punch the best finally seemed to slow down, that was all the Corrupted needed as he managed to free one of his wings and swing it into the direction of the Rider, letting some of the fathers from the wing rocket towards him. Monster didn’t even realize what had happened until he lay several meters away from the beast, clutching his side in agony.

“See, you can’t win. Try as you might, you will never beat Tartarus, and even if you somehow survive this, we will just come back, again and again until we got what we want. We never fail, we always win in the, like everyone will end up in Tartarus one day!” Still, the Corrupted hadn’t escaped this fight unscathed, it was slowly tumbling from side to side, trying to remain standing, eyes locked on Monster who was growling at the beast before him, anger slowly washing away the pain all over his body.

His vision was getting fuzzy, but one spot remained clear as day, the Corrupted. It was all Monster had to see, gripping his wipe tightly he again swung it in the direction of the Corrupted, taking him off guard with his tenacity and unwillingness to surrender and slashed him across the chest, hitting his wing in the process. He didn’t even register the ear-bursting scream that came from his opponent, so much rage was filling his mind, the only thing that mattered was to win, win, win! The next strike soon followed.

As all three Corrupted were in a bad situation, desperation spreading through there ranks as suddenly something came crashing down from the sky. A glowing orb of red energy that quickly spread apart and surrounded the Riders and their opponents. Seconds later Remnants emerged from the ground, clad in their armor and with crimson skin they rushed towards the Riders, knocking Monster away from his opponent while Alchemy and Charge managed to dodge their attacks. The Corrupted immediately seized their chance and started to retreat, Charge’s opponent returning underground, the Corrupted that had fought with Monster ascended back into the sky, well at least as best as he could with his injured wing and the last one simply did run for it.

Alchemy was the first to regain his composure and charged towards his fleeing opponent, only to be blocked by the Remnants as they swung their fist in his direction. He stumbled out of the way in the last second, the glowing eyes of the monsters following him the entire time. “Oh, come on! Why do you guys have to appear now of all times? Seriously, you always come at the worst time,” he growled back at them agitation in his voice.

However, as annoying as they were they were no match against Alchemy’s weapon, every strike pushing them further back. One after the other fell, some sliced through their helmets, others merely stabbed, and others cut in half. “You like this?” He mockingly asked them, grinning under his helmet as his annoyance was washed away. “Oh, right, you’re not the talkative type,” Alchemy sighed in return and continued his barrage of attacks on them.

Charge had meanwhile taken out her Stun Batons and was carefully striking down Remnant after Remnant, crushing skulls, breaking legs and all around making them regret ever coming here. That was until she caught something in the corner of her eyes, Monster being swarmed by a group of the Monsters and unable to fend them off. “Damnit,” she hissed and looked over to her other partner. “Alchemy, take care of mine for me, I have to help Monster!” Without even waiting for an answer she rushed over to the battered and beaten Rider.

One of the monsters was about to slam its fist into his helmet as Charge tackled the Remnant of him and with one quick stab of her baton silenced the beast for good. Before the others could even react to the new opponent Charge had already continued her attack, stabbing and breaking away the monsters. After a good minute she the threat had been dealt with, Monster laying on the ground breathing heavily and quick. No sign of the Corrupted could be seen.

“Thanks,” Pinecone muttered, his armor falling off him into shards that quickly vanished into thin air. To her utter surprise Pinecone started to stand up again and was about to stagger away, clutching his side in anguish.

“Pinecone, what are you doing?” She gasped out in shock, staring at the injured man, having already disabled her armor. “You are injured, you can’t just walk that off. I’m gonna take you to the hospital!”

“I can’t, I have to make sure they don’t desecrate the shrine, it’s not that bad anyway, just a scratch,” as he said that his legs started to give in and he sunk towards the ground, a pained groan escaping his lungs.

“Pinecone!” Both Phoenix and Ocean cried out at once and rushed over to him. But as they were trying to help him up again, he shoved them away and marched onward.

“Let me alone. I got this,” he hissed back, his expression a pained grimace.

“Pinecone!” A new voice cried out through the forest, coming from the house. Emerald was running towards them in a wild dash, her face was covered in fear and worry. She nearly knocked Pinecone of his feet as she finally reached him. “Are you ok? Oh, by Gaia, what are you doing?”

“I’m ok, don’t worry. I’m just doing my job, something that would be much easier if everyone would not stop me every few meters!” Pine sounded extremely annoyed, with a bit of pain in his voice, as he worked himself loose from her grip and continued his walk towards the woods, as best as he could.

“Pinecone! These people are here to help you, you can just go to the hospital, and they will take care of everything, please, you’re hurt, you’re just going to get yourself killed,” she begged her brother, grabbing hold of his arm again, a tear rolling down her cheek.

With a forceful pull, he managed to free himself from her grasp, a pained groan escaping his lips as he did so. “I can’t. This is my duty, not theirs. I have to do this, no one else. It has always been and will always be my burden to carry and no one else, I won't let that happen!”

Emerald was about to go after him again only to stop dead in her tracks and stare towards the ground, all the frustration and anger from before boiling towards the surface again. “Then go if you have to! Kill yourself for all I care!” She shouted towards him, more and more tears falling down towards the ground and then suddenly ran back towards the house and slamming the door shut behind her.

As Phoenix and Ocean looked back towards Pinecone, he had already continued his path deeper into the forest, his hand leaning against a tree, dragging himself further. Phoenix looked over to his partner with an asking look. “Phoenix, try to cheer Emerald up, I’ll make sure that Pinecone doesn’t kill himself. Got it?” Phoenix nodded in return and quickly run towards the house and knock on the door while Ocean jogged behind Pinecone.

Inside Emerald was sitting on the kitchen table, tears already covering the whole table as a soft knock could be heard on the door. No response, she continued to cry, not even looking up from the table as tear after tear came falling down. Another knock, this time a bit more forceful, she gave a passing glance to the door only to turn her head back towards the table and ignore it.

Then a there was a third knock, followed by Phoenix screaming: “Emerald, open up! Please!” With a heavy sigh, she stood up from the table and dragged herself over towards the door. As Phoenix was about to knock again, he hit the air as Emerald opened the door revealing her tear soaked face and a desperate look in her eyes. His words were stuck in his throat, unable to speak. He just stared at her, tying multiple time to say something, only to stop again and continue his wordless staring.

Emerald turned around and returned to her chair, resuming her previous position, leaving Phoenix just standing there, staring at her, unable to say anything. It took him a few more moments to finally walk into the house, slowly closing the door behind himself. The silence was painful, only interrupted by Emerald's heartbreaking sobs. As he walked up to the table the unpleasantness only increased with every second, slowly pulled out the other chair and sit down next to her.

“Why?” Emerald suddenly sobbed after a good minute of further silence. “Why does he do this? This stupid dumb legacy is not worth his life, why can’t he see that?”

“You ask me that? You know I’m on your side. I think he is stupid for going out there and risking his life for a dumb legacy, but he is an adult, I can’t tell him what to do. If it is what he wants to do and he decided that himself, who am I to tell him what to do. Not that I will stop saying he is wrong, but the choice is his to make, isn’t it,” he somberly replied, sounding equal amounts frustrated and accepting.

“But… But what if he dies? What will I do? Does he expect me to play the guardian?” Emerald whispered back, her sobbing only increasing in volume.

“I’m sorry, I can’t tell you that. I don’t know him very well, I don’t even know Ocean all that well, to be honest,” he weakly replied, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. “But, I know a thing about siblings, and I’m sure he doesn’t want to do that. If he is anything like my brother, he is probably doing this to keep you as far away from this insanity as he can and probably everyone else as well. Either that, or he is completely obsessed with his duty, but I think it’s the first one, at least that is what I’m hoping.”

This seemed to calm her down a bid, her sobbing slowing down to a soft whimper. “Really?” Emerald almost whispered.

“Really! Siblings look out for each other, they are family, and you will always make sure that your family is safe, as much as you pretend to hate them, there is always that special bond that can never be undone, only damaged. Friends come and go, but family, family is eternal.” While he spoke, his gaze had wandered into nothingness. He quickly snapped out of it however with a slight chuckle. “Sorry, I sometimes get a bit sappy,” he smirked back at her.

She returned the chuckle, looking up again and straight into his eyes. Her own were bloodshot from all the tears, and she still was sobbing a little bit, but the smile on her face let him ignore everything else. “Oh, don’t feel bad about that, I kinda like it. Makes you seem like a hero out of a comic book, with all the campy and cheesiness.”

As an answer, Emerald received laughter from Phoenix. “Yeah, you are kinda right, but hey, it’s just way to much fun to not do it, isn’t it?” She nodded in return. “See, that’s more like it.”

She giggled as a response only to turn more somber after a while. “Uhm, I- I wanted to ask you something,” she weakly continued.

He looked at her, somewhat worried but continued: “Sure, what is it?”

“If- if he really dies, what should I do?” She looked desperate at him, Phoenix unable to say anything. “Come on, please, tell me what I should do if he really leaves me alone.” She was on the verge of tears again, pleading for an answer from him.

“He isn’t going to die. Ocean and I will not let that happen, trust me. But, if you really want to know, I’ll tell you. Move forward towards the future. If you don’t do that, nothing will ever change, and it’s going to happen again and again. Only those that move forward towards a brighter future can actually shape it.” She nodded weakly in return, the ghost of a smile appearing on her lips. “But trust me, if he dies I’m dragging him back from Tartarus myself so you can scream at him!” That got a slight chuckle out of Emerald.

--------------<

Pinecone had meanwhile stumbled further through the forest, getting further away from the house with every step.

“Where are you going?” No response, he just continued. “Pinecone, please, just tell me where we are going.” While he did not give her an answer she did notice a cave with a wooden wall in front of them, one Pinecone was walking directly towards. “Is this your shrine?”

“It’s not my shrine, it belongs to Gaia Everfree, I’m just it’s guardian, that is all,” he replied, his voice a mixture of pain and annoyance. “And you are staying outside.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“What I mean with that? I thought you were the smart one. You are staying outside, I’m going in alone!”

“What?! You’re hurt, I can’t let you alone,” she returned, shock and anger mixing in her voice.

“I never ask you to play babysitter. Don’t worry, I won't just fall over and die in there. If you really want to look out for me, do it from out here.” Without waiting any longer he entered the door and left Ocean behind, wrinkles appearing on her face as she stared at the door.

--------------<

“And then the book fell on his head. Oh, he was fuming, and it was all his fault,” Emerald said, laughing the entire time. It had been a while since Pinecone and Ocean had stumbled towards the deeper parts of the forest.

“Oh, that is good. Come one tell me another-“ Pheonix replied, snickering the entire time, only to suddenly stop and stare towards the window.

“What? Did I say something wrong?” She asked, staring at him like he was out of his mind. He just held his finger to his mouth and signaled her to be quiet. As she turned around, she could see three figures walking towards the house, a strange metal briefcase in one of their hands.

“Emerald,” Phoenix handed her his phone and carefully stood up from his chair, sneaking towards the door. “Call Ocean and hide in your room. I have the feeling someone hadn’t had enough of a beating for today. And make sure you don’t come out till I’ll tell you.” With these words, he put on his Driver and pulled out one of his Discs. “Oh, and tell Pinecone I’m sorry for this,” he sheepishly added as he put on his disc and started spinning it, running towards the door.

\ MAGIC DISC DETECTED! /

“Henshin!”

\ WATER DISC ACTIVATED! /

The water around him followed him as he burst through the door, unhinging it in the process, coming to a close right before the three individuals. A woman with white skin and orange hair in an elegant flowing dress, a man with yellow skin and purple hair that ended in spikes and punk look and a man with a light blue complexion as well as dark blue hair dressed in a purple business suit.

“Ah, Alchemy. I see you are still here. Couldn’t get enough of us? Look, we are only here for the Monster Driver, not for you and your partner. Just give us the Driver, and we will leave,” the man in the business suit said, the grip on the suitcase only increasing.

“So, let me guess, you are Bonehead, Featherbrain, and Drilface? Yeah, while I dislike that grump, not going to give you that, but I have a different offer for you, give me your artifacts, and I will let you leave,” he encountered, eyeing the three carefully.

The man in the suit sighed in frustration, a bright light emerging from his neck, the same thing was happening with his two compatriots. Alchemy immediately rushed towards them and removed his Disc from his Driver again.

\ Water Disc Attack Mode! /

\ Wave Trident! /

The man with the suit turned into the bird-like Corrupted, number Twenty-three, the woman, had turned into the plant-based Corrupted number Twenty-one, and the last one turned into Twenty-two, the earth Corrupted. During the chaos of their transformation, Twenty-three had let the suitcase fall towards the ground and with a swift motion of his wings let it shatter into a thousand pieces, immediately five orbs of energy emerged from the remains of the suitcase and scattered across the surrounding area.

What rose from the spots was something quite familiar to Alchemy, Remnants, lots of them, in red, green, orange, light and dark blue, one for every element he currently possessed had gathered around them, around fifty of them. One of them right in front of Alchemy, blocking his attack with his weapon, absorbing the blunt force of the attack, letting the actual target, Twenty-two escape unscathed.

“Oh, you have got to be shitting me,” he sighed as he looked upon the army before him.

“Want to surrender now and give us the Monster Driver?” Twenty-three asked again, his voice drenched in arrogance as he looked upon the Rider, surrounded by enemies.

“Are you kidding me? I can fight through an army of you? That sounds like a dream, Featherbrain,” he laughed back at them, only to quietly add: “Ocean, I hope you get here fast because this is quickly turning into the worst kind of day.”

--------------<

Inside the shrine, Pinecone was dragging himself through the cave the shrine was made out of. Everything was lit by old oil lamps he had ignited this morning, like every morning. The ground was covered in a carpet of tree branches that were bound together with rope, and the walls were lined with banners of Gaia Everfree, guiding people through the forest. The sound of dripping water was ever pressed in the background.

It had felt like forever, but he had finally reached the end of the cave. A large wall ornament had been carved into the stone at the end, encased by wood and cloth, it depicted Gaia Everfree in all her glory sitting in her beloved forest, around her were five small round holes in the ornament, surrounding her in a pentagon. Three of them were empty, but two were still filled with coin-like objects, one was light blue while the other was a darker shade of blue. He kneeled before the ornament and started to speak to himself: “Oh, mighty Gaia Everfree, guardian of this forest and everyone that travels through it. I ask for your blessing and help in this coming conflict. Please, allow me to take the remaining medals so I may fulfill my duty as guardian in your place.”

Silence filled the air, only interrupted through the sound of dripping water. After about a minute of silence, he stood up again, bowed before the ornament and removed the two remaining medals. “I’ll make you proud,” he whispered towards the picture and started to return to the exit.

--------------<

While Pinecone was praying at the shrine Alchemy was struggling with the plethora of opponents before him. He had managed to take down at least ten Remnants, but sadly the sheer number of enemies was too much, every time he tried to concentrate on a single one of them, another one just jumped in and distracted him.

He was just about to stab his trident into Twenty-two as Twenty-one got ahold of him thanks to her vines and quickly dragged him towards her, much to his displeasure. A swift slam against the ground was followed up by another one against a tree, and then a rock, and she probably would have continued if he hadn’t managed to cut himself loose from his attacker, landing rather painfully on the ground. All over his body were bruises, and he arched oh so badly. The three Corrupted and their Remnants were now closing in on him, ready to finish this as something came in from behind them, Charge. She had boosted through the crowd of Remnants, taking out at least four of them. “Need a bit of help,” she jokingly asked him.

“Oh, you wouldn’t believe how much,” he returned rather exhausted. “These three really don’t know the rules, they are supposed to come back tomorrow, not today.”

She just nodded in return and raced off towards one of the Corrupted, slamming her fist right into his stone armor, sending it flying. She didn’t wast any time and continued her assault, letting fist after fist rain down on the monster, his armor quickly shattering, apparently not fully recovered from their last fight.

In the corner of his eyes, he noticed that another Corrupted was about to act, jumping between Charge and a storm of feathers that was rocketing towards her. With a swift motion of his weapon, he managed to deflect the incoming projectiles, he, however, had not noticed the vines that had come from behind them and quickly wrapped themselves around Alchemy and Charge. Seconds later they were thrown towards the ground, rolling around as they landed, Remnants storming towards them.

However, before they could be swarmed by the hoard of monsters, a wave made out of water washed over them, surprisingly missing them in the process. The Remnants that were caught in the attack were quickly dispatched, crushed by the force of the water. After everything had subsided again, everyone was left speechless, unable to process what had just happened before their eyes.

“You made a grave mistake. You brought the wrath of Gaia Everfree on yourself, and I am the messenger,” Monster voice boomed through the woods, every eye now on him, clad in dark blue armor. His head had the form of a snake with fines on the side and something that kinda looked like a metal mustache under the crimson bug eyes. His shoulder pads had the shape of snake tails, and in his hand, he led a spear, the pointy end of it came out of something that looked like the open mouth of a snake.

Using the surprise of everyone he lunged his spear forward, it sailing through the air and landing firmly in the wing of number Twenty-three. It hadn’t taken him long to rush over to her, grab his weapon and yank it out of her wound by using her as a jump pad. Accompanied by a loud scream he had freed his weapon and was already on the attack, the cry, however, had also another effect, getting everyone out of their state of shock.

“Well, seems he feels better. How about we go after the others? I take Bonehead, and you go after-“ he was about to say only for Charge to finish his sentence.

“Drillface?”

“Yeah, you got it,” he smirked back, and both of them went off, taking care of their respective opponents.

Charge was the first to reach her opponent, evading several of the drills that were coming her way, even if it was just barely. The last one was punched to the side, exploding, and was followed up by another punch directly into the Corrupted armor, letting it crack even further. But before she could continue her assault on him, another drill was thrust forward, burying itself directly where she had been standing a few moments before. She had evaded the attack with a swift jump aided by her boosters and by merely switching the direction they were pointing she slammed down on the poor monster hard. Jumping off from him she spun her cylinder again, the beast slowly returning into a standing position.

\ Maximum Charge! /

The booster all over her body ignited again, and she rocketed towards the Corrupted, punching him into the air and kicked him on his way up. Reduced to his human form Twenty-two landed next to her.

Alchemy had meanwhile held his own against his opponent, slashing away every vine that had come towards him. Still, she was unrelenting, not slowing down for even a second, forcing him further and further away. After one particular dirty attack from behind Alchemy finally had enough, without overthinking it, he charged towards his opponent, slashing through everything in his way and ultimately across the Corrupted’s chest, letting it fall to the ground with a painful screech. “Bonehead, you used the powers that were bestowed upon you to attack others and steal from them. By the magic that was bestowed upon me, I deem you unworthy of your powers and will now take them from you!” His weapon turned back into the Disc, he placed it on the Driver and started to spin it.

\ Water Disc Maximum Power! /

“Tide Breaker!” Like before, a new magic seal appeared behind him and he jumped towards the Corrupted aided by the force of the water. The opponent was quickly dealt with and reduced to her human form again.

The only one left fighting was Monster, who was wailing on number Twenty-three. With a particularly mighty blow, he sent the monster flying. Planting his spear into the earth, he removed the current Medal and replaced it with the electric blue one, closing the Driver again.

\ AWAKEN: THUNDERBIRD! /

His armor was quickly swallowed by an aetherial blue bird, and as the light had dimmed down again, he emerged in light blue armor, helmet shaped like a bird with crimson eyes. His shoulders had the form of wings, and in his hand, he held a rapier with a bird-shaped handguard.

The Corrupted had used this short moment of rest to regain his footing, sadly it wasn't to last. A quick stab with the rapier let him stagger back almost immediately, followed up by another and another one. The last strick was aimed directly at the wings of the creature, slashing them off, the pain let the Corrupted scream out in agony. But instead of continuing his assault he opened and closed the Driver again, making it cry out.

\ ROAR: THUNDERBIRD! /

The aetherial bird emerged again and disappeared inside the rapier. After that Monster ascended into the air and rocketed of far away, surprising the other two Riders and the remaining Corrupted, only to return with inhuman speed, rapid directed at its target. The closer he got he took on the form of an aetherial bird, strongest when he was centimeters away from him. The next thing they knew was that a massive explosion had erupted where the Corrupted had stood and Monster was standing roughly twenty meters away from that point. Like the rest, the last one was defeated and laid unconscious in his human form on the ground.

“Well, thank goodness this is over,” Alchemy sighed as he approached the other two, disabling his transformation in the meantime. “And nice upgrade. Now I’m not the only one with five forms. Hey, Ocean, you have to get that fixed at one point,” he added.

“Well, whose fault is that again?” She jokingly replied, letting Phoenix whistle innocently. “On another note, how do you feel Pinecone? Does it still hurt?” Concern in her voice.

“I’m fine. Nothing a few bandages won’t fix.” He looked over at them, seemingly looking for the right words. “Thank you for your help. And, there is something else as well,” he sighed, looking towards the forest, presumably where Canterlot City was. “I will fight with you.”

Ocean’s and Phoenix’s jaw dropped, they had never expected this, especially after how he had acted beforehand. “Well, thank you very much. I don’t want to sound rude, but where does the sudden change on that front come from?” She looked expectingly at him.

“This was the second time that someone from this ‘Tartarus’ organization has come to us and wanted the Driver. This won’t stop. I have to make sure that it is safe and just sitting around here won't solve that. I will help you two take down Tartarus,” the matter of factly said.

“Well, ok then. We will gladly accept your help. Right, Phoenix?” She looked over to him, with a look that actually scared him.

“Yeah, not exactly why we fight, but if it gets you to fight with us more often, I won’t say no. Glad to have you around,” he smiled back at him.

Before they could continue their conversation Pinecone was tackled from behind. He landed on his butt and was quickly grabbed by a white and green person that pulled him into a bone-crushing hug. “You idiot! Never do this again, I was so worried over you,” Emerald sobbed, tears of joy running down her face.

Pinecone was stunned at first, but that quickly turned into a bright smile as he stroked through her hair. “Don’t worry, I will be safe.” Ocean and Phoenix looked at the odd scene for a moment only to burst into laughter, that was quickly joined by Emerald, Pine just smirked instead.

Riders and Corrupted - A new Point of View

Phoenix was leaning back in his chair, waiting for the last few to arrive. In the room were already two other people, also waiting for the remaining participants. Ivory was carefully scribbling away on a small notebook, ignoring the others in his lab. Officer Armor was meanwhile pacing up and down through the room, his expression quite stressed and unsure. Pinecone was merely sitting on his chair with a grumpy expression on his face, so nothing too unusual there. Phoenix was the last who had already arrived, thinking about when Ocean and Onyx would finally come, it was quite rare for her to be late, maybe it was Onyx influence?

Two weeks had passed since the fight with the three Corrupted. Ocean and Onyx had afterward started to work together more closely, apparently trying to get to the bottom of the mystery of the magical artifacts and Tartarus. Phoenix had meanwhile merely continued his patrol duty, and past a few incidents, everything had remained quiet. The repairs on the ‘Magnum Opus’ were almost done, much to Thunders delight, he couldn’t wait when guests would be poor into his pizzeria again.

What had however not stopped was Alkahest, his killing spree was still going strong, at least ten more victims had appeared since their last encounter, some from Tartarus, some simple, innocent citizens. Every time one of them had surfaced that rage that had driven him the first time had boiled up again, at the same time there was a quiet nagging of fear and terror in the back of his head. He hated him, he hated him so much. He still couldn’t understand what kind of man would be so cruel and hunt people like this, it disgusted him to his very core.

With a loud sigh he moved on from these thoughts, obsessing over him hadn't done him any good in the past, he doubted it would do know. Still, in the back of his head, the man in the black armor was still very much present, nagging on his every thought.

Before he could dwell on it any longer however he was interrupted by the sound of a door opening. Snapping out of his thoughts he looked towards the door and Onyx and Ocean entering, Onyx looking like his usually cheery face while Ocean sported a more concerned expression. The two others in the room also were quick to divert their attention towards the two.

“I’m very much happy to see you all here, sadly, we don’t have good news,” she somberly said, clenching her fist in frustration as she spoke.

“It’s not that bad, we did get some info so it could be worse,” Onyx casually added, both his hands in the pockets of his suit.

“Well, first of all, all three artifacts we recovered from our fight in the forest were once again property of the MRG,” she sighed heavily, looking towards the floor with a defeated look in her eyes. “It seems we truly have a traitor in our midst.”

“Yeah, it seems that way. Frustrating, when you don’t know who you can trust isn’t it?” Onyx asked her, placing his hand on her shoulder, she looks up into his weekly smiling face. “But, I’m sure no one of you is in on it. Ocean is too loyal, Ivory, you are the most likely,” he just rolled his eyes at the remark, seemingly somewhat offended by it, “But, I don’t think you would sabotage your researcher with something this risky. You, what's your name again?” He looked over to Shining Armor, who was carefully listening to him, nearly falling from his chair as he heard his name being mentioned.

“Officer Shining Armor, sir. Officer of the CCPD, to your service,” he replied, saluting to the man.

“Taught him well Ocean, he is just like you,” he smirked at her, she weakly giggling, her expression, however, telling a different story, apparently not entirely sure how to respond. “But kid, you don’t need to address me like that. Onyx, Onyx will do, right Ocean?” She nearly jumped out of her skin as her name was mentioned, quickly nodding in agreement, her cheeks turning a delightful shade of red.

“Yes, of course, si- I mean of course Onyx,” she stammered back at him, sweating bullets the entire time.

“Great, so where was I again? Oh, right, exactly. Almost forgot it,” he smirked at everyone, a few eyebrows raising as he spoke. “So, I don’t think you are our traitor either.”

“Because I have shown myself to be trustworthy?” Shining looked expectingly at him, like a kid on his birthday waiting for his presence.

“Uh, actually no,” he flatly replied. “It’s just you couldn’t pull that off, it’s that simple.” Shinings expression quickly faded and was replaced by the crushing pain of disappointment. Onyx regarded him carefully, only to awkwardly continue. “Ahm, anyway I also don’t think Phoenix did it, just not the kind of guy to do that and not smart enough if I’m totally honest. No offense.”

Unlike Shining Armor he merely shrugged with his shoulders. “Non, taken. I’m used to it.”

“That’s the spirit kid,” a loud laugh shattered the awkward atmosphere that had permeated the room until now. “Anyhow, we have started to investigate the disappearance of the artifacts, and it seems that we can cross of two suspects from our list. Seaddle and Whinneapolis, both were outside the county, meeting with a team that was investigating an ancient temple oversees in Neighpone recovering a few artifacts of puzzling origin.”

“What exactly?” Phoenix asked, his curiosity sparked.

“Well, nothing we have ever seen before. At least level three artifacts, but seemingly different to any other artifact out there. It’s magical but seems to need something else to be activated, and it does not align to any type of magic we have found until now, it’s almost like it’s not of this world,” he replied, his voice sounding distant.

“And what kind of thing is it?”

“A few gemstone rings. Nothing too spectacular, but they feel strange, I can tell you that. Isn’t really important anyway, just that they were outside of the country when the theft happened, so it simply boils down to me, Manehattan and Monochrome,” a silent scuff came from Onyx side, he sighing quietly and continuing. “So we are coming closer to this mystery. Another thing that we found out is the scope of the theft. Until now around fifty pieces from our possession have vanished, and it seems that number is only going to increase. You wouldn’t believe how much stuff we could gather. What worries me the most is, however, three special artifacts that have gone missing. The ‘Three Heads of Cerberus,’ fitting, isn’t it?” he paused, looking around the room, seemingly waiting for something, only to continue after a few seconds of silence. “Three extremely powerful devices, capable of goodness knows what. They have never been used, always sealed away, just like we found them. The shrine they were buried in, in Fleece, supposedly serving as the gates to Tartarus.”

“Let me guess, they now belong to the heads of Tartarus?” Phoenix asked cockily.

“Most likely. They work together with our silent enemy, and it would make a lot of sense if the heads of that organization would be paid with the most powerful artifacts. Not much is known about them, only their names and that is about it besides the fact that all three started from the bottom and worked themselves to the top. So ruthless, smart and cunning. Cerberus, Fury, and Elysium. If everything they tell about Tartarus is true, we will meet them eventually. It’s said that if you stand up against Tartarus, you will be faced with bigger and bigger forces, and if you survive for this long the bosses will go after you, see it as personal revenge and sign of strength. Granted, they tend to be more on the honorable side, well as honorable as criminals can get anyways. They tend to leave friends and family out of it, as long as they aren’t involved. Might just be the fact that survivors tend to give a story more weight. Just imagine to tell someone about your brother who got brutally tortured and murdered by them,” he shuddered, the idea alone disgusting him to his very core.

“Long story short, be careful, we are not only dealing with a traitor in the MRG, but also with one of the most dangerous criminal organizations on the planet.” Everything was silent after he had finished, no snippy remarks, no jokes, just pure silence.

That was until Ocean spoke up again: “Yes, please be careful. Ivory, you will analyze our findings further,” he nodded, beginning to write something down in his notes. “Shining, I’m sorry I dragged you into this, but be careful and just listen to everything around you, maybe you find something helpful,” the officer in question nodded with determination. “Phoenix, you are making sure there is a city left when we find the- the traitor,” she stumbled a bit with the last words, weekly looking towards the floor as she spoke.

“Sure Ocean, as if I would get the city destroyed. What do I look like? An idiot?” That got a chuckle out of Ocean wh just nodded at him, Phoenix rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment as a reaction.

“And Onyx and I will continue our investigation. I expect that nothing that has been said in these four walls will leave them, understood?” Everyone nodded in agreement. “Good, dismissed.” A quick look over to Onyx let her hastily add something: “If you want of course.” Onyx just laughing at her reaction, her cheeks turning almost crimson in response.

Seeing an out she jogged over to Phoenix and said: “You, just patrol without me. I still have some things to discuss with Onyx.”

“Did anyone ever tell you that you’re cute when you're embarrassed,” he jokingly replied, much to Oceans dismay. Her head now the deepest shade of red he had ever seen.

“Didn’t you have something to do?” She returned meekly, but that look in her eyes was all Phoenix needed, nervously nod and rush towards the door.

“You know, he is right, it is kinda cute,” Onyx added, a devious smile on his lips. Oh, why couldn’t she be like a ghost and just sink into the ground right here, leaving her alone in her embracement?

--------------<

Meanwhile, in another part of the city, two teenagers were wandering through the vast halls of the ‘Canterlot Natural History Museum’, enjoying the company of each other while they examined the different fossils, games and other ancient artifacts the museum had to offer. Right now they had stopped before the remains of a T-rex that was towering over them, it’s mouth with razor-sharp fangs pointed directly at them.

“Oh, do you know that scientist found out that certain species of dinosaurs had feathers?” Twilight asked him, a teenager with light brown skin and dark green hair, wearing a red shirt and black cap.

“And some even think that the T-Rex had some as well on his body,” he cockily replied, a bright grin on his face.

“Wow, I didn’t know you know so much about dinosaurs,” she replied in shock, hadn’t expected him knowing something like that.

“Of course, and it’s definitely not the fact that I sat through five hours of studying for the ‘hang out’ on the internet,” he sheepishly smiled back, his cheeks turning red in the process. Twilight looked at him with a bright smile, appearing quite pleased, which only increased his embarrassment.

“Well, then we have to find something you didn’t study, now do we Timber,” she jokingly replied, Timber rubbing the back of his head at her response.

“Yeah, good luck with that, I read through the entirety of the museum wiki.” His cocky attitude seemed to return a bit with his answer, giving Twilight a sly grin.

“Well, if that is the case, why don’t you show me around then. It’ll be just like I had my own personal guide,” she said with a devious smile on her lips, Timber just gulping in return.

“Well, let me think about that for a moment…” he said, frantically searching for something that would fit in the jumbled mess that was his mind, then an idea formed in his head as he took a quick glance at one of the banners above them. “Well, there is an exhibit that just over there that might spark your interest,” he smirked, Twilight raising an eyebrow in return. “Well, it’s something more local and not as broad as fossils or gems, but I’m sure you’ll find it interesting.”

“Oh, sounds fun, what is it?” And she was on had taken the bait, now he was in his element again.

“Well, do you remember the story of Gaia Everfree I told you when you were at the camp?” He asked as he was slowly walking towards that special exhibit, Twilight eagerly following him.

“Yes, I remember, you tried to cover for your sister and told us a story so we would think that the spirit of the forest was responsible for all the things that went wrong,” she finished.

“Yeah, exactly, but there is one part of the story I haven’t told you. Gaia Everfree wasn’t my invention, it’s a legend that has been knowing around this area for hundreds of years.” As the spoke they entered another hall, allot smaller than the one they had come from, pictures of the forest and illustrations of what seemed to be a being made out of it covered the walls. “It is said she is the guardian and protector of the forest and all that travel through it.”

“Fascinating,” she was hanging on every word he said.

“Yeah, there is a lot of stories about people who were lost in the forest that were helped out by her, or of people who angered her by trying to rob someone inside her domain. Like I said the legends and stories about her and her knights go back hundreds of years, so much so that there was an old tribe living in the forest, worshiping here. With time all of them died out, but the legacy and stories lived on in a special family that has been taking care of the shrine for the time being,” he continued, enjoying every moment of Twilight listening to his words.

“So this shrine still exists to this day? That is the first time I heard about it. Where exactly is it?” She asked, her eyes sparkling with this beautiful curiosity.

“Well, I could show you one time, the shrine is open for tours. It’s right in the middle of the forest, you just have to follow an old path there, the current keeper of the shrine is a grump though. I was there once with my sister and the guy really was quite unfriendly, but a beautiful shrine, I tell you. Oh, look, there are a few pictures of it,” he pointed at three pictures, one showing a wooden wall with a door integrated into a rock. The second picture showed a cave with something looking like a carpet made out of wood on the floor and torches lining the walls. The last showed an integrated mural of a woman made out of trees and plants looking back at her with a compassionate expression.

“Sounds nice actually, I would love to hear about the real Gaia Everfree at one point,” she said while giving him a sly grin, he chuckled sheepishly in return.

“Sure, would love to show you, on another ‘hang out’ that is,” he smirked back, Twilight raising an eyebrow in response.

“Well, I wouldn’t be opposed to that, but why don’t we finish this one first?”

“Fair enough, so any other legends you would like to know about Gaia Everfree?”

“How about the first one that comes to your mind?”

“Well, there is one about how about a man who had gotten lost in the forest after escaping an ambush. He was part of a traveling group of merchants, they were selling all kinds of stuff, spices, jewelry or food, everything you could think of. He was traveling with around nine other merchants and ten guards they had hired on their way through the country. Sadly, it wasn’t enough apparently since when they were traveling through the Everfree Forest to get to Canterlot City. They were ambushed by a group of robbers, armed to the teeth, they slaughtered every single one of the guards they had hired and proceded to kill the merchants next, no matter how much they begged for mercy and promising them untold riches, they didn’t care, only for the money that was right in front of them. Every single one of them fell to the blades of the criminals, without mercy or remorse, everyone but one, his name was Silver Dime. He had managed to escape his pursuers for the time being. However he now was lost in the forest with no way of ever getting out of there alive,” Timber tolled her, his tone and mannerisms remembering her of the time he told scary stories at the campfire.

Twilight was hanging on every word he spoke, eagerly asking: “And what happened next?” as he made a short break for dramatic effect.

“He was exhausted, his wealth had just evaporated into thin air, his friends dead and a group of violent criminals after him. He had no hope of ever making it home to his family. As he was desperately trying to hide inside a cave, his pursuers not far behind him, he thought he could hear something, a voice that was all around him, angered and compassionate at the same time. At first, he thought he had gone crazy and just ignored the voice, then it returned, louder, clearer, he was finally able to make out what it was saying: ‘Have no fear, you are safe in my embrace. I mourne for your friends for I could not protect them, but I will make sure no harm will come to you. I promise.’ He didn’t know why his anxiety and terror slowly subsided, leaving him calm and collected inside the cave. As if he was guided by an invisible force he was lead outside of his hideout, looking around the forest for the origin of this strange voice, to no avail. That was as he heard a loud scream. Two men in ragged clothes had caught up to him and were running towards him, weapons drawn, screaming their lungs out. However, before they could even come close to him, they were cut down by a knight in shining green armor that had landed behind them. He regarded Silver Dime with his crimson eyes for a moment and disappeared into the treetops. ‘You are save now, my child. May your journey be without any danger!’ the voice spoke again before disappearing forever. Dime later arrived in Canterlot City, telling the story of what had happened, the citizens telling him about the legends of Gaia Everfree. He later moved to our city out of gratitude and his family lives here till this day,” Timber finished, a bright smile on his lips. “It’s actually one of my favorite campfire stories. Would have told it to you if it weren’t for the whole Gloriosa thing back then.”

“Oh, so exciting, wait I have to write that down, so I don’t forget it,” she said rummaging through her bag for what he assumed was some paper and a pen.

“You and forgetting something? Now that is ridiculous,” he chuckled back, Twilight joining him.

“Oh, believe me, I sometimes tend to forget things, why do you think I always make a list? Anyway, would you mind telling me another story of Gaia Everfree? I’m especially curious about what happened to the tribe that lived in the forest before they disappeared.”

“Well, sure, I think I know a bit about that one, let me think for a moment,” he replied, searching through his brain for the right story. “Right, I have it. There was once a tribe that traveled through the forest, around five hundred years ago. They were nomads and were looking for a new place to settle for the winter as a terrible blizzard struck, forcing them to stay inside the forest. Unable to leave they were on the brink of starvation as-“ Before he could finish his story both of them heard the crowd outside of their small hall scream in terror, both of them turning their heads to see what was going on outside. Already as they approached the door, the could see the crowd running away, shoving each other with no regard. When they finally could take a look outside their blood froze inside their veins as their eyes laid sighed on the monster that was standing in the middle of the room, screaming its lungs out.

What stood not even fifty meters away was what could only be described as the head of a piranha drafted onto a humanoid body. It had dark blue color, interrupted by small light blue shells that formed something akin to an armor. Its claws were razor sharp, but the most frightening thing about it was its teeth, sharp and crooked they were standing out of its mouth. Before the could even think about what to do next, the monster fixated its glowing yellow eyes on them, letting out another screech that echoed through the now empty halls of the museum.

The beast rushed towards them, crushing everything in its way, no matter how valuable it might have been, something that did not sit well with Twilight. She clenched her fist, picking into her pocket and pulling her phone out she quickly unlocked it and threw it to Timber. “Search for an Ocean, call and tell her what is going on here.” She was determined, at least from what he could gather from her voice. Not wanting to discuss this further right now Timber quickly retreated to a safer place, not without looking back once more at her.

Meanwhile, Twilight had been enveloped by a bright light and had dawned a purple dress with googles and crystalline wings on her back and was currently evading the Corrupted attacks. After the monster had just missed another strike and was about to follow up on it as something hit it on the back of the head, shattering in the prosses and landing in front of it. It looked confused at the objects before him, the remains of a flower pot, dirt, and a poor uprooted tree. Twilight looked nervously at the perplexed monster as it tried to figure out what had just happened, about to quietly make an exit as the best suddenly looked back at her again. It was quite hard to read the emotions of a monster, but it seemed angry, especially with the narrow slits that were his eyes.

“You! You will pay for what you did to me!” The Corrupted growled in a somewhat feminine voice, still rather low though. Twilight didn’t have any time to respond to the monster, too busy trying to avoid its attacks as it swiped away at her with her claws.

Sadly, while Twilight had gotten lucky until now, trying to harm the beast with her magic and surroundings, it didn’t take long tile the monster finally got to her. With a vicious swipe of her claws, she finally hit Twilight who hadn’t managed to get out of the way fast enough. The claws scratched her boots, but it was enough to knock her off her feet and land in a group of trash cans. She lay defeated in between the trash, holding her ankle in pain as the Corrupted slowly kept coming closer and closer.

“Finally, it’s payback time!” She growled at Twilight, her eyes glaring madly at the girl, but before she could ready herself to finish of the girl something came from behind Twilight and tackled the monster to the ground and after a bit of rolling on the floor straight into one of the gemstone collections.

Before her towered a massive beast with what looked like a dark bluish-green exoskeleton similar to that of a bug. The monster looked humanoid, with a hunched over the back. It slowly turned its head around and stared at Twilight, letting her back away a few feet. What stared back at her were two huge red eyes, razor-sharp mandibles, and two antennae. The thing tilted its head slightly for a moment only to return its attention towards the other corrupted that had stood up again.

As the new Corrupted stormed towards his victim Twilight could feel the entire museum trembling everytime its feet touched the ground, several display-case falling over from the sheer force of it. When it finally reached its opponent the devastating punch, the bug-monster delivered let the building shake to its very core, a bit of dust descending down towards the ground. With his opponent firmly smashed into a wall the monster again turned around and looked into Twilights direction, something that terrified her. Slowly the hulking beast slowly stomped towards her, she trying as best as she could to crawl away from the thing. But before it could come any closer to her, it cried out in pain as sparks fell down behind it.

Turning around it was face to face with the other Corrupted, its yellow eyes staring right at him. With one heavy push, the beast slammed down on the water Corrupted. However, the attack missed its target, only destroying the ground beneath him. With surprisingly swift movements the other Corrupted danced around the bug monster with ease, evading every single one of his attack, taking swipes at it from time to time, every successful attack weakening the far stronger monster.

One swipe, in particular, harming the creature very much, slashing across it stomach up to its throat it let the Corrupted sink to its knees staring at its opponent in rage. The piranha Corrupted was about delivered the final blow as something new echoed through the halls of the museum: “Hey, Fishthroath, hey, Buggy, I hope I’m not interrupting something, but this is a museum, you are supposed to look, not touch and especially not crush the exhibits.” Before either of the three could make out where the voice was coming from, both Corrupted felt a sharp pain in their stomach, moments later both flew into opposite directions, landing rather unceremoniously on their backs. In between them stood a man in electric blue armor, golden accents and crimson bug eyes bot instantly recognized, Kamen Rider Alchemy!

Faster then they could react the Rider had already rushed towards ‘Buggy’ and slammed him down on the ground even harder, the Corrupted had closed his eyes, but nothing followed, well nothing except the paid grunts of its opponent. Fearfully opening his eyes, he bared witness to Alchemy attacking his opponent relentlessly instead. She was punched in the stomach multiple times with the tonfa of the Rider, leaving strange blue marks on her body. As the Corrupted attempted to stand up again, Alchemy suddenly stopped and turned his head towards him and with a loud flick electricity sparked between the two opponents letting them squirm in agony.

Still, this was not enough for the water Corrupted who apparently powered through it by sheer willpower alone. She unleashed a rather frightening attack by luncher her teeth at Alchemy like bullets, and even with his inhuman speed, some did manage to hit its target, letting sparks erupt from the impact point. Apparently, it was enough to cancel out Alchemy’s attack, much to her delight.

Weekly she staggered towards Alchemy, swinging her claws like a wild animal, the Rider easily avoiding her attacks and every time she missed countering with one of his own strikes. This was his chance, he would have just to be quiet and just walk away, turn back and- His thoughts were interrupted by Twilight, who was currently limping closer to the fight, her eyes fixated on the giant T-Rex skeleton that was conveniently standing behind the two combatants. She raised her hand, the old beast slowly starting to move, first by mere centimeters then faster and faster, until the first steal rope was snapped in half.

That was the moment the Corrupted looked up and the towards Twilight, her eyes narrowing and before Alchemy could deliver another punch she unleashed what could only be described as a wall of water that just washed away everything in its path. No matter if it wanted to or not, it was washed away, first was Alchemy who has washed away with no effort what so ever, next was the T-Rex, who resisted at first but against the overwhelming might of the waves it was useless and next would be… Twilight! Not even hesitating for a second the monster rushed towards her, she still petrified from the wall of death coming her way, he covered her with his enormous body, letting the water not harm her, no matter how hard it seemed as the weight of the liquid pressed against his body.

After the water had subsided and she dared to open her eyes again, the Corrupted were gone, both of them and Alchemy was rushing towards her, sitting on the ground inside the massive puddle of water that now covered the floor. “Are you ok?” He asked, worry in his voice.

“Yes… Thanks to that monster,” she nodded back at Alchemy whos tension visibly deflated, sighing in relief.

“Ok, you stay here, I’ll look for Buggy, got that?” He asked her before rushing off towards one of the corridors he had seen something big dark green disappear into, all without even waiting for an answer.

The corridor was empty, well it appeared empty at first glance. On a second one, however, he noticed that one of the curtains in front of a window was shaking, slowly approaching the spot and pulling the curtain away to reveal a teenager with light brown skin and dark green hair that was nervously grinning at him. “Oh, hello Mr. Alchemy, it sure is good that you are here, these awful monsters were-“

“Cut it, I know that you are Buggy, ehm I mean the bug monster. So make it easy for both of us and just give it to me, please,” he cut him off, holding his hand out towards the boy. Timber slowly and shakily pulled out a small bracelet with a bug on it.

However, as Alchemy tried to take the artifact Timber quickly pulled his arm back, clutching the bracelet tightly. “I can’t, not with that monster out there.”

“What do you mean kid? The other Corrupted? Don’t worry, we’ll take care of it, it won’t hurt you,” he returned in a calm voice, again extending his hand to grab the bracelet.

“No, I can’t. I have to protect her, I can’t let her get harmed again,” he weakly replied, his grip on the thing tightening again.

Alchemy sighed heavily, and he had thought this might finally be easy. “Kid, you really don’t know what you are dealing with here, that thing will screw with your mind like nothing else. Just give it to me, and I’ll promise you I’ll make sure no one comes even close to Twilight,” he replied concrete in his voice that almost won Timber over. However, he just couldn’t instead of giving his best puppy eyes impression.

“Please, just as long till she isn’t a threat anymore.”

Before Alchemy could answer a new voice echoed through the halls of the demolished building. “Oh, goodness are you ok? Where is Alchemy?” It was Charge, he had to make a decision now.

“Fine, keep it, but you’ll give it to me afterward. Promise!” He growled at the young man in frustration.

“Ah, there you are, found any trace of the Corrupted?” Charge shouted towards him as he turned around to face her.

“Nope, nothing at all, sorry,” he replied trying to sound as convincing as he possibly could.

“Uh, dammit, but what was I expecting with our luck,” she sighed and returned to Twilight.

Alchemy took one last look at Timber who whispered a silent “Thank you,” before returning to his partner.

--------------<

Night had set over Canterlot City, the streets only illuminated by the streetlamps and as good as no one roaming around, well except for Phoenix on his new bike. He just couldn’t sleep tonight, as much as he tried it, his body was just too awake for it. So he did what always got him tired, aimlessly driving through the city and marveling at the beauties of it.

And it was a perfect night, well until he heard the scream. In an instant he hit the breaks, screeching to hold on the asphalt of the street. There it was again, a loud scream from one of the nearby alleyways. Without even a second thought he turned around his bike and raced towards the origin of the scream. When he finally reached the alley, his blood froze in his veins before he stood the one that had haunted his dreams for weeks, the one which presents lingered over the entire city, the one, and only Alkahest. The Dark Rider was currently caught up in a brawl with another Corrupted that looked like a humanoid fox in golden armor.

Quickly activating the communicator in his helmet he started to speak, his voice cracking several times during the conversation: “Ocean! I need your help, now! Get here as soon as possible, I found Alkahest!” And without even waiting for an answer he pulled out his Driver, slapped it on and transformed.

\ MAGIC DISC DETECTED! /

“Henshin!”

\ THUNDER DISC ACTIVATED! /

Riders and Corrupted - The Star from the Everfree

\ MAGIC DISC DETECTED! /

“Henshin!”

\ THUNDER DISC ACTIVATED! /

The sound of the Driver echoed through the alley, getting both the attention of the Corrupted and Alkahest, both stopping their fight. “Ah, two of you? Really?” It growled at its opponent.

“Oh, believe me, I would prefer it if this pest would not be here,” he sighed back in annoyance. As Alchemy approached and the Corrupted was about to ready itself for the new opponent Alkahest used this golden moment, stabbing the monster in the back. “But he does provide a decent distraction.” The tip of the spear was shoved deeper and deeper into its body, the Corrupted making pathetic choking noises, watching as the other end of the weapon was pushed through his chest.

Not even a second later Alkahest was hit with a devastating punch sending him flying a few meters back. However, the Dark Rider quickly regained his footing and replaced the Magic Disc on his Driver, all before Alchemy could reach him again.

\ THUNDER DISC READY! /

After the whirlwind of black and blue had subsided Alchemy finally reached and let his fist head straight for his face, sadly Alkahest was quick to react, catching his fist with his own hand and counter through a swift kick to the stomach. That was all the time he needed to finish what he had started. In a split-second he had appeared over the Corrupted clutching desperately the wound in his chest, weakly gasping for air, the spear having disappeared with his transformation. But before Alkahest could deliver the finishing blow something tackled him away from the wounded beast, Alchemy!

Both Riders landed rather unceremoniously on the ground, Alkahest the first one to return to a standing position. “Oh, you now protected Corrupted? And I thought you were their enemy,” he chuckled, Alchemy growling back at him.

“I protected every citizen of this city from you, even the ones that might be my enemy. I won’t let you take another life!” And with that, he charged towards his opponent, removing his Disc from the Driver in the process.

\ Thunder Disc Attack Mode! /

\ Thunder Tonfa! /

The newly formed weapon hitting right where Alkahest had stood, however just a millisecond too slow as the other Rider had jumped up and was in the process of circling him, Alchemy promptly responding with a roundhouse kick aimed at him. However, he managed to dodge, seemingly playing limbo with his foot and before Alchemy could even think of any appropriate response he was knocked of his feet and landed on his back.

There he laid now, on his back and two pistols aimed at him, terror quickly overtaking his mind, he couldn’t win, he couldn’t win last time, and he couldn’t win now- no, not yet- wait, gun. And at that moment he heard the echoing sound fo two pistols going off, the two sparking projectiles heading his way. In the last second, he managed to roll out of the way, the projectiles only scratching him. Still, the electricity surged through his body, but he just had to power through. What followed were more and more shots directed at him, Alchemy after managing to dodge them all finally returning to his feet, staring right at his opponent.

“You know, I would love to play with you for a while longer, but I have to claim my price, so would you be so kind and piss off. I don’t have the time for this,” Alkahest sighed in return, casually aiming with his weapons at him.

“Shut up!” He venomous hissed back, it almost looked like his eyes sparked for a brief moment. With inhuman speed, he returned his weapons to its original state and changed the Discs.

\ EARTH DISC ACTIVATED! /

While Alkahest had noticed the impending danger and fired at the Rider, the whirlwind of stone and asphalt around him prevented any harm from coming to him. And before Alkahest had any chance of actually attacking he had already removed the Disc from the Driver again.

\ Earth Disc Attack Mode! /

\ Boulder Shield! /

His shield had appeared in his hand and not a second too late, the next shoots hitting it instantly. However, much to Alkahest’s annoyance Alchemy was not phased in the slightest, merely standing his ground and blocking every attack Alkahest through at him.

“You know, she is a part of Tartarus. She would kill you in an instant if she could, so why are you protecting her?”

“Well, that is exactly why I’m protecting her. Because we are nothing alike, I protect, she destroys, and even if I don’t like it, I will also protect her!” He bellowed back, receiving only a low growl from his opponent as removed his own Disc and replaced it with another one, or at least that was his plan. One shield throw later the weapon rushed towards him with insane speed, though the Drak Rider easily dodged the attack, slipping under the shield and inserting the Disc into his Driver.

\ EARTH DISC READY! /

Before the weapon could return to its owner Alkahest was already face to face with Alchemy, the highlights of his armor now having taken on an orange color, swinging what looked like a one-handed black and gold hammer directly at his face. What followed was one of the most painful seconds of Alchemy’s life as the weapon crashed into his helmet, sending him crashing through the next wall, right into what looked like a storeroom for a boutique or something.

As the dust settled and Alkahest was about to enter the man-sized hole he had just created, he heard a loud flick, and within a split second the ground beneath him started to glow and rumble, however much to Alchemy’s surprise that quickly faded. “What? How can that be? You should be blasted off to goodness knows where,” he stammered in confusion, all while Alkahest merely chuckled to himself.

“Yeah, should. To bad that this does not work on me, but enough of that, weren’t we right now busy with our fight?” And with that, he charged towards him again, his weapon held up high, that was when something finally returned to him, the Boulder Shield! With immense force, it nocked to Rider of his feet and landed safely in Alchemy’s hands again.

“Well, at least this still works,” he weakly chuckled, reading himself to attack again, just like his opponent.

With a loud scream, Alchemy charged at the other Rider, Alkahest following suit, just without the screaming, both Riders clashing in the middle of the room, everything in it shaking violently. What followed was a hurricane of strikes, swings and attacks, both of them not thinking of even giving an inch? With every attack that was paired or blocked another hit its target, letting either of them flinch when that happened. Every strike that let their weapons coiled letting of sparks that eliminated the room.

This continued for a while until Alkahest managed to get his weapon in between Alchemy and his shield. With a skillful move, he yanked the weapon from him, the shield landing a few meters away in a dark corner. To his dismay his victory was shortlived as Alchemy quickly followed up with a kick to his stomach, letting the Dark Rider drop his weapon. But that did stop neither of them, both continued fighting, now with their fists and feet.

Sadly Alchemy showed himself inferior in hand to hand combat, Alkahest managing to force the Rider further and further back and with one particular powerful kick smashing him into one of the shelves, smashing it over, the content burying Alchemy under it.

“Well, seems we are done here. Make it easy for both of us and just give up. I’ll leave you alone, finished her off and go my merry way. Isn’t that what you always try? Talking things out?” He mockingly said to the Rider, casually walking over to the remains of the shelf. But as he was about halfway there, he heard it again, a loud flick. The ground beneath him started to glow, and within a split second the ground under him rose up, crashing against the ceiling, Alkahest managing to avoid his fate within the last moments. Alchemy meanwhile had used this chance to dash out of the debris and towards his weapon. As Alkahest had finally recovered from the shock something echoed through the room, something he only knew too well what it means.

\ WATER DISC ACTIVATED! /

The moment he locked up, he could see the room enveloped in a bright blue light only to quickly fade again as the water slammed against his feet. “You really think playing switcheroo will help you here? Forget it, I can beat you in every form you have, so just give up already. I have wasted enough time with you already,” he sighed in annoyance, not even looking in the direction of his opponent.

\ Water Disc Attack Mode! /

\ Wave Trident! /

As he hears that sound, however, he jumped into action, directly towards Alchemy, who was trying to stab him with his new weapon, Alkahest able to avoid the sharp ends of the trident. In the meantime, he, however, managed to hit several of the shelves around them letting more and more of them collapse in on themselves. Jumping over his next strike, the Dark Rider quickly dodged behind some of the still remaining shelves and proceeded to do exactly what Alchemy was already dreading.

\ WATER DISC READY! /

Like before he was enveloped in a vortex of black and dark blue energy, revealing his new armor, in style exactly the same as Alchemy’s own, just black with dark blue highlights. In his hand, he was holding a two-handed longsword, made out of black metals and with blue highlights. The Rider was regarding Alchemy carefully, holding his weapon between the two.

Alchemy was the first to act, rushing towards his opponent and slashing wildly at him, Alkahest easily able to deflect the blows directed at him, almost dancing around Alchemy, who was getting more and more frustrated, swinging his weapon more and more wildly. That was until Alkahest finally switched to the offensive, after blocking another of his attacks he dashed forward and disarmed the Rider with a swift strick across his chest, letting sparks fly as he did so, Alchemy screaming out in pain.

As he tumbled back, he could already see the next strike coming, the pain running across his chest again, stinging horribly. His opponent did not relent, following up with another strike, then another one and another one, strong enough to send him flying again, landing roughly on his back, staring at his opponent while struggling to stand up again. This felt so familiar, the same pain, the same fear, the same desperateness was spreading all through his body as Alkahest approached him, step by step it only kept on rising. That was until he heard a familiar voice.

\ SCANNING CHARGE! /

“Henshin!”

\ 50, 80, 100! EARTH CHARGE! /

A loud shot cut away the silence that had built up in the room, followed by five more. What he could hear next were six loud grunts form Alkahest who had quickly turned around to face the new arrival, Kamen Rider Charge!

She stood there in the hole, clad in her armor, orange in color. On her chest, a large, circular orange light had been placed, around it what seemed like lines running across her entire chest plate. One of the circles was also placed on both her shoulder pads and knees. Her eyes glowing in a bright red and in her hands two Charge Magnums, both directly aimed at Alkahest.

“Hey, Charge, got a new toy?” He weakly said as he looked at his savior.

“Just finished and ready for battle, and I couldn’t think of a better field test than against the Scorch of Canterlot,” she spat out, eyes staring at Alchemy and Alkahest equally.

However, Alkahest’s short confusion was quickly overshadowed by pure rage, charging at the new arrival, his weapon firmly in his grip. As the Dark Rider came, closer Charge made no attempt to even move, just waiting for him to come closer and closer, until he had reached her, letting his sword come down on her head. However, instead of the satisfying strick, he was expecting the sword just stopped right at her helmet, not moving an inch further.

Before Alkahest could react, Charge had already raised her weapons to his face and unloaded the last six shoots straight in his face, letting him stagger back with a loud yelp as sparks erupted from the impact points. Not wasting any time Charge moved forward, holstering her guns and retrieving her batons instead, wailing on her opponent with ever more and more strikes.

Alchemy had meanwhile returned to his feet, weapon in hand, and rushed towards the Dark Rider from behind, striking him right in the back with his weapon, sparks illuminating the dark room again, just like before, Alkahest filling the air with his screams.

However, instead of continuing to attack Charge he spun around and dashed towards Alchemy, letting her strikes hit only the air in front of her, much to her frustration. The new target was woefully unprepared for the sudden shift in priorities as he struggled to get up his guard before Alkahest could bring his weapon down upon him, it remained as an attempted. Not even a second after Alkahest had turned around and rushed towards Alchemy he had already broken through his half-assedly thrown together defenses, landing several strikes on the Rider, pain stinging through his body with every following one.

But Charge had not simply remained as an observer while this had been happening, quickly rushing after their opponent and while he was busy with her partner, had let her own weapon come down on him, letting him stumble away from Alchemy.

“Thanks, again,” he weakly returned.

“You can thank me later, we have a serial killer to take down.” He just nodding in silent agreement, both Riders reading their weapons and staring at their opponent who had regained his fighting stance.

“You know, you really are a pain in the ass, did anyone ever tell you that?” Alkahest hissed at them, the grip on his weapon tightening before he stormed towards them. Alchemy had already expected that and merely flicked with his fingers, a seal appeared on the wall right behind him only to unleash a stream of water directly at Alkahest. To the surprise of both Charge and Alchemy, this did however not go as planned. The moment the water reached him, it simply disappeared, shortly after that the seal also collapsing as well. This short moment of bafflement was all Alkahest needed, storming forward he had skipped enough of the distance between them to attack Alchemy again, he only able to wedge his weapon between Alkahest’s sword and his chest.

While both of them were struggling to overpower the other Charge had wasted no time and headed straight for Alkahest again, unleashing one of her baton swings on him. But before the attack could properly connect he had already jumped back and was now charging at her, putting as much force into his swing as possible.

A short moment before his weapon had connected with her the orange lights all over her body started to glow, and then it struck. A loud clanging noise filled the air, Alchemy freezing in place as he saw that Alkahest had succeeded in his attempt to attack Charge, hitting her right in the shoulder. However, what followed surprised both of them, Charge shoot her arm out, grabbing Alkahest throat and lifted the Rider from the ground, desperately trying to free himself from her grasp.

“You know how much I despise you? You are the worst kind of person. You use these powers to kill and hurt instead of protecting people! You are despicable!” She growled at him, tightening her grip even more.

“Not like I have much of choice here,” he crocked, desperately kicking and punching her to get loss from her grip.

“Save your breath for the judge,” Charge coldly returned and with her free hand started to spin the cylinder on her belt again.

\ Maximum Charge! /

The orbs all over her body now started to glow even brighter, almost blinding the Dark Rider. With every passing moment, the grip on his neck tightened, the material of his armor slowly starting to cack, all while Alkahest was violently squirming in her hand. While this was all happening light was gathering in Charge’s other hand, and as the light had reached its brightest point, she slammed her fist right into his face, the force so strong that it sent him through the wall again and back into the alley.

“Remember to never get on your bad side, will you,” Alchemy weakly said as he stared at the new hole in the wall. Charge however simply ignored him and walked back towards the dust that blocked their view from the alley.

\ THUNDER DISC READY! /

The sound of a Driver echoed through the alley as she approached it again, Charge freezing in place only to rush towards the hole even faster. However, as she finally reached it, she could only see the debris of her attack and now Alkahest. “Fuck!”

“Dammit, he got away, again,” Alchemy sighed as he reached her.

“Yeah, dammit captures it quite well,” she added, her head hanging low as she deactivated her transformation. “What were you doing here anyway?” Now looking directly at him as he transformed back as well.

He sheepishly rubbed the back of his head and returned quietly: “Well, I couldn’t sleep an thought-“

He didn’t come any further however since he was cut off by Ocean. “And you thought going after Alkahest would help? Didn’ we already get to the conclusion that this was a bad idea?” She sounded angry, but at the same time still very much subdued, that look, however, that was terrifying.

“Yeah, yeah, I know. No sleep equals bad hero, I remember that. But I really just wanted to get my head free, just driving around for half an hour. The stumbling upon Alkahest was pure coincidence, really it was,” he encountered, trying his best not to sound as if he was lying.

She just heavily sighed in return and returned: “Ok, I believe you. Still, it was at least good that you called me after all. How did you even find him?”

That was enough to let Phoenix’s eyes widen in shock. He had totally forgotten about her in all of this, storming past Ocean and towards the woman with golden complexion and silver hair that was lying on the ground. Her clothes had now become soaked with blood, making the previous color almost unrecognizable. “Ocean! Call an ambulance! She needs help!” He screamed back at her, the moment she saw the motionless, bloody woman before him, quickly pulling out her phone and dilling in the needed number.

--------------<

The time they had spend waiting had felt like hours, even if it were only five minutes. Ocean had taken the initiative and at least tried to help her to the best of her abilities. Taking a clean white blanket from the storeroom they had fought in and used it as a makeshift bandage to stop the leading in any way shape or form, even if it wouldn’t, she had to at least try.

As the paramedics finally arrived, they could just stare at the woman that was barely holding onto life before them and had to be screamed out of their shock by Ocean. What followed was, however, signs that these two were exactly who they needed right now. It didn’t take long till they had gotten her into the ambulance and quickly replaced the makeshift bandage with something more professional, but all this happened inside the ambulance and so out of reach of Phoenix and Ocean.

Both followed the car to the hospital, where they were briefed on how the doctors would proceed with this case in particular, however not before Ocean had looked around the alley for the artifact, sadly to no avail.

The doctors told them that they would have to subject her to emergency surgery to have any chance of saving her life, an emergency surgery that would take hours and with results probably taking till the early afternoon. Ocean let out a long and pained sigh after hearing this, followed up by telling Phoenix that she had a meeting with her mother early in the morning and so couldn’t stay through the entire process, even if she wanted to. He just shrugged it off and returned that he would stay so long until the results were in, Ocean thanking him for this.

What followed were several hours of painful waiting and sitting inside the entrance hall, constantly looking back at the clock, wondering if everything would end well. The words of Alkahest still lingering in his head. Why did he care so much about her? She was a criminal he never meat, and she probably would have tried to kill him if he had found her, so why? He always came back to the same conclusion, and that was the same he had given the Dark Rider because he was so unlike her. It didn’t matter who the person was, if they were in danger, he had to make sure they came out of it unscathed, that was simply it.

While he was in his thoughts again something snapped him out of it, the sound of seven familiar voices. As he looked around the white room to make out where the voices were coming from and to his surprise, he saw six quite familiar girls and young man he recognized as well walking into the hospital, all of them chattering happily. But before he could stand up one of the girls noticed and called out for him, Sunset. “Huh, Phoenix, what are you doing here?” She asked in her usual nice tone.

“Oh, ah, nothing special. Ocean apparently found someone last night, pretty badly hurt as far as I know. It was even so bad that she had to be rushed to emergency surgery and since Ocean couldn’t stay till they got the results, she asked me to wait here so she would know if they could save her. So nothing special really,” he said, trying to sound convincing. He wasn’t even lying if one would look at it form a certain angle, just leaving out some details. “But what are you doing here?”

“Oh, we were just visiting Twilight. She got into a fight with one of these ‘Corrupted’ yesterday and Mrs. Skies said she should go to the hospital, just to be sure. So here we are, wanting to visit her and see how she is going,” while she spoke Timber was simply standing in the background and trying to look as inconspicuous as possible.

“And who is that guy there?” He pointed at him.

“Oh, that?” Rainbow said before Sunset could answer. “That’s Twilight’s boyfriend,” she continued with a sly smile.

“Boyfriend?” Timber had turned scarlet red, waving his hands in front of him defensively. “We just went on a ‘hangout’, she is not my girlfriend!”

“Oh really? I know Twilight would love to hear that you don’t want to be her girlfriend,” Rainbow returned, trying to suppress a loud laugh and managing to dial it down to a silent snickering.

“No, no, don’t” Timber had gone from scarlet red to pale in nearly a second, now staring at Rainbow in shock. “Please don’t.”

“Rainbow, would you stop that? The poor guy has been through enough since yesterday. I don’t think Twilight would like to hear that you teased her friend,” Sunset sighed, the ghost of a smile however still on her lips.

“Yeah, yeah, got it,” she muttered, then turning back to Timber. “Don’t take it so hard Timber, I was just joking, but if you really don’t want to be Twilights boyfriend, I’m sure there are oth-“

“Rainbow!” Sunset shouted, looking at the cyan girl with a look that said more than a thousand words.

“Ah, you know, forget what I said,” she sheepishly added.

Phoenix had meanwhile simply witnessed the entire conversation, now quietly muttering something to himself. “Huh, so that is how it looks from the outside.”

“Huh, did you say something Phoenix?” Sunset asked him, turning her head around to look at him.

“No, no, nothing,” he quickly replied, sheepishly grinning back at her and rubbing the back of his head.

“Oh, ok, so do you want to visit Twilight with us? I’m sure Ocean would like to know how she is doing.”

That kinda surprised him a bit, but it didn’t take long till he returned: “Sure, the results will take at least a few hours till they are here so I can do whatever I want, at least if it is inside the hospital.”

“Great,” she returned smiling at him.

Apparently, Twilight was stationed on the third floor, next to the inner courtyard of the hospital, as he looked through the window he could see that beneath them was a little closed off park with a few trees and a pond, quite beautiful actually. They were almost at the door to Twilights room as they could see someone slowly walking towards the door as well, a girl in a, as far as he could remember, Crystal Prep uniform. She had a light orange skin tone and long purple hair.

“Hey, you! Are you one of Twilights old friends from Crystal Prep?” Rainbow shouted out, startling the young woman, who clutched her chest and started to breathe heavily.

“Friend? With he- I mean, of course, friends. That’s what we are,” she laughed rather frantically, her eyes shifting from one girl to the next.

“Oh, that is nice, what's your name?“ Pinkie returned, bouncing towards her, not helping the anxiety of the girl in the slightest. “I’m sure Twilight would love to tell us a lot about you.” The pink bundle of joy bounced right in front of her, smiling brightly at the girl, not even a meter away from her face.

That was all she needed and started to scream, all while pulling something from her pocket. “Leave me alone, leave me alone. You know it, don’t you! She told you everything, how she crushed my dreams, how she beat me in that science fair.” Everyone kept looking at her in confusion, the drops of sweet on her forehead only growing in number. “You know, how she beat Ginger Owlseye, her eternal rival.” Still no answer. “That stupid little- she doesn’t even see me as worthy as her rival. But I’ll show her, just see Twilight Sparkle!” And with that, she pulled out something that looked like sharp teeth on a string that quickly started to glow.

That was Phoenix sign, as quietly as possible he rushed back the way had come, into a small men's restroom. He quickly pulled out his Driver, put on it and the Flame Disc as the door suddenly was forced open, Timber standing before him, his jaw nearly hitting the floor.

“You are- I mean- That is- What?” Was all he could bring out.

“Dammit, not again,” he hissed, only to release a heavy sigh and continue. “Ok, kid, I kept your identity secret, you’ll keep mine.” Timber nodded in return. “Good, I don’t have time for any discussions anyway. So if you want to help me, you are welcome as long as you follow my orders.” Again Timber nodded quickly. “Goodness, I sound more and more like Ocean,” he quietly muttered to himself.

\ MAGIC DISC DETECTED! /

“Henshin!”

\ FLAME DISC ACTIVATED! /

While Alchemy was clad in his crimson armor Timber was consumed by the glowing light, revealing his muscular Corrupted form. Both silently nodded to each other and stormed out the door. “There should be a window in the floor number Twenty-four is, can you try to shove her through it and into the courtyard below, I don’t want anyone inside the hospital getting hurt.”

Timber growled back a hard to understand “Yes,” and overtook Alchemy and rushed towards the Corrupted, like a dog you let loss on its prey. Around them, they could hear screams, not really a surprise if he thought about it.

As the finally reached the girls again, they were trying to hold off the Corrupted to the best of their abilities, but they were starting to fall back. “Girls, out of the way, we’ll take it from here. You did a good job,” he screamed while Timber was rushing towards the fish-faced Corrupted, past the girls and started to wrestle her.

The girls stared at the new Corrupted and turned around to Alchemy as he stormed past them and towards Twenty-four, delivering a punch to her gut giving Timber enough time to finally break her resistance and force her towards the window, increasing in speed the further he got. And with one last push he shattered the window, and by extension, the wall, that separated them from the courtyard, both Corrupted tumbling down towards the ground, a loud thump could be heard as they reached it. Alchemy didn’t wast any time jumping after the two.

When he landed he could see that the Corrupted had landed a few meters apart from each other, Timber already back on his feet, leaning against a tree and right next to him, the girl, however, was still on her knees a few meters away from them, hissing and growling like a wild animal. “You think we should finish this here?” He asked Timber who weakly nodded, removing his hand from the tree and reading himself to finish this. “Hey, Fishthroath, you know, this kid has to move forward towards a bright future you are in the way! Fishthroath you used the powers that were bestowed upon you to attack others for petty reason. By the magic that was bestowed upon me, I deem you unworthy of your powers and will now take them from you!” He said while pointing at her.

Timber was the first to rush towards her, screaming his lungs out as he did so, all while Alchemy simply spun his Disc again.

\ Flame Disc Maximum Power! /

The Flames started to form round Alchemy’s foot again, and he jumped into the air while screaming: “Flaming Whirlwind Kick!” Timber meanwhile had also jumped into the air and readied himself to strike the still dazed Corrupted with his feet. Both hit their target at the same time, Alchemy with his flaming kick while Timber merely struck Twenty-four with his feet, the monster being consumed in a massive explosion only leaving her Artifact and unconscious human form behind.

“So, that was that,” Alchemy said, looking at Timber. “Come on, we had a deal.” The teenager looked towards the ground and turned back into a human, holding his bracelet in his hand, bust stopped moving. “Kid, don’t worry, the Kamen Riders will make sure that nothing happens to Twilight, so give that thing over to me,” he said, stepping closer to Timber, his hand shaking as he slowly lifted the bracket closer to Alchemy, but the fist remained closed.

“Kid, you have the hearth of a hero, I saw that. But right now, the most responsible thing for you to do is to give this thing to me. It will just warp your mind into something nothing good can come out of. You’ll get your time kid, but right now, you have to give it to me, or you will never move towards that bright future of yours,” he finished with a soft voice, holding his hand out towards him.

“Please promise it,” Timber weakly said as he placed the bracelet in Alchemy’s hand.

“I’ll promise. And you’ll keep your promise.”

“Thanks, and I will,” he said, letting finally go of the artifact.

“Good, but you should get back to the girls,” he returned while picking up the teeth from number Twenty-four, Timber quickly returning to the inside of the hospital. That was when he heard a loud ‘hmhm’ from behind. As he slowly turned around, he could see Ocean, and she did not look pleased in the slightest.

“So, care to explain this?”

“Ah, you know, I thought I might get this artifact without any fighting. He just wanted to protect Twilight and said he would give it to me afterward and he did,” he weakly returned.

“You did what now? You let him keep it? Are you insane? You know what will happen if the director finds out about this, right?” She was fuming stepping closer and closer towards Alchemy until she was only inches away from his face.

“Well you did tell me that you have to trust people,” he fearfully replied, while stepping a few feet back.

“I- You- I’ll- Sometimes I hate myself. You know what, I’m kinda glad I don’t have to see you for a few days after that stunt,” she hissed back, trying to keep her anger down.

“What do you mean whit that?” He asked, a bit of worry in his voice.

“You are going to a music festival,” Alchemy cracked his head in confusion and was about to say something as she continued. “Don’t get any ideas, strictly professional. Four of the bands that were planned to play for the festival have disappeared, and every time we could detect magical energy around the area they disappeared in. You’ll figure out what is going on there while Pinecone and I will make sure that nothing happens to the city while you are gone.”

“Ok, I won’t say no to a music festival. Never was on one before this will be great,” Ocean raised one of her eyebrows. “Of course strictly professional.”

“Good. You’ll take the rest of the day off, I have to calm down after this stunt of yours, and I wanted to interview that kid as well,” She was about to leave as Alchemy spoke up once more.

“Ahm, Ocean, I wanted to ask a favor of you,” he said, sounding relatively nervous while he did so.

“Huh, ok what is it. Let’s hope it’s something important.” Alchemy nodded and started to speak, ocean listening carefully, first in shock, then in bafflement and then she simply nodded. “Ok, I’ll trust your judgment here. But if this goes wrong, you’ll take the blame,” she returned, sounding even more serious than usual.

“Got it,” the Rider returned, sounding just like her.

Tides of the Ocean - The Clouded Skies

The sky was still covered in blackness as the silence of the apartment was rudely interrupted by the high pitched beeping of an alarm. As the alarm continued to wreak havoc on the peaceful apartment something started to stir in the bed, slowly and heavily. What followed next were several grunts as someone started to sit up in it, slamming her fist on the alarm which immediately quieted down. She proceeded to turn on her night lamp, revealing a still half asleep Ocean, weakly looking over at the clock.

“4:45 in the morning, uh,” she weakly sighed as she stood up, her eyes still only half opened. “Oh, how I hate mornings,” she continued to mutter to herself as she slumped through her apartment, still dressed in a loose shirt and a pair of panties, as well as a leather belt with a familiar belt buckle on it. Her apartment was in top shape, nothing littered the floor, and everything was in its right place. As she looked through the large window, she could see the streets below here, a few cars driving by below her, apparently she was not the only one that woke up so early, but that was not really surprising in a city like this.

The apartment was decorated rather sparsely, nearly everything remaining the same since she had moved in, just a few pictures had been put up, but she really didn’t mind. Either way, she liked the modern look of the rooms they way they were, and since she didn’t really know how long she would stay in Canterlot city anyway, this was good enough for her.

What was however not good enough for her was the fact that she was already awake at such an early hour. She loved her job, but this, this was just the worst. She hated the morning, every day it was the same, hear the alarm, drag yourself out of bed, get ready for work and a little breakfast and then it was off to a normal day at work, well as normal as it would get as a government agent and Kamen Rider at least.

After a quick shower, she had sat down at her table eating her poor excuse for a breakfast, a bit of breed and a few sausages, nothing special really. But there was one thing on the table that let even her groggy face light up with joy, coffee. The delicious lifesaver that she couldn’t live without anymore. She couldn’t await the warm brown liquid running down her thought, slowly warming her up from the inside. Really she couldn’t imagine a life without it anymore, especially she couldn’t understand how Phoenix could live without it.

But that didn’t really matter right now, right now she was to busy emptying the entire can cup after cup, every sip just making her more and more awake and ready for what the day might bring. A day without Phoenix and that was very much welcome, especially after what he had pulled two days ago, still, she was already starting to miss him and his antics. His stupid grin and these cute eyes that- before she could finish that thought her phone started to ring.

As she pulled out her phone, she sighed on last time, looked at the number and quickly accepted the call. “Yeah, hello.”

“Ah, Ocean, I see you're already awake,” the deep voice from the other side of the device returned.

“Well, you said we would meet around five forty, like always, so how is that a surprise?” She retorted, still a bit ill-tempered. “Ahm, I mean. Of course, like always,” she quickly added.

From the other side, only a deafening laugh could be heard. “Ocean, you don’t need to be this formal, I told you this already, at least a few dozen times, so relax, drink your coffee and just be ready. I have a lead on someone higher up in Tartarus, finally. Someone called Sable Spirit. She is an older woman from Neighpone and apparently works as an assassin. Yeah, I know that sounds ridiculous, but it’s true. Apparently, she is very well known in the underworld, well being in a job for over fifty years and surviving does gain you some respect.”

“Huh, well, that is certainly impressive, what also means, we will have to be even better. If she survived for over fifty years in the world of cut-throat assassins, there is a good chance that she already knows that we are coming,” she carefully replied.

“Yeah, very much possible, but it’s our only lead, so unless you have any other options?” Ocean remains silent. “Good, that settles that then. So, I’ll leave you to your breakfast then, hope it’s good and that you don’t miss the kid too much,” Onyx chuckled on the other end of the line.

“Why would I miss him? A few days without him are exactly what I need. A break from his insanity is very much welcome,” she sighed in exhaustion.

“Oh, and I thought you would miss him very much, and not just his personality,” Onyx chuckling only grew in size with every word he spoke.

“What do you- Oh, haha, very funny. You know, if you repeat a joke ad nauseam it gets boring really fast,” she hissed back, staring daggers at her phone.

“Oh, come on, you are not fooling anyone, and the kid doesn’t either. I’m sure you two would give up a wonderful coup-“ and that was as far as he got, Ocean cutting of the connection. Superiors be damned, this was just enough. With a loud sigh, she swallowed her last drop of coffee, stretching herself one last time before she finally left the apartment.

--------------<

It hadn’t taken long till Onyx had parked in front of the house she was living in, driving his beautifully black car. Being so high up in the MRG did indeed provide some neat little benefits, that much was clear. Maybe enough to let yourself forget about the huge responsibility that was resting on your shoulders, something that Onyx was quite good at hiding.

“So, I hope you’ll get your phone checked Ocean. That the thing just shuts off during conversations is not becoming of an agent of your caliber,” he smirked at her as he pulled down his windows, Ocean looking rather panicked while he spoke and was about to say something as he continued. “Oh, don’t worry, you know me, I don’t care, and in all honesty I kinda deserved it, now did I?” He laughed back at her, her panic quickly melting away.

“Thanks, I appreciate it,” she sighed in return, opening the door of the car and entering. “Still, I would prefer it if you would stop with this, I’m kinda getting tired of this joke.”

“Well, then stop giving us so many opportunities,” he laughed back as he hit the gas and the engine sprung to life. “But really, that would probably end if just... you know…” He shifted around with his hands on the steering wheel as he spoke, eyes fixated on the street before them.

Ocean meanwhile gave him a look that probably could kill if that would be possible. “You know what?” Ocean dryly added.

“Ahm, you know, just ask… you know…” Now it was Onyx turn to panic, grasping for words.

“So, on another note, what is the plan?” She continued, completely ignoring his pathetic attempts to find a not awkward way out of this conversation.

“Uhm, yeah… the plan, right. She has an apartment downtown, and as far as we know she is currently on a sort of a vacation, so she is going to stay in the city for a while. She apparently loves this city and its citizens very much, doesn’t stop her from murdering them, however. She has already been here a week, and I’ll have kept tabs on her for the entirety of her stay. Spirit generally keeps to a tight schedule. She wakes up around seven in the morning and leaves the house around eight. After that, she pretty much wonders through some parks, enjoyed the scenery and so on. You know for a seventy-year-old woman she really is impressive.”

“Well, she is still an assassin, you expect her to not be impressive when she survived that long?”

In response Onyx unleashed another one of his infamous laughs, it echoing through the entire car. “Yeah, good point, but how amusing an old woman being a professional assassin might be, I think we should get back to the fact that we have to observe her. So, after she is done with her usual stroll through the city, she tends to eat at a special restaurant, ‘The Elysium’. It’s rumored that it might be connected to Tartarus, but nothing of substance could be proven until now. What is not clear is if they are just that good, effective bribers or simply not there, but the name screams Tartarus if you ask me.”

Ocean merely nodded in return, in the meantime casually reading through the files they had on her, every new page she flipped to let something fester in her stomach, turning, moving, a bad feeling. “You really think we can pull this off?” She looked over to her superior, carefully raising an eyebrow. “We might get the entirety of Tartarus against us if anything goes wrong here.” Her breathing started to get more and more heavy, staring at was written on the pages.

“Hey, that is unlike you. Anything wrong?” Onyx returned, sounding rather worried, even letting his one eye wander from the street over to her.

“Oh, it’s nothing, just a bit nervous, like always,” she weakly replied.

“You? Nervous? Since when?” He replied in a mixture of confusion and disbelief

“Oh, yeah wouldn’t notice I guess. Have to be a shining example for the team. Every mistake could cause goodness knows what. Yeah, I know, an agent of the MRG on my level should be past this and make confident decisions on the fly,” she weakly chuckled.

“Oh, you think that? Actually no. You have to make quick decisions, sure, but the best agents are never sure that everything will work out. They are worried about every decision, they just don’t show it. Every decision has weight behind it, the weight of the people under you, your comrades. If you don’t think about them what good are you as a leader?” Onyx replied slowly, his eyes again fixated onto the road, his usual cheery demeanor not shining through for once and instead replaced by a man that seemed to have seen his fair share of tragedies.

“But you aren’t that way, right? Or mother? You two are the best of the best as if you would make mistakes? If there are casualties, there was no other way. At one day I would love to be just like that,” she returned, a weak smile on her lips as she stared through the window the of the car.

In response, Onyx merely chuckled weakly and added: “You really think that? I have made mistakes, countless of them, till this day. If Monochrome and I didn't make mistakes we wouldn’t be here in this car, searching for a traitor in our midst, now would we?” Ocean remains silent, unsure of how to respond to his answer. “You know, I don’t like to tell this story, but oh who really cares. That happened to me years ago. We were investigating something the locals called ‘The Sewergator’, apparently, a local legend that a baby alligator had been flushed down the toilet, you know usual stuff, and had mutated. People didn’t really believe it until the first body of a homeless person was found mangled and bitten to pieces, truly gruesome stuff,” he seemed to drive off for a moment.

“I assume the incident was magical in nature? There wouldn’t be any other reason for the MRG to get involved otherwise.”

“Yeah, hit the nail on the head there. We indeed received magical energy readings from the area, nothing too out of the ordinary, probably just an animal that had gotten its hands on an artifact, nothing a group of senior agents couldn’t handle, well that was what we assumed anyway. What actually happened when we arrived in the small town was something entirely different. We had taken up shop in a small motel, and one of my man, Shadow Cover, was making sure nothing would jump us during the night. As luck would have it, we were right, and in the night something happened. We were all sleeping as we heard the first shot, then the second and the third. When we stormed out of our rooms, we could see that a figure in dark robes was just slipping around the corner. In my hubris and in the heat of the moment I ordered Cover to chase after the figure,” Onyx interrupted his speech to swallow.

“What happened then? Did he get hurt?” She sounded intrigued, excitedly waiting for what happened next, like a child listening to a gripping story.

“Well, that is one way of putting it. After we had caught up to him we found him on the ground, parts of his flesh had been torn off by what we assumed were razor sharp teeth, blood covered the entire ground, and he was only barely clinging on to live. This was the moment where I made my biggest mistake, I was so enraged and filled with hatred that I never even thought that my plan might backfire. I send my man down the sewers, an entrance right next to Cover, and of course, I went with them. We had called an ambulance, and I left Lucky Clover with him, she should make sure he would be safe when that bastard came back. I, Bullseye and Flaming Ruby went down into its lair, weapons drawn and ready for anything that might come our way, or at least that was what we thought,” while he spoke he increased the grip on the steering wheel, his expression turning far more aggressive, just like his style of driving.

“We were down there for at least fifteen minutes, hunting for that thing and nothing, absolutely nothing. Ruby asked me if we maybe should retreat and wait for a better opportunity, but I just refused, said that this was our best chance to get that bastard. Oh, how I wish I listened to her that day. But we pressed on. About five minutes later, we were already quite far away from our entry point at that time, we finally heard something. Someone was slowly wading through the knee-high sewage. This was the moment we thought, I was in the front, Bullseye and Rose were giving me covered. We heard the strange sounds coming from the other side of the edge, and instead of being cautious and taking a good look at the surroundings we jumped out from behind the edge, guns pointed straight at the bastard. He was shocked, he wore this soggy black robe, completely covering his face and the moment I screamed at him to take his hands into the air he complied and begged for mercy, it looked pathetic,” Onyx basically spit out the last few words with such vitriol that it almost scared Ocean.

“But you got him, even if one of your men was hurt in the process,” she tried to respond, only for Onyx to shake his head, slowly, now the anger replaced with regret.

“Yeah, I thought the same, but he tricked us. First, everything went well, he got on his knees, no complaining, just being compliant, not doing anything suspicious, picture-perfect actually. Should have known that he was full of shit. The moment Ruby had put the handcuffs on him something happened, out of the water under him a glowing, ethereal hand shoot up, no, it was more of a claw, and in an instant it had dragged Ruby underwater, leaving us with this bastard. Bullseye was the first to react, still holding his weapon directly on him and well, he fired, straight through his shoulder. Our robbed killer was rolling on the ground in agony, but apparently, this was not enough to stop him. Out of nowhere, Bullseye was impelled by another pair of razor-sharp claws, straight through his stomach, he was dead in seconds. I finally got a good look at that beast, it looked like a crocodile, just on two legs and extremely muscular, oh, and of course, made out of light. At this moment I just had enough, screw trying to bring this bastard in alive, that would just get us all killed. I spun around and put a hole through his head, almost instantly the light constructs evaporated into nothingness, and there I was, alone, two of my man dead as well as the suspect,” he finished with a low growl. “And you know what they did to me because of this?”

“I… I don’t know,” Ocean quietly replied.

“Promoted me. Said I showed great skills in the face of diversity, congratulated me on my decisions, apparently I saved a few people that were stuck in this bastard’s lair, not too far away from where I killed him. We saved two lives that day, but I lost two of my man instead, and one of them so injured that he could never return to active duty and spend three years in a coma, and they fucking promoted me for that. I made mistakes, I should have made sure that we could handle him, that we were prepared, but I didn’t, I might have saved these two civilians, but under what cost. But I can’t undo it, I just can learn from it,” he finished with a heavy sigh.

“Huh, but in the end, your decisions saved those people, doesn’t that mean you were right?” Ocean carefully asked.

“Technically, but I made them out of the wrong reasons. I didn’t know that they were there, I let my anger get the better of me, that they were saved was just a side effect of all of that if I’m honest. I should have not gone after him, but I did, and that was a mistake because I didn’t think of the consequences. Still, if I had known that they were there I might have done the same thing as well, but we will never know,” he said, now more mellow that angry. “Just remember, if you make a mistake, accept it, learn from it and don’t repeat it, that is what makes a good agent.”

She nodded in return. “You know, this kinda reminds me of something Pheonix once said. If you make a mistake just don’t do it again,” she weakly chuckled, staring through the window seemingly into nothingness.

“The kid seems to be smarter than you give him credit for, at least in some ways,” he chuckled back, the bright smile having returned to his face.

“Yeah, in some way,” she returned absentmindedly, still staring through the window.

“Oh? And I thought you didn’t miss him?” He burst out into laughter again.

Her head quickly turned a bright red as she angrily returned: “Oh, just be quiet… sir.” This just got her another laugh from the man, she quietly letting her head sink into her hands.

--------------<

Time went by with not much happening, Spirit following her usual routine almost like a robot, even when the weather was not the best for a little walk through the city, it being very much cloudy with signs of rain already on the horizon. The woman seemed normal, feeding birds, reading the newspaper and admiring the flowers in Whitetail park, like any old woman on a walk. Well, the fact that at no point in time did she show any signs of fatigue were strange, but if you weren’t effectively looking for it you wouldn’t even notice.

Onyx had decided that he would stay in the car, monitoring the situation from afar while Ocean was tracking the elderly assassin and that seemed to work, even if he regretted his decision rather quickly thanks to the fact that he had not much to do. Still, it was the smart move and if he had to suffer a bit, oh well.

And so the hours went by, Ocean carefully making sure she didn’t garner any attention. Still, for an assassin, she lived a rather boring life if this was really how she decided to spend her days, or it was the rock inside the storm of action her life normally was, either or, she really didn’t care, she just hoped that nothing would interfere with her investigation for once.

Still, the worst part was still upon them, ‘Elysium’. Onyx had managed to get her a table inside the restaurant at the same time as Spirit would eat there, but it was beyond her how exactly he managed to pull that one off. ‘Elysium’ was one of the most exclusive restaurants in Canterlot City and almost impossible to get a place in, but somehow Onyx had managed to get her one, she rather not ask how he had worked that miracle.

Roughly an hour before Spirit would eat at the restaurant she had to return to her home to get ready for the following observation. To quote her superior: “You have to look the part if you don’t want to garner any unnecessary attention there, and I’m sure you won’t have that problem if you just get into the right clothing. You’ll fit right in.” ‘Fitting in’ involved a long flowing black dress and an excessive amount of makeup, oh and of course her belt, thank goodness Onyx couldn’t see her like this, that would only get her more snarky comments from him, and she could very well live without that.

And about half an hour after she had put on her disguise she stepped into the entrance of the restaurant, it being located at the top floor of one of the skyscrapers, towering over a good few other buildings and giving a stunning view over the entire city. Everything went smoothly, one of the waiters leading Ms. ‘Winter Crystal’ to her seat, right next to where Sable Spirit had taken place next to a muscular man with grey skin, black hair, and an equally black suit. Spirit wore a black dress with red accents, as well as a black veil over her face. She had a milky skin and white hair, you could definitely see that she was in her seventies, but the energy with which she acted was remarkable, joking with the man on her table.

That went on for a good ten minutes, Ocean carefully listened to everything that was said, but until now there was nothing worth listening to, that was until the man called over one of the waiters and silently spoke with him, the man slowly nodding after every few words. What came next let her blood freeze in her veins. Still, she had to keep up appearances, he came over and said: “Ms. Crystal, the gentleman over there wanted to ask if you would be able to exchange a few words with him if possible.” She slowly nodded in return and followed the man, sitting down next to them.

“Ah, Ms. Winter Crystal, what an honor to meet you, or should I say miss Ocean Skies. It’s an honor to finally meet one of the heroes of this city face to face, well, meet again actually,” the man said, in a calm and friendly manner, smiling at her, but she could tell that something was off about him.

“Oh, so I see you know my name, but I sadly don’t know your’s, Mr…“ she returned just as calm, well at least on the outside.

“You may call me Cerberus, and this is Ms. Sable Spirit, an old friend of mine. It’s been a while since the last time we meet, not under the best circumstances if I remember correctly. I tried to give an apology to one of your friends, what was his name again?” He continued in his most soothing voice, still the air of danger still deeply ingrained into it.

She gave a cold look back, after which she continued: “Thunder, Thunder Cloud. And he is doing just fine without your dirty money.”

“Dirty, oh why would you call it dirty? It’s money earned from hard work like any other really. I still don’t get why he wouldn’t take money from another restaurant owner,” he chuckled back at her.

“Yeah, restaurant owner, as if,” she chuckled back dismissively. “Heard a lot about your stake, extra bloody if I remember correctly.” That got him to narrow his eyes at her.

“So, what gets us the honor of meeting one of the most well known MRG agents in our little restaurant here? Did we do anything wrong?” He returned, sounding as innocent as he could be.

“Oh, I’m sure of it, judging by the type of business you take part in, but that is not why I’m here.”

“Let me guess, you wonder where we get our ingredients for the wonderful food we provide here, isn’t that right?” Cerberus smiled at her with that cocky grin that she wished to wipe off his face.

“Well, actually yes. So, interested in providing me that answer before I have to resort to less friendly ways of getting my information,” she returned, her tone making it unmistakably clear that she was not in the mode for any games.

“Oh, didn’t you hear that you shouldn’t threaten a man in his own business, that is just a sign of bad manners,” he returned, now a sense of imminent danger in his voice. “if you are only here to start a fight I would suggest that you leave, Ms. Skies.”

Ocean was about to say something in return as Spirit intercepted and said with an old raspy voice: “Sweety, don’t start a scene here, that does not suit you.” She turned around to face Ocean and smiled at her. “Young lady, I know you have taken an interest in me, so why don’t we play a little game, in I would say five minutes in the back alley of the restaurant? If you can entertain me a little, I might actually tell you all I know about those secret ingredients you are so interested in.” This took had taken her by shock, she was willing to give her the information, just like that? There had to be a catch somewhere.

“Sable, are you sure?” Cerberus said, apparently just as shocked as Ocean.

“Oh, sweety, you have to have more faith in your elders. Don’t worry, this won’t take long,” and with that she stood up and left the room, leaving both of them behind, stunned by what had just happened.

“What are you waiting for? You don’t let a lady wait,” Cerberus broke the silence, Ocean merely nodding silently. “And one last piece of advice, give up on what you are trying to accomplish. It will only end in ruin.” Ocean, however, continued her way towards the door, ignoring the warning of the man.

--------------<

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” She heard from here communicator in her ear.

“Well, it seems she has an artifact, so I have to take it away from her anyway at some point, and I would prefer it if she has not any chance to kill even more people before that,” Ocean replied, steadily making her way towards the back alley behind the restaurant, determination showing on her face with every step she took.

“Well, make sure you are safe, but if anything happens, just call me, and I will send Pinecone a little message. Don’t let her kill you,” he finished with a weak chuckle.

“Don’t worry, I won’t.” She finished, as she stepped around the corner, now standing the alley, dumpsters and other trash cans filling the sides of it.

“That is good to hear sweety. However, you should not underestimate your elders, that is just a sign of bad manners,” Spirit said, stepping out from behind a few dumpsters, her dress flowing in the wind as she did so. “But it would also be considered bad manners if I would let you wait, now would it.” And with that, she touched the vail that until now had been covering her face, it starts to glow in bright light. Ocean didn't waste any more time, activated her Driver and started to spin it after inserting her Charger into it, in return.

\ SCANNING CHARGE! /

“Henshin!”

\ 50, 80, 100! THUNDER CHARGE! /

While Ocean had been clad in her electric blue armor and had immediately rushed towards her, the light around her opponent had finally faded again, revealing a new Corrupted. The monster looked almost identical to her human form, sleek and thin, but now she was hovering above the ground, her dress looking far more ragged and shredded. Her skin now snow-white and two red glowing eyes glowing behind the vail.

As Charge was about to slam her baton in her side, the Corrupted managed to simply glide out of reach, the attack missing her just barely. Charge continued her assault on the monster with more swing of her weapons. However, every single one missed its target Spirit slipping away at the last second every time.

After one particular forcefull strike the Corrupted merely waved her hand in Charge#s direction creating an immensely powerfully gust of wind, sending the dumpsters and trash cans, as well as Charge flying like paper in a tornado. With a loud crashing sound Charge landed in the middle of the debris that had been carried away by her opponents attack, who still was hovering over the same spot she had started the fight.

“Your technic is quite impressive, but you just lack the experience to come even close to someone like me. Sadly, I’m not impressed. If you decide to actually be a challenge next time, meet me here in two days, but if you are just as pathetic next time I will have no qualm about killing you, remember that” Spirit said, her voice echoing through the alley like a cold whisper.

“Wait!” Charge tried to stop her, unleashing a full magazine on the Corrupted, she easily avoiding every single shot like it was nothing.

“Have a nice day sweety, and don’t disappoint me again,” she dismissively added and with another wave of her hands the wind that had previously swept her off her feet came up again, achieving just what he had done before, sending her sailing through the air.

With a loud grunt, she landed in the next wall, crashing to the ground like a wet sack of potatoes. “Dammit!” Ocean hissed as her armor slowly dissolved, leaving her just as vulnerable as any other human.

“Ocean? Ocean, are you ok?” She heard the voice of Onyx in her ear as she slowly managed to drag herself up from the rather uncomfortable ground.

“Yeah, yeah, besides a few bruises to my ego, I’m fine. Damit, I blew it, didn’t I?” She hissed back, holding her arm while doing so.

“Don’t worry about that right now, we are just going to call Pinecone, and we will deal with this in no time.” He calmly replied, however, there was still a bit of concern and worry shining through his voice.

“Yeah, sure, but before that, I have to visit someone else,” and with one last groan she had returned to her feet, still clutching her arm as she dragged her body through the alley. “You don’t have a problem with that, now do you?” Onyx remained silent. “Good.”

Tides of the Ocean - The Rejuvenating Rain

It hadn’t taken that long till Onyx had come to pick her up. As he finally saw her, he had to admit she had seen better times. Her dress was torn in several places, as well as completely soaked in dirt. Her makeup had been ruined, and the heals of shoes she had worn had broken off at the base. All in all, she looked awful, her rather agitated expression did not help in that matter at all. As she opened the door to the car, an awful stench crawled into his nostrils, bringing tears to his eyes. It reeked of spoiled milk, cat piss, and eleven-year-old pudding.

“So, where did you want to go? Your apartment for a quick bath?” He carefully asked her, Ocean slumping down on the seat next to him.

“No, as much as I would love that right now, we are on duty, and I don’t want to get distracted during that,” she returned, her eyes narrowing on the other end of the alley, her voice low and layered with a level of malice he was not expecting from her.

“Ok, if you say so. So, where should it go? You sounded so determined, do tell.” After he had raised an eyebrow, he had turned the engine back on, opening the windows in the back as well as activating the air conditioner on full power.

“The lab. I have got to talk to someone there, rather urgently, after that, I need a bath,” she sighed in a mixture of annoyance, relief, and anger.

“Well, we can agree on the bath part at least,” he chuckled as they started to move again, Ocean only giving him a look that told him more than enough.

--------------<

The rest of their time spend in the car was filled with awkward silence and Onyx trying his best to ignore the horrible stench that was emanating from his subordinate, hoping to whatever was holly in the world that it wouldn’t remain in the car after she left. These were probably some of the most uncomfortable twenty minutes of his life as they finally arrived at the MRG lab.

“So, there we are. Are you sure you want to meet Ivory this way? I mean, you do…” he searched for the right word.

“I know I stink, but Ivory won’t mind. I think. He was on the same mission we encountered the magical skunk statue, we reeked like a mixture of socks that have been worn one-year straight, a dump and, well a skunk for over a month. I’m sure he will tolerate this after what we have been through,” she returned, her usual confidence and determination having returned to her. “Might still wear a mask though,” she added under her breath.

“If you say so. And I think I heard about that mission. Wasn’t it the one that got you promoted and in return let you lead a team?” Onyx smirked with a devilish smile as both of them exited the car.

“Yeah, it was. It is weird when the fact that you were caught in a magical skunk attack is not the most memorable or weird thing about a mission. That one I sure won’t forget so fast,” she sighed as they approached the doors of the building. It was located inside the industrial area of Canterlot City, next to a factory of the Rich Corporation and Change Industries. The building looked normal enough, big halls and made primarily out of concrete and steel, like any other factory in the area. But if you would take a step inside you would quickly realize that nothing was as it seemed, an insane number of cameras that covered every inch of the area, metal and magic detectors at every entrance and of course guards, guards over guards that were patrolling the entire compound. And this just qualified as a small lab for the MRG, the big ones were far away from civilization so even if something went bad it wouldn’t wipe out the next several towns in the area.

As they set foot inside the building and flashed their badges the guards immediately picked up on Oceans outfit, some making rather crude comments about her, that was until they noticed the smell that was coming from her, that shut them up rather quickly. “Admit it, that was partially the reason why you went here before showering?” Onyx whispered to her with a bright smirk on his lips.

“Maybe,” she innocently returned. “It is certainly a nice bonus.” Onyx merely chuckled in return as they continued their way towards Ivory’s lab, cameras keeping an ever watchful eye on them, something that let them feel at the same time save and uncomfortable.

“I would probably say something about paranoia if it weren’t for the fact that my job pretty much boils down to paranoia,” Onyx chuckled as he let his gazed wandered onto one of the countless cameras around them.

“Yeah, you complaining about it would seem a bit hypocritical, and it’s not like there isn’t a good reason for all of this. Wouldn’t want anyone stealing any dangerous experiment here, now do we,” Onyx returned with a heavy sigh.

“Yeah, we don’t need more stolen stuff,” Ocean nonchalantly added.

“Yeah, right, I don’t need another investigation right now. Tartarus is already a big enough throw in my sighed as it is, we don’t need another player on the board.” Before either of them could continue their conversation, they had reached a large white steel door, one that Ocean and Onyx only knew too well, the door to Ivory’s domain, his ‘Palace of Mind’ how he called it.

“Well, here we are, should I warn him or-“ Ocean didn’t even let him finish as she let her ID-card slide through the console next to the door, which quickly proceeded to slide open, revealing ivory’s lab behind it. The tubes and machinery still locking as foreign to her as ever.

“Ah, Ocean, Onyx, nice to see… What is that smell? Did you play around with that reached statue again Ocean? No, this is only half as bad, but still, you reek like a dump-monster had a child with three-year-old socks,” he muttered, holding his nose closed trying to wave away the stench that was emanating from Ocean, almost bringing tears to his eyes.

“Long story short, you could say I went dumpster diving. I don’t want to talk about it,” she grimaced.

“Dumpster diving? And I thought that was frowned upon in high society. So, I assume your little investigation didn’t go as well as you thought,” Ivory smugly returned.

“Well, yes and no. She is definitely part of Tartarus, but I have to beat her to get any information, so yeah, half and half really.”

“And that is why you are here, right?” Eyeing her with one eye while having his other eye focused on his tablet as he scrolled through his notes. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw her slowly nod. “Yeah, was not expecting anything else actually. So, you want the newest one, right?” She nodded eagerly. “It’s always the same with you agents, always wanting something, never really appreciating our work, and just wrecking what we have built,” Ivory trailed off, his eyes now completely focused on his tablet.

Ocean just stared at him, taken aback by his sudden tone-shift. That was until he started to snicker, first quietly, then it grew louder and louder until he couldn’t suppress it any longer and burst out into a fit of laughter, Onyx quickly overcoming his confusion and joining the scientist. “Oh, you should have seen your face, really, that was priceless,” he stammered, holding his side thanks to his laughing. “Ok, ok, I got it. Sorry, I just couldn’t resist. That was Phoenix idea, and it was just too good to pass off.”

“This little… Not even if I send him on a mission can I get away from his antics? Oh, he will regret it when he comes back, I promise you that,” she growled.

“Oh, I would gladly see that,” he added, a devilish smile crossing his lips as he spoke.

“Since when are you so buddy, buddy with him anyway? Last time I checked you were more annoyed than anything.”

“He isn’t that bad, at least shows interest and was actually willing to answer some of my questions on magic, at least what his family knows. Not much new, but a few ideas might actually be worth something. He was here with Shining a few days ago, when you were busy with Onyx, seemed to miss you, maybe a bit lovesick,” he smirked, much to the annoyance of Ocean.

“Oh, please, not you as well. I had enough of this for one day from Onyx already, so please just don’t right now. The day has been bad enough already, and I don’t want it to get worse. So, back to business, how far are you? Can you finish it in the next two day’s, preferably before I fight an elderly assassin?”

“Elderly assassin? That sounds interesting. With elderly, do you mean something like fifty, that is pretty old for an assassin,” Ivory was already lost in his thoughts again as he continued, scrolling through his tablet, apparently looking for something? “And that assassin beat you up or something like that? Would explain the smell.”

“Yeah, she has an artifact, a strange vail that turns her into something akin to a ghost, and to add to that, she apparently has power over the wind. Tartarus truly has some strange underlings,” she sighed as she leaned back on one of the tables, feeling extremely exhausted by the whole ordeal.

“Well, if you are as infamous as they are, you will eventually get equally impressive people behind you. And there are sure to be some, well, rather interesting ones in there as well. I’m actually sure that being interesting will only increase your chances in the gang,” he added, his eyes still glued to his tablet. “Ah, found it!”

“What did you find?”

“The artifact of course, again one of our own, well if your description is to be believed that is,” he handed her the small device, a picture of the vail on it.

“That’s it, you are the best Ivory.” Before he had any time to react, she had trapped him between her arms and gave him a long and drawn out hug.

“Ocean. Ocean! Would you stop it, you still stink like a three-year-old egg covered in mayonnaise!” Struggling to get her of him, he was helplessly drenched in the awful smell that emanated from his fellow agent. “You’re doing this on purpose aren’t you?” With a loud sigh, he ceased his resistance.

“Yeah, pretty much. A little bit of revenge, you don’t mind, do you?” She returned with a devilish grin. “So, any other jokes you would like to make?”

“There are a few,” she increased the strength of her hugs, pressing the air out of Ivory's lungs in the process. “But I don’t think that would be a smart move right about now.”

“Yeah, pretty much,” and with that, she released the pore scientist who quickly tried to brush off the dirt and smell. “So, what does this little thing say about our little artifact. ‘The Vail of the East’, or ‘5CHL3I3R’ recovered in Neighpone, apparently an old family heirloom of an old samurai family that was known for their impressive abilities in. The woman of the family would wear it in times of war, and use the magical properties of the item to give their fleet an advantage in battle. Huh, interesting seems to fit the abilities of the Corrupted. Oh, here is something about a legend connected to it, ‘The Lady in Black’. It seems there was once a traveling maiden that always wore this vail. She was known in all the land as ‘The Lady of the Four Winds’ thanks to her control over the air. Once a samurai of this family found out about her powers, he lured her to his house and let her be executed, claiming the vail for his own family. She, however, did supposedly curse his family that her ghost will forever haunt them till they are extinct, might explain the Ghost form of the Corrupted,” looking up after she had finished she saw Ivory had walked over to one of the tables, rummaging through his stuff.

“Where was it again?” He kept muttering to himself as he kept searching and searching. “Ah, here it is.”

“Hmh, so, you have it?” Ocean returned with an excited undertone in her voice.

“Yeah, got it. The Water Charger, one of my best yet. Want a quick rundown of the thing, or…” He was looking for the right word, his face forming several grimaces as he was searching the depth depths of his mind for the right thing to say “Or try to just go with the flow, or however, Phoenix would call it?”

She chuckled in return, taking the small device and quickly putting it in her Charger Holster that was dangling from her belt. “Even Phoenix knows that fighting without knowing what you can do is almost always utter suicide and only something you should do if there is no other option available, so do tell, what can Charge’s Water State do?” Smiling she stretched herself as she approached Ivory, who was currently tipping away at his tablet until a projector emerged from the ceiling, letting its contended be shined on the wall.

“Look and be in awe at my genius,” he boasted, Ocean merely lifting an eyebrow as Ivory stretched out his arms, completely lost in his delusions of grandeur, however, founded these delusions might have been. “The Water State is something the Charge System has been severally lacking until now. We have a speed form with Thunder State, a close ranged brawler with a good amount of agility with Fire State, Wind State is a ranged flyer, and Earth State is an unstoppable tank, but we are missing the element of surprise,” he chuckled a bit, much to the annoyance of Ocean.

“So, if you want Water State to be based on the element of surprise, how do you plan on doing it?”

“Oh, simple, I repurposed Fire States engines into something else. Mist, they now produce mist! For thirty seconds you can let the mist stream from them, blocking out the sight of your opponents, but if you use it up all at once, it will take you about a minute to recharge it.” He finished, all while zapping through pictures that showed the ability in action, all with cute little stick figures.

“Yeah, yeah, like with the rest, don’t let the energy run dry or you are sitting on a useless suit for double the time. You know that I have used the Charge System for a good amount of time now, I won’t make that mistake again, the one time my speed died on me was bad enough,” she sighed. “On another note, how are you expecting me to see when the entire battlefield is covered in the mist?” Eyeing him closely she waited for his answer.

“Oh, please, as if I would miss such a small detail. Heat vision. The fog is not hot enough for it to interfere with it, and you should be able to see where the enemy is. I also invested in more silent boots, so you don’t get noticed the moment you move. Any other complaints?” Ivory cocky added.

“Nope, everything is fine,” she returned only to let a devilish smile overtaker her lips. “Oh, there is one thing I still have a problem with,” and again without any kind of warning, she hugged him again.

“I hate you sometimes, you know that?” With a loud sigh, he let her just do as she pleased, which granted him a quick release.

“I like you too you old weirdo. What would I do without you?” She returned, in a far happier tone.

“Search for a new scientist?” Both chuckled at this, and even Onyx, who had remained remarkably quiet until now joined the two.

--------------<

The two days had gone by like nothing and Ocean had made sure she would stand a chance this time, training and studying her opponent like a madwoman. Right now she was sitting on the passenger seat of Onyx car again, making her way towards ‘The Elysium’ like Sable had asked of her. This time this would not end like it had last time, she still had some of that reached smell lingering on her, and no amount of soap had managed to get rid of it.

“So, you think you can do this?” Onyx asked, a hint of concern in his voice.

“Well, if I can’t then where is the point in me being Charge anyway,” she nervously chuckled, her hands resting on her lap, eyes staring towards the floor.

“Oh, don’t say that. You are doing a great job as a Kamen Rider, so don’t worry, you will beat her. And if all else fails, there is still Monster. You did call him, right?” That earned him a look from his subordinates that didn’t need any further explanation. “Right, you did. Hadn’t expected anything else really. So, don’t let me down kid, take that old lady down and don’t feel bad about beating up the elderly, she did start this, didn’t she,” he chuckled, glancing over to the Ocean for a moment, still in the exact same position, her expression had not changed.

After a loud sigh, he continued: “Ok, Ocean, do you think an old lady like that could really beat you when you put your all to it?” She remained silent. “She probably couldn’t even beat someone like Phoenix and that guy is an idiot, with all due respect. If he could beat someone like that, then you will have no problem with this, right?” That actually let a small smile crept onto her face, at least for a second. “See, you’ll manage this. Ivory trusts in you, I trust in you, Phoenix trusts in you and that is all that you need. Don’t you have to be a shining example for your underlings?” Now that got him a smirk.

“Yeah, yeah! Exactly, what would I be for a leader if I would let that old hag beat me? If I would let that happen, I would never hear the end of it from Phoenix, and I can’t give him that satisfaction, now can I.” Her expression had shifted into a determined grin, her eyes now staring towards the horizon, or at least what you could see of it in the city. “I will win this and make sure we catch that traitor!”

“That’s the spirit!” Onyx chuckled a feeling of satisfaction and pried filling his body as he heard the young agent so enthusiastic. “Thank goodness you are back to normal, while I kinda found it comforting that you aren’t completely like your mother, seeing you like this hurt.”

“What do you mean, not completely like my mother?” Now Ocean was curious. Still, there was something she could not quite describe in her voice, was it fear?

“Well, Monochrome is an interesting case, if I say so myself. She has done many things wrong, like every one of us, but she is far more willing to let people be stepping stones for a greater goal. Every action she takes is calculated and planed through, but she is willing to sacrifice people for what she calls ‘the greater good’ and doesn’t see the deaths under her as her fault. Well, her methods works, but it’s nothing I very much agree with and seeing you not following her path is something that makes me quite happy. She is a good agent, but not one I very much respect,” he finished slowly as he continued his way through the streets of the city.

What followed was silence, for at least a few minutes, Ocean was again staring towards the floor, her expression showing someone who wasn’t entirely sure how to react. “Thanks,” she finally managed to get out, her voice weak and fragile.

The rest of their way there was filled with even more silence, no one able to even say the smallest bit. The atmosphere in the car was heavy, with every minute of silence it only grew more and more uncomfortable, threatening to suffocate both of them with its cheer presence. When they finally reached their destination both of them gave each other a look, one filled with doubt and nervousness and the excited the car, standing before them were two people they had been expecting.

Cerberus was the first to speak. “Ah, Ms. Skies, a pleasure to see you again. I hope you managed to get rid of this awful stench that was lingering the last time you were here,” he said, not even dropping his mask for a second.

“Oh, I did. But I’m sure Ms. Spirit here is somewhat disappointed with that, she did give her best that it would be as hard as possible,” she coldly returned staring at the woman next to Cerberus.

“Oh, I’m sorry for that, it was never my intention of letting you land in the trashcans, it was just an accident. I hope it won’t get between us, that would be terrible,” the older lady returned, actually sounding like she meant what she was saying.

“Oh, it won’t as long as the deal still stands. I win, you give me everything you know,” she gave back, almost sounding threatening, her eyes narrowing as she kept staring at the woman.

“Of course. I’m a woman of honor, I would never go back on one of my promises. But I will only keep that promise if you will fight me alone. I have no interest in that ruffian Monster that is currently waiting on one of the rooftops if I’m not mistaken, to join in.”

Everyone was silent, and it felt like the temperature had suddenly dropped by a few degrees as the two MRG agents kept staring at the members of Tartarus. “Oh, surprised? And I thought you would have guessed that we would know. The man is not that sneaky. It was quite easy to spot him, but I can’t blame you since I’m not alone here either. We are somewhat alike, there is nothing wrong with having a plan two sweety, as long as it won’t get between our little agreement,” while she spoke she stepped closer to Ocean gave her a little caps on her cheek much to Ocean’s shock. “Oh, don’t act like that honey, we will have a lot of fun now, so don’t worry and just let loose. I’m starving for a good fight. Ever since a few years back everything has just been so dreadfully boring and easy, you might be exactly what I need for a good final.” With that, she turned away from Ocean and walked away a few meters only turn around again and just stand in the middle of the street.

Before ocean could follow Cerberus held her back by the shoulder. With his low and growly voice, he said: “Do not hurt her. Beat her, fine, but if anything happens to her because of this, you will feel my wrath. She is an old woman, it doesn’t matter what she does for a living, you are going to be gentle.” Cerberus grey eyes stared right through her and almost like he was looking right into her soul, something that let a shiver run down her spine.

That was until Onyx broke up the contact between the two. “Listen, if you threaten my subordinates under my watch you are going to feel my wrath, so knock it off, got that.” The two hulking masses of man were now staring each other down, both with equally grim and serious expressions on their faces. Quite the unsettling image if she was honest.

“Don’t worry, I don’t aim to kill. I never do if there isn’t another way,” Ocean returned and continued her way towards Sable.

“Let me guess, he asked you to go easy on me?” She chuckled as Ocean nodded. “Knew it, don’t worry sweety, give it your all!” The moment she had finished hear vail started to glow and she transformed into her Corrupted form, hovering a few feet before Ocean.

“Well, then I shouldn’t let you wait any longer” And without wasting any more time she activated her Driver.

\ SCANNING CHARGE! /

“Henshin!”

\ 50, 80, 100! FIRE CHARGE! /

The engines all over her body sprung to life, and she rocketed towards her opponent and thanks to the rather short distance between them it actually resulted in the first hit. Her fist connected with Sabel’s chest sending the monster flying back several meters, however much to Charge’s dismay, the Corrupted managed to regain his balance rather quickly, hovering again over the ground. Not wanting to let her best chance go to waist she rushed after her, trying to repeat her success, however, this time she merely hit the air where she had been a few moments before.

Almost like a blanket in the wind Sable managed to dodge the every attack Charge was throwing at her, it would have been awe-inspiring if Onyx wasn’t rooting for Charge, but she just couldn’t get a hit in on the Corrupted that was seemingly always a step ahead of her, or simply as slippery as an eel. Charge had just rocketed towards her again, landing with her feet on the wall of one of the buildings that surrounded them, but instead of cursing and returning to the ground she used the wall to jump off from and rocketed towards her again, taking her off guard and raming her against the next best wall with a loud grunt of pain.

This was her chance, pulling her arm back she let it race towards her chest, letting another grunt of pain erupt from her. With the engine all over her armor, it didn’t take them that long till her fist slammed into her stomach again and again and again, every time letting her hear a louder and louder grunt.

Everything seemed to go fine until Sable managed to free her hand an with one wave blew the Rider off of her and right into the wall on the other side. “Well, seems you are actually giving me a good fight. That means I should too," she hissed and for the first time went on the offensive, hovering towards her with a speed that was honestly frightening. But Charge was not one to give up so easily and charged towards her opponent with full intend to pummel her into submission.

What Charge had however not foreseen was the fact that Sable could easily force her out of the air with nothing more than a simple hand motion and just like that she had managed to knock the wind right out of her, sending her to the ground like a tin duck. That didn’t stop Charge, however, in no time at all. She rocketed again towards her, this time just way closer to the ground.

Sable merely chuckled and with another wave of her hand and the following gust of wind managed to knocker her to the ground again, following up with two more swipes with her hand. Ultimately, Charge landed a good distance away from Sable, her entire body arching, she probably had several bruises all over it.

Just as she was about to send the next attack at her Charge quickly ejected her Charger form her Driver and switched it with something more appropriate for the situation.

“Charge up!”

\ 50, 80, 100! EARTH CHARGE! /

The moment the gust of wind hit her and tried to throw her away again, she was already clad in her new armor, standing firmly in the way of the attack, like a rock in the surf. Slowly she advanced, with every step she could feel the strength of the wind increasing, Sable seemed to be in a bit of a shock that she had not been simply blown away by her attack.

After the first few steps, she increased her speed steadily after a while almost running towards the Corrupted. About halfway there she removed her Charge Magnum from her waist and with one precise shot managed to shoot Sable right into the chest, letting her clutch the wound in agony. While this was happening, she rushed towards the distracted monster, and when the Corrupted finally managed to look up, she could only see how Charge grabbed ahold of her dress and with a devastating punch sent her sailing into the next wall and landing unceremoniously on the cold concrete.

“Charge up!”

\ 50, 80, 100! WATER CHARGE! /

As she looked up, she could see Charge rushing towards her, but now in a new armor, drenched in a deep abyssal blue with glowing red eyes she rushed towards her, around half way there something was streaming out from small little engines, similar to the one from her fire form. Within moments the entire alley had been filled by a thick mist, making it pretty much impossible to see beyond your own hand. With an annoyed groan, she waved her hand around, blowing away the fog, only to realize that Charge had disappeared.

A sharp pain in her side was the next thing she felt, turning around to just catch a glimpse of Charge that was quickly swallowed by the fog again. Seconds later she felt it again, this time from behind, another gust of wind revealing the position where the shoot had come from, however, there was nothing, and quickly the free space was overtaken by the fog again.

And just like clockwork, the next shot hit her, her side stinging like someone had stabbed her with an oversized needle. She started to wildly swing her arms around, trying to get rid of the fog, only to not find her time and time again, all while being peppered with shots. One after the other hit its target, letting her stumble back and scream in agony.

As she let herself sink down onto the ground she heard something from the fog, she just couldn’t make out where it was coming from.

\ Maximum Charge! /

Then it hit her, a dark blue energy bolt shoot right through her, then another one, and four more, each piercing exactly the same point on her body, leaving behind a bright glowing point on her chest, but she was in too much agony to care right now. The next thing she knew was that she was enveloped in a massive explosion, her monster form quickly fading away and her vail falling off her head. There she lay on the ground, beaten, Charge slowly stepping out of the dissipating fog.

“So, you beat me. Congratulations,” she weakly returned as she looked at two glaring red eyes that were staring down onto her.

“Don’t speak, we can do this all later. You are probably going to fall unconscious any second from now,” Charge returned, kneeling next to the beaten woman.

“Probably, but this exactly why we have to speak now,” she returned, her eyelids already growing heavy.

“What? I… I don’t understand,” retorted Charge, starting to sound worried.

“Our benefactor is a woman and does work for the MRG, but if you want to find more information on her search for Checkbook, he is the key.” She continued, ignoring Charge completely. “Thank you, for giving me one last fight I can be proud of…” With that here, eyes finally grew too heavy to hold open, and she slipped into the cold blackness.

The woman had slumped to the ground, unmoving. Charge deactivated her armor and tried to feel a puls, nothing, no breathing, no heartbeat, no nothing. “Sable? Sable! Wake up!” She screamed out, looking in shock at the lifeless assassin before her. “Onyx, call an ambulance!” Not even a second after she finished her commands she quickly began trying to revive the woman with mouth to mouth.

--------------<

It was silent, dead silent, Onyx, and Cerberus next to her, both with a mournful expression full of regret, all three sitting a cold white room only furnished with a few chairs. She had failed, Sable was dead, and it was al her fault. She should have gone easier on her, right? No, she knew what she was doing, wasn’t she? She was willing to risk her life, she was an assassin after all? All these questions kept swarming in her head, but she couldn’t find anyone that really made here agrees one hundred percent with it.

That was until she was dragged out of her jumbled thoughts by Cerberus who was suddenly standing before her. “I should murder you right now, but you didn’t know. You did everything she asked of you, you tried to save her life like she was one of your men. I respect that, but whenever I look into your face, I see that of the person that took away one of my closest friends. I will give you this warning one last time, don’t get in our way, my patience has worn thine. If you ignore my warning, you will regret it, got it?” With that he left, a few nurses backing away from the grim looking old man that walked past them, ocean merely sighed in a defeated tone.

“You did the right thing. The entire time,” as she looked up this time instead of one hulking muscular man another one was standing before her. “Don’t worry about it. And if you do, don’t let it drag you down. You did all you could.” She nodded as he also left her.

Another fifteen minutes went by, Ocean finally ready to stand up and leave the hospital as she heard her handy ring. As she pulled the little device out, she evidently noticed the number and quickly accepted the call. “Hey Phoenix, how is it going? Shouldn’t you have called me yesterday already?”

“Yeah, that is a long story.”

Author's Note

And with that, we have reached the halfway point of this story. Yay!

Thanks for all that have stuck with me until now and next time it's finally time for an upgrade.

Like always, constructive criticism is very much welcome.

The Show Must Go On - The Sirens Call

2 Days ago

He couldn’t really complain, the weather was nice, no cloud in sight, it was warm, and the rays of sunlight dancing across his face were just the icing on the cake. This had to be his favorite day of being a Kamen Rider yet. Being sent to a festival to investigate strange activities was awesome, all the music, all the nice people, it was a delight, and best of all, nothing had really happened yet. If he was lucky, he might just reap the benefits without putting in any work at all, that sounded great.

But, on the other hand, if there really were a Corrupted under the attendees not acting on it would only lead to problems later. Dammit, and he thought if he left Ocean behind he wouldn’t have to deal with pesky stuff like moral questions and could simply relax. She really had rubbed off on him, couldn’t even enjoy a little sunbathing anymore without thinking about what was right. But, to be honest, until now, nothing had happened, and if something would really go south, he would hear it anyway. If he relaxed for half an hour more, no one would really complain, ok, maybe fifteen, ok, ok, ten and then he would play detective, as best as he could. Really glad Ocean wasn’t here to see him fail miserably at it. How was he supposed to find the Corrupted anyway? Until now trouble had more or less always found him, so should he just wait?

Right at that moment, something managed to snap him out of his thoughts in an instant as he heard his name, from a strangely familiar voice surprisingly enough. His eyes slowly opened with a loud groan as the light of the sun started to shin right into his eyes. The first thing he saw was the beautiful blue sky, but that sight was quickly overshadowed by a mess of pink hair, teeth that formed a bright grin and a pink face that had placed itself between him and the horizon. It took him a moment to realize what just happened, but then everything went by in mere moments. A loud scream filled the area around him, getting him a few confused looks as he scrambled away from the grinning face of terror before him on his back and crash right into his bike.

It took a few moments to calm down, his breath heavy and irregular, staring at the still grinning girl before him, then he stopped, he knew that face and that grin, especially that grin. “Pinkie? What on earth are you doing here?” was the first thing that came out of his mouth. “And never do that again, ever!”

The girl in question just looked at him confused and started to giggle. “Sorry, I didn’t want to startle you, but you looked so drained, and I thought a bit of excitement would get you back on your feet.” Phoenix stared at the girl for a few moments with open mouth, then simply shook his head and just rolled with it, would be far easier than to understand Pinkie, that much he knew.

“Yeah, maybe because I wanted to relax a bit?” He returned, trying to hide the annoyance in his voice as best as he could. Still, he sounded somewhat peeved by the whole ordeal. “What are you doing here anyway?”

At this moment he heard new shouting, again from voices that seemed oddly familiar. “Pinke? Pinkie? Where are you Pinkie?” Echoed over the rows of tents and campers that had planted themselves over the field. It was quite beautiful in its own way; everything was in so much chaos that it had taken on its own kind of order. But what really caught the eyes of everyone was the large stage that had been set up behind all the tents and campers, towering over the entire gathering. And he had to be honest, even if he never was that into music, what he had heard until now and the feeling everything just brought with it was indeed impressive.

But back in the now he was more worried about figuring out who was screaming for the pink goofball. The answer didn’t take long to answer really, who else could it be that her friends who came forth through the rows of tents before them, Sunset being the first to spot their overly energetic friend. “Pinkie! There you are. How did you even slip away so fast?” She cried out for her, worried and at least some annoyance in her voice.

The Pinkie quickly snapped her head around, staring right towards her friends, moved with her hand a bit and screamed back: “Hey girls! You won’t believe who I just found!” Her voice was almost so shrill that it almost burst his eardrums, almost.

As her friends approached, they all wore an expression of confusion on their faces that only grew stronger when they saw who Pinkie had started so much. “Phoenix? What are you doing here?” Was the first thing he heard from them, finally having gotten back on his legs, carefully trying to brush off the dirt from the ground.

“Besides being scared shitless by Pinkie you mean?” He chuckled back, letting out a loud groan afterward, stretching himself. “Could ask you the same really.”

“Oh, we? We are here to play for the festival! Pretty cool, right?” That was undoubtedly Rainbow who was speaking there, and to no one's surprise she stepped out from behind her friends, a smug grin decorating her lips as she walked closer to Phoenix.

“These girls must have a trouble magnet on them somewhere, so often they get to these monsters,” he mumbled to himself.

“Ahm, did you say anything Phoenix?” Rainbow asked, staring at him with a bewildered expression.

“Ahm, I said something?” He returned rather confused, then it hit him like a truck. “Ahm, no, no, nothing important. Didn’t you say something about performing during the festival? That’s pretty neat,” stammering back he tried to look as innocent as possible.

The other girls looked at him somewhat strange, but Rainbow had bitten on. “Oh, yeah, and it is all because we are so cool, but primarily me,” That garnered a few raised eyebrows from her friends. “Ahm, you know, just a bit,” she sheepishly added. The other girls quickly started to laugh, Rainbow weakly joining in.

“Yeah, we are playing during the newcomers part right before the great final. One of the managers saw one of our concerts a while back and liked it so much he asked us to play here. It’s really something, isn’t it girls?” Sunset had continued, smiling at him like always.

“You have a band? What’s its name, I hear a lot of the local radio station, maybe I heard the name sometimes?” He returned, now sounding rather interested in the story of the girls.

“The name of our totally awesome band is ‘The Rainbooms’, we are being played on the radio constantly,” Rainbow started to brag again, her friends just chuckling at her, Phoenix decided to join in.

“Yeah, that name strikes a bell. Like your music, has a very relaxing and energetic feel to it, as strange as that sounds. So, when can I expect your performance ladies?” He snickered back.

“Last day of the festival, around twelve AM. The put us as the big final of the newcomers part, I’m so excited, I hope everyone home will see us,” Twilight joined in, squealing in nerdish delight. “Still, hope I don’t get stage fright before that,” she weakly chuckled.

“Oh, don’t worry Twilight, you will do fine. But I on the other hand…” Fluttershy returned, her calm and charming expression quickly fading towards panic and fear.

“Don’t worry darling, you will do great, like always. Don’t think about them as thousands of people watching every move you make,” Rarity tried to calm her down, in return, she received terrified screeching from Fluttershy who tried to hide behind Rainbow back. “Ahm, I was saying, just think of them as a group of your animal friends you are playing to. You don’t have any problem when you play for them, right?” Fluttershy returned from behind the back of Rainbow Dash and nodded with a weak smile. “See, you can do it darling. You are going to do great out there.”

“Yeah, don’t worry Fluttershy, they won’t even realize if you screw something up since they are all going to be focused on me,” Rainbow joined in, all while Fluttershy returned to her terrified state. All other girls were staring at her with looks of annoyance and exhaustion. “What?”

Phoenix just shook his head with a loud sigh and continued. “Well, you told me what you were doing here, and now I probably should tell you what I’m doing here. I just thought it sounded fun, not too far away and a few days of partying and away from the city would do me good. Was really relaxing until your friend there scared me nearly to death.” He pointed at Pinkie.

“Oh, yeah, I did find you. Next time you have to find me!” She gleefully returned much to the confusion of Phoenix and the other girls, but really, all of them had been around Pinkie long enough to just don’t question it, one of Phoenix's favorite strategies.

“Anyway. Glad to see you so healthy again Twilight, especially after what happened at the museum. How is Timber anyway?” Stretching himself while he spoke he continued.

“Oh, Timber? He is currently sleeping a bit in his tent. We asked him if he wanted to help us with the equipment, as in caring it around and getting it on the bus and he agreed. Nice of him, right? So now we have tow helpers, Aj’s brother and Timber,” Twilight smiled back at him.

“Huh, glad he is ok. Might look for him later, would like to talk with him a little bit. On that note, where exactly is your tent?” he asked, feeling rather strange in the process.

“Oh, we don’t sleep in a tent,” Rainbow dashed in, continuing with glee: “We have a bus! We don’t need on to sleep on the ground. Isn’t that great?” Her smile was layered with a bit of smugness, Phoenix merely sighed and chuckled a bit.

“Ahm,” came it from behind Rainbow.

“What?” Then she noticed who had actually spoken up and added: “Oh, well expect AJ here. She decided to use a tent, for some reason. I mean, come on, sleeping on a bus, how awesome is that? You get comfy seats, it’s not too hot or warm and best of all, no annoying sounds from campers around you. It’s perfect, what’s not to like, right?” Now she was eying Phoenix intensely, almost to the point where it got really uncomfortable.

“Well, I would jump for that opportunity any day, but if Applejack doesn’t want to, you can’t really force her now can you. She is just a different kind of weird than you,” he chuckled, the girls, however, remained silent and just stared at him. His chuckle slowly weakened, until it sounded extremely uncomfortable, his eyes quickly shifting from one girl to the next. “Hehe, did I say anything wrong?” Was all he could bring out, slowly starting to sweet. “Ok, sorry, I’ll take it back.” That was the moment they all started laughing, much to the confusion of poor Phoenix. “Ok, you lost me.”

“Oh, don’t worry, you are right. It’s because we are all such a special case of weird that we are actually are friends in all honesty;” Sunset returned, under heavy giggling, but she answered.

“Yeah, if we weren’t that way Ah wouldn’t really be friends with them. We are like a good apple pie, if you put in different kinds of apples you get the best result.”

“True that, wouldn’t have put it that way, but I agree. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be friends with Ocean, now would I?” While he spoke, his gaze started to drift towards the sky.

“Yeah, ‘friends’, I see,” snickered Rainbow, holding her hand before her lips, hiding a devilish smile.

“Oh, come on, you as well. I thought I would escape these jokes for a while if I go to this festival, but apparently that is not the case,” sighing he slumped down to the floor, all while the girls laughed at him. It didn’t take long till even he joined in.

Just a few meters away, however, someone was listening to their little conversation. “I think I’m going to puke. All that friendship bollox they are talking about, thinking they are so all and might. Think they are better than us,” a girl in a purple with a pink jacket said. Her long cruelly orange hair was waving in the wind. Her skin had a yellow color and if looks could kill she would have killed the entire festival so venomous was her look.

“But aren’t they? They did beat us,” A cheery and bubbly voice said from behind. In an instant, the girls spun around and stared at the other girl, her hair cyan, and dark blue had been tied back into a ponytail, she wore a purple jacket and pink mini rock. Her complexion was a very light blue, and she looked at the girls with an innocent and happy smile.

“Shut up Sonata, I don’t want to hear it. It won’t matter anyway in a few days. Then these little worms will squirm beneath our feet, and after that, we can finally deal with that last one, this stupid princess,” she growled, Sonata taking a few steps back as the girls let her anger out on her.

“Sonata, how many times did I tell you to not get on Adagio’s nerves? It never ends well, for either of us,” a third girl sighed, the expression on her face showing that she had seen this conversation play out time and time again. Her purple and cyan hair hang to her side in two massive pigtails. Over her light purple skin, she wore an outfit that was raged with cyan and bright purple.

“Oh, right Aria, I totally forgot,” Sonata returned in her bubbly voice, Aria merely sighing in return and bracing herself for what was to come.

“Sonata, sometimes I could just strangle you. You just don’t know when to say something, wait, you don’t know what you are saying period! Why did I need to be cursed with such a stupid sister anyway,” Adagio continued her voice only picking up, and slowly they were starting to garner some attention.

“Ahm, Adagio?” Aria started to whisper but was promptly ignored by her sister.

“And don’t forget you damned appetite, we don’t have much money, but no, miss little Sonata here needs her extra rations. I’m so sick of it, always the ‘That looks so fun.’ ‘Oh, that smells good.’ ‘Can I have it?’ I’m sick and tired of it!” She continued her barrage, more and more people starting to look their way.

“Adagio!” Aria repeated, but this time louder. Meanwhile, Sonata was more and more frightened by her sister, trying to step away from her, but Adagio just followed after her.

“And don’t even get me started on your stupidity. You know how often you got us into trouble with the damned cops? Over twenty times, I counted! Seriously, I should just…”

“Adagio!” Aria finally shouted, this getting her sisters attention.

“What?!” She shouted back, but as she did, she realized that everyone around them was staring directly at her.

“The people are looking already, calm down, I get that you are angry, but not here and not now, or do you want to blow our cover?” She hissed back, her sister merely grumbling in return.

“Fine, but this isn’t over Sonata,” she pointed her finger at her sister and walked off, Sonata staring after her. She was however quickly grabbed by Aria and dragged behind her, following their sister to what they could call their tent. A brown, old, tattered and smelly excuse of a tent, but it was all they had, damned Rainbooms.

With an angry tug, she pulled closed the tent behind her and let out a loud sigh. “Stupid mortals, Stupid Raoinbooms and stupid world in general. I’m sick and tired of hiding from them, all of them. I thought with the return of magic we could finally turn the tides, but no, stupid equestrians followed us even here,” Adagio spat out in a low voice, her anger that was just recently directed at her sister Sonata was now directed at everyone else, primarily those dreaded Rainbooms.

“But we’ll get them, right?” Sonata gleefully returned, a devious smile crossing her innocent looking expression for just a split second.

“Oh, we will, and no one is going to stop us this time, no equestrian, no Rainbooms and no magic of friendship. This time they are going down, and they will be powerless to stop us,” Adagio returned, an insane glee crossing her face as she eagerly rubbed her hands together.

“Ahm, but couldn’t these Kamen Rider guys be a problem? They have beaten up quite a few monsters, didn’t they,” Sonata added, a nervous undertone in her voice as she carefully looked over to her two sisters.

“Who?” Was all she got from Aria who looked at her like she had just said the stupidest thing to ever come out of a sirens mouth… again.

“You know, the Kamen Riders? These super cool bug-eyed people in these awesome suits?” Again, no reaction from her sister beyond a simple shrug. “Oh come on, they are constantly on the news!”

“Oh, these idiots,” she finally said dismissively, shrugging again.

“Even if these do-gooders would decide to come here, and come on what are the odds, they are only active in Canterlot City, they would not stand a chance against us and our soon to be ‘friends’,” Adagio replied, her devilish smile only increasing in wickedness.

“Yeah, you are right sis; they stand no chance against us!” Aria joined in with a satisfied expression on her face.

Sonata however just nodded doubtfully and said: “Yeah, you are right.”

“See, don’t worry about them and think about our revenge! Sleep well Rainbooms, it will be the last peaceful night you will ever have!” Aria and Sonata started to snicker in cackling delight, Sonata joining them after staring at them with increasing worry with her own snickering, just more awkward and worried. “Let’s get to work ladies!”

--------------<

The rest of the day had been quite peaceful for Phoenix; he had started to dig around for anything out of the ordinary, started conversations with music enthusiasts and the like, meat some of band members that would eventually be playing on the big stage and a few people that didn’t really know what to do with their time. But ultimately he came up empty, well that was wrong, he heard a bit about the missing license, nothing new really, just that they all had been eager to play and would never let something like this go to waste. The theories ranged from a government conspiracy to aliens and even to ancient monsters out of Fleece legend. It said enough about his life and this world that the last one was the most plausible actually.

However, as the evening had set in he had returned to his tent, graciously provided by Ocean. It wasn’t much, just as bare bones as you could get it, really, the MRG could be surprisingly cheap at times, but it was sufficient for a good night sleep. Well, it would be if it weren’t for the people around him. Surprisingly, people that visited a music festival weren’t quite the quiet type, but instead much more geared towards massive parties and he really couldn’t blame them. A better opportunity wouldn’t really provide itself, right?

Still, he needed his sleep, and while he was up for a good party if the opportunity would present itself, he was right now far more interested in a good night of sleep. At least the music was good, but that also wasn’t a surprise, they were at a music festival, of course, the music would be good. Currently, three girls were performing with almost enchanting voices, they hit every note perfectly, and the crowd loved them, the only thing he was not a fan of what was the lyrics of the song, oh they sounded good, but the message kinda sucked. Following someone blindly, giving up agency and playing the loyal little lapdog, all in all, to become a complete toll sounded awful. Still, he wasn’t about to start a fight because he disliked the lyrics of a song, now would he and at least it sounded nice.

It didn’t really take too long till he had fallen asleep and the music was all but forgotten, well that was what he had hopped anyway, it almost felt like he could still hear it, even in his sleep, no matter how horrific the nightmare became. From having his identity reviled to the entire city, losing to a monster or seeing his friends die one after the other. And that wasn’t even the last one, there was one of a purple butterfly with the world slowly breaking apart around it, one with demonic purple eyes setting him ablaze and last a mirror, showing him in his rider form attacking civilians, but one thing was consistent, the song was still there.

It was already around twelve o’clock when he snapped out of his latest nightmare. Sweat was running down his entire body, and he was breathing heavy. The worst part, however, was the fact that he didn’t feel like he had slept for even a second, more so that he had been awake for the entire night, or at least a majority of it. He merely put it to the bad dreams he had, with all that time wasted he had no time to dwell on it for any longer really and even if he really didn’t want to drag himself out of his sleep sack and after a small breakfast headed out for a little bit more investigating.

But this again was rather fruitless, however, instead of hearing some information he had already known, everyone seemed to be way more rude and unfriendly than the day before. Instead of the friendly answers and information, he was greeted with rude remarks and ordered to piss off. Couldn’t be the weather, the sun was shining down on them just like yesterday. After what seemed like the twentieth person had rudely told him to bother someone else he had finally enough if no one was willing to help he would have just need to get help somewhere else and he knew exactly where to find it, hopefully.

It took him a few more minutes to finally find what he was looking for, a cyan tour bus with rainbows plastered all over it, parked in the section of the festival that was reserved for the bands that would be playing on the big stage. Leaning against the colorful vehicle was Timber, seemingly dosing of as Phoenix approached the young man. “Hey Timber, how is it going?” The teenager immediately jumped up, looking at him as if he was out of his mind, probably was just the shock. So that was how it felt from the other side, nice to know.

“Don’t do this again, ever. Do you know how this feels?” He stammered out, clutching his chest, all while breathing heavily.

“Oh, I do, Pinkie did the same thing to me yesterday, almost jumped out of my skin,” he chuckled back with a smile on his lips, approaching the young man as he was starting to calm down again.

“Oh, and why then do it to me?” He huffed back, crossing his arms and glaring at Phoenix.

“Ok, I got a really bad day, everyone at this damnd festival has suddenly decided to become an asshole, and I didn’t want to wait till you wake up, sorry. And even if I would have waited, staring at a teenager until he wakes up is defiantly considered wired, now is it?” He sighed back, his voice sounding exhausted.

“Oh, ok, if you really say so. What do you need and what are you doing here anyway? If it is about your secret, don’t worry, I haven’t told anyone about it,” he continued, his voice sounding more and more worried with every word he spoke.

“No, that is not it. Come a bit closer,” he said, gesturing him to step closer. After Timber reluctantly moved over to him, Phoenix continued: “Well, there have been reports of bands going missing and all four were attending this festival, or at least should. I was sent here to find out if there is something supernatural going on, but until now I haven’t found anything, so I wanted to ask you if you know anything about that, or if you have seen anything fishy at least.” He whispered into his ears, Timber slowly nodding.

“Oh, so this is not going to be peaceful get away with Twilight I expected, but no, I don’t know anything about these missing bands, maybe one of their replacements did it? I don’t know, I only know that everyone suddenly turned extremely rude overnight, they won’t even laugh at my jokes anymore, and they did that,” Timber returned, sighing in annoyance.

“So, you noticed it too? Yesterday everyone was having the time of his life, and today everyone just turned into Pinecone,” Timber looked at him with a raised eyebrow and confused expression. “Oh, right, you don’t know him, a grump who runs a shrine or something like that in the forest. Really unpleasant guy, but he has his moments, anyway, any idea why everyone suddenly turned into an asshole all of a sudden?” He merely shrugged, carefully looking around trying to spot anything suspicious, without much success.

“How are the girls? Are they affected?”

“No, Twilight and her friends are just as friendly as usual, well besides Rarity having a little shouting match with one of the other guests, but that was totally his fault, and she calmed down rather quickly after that. So, I would say they are fine.”

“Well, at least that, but if this is not just a unanimously shitty day that everyone agreed on, but just failed to notify us, I have the feeling that shit is going to hit the fan really, really soon, just a hunch though,” Phoenix sighed, let his body slam against the wall with a loud sigh and looked over to Timber with an exhausted expression. “So, any suggestions Timber? Right now I’m open to pretty much everything.”

He was about to answer when he heard someone screams across the crowd. “Where are the rest?” He looked up and saw a muscular man walking towards him, complete with short orange hair and pale skin. No, after a second look it seemed more like he was heading straight for him with a really bad temper, so nothing really that new when it came for today.

“Hey, Big Mac, how is it going? They said they wanted to wander around a bit, nothing unusual, did something happen?” Timber returned with a smile that quickly vanished as Big Mac grabbed him by the color and lifted him off the ground.

“Where are the girls?” He growled again, a distinct purple glare now showing in his eyes.

“Phoenix?” Timber quietly said in return, staring in shock at the farm boy that was currently holding just above the ground. Before he could get anything else out, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his stomach, realizing Timber and staggering back a few steps.

“Hey, how about you stop that? I know everyone is somewhat pissed of today, for whatever reason, but there is no need to assault Timber here. He doesn’t know where the girls are and to be frank, if you are going to be in such a mood then I don’t think telling you where they are would be any good at all,” Phoenix casually returned, all while loosening his fist.

Big Mac merely growled at him and was consumed by bright blue. Seconds later it revealed what looked like a blue fisherman covered in turquoise armor and very large purple eyes.

The monster stomped towards Timber who let out a terrified scream: “Phoenix?” But as he looked over to where the man had just stood, he was nowhere to be seen. “Oh, right. Dammit,” he merely cursed and started to run in the opposite direction of the monster that was now chasing him.

What was weird was that the people didn’t seem bothered at all to get out of the way of the raging monster behind him, or at least for him, he had to drag himself through the ocean of people before him. Only when they could clearly see the beast that was chasing after him and after he had already passed did the finally decide to get out of the bloody way. However, the moment he diverted his attention from what was going on before him to look over his shoulder to see what the horrible monster was doing that someone placed his foot right there where he was going, with obvious results.

The moment he realized what was going on and where he was the Corrupted had already caught up to him. Turning around he could barely see how the Corrupted started to grab him again, or at least tried, because at this moment a crimson red foot kicked him right in the face, sending the beast flying right into a nearby tent which quickly collapsed on top of him.

“Hey, Glubschi, how about you stop this right here, give up and tell us what you did to the bands?” Alchemy was standing right before him, smugly pointing at the Corrupted while casually walking closer to the remains of the tent. “Sorry about the tent by the way,” he sheepishly added.

Meanwhile, Big Mac was getting up again and with a loud ear-bursting screech rushed towards Alchemy. He merely sighed, muttered something about this never working and headed for the impact. The moment the Corrupted was about to hit him head first in the stomach, he just stepped out of the way, caught the fin of the beast and with a quick tug pulled the monster back, right into a swift kick in the back.

“Ok, fight it is. Really, you have to be a bit better than this if you want to win here. It almost feels like that thing turned you into a monster… ahm, I mean one without a mind.” After he had finished, the Corrupted only screeched louder and began to claw at Alchemy like a wild animal, the Rider easily dodging every attack he threw at him.

After Big Mac had staggered forward after one particularly strong attack, Alchemy had used the opportunity to finally go the offensive, delivering a very well placed punch into the stomach of the monster. Not wanting to let the opportunity of the Corrupted staggering back go to waste h followed this up with a barrage of punches and kicks, slowly pushing him further and further back and with one last punch knocking him off his two feet and landing rather unceremoniously on his back.

“Well, that was easy, didn’t even put up much of a fight. Oh well, who cares really, I’m not complaining. So, let's finish’ this. Glubschi, you used the powers that were bestowed upon you to attack others and attacked four bands. By the magic that was bestowed upon me, I deem you unworthy of your powers and will now take them from you!”

\ Flame Disc Maximum Power! /

His leg started to glow in a bright red as he jumped up into the air, turned, so he faced the monster and shot down towards it, all while a flaming whirlwind of destruction quickly covered his form.

“Flaming Whirlwind Kick!”

After making impact with the Corrupted a massive explosion consumed the beast, just barely not scorching the bystanders that were surprisingly close to the action instead of doing the sensible thing and running like Tartarus. Big Mac was completely out of it and simply lying on the floor, but strangely there was no artifact to be found, maybe in his pocket or something.

“So, that should take care of that. You can move on, nothing more to see here.” But instead of following his orders the people just looked at him in total silence and with an unnerving expression on their faces. “Uhm, everything ok?” That was when the shouting started, loud boo shouts and complaining about the Rider, Timber quickly being shoved towards the middle of the crowd. “Oh, this does not bow well,” he sighed with a very nervous undertone in his voice.

“Couldn’t agree more,” Timber returned, now completely frighten by what was transpiring right before his eyes.

And then the worst part happened, all the eyes of the crowd started to glow a dark purple, the screaming only increased in volume, and they started to pour in on them. But it got even worse, a few in the crowd started to glow in dark blue light and within seconds at least ten more Corrupted, looking exactly like Big Mac had looked just a minute ago, were closing in on them.

Alchemy put it best with a simple, quiet: “Fuck!”

The Show must Go On - The Magic of Frienship

So no shit, there they were, stuck in an ocean of mind-controlled music fanatics that were out to get them. All in all, it ranked pretty high on his ‘Weird-Shit-I-Have-Seen-List’. Still, that could probably wait till they had a quiet moment again, something that didn’t seem so near if he was honest to himself. They were coming from all sides, clawing and grabbing at him and his little companion, not that it really did much against his armor and superstrength. Timber, on the other hand, had already received several scratch marks and some of his hair had been pulled violently from his head, much to his dismay.

This had to be one of the worst situations he had ever found himself in, stormed by a masse of angry and violent people and babysitting for a teenager, not that the teenager had any fault in the matter, really, it just was something else he had to deal with. And then there were the Corrupted that constantly appeared, even if he knocked one out two more would soon take his place anyway. He never signed on for this insanity. They had to been running for over at least ten minutes and had only managed to get three quarters back to the bus of the Rainbooms, probably the safest place they could find in a kilometer wide distance if the rest of the festival was just as affected as the people around them. Judging by the foul mood, everyone had been in today.

As Alchemy shook of another overenthusiastic visitor from his arm he could hear Timber shouting over the crowd: “Why aren’t you just turning into something else that could get us out of here?” Or something like that anyway, was quite hard to understand what he really had said over the constant screams and other noises the controlled people around them excited.

“Simple, that would probably send a good amount of them to the hospital, and that is the best outcome. You know what happens when people get thrown away by the equivalent of a hurricane or get shot at by a boulder? Nothing good I tell you and with these idiots swarming us like this, they are far too close for any of that to not be bad,” he shouted back in annoyance as he slowly continued his walk throw the crowd, occasionally getting the odd idiot off of Timber when he was too stubborn for his own good.

“Dammit!” came as an answer from his companion, desperately trying to shove a young girl away that was currently busy with trying to claw out his eyes. “Why can’t anything be easy for once?” With a loud groan, he shoved the girl off him and right into a group of other people giving them finally an opportunity to advance.

“You get used to it, believe me. But if I’m honest, this is extremely annoying,” Alchemy returned in a mixture of annoyance and exhaustion while punching one of the charging Corrupted right in the face and into a group of angry festival visitors. “When Ocean sent me here I was not expecting that amount of resistance. This is just ridicules.”

“Yeah, at least they are normal people and not just vines. Trust me, vines are the worst, hard to cut and incredibly strong, I rather deal with a crowd of people anyday,” he muttered back, interrupted by a few grunts as he again shock of a few of his assailants.

“I would ask, but right now I strangely don’t care,” Alchemy chuckled back, right before slamming the heads of two Corrupted together like two halves of a cymbal, he could almost imagine the tone if the constant noise wouldn’t overshadow everything, even his own thoughts.

“Yeah, long story,” Timber interrupted his answer to punch one of his pursuers right in the face. “And not in the mode right now for a story, surprising, right?” He jokingly returned, even if there was a bit of nervousness in his voice. “Hey, Alchemy? Do you see that over there?” The boy was pointing at a group of campers, they were apparently getting closer to the musicians part of the area.

“Great idea, this might be our way out of here.” With increased vigor both of them pushed even harder through the crowd, shoving and pushing away whoever got in their way and even the occasional Corrupted attack was quickly dealt with until they finally reached the first camper.

“I don’t think you are going to like this, but get over here for a moment Timber,” Alchemy screamed over the crowd of mind-controlled visitors, hoping that Timber had heard him.

“Sure, give me a moment,” he returned as loud as he could while wrestling with one particular girl that had managed to jump on his back and was unwilling to loosen her grip, try as he might. The increased weight on his shoulders was nothing to scoff at, and if he didn’t find a solution soon, he would probably be overwhelmed. No matter how much he dislikes what he was about to do next he hadn’t really a choice, and with a loud sigh that was quickly overshadowed by the screams of the crowd, he slammed the girl against the wall of the first camper. With a loud thud he could feel the grip of the girl weakening, and with her loud groan, he was certain this would work. Still, he wasn’t done, quickly repeating the process again, the girl almost letting lose completely and with a final slam got her off him, the girl slumping down behind him, unconfessed. “Got it!”

Before he could even realize what was happening, the Rider had grabbed him at the back of his color, and with a swift motion, he found himself in the air, sailing towards the sky. Or that was at least how it felt to him until he firmly landed backside first on the camper and the pain shot through his body. “Ouch! Are you insane? Do you know how much that hurt?” Timber shouted back to Alchemy below him.

“Yeah, save it for later. You should get moving before the Corrupted decide to go after you. The camper will probably only support your weight and if some of the join you up there, well, let’s just say, you should just get moving, see you at the bus,” and without waiting for an answer he rushed of, or as best as he could thanks to the crowd.

Timber was left behind, staring after the Rider in shock, that however didn’t last all that long since the first Corrupted and people were already starting to climb the camper. Realizing this he started to run, straight for the edge of the little camper and closer to the edge with an army of mind-controlled people beneath him. As that thought crossed his mind, he picked up even more speed and with one leap jumped over to the next camper, barely avoiding one of the Corrupted hands that had tried to grab him. Still, even if he escaped the danger on one of them that didn’t mean he was saved just yet, so not wasting any time he continued his sprint towards the next best platform to jump to.

Meanwhile, Alchemy was giving his best to get to the bus, shoving and pushing away everyone that came in his way and actually getting along quite well and a lot faster than with Timber now that he didn’t need to take care of him anymore. “You know, you are all getting really annoying about now,” he sighed as he knocked out the next Corrupted with his fist, not noticing the fact that another one had already sneaked up on him. All of a sudden a sharp pain surged through his body, and he was knocked down to his knees.

This had been the opportunity his pursuers had waited for, and like a bunch of animals they started to pile onto him, the Rider only realizing what was happening as he was already consumed by at least thirty people and Corrupted and the number only grew. It was getting quite heavy under all the body, the pressure pushing the air out of his lungs and light was quickly fading. Alchemy’s eyes were starting to grow heavier with every passing moment, and he could feel the armor slowly starting to fade away, that was until his wild thoughts crossed the images of all the people around him, the girls, Timber and… and Ocean. They all relied on him; he couldn’t be crushed here, not if he had anything to say in it.

With a loud scream, he pulled together all the strength he had left and pushed, pushed and pushed, slowly rising higher and higher. With a final push with an accompanying scream, he finally got back on his feet, the pile of people slowly falling off and with several further steps almost all of them had let go of the Rider, and the last few were quickly dealt with. Still, he was exhausted. Thankfully he wasn’t too far away from his destination, the bus. And out of the corner of his eyes, he could see it already as well as Timber who was frantically running across the roofs of the parkers, pursued by Corrupted and normal people alike.

The bus in question, however, garnered a good amount of attention as well and judging by the crystalline dome above it, that was no wonder really. They were seemingly not the only ones that had escaped the mind-controlled, and if was not completely mistaken he knew exactly who else had escaped it. Filled with new determination, he moved forward even faster, fighting against his fading stamina and the crowd respectively.

Timber had almost reached the save haven as one Corrupted jumped up right in front of him and forced the young man to come to a screeching hold mere meters away from him. The beast looked at him with its large eyes and let out an ear-bursting screech, one that let Timber clutched his hands over his ears and stagger back a few steps, so far even that he could see what was waiting for him below. The Corrupted and people were almost at his hight, only a few seconds away from catching up to him and in front of him was the other Corrupted slowly approaching him. Now it was either do or die, and as much as he hated it, he could not afford to die here. Taking all of his courage he rushed forward again, right into the swinging claws of the Corrupted, or so it seemed at first. However, in the last possible moment, he dodged under the attack of the beast and through its legs, leaving the Corrupted behind him with a rather confused expression on its face.

Not slowing down he rushed forward and jumped to the last platform before the bus. “Rarity, open up!” He bellowed towards the bus, not slowing down as he approached the last jump, still nothing. “Rarity!Open up!” He screamed again, now almost at the edge. The moment he reached the end of the camper he screamed one last time: “Rarity!” as he leaped off the partially save ground and towards the impenetrable force field before him. The moments in the air felt like an eternity, time slowed to a crawl, his heart beating faster and faster, louder than even the crowd below him as he approached the barrier. Then it happened, a small opening, right before him and suddenly time returned to normal, Timber landing safely on the roof of the bus, sighing in relive, the barrier quickly closing behind him again.

Alchemy could see how the boy disappeared into the bus, the Rider continuing his way towards the save bus, and he had almost reached it, only three Corrupted really stood in his way anymore. He had to deal with them first before he could even think about joining the girls and Timber inside. The three monsters charged towards him, thankfully, just as uncoordinated as before, Alchemy easily dodging the first and giving him a little kick in the back as he passed by. The second basically ran directly into his fist and was knocked out cold. The last one was the most tricky, wildly slashing at him so that he had to dodge without getting in any counter-attack, it was even so bad that he got pushed back a few meters. He couldn’t afford that now, as he was reading himself to avoid the next attack, that however didn’t come. The hand of the Corrupted remained where it was, much to its confusion. Alchemy didn’t take long till he snapped out of his shook and knocked the Corrupted out cold with a well-placed punch.

Now finally at the barrier, it quickly faded away to let him in, closing behind him just as fast. He let out a loud groan as he opened the door to the bus, he was done. Inside he could see the seven girls, all in their special magical clothes and Timber. “Hey Girls, thanks for the help,” he weakly replied, letting himself fall onto one of the sets. “So, how is it going? Are you ok?” What followed was a rather confused look on their faces and after that a confused nod. “Good, so any idea how we can get out of this shitshow?”

Silence filled the room for a few seconds until Twilight slowly stepped forward and started: “Well, we thought about flying out of here, but we have only three flyers, and we can all just carry one and didn’t want to leave anyone behind, so sadly, no, sorry,” Twilight returned, as fast as she could, he could definitely see her worries and fear on open display, but she kept it in.

“Ok, so you can get six people out of here. Ok, so we just need something for the other three. There might be a way. Hey, Rarity?” The girl looked up from her task of keeping the shield up and towards the Rider. “Do you think your barrier could contain my transformation?”

The girl looked to him with an unsure expression that was quickly replaced with her usual determination. “Sure darling, but are you sure about this, I can’t hold up two of them at once, I would have to undo the first one.”

“One hundred percent sure. Twilight, Fluttershy and Rainbow, you go get Sunset, Pinkie and Applejack and head to the roof. The moment the shield falls you’ll get into the air, and to a safe place, I’ll take Timber and Rarity? You can do that?” The girls nodded in agreement. “Good, then Rarity, the moment they are all on the roof you encase me in your shield and don’t let it break.” Rarity nodded in return.

Like planed the moment the last of the girls had left the bus Rarity shifted her shield towards Alchemy who quickly removed his Magic Disc and replaced it with a far more useful one.

\ WIND DISC ACTIVATED! /

And like always a strong emerald wind consumed the Rider, just this time it was held back by Rarity. She pushed as hard as she could, feeling the barrier slowly crack under the immense pressure. She couldn’t keep it up, it would crack, it was just too much. No! No, she couldn’t give up now, if she did this would all fail and her friends wouldn’t get away, she couldn’t be weak now! She kept pushing and pushing, more and more cracks appearing on the diamond-like barrier, but it did not break. Then it shattered, but thankfully the only thing that came towards her was a weak breast, she had done it, and with that she collapsed into unconsciousness, her limp body sailing towards the floor. However before she could hit it, she was caught in the hands of Alchemy, his white scarf flowing in the leftover wind. “You did great Rarity, couldn’t have done it better myself!” He smiled under his helmet and with Timber jumping on his back the three of them quickly ascended, just as the crowd cam crashing through the windows of the bus, trying to get ahold of them. However, the Rider was already far to high up and quickly taking off towards the sky.

Under them they could see the festival, thousands of people were swarming in on the bus that they had resided in mere moments ago. So many people robbed of their free will, who was powerful enough to pull something like this of, or better even who was twisted enough to strip these people of that what made them who they are and force them to do their bidding? Whoever it was, he couldn’t let this continue, but right now he had more pressing matters. First and foremost, finding a good hiding spot to get a bit of a break, all of this had left him rather tired. Thankfully there was a forest nearby, and it seemed the other girls were thinking exactly what he was thinking, also heading for the ocean of trees. However, this wasn’t over, he might have had to flee, but he would put an end to this, no matter what!

Unbeknownst to them, however, three girls were watching their daring escape, venom flowing through Adagios veins as she processed what had just happened in front of her. “Dammit! Why? Why do they always have so much luck?” She growled at her two sisters, slamming her hand against one of the campers in frustration.

“I did warn you about the Kamen Riders,” Sonata returned annoyed that no one had listened to her again.

“Shut up Sonata!” Adagio spat back, the anger burning in her eyes. “Not a single word or I will rip your tongue out, did you get that?” Sonata quickly nodded while taking a few steps back from her sister.

“Don’t worry, they come back. They won’t let these people behind,” Aria added with a wicked smile.

“Yeah, you are right, they won’t. And when they return they will regret it to ever have crossed paths with us,” she hissed back, a devilish smile crossing her lips before she headed back towards their crowd.

--------------<

With a loud sigh he finally landed, it was great to have safe ground under them again. Carefully he sat Rarity down, who was still out of it after what she just had managed to pull off, all while Timber jumped from his back.

“I’m so done for today,” Alchemy sighed as he let himself slump against one of the trees, letting his head hang down like a wet towel. Before Timber could even realize what was happening, Alchemy was already grabbing his Magic Disc and yanked it from its rightful place on the Driver. The magical armor quickly faded away and revealed a very exhausted Phoenix.

The girls looked at the Rider in shock and surprise, some even unable to close their mouths after what they had just witnessed, especially Timber. Silence covered the small clearing they had found, only disturbed through Phoenix’s heavy breathing.

“You found me!” Was all it needed to completely ruin this moment of peace and confusion as Pinkie jumped up rushed over the Phoenix and smiled at the exhausted man who merely chuckled.

“Yeah, seems like it Pinkie,” Pheonix finally returned, an exhausted smile on his lips. “And I’m damn grateful for it. Goodness knows what would have happened to you if I wouldn’t have found you.” The girls were still staring at him like he just crawled out of a UFO, but to be honest, he really couldn’t blame them.

“You are Alchemy!” From Sunset was what ultimately snapped the girls out of their confusion.

“Yeah, I’m. Not really who you would expect, am I right?” He returned, slowly teaching his body trying to find a comfortable position to lean against the tree.

The girls all shook their head in unison. “No, sorry, not really. You are just so, so…”

“Chaotic, messy, forgetful, lazy? Yeah, you are right, I couldn’t have found a better disguise,” he snickered. “But, in all honesty, I don’t think ill of you for not getting it.”

“That explains way too much,” Twilight stuttered, staring at Phoenix. “The fact that you always are around Ocean, that you know my brother, that Alchemy was always near when you were around. It all makes way to much sense.”

“Hehe, yeah, exactly that. But I assume you have way more questions, right girls?” The only response he received was wild nodding, and so he started with a light chuckle. So he told them everything, started with his origin and the origin of the Driver, how he became a Kamen Rider and the short version of what had happened after that, careful to leave out Timbers involvement in the whole thing, that was his decision to reveal, not his.

The girls listened carefully and actually let him finish before they started to bombard him with questions. The first one was one he had already expected, just not in the way the girls did ask it. “You are also from Equestria?”

“Yeah, something like that. I’m pretty much mostly human, my ancestors were from… Wait, what do you mean with also?” He looked over to Rainbow who had asked the question, now actively staring at him, probably just as confused as he looked.

“Well, I’m from Equestria,” came from the other direction and as Phoenix spun around, he looked over to Sunset.

“No way, you are from Equestria? I can’t believe it. So, how did you get here, I’m sure you didn’t have any magical discs to help you,” he returned, now it was his turn to be shocked.

“Well, there is a magical mirror right in the courtyard of Canterlot High I used to get here. A lot has happened since then, became a school bully, turned into what you would describe as a Corrupted, got defeated, became friends with these girls here,” she shortly stopped to smile at her friends. “Then we defeated the Sirens from Equestria that could control people with their music…”

“You know that this sounds oddly familiar,” Phoenix added. “You don’t think?”

“Well, we let them go and with so much magic on the loss… Could be,” Sunset sighed as she looked in the direction where the festival would be.

“Great, ok, so we might know who is responsible for this, would also explain why the crowd was so focused on you. We probably should call Ocean, I could use a bit of help for this,” he sighed and started to rummage through his pockets only to freeze midmotion after a few seconds. “Fuck, fuck, fuck, that can’t be! No, dammit, I forgot my phone…” He slammed his hand right against his forehead in frustration. “Say, one of you wouldn’t have one I could borrow?”

The girls and Timber quickly started to search their own pockets only to start panicking as well. “Where is my phone? Where is my baby!?” Rarity was the first to scream, frantically searching every pocket she had again.

“Maybe the crowd took them, as they attacked us…” Came from Sunset, she sounded drained and defeated. “So, calling for backup is out it seems…”

“Great, so we could look for the next town and…” Phoenix was about to say before he was interrupted by Sunset.

“And leave these people here under their control? You know what they might do with them, or if this turns into a complete army of Corrupted?” She looked worried, that much was sure.

“Yeah, dammit. So, no reinforcements and alone against an army of Corrupted… Sounds fun.”

“Alone? You are not going in there alone, we are going to help!” Rainbow was the first to object, raising her fist skywards in anticipation, but the rest of the girls nodded in agreement.

“I don’t think that is such a good…”

“We can fight as well, just let us rainbow-blast this Corrupted in the face, and you will see that we can stand our ground on a battlefield!” Rainbow continued, the other girls agreeing again.

“Yeah!” Pinkie screamed from behind the rest.

“Let me guess, leaving you here is not going to work?” The girls all shook their head in unison. “Ok, got it. But be careful, we don’t know what we are really dealing with here, so no stupid ideas or reckless charges, that is my job,” he chuckled, which actually got the girls in on it as well. “So, any ideas what we are going to do to start the counter attack?”

He looked into a group of silent girls, staring at him not entirely sure what to say. That was until Sunset spoke up again. “Before we go start to get a plan together, there is still one thing I would like to ask you, why?”

“Why what?” He looked at her with a quite confused expression and waiting for an answer.

“You kept your identity a secret for so long, even when you were with us so why reveal yourself now?”

“Exactly,” came from Rainbow, Phoenix quickly glancing over to her.

“Well, in all honesty, I hadn’t really planned for it, but I’m just to exhausted to keep this charade up right now, sorry. And a close friend once told me that sometimes trusting someone will reward you with their trust. I can trust you, you tried to protect the city on so many different occasions, and I’m thankful for it. And who knows, it might pay off one day,” he smirked while leaning back against the tree.

That left them stunned again, but not for too long until Twilight spoke up again: “Thanks Phoenix. Trusting others is important if you don’t do that you will just end up alone and with no one to help you when the going gets tough.” Her friends joined in with grunts and nodding, he just smirked in return.

“Yeah, you really remind me of Ocean and my other friends in a way, reliable and always with the right words just around the corner. Kinda glad I don’t have to hold up the secrecy around you anymore. So, I think we should get back to the planning. So, any ideas how we are going to get back in there?”

--------------<

The sun was almost at its zenith as Phoenix woke up the next day, having talked and planed until late into the night. The clearing didn’t really look that much different from before, just that the girls were already awake and discussing something he couldn’t quite make out over the constant sound of music. Wait, music? He immediately jumped up, carefully eyeing their surroundings to figure out where the strange music was coming from.

“Relax Phoenix, the music is coming from the stage at the festival. Seems our enemy wants attention or something like that,” Rainbow screamed over to him, it took a few moments for him to grasp what she had said and he merely nodded. “So, ready to kick some monster butt?” She continued, slamming her fist in the open palm of her hand in anticipation.

“Well, we can’t really let them have a party without us, especially if they give us such a nice invitation,” he returned with a light chuckle. “Ok, get up, we got a few thousand people to save.”

Like on command all seven of the girls rose off the ground and were about to head out as Timber called out for Phoenix. “Come on, take me with you, I can help!”

“Timber, I know you want to help, but you don’t have any way of fighting these Corrupted. I know it sucks for you, but if anything goes wrong, Ocean will notice far too late. She should be already suspicious anyway since I didn’t call her yesterday like we agreed on, but I need you to inform her what is happening here. You are the only one that can do it, I trust you. So don’t play the hero and throw away your life, play the part that has been assigned to you, your time will come, but until then you have to help the way you can,” Phoenix finished with a strange level of confidence and determination in his voice, it almost reminded himself of Ocean. Timber meanwhile nodded and let the Rider and his friends leave the clearing and walk towards their destination.

The plan was simple, find the Corrupted responsible for all of this, and beat him. It wasn’t really that complex of a plan, but it was a plan nonetheless. The moment they left the forest they again ascended into the air on wings or though Rider powers, heading straight for the stage of the festival. As they passed the festival area, they could see that all the people had gathered around the stage that was still blurting out music to the mindless crowd. It was a terrifying image, a see of people, completely silent and motionless, surrounded by a wasteland of campers and tents, all abandoned.

The closer they got to the stage, the louder the music became, it was the same music Phoenix had heard in his sleep the day before. There was no doubt now, he knew who was responsible for this, especially as they could make out who could be seen on the large screen of the stage, the three girls from that night, the three sirens. All three were singing like angles. Still, the song was just as repulsive as the first time, not even a beautiful voice could fix that.

No one interrupted their flight on the way there, safely landing on the stage, right in front of the Dazzlings. “Oh, who decided to finally show up, you are almost late to your gig Rainbooms,” Adagio said with a bright and vicious smirk on her lips.

“Hey, didn’t you hear, your show is canceled. Now, if just give up now we don’t have to go through this again…”

But before he could finish Adagio started to laugh loudly. “Oh, you are a delight. Giving up? Are you insane? We have the upper hand, and the fun is only just beginning!” With that, the three girls were covered in bright light which quickly faded to reveal their new monstrous forms.

They all looked pretty much alike, all like bipedal horses clad in armor that looked remarkably similar to ancient Fleece, just in their respective colors. What however struck him as odd was the fin-like extinctions on their back. Adagio wielded a black broadsword with a golden handle, Sonata two small dangers in the and Aria a sword and a shield. The three stood before him, and he could almost swear he heard a silent nigh from them.

“Get to the equipment, I’m going to handle this here,” he said to the girls who didn’t waste any time and rushed past the Dazzlings who just let them to their surprise. “Somehow.”

“Oh, try as you might, but today we will be victorious,” Adagio smirked and without even a second between her finishing and anything else she rushed towards Alchemy, swinging her sword directly at his head. Meanwhile, Alchemy had removed the Magic disc from his Driver and turned it into its weapon form.

\ Wind Disc Attack Mode! /

\ Hurrican Bow! /

Before she could hit him, he jumped off the stage and towards the ocean of mind-controlled festival visitors, however instead of falling he just started to ascend, letting off a few arrows at his attacker, all quickly being blocked by her sword.

“Ha, not so high and might now Horsevoice,” he smugly returned, much to the annoyance of Adagio. But that was when he noticed that he had lost track of her two sisters. And just as if on cue they did appear, right behind him, both managing to get a hit in on the Rider, letting him cry out in agony.

“You can fly? Not fair!” Alchemy shouted back at them, turning around to block the next attack from Aria with his bow.

“Pot meat cattle,” came it from behind as he felt another slash across his armor, sparks spraying from the attack and as he turned around to face his assailant, he was quickly smacked down by the next attack of Adagio, landing rather unceremoniously on the stage. The three Corrupted landing around him, weapons were drawn and pointed straight at him. The girls could only see glimpses of it since they were way to busy with their set up to pay any attention to the fight that was taking place just a few meters away from them.

“Well, that didn’t work how about this!”

\ WATER DISC ACTIVATED! /

The sirens charged towards him but were quickly sent back by the force of the water around him that had changed his armor into its dark blue variant. Not even wasting a second he had already removed the Water Disc again and started to transmute it into its other form.

\ Water Disc Attack Mode! /

\ Wave Trident! /

With weapon in hand, he charged towards the sirens, quickly dodging the attacks they were throwing at him, first Aria with a powerful swing of her sword, the several of Sonatas quick stabs and lastly Aria with a decisive stab to where his hearth would be. After evading the last attack, he quickly spun around and knocked the girls back before impaling his weapon in the ground, letting a dark blue seal appear beneath him.

The moment the Corrupted had regained their composure they again rushed towards the Rider. When they were mere meters away from he a loud snap of his fingers echoed through the air, and the seal under him started to glow in dark blue light. “Abyssal Whirlpool!” A vortex of water started to suck them in and dragged them towards Alchemy who was already waiting for them with his weapon, what he however not expected was Sonata, quickly jumping towards him and slashing him across his chest, letting the whirlpool vanish into thin air as the Rider staggered back.

“Hah, gotcha!” She let out a happy yelp, almost like it was just a game for her.

“Oh, I’m not done yet!” He returned, reaching for the next Disc on his belt.

\ EARTH DISC ACTIVATED! /

The rocks that were tossed away after his transformation knocked at least Sonata back a few feet and almost hit the Raimbooms what quickly got Rainbow to shout: “Hey, watch out there, we are working here!”

“Sorry,” he added hastily while removing the Disc from his Driver again.

\ Earth Disc Attack Mode! /

\ Boulder Shield! /

The shield had appeared in his hands and not a second too late as the first attack rained already down upon it, the Rider easily managing to withstand the pressure and even managed to knock his attacker back. “Ha, try to get through this,” he mocked the Corrupted who promptly ignored him and rushed towards him again in an attempt to overwhelm him.

But before any of them came even close to him, he had already thrown the shield and knocked Adagio of her feet, the shield returning just in time to block Sonatas next attack, Alchemy following up with a swift kick to her stomach, sending her flying as well.

Aria, on the other hand, provided a bigger challenge, she quickly struck down on to him, so weak even that he managed to push forward and try to give her one with his shield. Big mistake as she sidestepped him, blocked his shield with her own and with her sword disarmed the Rider in a swift motion, the shield landing sever meters away from him.

What followed was Aria unleashing Tartarus on him, slashing him across the chest multiple times with no chance to fight back, in the end even so strongly that he was sent back flying, thankfully landing next to his weapon. Sending the shield out one last time he managed to at least get her halted in her tracks as hse blocked the incoming projectile, meanwhile already fetching the next Magic Disc. The moment his weapon returned he was already about to transform again.

\ THUNDER DISC ACTIVATED! /

Sonata had tried to sneak up on the Rider. However, she had not expected one of the bolts of electricity that protected him during his transformation to strike out and hit her. What she expected even less was Alchemy flashing to her and punching her right into the face and firmly cementing her to the ground. With Sonata dealt with for now he removed his Disc again and started the change.

\ Thunder Disc Attack Mode! /

\ Thunder Tonfa! /

While all of this had transpired Aria had already crossed the gap between them and started her counterattack. The Rider however easily walked out of the way, and within seconds the siren was thrown back several meters after receiving several swift punches with his weapons.

Things were finally starting to look brighter as he looked after the flying siren, chuckling a bit under his helmet. That was a mistake since he failed to notice the massive sword that was heading for his head. Only in the last split-second did, he realizes what was transpiring behind him and dashed out of the way, or at least tried, the sword still gazing his helmet, complete with sparks.

As he came to a screeching hold again, he quickly turned around and rushed off towards her with his superhuman speed. Before she could even rais her weapon again, he had already managed to circle her and with a swift motion of his arms managed to hit her right in the side, letting the siren cry out in pain. She even couldn’t really register what was going on as she was again punched in the gut and send flying into the stage, a few meters away from the Rainbooms. Rainbow this time merely sighing in annoyance, but ultimately remained silent.

That was when he felt a sharp pain in his back, quickly followed by something heavy landing on his back and letting him stagger forward. “Huy, this is fun. Go horsey, go, go!” Sonata chippered from his back in a disgustingly happy tone. Alchemy was resisting every step of the way, trying to get the Corrupted of his shoulders, but she remained there, only letting her dangers dig deeper into his armor, complete with singing, unbearable pain.

That was when he had finally enough, jumping up and deliberately landing on his back trying to crush the monster on his back. He did manage to get her off. However, that also meant that he could feel the dangers sting one last excruciating time. Staggering back to his feet he replaced his Disc with his last. If this wouldn’t work, he knows this would not end. Hopefully, the girls managed to get their setup done in time.

\ FLAME DISC ACTIVATED! /

The flames that surrounded his body were strangely comforting, and the moment his armor had taken on its new form he rushed towards the Siren, Disc in hand.

\ Flame Disc Attack Mode! /

\ Flame Saber! /

Sonata didn’t react fast enough to avoid the slash of Alchemy’s first weapon which sent her flying back again, landing with a loud groan. Aria was the next to attack, trying to hit him with her shield, Alchemy managing to block the attack with his sword and quickly followed up with a kick into her stomach. As she was stumbling backward he started to spin the Disc on his weapon, fire gathering around the blade with a smirk under his helmet he dashed forward. “Flaming Slash!” A loud scream coming from Aria as she felt the burning blade slash across her chest, falling to her knees. But Alchemy wasn’t done just yet, spinning around and with one strike managed to hit her in the back again.

That was however where his second wind ended as he was forced off his feet by a powerful shockwave that hat hit him from the side, sending him sailing through the air and landing on his back, one of his Magic Discs landing right in front of him. It was the spare, the empty one, the useless one. Pain was surging through his body, not even able to lift himself up from the ground anymore, try as he might. The three sirens gloating over him as Adagio finally started: “See, pointless, Kamen Rider. You are just as weak as everyone else. You should have just stayed out of it, you know. Maybe even joined us, but this is where your show ends,” she smugly stated, only to be interrupted by a loud.

“We got it!” And a subsequent shockwave that let the Dazzlings stumble back a bit. The Rainbooms had finally managed to set up their equipment, not a second too late he might add. “Now it’s time to show you how it’s done,” Rainbow smirked and started to play her guitar, all of the other girls followed suit and joined in with their instruments. Not even seconds later the Dazzlings were bombarded with small ethereal diamonds, butterflies, rainbows and so much more. And it seemed the girls were actually able to pull it off, the sirens crying out in agony and slowly being pushed back. The magic that was emitting from them was something he had never before felt, it was warm, but not hot, he felt drawn to it, almost like steel to a magnet. He could have watched that magic all day long, it was just so beautiful and special.

He could have if it weren’t for the fact that the Dazzlings were pushing through, the screams had slowly ebbed down and had been replaced with an unnerving canceling from them, and they slowly advanced towards the girls, seemingly unimpressed with everything they were throwing at them.

“Girls, it’s not working!” Twilight cried out, desperation in her voice.

“Try harder!” Was all Rainbow shouted back in return.

No, it couldn’t end like this, this had to work. He couldn’t fail here, everyone was relying on and trusting him, he couldn’t betray that trust. His eyes frantically darted across the stage for any way of saving this mess, then they stopped on the blank Disc. Memories of his first day as a Kamen Rider came back to him, how he had created the first Disc. Then an idea began to form in his head, one so insane it might just work. “Girls! Attack me instead of them!”

“What? Are you insane?” Sunset shouted back to him, her expression a mixture of exhaustion and desperation.

“Just do it! Trust me on this!” Alchemy shouted back, the girls look in his direction for one last time before nodding and changing the direction of their attacks directed at him. While this was happening, Alchemy had lunged forward with all his strength and had gotten hold of the Disc, holding it in front of him, right into the attack of the girls. The entire stage was consumed in a bright purple light, making it impossible for anyone to see.

It took a moment until the light died down, revealing Alchemy shakily standing on his feet, holding the Disc in front of him. However, there was something different about it; it had taken on a new form and color, now resembling a pink six-pointed star with a similar weight one underneath it. “You!” he pointed at the sirens that stared at him with confused looks. “You are going down. All these people here have to keep moving forward towards a bright future, but you, you keep them chained down. I’m going to break these chains, with this!” With the last word, he slammed the Disc into his Driver and started to spin his new artifact.

\ FRIENDSHIP DISC ACTIVATED! /

He was consumed by a whirlwind of southing purple and pink that eliminated the stage. After the light had faded it reviled Alchemy in a new form, the red of his armor had been replaced with purple, and the golden accents of his armor had been changed into a pristine pink. His shoulders looked seemed to resemble waves, of pink and purple energy and his horns were stylized similar, with pink and purple overlapping waves. Two pink eyes stared at the three Corrupted before him.

Alchemy slowly made a step forward, his body felt better than ever, he had never felt such energy surge through his body. There was no doubt in his mind now, he would win this fight. For the Raibooms, for Timber, for everyone here… and for Ocean. He had to win, and there was no way he would lose now.

With newfound determination he suddenly rushed towards the Corrupted, taking them completely by surprise. The first punch sends Sonata flying, without even much effort required on his part. Aria was the next to follow, knocking her shield out of her hand and when she swung her sword at him, he just floated back, hovering several meters in the air before rushing back and delivering a devastating punch to her stomach.

That was when Adagio had enough. This costumed freak would not ruin her chance at revenge, she would not be denied that. Gathering all her strength, she unleashed her shockwave, filled with music notes at the Rider. He saw what she was doing out of the corner of his eye and removed his magic Disc from his Driver and thrust it into the direction the attack was coming from. The moment the attack and the Disc meat the stage was again consumed by purple light.

\ Friendship Disc Attack Mode! /

\ Connect Protector! /

Out of the smoke came Alchemy, now a shield in hand, formed exactly like the Magic Disc itself, minus something sticking out from behind it. Without as much as a word, he pulled the strange thing out of from behind the should, revealing a sword, with a handle identical to the form of the shield. The pristine white blade of his sword gleamed as he dashed forward with it, cutting apart the attacks Adagio was throwing at him with ease. The Corrupted was starting to panic as Alchemy came closer and closer, striking at him with her broadsword. The Rider however countered with a sword strike of his very own, cut her bled in half and finished off with a strike towards her chest, the blade glowing a menacing purple as it cut across her chest and right through her armor like butter.

A loud scream came from her as she felt the warm steal across her flesh, sparks, and lighting flying everywhere as she fell to her knees, the pain almost robbing her of her consciousness, but she couldn’t stop here, not after she had come so far.

That was when she heard to more screams, one of her sisters, but not of pain, but out of desperation and determination. Both of them were rushing at Alchemy from behind with their weapons and were mere inches away from his face as the Rider held out his hand and a purple seal appears in the air. At that moment the two Corrupted just stopped in mid-air, unable to move a muscle. Alchemy regarded them for a moment before slashing across their chests with his weapon, sending them both sailing over to their sister.

Alchemy looked at the squirming Corrupted for before slowly walking over towards them shifting his sword back into the shield and turning both backs into their Disc form. “Sirens, you used the powers that were bestowed upon you to attack others, take away their freedom and turned them into monsters. By the magic that was bestowed upon me, I deem you unworthy of your powers and will now take them from you!” While he spoke, he placed the Disc back into the Driver and with a firm swipe of his hand started to spin the magical device again.

\ Friendship Disc Maximum Power! /

Around the sirens, six seals appeared and before they had any chance to even do so much as to lift a finger, purple chains made out of magic shoot forth from them, restraining the Corrupted and neatly putting them in a line. Meanwhile, Alchemy was ascending seemingly floating, before he stopped and with surprising speed rushed towards the sirens, his leg glowing in bright purple, extended for a kick. A bright explosion consumed the stage, even being so high that it reached higher than it only to quickly fade and reveal three girls with strange coins lying next to them. All of them were gold and had the emblem of a fish-horse hybrid on them; Alchemy levitated them towards his hand and tightly held onto them.

While he had been focusing on the sirens, he had missed the fact that with them defeated the crowd had stopped crying and screaming and had become quiet. As he looked over his shoulder, he could see them returning to normal, Corrupted and not Corrupted alike.

“That was, awesome!” Rainbow shouted. “Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh. Can you do that again, all the slashing and music and, oh that was just so cool,” she labeled on, running up the Rider, who was sheepishly rubbing the back of his head.

“Glad you liked it, but I think I should leave now before they actually understand what is going on. Would be a nightmare to turn back. I have to make a phone call anyway,” with that waved towards the girls and walked off behind the stage, leaving the Rainbooms with the rest. Not like he would just abandon them here, just make a quick call, grab Timber and then head back, he was sure they could handle it, and if everything else failed, they could just play a song, that was what they were best at, or something like this. He smirked as he turned back, put the Driver back into his pocket and marveled at the new Disc in his position, Thunder would go mental over this. But that didn’t matter right now, he had something to do after all.

--------------<

The wind was blowing through his hair with a warm spring breeze as he was standing at the edge of the observatory, looking down at Canterlot City. The sun had almost seat, and the sky was drenched a bright orange, eliminating the city below him in a beautiful light. It was a breathtaking view; really, the city looked so peaceful, letting you forget entirely what might be lurking in it at this moment.

Pulling out his phone he checked the time, she should be here any minute from now. His breath was heavier than usual, and he shifted the weight of his body constantly. He had to be honest with himself, he was nervous. Worse than when fighting a monster, worse than when he had faced the Dazzlings, and worse even than he had felt when he had faced Alkahest, Phoenix was completely scared of what would soon follow.

Phoenix was snapped out of his thoughts by the sounds of an engine that was steadily coming closer and closer. When he turned around, he could see Ocean dismounting her bike and seeing her long flowing hair dark and light blue hair flow in the wind. “So, what is it that you wanted to talk to me about? If it is about the Timber thing, don’t worry, I’m not mad anymore. Not your best decision, but not your worst either.”

He smiled back at her and shook his head before beginning: “No, no, that’s not it. By the way, it’s good to see you again, kinda missed your snarkiness.”

“And I kinda missed your insanity,” she smirked back.

“Meh, if we both weren’t insane we would probably strangle us already,” he shrugged getting a good chuckle out of her.

“Ok, you win, that one was good. But anyway, you already told me what happened at the festival yesterday, or did you left anything out?” She looked at him with a raised eyebrow and eying him carefully.

“Yeah, you are right on that part. I could only win through this,” he pulled out his newest Disc out of his pocket and held it out towards her.

“Wait, a new Disc? I thought you already had all five of them together?” She burst out at once, then quickly looked around to see if anyone had heard her.

“Yeah, thought the same, but in all honesty, it was always suspected that there was something Fools Gold missed if there wasn’t he would be standing right here, wouldn’t he?” Ocean slowly nodded. “I wanted to thank you, for all of it. Without you, I would have never managed to get this far. I trust you, you are a good friend, one I would not like to miss, that is why I’ll give you the data. That’s a promise.”

Silence, that was all that followed. Ocean was standing there, her mouth open and staring at Phoenix as he stared at the Disc, a smile across his face. “You are doing what?”

“I’ll let Ivory study this thing as much as he wants to,” he calmly returned.

“Why? You said countless times that you don’t trust the MRG, what changed?”

“Oh, nothing, but I trust you, and after the last few days I learned that you sometimes have to trust someone even if it might appear stupid.”

That got a light chuckle from Ocean. “Seems I might have rubbed off on you. Thanks that will make fighting Corrupted far easier.”

“Oh, you wouldn’t believe. Just wait till you see that Disc in action, you will be amazed. But there was something else I wanted to ask you,” he quietly added.

“Oh, what is it? Another new form that we can study?” She looked at him with a smile on her lips as she stepped closer. “Just ask.”

“Probably should have done that before I gave my promise to let you study the Disc…” he muttered quietly.

Ocean raised an eyebrow and returned somewhat perplexed. “What? What would be so bad of a question that you wanted to bribe me?”

“Ahm, you see, well, I…” He stuttered, his eyes shifting from one place to the next. Ocean now raised both of her eyebrows. Phoenix took one last deep breath and finally said: “Do you want to go on a date with me?”

That one broke Ocean, she just stared at him with an open mouth for at least a good thirty seconds, unable to process what she had just heard. Then the blushing started, both of them looked like tomatoes so crimson were their faces.

“I… I shouldn’t have asked, of course not. Why would you,” Phoenix finally sighed, letting his head hang low and was about to run off as something grabbed hold of his hand.

“You idiot.” Phoenix stared at a smiling Ocean. “Of course I want to go on a date with you. Why wouldn’t I?” She smiled at him, her head still as red as his.

“You… you would?” He stammered back, a smile overtaking his lips.

“I just said that you idiot,” she laughed back.

He quickly joined in: “Yeah, you did. Sorry, I’m just a bit shocked. Thanks, thanks so much.”

“Well, you could make it up for me if you don’t ruin the date,” she jokingly added.

“Oh, don’t tempt me,” he devilishly returned, both sharing a loud laugh. They remained there for a while longer, standing over the city and holding hands.

--------------<

Meanwhile on a stage several kilometers away a man in dark brown jacket with a hat was casually eyeing the signs of a battle. His short black hair was flowing in the wind, at least as much as his hat would allow it. His grey skin was almost invisible in the shadow of the stage.

“Well, it seems our friend has finally managed to stumble upon the Magic of Friendship. About time I would say. I was already worried that we would never get it,” he grumbled as he rummaged through the pockets of his jacket. “Ah, here it is.” He pulled out a blank white disc, looking exactly like the ones Phoenix possessed.

“Move, we don’t have all day. I don’t want to get any company,” a low voice said from seemingly out of nowhere.

“Yeah, yeah, I got it,” he huffed back and pointed the Disc at the stage. At first, nothing seemed to happen until dark purple energy started to rise up from the ground and towards the device. After every last drop of it had been sucked in, he sighed loudly: “Of course it’s not enough.”

“Don’t worry, the idiot will provide us with enough magic to fill a Disc, if he is dumb enough to use it excessively and judging from what we know of him, he is just that kind of idiot,” the voice from the off chuckled.

“Yeah, you are right. We just have to finish up the second set, and we are ready for the next phase,” he chuckled as he looked at several Magic Discs, some finished, some even two times and some still blank. “Soon, soon,” he muttered before sneaking off the stage again, avoiding anyone that was crossing by.

Author's Note

Well, and with that, we have reached Phoenix's super form. I have waited to write this chapter since the start and it shows. I'm actually really satisfied with how this turned out.

Like always, criticism and comments are very much welcome.

A Matter of Family - Of Fire and Water

Ocean was frantically walking up and down her apartment, picking up different stuff she had thrown all over the place to make herself ready, shoving it all into a small black purse as fast as he could, all while almost shouting into her phone. She wore a short black dress with matching shoes a golden necklace and of course her trusty belt buckle, she would be stupid to leave the house without it. Her apartment, however, was all other than neat and representable, it was an unholy mess. Bottles of makeup, a can of hairspray, a brush and all sorts of stuff randomly thrown around the place like a hurricane had gone through it.

“Don’t worry Ocean; everything is going to be fine. You had four days to prepare for this, you’ll do just fine. And in all honesty, Phoenix isn’t the guy to be picky. You know him, just be yourself and it’ll all work out in the end,” Ivory was trying to calm her down over the phone for the last half hour already, and he was starting to get to his breaking point.

“Yeah, I know, still, what if everything just turns to shit, or we have a Corrupted attack, or reality starts to tear itself apart again and hundreds of monsters start to pour into our world from goodness knows where.”

“Ok, now you are getting ridiculous. Relax Ocean; worrying about what might go wrong will just make everything worse. Just do it like Phoenix does it, go with the flow, don’t think about the consequences and concentrate what is right in front of you,” he tried again, his voice now a mixture of desperation and annoyance.

“Easier said than done, I’m just not like him. I think, he does not, ok maybe not so much, but the point still stands. I can’t stop thinking about what might go wrong, that is my job,” she returned, wrinkles forming on her forehead.

From the other end of the line, she suddenly could hear loud grunts, silent curses and the sound of a struggle. Before Ocean could even ask what was going on over there, she received an answer through the deep voice of Onyx. “Ok, I have watched this long enough. You! You will stop worrying about this right now, you are not on duty, you don’t have to babysit Phoenix, as much as he sometimes seems like he needs a babysitter. He asked you out, he wanted this, he knows you, and it’s all up to you. It only matters if you like him, so you’ll go out there and get him. Don’t let him slip through your fingers if you really want him. That is an order!”

Ocean just stared blankly at her phone, not entirely sure how to respond to this for a few seconds. That was until she finally started to laugh, receiving a sigh of reliving from the other side. “Got it, sir, operation ‘Get-a-boyfriend’ is now in session,” she chuckled back.

Onyx merely sighed in return: “How often did I tell you to not call me… ah, this once I’ll allow it. Oh, and if anyone is going to you get in your way, make sure you deal with them, especially Corrupted. You deserve that, and no low life scum will take this day away from you, got it?” He chuckled back at her.

“Got it,” she grunted back, her worries having been washed away, at least for now. “Thanks, Onyx; what would I do without you, all of you.”

“Probably going insane because the thought of a date scares you,” Ivory jokingly added from the background.

Ocean rolled her eyes and continued: “So, I think I should be going then, I don’t want let him wait after all. Seeya!” The two men on the other end of the line repeated her goodbye and hung up on her. She was almost through the door as she noticed one last thing on the counter of her kitchen she wanted to take with her. A small battery like device mixed in with purple. She quickly sprinted over there, grabbed it, took a deep breath one last time and headed out the door to her first date with Phoenix.

--------------<

Meanwhile, in another part of the city, a quite similar picture could be observed. Phoenix was rummaging through an even greater mess than Ocean had. A random assessment of clothes, deodorant, and Tartarus-knows-what else was thrown around the living room without any rhyme or reason to it. Meanwhile, Thunder and Summer were sitting on one of the chairs next to the table and were either laughing or shaking their head with a look of utter defeat on the faces.

“Thunder, did you see my shirt? The one I had on when I went with Rarity to that fashion show?” He shouted over to his brother, who took a few moments to understand what his brother had said.

“Well, you wouldn’t really need my help if you would have just asked me to get you something representable, but no, Mr. ‘I can do this on my own’ didn’t do that. Seriously, what do you even know about the art of design and cloth? Nothing!” Thunder started to complain, much to the amusement of Summer and the annoyance of Phoenix.

“Yeah, yeah. I have committed crimes against fashion, countless times. I get it; you don’t have to rub it in man. But right now I just want to know where the stupid shirt is, can you just tell me where it is? Please?” His annoyance quickly shifted to desperate pleading as he threw away the next piece of clothing that was not what he was looking for.

With a loud sigh, he stood up from his comfortable chair and walked over to his brother. “Ok, I’m helping you search.”

“And I thought you would know where every bit of clothing is in this apartment, I’m kinda disappointed,” Phoenix jokingly replied, nudging his brother in the shoulder.

“Oh, I do, but after you made such a mess, I have no idea. That was why I said you should have asked me, you would be done already, but Oceans advice with making your own decision has apparently worked too well,” he sighed again, nudging back his brother.

“Oh, oh, my bad, sorry. I’ll remember that next time,” he sheepishly returned, rubbing the back of his neck.

“What makes you so sure that you will get the next time?” Summer devilishly smirked.

“What do you mean?”

“Summer,” Thunder added, giving her a stare that could probably even scare a Corrupted.

That quickly got her to stutter back: “Ahm, I mean… you know… there could be…”

“Summer, I managed to get him so far without him losing his mind over bad stuff that could happen, and you just bring that back? Teasing? Fine and good, but you need to know where to draw the line. Otherwise, you are just making things worse;” he returned with an exhausted undertone.

“Hehehe, sorry Phoenix. I’m sure everything is going to be fine, you are a funny guy after all,” she sheepishly returned, her eyes trying to search for the spot farthest away from Thunders look.

“Yeah, funny guy,” he muttered. “Oh, she is going to think I’m a joke. That is probably all just an attempt to laugh about me, right? Oh, how could I have ever expected that to work out? I’m an idiot!” He screamed out, letting his face sink into one of the pillows of the couch after the last word.

“Great Summer, great. Now I have to fix that,” he sighed as he witnessed what was happening right before his eyes.

“Hehe, sorry.”

“Yeah, sorry, that’ll help,” he muttered to himself as he placed one of his hands on Phoenix back. “Hey, don’t worry; everything is going to be just fine. Just be yourself and improvise, that’s what you are good at. And I’m sure Ocean would never toy with your feelings like that, so don’t worry about it. I’m sure everything is going to work out just fine, trust me. I know Ocean and you enough that you two go together like one of her weird toppings,” he smirked at him.

Phoenix raised his head again, smiling back at his brother. “Yeah, like the pepperoni-salami-strawberry-apple-grape-pineapple-pizza. Goodness was that one good,” he drifted off for a moment with a blissful expression on his face. “Anyway, you’re right. She wouldn’t have said yes if she didn’t want it, now would she?”

“That’s the spirit Phoenix,” he returned, clapping his brother a few times on the back.

“Oh, and Summer, I’m sure you are just joking. I would do the same if the person I like would not be picking up on my own personal advances,” he smirked back with a smile that was even eviler than the one Summer had sported just a minute ago.

“I… I don’t know what you mean,” she desperately stuttered back to him, the color swiftly disappearing from her face and was replaced with burning red cheeks.

“Uhm, Phoenix…” Thunder tried to interrupt him, but he was already too far to give up now.

“Oh, you know exactly what I mean, don’t you? You like Thunder, but he just won’t pick up on your advances.”

“That… That is not true at all. He is just a good friend, that is all. He helped me a lot in the past, but… but…” her voice shivered trying to not turn into a squee.

“Phoenix!” Thunder said again, this time louder.

“Just ask him out already. Just look at how he treats you, you are obviously more than friends, neither of you just wants to admit it.”

He was about to continue as a loud: “Phoenix!” Interrupted him and brought him back to reality. “I have your shirt,” he tossed it over to him, Phoenix quickly grabbing it before it could sail towards the floor. “I think you are done. You don’t want to be late, right?” He shot him a quick glance that told him enough.

In haste, he pulled on the shirt, garbed his jacket with the Driver inside and rushed towards the stairs, but not without stopping on the edge of them. “Uhm, and sorry Summer, that was uncalled for. You do you.” And with that, he rushed down the stairs, and they could hear a door slamming close in the distance.

“Don’t take everything he said too seriously. He just wanted to get back at you and me for all the teasing. Kinda wanting to be on the other side of it for once. He didn’t intend to go so personally,” thunder said after a minute of silence and a furry embarrassed Summer sitting on her chair and staring towards the floor.

“Yeah, I get it,” she weakly replied. “Hey?”

“Yeah, what?” He returned with a bit of concern in his voice.

“Did… Did he tell the truth?” She looked at him with tow eyes that were filled with fear, concern, and hope.

“Well… Yeah, kinda. But you don’t have to act on them I would feel kinda like I would be taking advantage of you in all honesty,” he solemnly returned.

“Oh, yeah, I can see that,” she returned in the same tone.

“So, was what he said about you true as well?”

She again looked down towards the floor before returning. “Ahm… you know… yeah, kinda.”

“Oh… So… what should we do then?” He looked over to her, his expression as clueless as his.

“I… I don’t know. Maybe wait a bit or something like this? Only if you feel uncomfortable with this that is.”

“Yeah, that sounds actually lovely. We talk about this when we both feel comfortable with it, right?” She nodded in return. “Good, so, pizza?”

“How could I ever say no to one of your pizzas? I would have to be insane,” she returned, her mood quickly rising again.

“The usual?”

“The usual!” She returned with a smile on her face.

“So, how do you think is this date going to go? Think they are going to be together after it?” He looked over to her with a devious smile.

“Oh, please. These two were goggly eyeing themselves for so long, of course, they are going to be a pair. What is the really interesting question is if they are going to kiss?” She returned seemingly back to her usual self.

“Oh, now that is an interesting question. I don’t think so. Phoenix is a way too big of a pansy for that. But if Ocean gets him to do it who knows.”

“Wanna bet?” She smirked at her boss with a smile some criminals would have second thoughts of making a deal with.

“Oh please, I know my bother better than anyone. I can’t lose that. I’m in. They aren’t going to kiss. So what are we going to bet over?” He looked back with an equally evil smile.

“How about if I win we are going to watch the track competition that is coming to the city in a few weeks? How does that sound?” She returned, pulling out a small pamphlet which described the upcoming competition.

“Oh, that sounds interesting. So how about that if I win? You are going to me to the ‘Cocking-Con’ that is going to come here at the same time? How is that? Scared?” He smirked back with a slight cancel.

“Oh, you drive a hard bargain here. But as if I would be afraid of you. That would be ridiculous. I’m in. They are going to kiss,” she held out her hand which Thunder quickly grabbed, and both of them started to seal the deal with a handshake.

“Prepare to lose cock.”

“Oh, the waitress is so sure of herself? Let’s see if she has bet on the right horse.” Summer started to snicker after his last word, much to Thunder confusion, well until it finally clicked. “Oh, oh!” He quickly joined his employee. “Ok, that was not on purpose. You are never gonna let that one down, are you?”

“Oh no, that would just be a waste,” she laughed back.

“Fair enough”, he sighed back, in between his own and her laughter.

--------------<

Outside Phoneix was meanwhile had mounted his bike and was riding through the busy streets, trying to think of anything that would actually calm him down right now. Save to say it wasn’t really working. At least the traffic kept his mind somewhat busy. Still, he couldn’t stop thinking on how this was going to go. He wasn’t someone that planed stuff like this through, but right now every possibility just rushed through his mind. Good or bad didn’t matter, it just kept on going, not relating, filling his mind. That was until he was snapped out of it by a loud beep from behind. Apparently, he had missed that the traffic light had switched from red to green again, Phoenix quickly letting the engine roar and made way for the rest behind him, furiously embarrassed by the whole ordeal.

The rest of the trip went off without any other major incident, and his mind was at least somewhat clearer now, that was until he finally arrived at his destination where he almost managed to crash his bike. But really could someone blame him, the moment he saw Ocean waiting for him there in that beautiful dress all those silly thoughts like ‘keeping the bike steady’ and ‘oh shit, wall’ were quickly pushed aside. Thankfully he did snap out of it just before he firmly planted his face on the ground.

“Eyes on the road Phoenix, you’ll see enough of this today anyway,” she joking said, smiling at him with a smug grin.

“Well, I hope so. And I also hope that this little stunt didn’t turn you away from driving with me,” he sheepishly replied.

“Nah, I know you can ride a bike. Just keep your eyes on the road, shouldn’t be so hard if you can’t see me,” she returned, playfully nudging him in the side. “By the way, you look good too.”

“Thanks,” he returned, turning bright red under his helmet what got a quiet laugh from Ocean. The way to the restaurant was pretty eventless, minus the fact that Phoenix was quite nervous with Ocean clinging onto him during the ride. But there weren’t any further embarrassing mistakes on Phoenix part, and everything went well, almost so well that Phoenix expected something to go wrong, but this time luck seemed to be on his side.

The restaurant they had chosen was one on the outskirts of Canterlot. Nice and quiet, not too expensive, thank goodness, and had a beautiful little garden for them to eat in, complete with a pond even. Nice, quiet and no monster in sight, perfect. They had taken a seat under a large oak with small little lanterns hanging from it, around them were other couples joking, laughing and generally having a good time.

They had been rummaging through the possible foods when a waitress approached them and asked: “What can I bring you two today?”

Ocean was the first to look up and returned: “I’ll take a steak, medium please and could I have some spicy souse to that?”

“I’ll take the same,” Phoenix added. After the waitress had left he turned to Ocean and said with a somewhat perplexed look on his face: “A steak? Kinda expected something more, you know…”

“Weird? Yeah, restaurants don’t always have interesting food. A shame really, that’s why I like pizzerias, they actually have interesting stuff, especially Thunders one. Can’t wait till it opens again, I have waited long enough for one of his creations that I almost forgot how they taste like,” she returned, looking absentmindedly into the distance.

“You know, you could have just ordered one. That was the entire point of Thunder starting the delivery service, so his regulars could still eat his pizza while everything is being repaired. That and to get money,” he added.

“Yeah, I know, but it just isn’t the same. I miss the atmosphere. It has its own charm to it, even if it is cramped.”

“Yeah, you are definitely on to something, but that can’t be it, right?”

“Ok, fine, I don’t want my car to smell like cheese, and Tartarus knows what for the rest of the day. You know what I put on these things, that just would smell weird, and after a while, I’m sure I couldn’t stand it,” she sighed, while Phoenix snickered a little.

“Ah, I knew it. A good reason though. Same with your apartment?” She nodded. “Figures, even you do have your limits.”

“Yeah, even I do,” she started to dig through her purse much to Phoenix confusion.

“What are you doing there?”

“Oh, that, I’m looking for a bit of mustard, horseradish, and wasabi,” she nonchalantly returned.

“Why?” He just looked at her confused, trying to figure out whatever she had planned.

“Well, I said that restaurants just have boring stuff, right? So I brought my own stuff,” she calmly returned, not even looking up from her purse to see Phoenix flabbergasted expression.

“You know, I shouldn’t even be surprised. Just make sure that they don’t see you do that, ok?”

“Oh, you are just jealous that you don’t have some with you as well,” she snarked back “And besides, I actually asked them if that would be ok, they said they had no problem with it.”

“Oh, of course, you did,” he eyed the different bottles Ocean had just pulled out.

“Want some as well?” She raised an eyebrow, with a knowing look.

“Yeah, that would be really nice actually,” he sheepishly grinned back. “Thanks.”

“You know, you are cute when you are embarrassed, you know that?”

“Oh, and you aren’t?” Phoenix returned with a smirk, Ocean returning it as well.

She blushed a little. “Charmer, but fair point.”

“Well, people always said I was the one with the gifted mouth in our family,” he returned, with just enough pretentiousness that it was dragged right down to being funny.

Ocean just started to laugh, a few of the other guest shortly looking towards them but that didn’t really last all that long. “Oh yeah, you and the one that can play with words? That would be a damn good joke; even if I didn’t know Thunder I would know that this would have been a big fat lie. You might have managed to get me here, but a master of the words you are not.”

“Wow, way to rub it in Ocean. Any other things you want to say?”

“Well, shoot, I forgot the list back home, I knew I was missing something,” she chuckled back.

“You are evil, you know that, right?” He deadpanned in return.

“Oh, I know. If I weren’t I wouldn’t work for the MRG,” she paused for a moment. “You know what I mean.”

“Yeah, it’s not always so easy as here, right?” She nodded quietly, looking towards the floor with a solemn expression. “I don’t know if I could do something like that. Besides the sneaky covert stuff obviously. I mean the killing part, really. It just feels so wrong. Did you ever…” He stopped mid-sentence and started towards his date until he quickly added. “Ahm, sorry. That is not something you should ask on the first date.”

“Oh, it’s ok. It’s part of who I am, I won’t hide it. And if you really want to be with me then I can’t really hide it, now can I?” She returned rather calmly, maybe with a hint of sadness in her voice. “Well, to answer your question, yes. Yes, I killed people. It’s nothing I’m proud of, how could I ever be, but at that moment I just didn’t see any other way. I always strive to save as many people as possible, not just the ones on my side. But sometimes that means that I have to take another life just to save the ones in front of me.”

“I see. I just hope I at one point don’t have to make a decision like this. How do you know when it was the right call?” He looked at her, his eyes seeming so desperate.

“You don’t. You are left with the question if it was the right thing to do or if you just killed a man without trying to save every life you can. It never leaves. The only way you can live with it is to accept it and move forward, and if you fucked up, you just have to accept that. You will never know, and that is the worst part, the little voice in the back of your head that tells you-you could have done more,” she finished, taking a sip from her water before staying quiet for a while.

“I see. I just hope I don’t have to fall back on it. I… I don’t know if I could,” he stuttered back, his eyes lowered to the ground.

“You will never be prepared when the moment hits you. I sure wasn’t. But if it ever comes, I know you will manage it. You have the heart of a hero, that was what I saw from the first time we meet in the forest. You didn’t run away in fear or anything really, I could see and hear that you were more concerned about your screw up and everything around it than the fact that you could have died. You got what it takes to be a hero, I know that. That is why I trusted you and why I trust you to make the right decision when the time comes, as hard as it might be,” she smiled back at him, Phoenix returning her smile.

“Oh, there comes the stake. Have we really been talking for so long?”

“Seems so, to be honest, I didn’t even notice, was too much into our little talk,” Phoenix snickered.

“Yeah, I didn’t either. Ah, here it is, let me just prepare it properly and then I give you the rest,” Ocean said while rubbing her hands together in glee.

“Sure thing.”

--------------<

The food tasted just as good as Phoenix had thought; well only because Ocean had put it together. Otherwise, he would have thought this would taste horrible. But the date went by like nothing; they had fun, were laughing, joking and generally having a great time. After a good dessert, primarily consisting of chocolate, banana, and strawberry ice cream, as well as Ocean’s little ingredients it was time to return home. The ride back to Ocean’s apartment was pleasant; her hands around his hips were giving him comfort. In the end, everything had gone just wonderfully, no horrible accidents or disasters and damn was he happy about that.

The bike had stopped right in front of the door to her apartment and Phoenix as well as Ocean had jumped off it. “Well, that went better than expected really,” she said with a loud sigh.

“And that is supposed to mean what exactly?” He looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

“Well, to be honest, I was expecting something to go horribly wrong, like a Corrupted attacking the restaurant or me doing something incredibly stupid. This was just perfect, it kinda feels weird,” she mumbled looking somewhat confused.

“The good kind of weird or the bad kind,” he carefully asked some drops of sweat forming on his forehead.

“The good kind. Don’t worry you didn’t do anything bad and neither did I, so I would call this date a success,” she giggled somewhat absentmindedly.

“Yeah, neither of us did anything stupid, that is good; well if anything I would have been the one to screw that one up anyway and not you. That you thought you would screw anything up actually surprises me.”

“Oh, don’t play dumb, you know I was just as nervous as you. I’m not good at this dating stuff. If anyone had screwed this up, it would have been me, not you. You actually are charming and can turn even a dumb comment into something pleasant. See it as your charming little quirk,” she jokingly returned.

“Uhm, thanks. But in all honesty, you couldn’t possibly screw this up. You are kind, understanding and always prepared. You screwing something like this up just sounds ludicrous.”

That was when both of them started to laugh. “I think we are just arguing who can screw thing more up. Is that what bickering under couples is like?” Phoenix smirked, in an instant, the laughter disappeared, replaced by silane as both of them looked at the other with worried faces.

“Cou… Couples? So are we a couple now?” Ocean stuttered back at him in an almost silent whisper.

“Well, the date was good wasn’t it? Isn’t that how it works? If the date is good, you become a couple or something like this? The date was good, right?” He returned, sounding completely unsure of how to respond to this.

“Oh, I loved the date. So… I guess we are a couple now,” she returned just as confused, completely lacking her usual confident tone.

“Yeah, we are… To be honest, I didn’t really think that far ahead, did you?” She shook her head, and slowly walked over towards him. “So, what are we going to do now? Just saying that we are a coup…” He didn’t get any further when all of a sudden Ocean’s lips pressed against his. In the first moment, he was in some sort of shock, time seemed to slow down to a crawl, and he felt like this lasted for an eternity. This sweety soft feeling on his lips, the light taste of wasabi and mustard. It didn’t take long till he returned her kiss, both were lost in the moment.

After what felt like a lifetime Ocean finally let loose and said with a mischievous smile on her lips: “I think this is how it goes.” Phoenix just nodded with wide open eyes, still unable to truly comprehend what had just happened. “So, see ya tomorrow.” Phoenix eagerly nodded and rushed over to his bike waved a goodbye and drove off, still in somewhat of a daze.

Ocean just giggled: “Boys.” She was about to step into her apartment as she heard her phone ringing. In a hurry, she pulled it out and opened it. “Yeah, Ocean here.”

“Hey Ocean, I hope I’m not interrupting your date, but I just got something. An informant said there would be delivery to someone connected to Tartarus not even two blocks away from your current position. I think it might be connected to our traitor,” Onyx said on the other end of the line, and he sounded surprisingly serious for someone like him. “I’m on the other half of the city and just got the information, could you please help me out here, please?”

“Just tell me where to go,” she returned with a determination in her eyes that probably would have scared Phoenix if he still would have been here.

--------------<

The way back was almost completely lost to Phoenix, or at least when he later tried to recall it at least, so strong was the bliss he had found himself in. The only thing he could recall afterward was a few cars, but nothing beyond that. Oh and of course what happened when he was back home again. He wasn’t even halfway through the door as he heard two familiar ‘hi’s’. He almost fell backward through the entrance out of sheer shock. “Never do that again,” he gasped at Thunder and Summer who were both smiling as innocently as possible.

“Oh, don’t be so mean Phoenix, how was your date anyway?” Summer returned with a sweet innocent smile, something was definitely off.

“Ok, what are you two planning? There is something fishy about the way you two act,” he returned, eyeing them both carefully.

“What, no! Why is it strange when a brother wants to know how the date of his brother was?” Thunder replied, still keeping up the whole innocent stick.

“Oh, it wouldn’t be, well besides the fact that you are you. Even if you were so interested in this you wouldn’t be clinging to the door like a new batch of ingredients would be arriving,” he snarked in return.

“Ok, fine, you got me. We bet on your date,” he grumbled in return.

“You did what now? You bet on the success of my love life. Ok, who of you bet on this going horribly, it was you, Summer, right?” He sounded less than amused, actually rather pissy all things considered.

“No, no, no, no, no, we didn’t bet on the date going south, we both assumed that would go smoothly. By the way, how did it go?” Summer asked, trying to steer the conversation back into more friendly terms.

“Oh, it went well. If you ignore Ocean bringing her own stuff to the restaurant, but she made sure that it was ok, so I guess that wasn’t a problem. We talked, we laughed, all in all, a great evening,” he said in return, almost forgetting what the conversation had been about beforehand. “Wait, so what were you betting on exactly if it wasn’t if the date was good?”

“Uhm, well you see we kinda bet on if you two… kissed,” Thunder whispered, hoping Phoenix hadn’t heard it.

“Oh, if it wasn’t anything worse… What?! You bet on me kissing Ocean? How do you even come up with something like this?” He shoots back with a mixture of anger and utter confusion.

“I don’t know, it just felt natural,” Thunder muttered, trying to avoid the look of his brother.

“Natural, oh yeah sure, betting on kissing, what could be more natural?” He sighed while letting his head sink into his hand.

“And, did you?”

“Yes, I did, or more precise, she did,” he finally sighed, but not with a little smile on his lips. “So, who won?” The answer came quickly with a loud cheer from Summer and a respective sigh from Thunder. “Really Thunder? You bet against me?”

“In my defense, you were completely out of it as you left, I just thought you took it a bit slower,” he sighed again.

“Aha, I see. So, what was the wager anyway? I at least deserve to know that much.”

“Well, if Thunder won we would go to a fashion show that would be in a few weeks if I won we would go to a sports competition,” she returned with a bright smile.

“Ah, I see. So you bet on a date. Kinda cute actually,” Phoenix snickered, the colored form Summers and Thunderers face quickly vanishing and replaced with a bright blush.

“No, we didn’t!” Both of them yelled in unison while also trying to not burn to death out of sheer embarrassment.

Before Phoenix could, however, say anything more, he heard his phone ringing. “Yeah, Phoenix here, what is it?”

“Uhm Phoenix, I hope I’m not interrupting anything, but I have to ask you something, is Ocean with you?” Onyx voice came from the other side of the line, sounding surprisingly worried.

“No, I left her at her apartment about thirty minutes ago, why?”

“Shit, of course, you did. Then I need your help, Ocean might have done something really, really stupid;” he sighed in return.

“What has she done? What? What!? I’ll be right on that.” Without even saying something to either Thunder or Summer he rushed out the door, put his helmet back and raced away into the night, leaving the two very behind.

“Oh, this cannot be good,” Thunder whispered as he stared through the still open door.

Author's Note

Well, that was a bit more peaceful chapter since I decided to put all the action into the next one. Will be one hell of an action-packed ride though.

Like always, critic and any kind of comments are very much welcome.

A Matter of Family - The Truth Hurts the Most

Twenty-five minutes ago.

Ocean was sprinting through the side alleys of the city, her shoes had been quickly stuffed into her purse, and she had gone on without them, time was of the essence. This might be the best chance they had to stop the flow of magical artifacts in Canterlot City, ruined pantyhose be damned. She had just received the call from Onyx about five minutes ago, telling her where to go and that he would join her really soon.

She was just a few hundred meters away from it, she had to hurry if she screwed this no date could smooth that over. And the city was not making it easy for her, people were seemingly trying their best to get in her way, much to Ocean’s annoyance. But she pushed through regardless, no matter the annoyed shouts and complaints behind her, she had only eyes for her target, and her target was just around the corner. When she finally reached an alleyway close to the supposed meeting place, she finally slowed down, her breathing heavy from the distance she had just run. She slowly continued her way, trying to be as quiet as possible.

A few meters further she could start to hear two voices, one smooth and silky, the other rougher and strangely familiar. As she sneaked closer to the origin of the sounds she could slowly start to make out what was being said. “Ten minutes late, and I thought your boss was so insistent on punctuality?” The smoother voice said.

“Sorry, won’t happen again. I was actually trying to be a bit more careful this time, someone seems to be on to us, or at least that was what the boss said. But don’t worry, no one followed me,” the rougher voice returned, now sounding even more familiar.

“And you tell me this now? Isn’t that a bit on the ‘need to know’ side of the information?” He sighed in return.

“I don’t decide what I can tell you, the boss didn’t think it was necessary until now,” the man returned defensively.

“Now it seems to be important.” With a loud sigh, he continued. “Nevermind, just tell me about this next time before we schedule this in a dark alleyway right next to a busy street.”

“The boss said this was the best place, not much here anyway. Way fewer chances getting spotted when you hide in the most obscure and obvious places,” he grunted in return.

“I know, still doesn’t mean I would have preferred a good restaurant. Cerberus knows how to treat his business partners.”

“Cut it, I don’t want anyone to hear us,” the rough voice hissed back. In the meantime, Ocean had managed to reach the next corner and carefully looked past it. The first thing she saw was a sleek looking man standing in the light of a lamp. He had whitish orange skin and blue hair and wore an expensive looking blue suit. He looked impatient, tapping with his foot on the ground while looking at his watch. Next to him, cast in shadow right outside the light of the lamp, stood a muscular man, at least a head bigger than she in what seemed to be a grey suit. He seemed somewhat familiar, but with his face being overshadowed she really couldn’t tell. In his right hand, he held a metallic briefcase.

“You know, it’s not getting any warmer here if would just give me the damn briefcase we could move this along, and I can finally return to more pleasant company,” the man in blue sighed again, looking at the other man with an exhausted expression.

“Fine, the less I have to be around you the better,” he huffed back, holding out the briefcase in front of him. This was bad, Onyx wouldn’t be here for a few more minutes, and they were already about to end this. As much as she hated it, she had to act. With a quick press of a button, her Driver appeared and after a quick search through her purse she pulled out one of her trusty Chargers. As she placed the device into the cylinder both of the man quickly turned around, searching for the source of the sudden noise.

\ SCANNING CHARGE! /

“Henshin!”

\ 50, 80, 100! THUNDER CHARGE! /

The bright light from chare’s transformation caught both their eyes, the man in the blue suit sighing in annoyance while the other man stepped back a few feet and was about to run away as two shots hit right in front of his feet. “Arms in the air, you are under arrest!” She screamed at the two, her Charge Magnum pointed exactly at them.

“Huh, why can’t I work with someone competent for once? You let her follow you? And I thought she would have picked someone at least smart enough for the job that wouldn’t let her do that,” he sighed again, completely ignoring Charge and her gun.

“Quiet! You only talk when I say you talk! Now hands in the air!”

“Oh, right, you are there. Well, it seems we won’t be making an escape here, so if you would be so kind and stop trying to run away so we can handle this?” He continued over his shoulder, the muscular man growling, but ultimately turned around, closed hands in the air.

“Now, open your hands, and you,” she pointed her gun at the man in the blue suit. “You put thous hands up in the air as well.”

Before he could even respond a bright light enveloped the muscular man, taking Charges' attention away from him and towards the now forming Corrupted. After the bright blue light had subsided, another monster stood before her. He was massive, at least two heads bigger than her and had the face of a very, very angry shark. He wore armor made out of dark blue corals over his light blue skin and wielded a trident made out of seashells.

“Charge! Coming here was a mistake!” He bellowed towards her before storming towards her. Before the Corrupted could however even cross the halfway point, she had already unloaded the other four shots from her Charge Magnum, letting the Corrupted stumble back in pain with a loud roar.

“You have to do everything on your own, not even a good distraction, can you believe that?” He muttered and pulled something from under his suit, a rather large necklace, made out of black and grey steal in the form of a horse with wings and horn. A beautiful red gem right in the middle of it. Seconds, after he had pulled the amulet out from under his suit dark red energy, started to surge around him, letting both combatants quickly glance over to him.

The light quickly faded again revealing what could only be described as a warrior in ebony armor, red gems decorating it and letting off a sinister glow. His head was completely covered in a helmet that somewhat resembled a horse, just more skeletal and with glowing red eyes, a sharp metallic horn extending from his forehead. On his back two massive wings could be seen, every ‘feather’ was razor sharp and seemed as deadly as a sword. He tilted his head a bit as he eyed the Rider, Charge staring at what stood in front of her in absolute horror.

Nonetheless, she couldn’t be afraid now. Rushing past her first opponent, not without giving him a swift kick to the stomach, and straight towards this new monstrosity. Circling him she was prepared to tear into his backside, but before her kick could even connect she stopped dead in her tracks. It took her a few moments to realize what had just happened, he had caught her foot. Not even her super speed had stopped him, not even made it harder, he had just grabbed her and now hold her in his hand.

“That is all? I’m kinda disappointed, really, Kamen Rider. And you are supposed to be a protector, with so little power? Who could you really protect?” He chuckled before shoving her back, Charge coming to a stop at least fifteen meters away from him and even then, just barely.

With a single motion of his hand, a massive wind rushed towards her, Charge braving against it as best as she could, but it didn’t really take long till it simply overpowered her, sending her sailing several meters away landing very unceremoniously easily on the ground and continuing to be pushed on it even further. “Really disappointing. I think I’ll take my leave,” he continued, walking over to the suitcase, picking it up. Before h ascended towards the skies however he looked one last time towards the Other Corrupted: “Take care of her. But don’t overdo it, you know who she is.” Not waiting for an answer he just shot right towards the dark night sky, disappearing within its blackness like he never even was there, to begin with.

Meanwhile, Charge was trying her hardest to stand up again, she had taken quite the beating and he hardly even lift a finger, what even was that thing? Before she could finish that thought, she already heard the loud roar of her other opponent running directly towards her. The claw of the beast slashed centimeters away from her through the air, Charge only able to dodge at the last moment.

No matter how hard it might seem right now, she couldn’t let this monster rampage through the city or get away really. With gritted teeth, she reloaded her weapon, right before jumping back away from the claws of the beats, but this time he didn’t stop, he marched forward clawing at her without ever slowing down, Charge barely able to evade the attacks, all while reloading and unloading her gun for at least three times. But no matter how many shots hit their target he wasn’t slowing down.

“You won’t stop me, you are just too week. I still don’t understand what she sees in you Rider,” he growled at her as she once again jumped over him and unloaded her entire magazine into his back. However, instead of landing behind him, something the Corrupted had already expected she had landed right on his shoulders and with a swift knee to his face, the Corrupted stumbled backward.

In his rage, the monster actually managed to hit himself, letting out a pained groan and stumbling backward. This was the moment she had been waiting for, within a split second she had rushed behind the beast and pulled out both of her Stun Batons and already started hitting the oversized shark in front of her.

While she was pretty much racing around the Monster, she continuously smacked him once or twice every second, the lumbering beast unable to even get close to her. As she continued the Corrupted finally started to slow down, his attacks grew more sluggish and shoddy, not up to standards for what he had managed to pull off just a minute ago.

With a loud whimper, he fell on his knee, staring blankly at Charge who was rushing towards him. One last time she dodged the claw of the monster before jumping towards his face and with a powerful swing of her baton hit him right on the head, dazing the creature enough to finally finishing this with another spin of her Driver.

\ Maximum Charge! /

Time again slowed to a crawl, or at least for her. Before even a second had passed, she had already grabbed to him by his shoulders and slammed her foot into his chest. Pulling back she repeated the process with the other foot. As the five seconds, slowly ticked down she repeatedly slammed her feet into the Corrupted, for everyone outside it would just look like a blur. As the time finally ran out, he finished off with one particularly strong kick and jumped back from the monster, it exploding before she had even landed.

Before her lay the man in his suit, unconscious and with a small seashell ring next to him, an artifact Ocean immediately recognized. It was part of a set of ten she had recovered not even three years ago. Now that she could finally see the man in the light of the streetlamps that feeling of familiarity came back to her, but why? Had she seen the man before? His face, it was his face she had seen before, right, but where could she… no, it couldn’t be. This was impossible. He couldn’t be. He was…

She stumbled back a few steps as she let this sink in. She knew where she had seen his light purple skin and dark purple hair before. She had seen him time and time again, but not like this. This man was Unbreakable Shield, one of Monochrome’s, no one of the bodyguards of her mother. She must have at least stared at the man for over a minute, trying to think of any excuse she could come up with, but she just couldn’t. She couldn’t deny it, it had to be true.

After turning off her transformation, she let her hand reach to her purse, the fingers trying to get a hold of her phone, but it just kept slipping out of their shaky grip. Ultimately she finally managed to retrieve it from her purse and dialed in a number, taking one last deep breath before speaking up: “Hey, Onyx.”

“Hey, Ocean, I’ll be there in seven minutes or so. Don’t start anything, got it?” Onyx returned, as silent as possible.

“Too late for that. Had to engage them or they would have been long gone when you would have been here,” she returned with a shaking voice but tried her best to remain calm and collected. “I captured one, but the other one escaped. “

“Damit, well at least we have one. So, did you find anything to identify our little criminal here?”

“Ye… Yes, well, I didn’t need to. It’s… It’s… It’s Unbreakable Shield…” she finally managed to say, her hand shaking even more than before.

“Fuck, so it’s exactly as I expected. All the clues lead to it… Ok, Ocean, I’ll be right there, and then we are going to…”

“No!” She merely said.

“No? What do you mean no? Don’t tell me you don’t want to believe it or… Ocean, please don’t tell me you are-“

She had interrupted him and continued. “No, I need answers now. I’m going to figure this out, no more waiting, no more excuses, I’m getting her to talk,” Ocean growled back, anger quickly sweeping over the normally calm portions of her brain.

“Ocean, when you go there now you might actually ruin everything. Keep a calm head and just wait for me. After that we will get answers, you just have to-“ With a determined press of a button, Onyx voice disappeared. Without even as much as a second thought, she dashed back to her apartment, well after taking a picture and handcuffing the traitor to the next best pipe. She knew Onyx was right, she knew it, or at least a part of her did, but right now that part was locked away in the furthest depths of her brain. Her anger was now in control and maybe a little bit the desperate wish to turn her around, as ridicules as it might seem.

--------------<

Not even fifteen minutes later she had already grabbed her bike and was already at the MRG building. The drive had pretty much all blurred together, she was just too angry to care, or to even think straight. She had looked up to her entire life, and she made deals with criminals? How could she? Maybe there was a good reason a quiet voice in her head tried to say but was quickly shut down by far angrier one that let out every frustration she ever had towards her mother.

The guard at the underground parking lot immediately realized who she was and opened the gate, but unlike every other day, she did not great him back. He looked after her with a bit of confusion but ultimately just shrugged and went back to work.

Jumping off her bike, she walked towards the elevator, still with no shoes. Everyone that walked paster her quickly increased their distance to her, realizing just in how bad of a mood she truly was. The poor soul that had to stay with her in the elevator though. He didn’t look older than twenty, and he had bare the look of absolute furry on Oceans face. The moment the doors opened again he rushed out of there as fast as he could, Ocean didn’t even react.

It wasn’t too long to Monochromes office, and she was definitely grateful for that, she had questions, and she had them now. Before the office stood two other of her bodyguards, Braas Knuckle and Iron Fist, both of them extremely muscular and threatening, at least they would be for anyone but Ocean at this moment. “Ah, agent Skies, what can we do for you. I don’t remember you having an appointment with the director,” Braas returned, looking towards her with a friendly expression.

“No, I have not, but right now that doesn’t matter anyway, let me through!” She demanded, her eyes burning with anger and her voice had a threatening undertone to it that let both agents take one step back.

“I’m sorry, but if you don’t have an appointment, you can’t see here. I know she is your mother, but no expectations,” Iron returned trying to not anger her even more.

“This is more important than stupid bureaucracy, so if you may,” she returned, trying to take a step forward only to be blocked by two muscular men before her. “Ok, you know, I’m really not in the mood for this right now, so either you get out of my way, or-” She started to shout, but before she was interrupted by the door slamming open and hitting both of the bodyguards in the back.

“What is that for a raucous out her? And why aren’t you two doing anything against…” That was when she spotted Ocean, staring daggers at her. “Oh, agent Skies. What is the matter?” She asked not even faced a little bit by her daughter standing in front of her in a dress, without shoes and one of the angriest expressions the world had ever seen.

“We need to talk, now!” She growled back, shoving both of the men away and forcing herself into the office.

“Well, I usually prefer it when someone wants to talk with me to actually announce themselves, but if it is important I think I can make an exception just this once,” she sighed and followed her daughter into the office, leaving her bodyguards behind in the doorway, rather confused one might add. “You two, close the door, we want to have some privacy.”

“Oh, so grateful that you make room for your daughter mother, oh so grateful,” Ocean hissed, just loud enough that Monochrome could hear it.

“Agent Skies, that is no way of talking to a superior,” she returned, not even giving her one lousy look as she sat back down on her chair and turned to face her. “So, what was so important that you had to come unannounced?” She eyed her carefully, almost letting Ocean think she knew more than she had let on to believe.

“This,” was all she said before shoving her phone right under her nose. On it, one could see the picture of Unbreakable Shield right next to the ring.

Monochrome stared at it without any kind of reaction for a second and returned coldly: “So, and what is this? One of my bodyguards knocked out cold. Are you telling me to get better men?”

“Don’t try to sell me for stupid! You know exactly what this is!” Ocean hissed back at her, pointing with her finger on the ring.

“And what should it be?”

“An artifact that I recovered not even three years ago. How could he have gotten his hands on it? He is your subordinate after all mother!” She almost shouted back as she slammed her fist on the deck.

“How should I know, I don’t have an eye on my bodyguards twenty-four-seven, he might have grabbed it at some point, but I assure you I will look into it,” she calmly returned, putting on a cold smile as well.

Meanwhile, Ocean had put back her phone into her purse. “Oh, yeah, sure, and he just happened to have a briefcase with goodness knows how many other artifacts with him. Artifacts that have been distributed to Tartarus. All of which were in the care of the MRG. Not in a thousand years could he have pulled that off, especially not so often. The only one who could even theoretically steal so many artifacts would be one high enough up in the MRG. And there are only five people in the entirety of the MRG that have access to every vault we have and could smuggle something out without someone noticing, as well as wipe the data connected to their visit.”

“Oh, and you are insinuating that I am the traitor? Please, really? Who puts that in your head? It was Onyx, wasn’t it? He wanted me gone for years, and now he just turned my own daughter against me. I expected better from you. He probably set all of this up, as if I ever could betrail the MRG, that is ridiculous,” she returned with a hint of disappointment.

There was it again, the voice that kept telling her to listen to Monochrome, she was her mother, she was the director of the MRG, she could never do something like this, right? She wanted so desperately to believe it, but the other voice drowned her out, the trust in Onyx, the evidence, the fact that everything pointed towards her. She couldn’t be swayed, no that was something Monochrome told her time and time again if the evidence points one way you have to follow that lead, it doesn’t matter how much you hate it, you have to find the truth. She still lived by that standard, even if it seemed like her mother had betrayed that trust, her lessons would always carry the same weight they always had.

“No, it’s not. These people are unbelievable loyal to you that even one of them would even think about betraying you, that is ridiculous. Two other heads of the MRG where outside of the country when one of the last break-ins took place, the artifacts became even more prevalent the moment you moved to Canterlot City. Onyx has shown to me already why he couldn’t be behind it, especially since you would have noticed. I’m right now disgusted by you, but you would never let something like this slip, you just wouldn’t, you are too smart for that. So, that leaves you and one last member, and right now everything is pointing towards you. And if we combine that with what else Onyx has found out we will get you, so don’t even try to deny it,” she finished, staring at her with a mixture of disappointment and rage that was impossible to replicate.

Monochrome sat there for a moment, staring back at her daughter before sighing heavily: “Well, what else should I have expected from my daughter. Still, I’m proud of you. You managed to figure all of this out, even if it was with some help. You are truly my daughter.” This left ocean dumbfounded. She had just admitted to being a traitor,and she was happy that she had figured it out? Why? This didn’t make any sense, especially for someone like Monochrome. All her hatred and anger had just evaporated and replaced by utter confusion in an instant. “It’s a sign that I trained you well, I hope I the rest of what I told you is also in there as well,” she continued with a weak smile on her lips, something that was quite unsettling for anyone that know Monochrome well, she never smiled expect when things really went her way.

“What do you mean?” Ocean weakly returned, eying her mother carefully. “You just admitted to betraying the MRG, why would you be so happy?”

She raised an eyebrow before starting to laugh, a quiet laugh that was just so full of herself, it was unnerving. “Oh, I did, you put it wonderfully, but I’m not in any kind of danger. Just listen to me for a few minutes, and you will understand why.” Ocean was about to shut her down, but that damnd voice told her to at least hear her out. As Ocean remained silent, she smiled again and continued. “See, just listen a bit to me Ocean and you will understand. This country is headed for a disaster. Magic is running rampant, and with the data we have, it’s only going to get worse. Eventually, everyone is going to tear itself apart over these artifacts. Really, the fact that Corrupted number One and number Five accelerated the return of magic to this world only speed the problem along even further. It was always inevitable that magic would become a weapon for people to use, I just never expected it to turn just so bad.”

Ocean looked at her in utter shock and terror. “What? What do you mean? Answer me!”

“If you ask for it, but I would keep my voice down, you wouldn't want anyone to hear you, now would you?” She continued while leaning back in her chair. “So, the only way to save this world from tearing itself apart itself piece by piece is to take everything magical and store it in some vault so no one can ever get their hands onto it, right? Well, at least that was what I believed in for the majority of my life, but after I became the director of the MRG, I could see everything. Hundreds upon hundred incidents a year and there was no sign of it slowing down any time soon, no it got worse. That was when I realized that we were only delaying the inevitable, not actually stopping it. We had to use them if we ever hoped to stop the end of the world, not just stashing it into a dark room and forgetting about it.”

“You… you want to use it? Are you crazy? You know what people can do what this stuff?” Ocean stuttered back, staring at her mother in disbelieve.

“Oh, I know, that is why giving these artifacts to people that actually know how to use them is the only way to stop this. If we would continue like now, we would eventually face a disaster unprepared and without any chance to stop it. We have to get proactive, not just searching for artifacts, but rather make sure that no one can get their hands on them beyond us,” she continued, sound calm and collected as ever, much to the shock of her daughter. “I had to show the world what would happen if we continued on our path and Tartarus was perfect for this. They would have swept across the land like a wave with teeth and show everyone what the right path would be. If I had to sacrifice a few lives for this, who will care about it? Ultimately I will save more people this way than the MRG ever could, they are just the casualties of saving the world. The lives of the many outweigh the lives of the few.”

“What! No, no, not like this! You can’t just sacrifice people like that! That is not what is right, what it means to save them!” Ocean shouted back at her mother, the anger filling her eyes.

“Oh, I see where you are coming from, but ultimately it’s the only way. You and I might not like it, but this is how things will eventually have to go. Sometimes you have to trade lives for others. And when the crime wave hits it’s highest point I will be there with a solution. The MRG wielding the artifacts will talk down the Corrupted and Tartarus, and I will stand in front of them, as their savior. And I will use that power to make sure the MRG will be prepared for anything that will come our way, no matter the cost. The only way to save this dying world is to force it to salvation,” Monochrome finished, a determined look in her eyes.

“You are insane. We are guardians, not dictators! We are protectors, not some damnd army! You have no idea what the MRG truly stands for! Onyx, I and the rest will stop you! We have enough evidence to get you convicted!” Ocean stuttered before her voice started to grow more stern and determined, almost sounding like her mother.

“You have? Oh really? As far as I know, you don’t have anything concrete and nothing to warrant an actual trial. Everything can be explained by Onyx setting me up. That would undoubtedly also hurt your career very badly, but if you come to my side, I can make sure that this does not come close to you. Trust me, I wouldn’t want my daughter to suffer for the actions of a fool like Onyx,” she returned, that unbreakable smile of her covering her lips.

To Monochromes surprise Ocean did not appear shocked or anything, no she started to laugh. “What is so funny? Don’t you care for your carer?”

“Oh, I just found the part about no concrete evidence funny. You know what you told me after I had my first mission? If you don’t have enough evidence just bluff until they slip up. I got to say, mom, that tip worked wonders,” as she spoke she pulled out her hand from her purse and tabbed onto it once.

“Oh, yeah, sure, and he just happened to have a briefcase with goodness knows how many other artifacts with him. Artifacts that have been distributed to Tartarus. All of which were in the care of the MRG. Not in a thousand years could he have pulled that off, especially not so often. The only one who could even theoretically steal so many artifacts would be one high enough up in the MRG. And there are only five people in the entirety of the MRG that have access to every vault we have and could smuggle something out without it noticing, as well as wipe the data connected to their visit.”

“Oh, and you are insinuating that I am the traitor? Please, really? Who puts that in your head? It was Onyx, wasn’t it? He wanted me gone for years, and now he just turned my own daughter against me. I expected better from you. He probably set all of this up, as if I ever could betrail the MRG, that is ridiculous.”

Monochrome stared at her in shock, unable to even bring one word out from her lips. “You taught me too well mom, and the ethics you lacked I got from dad and sis,” Ocean smirked at her. “The entire conversation is on this, all of it.”

“You… You, how dare you? I got you this far, how can you even think about betraying me like this?!” Monochrome mask shattered, revealing a furious woman underneath as she slammed her fists on the desk and shouted from the depths of her lungs.

“Yes, I got here thanks to you, but I will not follow the path you have laid out before me anymore. I will forge my own. That is what my friends told me,” she returned back, an unbreakable determination underlining her voice.

At this moment the door was pushed open, and the two guards stormed inside, staring daggers at Ocean. “Milady, should we escort her out?” Braas asked.

“No, I got this under control, but I think we have a guest in the lobby that needs your attention instead. Now hush,” she hissed as she stood up from her chair. The two guards nodded before rushing down the corridor.

“So, everything under control? What, did Onyx finally arrive and you plan a daring escape?” Ocean jokingly asked.

“Oh, no. No daring escape needed, I just need to get my hands on your little phone, and the whole thing will be done for,” she said, trying to calm herself down, slowly coming out from behind the desk.

Ocean equally took a few steps back and pressed the button on her belt buckle to let her Driver appear. “Oh, you are willing to go up against a Kamen Rider? Just a warning, your chances are very low,” she casually returned.

“Oh, I know. As a normal person I would probably be crushed, but with this,” she pulled out something from her desk and put it on her waits, the device quickly looping around her waist and remaining there. It was, by all means, an exact replica of the Charge Driver. “Oh, surprised? And I thought I had told you to never let your guard down,” Monochrome smiled back, Ocean being in complete shock. “It seems this Phoenix guy really got into your head. You would really be better off without him, and now you even went onto a date with this fool,” she sighed as she pulled out an orange Charger from the same place as the Driver.

“How do you…”

“Please, don’t think I wouldn’t care for you. I know what you are going to do every day,” Ocean just stared at her mother in shock. “I know that you went on a date with him today, that’s the reason you are dressed this way,” She continued casually.

“You are spying on me?” Ocean screamed back at her, finally her sense returning to her and she quickly shoved her hand into her purse and fished out one of her Chargers. “Ever heard of some privacy?”

“Oh, privacy is overrated. Only the ones unwilling to go throw with the hard decisions would not use everything at their disposal.” With that, she shoved her Charger into the Driver and gave it a good spin.

\ SCANNING CHARGE! /

“Henshin!”

\ 50, 80, 100! HYPER WATER CHARGE! /

That was the moment Ocean truly snapped out of her daze and quickly shoved in her own Charger into the Driver, proceeding to transform, just like her mother.

\ SCANNING CHARGE! /

“Henshin!”

\ 50, 80, 100! EARTH CHARGE! /

Both women were swallowed by their respective colored energy and emerged in their armored forms, Ocean in the Earth State and the other Charge in her Water State. Monochromes armor looked almost identical to Charges own Water State, but there was one significant difference, the colors. While Charge had a colored undersuit covered by silver plates with black edges, the new rider had a black undersuit with dark blue plates as armor as well as silver edges on that armor.

Charge and the other Rider stared at each other for a moment before both of them pulled out their respective Gun and started to fire at each other before jumping out of the way of the incoming shots. Around them, pieces of bookshelves and glass were flying everywhere. Around Oceans wrist her purse was still dangling around. She had to get this out of here. Hopefully Onyx would show up soon, she really should have waited for them.

--------------<

A few minutes earlier Phoenix was sprinting into the lobby, his bike having been parked hastily next to the building. He pushed open the door of the lobby, pretty much getting everyone attention within a heartbeat, but right now he just didn’t care and just rushed towards the elevator. That was until two extremely muscular men stepped between him and the doors.

Coming to a screeching halt just before them he sighed in annoyance: “Ok, I get that you are just doing your job, but right now I’m really not in the mood for this. I am allowed to go up there, so just let me through.”

“Oh, and who are you then? You surely have an identification batch or at least a name?”

“Phoenix Feather, now let me through,” he insisted and tried to push past them, but not a single one of them budged an inch. “I know Ocean, I was here with her a few times, and I have no time for this bullshit right now. She is up there right now.”

“Mhm, sure. You know agent Skies. And agent Skies is surely up there as well,” He sighed in return. “Sir, I have to ask you to leave now, or we will be forced to take more drastic measures.”

“Damit Onyx, why can’t you be here already,” he sighed before quickly pulling out something from his pocket, his Driver and a Magic Disc. “So, you know what this is?”

This left them speechless for a second before one of them managed to snap out of their little stupor and returned with an unnervingly threatening voice: “You better leave now, or things will get really unpleasant for you, Rider.”

Before Phoenix could say anything in return, he could hear something loud from above them, something that sounded like an explosion. Everything that could shake started to violently do so in an instant, knocking over some potted plants. It didn’t take more than a few seconds until everyone was running out of the building screaming in terror and who could blame them. All but Phoenix and the two guards, both of them pulled off their respective gloves and reviled two different rings, one made out of a flaming red gemstone while the other depicted a mossy stone. Within seconds both of the rings started to glow only to reveal two Corrupted.

One was a humanoid red dragon clad in golden armor with an equally golden facemask. The other one, however, resembled more a collection of misshapen, moss-covered rocks than anything humanoid looking. Nonetheless, he was the first to slam his fist, or what would pass for a first down on him. Phoenix jumped out of the way in the last second and ran around a corner, quickly taking a deep breath before slapping on the Driver and placing the Disc inside it.

\ MAGIC DISC DETECTED! /

“Henshin!”

\ FLAME DISC ACTIVATED! /

After the flames had set again, he charged back at them, unbuckling the disc from the Driver again.

\ Flame Disc Attack Mode! /

\ Flame Saber! /

The sword appeared in his hand not a second too late as he blocked one of the attacks from the dragon before it could slash across his chest. Still, the blow was nothing to scoff at and pushed him back a few feet. Wile this was happening the rock monster had run past him and was about to punch him from the side. While he managed to put the blade between him and his opponent the force was still strong enough to launch him through the next wall, the two Corrupted quickly chasing after him.

As the two monsters were busy with Alchemy Onyx finally arrived, with a mad dash, he traversed the lobby, sparing Alchemy a quick glance before storming further towards the elevator. He could deal with whatever was happening here, he had to stop Ocean, or at least try. And the short elevator ride was the perfect time to call for backup.

--------------<

With a loud grunt, Charge landed on her back, the gaping hole in the wall in front of her still getting bigger as Monochrome walked through it, her engine dispensing the fog that made it almost impossible to see. “Where did you get that Driver anyway,” she groaned as she tried to stand up again.

“Well, there was still two-thirds of the Charge Stone left. Would be a shame to let it go to waste and really stupid of me to not have an ace up my sleeve,” she returned casually. “Now, if you would just give me the phone we can stop all of this right here. You have no chance against the Hyper Charge System.”

“Yeah, how about no,” Charge returned and in an instant jumped forward from her sitting position and slammed her fist right into Hyper Charge’s chest, letting the Rider stager backward.

“Clever, but not clever enough,” she returned and with a swift motion dodged Charge’s next attack and within a heartbeat had punched back and sent her crashing through the next wall. She landed with a resounding grunt, but ultimately the invincibility had prevented anything further. As she lay there she could see that someone was running up to her, someone with grey skin, black hair and rather muscular… Onyx.

This was exactly what she had been waiting for. Within moments she was back on her feet and threw her purse over to him. “Get out of here, now! I take care of mom!” And without waiting for even a second, she switched out her Charged, spun it and ran straight ahead.

“Charge up!”

\ 50, 80, 100! WIND CHARGE! /

The fog was quickly blown away by the propellors on Charges back, and before Hyper Charge had any chance of reacting to her, she had already grabbed the evil Rider and was crashing with her through the wall to the outside. But before Charge could do anything more, she was pushed back by Hyper Charge’s own energy bubble, green in color.

\ 50, 80, 100! HYPER WIND CHARGE!/

Like before Hyper Charge wore a black undersuit and green plates over it. It didn’t take long till she ascended again, pointing her gun at the other Rider, Charge quickly doing the same. She was however not fast enough to actually pull the trigger, and with the force of what felt like a tornado, she was thrown back into the building. All the windows around her shattered in an instance, falling down towards the street below. “Are you insane? You know how many people are down there?” She screamed at her mother who merely shrugged and aimed again.

This time Charge was prepared and responded with a shoot of her own, the two whirlwinds hitting midair, seemingly canceling each other out, well until Hyper Charge increase the power of her own, blasting Charge back further into the building. With a sigh, she rocketed forward back inside.

\ 50, 80, 100! HYPER EARTH CHARGE! /

Charge in the meantime had managed to get back on her feet and changed her Charger as well, rejuvenating herself for the next part of the fight.

“Charge up!”

\ 50, 80, 100! WATER CHARGE! /

As Hyper Charge stepped further into the building, she quickly took note of what Charge was planning. She took one look around and just stood still, in the middle of the thick fog. Everything around her was dead quiet, only the occasional scream or footsteps disturbed the silence, well that was until Charge came from behind and tried to knock the Rider down. It sadly remained as an attempt as Hyper Charge spun around, grabbed hold of Charge after she had hit her and slammed her on the floor. What followed was a punch that was so strong that not even the floor could withstand it, both Riders tumbling down through the newly created hole to the floor below.

Hyper Charge was the first on her feet again, slowly walking over to where Charge had fallen and with a swift kick send her through the next best wall. She looked after where her daughter went and was about to follow as she heard something.

“Charge up!”

\ 50, 80, 100! FIRE CHARGE! /

A second later Charge came rocketing towards her, taking the new Rider by surprise and seconds later she found herself again in yet another room with a new hole in it. Charge had meanwhile started to beat her with the power of her engines, the floor beneath her slowly starting to crack and worst off all, her inability would run out shortly. She had to think quickly. Without Charge noticing she reached down to her belt and pulled fourth another Charger and switched it out with her current one.

\ 50, 80, 100! HYPER THUNDER CHARGE! /

The orb of energy pushed Charge back, and within seconds Hyper Charge had circled around her and sent flying, tumbling through the walls like a ragdoll. Charge’s body ached all over, and she was covered in debris. As she tried to stand up again, she just feels back down, staring back towards the hole she had come through. Out of the smoke and dust Hyper Charge slowly walked towards her. That was all what she needed to get herself into overdrive. Pushing past her pain, she managed to get back up and replace the Charger with a new one.

“Charge up!”

\ 50, 80, 100! THUNDER CHARGE! /

And then it happened, both of the Riders clashed together at super speed, not managing to damage the other in any meaningful way. But it didn’t stop there, within moments Charge and Hyper Charge clashed again and again. Sometimes Charge getting a hit in, sometimes Hyper Charge. This little struggle, however, came to an abrupt end as Charge’s super speed failed her and just shut off. This was enough for Hyper Charge to deliver one final kick that knocked Charge back again, letting her crash against the wall so hard that it canceled her transformation, the armor fading away.

“So, you see, you can’t win. You have not a single form left that could beat me. Just give up and help me save this world,” she started, looking down towards her beaten daughter as she slowly advanced towards her.

Ocean just growled, her body was covered in bruises wounds and everything just hurt. Still, she wasn’t done, she still had one ace up her sleeve. With all of her strength, she pushed herself up on the wall, shakingly standing before her mother. “Really? You think I’m done already? Then I have some bad news for you.” With that, she swapped the Charger one last time and started to spin the device.

\ SCANNING CHARGE! /

“Henshin!”

\ 50, 80, 100! FRIENDSHIP CHARGE! /

--------------<

Meanwhile, Alchemy was still busy with his opponents, that had grown considerably harder since they had gotten company. Two more monsters, one looking like a steaming pile of rocks, not dissimilar to one of the other ones and what looked like a mechanical, humanoid rabbit and if that wasn’t enough, he also had guns all over him. He really had enough, this was really getting ridiculous. That was when he was rudely interrupted by one of the Corrupted that sent my sailing through the air and through another wall.

Picking himself up from the repackage he could see all four Corrupted walking towards him, ready to strike him down. “You know, I really would have preferred not to do that, ok, that’s a lie, but you leave me no other choice.” With a quick motion, he had activated another transformation.

\ FRIENDSHIP DISC ACTIVATED! /

The purple energy surged around him revealing his newest form and without hesitation and renewed vigor he pulled the Disc again from his Driver.

\ Friendship Disc Attack Mode! /

\ Connect Protector! /

With his new sword and shield in hand, he charged towards the Corrupted, they quickly following suit. The first one to receive his attack was the dragon Corrupted, getting slashed square across the chest, penetrating his armor. But that wasn’t all he received. Afterward, Alchemy kicked him out of the way and on the other side of the lobby. While this had been happening the moss Corrupted had tried to sneak up on him, as he, however, tried to slam his fist down on Alchemy, the Rider simply waved his hand, and the attack of the Corrupted stopped in midair. Casually he spun the Disc on the shield, energy flowing from it to his other weapon. “Eternal Bond!” With that he slashed across the chest of the Corrupted, the monster being consumed in an explosion before reverting to his human form, ring next to him.

That let the rest of the Corrupted stager back a few steps, but Alchemy really didn’t want them to get any dumb ideas and leaped forward towards the rabbit, who unloaded all of his arsenals on him. He would have actually hit him if it weren’t for the fact that Alchemy’s shield provided him with an energy shield as well. But with it, all of his attacks just evaporated on impact with the shield like they were snowdrops landing on a volcano.

Leaving the Corrupted shocked Alchemy charged forward, again spinning the Disc on his shield. “Eternal Bond!” This time he cut through the Corrupted top to bottom, effectively cutting him in half. A bright purple line appeared on the shocked monster before it exploded as well, reverting to its human form. “So, who is next?”

--------------<

Hyper Charge stood there in shock, this couldn’t be, there was not even the slightest bit of data on this. This just couldn’t be right.

“Surprised? Well, this was a gift from Phoenix, a sign of trust if you may call it that. He trusted me enough that even if the MRG would betray him one day that I would do what was right. And it seems he was dead on about that,” Charge returned. Her blue undersuit having been replaced with a bright purple. The silver and black had remained, and her eyes had also remained just as red as before. In her hands, she held a rather big gun, shaped like a laser rifle from a video game if she was honest.

“No matter, my Hyper Charge System is superior to you in every way, even if you have something I don’t have access to, there is no chance that you could win,” and with that Hyper Charge rushed towards her daughter, she merely fired her rifle, shots of purple energy flowing towards her. The Rider was easily able to dodge the attack, or at least that was what she thought since the projectile changed direction midflight heading straight for her. Unable to realize what was happening it wasn’t too hard for them to hit her and send her flying into the next best wall. “How?” She groaned as she forced herself back up again.

“It’s simple. He trusted me because I trust him. He sees that what I saw in him, the making of a hero. And that is what I fail to see in you. I can’t fail here, not because I don’t want to lose to you, no, because these people out there trust in me and I won’t betray that trust like you did. You are an insult to what Phoenix and I see in the term Kamen Rider. We defined the term, as a hero that protects everyone's freedom, that hears when someone calls for help, not a judge that deems the world to be failed.” She pointed her gun at Monochrome. “That is what it means to be a protector, a Kamen Rider. I’m sure you knew this at one point as well, but right now you don’t. And if it means to go against my own mother to be a Rider, then be it!” With that, she pulled the trigger again unleashing several shots of purple energy at her mother.

With a mad dash she tried to escape the incoming attack, trying to let it hit walls or anything, but the attack just went through them, not even slowing down. That was when she made one last desperate attempt if her daughter chose the wrong way, there was only one way. Rushing towards her with all her speed trying to knock the weapon out of her hands, what she had not expected was Charge stopping her with a well-placed kick. What followed was her back being bombarded by a barrage of magic lasers, leaving her stumbling backward, completely exhausted.

“You… You ungrateful…” Monochrome hissed, spinning the cylinder on her Driver.

\ Maximum Charge! /

Charge was not far behind her and did spin her Driver as well.

\ Maximum Charge! /

Hyper Charge rushed again towards her while Charge gathered energy in her weapon, it almost looked like Hyper Charge would be fast enough to actually hit her, but within the last split-second, Charge pulled the trigger, unleashing what looked like a flood of purple energy shoots at her mother. Countless smaller ones hit her all at once, knocking the speed right out of her and even forcing her back. What was even worse was that it didn’t stop, more and more of the painful shots hit their mark, sending her flying further and further until she was finally forced out of the window?

She could see the night sky above, almost letting her forget the unbearable pain as she looked upwards, seemingly falling in slow motion until everything just suddenly stopped with a loud crash.

Alchemy meanwhile was dealing with the other two Corrupted as he heard a loud crash, shattering glass and what he was almost certain steel bending. He and his two opponents stopped dead in their tracks and looked around where the noise had come from until their eyes looked onto a car. The rove had been bend inwards, and someone was laying on top of it, small drops of red liquid dropped down from the car.

Before Alchemy could actually understand what was going on the two Corrupted had started to run, he was about run after them as he heard something else fall down next to the car, Charge. She quickly ran towards the car and looked at the person that was lying on top of it. With a sigh he let the two Corrupted escaped and joined her.

“What happened?” He screamed over to her as her knees went limb, she canceled her transformation and started to cry.

“I… I killed her…” She whispered, staring at the bloody corpse of her mother, her throat feeling like it had been sawed shut. Warm tears were streaming down her face, unable to hold them back. “I didn’t want to…”

Phoenix turned pale under his helmet, what lay before him was Monochromes lifeless corpse. He froze on the spot, what had happened up there? Why was Ocean crying like this, why- No, that could wait, right now Ocean needed him more. He crouched down next to Ocean and laid his hands on her shoulder, she twitched for a moment, but ultimately let herself be pulled into an embrace from him. She let out her feelings, tears running down his armor. He would have loved to have said something, but right now he just didn’t know what.

That was when things got even worse. Onyx had apparently managed to return to the lobby and was running straight towards them, stopping halfway through as he saw Monochromes corpse. “What happened?” He stared at it a few more moments before shaking his head again and ran the rest of the way towards them. “I got the evidence here,” he stammered.

“As if we care about this right now,” Phoenix shot back, staring at him through his bug eyes.

“You should, or else all of this was for nothing,” he returned weakly. “And you probably want to know this. Alkahest has made his move,” he stopped for a moment, visibly shaking. “He broke into our lab and kidnapped Ivory.”

This got ocean to freeze as well, within seconds she had dragged herself from the ground and was staggering towards the underground parking lot. “Are you sure? I can take care of this, you don’t have to-“

“I’m not leaving a friend alone who needs help. He trusts in me, I don’t want that trust to be broken… as much as it hurts right now.” Phoenix nodded, quickly following her.

Author's Note

So and with that, we have the second super mode and like the last, this chapter was a blast to write, really.

Criticism and comments are, like always, very much welcome.

Change - Cornering a Beast

It was a rainy day in Canterlot City, clouds covered the sky, and constant downpour had soaked him to his very core. Thank goodness the station at least had a roof, so they wouldn’t get any wetter. Still, it didn’t really matter much. The last four days had been awful. It all started with an innocent date, one that actually seemed to be perfect, well until it ended. The night turned into a nightmare afterward. Betrayal, fighting, death and worst of all, a kidnapping. Had he known what would have happened he would have never asked for it, but that didn’t matter right now.

After the disaster at the MRG where Ocean had confronted her mother and subsequently killed her after she attacked her as a Rider, everyone had thought this had been enough for one night. It would be hard to overcome, but ultimately, they had the evidence for her crimes, and he was sure with enough time Ocean would be back to normal. Sadly fate had other things in mind for them. The person that had terrorized the city for so long and always had just slipped out of their hands had finally made his move, Alkahest. Shining had called Onyx that the dark Rider was attacking them at this moment and had kidnaped Ivory. That had been enough for Ocean to get back up and rush to the help of her friend, even if she was in no condition to fight, neither physically, nor mentally.

--------------<

They were not even one block away from the lab now, both Riders already armored up and as fast as possible. They couldn’t have been here sooner, it was just impossible. They could hear the sirens from here, loud and bursting and all came from one point, the new lab of the MRG. Roadblocks had been quickly building up to protect any onlookers that were stupid enough to get too close to the building. Still, a few had managed to slip through, taking pictures of the firetrucks and police cars that were rushing to the screen.

What showed itself to them after they finally had arrived was shocking, to say the least. Over thirty police cars had circled around the entrance of the building with firetrucks all around them, trying to fight against the flames that were quickly spreading towards the nearby buildings. The front door had been ripped from its hinges and carelessly thrown towards the street, scorch marks covering almost every inch of them.

Phoenix was in a state of shock as he saw the destruction the dark Rider had brought, it took him almost five seconds until he noticed that ocean had already dismounted her bike the moment it had stopped and had dashed towards the entrance. She didn’t even look for even a second before running towards the entrance, weapon drawn and ready for everything.

The moment Phoenix managed to shake off this feeling he was after her, but as he passed the still smoking remains of the doors he stopped once again. The interior of the place looked even worse, random parts of the building were covered in countless couch marks like they were from a blade. Blodsplatteres had been sprayed all over, some forming long drawn out trailers, apparently from people that had dragged themselves over the floor, but nobody, at least at first glance. That quickly changed however as he saw two firefighters carrying a man with a large chest wound out of the building. As he looked further into the corridors, he could see more body, some already unconscious, some others still crying for help. It was terrifying what Alkahest had caused here, all the people he had hurt and undoubtedly killed.

Around them lay several guns, some shattered, some still intact, but all abandoned. Slowly he continued his advance, passing burning corridors and collapsed rooms by the dozen. Stopping at a few opportunities to get some people out of the rubble or in the hands of the helpers. Meanwhile, Ocean had disappeared completely from his view, probably already deeper in the building. With a silent sigh, he marched onward, carefully looking around every corner, expecting the man in his dark armor around every single one of them.

He wasn’t really sure how he should feel when he didn’t find him around any of them. Should he feel happy to not face him again, undoubtedly alone or should he be angry that he couldn’t find the bastard that had done this? Both sides were fighting in the back of his head, and it was getting quite distracting until he heard a loud shout: “Alchemy! Get over here!” It was Ocean, and she wasn’t even too far off. Throwing caution to the wind he rushed towards the source of her voice, the damage to the building only growing in intensity as he moved further and further.

Holes had been punched into the walls, leading to rooms, or more precisely what was left of them. Some had completely collapsed while others were filled with sparkling, broken equipment. Build by the MRG in a few weeks and housing some of their best had been reduced to a crumbling ruin. Alkahest had truly left his mark on this place.

When he finally reached her she was standing in front of Ivory lab, the door was still shut tightly, and she had her Charge Magnum pointed at the door. “Finally, took you long enough,” she hissed, looking at him through her visor.

“Well, I thought throwing caution to the wind will only get me killed here, so I actually was careful. Oh, and I helped a few of the injured, I think you don’t want them to die, right?”

He sighed in annoyance but ultimately just shook her head. “Whatever, you are here now, and that is all that counts. Now, get ready to take apart everything that is inside there.” With that he burst through the door with her shoulder, soundly knocking the door off its hinges.

What they saw when she pointed her gun around wildly to find Alkahest was in her opinion rather disappointing and frustrating, nothing. Well, nothing wasn’t really right either. The room had been leveled, Ivory’sequipment had been completely trashed, his monitors and machines had been burned to a crisp and some even cut in half. It looked like a tornado had rampaged through the lab.

Well, that was until one piece of the equipment fell over, Ocean immediately pointing her gun in the direction, getting a loud scream in return, followed by a loud thud. From behind one of the computers Shining came crawling out, his face covered in a makeshift mask as well as a lot of ash.

“Shining, thank goodness you are ok. You are ok, right?” Phoenix sighed in relive, walking over to his friend and helping the frightened man up.

“More or less. A bit bruised, but that is to be expected when a rider backhands you,” he chuckled before holding his side in pain and almost sinking back to his knees if Phoenix hadn’t held him.

“Where is Ivory?” Ocean instead said, looking around the room frantically for any sign of her friend.

“Alkahest, he took him. Knocked me out of the way, knocked Ivory out and just left. Well, he wanted to leave, but some of the guards and scientist had grabbed some of the artifacts and tried to stop him. He just walked through them, almost like their attacks couldn’t hurt him in any way. It didn’t even slow him down for five minutes, he just slaughtered them. I think some of them escaped, but the rest…” He swallowed hard, trying to finish his sentence, but ultimately just couldn’t.

“Dammit, we weren’t fast enough. Phoenix, get ready, we are going to hunt this bastard!” Ocean cursed, already back at the door and was about to leave.

“No!” Phoenix simply returned.

“What? Are you insane? He is going to escape with Ivory. Who knows what he is going to do to him! I know you don’t like him that much, but you can’t let this happen to him,”she shouted back, slamming her fist against the wall, it quickly crumbling under the force.

“Shining called us twenty minutes ago; do you really think we are going to find him?” Ocean remained silent, tightening the grip of her hand. “Right now we have to help here. The helpers won’t get everyone in time and even if they could, the chance that something happens is just too big. Right now we have to save the people here, not hunt for the chance of saving Ivory,”he returned with determination in his voice.

Ocean remained silent, trying to speak up several times until she finally said: “I… I just can’t lose him as well. I can’t let that happen, I have to save him!” She turned, anger, frustration, and fear mixing in her voice.

“I know, but right now I can’t let these people here get hurt. If you go after Alkahest now, you will just run around the city like a madwoman, and you won’t find him, all while people here will suffer. I know you well enough that you would hate yourself for that later,” Phoenix paused, Ocean now sating at the floor with her head hanging low. “But I promise you, we will find him. I’m not letting a friend alone.” Ocean slowly nodded. “Good, now, let’s get to work.”

--------------<

Later that night when they had managed to save every last civilian from the building they took one last look at the disaster that had occurred there. Over twenty people dead, at least three times that much injured or in critical condition and all that was done by one man, Alkahest. The hatred and anger in both of them were at a boiling point, and so it was no wonder that the two searched the city for any sign of him for hours, to their dismay however without any luck.

There was the one time he had been supposedly seen circling the MRG building, but when they arrived, he had already disappeared again. The next day was spent almost identically, all while the news of what had happened in the Canterlot City headquarters of the MRG spread like wildfire. Onyx had been wrapped up in a meeting with the remaining heads of the organization since midnight. While the head of the Manehattan branch, Fancy Pants, had backed him up, the heads of the two other departments were not so quick to believe everything Onyx told them, even with sufficient evidence. They believed it to be a ploy to wrestle the control over the MRG out from Monochromes hands and right into his own. Seaddle, one Blueblood, and Whinneapolis, a man named Neighsay, demanded that Ocean would be questioned under all of the eyes of the remaining heads and stripped of her Driver.

After the evening was already starting to set Onyx finally managed to convince the rest of his colleges that everything he had told them was true. After more and more reports that some of Monochrome’s collect friends and allies had disappeared or gone rogue, it was indeed easier to believe. In the end, they settled on an independent investigation confirming what was already pretty obvious, but that was how it worked when something of this scale happened, especially when they had no chance to cover it up. Still, they demanded that Ocean would be questioned by all four of them to verify her story. Grumblingly he accepted, it was really the best he could hope for. Still, he at least managed to get the date of her hearing very close to the burial of Monochrome in Manehattan. That, however, meant that she would have to leave the city for a few days and he was damnd sure that this would not be so easy.

--------------<

“What!? Are they completely out of your mind? I can’t, I have things to do here! I can’t let him run around while he still has Ivory!” She screamed at Onyx who had already taken on a resigned look on his face. This reaction was really not a surprise.

Onyx knew exactly that this had been coming and together with Phoenix he sighed in exhaustion. “Look, Ocean. We know that you want to fin Alkahest-“

“I need to find him, not want to find him,” she insisted, crossing here armed with a frown of annoyance and defiance on her lips.

“Yeah, you need to find him, but if you really want to actually stand a chance against him, you need the Charge Drier. But if you don’t let them interview you and actually behave they will just confiscate the thing, and you should know better than to anger the MRG. If you cut connections with them, they won’t give a single quiet minute ever again, and that would only hinder you in finding Ivory. I get it, you need to find him, especially after you lost someone close to you, but if you go on like this you will never find him, just list-“

“Oh, yes, just listen. Listen and follow orders so you can turn on me as well. I don’t have time for this. Do you know what he might do to Ivory if we don’t find him, or what he already has done to him? No, and I don’t want too,” her anger and frustration quickly turned into desperation and fear. “I can’t lose someone else; I just have to find him.”

“Ocean, you would say the same thing to me if I was looking for Thunder. I get it, trust me, but right now you need someone that cools you down a bit. You would do the same for me. If you rush this and burn your bridges with the MRG, you would always regret it. And it’s not like there won’t be anyone searching for him in the meantime. Pinecone and I will turn around every little stone in this demanding city if we have to. I want to find Ivory as much as you, but you have more in life than him and if you let that go to waste what good will it do if you find him?” Phoenix desperately pleaded, looking his girlfriend into her eyes with a look that could melt ice.

“Exactly. We will give it our all to find Ivory, and you know that. And if you want that we all can put our best to that as well, you have to do this. Just get them off your back; I don’t think anyone else could be a better Charge. Take two days of, talk with the heads of the MRG and go to the funeral, maybe it will help you on that front as well,” Onyx added in a comforting voice.

Ocean just looked at them for a few moments until her anger, desperation, and frustration slowly melted away and left her with an exhausted and knowing look. “Ok. I try my best so I can be of help for Ivory back her as fast as possible. And I will take part in the funeral. It would just be wrong if I wouldn’t.”

“Thanks, Ocean. I knew you would understand it and I promise you, I will give my best to find him,” Phoenix said before hugging her, a small tear running down Oceans cheeks as she returned his hug.

--------------<

The waiting for the train was dreadful. No one knew what they should say, only standing next to each other without saying a single word. The constant downpour pressed against the thin roof of the station and the cold wind even brought some of the hatted drops right next to them. Phoenix had decided to go with her to the station, mainly to say goodbye, and of course, so she wouldn’t get any funny ideas.

They really hadn’t had a good moment to talk ever since that night, something he had actually looked forward to after the date had ended. But with Ivory’s kidnapping more pressing matters just had been on both of their minds and so their relationship had fallen to the wayside. There were some small hugs and a few smiles, but nothing really beyond that. Ocean was just always so focused on saving her friend, something g he really couldn’t blame her for.

And now they finally had a few minutes to talk, and not one of them actually said anything. They were just staring into the distance, occasionally taking a glance towards the other. The atmosphere was strange and definitely uncomfortable. That was until Phoneix finally gathered his courage and said: “So, how are things going to go from here?”

This shook Ocean out of her silence, somewhat suürised by Phoenix sudden words. “What do you mean? Looking or Ivory? You just have to search without me for a few days, but don’t even think about slaking off. I will know,” she returned with a serious undertone in her voice.

“No, I get that. I was actually talking about our relationship. Ever since that night we really hadn’t time to talk. I know you said we were a couple now, but with all that has happened, I just don’t know if-“ Whatever he wanted to say was quickly forgotten by ocean grabbing his hand and giving him a weak, but honest smile.

“Phoenix, whatever happened that night. The things I did or what Alkahest did, it doesn’t matter when it comes to this. The night will always stay in my memories, the bad as well as the good. You really think I would let you fall because it reminds me of what happened. No, I would never do that. I’m glad that we had a date that night, no matter what else happened. What I said that night still stands, but right now there are just more important things in my… our lives. You know that;” she soberly returned, increasing the pressure on his hand as she continued.

“Thanks, that means a lot to me,” he returned, also increasing his grip on her hand. “I know that we have other things in our life right now, but it’s still good to know that you will be there.” She nodded with a sad smile. “Can you promise me something?”

“What?”

“When you are in Manehattan, can you try to shut off for a day or so. Don’t worry about anything here, I’ll take care of it,” he returned, a determined look on his face.

“I know you will, but I can’t make any promises. But I’ll give it my best shot anyway,” she smiled back as both of them heard the announcement.

“The train to Manehattan will arrive shortly on platform three. Please move behind the wight line and wait for the train to stop. The train to Manehattan will arrive shortly on platform three. Please move behind the white line and wait for the train to stop.”

“Well, that means goodbye for now,” Ocean sighed, taking one last glance towards the city and sighed. “Oh well, I’ll leave everything here in your hands, just don’t screw it up,” she chuckled weakly.

“I and screwing things up? Please, whenever did that happen?” Both sharing a quick laugh. “So, yeah, see ya in three days.” At this moment the train arrived, and with him a bit of rain that silently splashed across their bodies. But that didn’t stop Ocean from stepping in front of Phoenix and kissing him again, he quickly returning her kiss. It was a moment where everything seemed to be alright, no evil Riders, no kidnappings, no death, and destruction, only they for what felt like a short eternity. All the stress of the previous days just melted away.

When they finally broke their kiss up both couldn’t other than to smile at the other one. Still, Ocean had to go, and with a silent sigh she packed her suitcase and rushed towards the train, leaving Phoenix behind on the station. He stared at the train as it left the station, looking after it for almost half a minute until he finally turned around with a sigh.

He was happy that they finally had been able to talk, but at the same time sad that she had to go. He sure as Tartarus wouldn’t want to leave when his best friend had been kidnaped by a madman, but there wasn’t really an option. After he had walked through at least half of the station, he heard his phone ringing. Swiftly pulling the thing out he answered: “Yes, Phoenix feather here.”

“Phoenix, we have a problem. There are four magical energy signals that are heading for Pinecones house,” Shining said from the other end of the line.

Ok, got it. Will be right there,” he sighed and wanted to end the call already only to be stopped by Shining.

“Wait, just a heads-up. Two of the signals are actually very familiar.” This did pique his interest. “They are two of Monochromes bodyguards, the ones you fought five days ago.”

“So the ones that got away? If we capture them, they might actually help us in uncovering what who else was on her side,” he returned quickly.

“Exactly. Onyx said to keep an eye on them. There are still at least five others out there with the rings, and if the two other Corrupted that are with them are really some as well, this brings the number down to three.”

“I’m right on it, just warn Pinecone,” again he was about to cancel the call as Shining again continued.

“The strange thing is, he is already there, but he hasn’t called us or anything.”

“What?” This did indeed surprise him quite a bit. Pinecone wasn’t stupid enough to go up against four Corrupted by himself, right?

“I don’t know,” he returned.

“Anyway, I’ll be right on that.” With that he ran out of the building and onto his bike, driving off towards the forest.

--------------<

Meanwhile, Pinecone was just evading a large steaming rock from one of the Corrupted, it landing behind him and knocking over several trees. With his super speed, the Rider in his Thunderbird form rushed towards the monster only to be blocked by a humanoid monster covered in bright blue gems. The gems formed what looked like armor, underneath the Corrupted was composed of what looked like ordinary rocks. In his hand, he held two axes, one of which was currently blocking Monster's rapier.

The Rider, however, didn’t take long to jump back and rush off into another direction, straight towards the dragon Corrupted from five days ago. What he could however not see was the gem Corrupted charging after him at the same speed. The two darted through the trees, not slowing down for a second, Monster flying past the Corrupted, but not without at least slashing him across his shoulder, right between armor and helmet.

The moment he tried to turn around, however, was when the Corrupted had managed to catch up to him, jumping up and slashing him across with his gem axes, letting the Rider crash towards the ground with a loud grunt. The glowing eyes of the beast stared at him for a moment before it rushed towards him again, slamming his axes down on him.

Thankfully Monster managed to wedge his rapier between the incoming attack and his body. Still, the strength of the attack almost was too much, knocking the air out of his lungs and almost breaking through his defenses. While Monster was struggling with his opponent, another Corrupted approached them, the dragon, all while rubbing the part of him that had been struck by the Rider.

With one Corrupted on him and another one closing in on him there, the situation looked dire. He had to do something and that fast. Tilting his sword slightly he let the ax of the Corrupted slide down it and with a quick kick pushed the beast of him, rolling to his feet and facing the growling monster.

Not even a second later the Corrupted and Rider rushed towards each other, Monster jumping over him in the last second and striking his rapier right there where he hit him before. With a loud roar, the Corrupted staggered forward, and unceremoniously landed face first on the ground. Monster, however, had no time to relax since the gem Corrupted was already next to him and slamming his weapon down on the Rider. As he tried to evade it, the ax was quickly redirected into his direction, gazing him and leaving a trail of sparks behind.

Staggering back the Corrupted advanced again, letting his weapon come down on him, time and time again, the Rider being pushed back more and more while blocking the incoming attacks. This was really getting tiresome, every time he finally got a hit in on any of the three monsters another one just jumped out of the woodwork. The only way he had until now been able to keep up with them was through the use of his Thunderbird form, and even that didn’t seem to yield any results.

And to make matters even worse the moss Corrupted jumped at him from behind, knocking the Rider in the back and pushing him right into the next attack from the gem Corrupted, his armor giving off a stream of sparks as the weapon cut down on it. With a loud scream, he tried to stagger backward, emphasis on tried since the second monster grabbed him by the shoulders and keeping him pinned down.

Still occupied with the pain that was surging through his body and the Corrupted holding him he was unable to block or even anticipate the next attack from the Corrupted as it slashed across his armor, again and again, culminating in a loud pained scream. Monster’s legs giving up from under him. Still, this was not enough for the Corrupted as it held him just as tightly as before. “You are pathetic, really. You think you could win against three of us? With the other Riders, maybe, but alone? That you didn’t call for backup was a big mistake, but oh well, not really our problem. Without you Alchemy and that damned Charge will be far easier to take down,” the Corrupted gloated, twirling his ax around playfully and stepping around of him for a few moments. “Well, this has at least been somewhat fun, got my mind of at least, but this is where we have to part ways!” Holding the ax high above his head he was about to strike down on the defenseless Rider as something managed to knock the weapon right out of his hands.

“Hey Crazy Diamond, how about you just stop that and give up, or you will end up like your three friends. And with that I mean beaten and bruised as well as in prison,” Alchemy said, aiming at the two Corrupted with his bow all while casually sitting on his bike about fifty meters away.

Diamond growled a curse and spat out: “Dammit, why do you Riders always appear at the most inconvenient of times? Is that something that comes naturally to you or what?”

Alchemy chuckled a bit as he dismounted his bike and casually walked in the direction of them, his scarf flowing in the wind. “Well, I consider it a gift, to be honest. But I’m not really in a playful mood today. I would actually like to tie this up in one fight if I’m honest. I’m actually on the search for a friend, and I would love to get back to that, so if you could just give up, that would be wonderful. Or better, if you know where Alkahest might be, just tell me.” His answer came in the form of the third Corrupted lunging at him and trying to rip apart his armor with his claws. Alchemy quickly rolled under the monster and with a clean shot from the bow sent it flying straight upwards, the beast landing a few meters away with a smoking wound in his stomach. “Well, that was not really a surprise. Beating it is then,” he sighed and started to fire at the two remaining Corrupted.

The first one hit the moos Corrupted right in the head, letting him let go of Monster who quickly rammed his rapier into the monster, sadly without much of an effect. The second one hit right next to Diamon, letting him flinch back in annoyance. This, however, did not deter him all that long as he rushed over towards Alchemy, trying to slash the Rider with his weapons. To his annoyance Alchemy managed to dodge out of the way in the last second and send an arrow straight for him, hitting him in the chest as well as sending him flying backward. “Gotcha!”

While Alchemy was dealing with the two Corrupted Monster was still on rather shaky legs, tumbling around while trying to hit his own opponent, something that proved quite hard. Thanks to the injuries he had sustained in the fight until now he had been brought to the point of complete exhaustion, not even able to control his speed anymore. After missing his target again and stumbling forward a few more meters, he finally managed to catch himself and removed the Medal from his Driver and replace it with another one.

\ AWAKEN: DRAGON! /

With the aetherial dragon knocking back the moos Corrupted as it tried to attack him he felt his energy returning. With his own ax in hand, he rushed over to his opponent and started to hack away at him, singing several parts of his body as he knocked it back. With a low growl, he leaped forward, letting his weapon just run rampant on the Corrupted, loud screams of pain coming from him as he tried his hardest to block the incoming attacks, not with much success.

He was about to let his ax crash into his head as something stopped him. He turned around in a split second and stared at who had grabbed his ax at the blade. What stood before him was another Corrupted. His body was made out of what looked like silver and polished red gemstones. The gems formed what could only be described as armor, encased by the sliver-like material. Runes were written all over his body in a language he could not understand. His head was formed out of the silver as well with eyes made out of gemstones, the mouth was only represented through the runes.

With a sigh, he backhanded Monster out of the way with little to no effort, the Rider landing quite unceremoniously in some trees that quickly collapsed onto him. Not even sparing the Rider a second gölance he helped up his comrade who shakingly returned to his feet. He then turned towards Alchemy, stretched out his hand and small gem shards flew towards the Rider, hitting him right in the chest and sending him flying. The two Corrupted quickly looked back to where the attack had come from and was about to attack the Rider as the new Corrupted raised his voice. “Halt! We are retreating! Now!” With that, the earth under each Corrupted burst open, and they were swallowed by red gems that quickly returned underground, leaving the stunned Riders behind.

Alchemy was the first to get out of his stupor and after a bit of cursing before rushing over to Monster who had already managed to stand up and returned back to his civilian form. “Are you ok?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine,” Pinecone growled back before already starting to walk off towards his house.

“Oh, come on, not even a thank you?” Said the now untransformed Rider.

“Thanks, are you happy now?” He roughly returned, turning around for a moment with a weird mixture of gratitude and annoyance on his face.

“Why didn’t you call? Fighting against four of them is just suicidal.”

“The forest is my responsibility. I will come when you ask me to, but don’t expect me to call you.” Phoenix sighed and was about to say something else as Pinecone continued: “Don’t you have something to do anyway? I would get back on that, or your girlfriend will be mad at you.”

This left Phoenix with a loss for words, well or at least five seconds. “You did… But… Thanks. Still, if you need help, you can always ask. Seeya.” With that, he waved goodbye and ran back to his bike. Pinecone meanwhile just sighed as the ghost of a smile crept onto his face that was quickly snuffed out again.

Change - Roar of the Monster

The track through the woods wasn’t really that long, especially since he knew it like his own pocket. Still, that these Corrupted were after him again did get on his nerves. That he needed the help of this idiot, Phoenix did not sit well with him at all. But what could he do, two against one was always hard, but three or four, that was basically suicide. These monsters were getting smarter, baiting him with a single one of them and then jumping him. Calling for help seemed like a complete waste of Phoenix time, and as much as he disliked him, he knew that right now he had bigger fish to fry than a lousy Corrupted. After the ambush however he had to admit that he was grateful for his appearance.

That was what pissed him of the most. He couldn’t even protect one dammed forest from these Corrupted and Charge, and Alchemy were busy protecting an entire city and they seemed to manage just fine. With an annoyed grunt, he kicked over a small stone that tumbled down a small hill. He didn’t really care what happened to it until he heard a loud scream. “Hey, watch out there!”

He turned around and looked down to where the stone had tumbled towards, looking at a man and a woman in their mid-twenties. The woman had light pink skin and light blue hair while the man had an orange complexion with darker orange hair, reminding him quite distinctively of Phoenix.

“You can’t just throw stones around like that! You know how many people could get hurt,” the woman screamed up to him, sounding really angry, but that was not really a surprise.

“I’m sorry,” he shouted back and was about to walk off again as he heard the voice again, not the slightest bit less annoyed.

“Excuse me? You throw a rock at us and then just want to walk off? Are you for real?” She shouted back, stomping her foot down for emphasize. “You could at least ask us if we are ok!”

Pinecone sighed silently and returned: “Judging by the way you scream I’m pretty sure you are ok. Can you two leave me alone now?” Before he could wander off, however, he heard her again, this time, he was getting really annoyed.

“What?! Unfriendly idiot! Don’t you know what happens to no-gooders in this forest?” She spat at him with venom in her voice.

“Oh, do tell me, really. I have lived in this forest my whole life and I’m still here, so it can’t be so bad,” he dismissively returned and again tried to walk off, but the woman just didn't know when to stop.

“They get punished by the Knight of Gaia Everfree! He is the guardian of this forest, and he punishes all who mean harm to the ones that travel through this place! So better watch out what you do, or do you want to end up disappearing under mysterious circumstances. I heard this knight is really violent,” she smugly said, glaring at him with a face that screamed victory.

This took him back for a moment, he hadn’t expected to hear that legend from her, a small smile crept across his lips as he heard that the legends of his ancestors were not completely lost to time. “Oh, you believe in the Knights of Gaia Everfree? That is something you rarely hear,” he returned, with a far friendlier attitude.

“Oh, of course. I mean, if Kamen Rider exists, why can’t magical knights exist. You know, maybe the Knight of Gaia is actually a Kamen Rider, just hasn’t shown himself yet,” she smugly continued.

He was about to return something as her companion finally started to speak up: “Honey, I know you don’t like it when people are unfriendly to you, but you don’t have to be so mean. Doesn't you notice he is making fun of you?”

“Pah, as if he could ever say something that would get me mad,” she huffed dismissively. “And even if, he shouldn’t have been so meaning. Are manners that much to ask for these days?”

“No, Honey, but we wanted to look for this shrine, and if we mess around with him any longer we will be soaked in the rain,” he looked down at them, and the drily added: “Or, you know, even more.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” she groaned as she looked at Pinecone in annoyance.

As the man pulled out a wet and already tearing map a gust of wind caught it and ripped it out of his hands, or to be more precise, ripped the map into three separate chunks, two remaining in his hands. The rest of the map was quickly taken away by the wind. Both of them looked dumbfounded after at the remains of what was once their map in his hands.

“I see you have everything under control and since I’m such a thorn in your eyes, I think I should leave,” Pinecone said with a devilish smile on his lips, turned around and started to walk off, or at least so far that they couldn’t see him anymore. He could still hear their bickering or at least hear that they were indeed bickering. He remained just out of sight for a few more moments until he heard the voice of the man again.

“Uhm, sorry to bother you, but you said that you lived in this forest for your entire life?” He called out for him, his voice sounding quite ashamed and insecure.

“Sure did,” he called back.

“Ahm, you wouldn’t know where the Shrine of Gaia Everfree is? Just out of curiosity,” he continued, Pinecone could almost imagine him rubbing his neck awkwardly.

“Yeah, know exactly where it is.”

“So, would you maybe be so kind and guide us there, our map has… well…”

“Not withstood the weather?”

“Exactly,” he returned, the shame clearly audible in his voice, Pinecone shaking his head with a little smile on his lips. With a slight chuckle he turned around and jumped down the small hill he was standing on, sliding down the slope and coming to a halt right in front of them.

“So, you want me to show you where the shrine is? Sure, that can be arranged if you ask nicely,” he smirked sinisterly at the woman.

She in return simply huffed and turned her head away from him while frowning. “Honey, please, you know we don’t have a map anymore, and we left the phones in the hotel, could you please just ask nicely. You don’t have to talk to him after that anymore. Or do you want that we get lost in this forest?”

She continued to growl for a few more seconds before letting out a pained sigh and turned her head around. “Fine, you win. Could you please show us the way to the shrine? So, happy now?” She finished with a huff and crossed her arms again. “Still don’t like you though.”

“Noted,” he dismissively returned. “But if you really ask so nicely how could I say no to this. Just follow me, I’ll lead you to it. Won’t take too long anyway.” With that, he headed off following the path, both of the others looking at each other for a moment until rushing after him.

“Dragon, Dragon Claw,” the man said as he caught up with him, sounding a bit exhausted. Pinecone threw a confused look his way. “Ahm, of course, that’s my name. I’m Dragon Claw, and that lovely lady here is,” he pointed at his apparent girlfriend who had also caught up to them. She, however, did not say anything in return and simply continued to cross her arms and shoot angry looks at him. “Ahm, sorry for my girlfriend. She is really easy to anger and tends to hold grudges,” he whispered into his ear, careful to not let her hear him.

“Lovely,” he returned with a slight chuckle.

“She can be, but she sometimes makes it unnecessary hard for herself. Don’t take it too hard, she had a really bad day. Her name is Aqua Ruby by the way,” he continued as silently as possible, hoping the rain around them would drown out the rest of what he was saying.

“I can hear you by the way Dragon!” Came from his left as Ruby started to scream again: “Seriously, why do you always have to do that? It’s not my problem if they are all so rude,” she continued, throwing a dismissive look towards Pinecone.

“Ahm, sorry Honey, but you can come off as somewhat rude sometimes,” she kept staring daggers at him. “Not that this would be a bad thing, no sir;” he awkwardly added and tried to laugh it off. Pinecone just shook his head and sighed in annoyance.

“By the way, what was your name? I would like to thank you, and I just think it would be weird without knowing your name,” Dragon turned around to him again and awkwardly smiled. “If that is ok for you that is.”

“Pinecone,” he returned coldly as the continued to follow the path further into the forest.

“Ah, Pinecone, what a nice name. So thanks Pinecone, really, we probably would have wandered around this forest forever without finding anything.”

“Next time just bring your phones or a waterproof map. When people get lost here, it sometimes takes days till someone finds them, especially when no one knows you are here and since you said you left stuff at a hotel I assume you are just tourists.”

“Ahm, yeah, exactly. We are on a little vacation. Ruby managed to hit a big scop in her newspaper and now has been promoted because of it. And we are celebrating the occasion with a little sightseeing in this City,” he continued, Pinecone just staring up ahead.

“Well, this is not just a vacation. I heard a lot about these new heroes of the city, the Kamen Riders and am writing an article about them as well. But you wouldn’t care about that right? You are too much of a jerk to care about selfless people like them,” ruby joined in, at first excited to talk about her work only to get more malicious as she tried to take a jab at him.

“Yeah, you are right, I don’t care,” he just returned coldly, Ruby frowning at him with a disappointed look in her eyes.

“Honey, please,” Dragon begged again as they continued their little walk to the shrine.

--------------<

With a loud groan, a man with black hair and burning red skin let himself sink onto a small crate holding his neck in pain. “These damned Riders,” he cursed as he looked around the small warehouse and at three other figures. “Why do they always make it so hard? And why did you call us back anyway?” He shot a glare at another man in a grey suit with red hair and dark grey skin.

“Because I’m actually smart. We almost lost to a single Rider, the weakest one I might add, but you think we can take to of them on, especially if the other one is Alchemy? He managed to beat you, Hard Rock and two others along with his new Forma and you think you could win if he is supported by Monster? Please, get a reality check because this won’t happen,” he said, playing around with a remarkably ruby ring with detailed runes on it.

“Yeah, because you didn’t do anything! We could have beaten Monster, gotten his Driver and be on our mary way if you would have just helped us!” He shot back, his glare only increasing. Hard Rock, a man with dark green hair and a grey-blue skin, joined him while a man with white hair and light blue skin just sighed in annoyance.

“Well, I don’t know if your tiny brain can process that, but we didn’t had the goal of defeating Monster, we wanted to see how he fights. That was all, you just didn’t want to accept that. It’s still beyond me how Monochrome ever hired you. Was it for your muscles or what?” He continued, still playing with his ring like nothing had happened.

“Oh, and you feel so great mister chief of her security, oh wait for ex-chief because the oh so great Monochrome got herself killed, with her superior tech of all thing. I should have never listened to her anyway, it just got me into this mess,” he continued to scream.

“Would you knock it off already,” now he started to scream. “I know we bet on the wrong horse here, but that doesn’t get us out of this situation right now. At least we got these rings, so we are not completely defenseless. Be grateful for that at least. We will get the Riders eventually, but right now we have to focus on getting on the good side of either ‘Tartarus’ or ‘The Circle’ and to be honest I’m more interested in ‘The Circle’ anyway. As much as ‘Tartarus’ would take us with open arms, they are still not better than simple thugs, and with how much the Riders got on their nerves recently I’m not too interested. And that is exactly why we have to be careful. If we screw this up we have no other option but to go with them, so you are going to listen to me.” He nodded slowly at his former superior.

“Good, now that this is cleared I’m going to tell you what you need to do now. We need to split the Riders, and we have to act quick. Charge is out of the city, for now, that means Alchemy and Monster are all alone, and they don’t tend to work together. So if we act fast and take one of them out we might have a shot at taking out the other one as well, and when Charges comes back, we will just crush her.”

“Yeah, sounds good Dull Silver, but how are we going to split them and who to go after first?”

“Simple, we go after Monster first, ‘The Circle’ was already interested in his Driver anyway, that will secure us a position in their organization. You three are going to distract Alchemy while I take care of Monster, he has shown that he is no match against me and since he is the weakest he is the perfect target,” Silver smirked, letting his hand grasp tightly around his ring.

“Wow, wow, wow, us three against Alchemy? The guy who could mop the floor with us when we were four? Are you insane?” Rock started to speak up.

“Oh, you are not supposed to beat him, just distract him, run away, annoy him, just anything really. I don’t care how you pull it off, but he needs to be distracted, so I can deal with Monster. And when I’m done I’m going to save you, so don’t start whining now.”

“I repeat myself, are you insane? He could tear us to pieces in less than five minutes. You really think we could distract him long enough?” Rock repeated, now seeming significantly angrier.

“Ok, how about this. You can try to distract Alchemy and wait for me until I’m done with Monster and have a chance to be saved, or you can go up against me, but trust me, you would wish the Riders had caught you,” he returned with a low voice, staring daggers at the three others. “So, what do you think is better?”

--------------<

“Oh, that is the Shrine of Gaia Everfree?” Ruby squeed out as they had finally reached their destination. Pinecone sighed in relief as the woman finally stopped her bickering and seemed to enjoy the Shrine, which indeed put a smile on his face.

“Thanks, Pinecone, it really means a lot to us, and seeing how happy Ruby is, I’m sure she is grateful to,” Dragon returned, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.

“Yeah, no problem. By the way, since you are here to see the Shrine, are interested in a little tour? It’s not much, but sure to impress,” he returned with a small smile on his lips.

“Wouldn’t be the Shrine warden be a better person for that? Ahm, no offense,” Dragon quickly added.

Pinecone just raised an eyebrow and chuckled as he shook his head. “You know that I’m the warden of the Shrine, right?”

That left Dragon rather speechless as he stared at Pinecone. “Uhm… That makes a lot of sense actually…” He shook his head before continuing: “Anyway, that would be nice. I’m sure even Ruby will have to bury the hatchet with that, maybe.”

“I really don’t care, let’s just get this over with.”

“Yeah, right, sorry.”

As they approached Ruby, she was already examining every nook and cranny of the cave that housed the shrine, right now taking a look at the actual shrine and its integrated carving of Gaia Everfree. “So, this is the shrine? All nice and good, especially that carving is great, might actually write something about it if I find the time and convince my boss. But if I want to do that I think I need just that little bit more,” she mumbled to herself as she took pictures of the carving in question.

“Too bad, this is all there is to this shrine. If it’s not enough that is your problem,” Pinecone said in an annoyed tone, Ruby spinning around and staring at him in shock.

“Holly, don’t scare me like this you… you… you mean person,” she grumbled as she was gasping for breath.

“Wow, that one almost hurt. If the next one is two times worse you might hurt my feelings,” he mockingly returned.

“Oh, just shut up already. No one wants to hear you anyway. Especially if you can’t offer anything valuable, as the location of the Mouthe of Gaia or something like that. But who am I talking to anyway, as if a scoundrel like you would ever know where something that obscure is,” she continued to growl, crossing her arms again and returning her gaze to the carvings only to star at them in anger instead.

“Yeah, why would the warden of the Shrine to Gaia Everfree ever know where that place is? That would just be ridiculous.”

“You are… how… that can’t… but how? I thought the wardens of this shrine would be like the Knight of Gaia. Guardians of the people that travel through these woods, people that were actually caring, not something like you. Not mean, unpleasant guys like you,” she stammered looking at him with an expression of confusion and a bit of disgust.

“Well, who brought you here? You think I would have helped you if I really was such a bad person as you claim I am? I just don’t like whiney annoying brats as yourself, that is all. I do my duties without complaining, but that does not mean I have to like you. So, how about I bring you to the Mouthe of Gaia, you finish your article, and after that, I lead you outside my forest, and we never have to see each other ever again,” he finished with his usual stoic demeanor.

“I… I… You… Fine, whatever, let us get this over with,” she hissed back and stormed of grabbing her boyfriend by the arm and dragging him behind her, much to his dismay.

“Well, at least she can see reason. And the sooner they are gone I can have my peace and quiet again,” he sighed before silently adding something else: “And be far safer from the Corrupted.”

Meanwhile Ruby had dragged her boyfriend up and outside the shrine again and right into the pouring rain, all while continuing to complain about Pinecone. That was until she was interrupted in her complaining by the voice of a girl. “Hello there, nice to see visitors on such a stormy day. I hope the shrine was interesting,” Emerald said as she walked up to them in a dark green rain jacket. “However that might be possible,” she whispered to herself.

“Oh, hello, a friendly face, that is a nice change of pace really. Say, do you work here?” She returned with a smile on her face, her anger quickly brushed under the rug.

“Yeah, something like that. I just help my brother run this place. But judging from your expression just now, I assume you already meet him? He can bee a bit of an ass sometimes, but he really is not that bad, usually,” she happily returned, quickly pulling out her phone for a split second to look at the weather.

“Yeah, I assume you mean Pinecone, really unpleasant guy. But you seem nice, can’t really believe you are his sister. You actually have manners,” she returned, this time with a slightly annoyed undertone.

“Yeah, he can be difficult at times, but he is a good guy at heart. Speaking of Tartarus, hey Pinecone, I heard you were rude to our visitors again? How many times have I said to you that you shouldn’t start fights willy nilly with them?” She shouted over to her brother who had just exited the shrine.

With a loud sigh, he returned: “I didn’t start anything, she was just rude. And I just remained calm, not my problem if she feels attacked by that.”

Emerald just sighed and let her head sink into her hands. “I’m so sorry for my brother, like I said, good hard, rough exterior. And he won't bother <you any further, right,” she shoots him an angry look on which he just shrugged.

“So, you don’t want to see the Mouthe? Good with me, means I don’t have to get outside for longer than necessary.”

“Oh, no. That is just what you want from us. No, we will go to the Mouth and if it is the last thing we do and we will do it with you, no complaining, no wiggling out of it, no nothing, got it?” She bellowed back at him, staring him right into his eyes, seemingly not needing to blink.

“Honey, please, you don’t have to antagonize him so much. We can just come back another day and…”

“No, I’ll do it. No problem. It’s my job after all and if it means to put up with-“ A swift glare from his sister shut him up rather quickly.

“On second thought, I’ll just come with you, keep that guy in check,” Emerald sighed in annoyance and just shook her head.

“I don’t need my little sister babysitting me,” he deadpanned back.

“Ok, sure, believe it. I’ll still come with you no matter what you say. And if I can’t be your babysitter, I’ll just do it for these two, or a bodyguard from you, that works too,” she chuckled, much to the annoyance of her brother.

“Oh, I like you. I have nothing against you coming with us, more knowledgeable forest people are always welcome. And if you can hold your brother in check we will be far happier, right Dragon,” she slyly said, looking her boyfriend right into his eyes with a look that only allowed one answer.

“Of… Of course Honey. The more, the merrier,” he awkwardly returned, avoiding Pinecones looks.

“Than it’s decided. You’ll come with your brother and us. Oh, I’m so happy to finally talk with someone that is not so grumpy like your brother, seriously how do you keep up with him?” She returned overjoyed.

“Meh, you get used to it, somewhat,” she chuckled back.

“Uh, fine. If you want to come along too. But if you do anything stupid, you go back right away. Did I make myself clear Emerald?” He growled at her with a hint of annoyance in his voice.

“Dine with me, I won’t do anything stupid. And a little walk sounds lovely anyway,” she cheerfully returned, but not with a sly smile on her lips.

“Good, then we are going.” With that, the four of the departed deeper into the forest again.

--------------<

Loud screams filled the air as well as sirens of police and fire trucks and all that in the middle of Canterlot City. It had been a peaceful, though rainy, day until now as suddenly three monsters appeared in the middle of the mall. A dragon in golden armor, a monster that seemed to build out of mossy stones and a diamond abomination as fast as lightning. The three had just started to attack the mall, no clear goal seemingly in mind, just pure destruction. It was a miracle no one had been seriously hurt. The police hadn’t taken more than ten minutes to close of the mall, and now were awaiting the arrival of the local heroes.

And that was the moment they could hear the loud roar of an engine as the Rider jumped over them, crashed through the front door and raced further into the building, the sound of the engine echoing through every part of the building. It was even so loud that the three Corrupted turned their heads in the direction of the noise, that however didn’t help them in any way really. The bike came to a screeching halt right before them, and Alchemy jumped from it, not even a meter in front of the diamond Corrupted.

“Hey, Crazy Diamond, you are busy today. The second attack and it’s not even been a day, really I’m impressed. You really want to make this easy for me, do you?” He chuckled as jumped back in the right moment to evade the attack of the Corrupted.

“Shut the fuck up!” He growled back, pulling his ax back out of the floor.

Alchemy just smirked: “Yeah, if that is ever going to happen.” With that, he rushed towards the monsters.

--------------<

“So, this is Gaia’s mouth. Hope it’s as you expected it,” Pinecone said without much fanfare, which quickly got him an elbow into his side by Emerald. “Any questions?” He added with a low growl and a glance at his sister.

They stood inside a large cavern as the exited the small tunnel that had lead them here. The velling towered over them like an ancient dome at least twenty meters above them. Small crystals lined the walls. At the end of the cavern stood another shrine for Gaia Everfree, similar to the one near their house, just this one sported a statue instead of a carving, not in any way less impressive, however. What however was the most eye-catching about the whole cave was the giant hole in the middle of it, leading down towards a black abyss.

“Wow, this place is amazing! Let me take some pictures, this will definitely land in our traveling guide, I can tell you that. I love it,” Ruby gushed, completely ignoring Pinecones rude tone and started to take pictures with her camera. Pinecone chuckled silently to himself, something only Emerald noticed and just shook her head with a sly grin on her face.

“Legend has it that done there lays the tears of Gaia Everfree. She supposedly showed them as a sign of her connection with the people of these woods. Some say that if you look down there long enough, you can actually see them shimmering in the darkness,” Emerald started to tell as Dragon took a look at the empty abyss below them.

“Cute story, but probably nothing more than a fairytale, but who knows, with magic everything is possible, right Monster?” A voice cut through the warm atmosphere of the caver, everyone spinning around in an instant. Before they stood a man with grey suit, red hair and dark grey skin who was leaning against the wall of the cave. “What? Surprised to see me? Well, let’s be fair, I never announced myself, but this place was just so fascinating.”

“What do you want? And most importantly, who are you?” Pinecone returned in a low voice, eyeing the man carefully.

“Oh, well, you certainly don’t play around. And I thought we could have a nice conversation before we start, but it seems our information was right, you are not really one for drawn-out conversations, a shame really, but oh well. So I can assume that you wouldn’t be so nice and hand over your Driver?” The man casually asked, stepping closer to the group, everyone besides Pinecone stepping back. “Oh, I don’t bit,” he chuckled, but there was an air of malevolence in his voice.

“Leave, now!” He growled at the man, staring him right into the eyes.

“Of course, what was I expecting? Oh well, will at least be fun.” With that a blinding red light enveloped him, Pinecone jumping back a few meters and screaming towards the rest of the group.

“Run!”

While he did that he pulled out something from his pocket, the aforementioned Driver and slapped it around his waist, letting it loop into place. Placing the Meadel into it after he had opened the device he quickly closed it again.

\ UNLEASH THE MONSTER! /

“Henshin!”

\ AWAKEN: MANTICORE! /

The ghostly manticore flew out of the Driver and quickly consumed him only to reveal his Rider form. Without even a second waisted he rushed towards the Corrupted that had also formed and swung his weapon at him.

“Kamen… Kamen Rider,” was all Ruby managed to stutter as she finally realized what was going on in front of her. “he is a Kamen Rider… how… I… That can’t…”

“Yeah, yeah, Kamen Rider, all nice and fine, but right now, I’m just a tad bit more concerned with getting out of here, so move it, lady, I don’t want to end as monster prey,” Emerald hushed her along, pushing her towards the exit.

Meanwhile Monster had let his wipe slash across the Corrupted's chest. However, the attack didn’t really do anything beyond letting a few sparks fly of off him. With an annoyed growl, he pulled the whip back and tried again, this time slashing across his face, but again, nothing. With a loud roar he charged forward, and as he was right in front of him, he let his whip loose once more, however, this time the Corrupted reacted, grabbing the weapon with one of his hands effortlessly. With a swift kick he sends Monster flying backward, and with a swift tug on the weapon he pulled the Rider, that was still holding onto his whip, back to him and right into his fist.

The Rider sailed backward and landed roughly in front of the tourists and his sister who all jumped back a few steps. “What a nice weapon, really. It’s sharp, it’s flexible, and I’m sure it hurts like Tartarus, well against other Corrupted,” the monster chuckled as he examined the weapon he had just stolen from Monster.

Monster slowly crawled back to his feet glaring daggers at the Corrupted under his mask, and with a low growl he hissed towards the beast: “Give that back or I will rip it from your cold, dead hands!” Roaring in anger, he rushed towards the Corrupted who just chuckled and let the whip loose against its rightful owner. However, instead of hitting him, the Corrupted was quite surprised as Monster dodged to the side, right into the enormous hole in the middle of the cavern, his wing opening just a split second afterward. With the element of surprise on his side, it was easy for him to close the gap between him and his opponent and start to attack the Corrupted. A slash across the chest was his first strike followed by another one across the chest as well and another one aimed at the face.

But before the last attack could connect his hand was grabbed by the Corrupted, he looking at him through his gemstone eyes of his, almost mockingly before he threw the Rider into the next wall right beside him. “Clever, clever I must say, but clever won’t save you here. Face it, I’m just on a completely different level than you. So, just give up, and we can save ourselves a lot of unnecessary pain and violence, how about it,” he said in a sweet voice offering his hand to the Rider.

“You remind me of Alchemy,” Monster said with a little chuckle.

“Oh, do I? Well, I’m honored,” he returned in the most grateful voice he could muster.

At this moment Monster lunged forward slashing the Corrupted across the face, letting him stagger back a few feet. “I hate him,” Monster growled while in a hunched position, staring at his opponent.

Silver sighed before stretching himself and touching his face to see how severe the damage was to his ‘face’ before relaxing again. “You know, you are really starting to get on my nerves. Uncultured, unfriendly and this almost animalistic fighting style, all really annoying I must say. And that after I was so friendly to you, but that is the loot of the ones fighting with compassion.”

Monster groaned in annoyance: “Oh, would you stop blabbering and fight already.”

“That is exactly what I mean,” Silver sighed letting his hand cover his ‘face’ and just shook his head in annoyance. While the Corrupted was busy with this Monster quickly switched out his Medal and replaced it with a red one.

\ AWAKEN: DRAGON! /

The Corrupted looked back at him in an instance, barely seeing the ghostly dragon consuming him only to reveal his Dragon Form, complete with an ax in hand. To his dismay, the whip had disappeared the Moment Monster had changed his Medal. “Oh no, an ax, whatever should I do?” He jokingly muttered, eyeing the Rider curiously.

With newfound strength Monster rushed towards his opponent, weapon crashing down onto him, letting sparks fly as the Corrupted staggered backward. With another loud scream he continued his assault, but to his shock Silver quickly pulled up his arm and blocked the attack with ease. Without even a second in between this he had already punched Monster in the chest, who let out a loud groan as he staggered back. He didn’t even have any chance to catch himself as the foot of the Corrupted already send him flying towards the opposite side of the cavern, crashing into the wall with a loud smash.

“Huh, and I thought that you would actually be a bit of a challenge, but really, what was I expecting, even that fool Phoenix could beat you.” A loud roar could be heard from the rocks that had fallen on top of Monster and not a second later he burst out from under them, however before he could even attempt anything he was bombarded by small red gems that let him crash against the wall again.

“Ah, that’s right, just stay there, will be far easier. Now that you are dealt with, I’m going to have to clean this up, and that means…” He turned towards the three others, all looking at him with terrified expressions. “Oh, don’t be afraid, it won’t take long. And I am really sorry that I had to drag you into this, really, but I can’t get you talking about this. So, who do we start with? Oh, maybe you, you really got on my nerves as I followed you. Could you be any more ungrateful?” He pointed at Ruby who froze completely as she saw the finger directed at her. After that everything happened just to fast to register, the gems flew towards her almost in slow motion, slowly etching ever closer to her, bit by bit until they were only a meter away from her. That was when something red jumped in front of her, and the next thing she knew was the fact that she could hear loud screams that cried out in agony.

In front of her stood Monster, shielding her from the attack. The Rider stood on shaky legs, and it looked like he was about to fall over. “Why?” Was all she managed to stammer.

“Because I’m the guardian of the forest… like you said, the Knight of Gaia Everfree.” That was when he screamed out in pain again, sparks erupting from his back. His stand finally broke, and his legs gave in, sliding towards the ground he could see the three of them passing him by and soon the ground. Not soon after he could feel the raged ground, he was bumping off of as he tumbled down the Mouthe of Gaia. Within seconds he was nowhere to be seen.

“Pinecone… Pinecone!” He could hear Emerald voice in the distance, followed by the two others, all crying out for him. He, however, could not move an inch. He played there battered and broken, his armor shattered. His eyelids started to grow tired, and he was sure he was about to pass out as he saw something in the corner of his eyes, a purple shimmer. Against all rational he clambered onto consciousness and dragged himself over to where he had seen the glimmer, he himself didn’t even know why he did that, but he couldn’t stop now, he just couldn’t, that was all that went through his head. Every little centimeter he dragged himself along the pain in his body only increased, knawing at him like a hungry dog, but he pushed on, he just had to.

With one last desperate attempt, he blindly thrust his hand in the direction he had seen the light, not expecting anything really, but his hand did grab something, something small, round and oddly familiar. Almost in an instant, the pain eased as he touched the strange thing… no, the medal. He knew what this was, a medal, but where did it come from? Didn’t matter right now, he felt his strength returning, and with a determined growl, he pushed the new medal into his Driver and activated his transformation.

\ UNLEASH THE MONSTER! /

“Henshin!”

\ AWAKEN: CHANGELING! /

A beast emerged from the Driver, just as ethereal as the others just in a light purple, it had four hoves and two horns that looked like the ones of a beetle and a sharp horn in the middle. It didn’t take long till the beast consumed him a hole and revealed his new armor. A dark purple armor covered his body, his undersuit had taken on a lighter purple. His shoulders now and the form of two beetle horns and one horn on his head in bright purple. Two green eyes illuminated the darkness. He, however, had no time to marvel about his newfound power as he heard a loud scream. Almost instantly he jumped up, two mothlike wings emerging from his back and he rocketed towards the cavern.

Meanwhile silver had toyed with the other three, he just couldn’t help himself, the fear in their eyes was just too precious. Still, Ruby and Dragon both had some of the gems stuck in their body and had started to bleed. Now the three were all hunched back into a corner and shivering before the Corrupted. All until something shoots out from the darkness, grabbed ahold of the beast and yanked him back and threw him towards the exit.

Before any of them could even realize what was going on Monster had already rushed after Silver, tackling him as he was about to get back up again and flying with him through the cave and letting him drop like dead weight outside of the cave.

“Oh, you got a new form? Cute, but nothing that will help you,” he mocked him, dusting the dirt off of him. Not even waiting for him to finish Monster rushed towards the Corrupted, clawing at his chest and actually letting him groan in pain. “What?” But Monster wasn’t done just yet and continued his assault but came face to face with a barrage of Silver gems, but that wasn’t a problem for the Rider as he effortlessly brushed them aside with his bare hands.

Not able to understand what was happening before him and seeing that he was on the losing side of this fight Silver started to summon his gems to try to escape, actually managing to raise them as high as his head only for Monster to flying and smash his shield, grab him and throwing him against the next best rock. Landing a good distance away from him, he opened and closed his Driver again, letting the ghostly beast emerge from it again and land in his helmet.

\ ROAR: CHANGELING! /

Within moments Monster rocketed towards his opponent, the beast that had in his helmet expanded outwards again and let the horns on his head grow in size, at least on a material level and before Silver had any chance to react he was struck by the attack and consumed by a massive explosion.

Landing behind him he grabbed the ruby ring from his unconfessed body and rushed back into the cave. Inside he could see how Emerald was helping Ruby and dragon to limb forward, waving towards him as she saw him. “You are ok?”

“Yeah, I’m fine, but Ruby and Dragon didn’t have so much luck sadly,” She sighed as they could hear a pained grunt from Ruby.

“You… you are a Kamen Rider,” she stammered in between her pained grunts.

“Yeah, I’m, but you should not worry about that right now, we have to get you to a hospital,” he shot back, examining her wounds.

“Thank you… Thank you so much, especially after I was so mean to you. I’m so sorry,” she started to cry, her tears dropping down towards the cold stone floor.

“Yeah, you are sorry. Save it for later, right now we need to determine you, not crying you,” he growled back, Emerald just sighing, but she could prevent a slight smirk to appear on her lips. Ruby just stared at him for a moment before swiping away her teas and nodding with a pained grin. “That’s more like it.”

--------------<

Meanwhile, Alchemy had changed into his newest form and was beating the everloving crap out of his opponents, two having already fallen to his sword. “So, didn’t turn out so well for you Crazy, how about any last words?”

“Where in the name of Tartarus is Sliver!” The Corrupted cursed as he tried to dodge the attack of Alchemy, only the fail miserably and land headfirst in a food stand.

“Ok, as fun as this was Crazy Diamon, I think I’ll just end it. Crazy Diamon, you used the powers that were bestowed upon you to attack others. By the magic that was bestowed upon me, I deem you unworthy of your powers and will now take them from you!” With that, he started to spin his disc again and rushed towards his opponent. “Eternal Bond!” Slashing the Corrupted across the chest, this one was also dealt with, being consumed by an explosion and leaving behind his own ring made out of a rough diamond.

“Well, that was that. I hope the cops can deal with the rest, I still have something to do. I hope that grump is ok though, maybe I’ll look by just in case,” he muttered as he returned to his bike, not without picking up the three rings and off he was.

Out of the shadows stepped Alkahest, eyeing the area carefully. He had not much time, he had to act as fast as possible. He pulled out the blank Magic Disc from under his jacket and pointe it towards the battlefield, and it quickly sucked up all the remaining magical energy from the fight. “Almost done, just one more time.” With that, he ran away as fast as possible, just moments before the first officers arrived at the screen.

“Well, that is interesting. Maybe I might have found a new partner,” the man Ocean had faced that night smirked and turned around, leaving the mall as well.

Keep your Goals in Mind - A new Aliance

The rain had stopped and been replaced by a cloudy sky, still, at least it wasn’t raining like crazy anymore. Didn’t mean that standing at the train station wasn’t awkward. Around him stood at least fifty people, all chatting and having the time of their lives judging from their attitude and her he was, waiting for his girlfriend to arrive and completely unsure of what to do when she finally returned.

Maybe she would be happy to see him again? Maybe she would tell him how great her trip was and how it helped her to think about the events of that night? Would she even hug him because she was so happy to see him? Or even a kiss? He really hoped for the later, it had just felt so right.

As he was lost in his thoughts, he almost missed the incoming train that was quickly approaching, only noticing the vehicle as it had already stopped in front of him. The doors swung open, and a wave of people stormed out, splitting apart in front of him and rushing towards the exits. He looked out for any familiar faces in the crowd, but nothing. Maybe she had already missed him? No, she would have noticed, he was sure of it. As the crowd had almost dried up, he finally spotted her, just stepping out of the train, her lugged in hand she stepped over towards him. She looked just as good as she had left, but her expression was not that pleasant. She seemed annoyed, and her muscles were tense. When she reached him, she shoved one of her bags in his hands and just continued towards the exit.

Phoenix just stood there for a moment and just stared after her before snapping out of it and hastily rushing after he. “Hey, Ocean, wait. Not even a simple hello?”

She looked over her shoulder and sighed and glared at him. “Sorry, I’m just in a hurry, so I don’t have any time to waste.”

“Yeah, I see that, but why?” He finally caught up to her, putting the bag on his back. “Did something happen in Manehattan? Was it the heads of the MRG?”

“No, not that,” she returned in a rather annoyed voice. “Sure, the questioned me, but ultimately said they would have done the same thing as I did. They said I showed great loyalty and so on, even offered to promote me when this all blows over,” she growled.

“Really? That did sound different from what I heard about onyx talking with them, did something happen? Oh, and did you accept the promotion?” He returned, sounding quite confused by her information.

“Well, apparently someone leaked some of the information on Monochrome to the press, and they went wild with it, proclaiming me a hero for saving them from her. The usual really, and that probably swayed their decision. They can’t just cut me down anymore, I have become too big of a figurehead as a Kamen Rider and the person that stopped Monochrome. They will probably try and use my good standing with the people to get them back on their side,” she returned coldly. “And I did not take the promotion,” Ocean added without any fanfare.

“Why? I know you like your job and all, but was the position they offered you that bad? Was it an office job or something else?”

“No, nothing really would have changed. I would still have been stationed here in the city and acted as one of its Kamen Riders, but I when this would have been over they probably would have given me a permanent team and send me all over the country,” she scoffed, shooting a venomous glare at the floor while also growling silently.

“And what is the difference?” He shrugged before continuing. “You are already leading a team here, or at least did before…” He stopped for a moment, searching for the right word. “Before the rest of the MRG arrived, so how would it be any different from what you do right now?” Phoenix looked over to her, expecting a chuckle or an annoyed groan, but not what followed.

“It’s not the same. Until now I had only controlled over the small police force that had been put under my orders, nothing more, nothing less. Ivory was… is my partner, he is an equal, not a subordinate. Sure, I gave orders to Shining and his colleges, but ultimately I was not the boss. I’m not ready for something like this by a long shot. Most agents don’t gain this position until they are in their mid-thirties, I’m in my mid-twenties, I don’t think to lead a team of older agents is going to fly that well. Besides that, I’m not ready for that anyway, I still got much to learn,” she returned rather grumpily, seemingly especially annoyed with their small talk today.

“I don’t really think you will have any problems with lacking respect, I know you. You can be quite scary when you want to, and I know that you have it in you to tell them who would be boss now,” he smirked, to no reaction of Ocean. “Or, you know, you could always pull the Rider card. I’m sure they will respect the opinion of a Rider. At least they won’t speak back to you in armor, especially not when these eyes stare right at you,” he returned with a chuckle that quickly died down as Ocean didn’t respond.

“That is not the point. I refused, and that is all. You didn't have to make me wanted the promotion, I’m just not interested. They can play their stupid game alone, I’m not taking part in it,” she replied with a huff.

“Ok, got it. It’s your decision after all. But on another note,” he stopped for a moment before continuing: “How was the funeral?” His tone sounded severely different, relatively somber and down.

“Good,” was all he received from her, leaving him rather stunned.

“What do you mean with, good? Like, how did it go? Did you meat old relatives you hadn’t seen in years, or something like that. Or your sister? Did you meat her?”

That was when Ocean stoped on the spot, letting Phoenix almost walk into her. She turned around with a glare in her eyes that let his blood freeze in his veins. “Like I said, it was good, so don’t ask anymore. Got it?” She barked back with anger in her voice that he had never heard before at any point in time. The glares almost felt like they could cut right through his skin and towards his hearth and the longer she continued, the more uncomfortable it got. Phoenix took a few moments to free himself from the paralysis he had fallen under until he could finally weakly nod. “Good, then hurry up, I don’t want to waste any more time here. We’ll bring my stuff to the apartment, and then we go back to work!” She continued in a voice that left him no other choice as to comply. “Good, then hurry up Phoenix!”

--------------<

That could have really gone better, at least he had expected her to be far more happy and pleasant, but she apparently was in a really bad mood. The cold wind that had come up after they left the station had probably not helped him on that front. It was actually really distracting, by Tartarus, it was spring, it should get warmer, not colder. Thanks to the wind Ocean had only muttered about getting this done faster, but in all honesty, he suspected that this was really only an excuse. Something was just off about her, and he didn’t know how to react to it.

The two of them had just mounted their bikes and were currently heading for Oceans apartment, most of the luggage had been shoved onto Phoenix’s bike, great. Not that it couldn’t handle all of it, it made the little ride through the city all the worse. During the entire trip, Ocean did not once look up from her path, just determined to get to their goal as fast as humanly possible.

At the apartment someone else was already waiting for them, complete with MRG van and some of his colleagues, Shining Armor and a special guest, Pinecone. The two Riders came to a halt right in front of the building and the young officer. “Hey agent Skies, good to see you back again. I hope your trip was good.” Ocean had already dismounted her bike and walked towards him while Phoenix was frantically trying to gesture to him that he should drop the subject, well he tried at least.

“Good. What happened while I was gone? Did you pick up on any leads?” She returned coldly, grabbing a file one of the policemen had been holding and started to impatiently flip through it.

“Ah, of course,” he returned hastily. “Well, we caught four more of Monochromes accomplices, some of her bodyguards. We will send them to the headquarters soon, well after you could question them of course, if that is what you want.” The officer was getting really uncomfortable, some sweet already starting to form on his forehead. He shakingly continued as Ocean just nodded, not looking up from her own file for a second. “Oh, and Pinecone has claimed another Medal, apparently similar to yours and Alchemy's now form.” Ocean just nodded again, Shining not entirely sure if she was even listening. “But on Alkahest…,” he stopped, tightening his fist before continuing. “ We haven’t found anything, well besides a few rumors that supposedly saw him at the MRG building that night, on the higher floors apparently, but besides that, nothing.” He gritted his teeth in frustration.

“Bullshit!” She screamed back, letting her first slam against the side of the van, leaving a small dent behind. "What do you mean with you couldn’t find anything? He can’t just disappear. No reports of strange noises, suspicious fires in the night, anything?” She growled, getting more and more frustrated with every passing second. “How can someone as him disappear, he is wearing armor for crying out loud!”

“I’m sorry, it’s my fault that we haven’t had any really leads the entire time. I’m just not fit to do this without you,” Shining sighed, letting his head hang low.

“Don’t beat yourself up over something like this, the guy has evaded us for next to two months already, and we are not a step closer to find him. If Ocen couldn’t fin the guy in that time how could you find him in two days?” Phoenix joined in, sounding a bit more relaxed and giving Shining a good claps on the back. “So don’t worry, we’ll get him, and maybe your information will be the thing that does him in.”

Shining looked up and gave a warm smile towards him, Phoneix just smiled back. “Thanks, still, I should have at least come up with something.”

“We don’t have time for this. I don’t care how, but give me something, anything. We are running out of time,” Ocean interrupted them. Then she pointed at two of her underlings and then to her luggage. “You two, take that and to follow me, and you,” she now pointed at Phoenix. “You stay already start and try to find him. When you find anything, call me, immediately. Same goes for you Pinecone. I want this bastard found, better yesterday.” With that, she leads the way for the two men that were balancing all of Ocean’s luggage, would be a really unpleasant way up to her apartment.

After he was out of earshot Pinecone returned to his bike, jumped on it and drove off. You could say a lot about his attitude, but he always did what was needed of him, that much Phoenix had to accept about him. Both Phoenix and Shining looked after the speeding of the bike with a worried expression. “So, did anything happen to her while she was gone? That doesn’t seem like her, at all,” Shing said after a few moments. “I mean, sure she could sometimes get a bit angry, especially after you pulled that stunt with the sleep deprivation.”

“Oh, come on. That is behind me. I don’t do that anymore. I learned my lesson, you don’t need to drag that one back up,” Phoenix sighed in return, shaking his head in defeat.

“Yeah, I know, but come on, it’s a fun story. Well, after you got over it, that is.”

“Yeah, got over it… By the way, I don’t have the slightest idea why she is acting this way. Wasn’t anything I said or did, I think at least.” Shining just shook his head. “Hey, I mean it. She was that pissed off when she left the train. It’s not my fault, at least not this time. But I think there was something that happened in Manehattan…”

“Something with the heads maybe?” He threw a worried look over to Phoenix.

“Could be, but she said that they wanted to use her to restore the public image of the MRG or something. Apparently, someone leaked the whole story to the press, and now she is hailed as some kind of hero or something. Not that she isn’t, but it’s still weird. They even wanted to promote her, but she declined,” he encountered, somewhat lost in his own thoughts trying to figure out what it could be. “In all honesty, I think it was something about the funeral,” he added with a sober tone in his voice.

“What do you mean? Did she say anything?” Phoenix shook his head. “Then why do you think that exactly?”

“Well, when I brought it up she got really defensive about it. At thirst, I thought she was just not in the mood or something, but I’m starting to suspect that something happened there. And then there is the fact that I’m afraid that she might fall into the same mistakes I made when I was after Alkahest. She is getting more and pushier, I’m really getting worried. Say, don’t you have a girlfriend, how do you handle things like this?” He looked over the officer with an asking look on his face.

“Yeah, I have a girlfriend, Cadance. She is the dean… I mean, new headmaster of Crystal prep, a relatively famous highschool her in the city. Thing is, she is normal, well at least as normal as you could be in a city like this. She never had to deal with crazy stuff like this, and in all honesty, I’m glad about it. The only thing special about her, besides her personality, of course, is the fact that she comes from a rich family with a mansion of the outskirts of town. She once had to deal with an annoying uncle that wanted to have money from her and even stole from the house. That was the only time she really got close to how Ocean was acting right now. She sacrificed sleep for two days straight to find him,” he returned, sounding somewhat nervous about the whole thing.

“And, how did you bring her back to normal?”

“I didn’t. Well, I kinda did, but only by catching the thief. He wanted to sell an old relic or something to an anonymous buyer but could stop him before that happened. After the thing was back, she returned back to normal. So, maybe catch Alkahest?” He shrugged with a puzzled expression.

“Oh, yeah, I’ll get right on that, with all the clues we have right now,” he drily returned, Shining trying to suppress an evil grin while Phoenix gave him a deadpanned look.

“Sorry, I just thought I brighten up the mood a bit. With a day like this that can’t be bad, right?” He awkwardly returned, his smile the most uncomfortable thing he had seen in days and to top it all of, he was also laughing awkwardly.

Phoenix sighed in exasperation and shook his head. “Yeah, I guess so. Still, if I don’t figure something out soon, I don’t know how this is going to end. I don’t want her to make the same mistakes I made, even if she is smarter, the whole thing with Ivory really got to her.”

“Yeah, it certainly did. And losing someone you care for can always drive someone to do stupid things you usually wouldn’t do, that is for sure. But Ocean doing them, it just seems so unreal. She was always at the top of her game really. Never saw her lose it in any way, this is just wrong,” he sighed with audible worry in his voice.

“Yeah, she was always the one you could rely on to have a good plan and a cool head, kinda strange when that is not the case anymore. And I thought the trip would cool her head off, but apparently, it only made it worse. I’m kinda at a loss for words here. How am I supposed to get her back to her usual, snarky, responsible self? Well, besides doing the thing we have failed at for over a month yet. I feel so useless.”

“Yeah, I know what you mean, but she is your girlfriend after all, still don’t get that part really,” he weakly chuckled, Phoenix smiling in return. “You have right now the best chance to get her out of it.” Phoenix nodded knowingly and sighed again.

“And I thought this would get easy. Should have known better than to think things will be easy, they never are. That is something I picked up while doing this. No matter what you do, it will always get worse, always.”

“Don’t jink it, man,” Shining added carefully.

“Ah, don’t worry, we have yet to find something that can stand up to the power of three Riders and the worst we have had yet are emotion. Those are the kind of problem you usually can’t Rider-kick away sadly,” he chuckled back, his entire posture deflation. “I’ll figure something out, trust me.”

“Good, but I probably would get going now, you don’t want her to see you still standing around her after all,” he nervously returned, giving the Rider a quick glance.

Phoenix remained silent for a moment before an expression of utter terror consumed her face, he pulled his helmet back on, jumped on his bike and was off faster than he could say Corrupted. Shining just shook his head as he looked after the Rider. “And that guy is the city’s hero? We are all so screwed,” he joked before gesturing with his hands to the rest of the team to get ready for leaving. This would be a long day, he could already feel it in his bones.

--------------<

After sending the rest of her team on its way to find anything that even slightly looked suspicious. They followed orders like usual, but some of their looks seemed worried. Was it because they feared what Alkahest would do to them? No, that couldn’t be it, they had followed her orders all the time, especially when they went up against the Corrupted, or when they didn’t have a Kamen Rider of their own. It had to be something else, but she didn’t know what it could be. Maybe it was her? She had after all… No, that couldn’t be it, right? Right? She knew all to well that it had to be it. Who would lend their trust in the hands of someone like after what she did? No sane man, that was for sure.

As the cars passed her by she let out a desperate sigh. She really shouldn’t be surprised, but she was. She had thought more of them, but it turned out they were exactly like the rest. No, she couldn’t put the blame on someone else, it was her decision after all. She had to face the entirety of it on her own, she deserved it. And all the people that told her what a great decision she had made could fuck right off. They were the kind you just couldn’t trust. But Phoenix, he seemed like he was ok with her decision, did that also mean he would be… Oh, this was so complicated and frustrating.

She heard a loud noise as she came back to reality, a car now right in front of her. In a split second, she managed to change her direction far enough to narrowly avoid the other vehicle. She could see the expression of shock, fear, and anger on the drivers face as she raced past him. She shook her head and returned her gaze towards the street. How could she have missed that? She usually wasn’t so distracted. This just wasn’t normal. Her breathing had picked up a good amount after her little stunt, and it caused her helmet to mist over at öleast a little bit. “Fuck,” she cursed under her breath as she opened her visor to get rid of the mist. The cold spring air did help her get back on track, however, at least there was that.

After getting her mind back on track, she sighed in desperation as she remembered a little conversation she had after the meeting with the heads of the MRG.

She had just left the room after at least five hours of constant arguing and repeating of the same points ad costume. What a colossal waste of time. That was when she heard someone calling out for her. As Ocean turned around, she could see Onyx sprinting towards her, waving his arms so to tell her to stop.

“Ah, good, I got you. Hey Ocean, I’m sorry for all of this again,” Onyx sighed as he finally reached her.

“Ah, who cares. It’s over, and I can go back to Canterlot City now and deal with the stuff that is actually important,” she huffed back and was about to turn around before Onyx stopped her by placing his hand on her shoulder.

“Tell me, why did you refuse the promotion? Is it because of your mother?” Onyx asked with a quiet and somber tone, completely unbefitting of him.

Ocean stared at him for a moment of complete shock before her expression hardened, and she turned away with an angry frown. “No, I’m just not ready for leading a real team of agents. I’m far too young for that.”

She tried to run off again, but Onyx stepped into her way. “Ok, listen, even if that would be true. You are a to an extent very well known in the MRG, and your escapades as a Kamen Rider just cement that more. They would never disrespect or not follow your orders. And you are capable enough to lead any team to victory. You have a keen eye for people and bring the best out of them, just look at Phoenix. The kid has grown so much over the short time as a hero, and it’s primarily thanks to you and your influence. So don’t sell yourself short.”

Ocean remained there, standing, look at the man she called one of her superiors in disbelief and Barthelemy. “No, I’m not. I make so many mistakes, I…” She started to stutter before Onyx cut her off.

“Maybe, but you tend to come up on top anyway. You learn from your mistakes, and it shows. And even when you fail, you see why. That is exactly the things you need to be a great leader. So don’t worry and just don’t give up. Like the kid tends to say, just keep on moving forward, or something like that. I’m sure you will manage,” he smiled at her, patted her on the shoulder a few times and waved a goodbye.

“Yeah… I will,” she quietly returned, looking after Onyx with a sad expression. “And thank you.”

All that didn’t matter right now in the slightest though. She hated how everyone seemed to be so uninterested in finding Ivory. He was their friend as well, dammit. Or, at least something like that. How could they all be so damn ignorant of the danger he was in? They had to find him soon, they just had to. She didn’t even want to think about what Alkahest could do to him or why he had kidnapped him in the first place?

She again cursed under her breath as she passed the next state, not even sure what she was looking for. From the information, shining had given her it seemed that Alkahest had almost disappeared from the face of the earth, no new murders or any sighting of him to speak of. Well, besides the fact that he apparently went to the MRG headquarters at one point, but that was really only a rumor. Still, she suspected it in some way, it just seemed right.

That was when she picked up a transmission on her police radio: “All units towards the MRG building, a person clad in black armor has been sighted in the lobby, attacking anyone that comes near him. I repeat: All units towards the MRG building, a person clad in black armor has been sighted in the lobby, attacking anyone that comes near him.” He blood froze as she heard this, that was just too perfect to be true. She hesitated a moment as this dawned on her, but not like she had much of a choice in the matter. With a loud roar of her engine, she raced off towards her destination.

--------------<

At least twenty police cars had gathered around the headquarters of the MRG, and all the officer were pointing their guns towards the entrance. The large glass doors that had stood there beforehand had been shattered and thrown inside. The atmosphere was tense, no one dared to move a muscle, expecting that all Tartarus would break lose every moment.

Shining was coordination the rest of the police to the best of his abilities as he heard the loud roaring of an engine. With a sigh of relief, he could see Charge riding up to him. Before he could even great the Rider she was already giving out orders: “Shining, take half of the man and tell them to hold the line, don’t let anyone that is not a civilian leave this place. Take the rest and try to get people out of there, I’ll take care of our guest.” He nodded quickly. “Good, so what is he doing in there anyway?”

“Currently he is having a fight with the security, well, more the security is trying to distract him long enough for backup to arrive,” he added, sounding immensely worried. “So you basically. Alchemy should be here any minute and Monster as well.”

She nodded and dismounted her bike, picked up her Charge Magnum and walked towards the remains of the doors, weapon ready and Shining with half of his team following her. The moment she passed into the building the squad behind her darted of towards different directions, Shining trying to let everything run as smoothly as possible. Charge meanwhile had taken aim at Alkahest who was currently beating up a bunch of the security guards, they stood no chance as they were thrown around the room, unable to escape the speedy Rider. He seemed to be in the equivalent of Phoenix’s Thunder Form and complete with all the benefits of that.

That was when he stopped and looked in her direction. With a loud sigh, he let go of the poor man he had just grabbed and let out with an annoyed tone: “Oh, great. Now the Riders are here.”

“Freeze!” She shouted, weapon aiming at his head. “Tell me where Ivory is, now!” She hissed with such disgust and hatred that even Alkahest took a step back.

“What do you care? He is just your tech guy, get a new one, I’m sure you’ll figure something out,” he dismissively returned, eyeing his opponent carefully.

This was all Charge needed to engage the Dark Rider. Unloading her entire magazine on him she charged forward, Alkahest easily dodging the attacks with his own superspeed. He was running away from her as fast as he could, Charge however quickly caught up to him and tackled him to the ground, both Riders rolling into the reception desk, shattering it completely.

Charge was the first to get back up and aimed her weapon towards Alakhest head. She had already reloaded the gun during her sprint and without any hesitation pulled the trigger. To her utter shock, the bullet just disappeared when it was supposed to hit the Riders head. Alkahest let out a quiet chuckle, his hand extended beside him in a ‘don’t shoot’ style. Charge started to scream and pulled the trigger again, and again and again until she could only hear the clicking of the trigger.

Alkahest’s chuckle had grown into a full-blown laugh, the attacks have all just disappeared, leaving him completely unharmed. Charge was something and with a swift and powerful motion threw her Charge Magnum away, letting her fist come down on him and smack him across his face. That shut him up rather quickly and she followed up with a flurry of blows to his head, Alkahest taking them while struggling to get her off him.

Then all of a sudden her speedy arms returned to normal, was her time limited up? No, she still had at least two more seconds, so what was it? She had no time to ponder the question as Alkahest returned the punch to the face and threw her off her.

Charge quickly stood back up, glaring at the Rider, apparently so good that it could be conveyed through her bug-eyes. She removed her Charger and started to turn into another form.

“Charge up!”

\ 50, 80, 100! FIRE CHARGE! /

\ FIRE DISC READY! /

Both Riders dashed at each other, Charge with her boosters, Alkahest just with his lance. But before they could clash Charge rocketed out of the way in the last second, letting Alkahest stab into the air. Meanwhile, she was busy with charging around him, and when she reached his back, she slammed her fist into his back, getting a loud scream of pain from the Rider that was thrown to the other side of the lobby, crashing through the wall.

Charge wasted no time to rocket after him, ready to let her fist come down on him again. However as she had passed the hole, the Rider had made she saw how he held his hand towards her and all of a sudden her equipment failed her again, her engines just shutting off completely. The realization quickly dawned on her, and she could only watch as she reached towards the next wall and crashed into it, right into the office Shining and two of his team were currently busy convincing a man to leave the building with them.

She didn’t take long to get back on her feet, but Alkahest had already jumped through the hole and was trying to wail on her. She managed to block the attacks of the Rider. Still, he was strong. With every attack, he pushed her further and further back, and worst of all, it blocked the exit for Shining and the rest. That was until Charge activated her boosters again and slammed her opponent right into the chest. She could hear how the air was pushed out of his lungs with a loud groan and the Rider staggering back. Preparing for the follow up she activated her booster again and aimed for his head to knock him out as they started to malfunction again.

With the force now missing in her punch, she missed spectacularly, and Alkahest used that chance to deliver a very well placed kick to her stomach. She could feel the boot connecting and press into her skin. The pain was awful, it felt like someone had just laid a stemming stone on her body. Still, as she crashed into the chair of a very worried MRG office worker, she didn’t have time to lay down and lick her wounds, she had to do this. Forcing herself back up she removed her current Charger and pulled out her ace.

“Charge up!”

\ 50, 80, 100! FRIENDSHIP CHARGE! /

Alkahest took a step back but didn’t come that far as he felt a blast hit him, sending him straight into the wall. Charge stood there, pointing her Unity Blaster at him and without so much of a second thought unloaded a barrage of shots on him. The force of the attack was enough to force him back into the last room, clearing the was for Shining and his team.

“Get him out of her, I’ll be right behind you,” Shining shouted back and stormed after Charge that had already headed for the hole and was currently jumping through it.

In the room Alkahest had already gotten back up and was hugging the wall as best as he could seeing Charge jump past him and into the room, frantically looking for him. This was his chance, just slip past her and out of the room. And everything seemed to go smoothly until the heard a loud scream coming from the other side of the hole. “Hey, Charge, watch out! You almost hit us! Be careful, we are still trying to get the civilians out of here!”

Charge looked over her shoulder to respond, but as she did, she saw him, Alkahest. In a split second, she pulled the trigger and unloaded her weapon on him, the Rider being thrown back and crashing through several walls. What accompanied his creams was however another one, one quite familiar, she just couldn’t place it.

She rushed into the dust that had been blown up by her attack as she heard a pained groan next to her. She stopped for a moment to see where it was coming from. Her blood froze inside her veins as she looked down next to her. Shining was clutching his arm, blood flowing out from it. She looked back to where Alakhest had been throw too and saw that he was already getting back up again. If she went after him now, she could get him and with it Ivory…

She wanted to, she really wanted to, but her legs refused, and she returned her gaze towards Shining. She cursed under her breath and returned her attention towards her subordinate, grabbing him and heading for the exit. He had priority right now.

--------------<

In a nearby alleyway, a man with grey skin and black hair had sunken down next to a dumpster. Small wounds covered his body, and he was clutching his arm with a pained expression. In the distance, he could hear police sirens coming ever closer.

“What are you doing you, idiot? Move!” The voice said, sounding angrier than ever. “You are worthless, we were so close, and you screwed it up!”

“Well, I wouldn’t really blame it on him. He was at a disadvantage against that Rider. She was responsible for closing off the access to one of my favorite associates,” came from the other end of the alley. Alkahest jumped up, only to wince in pain. He could see a man in a blue business suit with white orange skin and blue hair.

“Who are you,” he hissed with gritted teeth.

“I? Oh, you may call me Infinite Checkbook. I’m a spokesperson for a powerful organization that is interested in pretty much everything, and you have certainly managed to be quiet enticing for my superiors,” the man returned with an unbearable smugness in his voice.

“Yeah? If you want the Driver, you’ll have to claw it from my dead hands,” Alkahest hissed back.

“Oh, no, we don’t want the Driver. Well, at least not yours. We are actually more interested in a mutual partnership.” This got Alkahest to raise his eyebrow, scoffing at the idea.

“Yeah, sure.”

“Oh, I’m quite sincere. We have lost one of our best partners just a week ago and are currently seeking for someone to replace her, you and whoever is with you would certainly be of great use to us, as partners of course.”

“And what would be in it for me?” The voice spoke up again, much to Alkahest shook.

“Right now, I would say, escaping the police.” As he spoke the sirens again increased in intensity.

“Oh, and what else?”

“What?!” Alkahest spat out, quickly crying out in pain as he clenched his chest.

“Silence. I’m talking,” the voice hissed as Alkahest was panting on all four.

“Well, that can all be discussed later, Mr…” Checkbook said, looking at Alkahest expectingly.

“Shadow, Shadow Gold,” the voice returned.

“Ah, Shadow Gold. So, I assume this means we have a deal?” The smug smile only grew in size.

“If you can get us out of here and help us with something.” Shadow returned, sounding quite pleased.

“I don’t think…” Alkahest screamed out in pain again.

“Silence! You only talk when I say so!” He growled at the man.

“Oh, that can be arranged.” As he said that he pulled out a necklace from under his suit that quickly started to glow.

Keep your Goals in Mind - A Piece of Advice

Silence. That damned awful, unbearable silence that permeated the room. You could hear a pinfall, and it would scare everyone in the room. It was the worst, and still, she couldn’t say anything. What could she really say? Nothing, that was it. She could feel the eyes that were staring at here, eyes she knew so well. The eyes of her team, her subordinates, her friends, and worst of all, she could feel his eyes. All of them were boring into her skin, trying to judge her for her mistakes. The countless mistakes, but primarily her newest.

As she looked up she could see that she was right, everyone was looking at her with a look of utter contempt and uncertainty. She had thrown away their trust, just like she always expected. She was just not made for this, she knew. The eyes that were all concentrated on her made here incredibly uncomfortable, letting her shift around quite a lot. She could swear she heard some of the mutter something, most likely nothing good. Seconds felt like minutes, minutes like hours and everything beyond that just felt like an eternity.

But worst of all was the look on the woman's face. She had a light pink skin color and multicolored hair consistent of pink, purple and a mixture of light yellow and light brown. She looked at her with the wrath and anger of a thousand suns. It really scared her, as unbelievable as it might have sounded. She was apparently Shinings girlfriend, Cadance was her name if she remembered correctly.

She had rushed over here directly from work and as the headmaster of a school that definitely meant something. A few of her man had told her what had happened, all with her permission of course. Throughout the conversation, her expression changed into more and more venomous ways, staring directly at her whenever possible. She really couldn’t blame her, it was all her fault after all. She shoots him for crying out loud.

When the door to the room swung open with a loud thud, looking up, she could see a doctor, and two nurses leave the room, the doctor keeping a close eye on his board, apparently checking some things.

Within a second she rushed over to the man and weakly asked: “Doctor Horse, how is he?” She must have looked extremely desperate since the man stepped back a few feet and took on a worried expression. Right behind her Cadance also arrived, looking just as expectingly at the doctor as she had.

“Well, I would call him lucky, well at least for the situation. It borders on a miracle that he was only hit once and that one shot was only a glancing shot. Still, he needs a bit of silence and quiet. No visits longer than a few minutes, he needs to rest,” he said with a serious tone. “But besides that, he should be fine.”

“Yes doctor,” both women returned in unison, Cadance quickly shooting a venomous stare at her. Ocean just stepped a bit away and looked towards the ground, trying to avoid her look. Sadly, she could feel the stare on her, and with it the rest as well. The judgmental, knowing looks that pierced through her.

“Would it be ok if I saw him now?” Cadance asked, her voice sounding even more worried than she had expected.

The doctor sighed and waved her through. “But not more than ten minutes, he needs his rest. And nothing that gets him riled up got it?” She nodded silently and rushed towards the room her boyfriend lay, but not without throwing one last glaring look at Ocean. She just sighed as she saw it, she deserved it after all.

She slowly returned back to her seat, her arms hanging limply on her side as she let herself fall back on the chair, her head sinking towards the floor.

“Wow, that really took a toll on you,” she heard someone says from her side in a comforting voice. As she looked up, she saw Phoenix standing next to her, in his hands two cups of steaming hot chocolate. “Hot Chocklet?” He asked, putting one of the cups closer to her. She looked at him in confusion and then back at the cup. “Believe me, it’s just a hot chocolate, nothing else. Will cheer you up a bit, always helped me when I was down.”

Ocean sighed and took the cup, the warmth of it quickly spreading across her hands, giving off a soothing feeling. She stared at the swirling dark liquid for a few moments, apparently not hearing Phoenix as he said something to her. That was until he carefully tapped her on the shoulder. She jumped up, nearly spilling her drink and looked towards him.

“Wow, didn’t mean to scare you Ocean, are you ok?” He jumped back a bit before calming down again. “Dumb question, of course not. You know if you need someone to talk to, I’m here. How about you drink a bit of the chocolate and you will feel better.”

She nodded, letting the warm liquid run down her through, feeling as the warmth of it quickly spread throughout her body, a weak smile appearing on her lips as she let the last drop disappear in her mouth. “Wow, you really were thirsty. I could get you another one if you want. Just take it easy for today, don’t let it drag you down.”

That was when her expression turned sour again, avoiding Phoenix friendly smile, unable to bear it. That let Phoenix sigh out loud, as he let his own cup down next to him on a small table. He was about to say something as Ocean returned. “No, I’m fine. I can’t let this stop me, just have to continue. We almost had him… I almost had him. I can’t just give up now, Ivory wouldn’t want-“

“Stop!” Phoenix said with a deformed and firm voice, his friendly smile all but vanished as he looked at her with uncommon determination, almost like Ocean usually was.

“What do you mean stop? I can’t stop! I can’t just sit around and do nothing! I’m not letting Ivory in the hands of this madman. If I can find him again, I’m sure I can save-“ She desperately tried to return only to be once again cut off by Phoenix.

“I said stop.” He took a deep breath, all while avoiding to make eye contact with her. “We need to talk.”

“We need to find Ivory, that is what is important now, not some stupid talk!” Ocean was starting to get louder, staring at him with a mixture of determination and anger.

“No, we need to talk. Just like we needed to talk when I went on my allnighters.” He returned her glare with his own. “And we need to have it now, not later, now! I can’t let you get someone else hurt again, not after this. So, are we going to talk or are you just going to continue this and at the cost of your men?”

She was about to say something, but the words just refused to come out of her mouth. She opened it, but nothing. Ultimately she let her head drop back down and weakly nodded. “Thanks. You know, that means a lot to me. How about we look for a little bit more private place? I think I saw a broom closet somewhere around here. They have worked out for us until now with serious things,” he chucked with a gentle time. Ocean just rolled her eyes with a weak smile and followed her friend into a few corners and into the closed broom closet. For a closet, it was surprisingly big. Still, the stench of Clorox and bleach filled the air.

“Yeah, not the best and most comfortable place to talk, but it’ll have to do,” he chuckled weakly, Ocean avoiding his gaze. “Ok, listen. I’m just gonna say, I’m awful at this, so don’t expect any miracles like you did with me. But I know you, and I know what bothered you so much.”

“Oh, so hard to figure out,” she scoffed only for her to stop and weakly add: “I’m sorry, that was uncalled for. But it should be fairly obvious why I’m a bit on edge here. I don’t want to lose Ivory.”

“Yeah, I get that, but that is not the reason you act the way you do.” That let ocean look up from the floor again and towards her boyfriend. “At least not completely. There is more to it, I know that.”

“No, there isn’t,” she defensively returned, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

“Yes, there is. You dealt with kidnapping way better before. You always remained cool and collected. You were my rock in the surf, my guiding light when I was drifting up into stupidity. You always had a cool head, but that is gone. You are far too good to be thrown off by something as simple as a kidnapping. I’m sure this isn’t the first time one of your men was kidnaped, right?”

Ocean just nodded silently in return. “Isn’t the first time. It happened two times before. The first was a standard procedure, could find the culprit rather fast, and it all ended in a happy ending all things considered. The second one, not so much. We just couldn’t find any clues to the kidnapper's whereabouts anywhere. He knew about us, and he had planned this for months. And he was damn well prepared. He was a conspiracy theorist, completely insane actually. He thought the government was hiding something from the public and there was a shadow government that was actually running the show.”

“But, there were things you are hiding from the public. Magic is the one I know about at least,” Phoenix returned with a raised eyebrow.

“Well, he got one, I give him that. He found out about the MRG and some of our secrets, and that just drove him further. He thought by kidnapping one of us he could figure out more, expose us for who we are. I’m still not entirely sure how he wanted to do that, and as far as I remember it involved a small website, some pictures and a tape from the kidnaped agent where he would confess to all we had been doing. I have no idea how he thought that would be enough, but he thought so at least. After two weeks we finally found him with a bit of digging. We cornered him in a small house in the woods, but he didn't want to let our men go,” she stopped before swallowing.

“And what happened after that?” He looked rather worried back at her.

“Well, we had to storm the house and what we found inside was awful. We had cornered him in the cellar, where he had helped our man. He was there, shivering in fear, screaming something about lizard people, shadow governments, men in black and goodness knows what, and worst of all holding a gun to the head of our agent. I was under the orders of a senior agent that was experienced in this kind of things. I was behind tow other agents, and our leader was discussing with the lunatic. It seemed he was about to calm him down, as everything went south in an instant. Apparently, he didn’t like what our superior had said and was about to shoot our agent in the head, we reacted quickly firing before he could pull the trigger, or at least that was what we tried at least. We hit him before he could pull it, but he still managed to afterward. He wasn’t aiming at the head anymore, his hand had slacked down from the gunfire, but he still hit him, right in the spinal cord,” he voice was shivering in a mixture of rage and sadness.

“He was out for a full month, and when he woke up, he couldn’t move his body, not even a finger. He was completely disabled from the neck down. He had to drop out of the MRG, and I couldn’t do anything about it. I won’t let anything like that happen to Ivory, not if I have any chance to stop it,” she returned, now sounding like she was about to burst out there and start hunting for Alkahest again.

“I’m sorry for that, I truly am, but I don’t think that is all of it. You were determined to find him ever since he disappeared, sometimes even neglecting others to do so. I get why, but ever since you came back from Manehattan, you are even more into it. You can’t slow down, stop for a second or anything like that. And all this has lead us here. So, now I ask you, did something happen in Manehattan?” He looked at her with pleading eyes, she scowled and returned her gaze towards the ground.

“Nothing happened in Manhattan,” she almost whispered.

“I don’t believe you. If there weren’t anything in Manhattan, then you wouldn’t act like this. I know you well enough to see that. You can always tell me everything, I will always listen if that is what you need. I’m your friend Ocean, and I don’t want to see you this way. Just talk to me,” he looked at her, small tears forming in his eyes before he added with a whisper: “Please.”

Ocean couldn't other than to look at him, her expression becoming desperate, small tears as forming in her eyes. “I… I…” her voice shivered, the tears slowly starting to flow, first one, then two and soon they were just flowing down her face. “The funeral…” She finally managed to stammer. “I thought that I could finally get to grips with everything that had happened. I didn’t want to be there at all at first, though I could use my time better, but as time passed, I wanted to be there more and more until I couldn’t wait for it. Maybe I could finally leave it behind and concentrate fully on the task at hand. I thought some of my relatives would offer me their condolences, but…” Her voice started to shiver again, the tears flowing faster and faster. “They… They didn’t even offer me anything. They avoided me, just spoke very little to me and… and just shoot me these looks of total disgust and contempt.”

“That… That is awful. Why didn’t you say anything?” Phoenix returned with shook in his eyes.

“I… It wasn’t important. We have so much more to do. Figure out where Ivory and Alkahest are, stop the odd monster from rampaging through the city and… and find the remaining traitors in the MRG. I didn’t want to bother you with stuff like that. It just felt wrong,” she returned weakly, unable to look into his eyes.

“Don’t say that. I can always make room for you, we are friends after all,” he returned with a smile. “But, wasn’t your sister at the funeral. I’,m sure she was at least supportive?” He tried to cheer her up, patting her on the shoulder. As she didn’t return an answer and started to sob louder Phonix’s smile vanished in an instant. “Oh, no.”

“She… She didn’t want to talk to me. Siad that she didnÄt know how to feel about all of this. She had tears in her eyes, and worst of all, she couldn’t even look me into the eyes. She said we could talk when she came to the city, but now, she needed time for herself,” Ocean continued to sob.

Phoenix had started to cliche into a fist and with a loud curse, he slammed his fist against the wall. “That can’t be true right? This little…” His anger had quickly overtaken his previously gentle face. “Sibling are supposed to hold together through thick and thin. When she gets here I’ll have some words with her,” he growled.

“Don’t… I’m sure she didn’t mean it that way. She just needs time to come to terms with what I have done…” Ocean continued, letting her head hang in shame. “I…” Tears started to flow even faster now, she finally breaking out into complete sobbing.

“Ocean, just let it out, you’ll feel better afterward, trust me,” he returned. In an instant Ocean cuddled up to him, her face resting on his shoulders as tears started to soak his shirt. “That’s right, just let it out,” he continued, closing his arms around her and gently patting her on the back.

“Phoenix,” she stammered out between the sobbing.

“Yes?”

“Am… am I a… a monster?” She looked up to him, her eyes already red from the tears and with the most desperate expression he had ever seen.

“No, no you are not a monster. Why would you even think that?”

“Because… Because I… I killed my own mother. How could I not be a monster,” she again burst out into even louder sobs.

“You are not a monster. The fact that you feel bad for what you did shows that already. You did what you thought had to be done. You couldn’t have known if it was the right decision, you will never know. But I know that you tried everything you could and I trust you. You would never murder your mother in cold blood. You are the most gentle and kind person I know, if you thought you had to do it, I trust in you,” he returned with a sober voice.

“But… But I…” She tried to argue.

“No, but’s. I said I trust you and that is the end of that. I know that because I see in you what you once saw in me. A good hearth, the stuff what it takes to be a hero. And just like you who put her faith in me, I’ll put my faith in you. You are a good person Ocean, no one can ever take that away from you. You are a hero, no matter what you might have done, I know that you always strife for another way, and don’t take the easy way. There was just no other way that time. You can’t just push away that moment. It will always be a part of who you are, but I know who you are and that person is great and a shining start I can look up to. You are a Kamen Rider, and you damn well deserve that title” Ocean nodded with a loud sniffle.

“That is more like it. And how about you take the rest of the day off. I think you should just let things settle a bit, calm down and come to terms with what happened. I’m sure you are back to normal tomorrow, and I will make sure the rest of your team doesn’t slack off. Don’t want to lose Alkahest do we?” He smirked, about to let go of her.

“Wait!” She quickly shouted, tightening her grip on him.

“What?” He looked quite surprised as she refused to let go of him.

“Can we stay like this for a while longer? It’s really nice actually,” she quietly returned, her cheeks turning crimson as she said that.

“Not the most romantic place, but how could I say no to a cutie like you,” he jokingly replied.

“Oh, shut it and kiss me already you idiot,” she shoots back with a sly smile on her lips.

--------------<

They had spent at least ten more minutes in the broom closet until one of the other cops had finally come looking for them. He was in for quite the shook as he found the two lovebirds and he probably would be looking awkwardly at them for a week at least. He wanted to ask them what the next orders would be. Ocean didn’t take long to get back into her usual confidant role and gave out orders like nothing ever happened. She sends her team out to look for any signs and rumors about Alkahest, while she sends Phoenix out on his own, all while she would take a rest of the day off. She said something about a bubble bath she had been gotten as a present from her sister on her last birthday and now would be the best time to use it. She finished up with giving them a meeting time for the next day at the MRG, to investigate what Alakhest had been after.

Phoenix followed the orders he had laid out for him to a T, but to his own frustration, his search was rather fruitless, no sign of Alkahest anywhere. It was almost like he had disappeared off the face of the earth. There were however rumors about a monster encased in a rumor that had kidnapped a man near the MRG building. It sounded extremely suspicious, but even that didn’t give off any new leads. The trail of the Corrupted lost itself somewhere in the busy streets of the city.

And so the day came and went without much happening, and the night came and went. The sun had risen and was finally breaking through the clouds that had covered the city the entire week. He had just finished with his breakfast as he heard his phone ringing. With a silent sighed he answered: “Yeah, Phonix here.”

“Phoenix, it’s me!” He heard from the other end of the line.

“Oh, hey Ocean. Feel better?” He returned with, still sounding somewhat sleepy.

“Yeah, yeah, I do, but that doesn’t matter right now, Alkahest is back,” she almost shouted back. Now he actually noticed how distraught she sounded. “I just got a call from one of the security guards at the MRG headquarters. He is back, and he apparently brought company. Meet me there, I’ll call Pinecone,” she continued.

“Got it, I’ll be there as fast a possible.” In an instant his sleepiness had disappeared, jumping from the couch he rushed out of the house and towards his bike, letting the engine spring to live and was off.

--------------<

Meanwhile, Alkahest was tearing through the security guards of the building, or at least those that were still there. They tried to distract him with their guns, but to their dismay, he wasn’t alone this time. A monster made out of Metal with a large, sharp, blade-like wings was staggering behind him and attacking everyone that came even close to them.

Around the, stood three other monsters. A violet cobra Corrupted in golden armor. His poison green eyes darted across the room as he swung his curved sword at anyone that dared to step too close to him. Next to him stood what could only be described as a harpy. Her long green-blue wings almost reached to the ceiling, and it was a wonder how she had managed to even fit through the remnants of the door. She wore cobalt armor that covered her chest and stomach, as well as a helmet that hides her eyes. Long cyan hair flew out from under it. And last, there was a Corrupted that had the shape of a sabertooth tiger with dark grey fur. His body had been covered by a shady leather armor, and he held two long hunting knives in his hands.

“I hope this does indeed yield the results you promised Gold. You wouldn’t want to disappoint me now, would you?” Checkbook chuckled, as he blocked the bullets of one of the guards, only to flick one of them back at him and knock him out cold.

“Don’t question my methods! I know what I’m doing, you’ll just stop these idiots from interfering. I hope you can actually manage that,” Shadow Gold replied while Alkahest advanced further to the middle of the room.

“Sure, whatever. Still would have preferred it if you would have just take the thugs from Tartarus and not dragged me into it as well, but oh well, if it has to happen,” Check returned, waving around with a finger, pointing at another persistent guardsman, the cobra Corrupted quickly obliging.

The guard froze in place as he saw the Corrupted storm towards him, dodging the shots of his allies and raised his sword to let it fall down on him. Letting out a loud scream he tried to cover his face with his hands as he heard two loud shoots, followed by a loud screech from the cobra. As he opened his eyes again, he saw the Corrupted laying on the floor, hissing in agony as he held the side of his head and not too far away stood a woman in blue armor and a revolver pointed towards the Corrupted.

“Are you ok?” The guard nodded weakly. “Good, now get your friends and leave. This is a bit out of your pay grade,” she chuckled before unloading two more rounds on the Corrupted who had just about now started to get back up again. To his dismay, the shoots were perfectly placed and knocked him down again with a loud groan. The guard nodded again and rushed off towards the exit, followed by the rest.

“So, we meat again agent Skies. What a pleasure to see you again, I hope you had a good time ruining my business,” the Corrupted growled.

“You again. You worked with my mother if I remember correctly. Beating you would be quite the feat and definitely would help to get to the bottom of all of this,” she hissed back, pointing her gun at him.

“Tsk, of course, you would think that. And that is why I brought company, I think you might know them, they were bodyguards of your mother. I think you meet,” he pointed at the three Corrupted that were eying her cautiously. “With you killing my business associate and their boss they had nowhere to go, well besides one place.” He chuckled lightly as he looked around the room spreading his arms like he was presenting something, all while Alkahest pulled out the blank Magic Disc and was about to let it absorb the leftover magic as he heard another gunshot and the Disc flew out of his hands. Alkahest was about to curse as the small device was quickly snatched out of the air and handed back to him by Checkbook. “Carefully, don’t want to lose this,” he slyly returned, Alkahest only grumbling and snatching the Disc back again from him.

“Men? Show me that you are loyal to Tartarus and keep her busy. I don’t want something like this to happen again, or you will regret it,” he added with a sinister tone. The three Corrupted turned around to face Charge and stormed towards her.

The first one to reach her was the cobra, trying to slash her with his sword. Dodging his attack she quickly unloaded her last round into his neck, letting him stagger forward and land face first on the ground. The second Corrupted quickly dashed forward, trying to swipe at her with his knives, Charge pulling the two Stun Batton from her belt and blocking the first attack and dodged the second swipe, circling him and delivering a painful smack to his face, even knocking out a teeth. As the Corrupted staggered forward, he was hit in the back of the head with her other one, stumbling towards his friend and collapsing on top of him.

That was when she felt a sudden push, and before she could even turn around, she felt her feet being lifted off the ground and sailing toward the next wall. With a loud grunt, she was forced against the wall, now finally seeing her opponent. The harpy had ascended into the air and was currently unleashing an ungodly gust of wind in her direction. She felt the wall behind her slowly cracking as she desperately tried to get her arm pointed towards the Corrupted, in a desperate attempt to shoot her.

The Corrupted started to smirk, and Alkahest had reached the place he wanted to be. He held the blank Disc out into the air as suddenly purple energy started to appear out of nowhere, slowly flowing into the Disc that was drinking it up like a hungry vampire. But all of a sudden the energy just stopped. “Dammit, why?” He cursed, all while Checkbook just tilted his head in amusement and annoyance at the same time.

“Idiot, there is more and don’t take to long,” Shadow growled, Alkahest in return huffed something incomprehensible, but quickly ran off deeper into the building.

“You got this, right?” He glanced over to the two groaning Corrupted as they started to stand up again and the third one that was still keeping Charge at bay. “Good, I don’t want any more failures and trust me, you don’t want to know what Tartarus or the Circle do to failures,” he added in a low voice, the three Corrupted quickly nodding.

Charge meanwhile was still desperately trying to get her gun pointed at the Corrupted, even if it was a moot point since she had already wasted all her shoots on one of the two Corrupted, but all seemed for not. She couldn’t move a muscle, and the two other Corrupted were quickly closing the distance between them, sick and twisted grins on their faces.

“You will regret what you have done. We could have been at the top were it not for you, but you had to kill Monochrome, did you? Killed your own mother, that is just sick,” the Cobra Corrupted said as he swung his blade in anticipation.

Ocean just stared at him in shock, and anger at the same time. He was right in a way, only a monster would kill their own mother, right? No. No! She was no monster, she had people that believed in her, her decisions. She couldn’t let that get to her, not after yesterday, not when people depended on her. “Screw you!”

That was when she heard the loud roar of two bikes and before anyone could even realize what was happening and where they came from two bikes that looked quite familiar jumped through the destroyed door and rocketed towards the Corrupted, knocking them over as they arrived.

“Hey, Snakey, how about you listen to her. You really don’t want to make her angry. By the way Charge, good counter,” Alchemy jokingly returned as he dismounted his bike and walked next to Charge who had fallen on the ground after the third Corrupted had staggered back out of shock.

“Thanks, guys, appreciate it very much,” she returned with a loud sigh, standing back up and facing the three opponents that were standing in front of them.

“Less talking, more fighting,” Monster just growled back, letting his claws dance in anticipation.

“You have to be a blast at parties,” Alchemy sighed in return.

“I don’t go to parties,” he drily returned.

“Figures.”

Monster just growled back at him in annoyance.

“As fun as it is to see you two bicker, I would suggest we take care of these three there. Alkahest is absorbing magic, and I don’t want to figure out why firsthand,” Charge interrupted them with putting a hand on their shoulders and the stepping in front of them and pulling out a different Charger.

“Fine,” Monster returned, still eyeing Alchemy who just shrugged and pulled out his newest Disc.

“Charge up!”

\ FRIENDSHIP DISC ACTIVATED! /

\ 50, 80, 100! FRIENDSHIP CHARGE! /

\ AWAKEN: CHANGELING! /

The Corrupted slowly backed away as they saw the Riders take their individual forms, but they did not flee. The tension in the air was unbearable, no one moving a muscle, not daring to anger the Riders. That was until Alchemy removed his Disc again and started to turn it into his weapon.

\ Friendship Disc Attack Mode! /

\ Connect Protector! /

“So, let’s bring out the trash. I got dips on Snaky,” with that he rushed forward, leaving Charge and Monster behind him. The two however just looked at each other for a moment and quickly followed their fellow Rider.

Alchemy was the first to reach his opponent, bringing his sword down on him, the Corrupted managed to barely slip his own blade between Alchemy and his head. With a loud groan he was forced back, Alchemy not relenting for even a second as he followed up his attack with another swing, but this time the Corrupted was far better prepared, hitting his attack with all his might, both combatants staggering back a feet thanks to the force. To his surprise, this time the Corrupted had managed to be faster, jumping forward and letting his blade come down on the Rider. What the Corrupted had however not anticipated was the fact that Phoenix had a shield, and with nothing more than a swift motion of his arm he managed to wedge the sword in between the edges of the shield and yank it out of the hands of the Corrupted, sending it sliding across the floor to the other end of the room. He just smirked under his helmet and followed up with a satisfying slash across the chest of the Corrupted, who let out a loud screech.

Meanwhile, Charge was busy dodging the attacks of the harpy, felling the gust of wind as it rushed past her time and time again. But with every attack the Corrupted unleashed on her she just fought back harder, unloading her weapon on her. While most of the shots missed the agile target, a few did indeed hit the mark, letting her scream out in pain. After the fifth time, this had happened the Corrupted had grown increasingly tired of this and let out a gust of wind that caught everything in its path, not even the furniture was safe from the vicious attack of the monster. Charge tried to escape the blast, but unfortunately, the area affected by it was just too large, and she was swept off her feet and forced against the wall. As the Corrupted stared to laugh so did Charge, much to the concussion of her opponent. That confusion was however quickly washed away by unreasonable pain in the back of the Corrupted. Not even a moment later she felt the pain on another part of her back, then another and another until she just counts and only felt the pain as a large mass on her back. All the shoots Charge had missed until now had all been directed to her back, letting the Corrupted collapse onto the ground.

While Charge and Alchemy were occupied by their own opponents Monster was slashing away at the sabertooth, the beast trying to block his claws with the two weapons in his hand. To the dismay of the Corrupted, the Rider was just faster and stronger, slowly forcing the Corrupted back, not without leaving several wounds all over his body. As the Corrupted staggered back from a particularly devastating blow Monster roared and lashed forward, both claws ready to come down on his opponent. The beast in return not to be outdone roared back in return and lunged forward with its two blades. With a loud pained scream, the Corrupted went down, his weapons slashed into small pieces and collapsed behind the Rider.

“How about we finish this?”

“Sounds good Alchemy, right Monster?” She only got a positive growling in return. With that, all three Riders activated their respective Finishers

\ Friendship Disc Maximum Power! /

\ Maximum Charge! /

\ ROAR: CHANGELING! /

The Corrupted could only stare in horror as one of them was caught in chains coming from six seals around him, another one saw herself the target of a fully powered Rivel and the last one was charged at by a roaring Rider headfirst. Within seconds all three monsters fell to the Riders, the first crushed by Alchemy's kick, the second blasted away by Charge's rival and the last one picked by Monsters etherial horn.

The three had however no time to spare, picked up the rings the Corrupted had let fall and rushed over to where they had seen Alkahest disappear to. They had just crossed the hole Charge, and he had made the other day as someone stepped into their way, Checkbook. “Well, well, well. You managed to beat the brutes? A shame really, they could have been so useful, but oh well. I would warn you about Cerberus, he can be really pissy when you mess with his subordinates, even if they were that only for a short while. You really put a dent into his organization, I don't think you will be left unpunished after this stunt, especially after Sable, right?” He looked over to Charge, who just let her head hang low. “But that is not your biggest problem right now, that would be me,” the Corrupted smugly returned, mockingly bowing before them.

That was the moment Monster had waited for, jumping ahead, trying to slash across the face of the Corrupted. To his utter shock, the Corrupted quickly dodged the attack and in return grabbed ahold of the Rider, slamming him into the ground. With a loud groan Monster was left there, his body imprinted on the floor and unable to move.

His tow allies quickly shook off their shock and dashed towards the opponent, Alchemy trying to strike the beast with his weapon, but the Corrupted merely dodged the attacks, almost like it was child play. This did indeed infuriate the Rider more and more, and as the Corrupted just grabbed his weapon with his fingers, he was far to slow to block the following swipe with his claws. With a loud scream the Rider was thrown aside, and now only Charge remained standing.

She had unleashed several salves on the Corrupted while Alchemy had tried his hardest to beat him. All had just bounced off the armor of the Corrupted like it was nothing. Still, she pushed on, trying to hit a weak spot, just something. That was when she hit the eyes of the Corrupted, with a loud screech she could see the monster stagger backward, clutching his eye while bellowing curses and insults at her. This was the moment she had been waiting for, dashing past the Corrupted she unloaded her weapon on what was in front of her, Alkahest. If she couldn't win this fight, there was still one thing she could do.

The Dark Rider meanwhile had finally finished the absorption of the remaining magic from the day before. The moment he finished the Disc in his hand started to change, taking on the same form the one Alchemy had in his possession. Then it hit him before he had any chance to even revel in his apparent victory he felt the stings of countless energy blasts penetrating his armor and back. Unprepared for this he was thrown across the room and landed roughly against the wall, sliding down on it. On the way down his armor started to shatter revealing a man with grey skin and black hair clad in a black leather jacket.

“Alkahest!” she heard from behind, and in the blink of an eye, she was flung aside and into the next wall. “You, you will pay for this!” Checkbook growled, preparing to strike her down as he heard a loud voice call out for him, letting his claw stope just inches above her.

“No, that won't be necessary!” The voice that had spoken before bellowed.

“But-”

“No, she can still be useful in getting my revenge, so leave her be!” Checkbook muttered something incomprehensible but did follow the order, returning to Alkahest.

“Who… Who are you?” Was all she could manage to say.

“Oh, right, we haven't introduced ourself yet. My name is Shadow Gold, maybe you heard about me already?” The voice returned with a gleeful smugness. Charge just stared back in silence. “Ah, you did, good. And this useless Rider here is Platinum Shadow, my loyal servant.”

“What? How can you-” A loud scream interrupted the man as he tried to speak up.

“You only speak when you are told to! How many times do I need to say that?” The voice bellowed back over the screams of Platinum. “And what does it matter anyway. You already sowed them your face, they will know your name anyway. See it as a punishment. And with the Disc that won't matter anyway, so be silent!” Platinum quickly nodded, the pain finally subsiding. “Good. Enjoy the last few days of peace in your life, soon you will only know despair.” With that Checkbook grabbed Platinum and with another wave of his hands let the windows to the outside shatter, flying off with the Dark Rider.

--------------<

The doors slowly opened with a loud screech as Ocean silently sneaked into the room. Several bandages had been plaster across her body, and she looked like she had received a beating with an iron bat. Still, all of that was to no concern to her, she had a meeting that she couldn't let go to waste. She stepped closer to the bed in the brightly lit room. Inside she could see a man with cascade arm who was connected to several tubes.

"You look awful," came from the man with a weak chuckle.

"You are one to talk," she jokingly returned, only to quickly stop in the middle of her own chuckle. "I'm so sorry," she quickly added, her voice filled with shame and embarrassment.

"Ah, don't beat yourself up over it. It turned out fine, didn't it?" Shining dismissively returned.

"But what if it hadn't? I lost track of what mattered, all for my own stupid feelings. I placed hunting for my friend over protecting the people of the city, and in return you," she angrily returned, small tears starting to form in her eyes. "I failed you, this is all my fault!"

"That is enough Ocean." She looked up to him, a stern expression on his face. "You might have made a mistake, but you stood up again, noticed it and will try to correct it. That is all that matters. You can't change the past, you only can change the future. So quit moping and keep moving forward!" The determined look on his face let Ocean step back in surprise.

"I... I... You are right, just like Phoenix... Come to think of it, that does sound exactly like him. Shining?" She looked suspiciously over to the injured officer, who tried to hide an embarrassed smile.

"Well, to be honest, he told me that you would probably come to me and want to talk about it. He said he had talked it through with you already and you would only need words of encouragement," he sheepishly returned, unable to look into Ocean's eyes. "He said he just wanted you back, the way you were before this happened. He missed his rock in the surf."

"This little," she smirked. "I give him that, he knows what to say to people to get them back up. Still, I'll go to have a few words with him. Then he will see the old me in action," she jokingly added. "By the way, thanks, this means a lot to me."

"Thanks, but still, I truly mean what I said. I couldn't think of a better superior than you. When push comes to shove, you will always be there for the people around you, I just know that" Shining returned, a genuine smile on his lips. "On another note, don't worry about Cadance, she will calm down eventually. Just give her some time, she can be rather angry when someone hurts me."

Ocean looked at him with a look of worry and said: "Well, thanks for the warning, I think I'll apologize to her in person or something like that. Wouldn't want to get on her bad side, or at least even more."

"Yeah," he returned, mirroring her worry to a certain extent.

"So, then I leave you to your recovery. Looking forward to working with you again. See ya."

"See ya."

Legacy - The Demons of the Past

Everything was quiet in the small home he shared with Thunder. No wonder really, it was four AM. In the morning, not a time for anyone to be up and about, especially if it went his way. He wouldn't have to stand up for another three hours, and he was eternally grateful for that. It had been a day since their last encounter with Alkahest, no Shadow Gold and Platinum Shadow. Ocean had finally calmed down and was more or less back to normal, still a bit more on edge and determined to find Ivory, but who could blame her for that really?

Phoenix was still in his little dream world, not thinking about any of that. He was envisioning a beautiful hill at top Canterlot City, Ocean next to him and the warm summer breeze blowing through their hair. Everything was peaceful, not even the slightest sign of any Corrupted or Dark Rider, just the two of the above the peaceful city. He had always thought about the time all of this was over and what he would do then. Go back to working for Thunder? Join the MRG and help them? Just hang the Rider mantel on the wall to let others deal with it? Ok, the last one really didn't sound that good, but he thought about it sometimes, ultimately arrived at the answer that he couldn't do that.

But one future always seemed quite appealing to him, staying with Ocean, with or without the MRG, it didn't really matter. He was happy with her and this dream just encouraged him more on that path, seeing her next to him in a short summer dress was just a delight he didn't want to miss, not for anything in the world. Her purple eyes staring into his, he forgot everything. She came closer, so did he, both their lips ready for a kiss as-

“Thud!”

With a loud thud, he landed on the floor, face first worst of all, a loud groan escaping his lips as he looked up to the couch he had just been sleeping on. Still sleepy he flailed around wildly with his hand to reach the couch to get back up. Why had he fallen off from the couch in the first place? He just couldn't tell right now, if it was the sleepiness or just because he plainly didn't know was still up in the air. Slowly he dragged himself back up into a sitting position as the door to Thunders bedroom was swung open, a surprisingly unkempt Thunder looking at him, his hair messy and his clothes a complete mess.

“What in all that is holey is going on here? You know I need my beauty sleep, so why make such a ruckus at such a time? Don't you want to sleep?” He groaned back at Phoenix, in his eyes sleepiness and fury were mixing into an unsettling glare.

“I don't know. I just fell from the couch, don't know why I di-” that was when something interrupted the still sleepy Phoenix, the doorbell. Phoenix and Thunder exchanged looks of utter confusion and bafflement, who in their right mind would ring the doorbell at 4 AM. In the morning? That was just not normal. Not even Ocean would pull something like this, and she was always ready when stuff was happening, but she would have just called him on his phone like a semi-normal person, but doorbell? Nope!

They kept staring at each other for a few more seconds until Thunder finally spoke up: “Don't you want to open it? It would be quite rude to not open it, maybe it's important.”

Phoenix started back in even more bafflement, had his brother now lost his mind completely? “Are you for real? It's 4 AM. In the morning! The guy should just come back later like a normal person. And why should I do it? It's your home after all, not mine,” he finally managed to respond, sounding quite annoyed over the demands of his brother.

“But it could be important, and I don't want to miss it. Maybe it's Corrupted related or something. And I can't open the door like this,” he pointed at himself, then his hair and face. “I couldn't face the world after someone saw me like this,” he continued with a conviction that left Phoenix speechless.

“So, let me get this straight, you don't want to open the door yourself because you aren't looking like you normally do? Are you shitting me? This is the most stupid thing I have ever heard and so up your alley. And what about me? I also look like I just fell out of the bed,” he paused for a moment, Thunder throwing him a look that told him to cut it and just open the door. That was when the next ringing echoed through the room, quickly followed by another one and another one.

“Ok, fine, I'll open the stupid door, but you ow me Thunder. I want dinner for Ocean and me, completely on the house!”

He stared back at his brother who in return narrowed his eyes as well, but ultimately relaxed again and huffed back: “Fine, you'll get it, but you will tell no one about this or I swear to Tartarus, you will regret it for the rest of your life.” The look in Thunder’s eyes let him stagger back, almost falling back of the couch again, it was a look Phoenix had only seen a few times, it was Thunder's 'I'm dead serious' glare. He gulped in return and nodded before dragging his tired body towards the stairs and down. It took at least thirty seconds, accompanied by the ever-present ringing of the door. Whoever was there sure was persistent.

The doorbell had just rung again as he finally had reached it, opened the door and said with an annoyed tone to whoever was standing on the other side: “What!? It's 4 AM- for crying out loud! Normal people sleep at this time, so I hope you have a good excuse for-” the last few words remained stuck in his throat as he recognized the person standing in front of him. “Oh fuck all kind of ducks!” With that he slammed the door shut again, starting to loudly curse as the rining started up again.

“What in the world is going on down there?” Thunder shouted back down, in a mixture of confusion and anger.

“It's him for fuck sake. Did you tell him anything?” Phoenix shouted back, draining out the doorbell as best as he could.

“Who are you talking about? I'm not psychic yet!”

“The old geezer! He is standing at our doorstep! What should I do?” He screamed back, the silence was his only answer. “Thunder?”

“Fuck, fuck, fuck! Are you kidding me? What have you done?” He heard his little brother panic, accompanied by the sounds of several things falling over as he scrambled to get himself ready.

“Cursed at him and slammed the door shut again? What else should I have done? You think we can outlast him? Sneek out the back door?” Phoenix frantically tried to come up with ways to escape this worst-case scenario.

“You did what?! Doesn't matter, just let him in and say you are sorry for it and get him up here. Oh goodness, I have nothing prepared for this, oh what am I supposed to do?” Thunder sounded even more desperate as he could hear more scrambling upstairs.

“Oh, no, no, no! I'm not letting him in. You can do that on your own, I'm leaving, and there is nothing you can do to stop me! Maybe I can crash at Ocean's apartment for a few days? Maybe change my name and identity? That could work, well until all of this blows over at least.” He was about to dash out the back door with just his nightclothes on, which consisted of a boxer shorts and a t-shirt as he heard Thunder again.

“Oh no, you don't. He already knows you are here, and I'm not dealing with him on my own. And you know all too well that he won't just leave again, he is here till he speaks with you and I'm not, I repeat not dealing with that for more than it is necessary. So either you get back there, open the door and let him in or I swear to all that is good in this world, you will not have a happy time here anymore. This is your only warning.” Phoenix froze just in front of the back door as he heard Thunder. He debated if it was really worth it, put his hand on the door handles, but ultimately just sighed and let go again.

Standing in front of the front door he slowly pushed the door handle down and opened the door. “What do you want?” His voice carried the pent-up frustration and anger of several years in it as he stared at an old man with milky orange skin and gray hair.

“About time, you know how long I have been ringing this thing?” The old man returned, and just walked past Phoenix without even waiting for a second, he just stared after him.

“And you know what time it is? 4 AM! 4 AM! People sleep at that time, and so do we! So next time pick a normal time, preferably when I'm out of the house!” He hissed back, shooting looks that could probably kill at his grandfather.

“How is the Driver and the Disks?” That was all he got in return, not even a how are you, or nice to see you, just asking questions about the Driver and Disks. A low growl escaped his throat as he stared after his grandfather. “Come tell. How are they?”

“Fuck of. I don't have to deal with this,” he huffed back and was about to head back upstairs to get changed, everywhere was better than here right now.

“You don't speak like that with the Elder Guardian! I demand respect from you!” The old geezer huffed back, stepping into his way.

“No, you demand my attention, but that is all. Respect is something you earn and believe me you never did, so piss off and let me live my life the way I want to, “he hissed back, shoving the old man out of his way and continued his way towards the stairs.

“You get back here this instant! Tell me how things have been going, I demand a report right now,” he bellowed after him. “Hey, I'm talking to you!” He continued as Phoenix just kept ignoring him and walked further towards the stairs.

He would have certainly walked up to them if there was not one simple, tiny problem, Thunder. The guy just stood right in his way, arms stretched out so he couldn't just squeeze past him, try as he might. “Ok, I get that you are not in the mood for this, but-”

That was as far as he got until Phoenix burst out again. “Not in the mood? This fucker comes here unannounced, in the middle of the night and demands a field report. I'm fucking livered right now! So, please, let me through so I can escape this nightmare!”

“I get it, I get it. I'm not really that happy about this as well, but the best way to get rid of him, so please, just for one day, try to play nice,” the pleading whispers of his brother combined with those damned puppy eyes was just too much for him and with a loud sigh he had to relent.

“Ok, fine, fine. But if he pushes it, I'm out, and you can deal with him for all I care,” he hissed back, the anger and frustration mixing into a horrifying mask.

Thunder, on the other hand, was just relieved, that he could avoid an even bigger catastrophe and that he wouldn't have to deal with gramps all on his own. “Thank goodness for that.”

“Yeah, yeah, just let us get it over with already,” he sighed in return, turning around and putting on the best smile he could muster, sadly it turned out to be the fakest smile any of them had ever seen. “So, what was it you wanted gramps again?”

“What is with that smile? You look ridiculous,” he returned with his old and gruff voice. Phoenix in return just suppressed a loud groan.

“Yeah, of course,” he returned, dropping the stupid smile and returning to his annoyed expression. “Better?”

“Yes,” he returned, his grumpy exterior remained. “And now stop wasting time here, I want to know what happened since you left.”

Now a smug grin appeared on Phoenix face, if he couldn't escape him, he could at least have a bit of fun and right now he knew exactly how. “Well, I managed to complete one of them on my first day here,” he returned mockingly, sprinted up the stairs and returned with his jacket from which he pulled out the Flame Disc, the first that had fallen into his hands. “Oh, and that wasn't all, I manage to complete all five of them,” he continued, the smirk on his lips already reaching his ears as he shoved the four other Disc right under his grandfather's nose. He, however, left out the Friendship Disc, he didn't want to get gramps any stupid new ideas. “And how many did you make? Oh, right none, just like any other guardians before me.”

“And you wouldn't be here without them. They filled the Discs before you, without them you wouldn't be half as far as you are now,” the old geezer returned, not even showing a single crack in his mask.

“And yet they didn't manage to pull it off. What do I care what they did, they are the reason I had to take up this-” That was as far as he got as he received a nudge in the side from Thunder's right arm and the following glare that told him to cut it out. “Oh forget it,” he finally huffed.

His grandfather stared back at him with one of his signatures angry glares, something that made Phoenix deeply uncomfortable, even if he tried his best to hide it. “So, do tell why you are so great. I want to know everything from the day you arrived, everything! Leave no detail out!”

Thunder and Phoenix exchanged a look of complete dread, knowing fully well that this would probably take up the entire morning. “Sure, just let me get some tea ready,” Thunder finally answered.

--------------<

At the same time on the other end of the city, five figures were sitting in the dimly lite restaurant “Elysium” and discussing something of their own. “So, you are our the new business partner of Checkbook?” Cerberus asked, the mountain of a man sitting on the other side of the table, next to him two other figures. A woman with grey skin and light blue hair and a man white skin and blond hair, both wearing formal attire, just like Cerberus.

“Yes, he is our new business partners, Platinum Shadow, and Shadow Gold. You probably heard about him already, he goes by the name Alkahest.” Before the slimy man could continue Cerberus slammed his fist down on the table, letting out a loud shout.

“What?! That bastard has killed a good number of my men! And you think we will work with him. The only thing I'm willing to do to him is ripping that bastard in half!” He shouted, having stood up from his seat, now towering over all others with his impressive hight.

Checkbook remained perfectly calm and continued: “Well, that seems unfortunate. You have not proven your worth until now Cerberus, and the higher-ups at the Circle are starting to question our arrangement, and you know fully well what that means for you.” At that moment Cerberus turned as pale as ash, his already grey skin taking on a sickly tint. “Oh, you do know. But I was willing to give you the last chance. Right now you have nothing to offer us but a few brutes and judging from their performance until now, I can safely assume that the Riders would deal with the rather quickly. On the other hand, our new partners are willing to part with the secrets of their Rider Power, something not even Monochrome was willing to do. So tell me, who would the Circle favor in a disagreement?”

“Alkahest,” Cerberus plainly returned.

“Exactly. But not all hope is lost for you, there is still something you could do for us. Shadow Gold has plans for the Riders that seem to be quite promising. He wants to strike them where it will hurt the most, at their connections to their loved ones.”

“No, I will not go after their loved ones, that is beneath Tartarus!” Cerberus returned, the man with the white skin next to him nodded.

“Cerberus, Elysium, you are in no position to negotiate. You will either come or be wiped off the face of the earth. There will be no bargaining, no excuses, no nothing. You will follow their orders, and you will do that without any complaint. The lives of your underlings are important to you right?” He leaned closer to Cerberus as he continued. “Because if I hear one complaint from our new friends, I will take care of this problem personally, one after another for every single complaint that he has.”

Cerberus blood froze in his veins, he couldn't just abandon his code of honor, it was what kept them apart from the normal criminals. And to add to that, he had to take orders from a man that had hurt his subordinates, his family. But he had sworn to protect them as well, and if he didn't compile, he would see it all come crashing down on him. There was no way out of this, he would break his word, either way, that was just how it was, and he hated it.

“This also counts for you Fury, don't think you get away with just being silent the whole time. I demand perfect cooperation from you three,” Checkbook looked over to the woman who nodded in return. “Good, now that this is clear, I think our new friends would like to explain their plan to you, right?” He looked over to Platinum with a twisted smile on his lips.

“Indeed, we have wasted enough time with your insignificant squabbles and supposed codes of honor, now it's time to talk business,” the voice started, it was not coming from Platinum's mouth, but it did come from his direction. Whatever it was, it was quite unsettling for Cerberus. Still, he couldn't let anyone know. “My plan is simple enough, to destroy the Riders you have to destroy what they hold dear, friends, family, everything. When their lives slowly crumble around them, then they will be easy picking. It's as simple as that. And before you say anything about not sinking to that level, stuff it, you work for me now, you heard it,” the voice growled, letting a shiver run down Cerberus spine, but he remained composed.

“And what is your plan exactly? Do you know who they are and who their friends are? But more pressingly, couldn't we just simply overpower them? We three, you and Checkbook could easily deal with this pack. So why don't we do it that way instead of risking failure?” Cerberus countered, staring at Platinum with a glare that could have pierced through a mountain.

“You shouldn't ask me, I don't make the plan,” he returned while playing with a necklace around his neck, one made out of a purple gemstone.

“Silence!” The voice hissed again, Platinum nodded in return disinterestedly and continued to play with the necklace. Shadow Gold, however, continued: “A quick and painless death would be too good for them, I want my revenge and the longer, the better. I have waited over six-hundred years for this opportunity, and I will make it count, you will not deny me my rightful vengeance!”

“So we are risking our chance of victory for a stupid revenge plot? Checkbook, you can't be serious, this is insane!” Cerberus bellowed over to the man who just smiled disinterestedly back at him.

“Well, he has right now the better bargaining chip than you and the Riders are of no real danger to the Circle. We don't need to deal with them now, they don't even really know we exist at this point, and even if they ever go after us, they would be crushed by us. It's simple, you follow their orders, or you will regret it, got it?” Checkbook returned distantly, not even giving Cerberus one glance.

“Exactly, you will do as I command, like a good little lapdog,” Gold continued, sadistic glee in his voice. “But since you are so determined to fight it out with the Riders, you should be the first to take a swipe at them, and I have the perfect plan for it already.” The mountain of a man nodded begrudgingly in return. “Good, now listen. There is a man in the Canterlot City Hospital, he is a close friend to Alchemy and Charge, his name is Shining Armor. You will kidnap this man, expect heavy resistance.” Cerberus was fuming on the inside, he already despised this… this thing even more than he had done before. “After you took care of that you will make your presence known, a public place with a good view for the cameras,” Gold continued, his voice filled with a glee that was just unbearably disturbing.

“And then we start the fun, you will demand the Riders to come to you, untransformed. I want to let this city see who their heroes really are, weak, scared people, not the larger than life personas they put up. I will strip away the image of the hero, the most valuable thing for them, their mask and will let the people see the dread and fear in their faces. After that, kill him and make sure he is really dead, I don't take second chances.”

The room was quiet, Fury and Elysium both stared at Platinum, trying to hide their utter disgust from him. Even Checkbook, who until now had been quite friendly and welcome to them showed first signs of unease, some drops of sweat forming on his forehead. Cerberus was the first to speak up again, his voice sounding surprisingly calm, to the utter shock of Fury and Elysium who stared at him with open eyes. “Good, consider it done. Is there something else you wanted us to do?”

“No that will suffice for the time being. Platinum, Checkbook, we are leaving, I still have things to take care of.” Platinum just shrugged with his shoulders, stood up and walked towards the exit, Checkbook following them closely, turning around one last time as they reached the door and throwing them a threatening look before he followed his new partners out of the room.

Not a second after the door had slammed shut behind them Fury already jumped up from her seat and shouted at Cerberus: “What was that? Have you lost your bight or what? I never expected you to just cower in front of anyone that is such a piece of crap!” In here eyes glared anger and disgust at the man.

“Exactly, I never expected you to abandon your code of honor, Fury? Sure, but not you, I always thought you were better than that,” Elysium added, sounding severely disappointed in his longtime friend.

“You know me too well. I will never bow before this piece of crap, someone that is willing to sink this low. Shadow Gold, whatever he is will soon realize this,” he returned with a confident smirk on his lips.

“And I thought we had lost you for a moment there Cerb, but if you don't carry out his orders, what is going to happen to our men?” Her relive quickly shifted to dread as the consequences came back to her.

“I will make sure nothing happens to them, and I know exactly how. I'm going to take away his bargaining chip, it's as simple as that. All three Riders have something that can get us out of this mess, and I intend on taking it. If we can get that Alkahest has nothing of value anymore and we are back in their good graces, and if I kill the Riders after that we will not have to deal with them anymore. So I will follow his orders as much as I must to save the ones under me and to do that I just have to take their belts. Hiding it long enough to get all shouldn't be a problem, and if I miss one I will just take them during the little show Shadow Gold wanted, shouldn't be a problem. In the end, I can uphold my code, and we will be back in good graces with the Circle, all while Alkahest is back up for the picking,” Cerberus chuckle, letting his fist crunch as he thought about ending this bastard Shadow Gold.

His two friends stared back at him, first in astonishment, then respect. “You know not even I could have planned that better Cerberus, I'm impressed. Now we just have to trust you to pull it off, but with your power that shouldn't be a problem after all,” Elysium padded Cerberus on the shoulder, the later giving him a confident smirk.

“You rotten bastard, I love you. I can't wait to see the horror on Gold's face when he learns what you pulled… If he had a face that is… You know that pulls the fun right out of it, why can't he be like a normal person and have a face? This voice alone is just creepy,” Fury, added in devilish delight.

“Yeah, I wish he had a face as well so I can see that look of utter terror when he realizes that he messed with the wrong criminals,” he smiled back, just as devilish as Fury. “But I should head out.”

“Good luck,” came from both of them.

“Thanks, but this is nothing that will be won with luck,” he returned before leaving the door.

--------------<

8 AM. It was already 8 AM. when Thunder finished recounting the events that had transpired ever since he had become a Kamen Rider. The old geezer wanted to know every little detail and Thunder had obliged, well, he left out any mention of the Friendship Disc or anything connected to it. He had silently told him that when he had made the tee, as much as he wanted to see the look on gramps' face when he realized that the slacker and shame of the family legacy had managed to do what no other guardian had managed in over five-hundred years. He was not willing to risk gramps pushing him into combining them, he really didn't want to end like Fools Gold, that much was sure.

Gramps had listened carefully, always asking questions after question that seemed completely unnecessary to him. He had been annoyed after the first hour, livered after the second, steaming after the third and was about to despair as the fourth hit, but luck would have it, they had finally reached the end. And best of all, Ocean would be here any moment now and drag him away from this horrible place, he had things to do, after all, not even gramps would put the life of a person over a stupid story even Thunder could tell him, right? He could only hope really.

“Ah, so this is what happened, all of it?” The old man asked, Thunder quickly nodding in return. “Goo, take note Phoenix, you should be able to give me this in just as much, or even more detail. That you let your brother do it is pathetic,” he continued. Phoenix just cursed under his breath, his patience was really wearing thin at this point. Come on Ocean, you aren't usually this late, of course, the one time he wanted her to get here as soon as possible she was late, perfect.

Gramps was about to say something as suddenly the doorbell rang again, Phoenix was cheering mentally, finally. He jumped up and dashed to the stairs, letting out a loud: “I'm gonna look who it is,” out and was already down the stairs, not letting the old geezer any time to object, thank goodness.

The moment he reached the base floor he let out a deep sigh, he really needed this break, the old geezer was just unbearable for anything longer than a minute, four hours was just insanity. After he had ordered his thoughts again, he casually walked over to the door and opened it. “Hey Ocean, you wouldn't believe how happy I am that you are here,” he burst out the moment he opened the door, much to the confusion of his girlfriend who looked at him like he was crazy, well crazier than normal.

“Hey Phoenix, good to see you too, why the warm welcome? Did you do anything wrong?” She returned hesitantly, eying him carefully.

“What? No, it's just my gramps came by unannounced, and I have been looking for a way to get out of her for four hours already, you are like a gift from the heavens right now,” he sheepishly said in return, rubbing the back of his head with his hand.

“Your grandfather is here? Didn't you dislike him if I remember correctly?”

“Dislike is not enough, I hate him. He was the one that sends me here in the first place, completely against my will. He has pushed me to be the guardian for the Magic Discs my entire life even if I didn't want to. He cares more for this stupid legacy and thing than for any of us,” he growled back.

“The stupid thing that has saved countless lives?” She raised an eyebrow, Phoenix just stared back at her, not entirely sure how to respond. “Well, look at it from this perspective, if you never became the guardian then you never would have come here, never became a Kamen Rider and never meet me, does this sound so good?”

“I… You… That is… Huh, never looked at it from this angle. Guess it did turn out well in the end, but still, doesn't mean I have to like him now,” he huffed in return.

Ocean just sighed and walked past him. “Why don't you try to start new again, maybe with a new perspective this won't be so bad. I at least want to get to know him a little bit, so come,” she continued, walking towards the stairs, leaving Phoenix behind, who just stared at her in utter shock.

“You were supposed to get me out of this mess, not get me deeper into it,” he finally shouted back at her, but she just ignored him and let the door to the kitchen fall shut behind her. “Oh, you are lucky that I like you so much,” he sighed and rushed after her.

He could already hear the old geezer again as he muttered: “Phoenix, and who is this? This is a meeting for family members and not you random friends.”

Phoenix was about to yell something rather unpleasant in return as he already heard Ocean retort with a friendly: “I assume you are Phoenix's grandfather. A pleasure to meet you, my name is Ocean Skies, or Kamen Rider Charge if you prefer. I'm Phoenix ally and girlfriend.” That was the moment Phoenix reached the living room, Ocean smiling at the old man, he instead just looked at her like she was a pack of thirteen days old milk.

“Sulfur Teeth, that is my name, and I am indeed the grandfather of this idiot over there,” he pointed over to Phoenix who was right now staring daggers at his grandfather. “But it doesn't matter who you are, this is a family matter, nothing someone like you needs to-”

“Enough! She stays!” Phoenix bellowed out, storming over to his grandfather and staring him dead in the eyes. “It doesn't matter if she stays or leaves anyway, she will know what we talked about before lunchtime, so get that stick out of your ass and shove it!”

“What do you mean she will know it anyway? Don't tell me you told her about it?” The old geezer just stared at him in utter shock. “You imbecile, what when she is not on our side? You are risking everything we worked for all these years! How can you be so reckless? Doesn't this legacy at least mean something to you?”

“Not really, I haven't cared for this antiquated thing since I came here. I didn't risk my life for something an idiot set out to do for himself six hundred years ago. I couldn't care less about it actually. I care about protecting people, making sure this thing is not wasted on you and your stupid traditions. And look, it has worked out for me this far. I have succeeded where they all failed, so listen up, once, and for all, I don't care about this stupid legacy!” Phoenix was fuming now, his eyes burning with the pent-up frustration of over twenty years.

Sulfur, however, did not cower before him but instead stared right back. “You are the biggest disappointment I have ever laid eyes on. You insult the people that brought you here, you insult for what they stand for, and you insult me. You really think you could hide it from me?”

“What?”

“The new Disc? The last piece of the puzzle we have been looking for, for over six hundred years. You were just lucky that you stumbled upon it and that the world is getting out of control. What is it, and don't try to tell me any lies!”

Phoenix stared at him in shock, he apparently did watch the news, of course, he did, the guy was obsessed with these damn Discs. “Friendship, the new Disc is friendship, no wonder you never found it,” he smirked back.

“Friendship? Well, if it's true then so be it. But you will have to answer why you didn't tell me?”

“Take a guess, I didn't want you involved, that's why. So, now that you know, get lost, I have nothing left to say to you,” he huffed back at him.

“Oh, we aren't done yet. You think you are out of this, that easily? Forget it! You might not like it, but you have a responsibility to fulfill. I don't know how, but you managed to complete a task that has already taken us six-hundred years, you are the guardian, it's your birthright, it's your duty. Thanks to you we can finally fulfill our part in this. You will come with me back home, you too Thunder. We will gather every family member and will bear witness to the creation of the Philosopher Stone,” Sulfur finished.

He however only received shock and three loud: “What?!” in return. Phoenix, Thunder, and Ocean all stared at the old man with disbelieving looks on their faces. This couldn't be anything other than a cruel joke.

“You want me to abandon my shop? Are you crazy? This is my one and all! You can't make me do that!” Thunder was the first to break the following silence, he stormed over to Sulfur in a mixture of anger and confusion. “I have always done my best, and this is what I have always dreamed of. I can't give this up.”

“This was nothing but a convenient way to stay afloat and look around for any magical incidents that might happen here, it was neither something permanent,” he coldly replied. “You are part of the family, and you will take part in the creation of the Philosopher Stone!” Thunder just stared at him, his mouth open, all the energy he usually showed had vanished and left only an empty man behind.

“With all due respect, you can't be serious. The city needs Phoenix, he is one of its protectors, he is a hero, we need him here!” Ocean added.

“The problems of the city are of no concern for us, our goal was always the assembly of the Philosopher Stone, nothing more and nothing less. And the city has two more Riders anyway, so this shouldn't be a problem,” he said.

Before Ocean could counter the ringing of a phone interrupted her. She quickly picked up her cell phone and answered: “Hello, Ocean Skies here. What? What?! We'll be right there,” she almost shouted back into the phone. With a look over to Phoenix, he realized that it was urgent. “Phoenix, we have to go. A corrupted is attacking the hospital.”

All the anger and frustration that had burned in him just a few seconds ago was quickly washed away, instead replaced with worry and determination. “Got it, let's go!” Before his grandfather could even utter one word the two Riders had already rushed down the stairs, neither of them cared even the slightest about the shouts they heard as they dashed towards the exit and to their bikes.

“I'm sorry,” huffed Ocean during their sprint.

“For what?”

“About the fact that I wanted you to reconcile with your grandfather. He sure is just as bad as you described him as, I'm so sorry,” she returned, shame carried in her voice.

“Ah, don't sweat it, it's no wonder you wanted me to a least try. But rest assured, I'm not leaving, he can do whatever he wants, but this time I'm not bowing like a dog.”

“Thanks.” With that, both of them raced off towards the hospital.

--------------<

The police had already surrounded every exit that was open for the Corrupted, a few dozen police cars were parked outside the building. First reports said that the Corrupted had just appeared inside the building, but no one could tell if the Corrupted was a visitor or a patient at the moment. Their first orders had been to create a safe perimeter around the building, after that, they were supposed to save the still trapped civilians. What however made this far more difficult was the fact that not every civilian could be moved, some were hocked up to life-sustaining instruments and removing them from them would surely result in their deaths. Until now they had done their best in locating the Corrupted and saving as many civilians as possible, primarily from the outer areas of the hospital, but they would soon need to delve deeper into the clinic.

That was when they heard the roaring of three familiar engines. The first cop that turned around could see three armored figures on bikes coming closer and closer to them. A loud sigh of reliving went through the ranks of the police as they could see that the Riders had finally arrived.

“How is the situation?” Charge asked while dismounting her bike as well as drawing her Charge Magnum and eying the building carefully.

“Corrupted just appeared, we have no idea where he is, and there are still civilians in the building, some of which we can’t get out,” the officer returned.

“Of course, so we just go in and kick his butt? Preferably after we kick him out?” Alchemy jokingly added.

“Pretty much that. Try to get him outside of the building. But before we can do that, we have to find him first.”

“Well, probably just follow the loud noises and where the civilians are coming from, is my best bet.”

“Noted,” Charge returned sarcastically. “Do you have anything else you wanted to share with us or can we actually start saving people now?” Alchemy’s response was a simple nod and to walk towards the doors of the clinic, quickly followed by his two companions.

On their way through the building, they could witness the mess everything had left the halls in. Chairs and potted plants laid thrown over on the floor, as well as other stuff that had just been abandoned. Several officers with civilians passed them on their way further into the building, the looks of utter terror burned in their eyes. Charge grabbed one of the officers and asked: “Any idea where our target is?”

The man looked at her in surprise before stammering: “I think the second floor near room two hundred or something like that.”

Charge's face turned pale under her helmet, she knew who was near that room. “We have to go! Now!” The two other Riders didn’t even bother to ask what was near room two hundred and just followed her as she made a mad dash towards that particular room. That took the three about three minutes, on the way they passed several rooms with patience hocked up to medical equipment, just abandoned as the crisis hit. The closer they got to their destination the more and more did Phoenix recognize the part of the building they were in, as they passed a particular broom closet he knew exactly why Charge was so determined to reach the Corrupted.

Just as he finished this thought, they dashed around a corner, now standing face to face with a hulking mountain of a Corrupted. The thing was at least a head bigger then they were, it’s body consisting of hard stone like it was chiseled out of a mountain and had just suddenly started to move. Its stature was that of incredibly muscular men, that probably could crush their heads with its small finger. All over the muscular body, other types of stone held together by metal formed some sort of armor. What however was the weirdest part was the shoulders, they were in the form of two stone dog heads, just like the face, all the accented by metal like the rest of the armor. The Corrupted just came through a hole he had left in the wall behind him, over his shoulder a white man with blue hair in a hospital zone, Shining Armor.

“Hands in the air and let the man go!” Charge shouted at him, pointing her Charge Magnum directly at his head, the two orange glowing eyes staring back at her.

“Charge, or should I say agent Ocean Skies? It’s nice to finally see you, I have waited for you for quite some time already,” the Corrupted returned, with what was presumably a smile, it looked more like he was showing his teeth off.

“Hey Doggy, how is it going? And what do you want with this man?” Alchemy jokingly returned, pointing with the end of his sword at Shining.

“Alchemy, and Monster as well, it seems I have the whole group. This makes this somewhat easier, I appreciate this. Your punishment is long overdone anyways, especially yours agent Skies. But where are my manners, I haven't even introduced myself yet? My name is Cerberus, we three have already meat,” he pointed at Charge and Alchemy, the two staring back at him in shock. Whatever they had anticipated, that they would be facing one of the three heads of Tartarus was not something they had expected.

“Stop wasting time and fight already,” both of them heard someone growled from behind, Monster. Before they could even turn around, they could already see the Rider lunged past them and towards Cerberus, his claws ready to spread the Corrupted to tiny little pieces. However, instead of his claws slashing across the body of the Corrupted he has effortlessly shoved aside and sailed through the air and right through a window.

Charge and Alchemy shared a quick look before dashing both forward towards the Corrupted who just looked at them for a moment before merely blocking Charge’s first attack with her gun with his arm, letting the shoots bounce back against the floor. Moments later Alchemy tried to slash at him with his sword, but he merely lifted his arm up again and caught the weapon with his hand, letting Alchemy fruitlessly try to pull out his sword only to be thrown aside, the same way Monster had been throw just moments earlier. The only remaining Rider now was Charge, who had remained a bit further behind, her Magnum still aimed at Cerberus.

“Weren’t you supposed to be honorable criminals? Should have guessed that something like this doesn’t exist,” she pointed at Shining. “Sinking so low and kidnapping someone else so we wouldn’t attack you? You did even hate it when one of your men did it, so why the sudden change? I assume those morals you claim you have are nothing but a cheap show!”

“Believe me, this was not my idea, and I’m truly disgusted by this myself, but sometimes you have to make the hard decisions for the people you have to protect, you should understand that. It is however in a way very satisfying that I finally can settle the scores. You and your Rider friends have been messing with our operations for far too long now. But enough of the small talk,” he returned in his gruff voice as he put Shining down, Charge staring at him in confusion. But before she could even think more about it, she saw how his feet sank into the floor, making it unable to escape even if he would wake up. “Now, shall we?”

Charge didn’t even give him an answer as she charged forward, dodged his fist he had thrown at her in return. She just barely scraped past his attack, digging under it and unloading the three remaining rounds of her Magnum in the guts of Cerberus, who didn’t even move an inch in return. But as he tried to grab her in return she had already rushed around him and slammed her Stun Batons into his back, the two blunt weapons just bouncing back off like nothing had happened.

“I’m sorry agent Skies, but this won’t work on me. I hope you realize this, you have to put in more effort to even scratch me,” Cerberus coldly chuckled in return and with surprising speed spun around, the back of his arm slamming into Charge’s stomach, the sheer force alone letting her feel like a truck had just rammed her. Within a single moment she had lost her stand and was flying towards the same window Alchemy and Monster had been thrown out. And as luck would have it, they were about to come back to this floor, both in their Wind Forms. What they had not expected was a flying Charge that flew straight into them, knocking three Riders all out of the air and landing in the courtyard beneath them.

With a loud thud, Cerberus jumped down to the three Riders, all laying scattered across the empty courtyard groaning in pain, trying to get back up. The Corrupted slowly walked towards them, his arms crossed behind his back. “And I had expected something more. Where is the power that you crushed all my men with? That you send them all to jail? Show me, I refuse to believe that my men feel to weaklings like you,” he grew increasingly louder as he got closer until he had started to scream.

“You want our full power? Fine, you can have it Doggy!” Alchemy was the first to shout back, replacing his current Disc with his strongest. Charge and Monster quickly followed suit.

“Charge up!”

\ FRIENDSHIP DISC ACTIVATED! /

\ 50, 80, 100! FRIENDSHIP CHARGE! /

\ AWAKEN: CHANGELING! /

\ Friendship Disc Attack Mode! /

\ Connect Protector! /

The Riders and the Corrupted didn’t wait any more time and with loud battle cries from everyone they rushed towards the opponent. Monster was the first to reach Cerberus, dashing past him and swiping him with his claws, letting the monster stager back in pain. While Monster was about to come back from behind Alchemy reached the Corrupted, distracting him with several wells placed strikes with his sword, sparks erupting from every strike. Thanks to that Monster again flew past the Corrupted and slashed across his back. Stumbling forward the Corrupted was quickly covered in laser bolts from Charge’s weapon forcing him back into Alchemy’s sword strikes.

Monster was about to strike again as he flew towards Cerberus, but to his surprise, the colossus of a Corrupted grabbed ahold of his head as he was about to fly by and claw at him again. In the blink of an eye, Monster felt how he was plucked out of the air, and violently slammed into the ground, the resulting shockwave sending both Alchemy and Charge flying backward. Still stunned from the impact Monster could not even lift a muscle to stop his body from being lifted up again and slammed into the ground again. The pain was surging all through this body, and his vision was starting to get blurry, he didn’t even realize when he was again lifted up and returned to the ground with terrifying speed. This was enough for the Rider, his armor shattering all around him, Cerberus letting go of his head and letting the beaten Rider fall to the ground, darkness overtaking his vision.

While Monster had been beaten Charge had managed to get back up on her legs again and had activated her Finisher.

\ Maximum Charge! /

With a loud boom, a burst from Charge’s rifle was unleashed on the Corrupted, countless projectile heading for Cerberus, who only lifted his head and with a swift flick of his wrist detached them, bot rocketing right towards the incoming projectiles. To Charge’s complete horror the fist just burst through her attack, the remaining projectiles that hadn’t exploded upon impact harmlessly crashing into the ground around Cerberus. What was however far worse was what was now heading her way, too stunned to dodged she took the full frontal force of the attack, the first exploding into a massive fireball. With a loud scream and unimaginable pain, her armor shattered, letting her fall to the ground unconfessed.

“You bastard!” Was what followed this not even a second later, Alchemy was charging towards Cerberus, sword ready to strike him down. “Eternal Bond!” The blade basically overflowing with magical energy he brought it down on the Corrupted, this would surely be enough to give him an opening to end this.

Then the bald stoped… Phoenix could only stare in disbelief as the blade was effortlessly blocked by the new arms of the Corrupted, not even able to put much more than a dent in his armor. He couldn’t move, the shock was just too much, the failure, the dread that was choking him.

He was so distracted by his own despair that he didn’t even see the other fist coming that sent him flying into the wall of the building, debris collapsing on top of him. That was when he felt the pain in his stomach, it was unbearable, like a heard of rhinos had stampeded over him. He could feel his armor slowly fading away. Out of the debris, he could see how Cerberus picked up Pinecone and Ocean before walking towards him.

However, before he could pick up the Rider from the rubble, a loud voice echoed past the Rider and towards the Corrupted. “Hands off him! He is mine!” Cerberus froze on the spot, looking frantically over to where the voice had come from. “Take the other Riders and show the city how pathetic they really are, but Alchemy is my prey, and he is going to have to face this on his own.” Shadow Gold continued, Alkahest now stepping into few. Cerberus quickly nodded and stepped away from Alchemy. “Get the other one and off with you.” The Corrupted quickly complied and with a good jump returned to the floor they had originally started to fight.

“And you, your life will soon fall apart around you. Enjoy the last days of peace your life will ever have,” the voice continued to Phoenix who barely got any of that at this point, everything felt so distantly, and his vision fell more and more into darkness. “So, have fun…” That was the last thing before his world fell into darkness again.

Author's Note

Well, I'm gonna be honest, the next chapter is going to be a rather special one and I'm really excited for it to come out. I never would have thought that I would actually get to this point, and all I can say right now is, thank you for sticking with my stories.

Like always, criticism is very much welcome so I can improve my writing.

Legacy - Eureka!

Everything was blurry and distorted, he could hear screams out of the field of his vision and the crumbling sounds of a collapsing building. And all he could see were the blurred outlines of all of that, all besides one thing, him! Cerberus! Hulking over him, even bigger than before the monster just stared at him, his glowing eyes piercing through his body, right through his soul, or at least that was how it felt. It burned, but the pained screams he let out were silent, drowned out by the suffering and pain around him he could not see.

Try as he might, his muscles refused to budge even a millimeter, completely petrified by the colossus of stone that was towering over him, the heavy breathing of Cerberus letting his own breath pick up even more. As the monster slowly crouched down to him, his fear turned into utter terror, the face made out of stone and metal with those glowing eyes now not even a few centimeters away from his face. The stone lips of his slowly turned into a vicious grin, the grin of a monster without any sense of mercy. Time had lost all meaning the moment his eyes had crossed eyes with the eyes of the Corrupted, the every glowing yellow light that stared at him was in some way hypnotizing, beautifully and absolutely fucking terrifying.

“This is your reward for interfering with my plans and my men. Everyone who dares to ever lay a hand on them will feel my wrath, and you did exactly that. Serves you right for playing the hero,” the voice of the Corrupted bellowed through his entire body, shaking his very bones to the core. Before he could even come to terms with that, he felt the hands of the Corrupted firmly take hold of his neck, lifting him, rubble that he hadn't noticed before suddenly falling off him, leaving him limply hanging in the hands of the monster like a wet towel.

“The hero of Canterlot City reduced to a weak cowered in my hands. Oh, how easy it would be to just kill you right here, just a firmer grip and your head would just pope of your shoulders like an overripe apple. As easy as pie. It is hilarious, the quippy, boastful hero that has until now always emerged victorious, unable to say anything because of fear. What, no stupid joke? No heroic speech? Just silence? Pathetic, really, but this is who you always were, pathetic. The only reason you ever got this far is because others did the work for you,” the monster continued, playfully shifting his hands around Phoenix neck.

“Tell me, what did you ever do? You would be dead if not for those that came before you. Without them pouring their life and soul into the task you deemed as stupid and idiotic you would have burned to a crisp on your very first day in this city, just like the ones that tried this beforehand. You are nothing more than a glorified leach that is profiteering of the determination and efforts of your ancestors. You just managed to be the lucky one that finally recreated a Disc, not out of your own efforts, but because you just were at the right place at the right time. You live in a city that has become a harvesting ground of magic, a place filled with more of it than your family has ever seen since they left Equestria, so don’t even think about claiming that you still gathered it. Would another one have been in your place they would have succeeded and even outshined you.”

Every word was like a dagger being driven into his heart, not because he was mocked, not because he was undermined, but because it was true, wasn’t it? Why was he even in this position? He had been leaching of the successes and efforts of his ancestors that had dedicated their lives to this task for over six hundred years. He? He was just the one that had managed to live in the most magically filled era of human history. What did he achieve on his own really? As this slowly sunk into his body, he didn’t even notice his glare of utter terror melting away and slowly being replaced with a look of embarrassment and shame.

“And don’t forget the fact that you failed as the guardian of this city. How many innocent lives have been lost because of you? Because you were not strong enough? Because you were to slow? Because you were too stupid? Tell me, how many did you fail? How many died because of you? How many were hurt because of you? How many lost everything because of you?” Another voice called out to him from the shadows to his right, Shadow Gold. His eyes jumped back to life, staring towards the origin of the voice, or he at least tried to, his head still refused to budge even an inch.

“Oh, that look is absolutely delightful. This look of utter terror mixed with fear and a bit of anger, it is perfect for someone like you. You are weak, and that is the truth. If you weren’t, you wouldn’t be here, helpless in Cerberus hands, only awaiting your execution. You are nothing than a make-believe hero, someone that has been given a power beyond their comprehension they could never imagine to control,” the voice continued tauntingly while stepping ever closer.

“That is what you have always been, someone who played the hero just to make himself feel better. To escape your life. It was always about you. You couldn’t live with yourself if you let anyone die if you could have done something about it! You want to be a hero so you could feel good and escape the responsibilities that have been given to you! You wanted to be a hero to get the girl that you don’t deserve! It’s always you, you, you. It doesn’t matter what others have done or if they were responsible for where you are now. It doesn’t matter to you, the only thing that does is you,” Gold hissed the last word into his ear with the glee that was absolutely terrifying to him.

“And now everyone can see that you are nothing more than a fool playing the hero,” a third voice emerged from his left, Platinum Shadow. “You thought that you were more than you were all thanks to them. The people that trusted in you, you saved, you bonded with. It doesn’t matter if you meat them for only a few minutes or if you grew incredibly close to them, they thought you were something they could look up to, a hero. A Kamen Rider, but in the end, you showed them that you are just a failure. You couldn’t protect them and now, where are they now?”

Phoenix just couldn’t say anything at this point, the presence of all three circling around him, slowly suffocating him while leaving this pain in his chest, the feeling that they were right, that everything until now was just a farce.

“You are nothing, and that is the truth. A disappointment like you always have been. You are a disappointment as a guardian and to your family legacy,” Platinum continued coldly.

“You are a disappointment as a hero and have failed this city like you have failed everyone else,” Shadow Gold added form his right, a shadowy finger slowly dragging itself across his cheeks.

“And you failed your friends. They will die, all because of you,” finished Cerberus, his cold, glowing eyes staring right at him.

“There will be no one that is going to miss you, no one,” Platinum said in the same cold tone as before. “No one that is going to be sad about your end, they are going to be happy that they don’t have to deal with you any longer. Don’t you agree?” Platinum continued in the sweetest and innocent voice he had ever heard. “This is all pointless anyway, you will never be anything else than a failure, someone that has lost everything and will keep losing everything.”

Phoenix breath grew heavier, the dread that filled his body suddenly skyrocketed, something he hadn’t thought possible anymore. It felt like his hearth was playing drums, so loud was the beat of his heartbeat as he heard the words out of Platinum’s mouth, and worts of all, deep deep down he somewhat believed him. Wouldn’t everything be better without him? Someone more capable than him would receive the Alchemy Driver, someone like his brother and they would surely save Oceane, Shining and Pinecone, there was no doubt about that, something he could never achieve. The city would be in better hands, right?

While these questions were still flying around in his head, he heard Shadow Gold continues: “And you wouldn’t have to worry about anything anymore. No responsibilities, no guilt, and no fighting. Everything would be over in a few small moments, just with puff everything would be finally peaceful.”

Before Phoenix had even a second to think about the words of the voice he could hear Cerberus speak up again. “I’ll just lift that decision from your shoulders, then your small little head doesn’t have to think too much about it, doesn’t that sound good? Just a few more moments and everything will be over,” while he spoke he felt the grip of the Corrupted slowly starting to increase, the air in his lungs was slowly getting less and less and as he tried to draw another breath… nothing. Worst of all he still couldn’t even move a single muscle, everything refused to follow the orders he was giving it. “See, it’s easy,” he continued, the voice only suddenly sounding far more distant and moments later his vision was starting to disappear. Black void filling what had previously been the face of the Corrupted. It didn’t take long till all he could see were the glowing eyes of the Corrupted, like a lighthouse in the night, the last reminder of who was taking his life.

That was when something in him awakened, with the last strength he had, his had finally started to move, grasping the hand of the Corrupted, desperately trying to pry the hands open, his feet starting to struggle. Still, the hands would not budge an inch, Phoenix letting out a loud scream: “Nooooooo!” no idea where he took the air but it was loud enough to drown out the voices around him.

--------------<

With a loud scream, Phoenix eyes shot open, only to be immediately be slammed shut again, thanks to the bright light that shined back at him. He had shot up, his eyes still shut close, and he was screaming until after a few moments he dared to slowly open his eyes again, seeing that he was in a plain white room. His breath was heavy after he had stopped his ear-bursting scream, looking around the room nervously. He was sitting on a bed wearing something that looked like a long white dress with an open backside. The light was cold, and he was alone in the small room, which was empty besides a small desk with chairs, a nightstand and what looked like medical equipment.

Before he could think about where he was, he heard the door slam open and like lightning something shoot towards him. Within the blink of a second Thunder had dashed towards him and grabbed him in an embrace. “Oh, thank goodness you’re awake. You looked so worried and terrified while you slept. Good that you're alright,” Thunder started to blabber out, leaving Phoenix no time to even get one word in. The embassy was welcome, it felt good after all of this right now, well, it did for a moment until he felt the pain in his body, primarily there where Thunder was hugging him.

With a pained grimace, he hissed out: “Ouch, ouch! Thunder, I appreciate this, but could you…”

“Oh, right, sorry.” With that, his younger brother relaced his hold on him, much to Phoenix’s delight, who started to rub his sore places around his arm. “Did you have a bad dream or something?” Phoenix looked at his brother in confusion for a moment. “You know, the screaming?”

Without really thinking about it he slammed his hand against his forehead, only to scream out in pain, “Ow, ow, who, that hurt!” He only now realized that a bandage had been pulled over his forehead. That was however not the only place where he had bandages, they also covered his arms, a bit of his legs and his stomach. “Memo to myself, never do that again.” Thunders small smile quickly shifted back into worry, raising an eyebrow. “Yeah, yeah, I get it, the screaming. Just had a bad dream, that is all.” That was when he froze, something jumped back into his mind. “Ocean? How are Ocean and the rest?” His voice had shifted from annoyance to worry in an instance, and he even tried to jump out of bed, only to wince in pain as he was held down by Thunder.

Thunder managed to restrain the frantic Phoenix who was trying his hardest to jump up from his bed. “Calm down you idiot, you can’t help them like this anyway,” he gritted through his teeth. It took a full minute till Phoenix finally calmed down. “Finally, you can be so fucking stubborn sometimes.”

“So they have been…” He couldn't even finish that sentence before stopping halfway through.

“Yes,” was all Thunder gave in returning a somber voice. What followed was a silence that lasted for a few minutes, neither of the brothers able to say anything in return.

That was until Phoenix broke the silence with a quiet: “Do you think I failed them?”

This took Thunder by surprise, staring at his brother with wide open eyes. “You, failed them? No, why would you?”

“I couldn’t do anything to save them, I just got beaten,” he returned with a low voice, his head having tilted down towards his blanket.

“That has something to do with the dream, right?”

“Yes,” he got in return, so quiet that it was almost impossible to hear.

“Ok, what did you dream about?”

“I… I… I was in the hands of Alkahest and Cerberus, they had me beat, I couldn’t move a muscle. And then they started to bombard me with accusations that I was nothing more than a selfish pretender that played hero and that I’m just a failure that leaches off of other peoples achievements. And worst of all, I don’t know if they were right,” he finished, sounding quite somberly. Thunder stared at his brother in shock for a moment before he started to laugh. “What is so funny about this?”

“Oh, nothing, it’s just good to see that you actually think about stuff like that. It’s refreshing in a way, seeing you actually question your decisions and everything, but in all honesty, I couldn’t imagine a better Alchemy than you. You showed that you care, not just because you are selfish. You protect others and want them to live peacefully. There is nothing selfish about that.”

“There is, I’m just doing it because otherwise, I would feel like shit if I knew I could have done something and ignored it. What is selfless about that?” he shot back with an angry glare.

“If you wouldn’t want to be burdened by that you would have given up the Driver long ago, to someone you would have felt better suited for this. But you didn’t, you didn’t even think about that. And don’t come with the ‘I wanted to be seen as a hero’-thing, you don’t care about that, you never attempted to use that for anything, you would have revealed your identity the moment the MRG was working with you, but you didn’t. You do this because you want to protect people because you are a good man and nothing else,” he continued, patting his brother on the shoulder a few times, Phoenix wincing a little bit in return.

“But what about the fact that I have been leaching off other peoples success. Without the work of the previous guardians I would have been dead, I would be nothing without them. I just lucked out that I live in the time where magic is running rampant. How can I see any of what I did as my achievements,” he tried to return, sounding more and more desperate.

“Bullshit! Sure, they laid the path to your own achievements, but they are still yours. We all somewhat leach of the success of the people that came before us, but they entrusted their work to us so we may continue it. But you still are the one who will forge your own path. Everything you do you do yourself, it doesn’t matter what came before, they are your achievements. Don’t let anyone tell you they are not.”

“But-“ He didn’t come any further until Thunder interrupted him again.

“No buts! You can be proud of what you achieved, and no one can ever take that away from you. Within nearly three months you managed to complete all five Magic Disc our family has been trying to recreate for hundreds of years, and you know why? Because you had the guts to go out there and fight for the people of this city. Sure, the guardians before you poured their all into this and without them you wouldn’t stand here, but it was you who finished it. You found friends that value you for who you are and who have become better people because of you, by Tartarus, one of them even became your girlfriend. And most importantly of all, you discovered something that our family has been searching for since the times of Fools Gold, and that is something you did on your own in your own way. Trust me, there wouldn’t have been a better Alchemy and Kamen Rider even if you wanted to,” he finished with the most serious and confident smile Phoenix had ever seen oh his brother. “And even if you failed, it doesn’t matter if you just keep moving forward and fix that mistake, right?”

“I… I… Thank you! Thank you so much!” Without even a second thought wasted on the pain, Phoenix lunged forward and hugged his brother, the pain surging through his body, but he just couldn’t let go.

“Wow, wow, slow down there. You don’t need to get hurt more than you already are. But I’m glad that you are ok. Trust me, you will win next time, I just know it. You managed to get out of every bad situation until now somehow, you’ll do it again,” Phoenix just nodded in return and released Thunder from his hug. Not even a second later however he was about to jump back up again, only to be pinned to the bed by Thunder again.

“Oh, no. You are not going on the hunt for him right now! You are still way too injured for that, so take it easy, at least until Cerberus pops up again,” now Thunder sounded like a parent that was scolding his child.

“Oh? You don’t even attempt to get me out of harm's way until I’m fully healed,” he jokingly replied, there was however a hint of surprise and confusion in his voice.

“As if that would ever work. I’m glad if I can keep you here until the Corrupted comes back,” he returned while rolling his eyes. “You are just too stubborn for that.”

Phoenix just chuckled sheepishly in return and added a: “Maybe.”

“See, told you so. Now get some sleep so you can actually walk when you leave and not just fall over before the battle even starts,” he chuckled as well.

“Oh, don’t worry about that, believe me.”

“I’ll take your word on that,” Thunder returned before walking over to the door and adding a quiet: “Good luck,” before closing the door behind him.

--------------<

Meanwhile in a dark and dusty warehouse on the outskirts of town two men and a woman were arguing with each other, behind them were two men and a woman tied up and unconcise. “You idiot, why didn’t you take the Driver from Alchemy too?” Fury was screaming at Cerberus who just glared back in return.

“Because I couldn’t risk angering Shadow Gold right now. We don’t know how strong he is and he still holds the plans for the Driver. I can’t risk anything with him, it’s that simple. We can call ourself glad that we could capture the two other Riders,” he returned with his usual rough voice, but there was a hint of nervousness in it.

“Fury, you really should trust him here, Cerberus was always someone that planned ahead. What makes you think he would make a stupid decision now? He isn’t you after all,” Elysium jokingly added, much to Fury’s annoyance.

IN a single moment she spun around and pointed her finger right into Elysium face. “Say this again and this time have the guts to say it to my face,” she growled.

“Oh, if you ask for it? Sure. You make stupid, irrational decisions simply based on your feelings. The only reason you are here is because no one dares to challenge you to a fight for your position,” he coldly returned.

Fury was fuming, she seemingly was about to jump her ally as Cerberus placed a hand on her shoulder, the hotheaded woman relaxing a bit. “Stop this right now! We have no time to fight out personal squabbles, especially with the lives of our men on the line. You two will play nice until this whole crisis is over, understood?” His answer was a bit of incomprehensible mumbling from both sides. “Understood?” he repeated, this time louder.

“Yes,” both of them said almost in unison, neither of them really happy with the outcome.

“Good, now, make sure they are ok. I don’t want them to die, we still need them for our little plan to draw out Alchemy.”

“So, you are going with Gold’s plan?” Elysium poked further, slowly stepping over to the three unconscious bodies, Fury right next to him.

“More or less. We will however not go so far as to kill the officer, there is where I draw the line. The Riders are a fair game the moment we have our bargaining chip. But as long as Gold holds the trump card, we shouldn’t anger or provoke him too much. We also shouldn’t tempt fate with all of this, patience is the key to victory after all,” he continued.

“I’m still not sure why we can't kill them right now and take their Drivers? I mean, they are right here, and if something goes wrong we have two Drivers to offer, far better than Gold has, right?” Fury sighed as she haphazardly looked over Ocean, pinching her to see if she still was alive, to her satisfaction, she was, groaning with every single poke.

“If we kill them now, Shadow will notice what we are doing, and I don’t want them to make their threat real. Without the Alchemy Driver, we are at a disadvantage, it’s that simple. He wants them alive to torture them, fair enough. I don’t care for any of that, but he wants them alive so be it. If she dies now or in a few hours doesn’t matter in the slightest,” he finished looking at his own artifact, carefully eyeing it.

“Ah, why do you always have to be right? This is so annoying,” Fury sighed before poking Ocean one last time simply because she was bored. “This one should hold on till you are done, nothing major I would say.”

“The same with these two, both aren’t in any danger. If we are lucky, they will actually be awake during the whole show.” Cerberus just threw him a look that let him quickly add: “If that is what you want at least.”

--------------<

The night had come and gone like nothing, and the room was still bathed in darkness. As much as he knew he had to rest and sleep a bit something just kept nagging on Phoenix that refused to let him sleep. He had tried and tried again, but every time he closed his eyes the memories just rushed back into his head, stopping him from even getting a minute of his precious sleep.

So he lay awake, the entire night, the constant thoughts about his friends clouding his mind and letting his anxiety slowly return. As good as a job Thunder had done, there was still the question of how? How would he even win this? He had no second chances on this one, no do-overs, just one ty and if he didn’t win this time, everything would go to shit. The entire night he tried to come up with some plan, anything, but there was just nothing.

“Ah, I’m not good at making plans, that is Ocean’s job,” he finally sighed in frustration, letting his fist come down on the soft matrice. “Why am I stuck with this? The universe must really hate me sometimes,” he continued in annoyance. Letting himself fall back onto the pillow he let out a tiered: “Ah, I’m just gonna wing it, or at least I have to. Oh, this going to be such a disaster.”

“Well, you finally see it for yourself then,” he heard from the entrance of the room, he hadn’t even noticed that someone had slipped into the room. In an instant, his head shot around to see who the intruder was.

To his dismay, the voice had already sounded familiar, and now with the face to the voice, he definitely recognized it, Sulfur. “Oh, great, it’s you. What do you want, gloat?” He returned in complete contempt.

“No, not really. I’m here to tell you that you now see what happens when you involve yourself in things that shouldn’t matter to you,” he returned, in his usual grumpy voice.

“Ah, yeah, gathering magic was never my job,” Phoenix returned sarcastically, letting his eyes roll in annoyance.

“Oh, that was your job, but not playing hero. You see what happened, you let people die and your friends captured. There is something to do for everyone in this world, your job was to gather magic to create a Philosopher Stone. But did you do? Play the hero and get yourself into something you were neither prepared for nor meant to do. There is a purpose for everyone, and you would be far happier if you just accepted that and not try to reject it,” Sulfur continued, looking surprisingly sad, not gloating or angry, just disappointed.

“Bullshit, how am I supposed to know about this supposed job I have to do? From you? You aren’t all-knowing, you are just an old man, nothing more. If there is really something like that then the only way you’ll learn about it is trying stuff out, something you never let me do!” He hissed back, throwing an angry glare right at his grandfather.

“I know what our and your job is. You know it, I drilled it into your head for over twenty years, and you still refuse to acknowledge it!” Sulfur just shook his head, much to Phonix annoyance.

“No!” He sternly returned, glaring at Sulfur.

“No? What do you mean with no? It’s your responsibility, you have to come back home and complete the Philosopher Stone, you can leave all of this behind, it’s not your responsibility. We aren’t even really from this world, to begin with, we don’t have to-“ He didn’t come a word further as he was interrupted by a loud Phoenix.

“Enough! I have been trying to be patient with you or at least hope that you would eventually get tired of this, but no! You just pushed it too far. You always push the responsibility away from you. It’s never your fault, always someone else. You aren’t at fault for forcing me to become the guardian, it’s the fault of tradition! It’s not your fault when we leave everyone here to suffer, it’s not our world, and it was never our job, to begin with! And worst of all, it’s not your fault dad is dead, it was Shadow Gold and his family! It never could have been you, and your obsession with this bullshit, no it was all the fault of someone else. You never accept your own fault and responsibility for someone that claims to know mine perfectly well!” Phoenix finally had enough and unloaded everything he had on the old man, years of frustration and anger were released in a few moments, every word seething with anger and hatred, his glare matching his words perfectly.

“What?! It wasn’t my fault, these bastard planed this, I couldn’t have known,” he tried to deny, to himself or Phoenix, however, wasn’t even entirely sure to himself.

“And here we go again, you shove the responsibility off to someone else, never even think that something could be your fault after all. You are pathetic, as much as I fuck up and fail, I at least admit to it and want to better myself, but you? You just keep on going, never even thinking about what you did wrong, you disgust me,” he spat out.

“How dare yo-“ At this moment the doors to the room were pushed open once again, and Thunder and another police officer stormed inside.

“Phoenix, Cerberus is back, and he wants to see you.”

Phoenix jumped up in an instant, ignoring the pain throughout his body only to yell back: “Where? Get me my stuff, I’m on my way!” Without even waiting for an answer he dragged himself over to where his jacket, clothes and with it his Driver were.

“He is at the City Hall, and he brought Ocean, Shining and Pinecone,” Thunder returned like am MG. “He also said you should come as a civilian,” he added, his voice weak and uneven.

“This bastard, well ok, if he wants it that way there isn’t much I can do,” Phoenix cursed under his breath, throwing on his clothes haphazardly before storming towards the door.

“Where are you thinking you are going? This has nothing to do wit-“

“Shut up! This is the last time I’m going to say this. I’m going to make my own decisions, and this is my path, and I will see it through till the end. This was my decision to do this in the first place, and I will take care of the responsibilities. And this is final! If I’m… When I’m back I don’t want to see your face here ever again, you got that? I’ll be right back Thunder,” Phoenix barked over his shoulder, not even giving the old geezer a look before storming out of the room with a pained grimace.

“This idiot, when will he get that this is not his responsibility, he will just get himself killed,” Sulfur muttered under his breath, receiving an angry look from both Thunder and the officer that had witnessed the whole thing.

“He chose to make it his responsibility because he is a good man. And if you can’t accept that, then he is right. So piss off,” Thunder spat out before also leaving the room, Sulfur only able to stare back at the door in shock. Without him even realizing his hand wandered to his pocket and what was inside it before he snapped out of it.

--------------<

The picture had become quite familiar for the citizens and the police at this point, police cars were barricading off a few streets because of a monster. What was different this time however was the fact that the monster wasn’t alone. A large van had driven towards the stairs of the City Hall and out had come the Corrupted and a few of his men, shoving along three people. After everyone around the City Hall had taken fled in terror, and the police had surrounded them a loud voice echoed through the now empty streets.

“These two,” he pointed at Ocean and Pinecone, both badly beaten and bruised, but still concise. “Are the heroes you have looked up to until now. They are the Kamen Riders that have protected you. But now, look at them, they are beaten and broke, both Charge and Monster. Look at them, look at their faces, look at the face of failure.” Under his breath, he muttered silently: “How I hate this. What a waste of time and I look like an idiot doing this.”

--------------<

“This goes out to the last hero of this city. Alchemy, when you hear this and want to see your friends again, come here. Oh, and you should better come untransformed. You have thirty minutes until things are going to get ugly,” the Corrupted finished.

No one dared to say even a single word, the room had fallen silent the moment the Corrupted had finished his speech. The seven girls couldn’t other than to stare at the screen in shock and confusion, especially Twilight stared at her brother in the hands of the Monster in utter dread

“Uhm, girls, this doesn’t sound good, at all,” Rainbow finally managed to say, the rest of them just nodded silently. “You think he will come?”

“I’m sure he will, but regardless we should probably at least head there, just in case,” Sunset returned, the other five girls, minus Twilight returned a silent nod. “And don’t worry, I’m sure your brother will get out of this.” After that, Twilight nodded as well, a weak smile on her face.

--------------<

“Ten more minutes! If Alchemy doesn’t show up until then…” Cerberus voice bellowed through the streets again, the police officers not really that amused by it. A large crowd had formed around the barricade, gleefully watching what was transpiring as well as several cameramen for different channels.

“Do you think he will show up?” One officer asked his college, sounding a bit nervous.

“Don’t think so. Why would he? He would just lead himself to the slaughter-bench, who in their right mind would do that? Especially if he really would be the last good Kamen Rider in the city. Who would stop Corrupted if he let himself get killed like this? He’ll probably try something more overt I assume,” his college returned.

“Sorry to disappoint, but I’m going for the direct approach,” a voice suddenly said, both officers letting their head swing around in an instant to see a bandaged up man with orange skin and red and orange hair.

“And who are you?” The first cop asked.

“Oh, just someone who needs to be over there,” he pointed towards the Corrupted, much to the shock of the officers.

“We can’t let anyone through there,” they insisted until Phoenix sighed and pulled out something from his pocket that let both of them freeze in place and look at the man in shock.

With the Alchemy Driver in his hand, he asked again: “Can I go through here now?”

“Yes, yes,” they both stammered in return, letting the man through, several other civilians looking after him in a mixture of shock and confusion.

“That… That was… Right?” The second officer asked at a complete loss for words.

“Yeah, that was Alchemy,” the other one returned, just as dumbstruck. Before any of them could even think about what to do next Phoenix had already walked so far past them that he had reached the field of vision of the Corrupted, much to Cerberus delight.

“Hey, Cerberus, I’m here. Untransformed, just like you asked for,” He screamed out to the Corrupted. “So, what do you want?” It didn’t even take a few seconds until every camera was directed at him, his face now visible on every monitor and TV screen in canterlot City and probably the rest of the country.

“Oh, I wanted you to show your face and tell them who you are so I can crush you for all to see!” Cerberus bellowed back. “So come, tell them who you are!”

Phoenix raised an eyebrow but ultimately just shook his head and obliged: “Ok, if you want. I’m willing to kick your ass to next Sunday, and if you want to know who did it, I can help you with that,” he jokingly returned, all while tightening the grip on his Driver as well as pulling out a Magic Disc. “I’m Phoenix Feather, the hero of Canterlot City and the one who is going to beat you, right here and now. But most importantly, I’m Kamen Rider Alchemy!” With that, he let the Drive loop around his waist and put the Disc into it.

\ MAGIC DISC DETECTED! /

“Henshin!”

\ FRIENDSHIP DISC ACTIVATED! /

Under the thunderous applause over everyone that had gathered around the barricade, even if they were a good distance away. Alchemy stormed forward, removing the Disc from his Driver again, activating its weapon form.

\ Friendship Disc Attack Mode! /

\ Connect Protector! /

Cerberus didn’t just stand there either, with a loud battle cry he stormed forward. With a loud clang and a wave of pressure the combatants clashed, even the officers at the barricade could feel the impact of the first blow, several of their hats were quickly lost to the wind. Cerberus had managed to block Alchemy’s first attack with his forearms, just like yesterday.

“Hey, Doggy, I don’t know you so well, but all of this just doesn’t seem like you. You were far more the quiet type the last time, so, what gives?” He asked with gritted teeth, trying not to be pushed back by the Corrupted.

“Hmh, you are not as dumb as you sometimes appear, I give you that. This entire farce was Alkahest’s idea, not mine. But that won’t matter anyway since this will be your last fight,” he growled in return, and with a sudden increase in strength pushed the Rider back, following this up with a slam of his fist to the place Alchemy had just stood a moment before.

Alchemy had managed to evade the follow-up attack just barely, but now it was time to turn the tables on the Corrupted. He couldn’t let an opportunity like this slip by unused so dashed forward while spinning the Disc on his weapon again. “Eternal Bond!” With the energy gathering in his weapon he dashed past the Corrupted, much to Cerberus’s surprise, and with a well-placed slash managed to score a hit on him. However, beyond Cerberus staggering back a bit, it didn't seem to hurt him all that much.

And indeed it didn’t take even a moment until Cerberus attacked again, much to Alchemy’s surprise who could only lift up his shield right before the fist of the Corrupted made contact with his face. Still, the force of the attack was enough to send him flying, the shield being pressed against his helmet. With a loud crash, he landed in one of the parked cars on the sidewalk, his face feeling incredibly sore after the shield had crashed into it, the same thing for his back, but nothing to major, yet.

With the Corrupted storming towards him, he hadn’t really any time to wallow in his own self-pity and pain. Instead, he had to just keep fighting. The fist of the Corrupted came down on the car, but Alchemy managed to jump back and levitate over the ground, much to the annoyance of Cerberus. That was however not all, with the flick of a finger four seals appeared around the Corrupted and before he could attempt to get away etherial chains shot out from them, wrapping themselves around Cerberus arms, pinning them down.

This was the moment Alchemy had waited for, he again spun the Disc on his weapon and rocketed towards Cerberus. “Eternal Bond!” The energy filled blade again slashed across the chest of the Corrupted, letting sparks fly as it struck and accompanied by a loud, pained groan from him. He landed behind the Corrupted, spinning the blade again. “Eternal Bond!” With the Corrupted still restrained he had no problem with bringing his weapon down on the creature with the same force as before, letting Cerberus cry out in pain once again.

“The dangerous Doggy chained down. Bad dog, bad dog,” he chuckled as he spun the Disc a third time, ready to attack again, the crowd around them starting to get louder and louder with their cheers. “Eternal Bond!” He dashed forward, ready to strike again as all of a sudden the chains that held the Corrupted shattered into pieces and with the speed that seemed almost unnatural, the Corrupted spun around and grabbed the blad with his hands, stopping it in its tracks almost instantly. The cheers of the crowd falling silent in an instant.

Alchemy was trying his hardest to get his weapon back from the Corrupted, trying to pull it out of his hands, but to no avail, instead, the Corrupted pulled his fist back, something the Rider didn’t even notice and let it rocket towards Alchemy. The punch was devastating, it felt like a cannonball had hit his stomach and just like one he was catapulted back, right into a storefront, the Rider disappearing inside the building.

Cerberus looked after him, letting his knuckles crack on time before storming towards him with incredible speed, the ground under his feet shaking like an earthquake was rampaging through the city. However, before he could reach the Rider, he was stopped dead in his tracks. To his confusion he couldn’t move an inch, none of his muscles budged an inch. At that moment alchemy emerged from the store, holding his hand out, it being enveloped in purple energy.

“Doggy, you used the powers that were bestowed upon you to attack others, kidnap my friends and threatened them. By the magic that was bestowed upon me, I deem you unworthy of your powers and will now take them from you!” While he was speaking, he started to spin the Magic Disc he had reattached to his Driver.

\ Friendship Disc Maximum Power! /

Around the immobilized Corrupted, six seals appeared around him which quickly restrained him even more with the ethereal chains. Alchemy meanwhile had ascended into the air and now was rocketing towards the Corrupted with his foot stretched out for a kick, consumed by a bright purple light.

But then, everything came differently than expected. Just a moment before Alchemy’s foot made contact with the monster it let out a loud roar and with never before seen strength it burst free from its hold. Before he could even process what had happened before him, the Corrupted started the counter-attack, a simple punch. Both the fist of the Corrupted and the foot of Alchemy clashed, and with it, both combatants were consumed in a massive explosion.

To the shock of everyone in the city, however, it was Alchemy who was thrown out of the explosion, landing right next to the barricade, his armor fading away into nothingness. The hero that had just fought to protect all of them, beaten on the ground. Everything was silent while Cerberus slowly walked out of the dust of the explosion and towards Alchemy, no Phoenix Feather.

“Good fight, but just not enough. This is something everyone should know, you don’t mess with Tartarus, or you will regret it. And believe me, you messed with us. I let it slide for far too long, but now, it’s time for you to pay the piper,” the voice of the Corrupted echoed through the street, the only one to even rais his voice. The tension could be cut with a knife. “But I give it to you, you put up an admirable fight.” With that, he raised his hand, the armor on his arm deforming, into what looked like spikes.

While this was happening Phoenix was trying his hardest to push past all the pain that surged through his entire body, but neither his legs nor his arms were able to even lift him off the ground, and continuing to fight was by no means an option. Still, even if he knew this would probably be the end, he just couldn’t stop here, not with all these people still setting their hopes in him, not with the life of his friends on the line, not here, not now. He was so lost in his own thoughts that he didn’t even notice the commotion that was starting to brew not five meters behind him. Several civilians were trying their hardest to press past the officers, apparently trying to get to Phoenix. But he just wasn’t able to notice it.

He also didn’t notice the spiked projectiles that were rocketing towards him. They were unstoppable, just pressing on further and further, right towards Phoenix head. The commotion behind him reached it hight as one person pressed himself past everyone else and dashed forward. Milky white skin built itself up before him, and an ear-bursting scream could be heard echoing through the streets of the city. This was enough for even Phoenix to realize what had happened, someone had caught the stones aimed for Phoenix. The knees of the person fell down, right in front of Phoenix, who could now see how the grey hair of the man limply flailed in the wind, the face hitting the ground not too far away. What he also noticed was a silent clang as something flat and round it the floor, something oddly familiar… A blank Magic Disk.

The blood froze in his veins the moment he realized that it couldn’t be right? But not only Phoenix was shocked by what had happened, but Cerberus also couldn’t do anything else than to stare at the gruesome screen in absolute horror. He hadn't aimed for the man, he hadn’t intended to rob the life of him, why had he done this? This man was not part of his job, not part of the contract, he was off limits to him. The Corrupted slowly staggered back, his arm sinking lower, still in disbelief of what had happened.

The unbearable silence that had followed the cry of the rowed was ripped apart by a loud scream. Phoenix let his voice be heard all over the battlefield, his cries of anger and sadness. This idiot, why did he do this. Right now his pain didn’t matter, nothing mattered. He pushed past everything that mere seconds had shackled him to the ground and crawled over the injured man. “Gramps! Gramps!” He shouted again, grabbing ahold of the motionless body, but nothing. He managed to force himself into an upright position and started to shake Sulfur, but still, nothing, the body remained life lesse. This was it, he just couldn’t hold it anymore: “Ahhhhh!” He let out the most pained scream he had ever unleashed in his life, clutching the dead body of his grandfather, the tears running down his cheeks like waterfalls.

He let the dead body down, carefully letting him rest on the ground. All the pain just didn’t matter anymore, he couldn’t even feel it, just pure anger. He picked up one of the Magic Disc that had fallen on the ground. With shaking feet, he staggered around for a bit until he found his footing. Glaring towards the Corrupted responsible as he placed one of his own Discs into the Driver.

\ MAGIC DISC DETECTED! /

“I might have hated him to a certain extent for what he did to me,” Phoenix started, his voice booming over everyone else all while placing another Disc on the Driver.

\ MAGIC DISC DETECTED! /

“We never have seen eye to eye and always were at each others growth,” he continued, his voice seething with rage, placing another Disc into the Driver.

\ MAGIC DISC DETECTED! /

“I might have told him to disappear and never come back!”

\ MAGIC DISC DETECTED! /

“But that doesn’t mean I still loved him in a way. He raised me, he was struck, but he still loved me. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have taken this bullet for me!” Cerberus was still frozen when Phoenix placed the next Disc into the Driver.

\ MAGIC DISC DETECTED! /

“He prepared me for this moment, all of what he did! He shaped me, and I wouldn’t be standing here without him!” Phoenix's voice grew louder and louder, slowly letting the anger fade away and be replaced with determination.

\ MAGIC DISC DETECTED! /

“I wouldn’t be standing here without everyone that came before me. I realize this now and that after I have rejected them for far too long. But I will not let myself be caged in by their old traditions and rules. I respect what they did, but I will walk my own path, I will learn from their mistakes and live a better life. A life as a Kamen Rider! This will be the legacy that I will entrust to the ones that come after me. I will continue walking forward towards a bright future! Henshin!” With the last word seemingly echoing through the entire city, he spun the Discs.

Like always a whirlwind appeared around Phoenix, but not just one out of water, fire or wind, but all of them, all six. The energy quickly tried to consume each other, turning the whirlwind into a black mass that was impossible to see through. Everyone held their breath as their hero disappeared into the darkness. Then they heard a scream, a scream that sounded like the flesh was carved of someone's bone, slowly and with a rusty knife. The screams only got louder as dark blue lightning erupted from the whirlwind. That was until the screams suddenly stopped, from one moment to the next, only seconds later the lightning changed color to gold and just a few moments later the whirlwind changed into white. With a gentle gust, the energy around Phoenix disappeared, revealing him to be completely unscathed, his previous injuries having completely disappeared. In front of him hovered the blank Disc, just now it had golden markings all over it, while the other six Disc levitated to their holders on the Driver. Filled with newfound determination, he grabbed ahold of the levitating Disc before him and placed it into his Driver.

\ PHILOSOPHER STONE DETECTED! /

“Henshin!”

\ EUREKA! /

A white whirlwind developed the Rider, golden feathers weaved into it. It didn’t take long till the Rider was again released from the heavenly energy. He wore a new armor, all in ebony white embedded with golden ornaments, the ones on his chest now formed an angular infinity symbol. His shoulder spots had taken on the form of a single gold feather with a long flowing white cape with golden edges. His horns had also been transformed into golden feathers, and two sky blue eyes stared right ahead at Cerberus.

That was the time the Corrupted regained his composure, shaking his head and starting to storm towards Alchemy. New form or not, in his condition he wouldn’t stand a chance against him. But instead of Alchemy also running up to him, he just remained there, not moving an inch. When Cerberus had reached his inhuman speed, he was just a second away from Alchemy, but in the blink of an eye, the Rider had disappeared. The next thing he knew was an unimaginable pain in his stomach and himself staggering back a few meters only to bump into something. Turning his head while clenching his stomach he looked into the blue eyes of Alchemy. Before he even knew what hit him, he had already been catapulted into a nearby storefront.

Around him were rows upon rows of books, several of the shelves crushed by his sudden intrusion. With a loud groan, he managed to get back on his feet, staggering back towards the window he had crashed through. He could feel both attack Alchemy had managed to hit on him, they hurt like balefire. To his dismay alchemy was already waiting for him on the other side of the window, his cold blue eyes staring at him.

Cerberus had enough if the Rider wanted to make this difficult so be it. With a loud scream filled with anger, he let his fists rocket towards the Rider, who just effortlessly managed to dodge the attacks only to hit them as they passed by him, both of his fists crashing into the concrete behind him, exploding into a large fireball. But the Rider didn’t slow down the dashed straight for Cerberus who tried to throw a punch with his new fists, only for Alchemy to duck under it and punch him into the stomach instead. But not to be outdone Cerberus pressed on, letting his fist aim right for his head, but again Alchemy was just faster and countered with his own fist to his head. This was enough to force Cerberus backward.

As the Corrupted was staggering backward and holding his head in disorientation, the Rider dashed past him and with a swift kick send the monster flying through the destroyed window and onto the street. He was at his end, with heavy breathing he forced himself up one last time, Alchemy calmly walking towards him. “Give up, you can’t win this,” the Rider said calmly, holding a hand out towards him.

For a moment, it sounded tempting, just giving up now. Stopping, letting others deal with everything. But no, he just couldn’t, he had to protect his people, just like Alchemy had to protect the people of his city. “Sorry, I think you know damn well that giving up just isn’t something both of us do,” he chuckled back and let out a roar of pure anger, concentrating his remaining strength into one last punch. Alchemy just chuckled weakly and nodded, also pulling his strength together into a punch. Both combatants were enveloped into a bright light, making it impossible for anyone to see how the fight had ended.

As the light slowly faded away, it revealed a battered and bruised grey man with black hair sitting on the ground a necklace in the shape of a three-headed dog before him. The man was kneeling, staring at it. “I… I lost. But, how could I… I can’t lose…” he muttered, continuing to stare blankly at the magical artifact.

“It’s over, don’t make this embarrassing for any of us. Just give up, and I will take care of Alkahest,” Alchemy soberly returned, kneeling down beside him.

“No… No! I can’t lose here, I just can’t. I will protect them, all of them!” With that he again let his hand shoot out towards the necklace, grabbing it firmly in his hands, Alchemy to supposed to react in time. A bright light enveloped Cerberus, letting Alchemy jump back several meters. Before him stood a hulking monstrosity, even bigger than Cerberus normal monster form. This thing was at least five times larger than Alchemy. His entire body had been covered in sharp stones that erupted from his previous body, large claws of metal now adored his hands and the worst and most disturbing part was the three heads, all of them alive and barking at the Rider with murderous intent.

As fast as lightning the Corrupted let his paws crash down on Alchemy who evaded the attack just barely. “Are you insane? You don’t even know what knocking you out of this a second time could cause. You could die for all I know,” he shouted towards Cerberus, but he was already too far gone, just swiping at the Rider again, who jumped over his paw and landed on it.

With a loud roar the beast tried to attack him again, the Rider however just running further up the arm of the Corrupted, the paw just hurting him instead of Alchemy. Reaching the shoulder, he could already feel that the Corrupted was really not pleased with his advances on him and started to jump around wildly, trying to shake him off, the ground under them shaking like by an earthquake. Street posts and other small things were already beginning to fall over, he had to finish this quick.

With a well-timed jump, he managed to land on the back of the Corrupted. The beast was bucking around like a wild mule and he just barely managed to grab ahold of one of the spikes on his back. With that much halt, he was finally able to spin his Philosopher Stone.

\ Philosopher Stone Maximum Power! /

The energy was again gathering in his leg, and with so much force that he pushed the Corrupted onto his stomach as he jumped up in the air only to stop suddenly. From his back extended six golden wings and with incredible speed he rocketed towards the Corrupted. Around his leg, golden lines began to form and seemed to create a whirlwind of light that exploded the moment he hit the monster. In the blink of an eye, the Rider had drilled through the monster and was scratching to a halt in front of the Monster, a massive explosion consuming the crime boss behind him.

A loud cheer went through the crowd as they saw their hero victorious, the giant Corrupted had vanished and in his place stood Cerberus again. Alchemy, however, was not one of the cheering ones, he stared at Cerberus with a sad expression on his face, only hidden by his helmet.

“You should be happy,” a weak voice called out to him, Cerberus. His body was slowly starting to fall apart and was dissolving into magic. “You avenged your grandfather and killed his murder.”

“And why should I be happy about that? Does it bring him back? No. I hated him in life, but I’m also not glad that he is dead. This is just pointless. Revenge is pointless, just like hate. I thought beating you up would make me feel better, but it didn’t it just made me feel hollow. And now that you are dying I just feel even worse,” he returned soberly. “What would I even do at this point if I wanted to continue my revenge for the small hope of it paying off in the end? Attack Tartarus, hut them down and let my anger out on them, but I’m just going to create more hate, and I’m sure won’t feel better afterward, so no, I don’t feel good.” Cerberus just chuckled back, slowly fading away into nothingness, the necklace falling to the ground next to him. Alchemy looked at the piece of jewelry for one moment before pulling the disc from his Driver.

The goons that had helped them just moments before had tried to run for it, but with the police surrounding them that didn’t pan out as they had planned and within less than a minute all of them were handcuffed and lead off, Ocean and Pinecone already in the care of the officers.

--------------<

In the late evening, Phoenix was finally allowed to visit Ocean in the hospital. Somewhat funny actually, he had laid in the bed this morning, and now he was standing here, completely healed, and his girlfriend was in it instead.

“Seems you won,” she chuckled weakly before holding her sides.

“Something like that,” he weakly returned.

“Yeah, something like that,” he returned with a silent voice, looking towards the ground.

“I’m sorry, I know how it feels, believe me. It’s hard to lose someone, even if you had your problems with them. Don’t make the same mistake I did, just let it out,” she smiled back, managing to get in a sitting position and not a second too late as Pheonix garbed ahold of her and pushed her into a hug. She could feel the warm tears running down his face and into her hospital gown as she patted him on the back.

“He… He’s gone Ocean… gone,” he started to sob, burying his face in her shoulder. “This damn idiot!”

“Shh, everything is going to be fine, just let everything out, just like this.”

--------------<

While Phoenix was sobbing his eyes out on the shoulders of his girlfriend somewhere else in the city someone else was preparing something else for the Riders. In a dimly lit room, only illuminated by candles Platinum Shadow was carrying an unconfessed Ivory. He looked awful, his glasses were missing, and his lab coat was covered in mud and torn to pieces. But what was the most puzzling was the fact that he had an Alchemy Driver strapped to his waist.

Platinum let his victim down, right in the middle of the room and in the center of a large rune circle with candles at five corners of it, forming a star. But before he left the circle, he took off the necklace he had worn beforehand, the moment it left his neck a sigh of reliving could be heard echoing through the room. Carefully he pulled the necklace over Ivory's neck and with a sickly twisted grin he pulled out something familiar, a Philosopher Stone and placed it into the Driver. Like pulled by invisible strings Ivory’s body started to levitate until he was hovering right in front of him. Admiring his work for a moment, he stared at the new driver and Magic Disc. He had pulled so much time and sweat into this, and now it was finally the time, a time he had waited for since he was a child. He grabbed the disc on Ivory’s Driver and gave it a good spin and within moments he was covered in a bright, white light, Platinum dashing out of the circle before a loud boom could be heard, one that could be heard several blocks away, one that brought down the roof of the small warehouse he had stood in.

Author's Note

So yeah, this was the Final Form chapter. I can't believe I really got here, and with it to the last third of the story. I'm really glad that people actually stuck around for this moment. Thank you all so much for that.

And like always, I like to hear your opinions on the chapter.

To Catch a Star - Siblings

“What were you thinking? Oh, monsters, let's stay right there where they could easily get me, or how about a stray shot? What is danger? I live on the edge!” Ocean was fuming, Phoenix sitting behind her and just trying to not let his head retreat into his body like a turtle.

“Oh, come on sis, turned out fine, didn’t it? How could I miss a Rider in action? But of course, miss ‘by-the-book’ has to play fun police and get on my case. Can’t a girl just watch a man beat the everloving shit out of monsters? What is wrong with that?” Star Catcher groaned in return, sounding just as annoyed as Phoenix would be on a really bad day and a squabble with his grandfather.

Ocean just stared at her in absolute bafflement for a moment before letting her head sink into her hand and started to shake it with a loud groan. “You know how bad you could have been hurt? These things are no pushovers-“

“Seemed like they were,” Star returned with a cheeky smile on her lips.

“Don’t try to be smart with me. For a Rider? Maybe, but a human? They could rip you in half if they wanted to, be glad that Phoenix watched out for you during the entire thing. Goodness, how stupid can you be?” She continued, shutting down her sister at every opportunity.

“I’m sorry, but I have to side with her. You really fucked up with this. This is not a game, this is real, as unreal as it might seem. You can’t just waltz onto a battlefield and expect everything to just ignore you, that is not how this works. And you just make our job harder if we have to protect you, so please, just don’t do this anymore,” Phoenix added, sounding far more relaxed than his girlfriend.

“Ah, you two are such sticks in the mud. Come on, no one got hurt, so who cares. I could see you beat up some of these freaks and it let me relax a bit before the race starts, so good for everyone right?” Star continued, sounding just as relaxed and carefree as ever. “You’ll stay, right?”

Ocean looked at her like she had just said the worst thing he could imagine, she was furious. “Staying? Are you kidding me? After what you just pulled? Maybe with an apology and a promise to never do something like this ever again, but like this? Oh, no! I have a friend to save, and my best lead is currently sitting on the other side of the city. I thought I would be nice and meet you, talk things out, even if it meant risking the life of Ivory, but now? No, just no!” Ocean had started to go off on a tirade, her screaming echoing through the halls of the stadium, several other athletes looking towards them in confusion.

Star looked back at her with a look of disappointment, one that was quickly washed away by anger and bitterness. “Yeah, what else. Work takes priority. Playing the good little protector of the people, just like mom always hammered into your head. Just so they can complain about you when things get tough. And now you turn more and more into mom. Your way, or the highway. What doesn’t fit into your worldview has to be destroyed. It doesn’t matter who asks something of you, you will always decide in favor of the idiots that don’t value your work. Tell me, how does it feel to follow in the footsteps of the person you killed with your own hands?” Star Catcher glared at her, the words cutting into oceans hearth like daggers, but were quickly drawn out by anger.

“You know what? Fine, if you want to risk your life, fine, but do it without endangering other people in the process! You might actually understand that if you wouldn’t have started to be such a troublemaker. You never got why dad did what he did. And if you can’t get it, then there is just one thing I have to say to you, goodbye.” With that ocean just turned around and left. No more screaming, just a silent walk out of the hallway and with it out of sight.

“Well, that could have gone better,” Phoenix sighed, before looking over to a very angry and annoyed Star Catcher, still staring after her sister with a look that probably could kill if that would be possible.

“This little… Just like mom and her self-righteous bullshit. ‘Oh, I’m always right! Oh, you have to do exactly what I tell you to! Oh, why can’t you be more like your sister?’ I’m sick of it. Bossing me around like they have any right to do that.” With a loud scream of frustration, she shoved Phoenix to the side stormed into her room and slam the door shut behind her.

“A lot better,” he sighed before picking himself up from the ground, dusting himself off. With a worried look over to the now closed door, he groaned as he pulled out his phone and dilled in the number and readied himself for round two of this argument. “Hey, Oc-“

That was all he managed to get out before he was interrupted by his livered girlfriend. “The nerve of her!” She apparently was already shouting into the phone, forcing Phoenix to hold the device a good few centimeters away from his ear, a few of the passing by people throwing confused looks at him. “Can you believe that? I sure can’t! Does she even realize what could have happened? And to think I was worried about meeting her.”

Phoenix looked at his phone with a pained expression, debating if he really should say this right now, but a certain voice of reason just wouldn’t shut up about it if he wouldn’t. “Yeah, that was really stupid, but I can somewhat see where she was coming from,” he hesitantly returned and received the expected answer.

“What?!” It was loud, and even though he had heled the phone away from his ear, it still hurt. “Are you serious?”

“Yeah, I’m, somewhat. It was a dumb decision, sure, but it’s not every day you got to see a Rider in action. And since she seems to be somewhat perplexed with why we do the things we do I can see her trying to figure that out. Doesn’t mean that she should have done that from a safe distance,” he quickly returned, trying his best to calm his girlfriend down. “But is this really enough to get into such an argument with her?”

“What do you mean? When she is so insistent on not listening to me and putting others in danger I have nothing to say to her,” she huffed, much to Phoenix dismay.

“Ok, listen. I’m pretty sure you like your sister,” he could hear her huffing from the other side of the line. “You always spoke of her so highly, and when you told me that she pretty much ignored you at the funeral, you were heartbroken. And if you wouldn’t care you wouldn’t have sent me here in the first place. So, you love your sister, so why even think about breaking of that relationship for a reason like this? I would never do that, I love my brother too much for that. Sure we argue, and we scream at each other, but we always get along in the end. So, please, just give her a bit time and try it again, she isn’t here for too long, and you’ll probably regret it when she is gone again. Please,” he finished with almost a whisper, the other end of the line remaining silent for a few moments.

“I… You… what do you know about our relationship? I… We talk about this later,” and with that she ended the call, leaving Phoenix standing in the hallway letting out a long, pained sigh.

“Stupid concise, why do you betray me?” He muttered to himself, letting his back slumped against the wall and slowly let his body slide to the ground. “I have the feeling I will not hear the end of that for a while. Let’s hope she isn’t too angry for too long.”

--------------<

A few hallways away a figure was having a discussion on her phone, just like Phoenix. “So, you failed?” Came it from her phone.

Furie, cringed as she heard this. “No, I didn’t. I decided that the best chance to achieve our goal was to wait and strike at a better moment,” she gritted through her teeth, not believing the words coming out of her mouth herself.

“Oh, really? And I heard that you were the hothead of your group? Did something happened to change that?” Shadow Gold returned with a despicable glee in his voice, letting Furies face twist into a grimace of anger and hatred.

“Since Cerberus isn’t here anymore, I can’t just continue like nothing happened,” and under her breath, a good distance from her hone she added: “At least until we find a way to get rid of you.”

“Oh, really? I’m impressed. From what checkbook told me, I thought that you would be far more emotional and would try something stupid. But I’m pleasantly surprised, it seems Tartarus does indeed hold up to their name, in certain regards,” he continued, much to Furies growing annoyance. “But be warned, if you fail again, you know what will happen. We wouldn’t want you to cause the same catastrophy Cerberus did, so better put in you’re A-game. Ciao!” The call ended abruptly, leaving her standing in the hallway, staring at the phone in equal amount of disgust, horror, and unbridled rage. She was tempted to just throw the phone at the ground but ultimately stopped herself mere moments before she actually would have gone through with it. The phone had been a birthday present from Cerberus, and she was not so angry to throw that away.

“Boss?” Came a voice from behind, in an instant she turned around, putting her hands into a fighting position and stared at the person behind her. A woman with pale white skin and short platinum gold hair. “Are you ok?” The woman looked surprised and very worried.

Her body relaxed again as she realized who had startled her. “Oh, Gold Feather, it’s just you. What do you want?” Her suspicious tone quickly was replaced by one of curiosity and annoyance.

“Boss, that fucker Shadow Gold, that was him, right?” Feather asked with a look of concern on her face.

“Yeah, it was the prick. Thinks he can just command me around.” Furie let out a loud sigh followed by her fist hitting the wall next to her with a loud thud. “And worst of all, he kinda does. That bastard thinks he can just toy with the lives of our men like he wants to, but I gonna show him. He will regret ever messing with Cerberus and with us. I will send him to Tartarus so he can rip him apart himself!” Furie was fuming, her anger growing only more and more the longer she thought about him.

“Yeah, the fucker can die for all I care. Those who mess with us will get to reap the consequences, so why not hunt him down and murder the fuck out of that slimy bastard?” Feather returned with glee and an amazing mad grin that would have taken fear into the hearts of most people.

“Because the bastard is smarter than he looks,” she growled back, slowly stepping closer to her subordinate. “He managed to get a deal with ‘The Circle’ and now if we don’t follow his orders they are threatening to kill our men. And it’s not like we could just kill him and be done with it, he has plans for his Driver that our business-partners want, so either we can get them ourself, or we follow orders. Cerberus tried this already, and it didn’t end well for him.”

This left Feather quite speechless, staring at her boss in shock for a few moments before returning with a confident glare in her eyes: “Ok, boss, I’m in. What do you need me to do?”

This took Furie by surprise. She looked at feather with an uncertain look before starting to laugh. “I always liked you, but don’t think this will be easy. We are hunting one of the family members of the Riders, so expect them to show up and cause trouble. By Tartarus, they already did that when I sent a few Remnants after them and tried to sneakily take the girl. I hope you know what that could mean?”

Feather just chuckled with a cocky grin on her lips before blowing Furie of. “Oh, I’m not afraid of the Riders, they are just some costumed freaks. The ones that lost to them were just not good enough. I’ll crush them like nothing.”

She had expected another jab from her boss, but not what followed. In the blink of an eye, Furie grabbed her by the throat, lifted her off the ground and pressed her against the wall. In her eyes was a glare that might have killed her if she ha that ability. She was desperately trying to get the hand off her as Furie quietly whispered into her ear: “You say this again, and I will make sure that you will regret every remaining second of your life. Your comrades did their best, you should not spit on their legacy. You would have been crushed, exactly like them. If Cerberus couldn’t win how do you think you could?” With the last word said she released Feather who crashed to the ground, desperately coughing and gasping for air. “But if you really think you can go up against them, I have a job just for you,” she finished, turning her back to the still coughing Feather, taking a look down the slowly filling stadium.

--------------<

Star Catcher was still fuming with anger. After having slammed the door shut behind her, she had been on edge the entire time. She was just like her mother, and she had thought she knew her. She just wanted to punch something to relieve some of the stress and anger she was feeling, but beating one of the lookers would just get her into trouble, and she really didn’t need that right now. So instead she started to do some pushups, she just needed something to get her mind off.

That was when she heard the knock on the door. With a loud sigh, she let herself fall to the floor before shouting an anyone: “What?”

The knocking immediately stopped, and she heard a rather nervous voice, one she really was not too thrilled to hear. “Uhm, Star Catcher, can I come in?”

She looked at the door with exhaustion, but ultimately just let her head hang low and shouted back. “Fine, but don’t take to long.”

“Thanks,” came it back, the door slowly opening just moments later to reveal a nervous looking Phoenix that let his head slip into the room and looked around before stepping inside.

“What do you want?” Came it back, Star looking at him with a glare that made the Rider rather uncomfortable.

“I just wanted to talk to you, about, you know…”

“Oh, go on, tell me how wrong I am and how much better my sister is. That I should apologize and all the other crap. You are her boyfriend after all,” she huffed back, snapping her look away from Phoenix who just silently sighed.

“No, I’m not gonna do that. Sure, what you did was stupid and reckless, I won’t deny that. And you know that yourself, right?” As he looked at her, she let her head sink just a little bit, and he thought he could see a small frown on her face. “But that doesn’t mean Ocean is right either. I might be her boyfriend, but that doesn’t mean I have to agree with her all the way. She is currently quite on edge, ever since the night she…” He stopped for a moment, mentally searching for the right word.

“The day she killed mom,” Star bluntly finished his sentence. “You don’ have to tippytoe around it, I have seen the corps. I was there when they buried her, the lifeless body,” she continued, a hint of sadness in her voice. “It was her own fault anyway that she ended up this way.”

“Yeah, that. But that doesn’t mean Ocean doesn’t feel guilty over it. And to add to that, she didn’t even have time to properly grieve. The same day one of her longest friends was kidnapped by a murderer that has haunted this city for months. She poured every second she had into finding him, and we still weren’t any closer to that then the first day, in all honesty, things are looking worse with every passing day. She hated the thought of leaving the city to go to Manehatten, simply because she was afraid for her friend. She ultimately went along with it, but only because there was no other way, and I hoped that she would start to process this there, but then the funeral happened, and you know how that turned out,” he somberly continued.

Star let her head sink even further as she quietly returned: “She was shunned by the entire family, including myself, I get it. But that still doesn’t excuse her bitchinese to me,” she hissed back, a look of defiance in her eyes.

“Sure, but you didn’t even see her at her worst. When she came back she gave, even more, she worked harder, and she pretty much lost sight of other things, the only thing that mattered was finding Ivory. And it backfired. One of her underlings managed to get caught up in a fight between Riders and Ocean shot him in the arm. The wound wasn’t deep or life-threatening, but she still felt awful. Since then she has toned it down a lot, but she still wants to find him and doesn’t want to give up hope. She is jutted on edge, and the fact that she made room for you anyway shows you just how much she cares about you, and when you disappointed her, she just let it out. I still have to have a talk with her later about that, but please, don’t take it too hard, she is your sister after all, and I know how siblings can be. Annoying and you sometimes just don't want to see them, but they will always be at your side, someone you can trust. At least that is how my brother is,” he finished, smiling in her direction.

“You know, you two fit quite well together. Both of you have this way of speaking to people, she is still better though. And there is another thing, you remind me of dad. Someone who cares about others and that is willing to put his life on the line. I still think it’s stupid, but I have to say, it’s strangely calming to know that there are other people that rea just like him. I think he would be happy how Ocean turned out and that she is following in his footsteps.” She seemingly wanted to say something else, but her smile quickly vanished as she opened her mouth again, only to let it close aging without saying a single word.

“I’m sure he would be happy with how you decided to live your life. If he knew that you didn’t want to follow in his footsteps, he would accept it. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have managed to rise to wonderful people like you and your sister,” Phoenix smiled back, which got him a chuckle form Star Catcher. “What’s so funny?”

“Oh, I’m just a bit envious of Ocean. The way you try to charm people is just so funny, but at the same time so cute. She really made a good catch.” This got Phoenix to blush furiously, much to Stars delight. “And then this, it’s perfect.”

“Don’t you have something to do?” He muttered with a frown, desperately trying to suppress his own smile.

That was when she suddenly stopped laughing, looked at the clock in the room and in a split second jumped up from the bench and rushed out the door, but not without screaming back at Phoenix: “We’ll talk about this later!” And with that, the door slammed shut, and he could hear the loud footsteps of star echoing through the hallway.

“Well, siblings,” he chuckled to himself before leaving the room as well.

--------------<

The competition was already in progress as Phoenix finally walked out of the underbelly of the stadium and onto the stand. He could see the runners giving it their all, and the noise was impressive. The sound of over thousands of voice crying out at once, and their voices being replaced by the walls of the stadium was just something you didn’t see every day. While he was no sports fan, he could appreciate the atmosphere.

He stared down at the field for a few minutes until he noticed something rather interesting, something he just couldn’t believe. Summer and Thunder, just sitting their and cheering. Sure, he knew they would be here today, but he hadn't expected to just stumble upon them by just going onto the stand. His first thought was to just walk up to them and say hi, that was until a devious little idea came up in his head. What if he just allowed himself a little bit of fun? It wouldn’t really hurt anyone, right?

So, he slowly walked over to where his two friends were sitting and enjoying the race, trying his hardest to act as sneakily as possible, something that got him a few confused looks from other visitors, some of them apparently noticing who he was and quickly shut up again. Apparently, they just assumed he was on Kamen Rider duty, something he was completely fine with. For one moment he thought they might have seen him as Thunder just turned around for a moment, but he didn’t see him, so that was a relive. Sneaking up right behind the two he had to try as hard as he could just to suppress his giggling, something that didn’t work entirely, but thanks to the noise in the stadium they didn’t pick up on it.

“Hey! How is it going?” That was what he said as he placed his hands on both of their shoulders, both of the unsuspecting victims jumping up from their seats and screaming bloody murder so loud that they could be heard ten rows in front of them. Nearly everyone around them turned their heads towards them, som confused, some angry, and some just scared.

It took a few seconds before both of them calmed down again, all to the laugh of Phoenix. “You asshole!” Was the first thing he heard from both of them unanimously. Summer even went so far and slapped him for good measure, something that didn’t really stop him from giggling.

“So worth it,” he finally managed to get out, letting Summer react predictably, readying herself to slap him again, only for Thunder to stop her.

“Don’t, you are just making things worse. How in the name of Tartarus are you even here? You were supposed to be on patrol with ocean or something? Or did you just take the day off just to annoy us?” Thunder asked his brother, giving him a very annoyed look.

“Nope, I was supposed to meet Ocean’s sister before the competition and tell her that Ocean would be a bit late after that Remnants attacked and now I’m trapped in a family quarrel. So yeah, eventful day. And then I found you two, and you know, I couldn’t let a golden opportunity like this just go by, now could I?” He finished with a big smile on his lips, bot Summer and Thunder just shook their heads when they heard that. “So, how is it going? Enjoying the sport?” He added, sounding as innocent as a little lamb.

Thunder looked at him for a few seconds with an ‘Are-you-kidding-me-look’ in his eyes before saying: “Yeah, it’s going fine, well besides the fact that some jackass decided to make a really stupid joke and is annoying us right now.” All of that was delivered with a bright smile, and the sweetest voice Thunder could muster.

“Ah, see. So, I’ll probably just leave now, just wanted to say hi before I’m thrust back into the madness that is this family. Have a nice day you two, hope it goes as well as my first date,” he devilishly added, waving them goodbye. The two victims of his little joke quickly turned bright red and returned their gaze back towards the competition on the filed blow them. Phoenix returned to where he had exited the building and just started to lean against the wall, staring down at the competition. It might be at least a little bit of fun. On the other side of the stadium, Furie and Feather were meanwhile carefully watching the competition, both having a twisted smile on their faces.

--------------<

It had been several hours since they had started and they were starting to get frustrated. Ivory was a very distrustful man that even extended to the MRG. Since he was a very capable and renowned sanitized even in the organization, he had a few of his own little pers he had gathered. One of them was that he was allowed to have his personal computer protected by his own systems. This had generally worked out without any kind of problem since he always provided his research to the higher ups, but now, now it was a massive pain in the butt.

No one could enter his computer, simply because no one knew the password. Ivory had always been rather protective of it and just dismissed her with the same line everytime she asked: “I’m not gonna tell you, that would just stink.” After the fifth time, she had just given up, bare the rare case where she just wanted to hear the weird line. But now she wished she had it forced out of him just so they could get the data on his computer. While others could probably finish what he had started, many things would take months for them to comprehend, at least without his notes and well, these were on the computer.

“How about Charge_Rider_Driver? I’m sure this will work.” Light Bulb said again with an upbeat voice that was slowly but surely losing the will to live. After the tapping sound coming from the keyboard, only a loud *beep* could be heard, much to the two woman's frustration.

“Oh, my goodness. Why couldn’t that idiot just write his password down like any normal person? We tried hacking, we tried guessing, we tried brute force, but this just won’t work. I’m getting annoyed with this piece of shit technology,” Light Bulb shouted out, letting her fist crash down on the table. She remained in that position for a while longer, taking deep breathes while staring daggers at the monitor.

Ocean was just sitting next to her and sighed in defeat. “Ivory, I know you valued your privacy, but this is just ridiculous. So, any other ideas?”

“Not really, I’m gonna try to further brute force it but what else is there what I can do? “ She looked over to ocean who just looked as puzzled as her.

“Yeah, I have nothing. I’ll get us something to drink, coffee?” She looked over to Light, putting on an exhausted smile.

“Oh, that would be wonderful. I would like-“

Light Bulb never came any further since a loud alarm went through the entire laboratory. On one of the new monitor, a map of the city appeared and with it a large red dot right on top of the stadium that was quickly leaving the area and heading for the other side of town. The strange part was that one other red dot remained in the stadium. “What on earth-“ And just like her subordinate she was also interrupted, but this time by her own phone.

“Yes, what?” Was all she shouted back at the poor soul on the other end of the line.

“Hey Ocean, it’s me. Something happened at the stadium, a Corrupt-“

“Yeah, yeah, we see it. One is leaving the stadium one remained. I’ll be right there,” she quickly returned, but before she could end the call, she was screamed at by Phoenix.

“Stop! The Corrupted that got away took your sister,” he returned, his voice sounding extremely worried and at the same time filled with anger.

“What!?” Was all Ocean managed to return, her body going limp as she just stared at the monitor in front of her.

“Yes, the Corrupted took your sister and now the other one is taking havoc here. You get your sister and by goodness sake, talk it out, I’ll take care of everything here. Good luck,” he finished and immediately ended the call. Ocean stared at the map for another moment before storming towards the door ready to save her sister only to be interrupted again.

“Wait! Are you insane?”

“What do you mean? I’m going to save my sister, what else am I supposed to do?” ocean barked back, a look of utter rage in her eyes as she stared back at Light Bulb who took a few steps back, now being pressed against the wall.

“Didn’t you look at the data? The Corrupted is in the same power level as the one Phoenix thought last week. You have no way of beating it. You can’t go,” she replied, her expression one of absolute terror and fear.

“And what am I supposed to do? Wait here until Phoenix finishes up the other Corrupted? Just let him do all the hard work? Forget it! I lost one person to them, I not losing another one. Now, if you excuse me,” she returned quite angrily.

“I’m not suggesting that you just wait for Phoenix. I’m suggesting that we give this three more shots and if we crack it you might have something to fight this thing. Because if you don’t, I hope that Phoenix comes soon,” Light Bulb returned.

“You have balls girl, especially since you don’t know me for that long,” ocean muttered, giving the woman an approving nod. “Ok, fine, three tries, but after that, I’m out.”

“Thanks,” she returned happily, Ocean taking the seat next to her again. “So, anything that could be the password we are looking for? Anything that Ivory ever truly cared for?”

“Hmm, maybe… No, that couldn’t be… Pickles?” She weakly returned, her forehead covered in wrinkles of confusion.

“Pickles?” Light Bulb just looked at her with a confused look.

“Yeah, his favorite food, so maybe?” She just shrugged with her elbows. Light just shook her head and tipped in the letters only to get a loud alarm in return. “Apparently not,” she sighed in defeat.

“Anything else?” Light looked over to her, sounding extremely unsure of they would crack the password before her tries were up. She was sweating bullets here, she knew pretty well what would probably happen if Ocean went after the Corrupted right now.

“Nothing, really. Maybe the name of his cat? She died a year ago, and he apparently loved that beast very much, so maybe that?” She returned, sounding just as helpless as Light Bulb.

“Try it, can’t be worse than what we managed until now,” she just sighed in return.

“Saphira, her name was Saphira.” Light Bulb quickly dilled in the letters and hit the enter button, the wait was agonizing, a second went by, then another one and then and- the alarm rang again, wrong.

“Dammit! Why can’t anything in this damned city be easy for one fucking time!?” With a loud slam on the table Ocean just let out all of her frustration. She just couldn’t take it anymore, her sister was in danger, and she was playing a guessing game with a stupid computer for the chance of a better fight. What a load of bull. “Fuck it, this has no point! I’m going.” At this moment Light grabbed her hand and gave her a look of utter desperation and pain.

“Please, one last try. Something, you have to know something, please!”

She just couldn’t say no to these eyes, and so she let herself sink down on the chair one last time and just sighed: “Ok, fine, one last time. But I really don’t know anything, like I said he just said that it would totally stink if… This fucking bastard, he didn’t!” Ocean went completely silent for a moment before starting to curse angrily.

“What? Do you know something?” A glimmer of hope sparked up in Light’s eyes as she saw Ocean’s reaction.

“Try 5T1NKT13R,” Light just looked at her confused. “Just do it!” She quickly shouted again, this got through to the woman who hammered in the password. With her shaking hand, she pushed the enter button, the wait again agonizing. One second, two seconds and then… A loud *bing*, a different tone than they had heard the whole time and in that second the monitor turned green with the words ‘Access granted’ on it. “this little bastard! He will regret this when we get him back,” ocean growled, but just couldn’t hide her delight over their small victory.

“One question, why exactly that word?”

“It’s actually quite simple. It’s the name of the artifact we recovered on the mission that gotten me my promotion. It was also a mission we remember to this day since we reeked like the worst thing imaginable for over a month. Hey, don’t laugh, just get the thing done, I have a Corrupted to catch!” ocean finished with a smirk, staring directly at the soon to be a ready item on the table.

--------------<

It was absolute chaos, people had stormed towards the exits only to block each other way, making their getaway even slower thanks to that. The participants had stormed off as well after one of their own had been grabbed by a Corrupted that quickly flew away. He would have followed her as quickly as possible, but there was just one problem. The white Corrupted with the golden armor in front of him that was currently wreaking havoc onto the field and stadium in general. The monster wore golden armor over its white feather covered body. Her arms had the shape of wings, and she had massive sharp talons. Her face looked exactly like that of a raven, just in white.

The Corrupted had blocked his way the moment he had tried to pursue the other one and was currently very persistent in making his life as hard as humanly possible. Not only did the beast let gusts of wind rain down onto the stand, something some of the guests didn’t take that well and just screamed louder, but it also consistently let metallic feathers rain down of Alchemy, who was currently in his Friendship Mode, who was trying his hardest to get the Corrupted back onto the ground.

“Hey, Feather Brain, how about you stop this bullshit and fight me like you are supposed to? I have no problem with getting up there. Just give up and end this right now, I have something to do!” He really did not have time for this. As fun as it would be to decimate this Corrupted right now, he couldn’t let Star Catcher fall into the hands of Tartarus, or that was at least who he assumed had kidnaped her.

“Pah, as if I would lose to you loser!” Was the answer he received, much to his annoyance.

“Ok, fine Feather Brain, you asked for it!” With that, he throws his shield at the Corrupted, but to his annoyance it was blocked by the armor on the hands of the Corrupted, letting Alchemy sigh in annoyance as he caught the shield again. “Ok, I’m coming up there if you really want to.”

--------------<

The world rushed past her, almost impossible to comprehend. The sound of loud beeping almost constantly in her ears as she circled around the traffic in her way. She could have heard a few loud complaints and insults, well if she had slowed down that is. Right now she only heard the roaring of the engine and the passing by the wind. Her bike was rushing at max speed through the crowded streets of the city, she just could not afford to lose any more time at this point. And it seemed that her somewhat reckless driving was bearing fruits.

In the sky, she could see something, and her radar told her that this something was exactly what she was looking for. Still, the Corrupted disappeared between the large skyscrapers from time to time, giving Charge a very hard time to keep up with her. This continued for a while, Charge slowly getting closer and closer to the monster with every block they crossed. She finally reached the Corrupted when it flew over the industrial part of the city. This was the best chance she was going to get, now it was all or nothing. While still riding her bike with the highest speed she could manage she pulled out her Charge Magnum, took aim, and… bang!

A loud shriek could be heard echoing over the city, a direct hit. The Corrupted quickly lost on hight, sailing down towards an abandoned warehouse where it landed on the roof, catching his wing, Star Catcher unconscious in her hands. Charge’s bike came to a screeching hold right in front of the warehouse, she quickly jumped from it and up the building, landing in front of the Corrupted.

In front of her stood a white humanoid figure, completely covered in feathers, well expect the face, that looked more or less like that of a human, just more leathery. The Corrupted was clad in golden armor that reminded her of ancient armor from Fleece. She had a helmet like the ones gladiators wore in ancient Roam. He hands ended in long sharp claws while her feet had been replaced by deadly talons, both reinforced with the golden metal. On her back, two massive, majestical wings extended from her back. Two angry, but at the same time excited, light blue glowing eyes stared back at her, the frown on her face turning into a mad smirk.

Before Charge and even the chance to demand her sister back, the Corrupted had already thrown her to the side, her limp body landing rather roughly on the ground and rushed with her claws stretched out at the Rider. Charge only managed to get two shots out of her gun before she was tackled by the monster, straight of the building. The entire way down the Corrupted clawed at her, letting sparks fly from her armor, all while she desperately tried to shot at the Corrupted, however, the shots just bounced back of her armor, every single one. With a loud crash, both combatants landed in some old crates, flattening them in the process.

The first one to rise from the wreckage was Furie, towering over Charge and staring down at her. To Furie's surprise Charge quickly reacted, pulling her weapon and pointing it straight at the monster and within a split second she pulled the trigger… only for her to hear a silent clicking. For a moment she was stunned, the magazine was empty, and that was all the time Furie needed to grab her by the throat and lift her off the ground. The realization what was happening rushed back to her, and she desperately tried to struggle out of the grip of her opponent, to no avail. After looking at her claws with mad glee, she returned her gaze back to Charge and not even a second later she had already slashed across Charge’s stomach.

It hurt awfully, the pain surged through her body, and her stomach felt like it was on fire. Charge was so occupied with screaming her lungs out that she didn’t notice the second attack that was coming her way. With a loud scream of agony, Charge was thrown to the side, crashing into the next wall and right through it. She screeched across the ground and only came to a halt when she crashed against the next wall. She felt treated like someone had driven a chainsaw through her stomach. Still, she couldn’t stop now. As easy as it was to just not stay up again, she couldn’t let history repeat itself. So she pushed with all her might, leaning against the wall she slowly rose back up to her feet, the entire time she felt like she was being ripped apart by a bear. “That was all? I’ll show you what I can do,” she returned while gritting her teeth, the taste of blood in her mouth.

“Charge up!”

\ 50, 80, 100! FRIENDSHIP CHARGE! /

Furie could only see the purple bubble enveloping the Rider as she dashed inside, gleefully looking forward to kicking the shit out of Charge. However as the energy filed around the Rider disappeared she was treated to a rather unpleasant sight, the end of a gun barrel. Within a few seconds, Charge had started to unload her gun at Furie who just stared in shock at the weapon before her, and so had no time to correct her curse and flew right into the first salve of shots directed at her. The Corrupted crashing through the wall next to Charge, however, wasn’t done just yet, ramming her talons into the ground she managed to stop her acceleration and come to a screeching halt a few meters behind the Rider. While the projectile had hurt like a bitch, she was far from done and so just dashed forward again.

“You will regret messing with my family you little bitch!” Charge screamed as she unloaded the second round of attacks on the Corrupted but unlike before she quickly changed directions and dashed away from the storm of attacks and with her inhuman speed Furie had no problem to catch up to Charge and let her claws come down on the Rider. A loud clang could be heard as the claws of the Corrupted meet with the weapon of Charge, who had managed to get her rifle in between her and the Corrupted just in time. Still, this was no position the Rider could hold for long, already she was pushed back more and more by the sheer strength of the monster. What Furie did next catch her completely of guard. Like a lightning strike, she lifted her foot and slammed her talons right into Charge’s stomach, sending the Rider flying, right through the same wall she had already been smashed once, her weapon falling to the wayside, far out of her reach.

Tumbling to the ground she landed on her back, panting heavily as she watched the Corrupted climb through the newly created hole in the wall and slowly walk up to her. “Oh, and I thought you had more bite in you, it’s about your sister after all. You know, Cerberus spoke highly of you, well, until the incident with Sable. You know, the sweet old lady you murder in cold blood?” Furie started to say, spitting the last few words out like they were poison.

“Sweet old lady? She was a criminal and assassin that decided to fight me on her own. Do you really think I wanted that to happen?” Charge returned, holding her side as she weakly returned to her feet, staggering towards her opponent.

“You murdered her, and now you try to shift the blame? You are pathetic, you know that. She was the sweetest woman I have ever meet. She was like a mother to me, she taught me everything she ever knew, and you ended her life. It doesn’t matter if you wanted it to happen or not, you killed her. That blood is on your hands,” she lunged forward, slashing Charge across the chest, letting her feel the pain of her stomach getting ripped apart once again. “But what can you expect from a family like yours. You only destroy, like your mother. She was a murder, a cold-blooded murder. Just like you. She would accept every sacrifice as necessary if it would further her goal and it seems you took right after her. If someone is a problem, just get rid of them, am I right?” Furie continued, her voice growing louder and louder with every word she spoke.

“I would never-“ that was as far as she got, Furie suddenly lifting her off the ground, cutting her return remarkably short. The pain in her chest and the sudden chokehold was just too much for her, and she resorted to frantic struggling and kicking, hoping desperately to catch her tormentor with at least one of them.

“Save it, you will need that voice to scream and beg for mercy,” she returned with a glee that just drove her further into panic. Without even so much as a warning she suddenly felt the sharp talons in her stomach again, and within moments he had sailed through the entire street and landed right into the next wall, crashing down behind it. That was when she could feel it, her armor breaking away, revealing her wounded and beat up from beneath it. Her closest had been torn apart right where the Corrupted had hit her, blood slowly pouring out of the wounds. Her entire body felt sore, and it felt like she had been hit by a truck. With a pained expression, she tried to rise once more, but her body just couldn’t manage it.

Furie just casually walked in through the new entrance to the warehouse, a satisfied smirk on her face. “See, whoever decides to mess with us will get to feel my talons, oh and I’m not done yet, not by a longshot.” She almost seemed to hop her way over to the bloody and beaten Rider, keeping a careful eye on her. “And after I’m done with you, I will make sure that the next one to feel my wrath will be your little boyfriend and sister. Oh, the screams will be delightful. You hurt us, we will hurt you back, honor be damned.”

With that, she grabbed ahold of her throat once again, lifting her up in the air, all while tilting her head as she eyed the Rider. “Ocean? Ocean!” That was when the scream permeated the air, getting the attention of Furie, who looked back over her shoulder and towards the hole in the wall. That was all the time Ocean needed, she shakingly raised her hand and pulled out the device Ivory had been working on all this time. She weekly pulled the thing towards her Driver. “Remember, this is only a last resort. It seems to be finished, but I didn’t have any time to test it. For all we know it could just kill you, so be careful!” The words echoed through her mind, as she finally pushed the Charger into its rightful place.

The Device went into the usual slot, but instead of just disappearing in the Driver, it was far too big, now just extending the Driver to the side. On the new Charger was also a cylinder, like on the Charge Driver. The Corrupted suddenly turned back to her, the glowing eyes staring right at her the moment she heard the voice of the device.

\ SCANNING CHARGE! /

“Henshin!”

\ 100, 150, 200! OVER CHARGE! /

With a loud yelp, the Corrupted let go of her, jumping back a few meters, clutching her chared hand in the process. Ocean was quickly enveloped by a bright white orb, illuminating the entire warehouse and lending the Corrupted. When the light had died down again Furie could see Charge again, but this time in white armor with silver plating and black lines. All over her body were the engines of Flame Charge plastered, a red orb was embedded into her chest and the tubes of Thunder Charge. Two red glowing bug-eyes stared back at Furie who took another step back after taking a look at her opponent.

“You know, I might have listened to you a few days ago. I feel guilty over what happened to Sable, I feel guilty for what happened to Cerberus, and I feel guilty for what happened to my mom. But I have friends that showed me that there is nothing to be gained by living in the past. I have accepted what happened, and I will use it to improve myself and keep moving forward. I fuck up, quite a lot, but I have to accept that and just carry on. And I also know what my mother did and what mistakes she made. I will also carry those for her and make right what she did wrong. I will right the countless wrongs she has committed because that is what it means to be a Kamen Rider, at least for me. And I will start to the right those wrongs right here. I will put a stop to you, and I will save my sister,” she returned with new vigor rushing to the Corrupted. Out of reflex, the Corrupted let her hand slash at Charge, who just jumped over it, grabbed ahold of the outstretched arm and with a pull through the Corrupted right through the wall, the monster landing outside and rolling on the ground for a few meters.

Within the blink of an eye Charge had already caught up to her, and kicking her while she was down, sending her flying again, this time into the next crates that were laying around. The Corrupted slowly rose from the wreckage, staring at Charge while letting out a low growl.

“Ocean! You are ok!” Star shouted towards her, Charge just raised her hand in thumbs up and dashed over towards the Corrupted, activating her boosters rocketing forward and straight towards her. Swinging her wings the Corrupted let out an immensely strong gust of wind, but Charge wasn’t even slowed down by that and just rocketed through it, much to the utter horror of Furie. Before the monster could even attempüt anything else, Charge had already reached her, and squarely punched her in the face, cementing her face in the ground. Not letting that opportunity pass she repeated that again, this time punching her so hard into the ground that a small crater formed around her.

“Giving up yet?” Charge asked the stunned Corrupted, then, within the fragment of a second the Corrupted let her wings swing,s Charge jumping back a few feet and quickly rose into the air. If she couldn’t beat her now, she just had to strike when she had a better chance. Screw all the honor Cerberus had preached about, she would just murder her in her sleep. That was, however, something Charge was not very keen on. Out of nowhere, a new weapon materialized in front of her, one show quickly grabbed ahold of.

The new weapon was made out of white material and looked like the rifle she had before, just with two barrels instead of one. The Corrupted was quickly gaining hight as she aimed at it and started to spin the Charge Prism.

\ Maximum Charge! /

A beam of pure white light was unleashed from the barrel of the weapon, rocketing towards the Corrupted and consuming her in one foul Swope. With a loud explosion, Furie fell down from the sky, completely knocked out only for Charge to catcher her mid-fall, together with the artifact, her propellers from Wind Charge having materialized on her back.

She sat down the woman next to Star Catcher who immediately rushed towards her and gave her a huge, one that undoubtedly would have hurt if not for the armor. “Oh, I’m so glad you are ok. Thank you, thank you, thank you!” She started, speaking as fast as a machine gun.

“Wow, wow, slowly there. How are you? Are you ok?” She returned, grabbing her as well and returning both her captive and sister back to the ground before deactivating the armor.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” she returned, only to let her head hang low. “I’m sorry.”

“What?” Ocean looked at her quite confused.

“I’m sorry, you were right. I should have just run away, and not keep staring at the fight. That and what I said to you. You sometimes are like mom and like dad, but only the good parts. You would never do what she did, and I’m sorry that I said anything close to that,” she continued, tears starting to form in her eyes. “I’m so sorry.”

“Hey, hey, it’s nothing. I know that. Not that I was that great either. I shouldn’t have been so angry at you. It’s just…” She was about to say as Star interrupted her.

“You don’t need to say, Phoenix told me everything. You really have a good boyfriend. And I’m sorry about the funeral. I just didn’t know what to think. As much as I hated mum, hearing that you killed her, I just didn't know what to think. I… I just needed time for myself, but I never thought about how you might feel. I’m so sorry,” her sobbing only grew louder, and she hugged her sister harder.

“I know, I know. Now come here you dumb athlete and let me hug you back. I know that I can always count on you,” with that she hugged her sister in return, tears flowing down her face.

--------------<

Feather let out a loud scream and tried to punch the Rider, but as her hand reached the spot, Alchemy had been standing mere moments before he had already vanished, now standing right behind her. With a firm kick to her back the Corrupted was thrown on the ground, the pain in her back feeling like she had been shot. “You battered, stop mocking me!” She growled, jumping up and swiping at the Rider, who just sidestepped her and with a swift flick of his wrist slammed her into the ground.

“Ok, as fun as this is, I think we should wrap this up, so you can join your friend in jail, how does that sound? You simply prevent the people here from moving forward towards a bright future, and I’ll make sure they can do exactly that.” He didn’t get any answer besides an angry growl from the Corrupted. “Feather Brain, you used the powers that were bestowed upon you to attack others and help someone in a kidnapping. By the magic that was bestowed upon me, I deem you unworthy of your powers and will now take them from you!”

\ Philosopher Stone Maximum Power! /

The energy was gathering in his leg, and with immense force, he jumped up in the air only to stop in mid-air. From his back extended the six golden wings and with incredible speed, he rocketed towards the Corrupted. Around his leg, the golden lines began to form again, creating the whirlwind of light. The Corrupted being consumed in a massive explosion the moment Alchemy made contact with her, leaving behind the woman, completely knocked out in the grass, a feather made out of silver laying next to her. “Hope Ocean is ok. Ah, I’m sure she is fine, she is a though cocky, especially since she is my girlfriend, she pretty much has to be,” he muttered to himself as he picked up the artifact.

--------------<

“Ok, that is goodbye then I assume,” Star soberly said, looking back at her sister as well as Phoenix and their friends, all standing on the station smiling at her. A golden medal was hanging from her neck and a suitcase standing next to her. The train that would get her out of the city slowly coming closer.

“It’s not a goodbye, it’s a till next time. We have so much to catch up on. And you know we can always talk when you need it,” Ocean returned with a bright smile before hugging her sister again.

“Exactly,” added Phoenix.

“Thanks, I will remember that. Oh, and don’t let yourself get killed.” Ocean just chuckled at that remark and watched as Star lifted up her suitcase and casually walked into the train, only to turn around one last time. “Oh, and I think dad would be proud of you. Bye!” Before she could say anything in return the doors of the train shut close in front of her sister, leaving ocean just standing there.

“You know, I like your sister,” Phoenix snarked, managing to get Ocean out of her stupor.

“Yeah, I get why,” she returned. “Now come, we still have work to do.” With that, she started to walk back towards the exit of the station, Phoenix and the rest of her friends close behind her.

“You never take it easy, do you?” He jokingly returned, expecting another witty comeback form her but instead got nothing. As he looked up, he could see her standing frozen in place, staring in shock down the stairs of the station. His eyes followed hers, the moment he saw what she saw his blood froze in his veins. In front of them stood a man with grey skin and black hair, a man they had only seen once, but whos face had edged itself into their minds for all eternity. In front of them stood Platinum and…

“Ivory!?”

The Slumbering Beast - Familiar Faces

This couldn’t be real, right? They had searched so long for him, and now he just reemerged like nothing happened and most baffling of all, with his kidnapper? Everyone just couldn’t other than to star at the man in the lab coat, with his white skin and light blue hair. The only thing he didn’t wear was his glasses and a purple gem necklace, but besides that, he just looked like no time had passed since his disappearance. But there was just something off about him, but he couldn’t place a finger on it.

Ocean, however, was far too caught up in the moment to notice. The moment she got out of her shook she lunged forward and hugged her old friend. For a moment the world was hole again, everything was good, nothing bad could ever happen again. She didn’t question how he got here, or why Platinum was standing next to him, she just didn’t care, or at least wanted to care. “Oh, ivory, I’m so glad that you are back. We have looked all over for you. I’m just so glad that you are save,” She started, tears forming in her eyes as she pulled the hug tighter and tighter.

“Thanks, I’m also glad to see you as well. I missed you so much,” Ivory returned, returning her hug just filling her with a familiar warmth. This was just like old times, it just felt right, right? There was this nagging voice in her head that told that something was off and the feeling just grew more and more with every passing second. She just couldn’t let go, she thought if she never let go things wouldn't spiral out of control like they always did. That was until Phoenix spoke up, with a cold and serious tone.

“What is Platinum doing here?” Phoenix sounded surprisingly serious, slowly walking up to the two and staring them dead in the eyes. Platinum just remained standing there, his arms crossed as he let out a huff but besides that ignored him.

The warm hug she had just been feeling quickly grew colder as Ivory pulled himself free from her embrace and walked over to Platinum, who looked just as uninterested as until now. “Hm, I had assumed that Ocean would catch on to this rather fast, but you? I did not see this coming,” Ivory chuckled while throwing a quick glance over to Phoenix.

“Ivory…” She just muttered as she saw her friend walk over to his captor like it was nothing.

“What have you done to Ivory Platinum or Shadow Gold, whoever is responsible for this,” he growled, steadily stomping over towards him and grabbing the grey man by the color. “Tell me you sick fuck,” he barked at the men, who still showed little to no interest in him.

“You are talking to the wrong guy here, this was not my idea,” he returned.

“What do you mean? You kidnapped him, not me! And if you don’t talk I’m going to make you talk right before I throw you inside a jail cell!” His anger just grew more and more, much to Platinums annoyance.

“Liste, I don’t care about all of this. Sure, I killed those people, but what do you care? You didn’t even know them, so did I. It just happened to be that it was my job, you should know about that, shouldn’t you?” Shadow returned, his voice changing from disinterested to angry the longer he spoke. “And now let go of me you bastard or I’m going to kill you, got it?”

“Enough! You are just as useless as always! He is mine, and you know it. If you even as much as lay a finger on him I will end you!” Ivory growled at Platinum, who looked back at him before huffing and relaxing again. Phoenix, Ocean and the rest just stared at him in shock. Now there was no doubt about it anymore, something was definitely off about him.

“Ivory,” she weakly said, looking at him in desperation, begging anyone that this wasn’t going the way she thought it would.

“Well, it seems my useless subordinate ruined the surprise for everyone, and I wanted to have at least a few more minutes before breaking you, but it can’t be helped,” Ivory returned, sounding rather annoyed, all while throwing a disapproving look towards Platinum. Everyone else, besides Ocean, just stared at him in complete shock and with open mouths. No one had even the semblance of an idea what was transpiring before them.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you face to face for the first time. You don’t know how long I have waited for this moment,” he continued, a smugness and superiority radiating from his voice. “We have already met, more or less, but let me introduce myself again. My name is Shadow Gold.” At that moment time seemed to stand. Still, no one dared to even as much as breath. The only thing they could do was stare at the man that was standing before them, the man with the face of a friend, the man who claimed to be their worst enemy. “It seems you remember,” he chuckled, taking in the looks of complete and utter shock around him.

“How,” was all Phoenix managed to say, his body shaking, having let go of Platinum and staggering backward.

“Ow, it’s quite simple really. You would be surprised what you could do with a Philosopher Stone,” he chuckled, with a malicious grin decorating his lips. “Especially for the one that discovered how to produce it in the first place,” he continued slowly stepping closer towards Ocean, circling around her with that damned grin on his face.

“What did you do with Ivory?” Ocean finally broke her silence, her voice sounding cold, noncaring, but there was that sliver of anger in it.

“Ivory? Oh right, the poor doubt that this body belonged to, I almost forgot about him,” he returned mockingly, something Phoenix really wasn’t pleased with. Clenching his fist he took a step closer to ‘Ivory’, ready to deliver a good punch to him, maybe even snapping him out of all this. That was until his fist was clenched by Ocean who gave him a look that let him relax a bit. A look that told him ‘don’t worry, I got this’.

“I’m sure he is in here somewhere, but Celestia knows where. Or maybe he isn’t anymore. I’m not really that experienced with what happens to the victims of body possession,” he chuckled, letting his glare go over everyone in the group, but lingering especially long on Ocean and Phoenix. “But what I can tell you what I did to him. I took his body,” he spread his arms out and started to chuckle, much to the irritation of everyone present, most of the group taking a few steps back. All besides Phoenix, Ocean, and Pinecone, all three stared him down. Phoenix in a mixture of disgust and anger, Ocean with a cold glare and Pinecone was just done with this shit.

“And I must say, his body is great. I have never felt so alive in six hundred years, but that is what happens when you trap your soul in a Soulgem. You just see what others do, can’t act, just command, and you never get a good servant, just rotten ones like this one here,” he pointed towards Platinum who just glared back at him but remained silent for the entire time. “But this, this feels great. And especially all the knowledge of this guy, you wouldn’t believe what a clever little boy he is. Or you would I assume, why else have him around,” he continued, enjoying every second of it.

“There is so much to learn from this world, but what is far more interesting is what he knows about all of you. Yes, you,” he pointed at the Rider’s with the most devious smile they had ever seen, a smile that just didn’t fit Ivory. “What he knows about your powers or your personal lives. You wouldn’t understand how interesting this is. How week it makes you,” the delighted tone of Shadow Gold vanished in an instant, replaced with a low, threatening voice that just didn’t belong to Ivory, or at least it shouldn’t belong to him. Gold was standing right in front of Ocean at this point looking straight at her.

“What do you want?” Ocean returned, staring him dead in the eyes, not even blinking for a moment. His voice was so cold she probably could have scared even the biggest criminal with it. Gold however just stared back, bot locked in a battle that seemed to last for eternity.

“What I want? Oh, that is simple. I want revenge, revenge for what he took from me, what he denied me, what he owes me. But I will never get that because the fool killed himself because he didn’t listen to me. But that doesn’t mean I can’t have my revenge. I’m just going to destroy every last thing he had built up in his life. His family, his inventions, everything. I will show him just how pathetic he and his descendants are. I will show them what true despair is when you only can watch as the world crumbles around you, no way to interfere and just because of one man. I will burn down everything you hold dear, every one of you. Your lives will be left in shambles, all your dreams crushed, your ideals shattered, everything,” Gold continued, slowly creeping over to Phoenix, who could feel the foul aura coming off him. It felt unnatural like he just didn’t belong in this world, he just couldn’t other than to shiver and stare at him in disgust and fear.

“Exactly, you should fear me, because I will finally get my revenge. You became the hero of this city, a Kamen Rider, a symbol for hope and peace. I will take that from you like Fools Gold took them from me so long ago. I will show this city that there are no heroes, no one to save them, just how pathetic you are and I will all do it while showing them what truly can be done with the powers you so foolishly use,” with that he pulled out a device Phoenix was extremely familiar with, an Alchemy Driver. “I will be the one that breaks you, the one to destroy the legacy you want to build for yourself, the one that will destroy that bright future you keep talking about.”

That was enough, as much as he disliked Phoenix, this farce had gone on for far too long already. Waisting no more time Pinecone lunged forward, ready to beat Shadow Gold to a pulp, even if he had Ivory’s face. However, to his surprise, the body of the skinny scientist moved in ways that seemed impossible for such a week person, easily dodging his attack by simply sidestepping it and quickly delivering a kick to his back, sending him crashing into a few trashcans that were standing right next to him. “Oh, right you also existed. In all honesty, I almost forgot, probably because you are no threat to me. Neither are your friends, but they can at least put up a fight, you, however? You are no threat, just a dog that barks at everything that gets to close to his little shrine. If I wanted to I could easily drag you into despair, but where would be the fun in that. So, if you could stay out of this, I would really appreciate it,” Gold said without even looking at him once, just hearing the rustling of the cans as he tried to stand up again.

With that he put the Driver on his waist, the device looping around it like it did for Phoenix. With a smirk he pulled out a magic Disc, one Phoenix recognized almost immediately, a Philosopher Stone. Putting the Disc into the Driver, he smirked one last time before spinning the Disc.

\ PHILOSOPHER STONE DETECTED! /

“Henshin!”

\ EUREKA! /

“I am perfection, unparalleled, I am the Magnum Opus the Alchemy Systeme will ever create. I am Kamen Rider Chrysopoeia!” His voice echoed through the streets, getting the attention of the passing by civilians who looked at him in awe. His armor was made out of a white material that shimmered in the early morning sun like snow. His armor was shaped exactly the same way as Alchemy’s, just with two major differences. First, his eyes. Instead of the calming blue, they instead had a piercing red, glaring directly at them, almost menacingly. The other thing was the color of the ornaments on the armor. Instead of Alchemy’s gold, Chrysopoeia’s was black.

Before any of the Rider’s could even react he had already grabbed his Philosopher Stone and removed it from the Driver again, holding it out towards them, all three Riders, quickly putting on their Drivers and starting their transformations, all while Chrysopoeia was activating his Disc.

\ PHILOSOPHER STONE DETECTED! /

\ SCANNING CHARGE! /

\ UNLEASHE THE MONSTER! /

“Henshin!”

\ EUREKA! /

\ 100, 150, 200! OVER CHARGE! /

\ AWAKEN: CHANGELING! /

\ Philosopher Stone Attack Mode! /

\ Magnum Opus! /

The entire street was covered in a blinding light, both of the transformations of the Riders as well as the forming of Chrysopoei’s weapon. The Stone had changed forms, now resembling a black metallic lance with a round circle at its top, and tip on top of that as well. The circle was filled out by slim lines that formed into a five-pointed star, five gems in all five corners of the weapon. In the middle, the Philosopher Stone was placed on a purple gem that covered the entire part of the star.

The Riders stared at him and his new weapon for a moment before storming towards him, Charge having already pulled out her Stun Baton. The new Dark Rider gracefully blocked her first swing with his own spear, and just as Alchemy was about to strike him, he redirected the force of the blow and let Charge stumble into Alchemy’s path. The Rider hit her right in the back, sparks erupting from the impact point letting her cry out in pain, Alchemy in clear shock at the sudden development, so much so that neither of the two had time to react to Chrysopoei’s next move. Using the blunt end of the spear, he slammed it into Charge’s stomach, something that was quite easy for him since he had the weapon already lined up for exactly that. The impact sends Charge flying back and right into her partner, sending both Riders flying backward, landing on top of a fire hydrant, letting the entire street get soaked with water.

While Alchemy and Charge had gotten their butts handed to them by the new Rider, Monster had circled around him and was about to strike Chrysopoeia down with a well-placed claw swipe when something else interrupted him quite rudely. In the entire chaos, Alkahest had also suited up for the occasion, blocking the Rider’s attack with his own weapon. A long black spear with purple decorations. In his other hand, he held a large tower shield. The Dark Rider was clad in a replica of Alchemy’s Friendship Mode, just like usual, the purple had been replaced with black, and the ornaments on his armor had a purple tone to them. Two glowing purple eyes stared at him as Alkahest cooked his head to the side before pushing Monster back and lunging at him.

The first strike of Alkahest was fairly easy for him to dodge, just jumping to the side and further towards the Rider was enough. What he, however, hadn't expected was the fact that Alkahest just swung his weapon in his direction the moment he pulled that trick. Completely caught off guard the Rider was quickly swatted to the side, the tip of the weapon scraping across his armor and letting him feel the burning sensation surging through his body. With a loud thud and groan Monster landed in a nearby bus stop, the glass overstand coming crashing down on him, Alkahest quickly dashing towards him.

Meanwhile, Alchemy and Charge were trying to gain the upper hand on their own opponent, to mixed results all things considered. The new Rider was gracefully evading every single of their attacks and getting the odd counterattack. Even when they hit him, he had already blocked their attack before it could even cause any kind of harm to him. It was unnerving, especially after he had told them he hadn't had a body for over six hundred years and that Ivory was not known for being that well trained. He had once actually dawned the Charge system during a test, and as expected he failed miserably and gotten himself a good amount of bruises simply because he had no idea how to properly control his body. That this man, or at least his body was now kicking their asses was just surreal. Chrysopoeia apparently knew the ins and outs of the Alchemy System, to even a bigger extent than Phoenix and he had used it for over three months.

After being kicked back again by the Dark Rider, Alchemy landed on the ground again, rolling a good bit further before coming to a close. He slowly crawled back up, staring at the Rider in front of him, and growled. “Ok, if you want to play with that, fine, I’ll give you that,” he muttered annoyed as he pulled the Philosopher TSone from his Driver and did exactly what his opponent had done before. The bright white light blinded everyone that was still in the area, as well as interesting Monster’s and Alkahest’s fight as well. The few remaining civilians that had resorted to filming the entire fight with their phones finally took the hint, and after a loud screech when seeing the light, he could hear footsteps quickly running away from them.

\ Philosopher Stone Attack Mode! /

\ Magnum Opus! /

In his hands a new weapon had formed, one shaped exactly like the one his opponent was wielding, just made out of a golden metal instead of the black one the Dark Rider used. Twirling the weapon over his head for a moment he rushed towards the Rider, both weapons clashing against each other, the impact alone let some discarded paper fly off into the distance. Not waiting for the reaction of his opponent Alchemy quickly followed his attack up with another strike, one that was just as brilliantly blocked by Chrysopoeia as the last one. With a loud growl of frustration, he jumped a step back only to lunge forward at his opponent, trying to stab through his armor.

The Dark Rider put his weapon between himself and Alchemy, deflected the blow and as Alchemy lunged past him simply delivered a good kick to his backside, sending him stumbling towards the ground only coming to a halt as his mask scraped across the ground.

Charge had meanwhile pulled out her own weapon and thanks to the fact that the civilians had finally left the battlefield unloaded the weapon on him. The energy blast rocketed towards him, only for the Rider to chuckle and push one of the stones on his weapon.

\ EARTH! /

An orange glow emitted from the weapon only to form into a large wall of stone in front of the Rider. With a large explosion, the new barry exploded into dust, covering the entire street, leaving Alchemy and Charge completely blindsided.

\ WATER! /

\ WIND! /

These two sounds echoed through the thick dust, and leaving Alchemy and Charge on edge and nervous what would happen next and ready to jump back at any moment. Within seconds a gust of ice rushed towards them, both Riders eyes growing large at the unexpected attack. Jumping back they only narrowly avoided the icy doom that had been let loose on them. The entire street had been covered in a thick layer of ice, freezing everything in its wake, like the broke water hydrant that had been frozen solid. The destruction reached around fifty meters around them, thankfully no one had been caught in the crossfire, no one besides Monster who had been far too occupied with his own opponent and hadn’t noticed the incoming attack. His feet frozen to the ground he furiously tried to break free from the ice that had encased his lower half.

“Well, well. The fearsome Monster caught like a wild animal in a cage. Kinda funny, isn’t it?” Alkahest jokingly returned, pointing his spear at the half-frozen Rider who just growled back in anger. “Oh, come on, don’t be like this. It’s not like I have anything against you, this is just business, so why so livered. Just a little pocket and everything is over, so just relax and-“ that was as far as he got as Monster managed to free himself from his icy bonds by rocketing into the air with his wings. “And I thought that this would have been easy for once,” Alkahest muttered to himself.

Monster lunged himself towards his opponent, who quickly put the tower shield between him and Monster, something that only partially worked. With the force Monster had hit the shield not even Alkahest was able to withstand him, being sent flying several meters backward, only for him to come to a screeching hold on the slippy ground with his speer, by ramming it into the ground. Monster however quickly return to his previous hight and shot down towards Alkahest again, the Rider only able to see the Rider rocketing towards him, his wings shimmering in the morning sun, his claws ready to strike him down.

But then, everything came differently than expected. Moments before Alkahest could be reached by Monster he lifted his had and held it out towards the Rider. In that instant Monster’s wings just stopped working and he quickly crashed into the ground leaving large cracks on the ice as he slithered across it. He felt the impact, the chilliness of the ground an the pain that surged through his body, all while his opponent just turned around and no doubt had a bright smirk under his mask. With a swift pull, Alkahest pulled his spear out of the ground and dashed towards Monsters, elegantly sliding across the frozen ground towards the still dazed Monster.

Meanwhile, Alchemy and Charge have gone on the defensive, Chrysopoeia going on the offensive, striking at them with precision and skill that was just unreal. Both Riders were slowly pushed back further and further the farther the Dark Rider pushed. Alchemy had just managed to parry one of his attacks as the next one already came, and not able to stop it was forced backward and landing against a streetlamp, that came crashing down beside him. Everything was spinning, and he was getting exhausted, his breath grew more infrequent as he slowly rose back to his feet, using his weapon as support.

“Ok, apparently I can do that too, I hope,” he muttered to himself and pushing the red gem on the weapon.

\ FIRE! /

The fiery energy started to circle around the round end of the speer, the Rider cooking his head curiously, while Charge, readying herself for an attack. With a loud scream, Alchemy pushed the spear into the ground, the ice below them melting in an instant, covering the entire street in a thick fog. This was exactly what she had needed, her targeting system had already picked up the Dark Rider, and now it was a simple pull of the trigger and… hit! A loud growl of pain could be heard through the thick mist followed by several more as Charge’s shoots pelted him.

\ WIND! /

\ FIRE! /

\ EARTH! /

It echoed through the empty street as she suddenly felt her cover being blown away by a very strong wind, one she had to nearly hold onto something not to be blown away. Before the wind had even settled, she heard what she could only describe as the sound of rattling chains. Only as the wind had died down again could she see what happened. Before her stood Chrysopoeia, restrained through metal chains, binding his arms to his side while his weapon being out of reach for his fingers to activate it. Alchemy meanwhile dashed forward, all while pushing several buttons on the weapon.

\ WATER! /

\ WIND! /

\ EARTH! /

A green aura surrounded the weapon as he lunged it forward at Chrysopoeia, moments before the impact vines growing from the weapon and quickly flowing round the Dark Rider, encasing him in a cocoon of plants.

While Alchemy was apparently succeeding at immobilizing Chrysopoeia Monster had far more problems. Alkahest was relentless, storming towards the Rider and piercing him with his spear like it was child play. Every time he tried to escape through the air his wings just stopped working, and he had no idea why, but he was sure it had something to do with his opponent. Thanks to Alchemy removing the ice under his feet he could actually attack from the ground, however, something he made frequent use of.

Still, Alkahest matched his attacks with his shield, blocking the Rider from doing any significant amount of damage, both of them only able to graze each other as they thought. After another attack of his blocked by Alkahest’s shield Monster had finally enough, with a loud roar, he lunged forward again and started to claw away at the shield, forcing the Dark Rider backward. This went on for a few more strikes, Alkahest trying desperately to get the Rider away from him with his shield as he was pushed further and further back.

That was until he was pushed against the next wall, Monster continuing his assault on him, letting out angry roars every time his claws struck the shield. “Why does everything have to be so damn hard? Why can’t it be simple for just once?” Alkahest cursed, trying his hardest to push the Rider back.

Monster didn’t even listen anymore, he just kept attacking and attacking, not even noticing anything around him, he was just to busy with Alkahest. With one last particularly powerful swipe he smashed his shield away, the metal object landing several meters away from him. Without the barrier protecting him from Monster he quickly felt the fast claws of the Rider scratching across his armor, time after time, the burning sensation returned, and his screams of agony filled the streets.

His screams however quickly turned from pained scream to louder and louder roars and with one single move he lunged himself away from the Rider and towards his shield. However as Monster jumped after him Alkahest just turned around and lunged the speer into Monster’s direction, the Rider basically jumping into the attack.

The roar of pain could be heard from both Alchemy and Charge who spared a quick look over to their comrade, who was staggering backward, clutching his shoulder. But before they could see anything more they were quickly pulled back into their own fight, Alchemy just barely managing to block Chrysopoeia’s next attack, still being forced back by the sheer force of the attack. Before the Dark Rider however could continue his assault Charge unloaded her weapon on him, several of the shots hitting him from behind before he dashed over to her with his super speed evading the incoming projectiles.

Letting his weapon come down on Charge she managed to wedge her rifle in between herself and the Rider. She was desperately trying to hold off Chrysopoeia, but she was slowly losing ground, being forced towards the ground further and further with every passing moment. That was until she heard something from behind the Rider.

\ FRIENDSHIP! /

\ FIRE! /

She could only see how over the Dark Rider several seals appeared out of nowhere. As he turned his head slightly what was going on, he could only see a dozen firey etherial swords rain down on him, covering him in a massive explosion. Stumbling out of the smoke Charge was the first to react, bombarding him with her rifle, letting him stagger backward, right into Alchemy’s still glowing lance, slashing him across his back.

“Everything ok?” Alchemy asked, sounding quite exhausted already.

Looking over to him, the sweet forming under her mask she returned: “More or less. But we should concentrate on him here for now,” and with that she dashed forward, firing at the Dark Rider the entire time. As Alchemy also rushed towards him, trying to finish this quickly both were caught off guard. The previously staggering Chrysopoeia suddenly just held out against the barrage of projectiles that came his way and pressed the gem in the middle of his weapon.

\ FRIENDSHIP! /

And before any of the two Riders could react, he slashed his weapon in their direction, the glow at the top of the lance now hurtling towards them in a purple wave. A massive amount of sparks erupted from both Riders as they staggered back with loud screams, their bodies tightened, unable to properly react to the attack. It felt like their entire bodies were burning. From the point where the attack hit the pain just surged through the rest of the body, letting them feel like they were being cooked alive. Ultimately both of them sunk to their knees, panting heavily, their heads vaguely looking towards their opponent.

“Well, this has been fun, but it never could have gone any other way anyway. It was fun to spar with you, but I think it’s time to leave. Platinum!” Alkahest looked over to him, currently trying to hold Monster at a reasonable distance. One look from the Rider was enough for Chrysopoeia to understand that Alkahest was listening. “We are leaving. Finish this off and follow me!” With that, he activated the purple gem on his weapon again and stomped the spear on the ground. Out of nowhere, a magical seal appeared on the asphalt and slowly traveled towards the sky. The higher it went, the more it revealed something that just left Alchemy and Charge speechless a carriage. A damned carriage, made out of white metal with black ornaments. It had two weals that were just as decorated as the carriage itself. What however really left them at a loss for words was what was pulling the carriage, golems. Golems made out of stone and purple runes all over them. This was just bizarre, even for Rider standards and those were already pretty damn high. “See you again,” he waved the two a goodbye just before leaning down towards them and smugly adding: “Enjoy the time I leave you, soon everything will get so much worse.”

With that, he slowly walked over towards the carriage and stepped onto it, grabbing the reins, and with a swift smack, the golems sprung to live, storming off towards the outer rims of the city. Alchemy was the first one to get back on his feet and weakly ran over to his own bike, Charge just behind him, just as shakingly. Both their engines roared to life, the riders quickly following their opponent with immense speed.

Meanwhile, Alkahest was trying his hardest to gain himself some time to follow Shadow Gold, Monster was already pretty exhausted, but he just wasn’t about to give up, nothing could stop him. That was untiled Alkahest gathered his magical energy in his weapon again and dashed towards Monster, who managed to evade the first attack as well as the second, but not the third. That one hit him right in the chest, sending him flying backward and clutching his chest as he helplessly flailed on the ground. Alkahest, however, instead of capitalizing on this opportunity dashed over to a side alley, and seconds later the loud roaring of an engine could be heard. Out of the alley jumped a black bike, covered in crimson ornaments, almost like it was taunting Monster it roared once again and raced after the three other Riders.

He was about to rush to his own bike as he suddenly had the feeling that something was near him, something was just off. Then he heard it, the sound of a weapon discharging and with only a split-second to spare he dodged out of the way, and after a short role, he jumped back up, facing the new arrival. Before him stood a man in long white robes with golden trimming. His face was covered by a with a mask with golden accents that was formed in the image of a smiling man. The little bit of skin the figure showed was as white as snow. In his hand, he held a short sword made out of a material that almost looked like marble with gold ornaments while holding a round shield in similar style in his other hand.

“What do you want?” He barked at the Corrupted, already lowering himself into an attack position.

“Oh? What I want? Shouldn't you ask for a name first before you jump to things like these?” An angelic voice returned, only for Monster to just growled back. “Well, it seems manners are lost on you, but not on me, my name is Elysium. Fine, I was sent to stop you from interfering and to take you down. Shadow Gold has no real interest in you, you are jutting not important enough to Alchemy to be considered a valuable target, but too dangerous to be left roaming around freely. So I’ll take care of you,” with that the Corrupted lifted his sword and dashed towards Monster who himself dashed towards him as well.

--------------<

While Monster was dealing with the new arrival, Alchemy and Charge were busy hunting after Chrysopoeia. To their surprise the golem powered carriage was extremely fast, making it almost impossible for them to catch up to him. The Drak Rider had left a trail of destruction behind him, cars, small stands or anything that had gotten in his way had been brutally smashed to pieces by the golems. They could see the injured laying on the sidewalk, screaming and cries echoing through the streets even drowning out their engines. Worst of all, they couldn’t stop, or he would escape or just hurt more people. It was either do or die at this point.

As they passed the next corner, he had crashed through they finally were catching up to him. Now they could see the destruction and mayhem he was leaving behind firsthand, and it was horrific. The screams and cries for help were even louder, mixed in with screams of utter terror. It was heartbreaking to just race past them, but they had to stop him before things got even more out of hand.

Charge was the first one to point her weapon at the Dark Rider, letting a barrage of projectiles lose on him. To their surprise Chrysopoeia quickly turned around and with disturbing grace deflected all of her shots, several of them impacting the road behind him, a few even hitting buildings in the near vicinity, letting debris rain down on the frightened civilians. Thankfully no one was hurt, but Charge cursed under her breath, put her weapon back on her back and let her engine roar even louder.

Chrysopoeia, however, was not so caring and pointed his spear towards the Riders, not before pushing one of the buttons on his weapon. Thanks to the fact that they were so far away from him they couldn't hear what element he had used, something that became quiet explanatory as a giant firewall lunged towards them. Both Riders managed to avoid the fiery obstacle quite well thanks to their bikes, but they could feel the burning sensation as they passed it, the fire was unnaturally hot.

Alchemy had enough of this. If they couldn’t stop him soon, he would wreck the city completely. Throwing caution to the wind, he pulled his weapon from his back aiming it at the Rider. That was until he suddenly heard another machine rushing up to him. He narrowly avoided the swing of Alkahest’s spear that soared over his head as the other Dark Rider passed by him. With a silent curse, Alchemy swung the weapon at Alkahest who managed to avoid it by simply driving further away, letting him hit just the air beside him.

While he had distracted, Alchemy Chrysopoeia had meanwhile pushed two more of the gems on his weapon and pointed them at Alchemy and Charge. Within seconds the entire street was filled with lightning. However, it wasn’t normal lightning, this one had a crimson tone to it. Both Riders were hit by the attack, letting them feel the burning heat and pain that suddenly surged through their bodies, both of them almost falling off their bikes.

However, Alchemy pushed through, pointing his own spear at the Rider, pushed one of the gems on it and let his attack lose.

\ FRIENDSHIP! /

\ FIRE! /

The seals appeared around him again, and within seconds the magical fire swords rained down on him, letting Chrysopoeia scream out in pain, almost even falling of his carriage. However, that was not to come to pass. Slamming his own spear on the floor of the carriage he managed to stabilize himself and started to spin the disc on the weapon. Simply pointing the weapon at him was enough for the Dark Rider to unleash a blinding light, one that was just too much for both Alchemy and Charge, both pressing ahead effectively blind. Not even a second after they had been blinded they felt a pain that was unrivaled in intensity, one that covered their bodies from head to toe.

With a loud crash, both Riders landed on the ground, the bikes laying behind them, only able to see how both Chrysopoeia and Alkahest vanished inside the same kind of portal the carriage had come from in the first place. And with the last part of the disappearing portal gain, both Riders couldn’t do any more than to just lay there, unable to even stand up, the pain just too great. Their entire body felt like they had been lit on fire.

--------------<

While Alchemy and Charge were busy with Chrysopoeia Monster had his own battle to fight, and Elysium was not making it easy for him. Most of the attacks Monster made were quickly brushed aside by his shield, and punished with a swing of his sword. Still, Monster was unrelating, no matter how many times he was struck down he came back, angrier and even more relentless. As the fight continued, Monster actually managed to break through the seemingly unbreakable defense of Elysium, letting the Corrupted scream out in pain every time he was struck by Monster’s claws.

Monster had just again managed to strike through the defenses of Elysium, by pushing the shield aside with his first attack and something he followed up with his other claw, swiping at the mask of the Corrupted. However, before he could connect his attack, he felt the sharp edge of the sword that scraped across his stomach. With a pained grunt, he used his feet to jump backward away from his opponent, a jump so powerful that he was thrown into the next wall.

The pain was ever-present, his entire body felt sore, on several parts of his body he could feel the wounds and scratches he had endured through the fight. His breath had grown rather and more frequent, his entire body shifted with every breath he took. That was however not important now, he couldn’t stop now, he had to finish this. He had his duties he had to return to, so falling against someone like him was just not an option. With a loud primal scream, Monster rushed towards his opponent and threw his entire mass at him.

Elysium managed to get his shield up before the Rider could strike at him, however, feeling the entire weight of the Rider as he slammed against his shield. Moments later he felt another crash against the shield, then another one and another one. Monster was furiously pounding at the shield, pushing Elysium against the wall time and time again.

“You know- You are really- really persistent!” The sound of claws crashing against the shield could be heard time and time again, Elysium not managing to save himself from this gruesome fate. However Monster also not able to strike his opponent down. “I can respect that. In all honesty, this is getting really tiring. And in all honesty, my job is it to keep you busy and judging from how much time has already passed I think Chrysopoeia is already done with them. I think I’ll retreat as well, but I’ll be back. Maybe I’ll visit you sometime in the future, guardian,” Elysium said with a strangely calm voice, even while being attack by Monster the entire time.

Monster just ignored him and continued his onslaught of attacks on the Corrupted who however did not react anymore to the continued attacks on him. And just seconds later Monster felt a sudden push, the shield he had clamored himself to suddenly starting to move and not just a subtle movement but a forceful push instead. With immense strength he was thrown off the Corrupted, landing on his feet several feet away from him.

The Corrupted pushed himself off the wall, entering a battle stance, shield in front of him, his sword ready to strike at any moment. Both combatants stared at each other for a good few moments, carefully eyeing each other, no one daring to make the first move. That was until Monster lunged towards the Corrupted. Elysium, however, had anticipated this already and reacted the moment the Rider came at him.

Sparks flew, a golden glow enveloped sword slashed through his armor, and a loud cry of pain echoed through the streets. Monster sunk to his knees, the agonizing pain that surged through his body had already taken hold of him. Other senses like smell, sight or sound slowly drifted in the background as the pain consumed his entire mind. He couldn’t think, he couldn’t act, he couldn’t move, he just could feel the pain and scream, everything around him slowly turning more muted and black. With a last whimper he collapsed on the ground, his armor shattering upon impact with the ground, Elysium looking down on him. However, before he could make any other move, he could hear two engines roaring in the distance. With a sigh, he stepped away from the unconfessed Rider and quickly made his escape before his comrades would show up. He couldn’t really take the Monster Driver here anyway, Shadow Gold would without the shadow of a dought know faster than he could say ‘Tartarus’. He had to wait and take it when he was alone with him, and he already knew where that could be.

The Slumbering Beast - What you Truely Want

He felt terrible, his stomach burnt with the intensity of a forest fire and showed no sign of getting better at all. Everything around him felt like a jumbled mess. He was cast in a dark void, distant voices discussing things he couldn’t even begin to make sense of and worst of all the only thing that was clear was the pain that seemed to only get worse as time went on.

After what felt like a small eternity something else caught his attention, he could feel something under him, something soft and comfortable as well as something similar on top of him. He could however not say for the life of him say what it was. Then something else became clearer, the voices. First, they only grew louder, but with time they became cleared, familiar. And after a good while, he could make out what was being said.

“I still can’t believe this all happened. If we would have just found him sooner, we could have-“ A female voice said only to be interrupted by a strangely annoying male one.

“And how exactly should we have done that? We couldn’t find him the entire time we searched for him even with knowing who he was. He left us no way of finding him that wouldn’t have changed even if we searched longer every day. Gold just outplayed us, but that doesn’t mean we have lost him yet. I promise you we will get him back, no matter what even if we don’t know how right now. By Tartarus, I didn’t even know that I could mix elements till today. We always learn something new, and I’m sure we will figure something out,” the voice returned, genteel but at the same time determined.

“Yeah, yeah you are right. Still, I feel like I could have done so much more, you know?” The female voice returned, sadness carrying in her voice as she spoke.

“I know, I do too, but we can’t really do much right now other than stop Gold and capture him. After that, we just have to find out how to separate the two. I can’t believe it that he actually appeared here. I thought he was long dead, but guess what I know,” he sighed in defeat.

“Yeah, I also didn’t expect that. Yeah, we knew he was around but this? This is just insanity, just like he is. I have never seen so much anger and hatred in a single person, it is frightening.” The man said, nervousness and a bit of fear sneaking into his voice.

“Yeah, but that is apparently what six-hundred years of distilled hatred does to you.” At that moment he finally managed to make a single sound, a weak groan. IN an instant the conversation of the two people stopped, and mere seconds later they apparently had rushed over and were standing over him.

“Pinecone! Are you ok?” Both of them pretty much shouted into his ears, much to his annoyance. At least his muscles were slowly starting to regain control of his body again. Slowly he managed to open his eyes, only to close them again thanks to the blinding light that welcomed him with its unrelenting brightness. With a pained groan, he finally managed to open his eyes again. Before him stood a wounded Phoenix and Ocean, both of them looking extremely worried, mixed in with a sigh of relief.

He looked at them for a few moments before suddenly throwing the blanket that had been pulled over him to the wayside, landing on top of Phoenix and attempted to leap out of bed. This, however, ended not exactly how he had imagined it. The moment his foot touched the ground he felt his entire body burst into pain, surging from his chest. Not even a second went by before he fell towards the ground, his legs having collapsed under their own weight.

Thankfully before he could hurt himself any more four arms quickly grabbed him, stopping his sudden descended towards the floor only mere centimeters before he would have hit it. “Who, take it, easy cowboy. You are still hurt, you should not overexert yourself right now;” Phoenix said while helping him back on top of the bed.

“Shut up! I’m fine, just stood up too fast,” he grumbled in return, trying his best to hide the pained expression on his face. With that he tried to stand up again, the pain now quickly traveling up his leg the moment he put any pressure on it, a silent pained groan escaping his through, one, however, both Phoenix and Ocean caught. Before he could do anything more both of the shoved him back on the mattress.

“Oh no, you don’t! You are still hurt, you are not going anywhere. No matter how much you complain. And believe me, I know how that is, and trust me, you don’t want to be strapped to the bed, that is just awkward,” Phoenix muttered, a slight blush covering his cheeks. “Don’t worry, we’ll take care of everything while you take a good long nap, don’t worry, no monster is going to cause any harm while you are out.”

“What do I care what you think? You can’t force me to stay here and waste my time!” He barked back, his voice echoing through the hospital room. “As long as I can activate my Driver I’m fine, so stop getting in my way!” He shouted at them, pushing them of him, all while the pain was making every movement he made insufferable.

“Technically not, but we don’t even think about letting you kill yourself. You are going to stay here, and that is the end. We don’t want to lose you,” Ocean countered, trying to force him back down. “And even if you can heal yourself like nothing happened, you at least should take a short break. Both of us tried to do too much and in the end burned ourselves because of that, we don’t want you to do the same.”

Both of them looked at Pinecone again, a look of desperation and pleading to shimmer in their eyes, but he didn’t even really listen to them. He just pushed them off him again, grabbed the Monster Driver that had been placed next to his bed on a nightstand, and let it loop around his waist.

Phoenix and ocean exchanged a fearful look before rushing towards Pinecone who had managed to get on his feet, ignoring all the pain and dizziness he felt. Both of them grabbed his shoulders and tried to push him down again, something he just screamed at. His cries were animalistic, almost like one of his monsters had taken control and with newfound strength that seemed to come out of nowhere, he pushed the both Phoenix and Ocean off him, the two landing on the floor a few feet away from him. Pinecone stared at his two comrades with wild eyes of pure anger, panting heavily and swaying from side to side. Before pulling out one of his Monster Medals and putting it into his Driver.

\ UNLEASHE THE MONSTER! /

“Henshin!”

\ AWAKEN: MANTICORE! /

With the cramped room, they found themselves in caused the ethereal manticore to circle around Monster closely, knocking over the bed and the nightstand and everything on it before returning to Pinecone. After the blinding green light had again consumed him, Kamen Rider Monster stood before them. But it was not the image of a strong and wild warrior it looked far more like a beaten and bruised animal. His arms were hanging down from his side like they were wet towels that had just been pulled out of the water. His back was hunched, and you could see every breath the Rider took.

After looking at his comrades for a moment, he just turned around and slowly started to walk towards the exit, weekly swaying from side to side. Both Phoenix and Ocean looking after him in horror. They couldn’t let him go like this, right? Phoenix was the first to act, pulling out his own Driver and put it on. But before he could activate his own transformation Ocean grabbed his hand, letting him turn around and look into the worried face of his girlfriend who just shook her head.

“Don’t, you are just going to hurt him more.”

“And what am I supposed to do? We can’t really stop him like this? The only way we can slow him down is if we also transform,” he returned, sounding quite anxious and tense.

“I know, but he won’t listen. He is just too stubborn right now. If we try anything he won’t stop and will just hurt himself more, so please, don’t,” she returned, tightening her grip on his hand.

Phoenix looked back at Pinecone who was slowly stumbling out of sight, then back to Ocean before silently cursing and relaxing again, letting the arm with the Magic Disc hang low in Oceans hands. “Fine, but we at least have to make sure he doesn’t get himself killed, or in other words, we should follow him,” he begrudgingly returned, much to Ocean’s relief.

“Thank you,” she returned with a nod before quietly following their fellow Rider.

--------------<

Pinecone was staggering through the hospital, patients and doctors alike stopped in their tracks and took a few steps back as they saw the Rider slowly passing them, the unflinching red eyes unnerving them greatly. Everyone he passed was just too surprised to even scream out in fear, the room was just quiet. You could probably hear a needle fall if you really wanted to. Looks of fear, confusion and utter terror were cast on their faces, eying the Rider carefully. It didn’t help in the slightest that he was the least liked Rider under the three heroes of the city, something that could probably be traced back directly to his attitude.

Still, he didn’t really care. If they were afraid of him so what? He had his own problems and being liked wasn’t one of them. His pain had at least somewhat subsided thanks to his armor, healing a good amount of his wounds. Still, it hurts to walk, and he couldn’t really walk straight, but that didn’t matter now. As long as he could get back home he would be fine, it would be fine.

All while he dragged himself through the hospital his mind was thinking faster than his feet could manage, his thoughts already back home and what he had to do, interrupted with small thoughts about him, Elysium. The words he had uttered were still fresh in his mind and refused to let him focus on anything else. Tartarus had already gone after him on several occasions, but this felt different. This was not a low grunt, this was one of the top dogs. Unlike Phoenix, he had carefully listened to when Ocean had explained how they were up against and had made sure to remember them. In the end, this hadn’t really helped him in the grand scheme of thing, however, something his battered and beaten body was a testament to.

Pushing past a few civilians, he finally had dragged himself out of the building, the bright sunlight letting him stagger back for a moment before continuing his path towards the parking lot. Much to his relief, his bike had been parked right there. A small smile crossed his lips under his helmet for a moment before it was again replaced with a serious expression. It took him another minute until he had finally managed to drag himself towards the bike and started it. With one last breath, he speeds off, almost losing control of the vehicle as it started to pick up speed. His vision started to blur, and he almost would have hit one of the parking cars on the side of the road. Thankfully he snapped out of it just mere moments before the disaster, course correcting at the last possible moment.

Meanwhile, Phoenix and ocean had also let their bikes spring to live and were following their comrade from a distance, both sharing a concerned look as they had witnessed what almost had happened. With a silent sigh, Phoenix just shook his head and returned his attention to the street in front of him.

--------------<

Everything had gone quite well, at least more or less. He hadn’t had any more moments where he almost crashed into something, well besides the few time he almost lost control of his bike, but that didn’t count really. When he, however, entered the forest things started to get interesting. For the most time, he just followed the small and narrow path through the forest that leads towards his home, something that was quite hard in his current condition, something he would never admit to himself. The sharp turns and the small space he was allowed to maneuver in didn’t make it easy for him to get his bike home safely and with him still intact, especially in such a weakened state. But he didn’t care, and the fact that he had taken this path countless times already made it far easier and manageable.

About twenty minutes after he had departed from the hospital he hit the breaks, coming to a stop in front of his house, light burning in the windows to the kitchen. After almost falling off the bike he stumbled towards the door, letting his body crash into it before actually being able to pull it open. His little moment of weakness having apparently alarmed Emerald, who had rushed towards the door, a frying pan in hand and the moment he had opened the door let the metal thing come down on his head, or at least would have if she hadn’t stopped herself mere centimeters before she would have actually hit him. As she actually understood what she had almost done she jumped backward, the pan falling to the floor with a loud clang as she did so.

“By Gaia, I’m so sorry, I didn’t expect you. Ocean called that you would probably spend the rest of the day at the hospital. Said you lost a fight and-“ She didn’t get any further before Monster interrupted her with a low grunt. “What is it with this get up anyway? Are you expecting something to attack you or what? Any reason for wearing the armor at home?” She looked at him quite confused, picking up the pan and casually spinning it in her hand.

“Not important,” he returned, trying to hide the low grunts of pain in his voice. “Anything happened?” His motionless eyes stared at Emerald for a few moments, before starting to shift his head to look around in the room.

Now Emerald started to look quite suspicious at her brother. This was so unlike him. He could be grumpy, but not like this, or at least not without a good reason for it. While keeping her eyes firmly on Pinecone, she hesitantly returned: “No, nothing. Why do you ask? Did something happen?” She sounded worried and slowly started to walk closer to her brother, he, however, started to move again, almost shoving her to the side as he walked towards the stairs.

“Nothing. You just stay here, just wait for the others to arrive. Knowing them they are hot on my heels already,” he muttered before dragging his body up the stairs, supporting himself on the railing of the stairs. He sounded exhausted and weak under his helmet, at least to Emerald who quickly dashed after him, up the stairs and to the open door of his room. Inside he was rummaging through his stuff, throwing everything on the floor with no regard to it all. Things were just getting weirder and weirder.

“What in Gaia’s name are you doing? Weren’t you the guy who told me to treat all of what is in this cabin with the same amount of respect, simply because so much of it belonged to our parents and family?” She looked in shock at him, completely flabbergasted by the unusual behavior he was showing. Pinecone however just ignored her, letting his claws grab around the bottom of his own bed. With a loud groan and his armor shifting according to his muscles he started to lift his own bed off the ground, an heirloom from their father who had made it almost forty years ago, one of Pinecones most valued possessions. The shock only grew the moment Pinecone just flipped the bed to its side, she audible hearing the wood bend and crack under the sudden new position, and he didn’t seem to care one bit. “Pinecone?” She stammered, looking at her brother with dead and confused eyes. “What are you doing Pinecone?” She continued, but no answer.

Instead, her brother started to grab ahold of one of the boards in the floor, and with a loud crack he ripped it from it, wood-splinters raining down on the damaged floor beneath him, but he wasn’t done yet, he grabbed the next one and repeated the process. This was enough for Emerald, something had to be off about her brother. With tears starting to form in her eyes she rushed forward, grabbing her brothers arm and trying to pull him back only to be shoved to the side as Pinecone ripped the third board from the floor.

Now sitting on the floor, she could only watch as he dragged a heavy wooden chest from the hole in the floor, slamming it down next to him. At a loss for words, she witnessed how he slashed the lock that was keeping the chest closed in two and quickly opened the mysterious chest. She couldn’t see what was inside only that he pulled a book out of the chest before slowly dragging himself out of the room, leaving her behind. It took her a few moments until she snapped out of her little stupor and ran after him.

He weakly stumbled down the stairs, the book in his hands, her brother completely consumed by the words on the pages. “Pinecone!” She shouted again, the tears starting to roll down her cheeks, wet and warm feeling of them unable to distract her from the confusion and fear she felt for her brother. But besides her sobbing, the room remained silent, Pinecone just ignored her, like she was air to him.

Her brother had just reached the end of the stairs as she lunged forward again, storming down the stairs and hugging her brother, as uncomfortable as the armor made it. She clenched around his waist, refusing to budge, apparently halting him in his tracks. For a moment he stopped, for a moment relive washed over her, think she might have actually achieved to get through to her brother, a hope that was quickly crushed. Putting his clawed hand on hers, she let her head jump up, still the look of relief in her faces until she felt his hands clenched around her fingers and without anything she could do to stop it her fingers were forced apart, letting her only hang by his hands. Her surprise had been replaced with terror. He had never done something like this, every time before when he wanted to be alone he had used words, had asked her to leave, but actually force her away? No, never before.

Like a sack of old potatoes, he let go of her, Emerald sinking to her knees behind him, staring at her hands who had been torn from his waist, unable to follow him as the door was slowly opened with a loud creak. “Don’t let anyone in besides the others,” came from far away, or at least that is how it felt. Only the slamming shut of the door finally got her out of it, letting her head snap towards the door that had just been closed behind him. Brushing away her tears she dashed towards it, but could not see her brother anywhere, only two familiar faces that were slowly approaching the cabin, Phoenix and Ocean.

“Hey Emerald,” was the first thing he said, waving towards her, unable to hide the worried expression on his face.

--------------<

Meanwhile inside the shrine of Gaia Pinecone was dragging himself further into the cavernous depths of it. He felt exhausted, even more so than when he woke up. He could feel how his body demanded a rest, how his limbs grew heavier and heavier with every passing moment, but right now he just had to push forward. He had finally reached the door he had already dragged himself towards once before when he retrieved the Dragon and Riverserpent Medals, a place that had been shut off for normal visitors for a long time. But instead of unlocking the door again he simply tore it from its hinges, throwing it to the wayside, leaving the part of the cave open for all to see.

Stumbling further he passed the dark and cold torches that usually lite the way. It didn't really take him that long till he reached the mural on the wall, even in his weakened state. Before him, he could see the integrate carving of his goddess, Gaia Everfree and worked into it six small round holes in a circle formation with one in the middle. At the time he had ripped two Medals from the mural, now he was about to return them. Slowly he pulled out the red, blue, yellow, light blue, and purple one, placing them into their respective holes in the wall. Now the only thing that was left was Manticore. He looked down at his Driver, took a deep breath and removed the Medal from his Driver, the armor slowly dissolving and with every passing moment he could feel his strength fading away, his legs giving up on supporting him, and he crashed against the mural. With the last of his strength, he placed the medal into the highest hole, his vision slowly fading. The moment he managed to wedge the precious artifact into the desired place he finally collapsed, a bright light consuming the entire cave and everything in it.

--------------<

“So, what do you know? What is up with Pinecone? Is he being controlled by a monster? Please, tell me?” Emerald spat out, dropping all pretense and coming straight to the point, incredible worry carrying in her voice.

“Well, he got beaten pretty badly by a Corrupted and should probably stay a bit longer at the hospital, but you know your brother. He pretty much shoved us out of the way and waltzed right back here, probably something in connection to the monster I assume. But what you told us about does sound strange, I must say,” ocean returned, sounding a bit confused by the new information that had presented itself to her. “But don’t worry, we’ll keep an eye on him while he recovers, we don’t want anything bad to happen to him, so don’t worry, he is in good hands,” she added with a smile that seems to help to calm her down.

Emerald nodded, wishing away some of the tears that had rolled down her cheeks. “Thank you. I know my brother can be a real stubborn idiot, but he appreciates the help, in his own way. He is just really bad at showing it,” she muttered. “I hope he is ok,” she continued, her voice becoming weaker with every word she said.

“Knowing him, I’m sure he is. Even if he would die, he would just be too stubborn to really do it. The hothead is fine, believe me,” Phoenix scoffed, still there was that bit of doubt that carried in his voice. However, before emerald could say something in return all of the heard a knock on the door.

--------------<

Birds, birds were the first thing that he heard when his eyes slammed open, Pinecone frantically looking around to figure out where he was. All the pain that had haunted his body before was gone, he instead felt like he was born anew. He never felt better, he was such full of energy that he just jumped up and took a good look around, observing his surroundings. He was in the forest, a place he actually knew relatively well, not even six hundred meters from his house away. How he had come here was however something he couldn’t explain.

He was about to start to walk back home when he heard something, screams. At first, they were distant and hard to hear, but they grew ever clearer and louder until he could clearly make out the screams for help. His surprised expression quickly twisted into anger, and he rushed towards the origins of the sounds, all while putting on his Driver as well as inserting the Manticore Medal into it.

\ UNLEASHE THE MONSTER! /

“Henshin!”

\ AWAKEN: MANTICORE! /

With a leap he flew over the assailants that were running after a man, he wore strange clothes, something you would have worn hundreds of years ago maybe, but not today, all while his silver hair and white skin were continuously covered in dirt and mud.

What however really surprised him were the number of assailants that were following him, at least twenty, all wearing similar clothes just way more raged. What had the man done to gain the anger of all these men? They all sported rusty blades and had been running towards the man screaming their lungs out but immediately stopped as they saw the Rider, looking at him rather uncertain, taking a few steps back.

“You… You are the Knight of Gaia Everfree,” the man stammered, looking at him with relief. “You are here to save me from these bandits!” Tears of joy were streaming down the man's face as he fell to his knees and started bowing to him, much to Pinecones annoyance.

“So these are bandits? How dare you disturb this peaceful and sacred ground with your act of depravity?” He growled, the bandits looking at each other before starting to charge at him, swords held high in the air to let them come down upon the Rider. That however ended just as one would expect, the blades juts either bouncing off or simply snapping off on him. Pinecone lunged forward, punching the bandits into the chest, sending them flying, all while keeping an eye on the man. Most of the bandits went down easily, they had just no chance against a man with the powers of the armor, being knocked out cold the moment he hit them or when they landed on the ground.

Some, however, were a bit more agile, trying to circle the Rider to strike him in the back. He mostly ignored them until they were ready to strike, in the last second he let his claws cut through their words that they had tried to bring down on him. Seeing their precious weapons reduced to scrap metal let them just stare at him in absolute terror, that was until he started to knock them out. This was just enough for the group, now just running in absolute terror, Pinecone jumped after one, knocked him to the ground only to let out a bloodcurdling scream that let the rest of them pick up their speed even more, quickly disappearing between the trees. “And never ever think about disturbing anyone in these woods,” his voice echoed after them.

“Thank you, thank you! I thought this would be the end,” the man sobbed, Pinecone didn’t even gave him a second look and started to walk towards his cabinet. “I will tell everyone in town about you, Knight of Gaia Everfree,” he stammered, the glee and happiness in his voice forcing a small smile on Pinecones lips, at least for a moment. But before he could go any further, his world became black again, and within seconds he had again fallen into unconsciousness.

--------------<

Ocean had already left the cabin through one of the windows in the back as Phoenix slowly approached the door, the knocking hadn't stopped the entire time. “Who is there?” He asked, the knocking stopping in an instant. Without any time to react the door had been burst open, landing mere meters away from Emerald who let out a loud shriek. In the door stood Alkahest in his Friendship Mode, and without any further interactions, he charged directly at Phoenix who was just barely able to dodge the attacks, feeling the wind passing by him as Alkahest readied himself for his next attack.

With no other way Phoenix jumped out of the door, Charge making her way towards the entrance of the house with her super speed and before Alkahest could even attempt to attack again was tackled to the side by Overcharge. With a loud groan, the Dark Rider landed on his back, Charge on top of him and starting to pummel him into submission. Phoenix meanwhile had pulled out his Driver and a magic Disc.

\ PHILOSOPHER STONE DETECTED! /

“Henshin!”

\ HEUREKA! /

Now clad in his armor, he was about to rush towards Charge to help her as both of them suddenly felt pain in their backs, the force of the sudden attack knocking both of them to the ground, just enough time for Alkahest to retreat towards the new assailant.

“Well, look who we have here. I knew you couldn’t be far when Alkahest was near,” Alchemy groaned as he slowly rose back up, holding his shoulder as he looked towards his new opponent, Chrysopoeia!

--------------<

Again he came back to his senses, completely disorientated, slowly opening his eyes. This time he found himself in the busy streets of Canterlot City, strangely without his armor. Cars were passing by as well as people, it all seemed like a completely normal day, nothing out of the ordinary.

That was at least until he heard another loud sound, this time however it wasn’t a scream, but the sound of an explosion followed by screams. Within seconds the quiet and peaceful city had transformed into a nightmarish hellscape, at least if the sounds of terrified citizens was anything to go by as they were running for their lives.

Through the swarm of people that were running for there life he could somewhat see what they were running from, Remnants, hundreds of them were stomping through the streets, letting energy blast strike down everyone that was unlucky enough to be caught in the crossfire. The screams echoed in his ears. This shouldn’t affect him, really. They were not in his forest, it wasn’t his job to save these people, he only was the guardian of the forest, not the city, that was Alchemy’s and Charge’s job. However, the screams just kept echoing in his head, transforming into something that sounded like the screams of thousands and thousands of souls screaming out in perpetual agony. After a few seconds, he just couldn’t take it anymore, and with a scream of agony, he rushed towards them, pulling out his Driver.

\ UNLEASHE THE MONSTER! /

“Henshin!”

\ AWAKEN: MANTICORE! /

Swinging his weapon, he let it come down on the Remnants, several of them exploding upon impact, leaving a sizeable hole in the formation of the Remnants, one perfectly exploitable by the Rider. Lunging forward he let his claws cleave through them, several falling right where they stood. However, they were not just standing there and let themselves get slaughter, no, they were quick to retaliate.

The first one tried to crush Pinecone with his fists, something the Rider quickly avoided, by jumping over the monster and slashing across his exposed backside. However that maneuver had left him in quite the predicament, enemies on all sides and no way to escape, there was only one way for him, fight. Using his whip, he kept the Remnants at bay, several of them trying to grab and hold him down, something the Rider desperately tried to avoid.

But for every enemy Pinecone slated two more just seemed to pop up again, like nothing had happened. He couldn’t even slow them down, they just kept coming and coming without showing any sign of slowing down. He didn’t know how long he could hold out, his strength was slowly draining with every strike of his weapon, leaving only a worn out warrior behind. That was when he shared it, the scream of a kid, not too far away. The small girl had been surrounded, Remnants trying to claw at her, tears streaming down her faces. It wouldn’t take them long to pile the little girl and then…

No, he couldn’t let it get that far. It didn’t matter if this was not in his forest, he just couldn’t let them kill the girl, he just couldn’t. Gathering the last of his strength he burst through the Remnants, shoving them aside, the monsters using this perfect opportunity to get in every hit they could. Time and time again he felt their fists and hands on his back, and it hurt like hammers were being used on his back.

His back must have looked like a blueberry when he finally reached the girl, using his whip he carved a way for the young girl before screaming: “Go!” Two words, but they said enough. He could just see how the small girl ran through the newly created path before he instead was consumed by the hoard of monsters, their sheer weight burring under them. It got harder and harder to breathe and no matter how much he struggled his concourse was slowly fading until there was only darkness left.

--------------<

The peaceful forest was again disturbed by a massive explosion, one that uprooted trees and sent derby flying everywhere. The fight against the two Dark Riders had waged on for half an hour already, and both Alchemy and Charge were doing their best to hold the two at bay, but this grew increasingly harder with every passing minute. Chrysopoeia was unrelenting, not giving the Riders even the smallest of breaks as he continued his attacks, letting the forest around them feel the force and power of the Philosopher Stone. Still, they weren’t even thinking about giving up, not after they had come so far.

Pushing through the pain from all the bruises all over their bodies both of them charged forward once again, this time actually managing to barely dodge the blasts Chrysopoeia had let loose on them. The energy projectiles detonated next to them, parts of trees, rocks and the ground flying everywhere, just passing them by millimeters. They were getting closer and closer to him, zigzagging to throw him of the pattern, and it seemed to work. That was until Charge was hit by the blast dead in the chest, sending her flying back right into one of the larger rocks in the area, shattering it upon impact.

Alchemy didn’t dare to look over his shoulder, to focus on the task at hand, picking up the pace, even more, seeing the lance of his opponent being directed at him once again. Then the bright light headed directly towards him, or it would have if Alchemy hadn’t managed to slip past it and Chrysopoeia in one fell swoop, using his own weapon to slash across the back of the Dark Rider. Sparks flew as the loud scream of agony cut through the forest, Chrysopoeia cursing under his breath as he staggered forwards, Alchemy hot on his trail, not letting loose and slashing his weapon across his chest again and again.

The Dark Rider was unable to retaliate, thanks to the constant attacks of Alchemy. However, this shouldn’t turn into a victory for him. Out of nowhere, he felt a piercing pain in his back that quickly surged through his entire body. His offensive ended as quickly as it had begone, his arms hanging limply from his side as he sunk to his knees, turning around to face him. Alkahest! He had stabbed his spear into his back, letting the energy from it surge through his body. “ Didn’t no one tell you to always keep an eye on the battlefield?” He coldly asks, twisting the spear again for good measure. The pain grew exponentially, blackness encroaching on his eyes the longe he held the spear like this, twisting the tip even further.

That was until a loud sound echoed through the battlefield, followed by a scream filled with pain. The spear was ripped from the wound, and he could hear something behind him fall to the ground, as he looked back he could see Alkahest holding his chest, his body twisted in agony. Turning his head around again he spotted Charge pointing her gun behind him, her entire body moving with every breath she made.

While all this was happening another shape was slowly encroaching on Pinecones cabin, thankfully the Riders had been lured away by Alkahest and Chrysopoeia, something that would make what he had planned significantly easier, or at least on a physical level.

--------------<

His eyes shot open the moment he could smell this stench, smoke! Instead of a peaceful forest or city, his eyes were greeted by a burning sensation forcing them shut quickly afterward. It didn’t take long till the coughing started, the ash and smoke were making it incredibly hard to breathe. No matter how much it had to hurt, he had to open his eyes. Otherwise, he would die here for sure. With excruciating pain he forced them open, tears starting to form inside them. The world looked hazy, the smoke made things just so much worse. Everything was tinted in a fiery glow, the warmth of the fire changing from comfortable to painful rather quickly. After a few moments, he started to recognize several shapes he was quite familiar with. The shrine and his house, both completely ablaze in the inferno.

Pinecone just stood there, staring at his life going up in flames right before his eyes, unable to move even an inch, just staring. He was about to rush towards the shrine, trying to save as much as he could as he suddenly heard a voice, a very familiar desperate voice: “Help! Help! I’m stuck…” the voice was interrupted by a violent coughing fit before resuming. “I’m stuck here! Help!” He would recognize this voice in a crowd of thousands, it was Emerald. A mask of utter horror and shock covered his face, this couldn’t be happening, right? No, she couldn’t be trapped in the fire, this was impossible. “Help!” There it was again, no doubt about it, it was Emerald.

His stare shifted from the shrine and his house time and time again, getting more frantic as time went on. What was he supposed to do? He had been told to always uphold his duty to Gaia Everfree, something he never ever thought about breaking in his entire life, but now, now his sister was in danger. She would die if he tried to save the shrine. But she was also expected to lay down her life for the goddesse if necessary, and if he couldn’t save the shrine what point would there be to upholding his duty in Gaia? Without a place, to worship the goddess was weak, useless. It was his sacred duty to save the shrine, it was that simple. The decision was clear, no argument, no other way.

But why was his body rushing towards the house, ignoring the tree-high flames that shot out of the cave entrance, his eyes fixated on his sister that had been buried under the rubble? His arms moved on their own, trying to grab the Monster Driver, but to his surprise, it was gone. Still, he showed no sign of slowing down. Without even thinking about it his hands gripped the beam on top of Emerald tightly, ignoring the fact that it was on fire. Getting close to it already was agonizing, but touching it? It was like he had dipped his hands into a boiling pot of water, and it showed no sign of getting better. Instead, it got worse. Still, he kept on pushing, Emerald looking up towards him with her surprised and thankful eyes.

His muscles were tested to their limits, feeling like they would burst out of his body at any moment now. His screams were filled with agony and exhausted as the wooden beam slowly was lifted higher and higher, letting the girl underneath finally escape from her predicament. His lungs were burning, the smoke and ash were taking their toll on him. His eyes were almost completely useless now, but it didn’t matter if he managed to save her. His hands were smoldering and burning away, but it didn’t matter. Every muscle in his body was burning in exhaustion and agony, still lifting the heavy beam above his head. He could hear the footsteps of Emerald as she ran out of the house through the flames.

A smile crossed his face, shining through the pain and anguish his face had been twisted into. This was it, he had done what he wanted to do. Even if he would manage to get out of here, he would never be able to save the shrine in this condition. He had failed, he knew that. He had let down everyone that had come before him, but in a strange way, he was not sad about that. He felt good, well as good as you could feel while dying in agonizing pain in the flames of his own home. At least she was saved, that was all that mattered. With that the blackness once again took hold of him, the agonizing pain all over his body growing distant until ultimately disappearing completely.

--------------<

When he came to again, he felt refreshed, no pain, no nothing, just the cold stone floor of the cave beneath him. His eyes were slowly opening to reveal the dark and empty cave and the mural in front of him. His head still felt like it was spinning he slowly rose up from the ground, before him the beautiful mural of Gaia Everfree. He felt ashamed as he saw the goddess he had devoted his life to, he had failed her. Just about to divert his eyes from the mural they spotted something, a Medal laying on the altar, a Medal he had never before seen. Reaching out with his hand he grasped the new object firmly, feeling the energy of it surging through his body, clearing his mind and recharging his energy. He stared at the small little marble in awe, unable to comprehend the crystal medal in his hands, that was until a violent quake shook him out of his admiration. Small drops of dirt and stone trickled from the ceiling, landing next to him. With newly found vigor he took back the Monster Medals and rushed towards the exit of the cave, his injuries having disappeared like they were never there, to begin with.

Spending his entire life around and caring for this place was coming in rather handy right now, without much problems he ran through the cave, knew exactly which turn to take and where to slow down. It didn’t take long for him to emerge from the cave and to see that Alchemy and Charge were currently fighting the two Dark Riders. But before he could rush to their aide, he heard a scream for help, one he had heard just before. His shock quickly changed into determination, and he rushed towards his house, storming into the living room where Elysium was currently towering over a frighten Emerald. “Let her alone,” he growled, having already placed the Monster Driver around his waist.

“Oh, finally. And I thought you wouldn’t show up. It was getting quite hard to keep her scared after a few minutes of just looking scary,” he muttered, swinging his sword playfully before facing him.

“Pinecone!” Emerald called out, looking at her brother with a weak smile that managed to work its way through her terrified expression. Pinecone just nodded to her before inserting his new Meadla into the Driver.

\ UNLEASHE THE MONSTER! /

“Henshin!”

\ AWAKEN: CHIMERA! /

Elysium charged towards his opponent, sword held high and ready to bring it down upon him. That, however, was stopped by six ethereal monsters emerging from the Driver, knocking the Corrupted back and right through the window. With a lunge forward Monster followed, the ethereal beasts merging into him as he did so. Landing outside he was clad in white armor, his left leg resembling the head of a Sphinx, while the right leg resembled that of a Dragon. His right arm was covered in white metal plates that formed the head of a River-serpent while the left arm mirrored that with the design of a Thunderbird. His chest was covered in the image of a Changeling's head, and his helmet had remained mostly the same as his Manticore Form complete with red eyes. Around his neck the fur remained and also his shoulders had remained the same as in his base form. With a loud roar, he had gotten everyone's attention.

The Corrupted had not even a second to get up as the Rider already jumped towards him, the claws on his right arm and left arm igniting into flames and thunder, leaving colored marks on his opponent. The Corrupted let out a pained scream of agony only to be overshadowed by the even louder explosion of fire and thunder that originated from the wounds. Staggering back Monster didn’t leave him any time to breath, advancing again, dodging the wild sword swings of the Corrupted and kneeing the Corrupted in the stomach first with his Sphinx leg and the with his River-serpent leg. Shortly thereafter water and stone emerged from the points he had hit him, sending Elysium flying into a few trees.

Elysium was now nearly completely out of it, weakly staggering towards Monster, swinging his sword weakly at him, a rather pathetic display really. But Monster was not about to go easy on him. His chest and helmet started to glow, and before he even knew it, two ethereal monsters emerged from him, a purple Changeling and green Manticore, both flying towards Elysium with ludicrous speed. With a scream of utter terror Elysium was consumed by the beast, and as they finally passed him through, he had lost his Corrupted form, sinking to his knees, magical necklace at his side.

“I… I…” He stammered as Monster slowly walked over towards him, his eyes milky and distant. “I will not be beaten. I will not let this slip from my grasp! I crawled my way to the top, and I will be damned if I let someone like you take it from me!” With that, his hand reached out for the necklace, and a bright light consumed the entire clearing they had been fighting in. A few meters away charge and Alchemy were busy with their two opponents but were also blinded by the light. At that moment they felt the pain of dozens of shots colliding with their armors and both Riders were quickly pushed back. When the light faded, their opponents were long gone.

But far worse was what was in front of Monster, a giant angel like a beast, covered in long flowing robes, and the same sword and shield Elysium had used before. It towered over Monster and the trees, the biggest of them only reaching to its waist. With a loud screech, it let its sword come crashing down on the Rider, who easily avoided the attack, quickly using his bug wings to circle around the Corrupted and position himself behind the back of the monster. Then he opened and closed his Driver again.

\ ROAR: CHIMERA! /

All parts of his armor started to glow, and at once all six beasts that made up his powers emerged in their ethereal form, the dragon was the first to attack, clenching its teeth around the hands of the Corrupted, letting him drop his weapon. The next one to strike was Sphinx, it clawed away at the back of the monster, quickly followed up by River-serpent, who enveloped the arms of the Corrupted and tightening its grip, crushing apparently several bones in his body. Not to be outdone Thunderbird soared through the sky and rained down lightning on his opponent. Changeling, however, opted for a far simpler approach and just rammed through the body of Elysium. Now the only one left was Manticore, the beast had been circling around the Corrupted the entire time, but now its time had come. With a powerful swipe, it let its claws scratch across the entire body of the Corrupted.

Now that the monster had been weakened all six of them returned to Monster who had risen high into the air. Within a split-second Monster rocketed towards the Corrupted, all of the souls gathering in his foot, forming the image of a Chimera made out of all their body parts that chomped down on Elysium, who was quickly consumed in an explosion.

As the dust had settled Elysium was shivering, almost falling over, on his face was an expression of utter terror. “No… No! I can’t die, not here, not now. I… I don’t deserve this, I worked hard… I did everything I could, I don’t deserve this!” He screamed in an uneven voice, fear, and terror clearly audible in every word he spoke, his body slowly fading away. And with one last word he disappeared from this world forever: “Help!” Monster stared at the place where his opponent had stood mere moments before, picked up the necklace and walked towards his house, deactivating his Driver on the way there.

His slow walk turned into a sprint until he was running, bursting through the remains of his door he looked inside, looking upon a scared and terrified Emerald. The moment hse looked up she immediately sprinted towards him and caught Pinecone in a crushing hug, he, however, didn’t care in the slightest and returned her hug. “I’m sorry… I’m sorry for making you scared before,” he whispered, barely being louder than Emeralds sobs.

“Shut up,” she just returned and hugging him even harder. He simply smiled and started to pat her head. Phoenix and Ocean, who had followed him stopped at the door, looking at the two siblings.

“Seems he is back to normal, thank goodness,” Phoenix sighed, letting himself fall to the ground beside Ocean.

“Yeah, seems that way and he caught up to us. Chrysopoeia should be careful next time,” she smirked, but could not hide the spark of sadness in her voice. Ocean almost jumped back as Phoenix put his hand on her shoulder and gave a warm nod, one she returned with a sad smile.

Author's Note

So, and with this we finished all the Final Form chapters.

And I'm happy to announce that there is something special on its way as well.

“TIME TO TIP THE SCALES!”

The Steanch of Decay - The Curse of the Raven

It had been roughly two weeks since Elysium’s defeat and subsequent death, and with him what was still left of Tartarus quickly crumbled away, several of the remaining members trying to ditch the sinking ship, searching work elsewhere, with their personal artifacts of course. Something Checkbook was very much opposed to. He couldn’t just let these valuable devices disappear into the criminal underworld after all. The Circle had spent the time since Tartarus collapse eliminating the cowards and retrieving their property, those who failed them did not deserve mercy after all, not that it was anything personal, it was just business. Those however who did give up their artifacts willingly or even attempted to jump ship to the Circle were welcomed with open arms, as long as they swore loyalty, combined with a way to eliminate them quickly if they should try something stupid. Some of them assigned to become enforcers while others were chosen to be more suited for… far more revolutionary purposes.

One of them had been Furie. The former leader of Tartarus had been put into the custody of the MRG, heavily guarded and monitored twenty-four-seven, but as if that would stop the Circle. It was easy for them to let the woman disappear from confinement, if she like what was awaiting her was however something else entirely, not that he really cared. They had outlived their usefulness, and now it was just time to cover their tracks. Still, this whole thing had taken a bit to execute, and now they stood there without any dumb muscle, well besides the few turncoats that had been assigned to them at least.

During the two weeks, he had only had a sparing eye on Canterlot City, a shame since the city had experienced a good amount of excitement, something he had sadly missed out on. Even if some data was still recovered, he would have loved to see it with his own eyes. Oh well, maybe one day a similar opportunity would provide itself again, if there was another world with Riders there surely were many more out there right? He could only hope.

But all that didn’t matter now, after the two weeks of absence he would finally meet with his business partners again, Shadow Gold and Platinum Shadow and he had that certain feeling that the meeting would be not so pleasant. With a silent sigh, he pushed open the doors to the old and dilapidated gym. He hated this place, it was just far to low class for him, and so below his level, it almost hurt, but he had to follow the wishes of Gold after all, as much as it made him uncomfortable.

Ruined old equipment lay around the room like having already been covered in a thick layer of dust and cobwebs, it was disgusting. With every step, he took the old wooden floor creaking beneath his feet. The fact that the only light in the room where some haphazardly placed lamps connected to a portable generator didn’t really help to make the hideout any more pleasant. And then there was the smell of old wood mixed in with leather that had already begun to fall apart and the remnants of sweet that had permeated this building for at least ten years, and you had a truly disgusting smell that just refused to leave your nose.

“And you couldn’t have chosen a better hideout than this old rundown place?” He muttered in annoyance as he approached the two men sitting in two folding chairs, Gold already awaiting him with an impatient look on his face, one that was even more unnerving thanks to the shadows the limited light shined upon him. Platinum, however, didn’t even bother to look in his direction, he looked like he could start sleeping any moment from now, disinterestedly playing with a coin he had pulled out of his pocket.

“It’s the perfect place, no one comes here, it’s in one of the most crime-ridden parts of the city, and it doesn’t draw any attention. It’s miles better than your suggestions after all. A hotel is far to easy to find than this,” he coldly replied, looking at him with a calculating look on his face.

“Oh, you wouldn’t believe how a bit of money can shut people up,” Checkbook returned, a smug smile on his lips.

Gold, however, was not impressed and just coldly stated: “And it only needs one misguided ‘hero’ to screw everything up. No thank you. I’ll take the inconvenience instead of a botched plan.” Checkbook couldn’t other than to shake his head and simply accept it that he had to listen to his demands.

“Fine, it’s not like it matters anyway. So, since I’m back again, I can again provide my invaluable support, be it monetary or otherwise. There are a few rather interesting test subjects that we could let loose on the Riders or how about we use the remnants of Tartarus and set them loose on them? I’m sure they are up for a bit revenge,” he trailed off, a devilish smirk covering his lips.

“None of that. I need something that hurts them personally, something to show them that they are not save from me and I need it fast. Otherwise, they will get the wrong impression.” While he spoke Platinum just shook his head, at least a little bit. Not enough that anyone could really notice it without a good amount of attention, but it was there. Gold, however, was to focused on Checkbook to take note of that. “So, any ideas in that direction?”

“Well, we could just go after their loved ones again, that could work?” He returned, still a bit apprehensive about Gold’s methods. It would just be so much easier if they would just go after them and kill them one by one.

“No, not yet. I need to show them that they are powerless against me, then I can truly start the torture, especially after they have grown so much stronger in recent times,” he muttered, staring at the purple crystal he still wore around the neck. “Oh, I might have an idea,” a vicious smile spread over his entire face, reminiscent of a crazy ax murderer. Checkbook almost took a step back as he saw the expression on Gold’s face, there was just something unnerving about it. Even Platinum stopped playing with his coin as he noticed the silence that had settled over the room, curiously eyeing his ancestor before him. “I would like to ask you if there was a way to get our hands onto an artifact with a specific power?” His voice was cold silent, almost like the venom of a snake.

“Well, depends on the power in question. I’m sure I can arrange something if it’s not too out of the ordinary,” he returned, rather hesitantly. He never really trusted the man, but this, this just raised all of his warning flags.

“Excellent,” Gold returned with a satisfied smile. “So, what are you waiting for?” He added, Checkbook shaking his head in confusion before understanding what he meant. Picking up his suitcase he nodded and rushed out of the room after hearing the instructions form his business partner. This would be an interesting experiment, no doubt about it.

--------------<

Six A.M.! Six A.M.! He still couldn’t believe it, who woke up at a time like this? Complete maniacs and one of them apparently happened to be his girlfriend, a sentence he probably should never utter in her presence, at least if he liked his teeth that was. The unbearable noise was currently rining through the entire room, so loud that it felt like his ears would fall off any moment from now. Stirring in the soft and comfortable bed, he covered his head with the pillow he had been laying his head on before the sound finally subsided.

Just about to relax again he felt the sudden freshness around his body, moments later he realized what had happened, someone had snatched his blanket. And not even five seconds later he felt the pillow lifted from his head and brought back down onto his stomach. In an instant he jumped out of bed, assuming a fighting position, even if he almost fell over again, the tiredness still deep in his bones. He actually looked like he had fallen asleep standing, his face having a dazed and limp expression on it.

“Wow, and I thought if you sleep here from time to time you would start to wake up sooner, but it seems I was wrong. Seriously, it’s six, that is not too early after all,” a voice mocked him jokingly, a voice that he knew too well was connected to the worst devil he could think of right now, Ocean.

“Waking up at six A.M. is barbaric!” Phoenix complaint, his tired eyes half staring at his girlfriend and half already closed again. “How can you do that?” He started to complain, the bed behind her currently even more enticing than Ocean in her nightclothes that consisted of a tank top and panties.

“You are the worst, you know that,” she sighed before, unbeknownst to Phoenix a devilish smirk crossed her face. “Fine, you can sleep as long as you want,” she returned, in a far to upbeat and pleased voice.

Phoenix was overjoyed, this was too good to be true, this had to be a dream. But if it was one then he surely didn’t want to wake up, so he just accepted it, letting his heavy body slump back down onto the bed, his conciseness already drifting off again the moment he felt the soft, warm mattress under him.

“That would, however, mean that I would eat all the pancakes myself and wouldn’t leave anything for you,” he could imagine her sly grin by the tone of her voice alone. She had him, and she knew it all too well. A few more seconds desperately wanting his mind to wind through in the ned, a loud growl of his stomach was the end of this argument. Damn you body, why couldn’t you just listen once? That were the thoughts that circled his mind as he slowly dragged himself up from the bed again and towards his clothes that Ocean had already laid out for him the day before, otherwise this would have taken far, far longer.

“You know you are the worst kind of person, right?” He weakly growled at her, his tired eyes almost managing to shoot a glare towards here, almost, it, however, ended in a rather amusing look that got a chuckle out of Ocean. “Extorting someone with food, that is one of the lowest lows you could sink to, you know that?”

“Oh, I know, it’s the first thing they teach you in the academy, food is one of your best bargaining chips,” she had to really try to hide the chuckle and grin as she went on. “Ah, works ever time, you would think that you would catch onto it after a while, but apparently not,” she continued, putting on her own clothes, that being one of the only times she dared to put down her belt buckle.

Within three minutes she had managed to properly dressed and put on the buckle again, all while Phoenix was still struggling with his trousers, she shook her head with a little smirk and slowly left the room. At this point, not even Phoenix would dare to start sleeping again, at least if he wouldn’t stumble over and knock himself out. She calmly stepped through her apartment, looking over the living room with a feeling of rest and calmness, one that was rather rare in the last few weeks, with everything turning from bad to worse. Well, that was for all but one thing, the events from a few days ago and with it the new Riders she had meat. But as pleasant as these memories were she other things to think about, things that extend beyond pancakes sadly.

With a resigned sigh, she started to open the fridge, looking over the pitiful remains of her reserves, with a frown she pulled just enough for the penances, with added flavor of course. She already dreamed the shopping trip she had to take later today, ever since the Riders had been shown to the world on live tv their lives had shifted drastically. Until then her identity had more or less been an open secret, but since she never was that much of an audience magnet the people hadn’t really started digging deep enough to bring it into the public eye. But with Phoenix revealed and her identity not burrowed under countless other crap on a government website meant things had gotten more intense.

Where ever they went they were immediately recognized, and it didn’t take long till a mob would build around them, asking questions and for authograms. It had gotten somewhat better after week three, now only about ten people would swarm them every time they went out. Apparently, the hype around them had died down, somewhat at least. Still, they had started to develop some systems how they could even decrease that, going out wearing rather covering clothing helped a lot and the idea of letting Phoenix sleep here for a while had at least gotten the paparazzi away from Thunder, something he had been extremely relieved about.

While she had been thinking about all of that she had set up all the ingredients and started to open the first of the eggs. At that moment she heard the door to the bedroom open once again, as she looked over her shoulder she could see the tired and exhausted face of Phoenix slowly dragging himself into the room. She had to admit, even if he looked like one of the living dead, he had looked far, far worse already, so this was already an improvement. With a playful shove she put down the finished creation, a marmalade-cheese-pancake, starting off the day with one of her less strange creation, not that Phoenix complained much, the food quickly disappearing inside his mouth.

“And?” While placing her own plate down next to him she asked, an expecting, but already knowing look lingered on him. “Taste good?” She did not receive a good answer or at least an understandable one, just mumbled words that she could barely string together to a logical sentence. ‘Tastes really good,’ or something in that way, at least that was what she thought it meant. It didn’t ask him that long to devour the whole pancake and quickly let the hot chocolate she had made on the side run down his thought.

“Ah, seriously, how do you do that? Everyone else would never come up with stuff like this. They would probably run away the moment they would hear your recipes, so how does this taste so good?” He asked back, eyeing Oceans own breakfast secretly.

“Well, you just have to be willing to improvise and have the guts to actually try something seemingly insane. After a while, you start to figure out what works and what doesn’t, but to get there, its gonna take a good amount of trying and failing. The amount of horrible stuff I have already eaten is really nothing to admire really,” she chuckled before a small little shake went through her body and her faces morphed into one of utter disgust for a short moment.

“So bad?” Phoenix raised one of his eyebrows, casually spinning his cup, the remaining hot chocolate spinning inside of it.

“Worse, so much worse. But when you finally figure something out, it’s a magical moment, believe me. You can’t imagine the first time I found out that spicy and sweet go really really well together. I had baked chilies into chocolate cookies, one of the best things I ever eat, really. And it’s still rather simple. After that I lost all restraint, I tried so much stuff with each other, most of which tasted horrible, but sometimes I struck gold. I remembered what worked and figured out what goes together that way and now,” she pointed at the last piece of her own pancake that quickly disappeared as well and continued: “Now I have an eighty-five percent success rater, and even when I screw up it’s just meh really.”

“Huh, so just keep trying basically. That’s nice, and awful at the same time. So everything boils down to hard work, go figure,” he chuckled in return before drinking the last of his drink. “Ah, it seems nothing comes easy in this world…” With a resounding sigh, he leaned back in his chair, looking up at the ceiling. “By the way, how is the old weirdo doing?”

Ocean looked at him for a moment before asking: “Who?”

“Oh, come on, you know, Onyx. Did he figure this whole MRG thing out yet? It has been quite a while since…” Pheonix stopped for a moment, stumbling over his own words, a nervous expression on his face.

“Since the betrail of my mother. Phoenix, you don’t have t treat me like I’m some delicate flower. I know this sucks, but it’s part of life and when you make this for yourself hard just because you think it could upset me, don’t. I can handle it,” she returned with a calm voice, but there was that hint of sadness buried deep within it. Phoenix just nodded quickly, his face turning a deeper shade of orange as he looked away. “And to answer your question. It looks good for him. He has managed to convince everyone that the best case of action right now would be to quickly get a new director elected. He actually wanted Fancy Pants to take the job, but to his surprise, he refused and instead suggested him. Ony obviously was against that, wanted to stay in the shadows, but they managed to talk him into it, something I’m actually quite surprised by. So, we’ll have a new director in the next few weeks, will be quite fun I assume. And I wonder who is going to replace him. Ah, probably someone Onyx knows, and that is probably for the best,” she finished, her gaze having drifted off towards the window and with it, the city vailed in a beautiful morning glow.

“Huh, so Onyx is going to call the shots from now on? I can live with that. He at least knows how to do stuff, and someone who had to keep an eye on the entire organization will probably not get backstabbed that easily, bonus points,” he chuckled, standing up from his seat and starting to stretch himself only to add with a sigh: “Let me guess, it’s time to head out?” He asked her with a knowing look in his eyes.

“Yeah, as amusing as this is, we still have to get back to work, you know why,” she returned, her voice having lost a lot of its previous energy, now slower and duller.

“Yeah, I still can’t believe this. But I swear, I’m gonna dragged that bastard back here and beat him out of Ivory if I have to, no one messes with my friends.” He growled, clenching his hands to fists, the thought about Shadow Gold alone just made him angry.

“Yeah, but just proclaiming it to the air won’t really help us now, will it,” she weekly smiled in return, receiving a sheepish look from Phoenix. “Oh, you can look so cute sometimes,” she added with a sly grin, much to Phoenix embarrassment, his cheeks getting redder and redder by the second. “So, I think we should head out,” she chuckled, pulling her jacket over her clothes as she walked towards the door, Phoenix close behind her.

--------------<

The majority of the day had gone by like any other day, which basically boils down to, driving around the city and following every lead they could find. And just like usual, they had achieved nothing. The probably had already searched the city three times, it was clear that they would never find Gold if he didn’t want to be found. Still, they couldn’t just sit around all day, they had to at least do something and busting a few Corrupted on the way there sure helped.

However, the last few hours of their day seemed to shape up to be something a little more special. Apparently, something weird had been going on the last two days, all of a sudden dozens of people just fell unconscious in the city and had to be rushed to the hospital. It didn’t seem like the illness was contagious, but it was spreading… somehow. Ocean was sure that this had something to do with Gold, that was what at least her gut kept telling her. While the illness didn’t put the victims in a coma, it still took a good out of them, most just too weak to speak. That was why they would be meeting with one of the patients that still held onto consciousness. They were lead through a quarantined part of the hospital, both of them decked out in masks and bodysuits that covered them from head to toe.

The doors to the patient room slowly opened, revealing at least ten people that were violently coughing and holding their stomachs. The room reeked of sweat and that certain smell you knew from the hospital. Several doctors and nurses were trying their hardest to help the poor man and woman, but they couldn’t really do much more than to suppress their pain. That was expected one of them, while he looked like he was in pain, he at least seemed to hold it together, a man with brown skin and blonde hair. “You are Meadow Song, right?” Ocean asked, not beating around the bush for too long.

The man nodded something that let him twist his face in pain. “Good, you wanted to tell us what happened to you?” She continued, sounding extremely calm and soothing, Phoenix being quite impressed by her skills, something he really shouldn’t be at this point.

“Yes,” his voice sounded extremely raspy and week, but he continued on. “It… It was a mon-“ That was as far as he managed to get before a violent coughing fit interrupted their conversation, one that held on for a good two minutes.

“Take your time, we can wait till you feel comfortable to speak Meadow,” she continued, a slow nod from the man as an answer.

It took another minute until he finally manages to continue. “There… there was this monster. We were at a bar we usually hang out together, my friends and me. In comes, this weird guy completely raged clothing, and he reacted like he hadn’t showered in three weeks and sits down right next to one of my friends and me. Having already drunken far too much Strawbery stumbles over to…” a small coughing fit interrupted him, but he quickly continued. “He pretty much threatens him to leave since he stinks like a dumpster…” Meadow stopped again, but not because he couldn’t continue because of a coughing fit, no he was just to shake, the fear edged into his face. “It just happened all way too fast. He turned into this… this monster and the next thing I know is waking up here.” His body started to shake more and more. “Please… Find him and put an end to… to this monster. I don’t want to-“ that was the last thing before the next fit started and it showed no sign of stopping any time soon.

Two doctors rushed forward and started to treat the poor man, something that would put him to sleep. But before his consciousness completely left him, Ocean grabbed his had and said loud and determined: “Don’t worry, we won’t let that happen.” After the last word had been spoken, she held onto his hands for a few more moments before his eyes closed completely. With a determined sigh, she let go of his hand and walked out of the room, Phoenix right behind her.

“So, this does not look good in the slightest,” Phoenix muttered, his hands already balled up into fists, eager to punch the culprit into his face.

“Exactly, and judging from what has happened in the last few weeks this might be Shadow Gold’s doing. An illness based artifact sounds incredibly rare, and that something like this would just show up, and the wielder goes out on a spread of destruction like this, not buying it,” she returned, gritting her teeth as she left her safety clothing behind where they had gotten it. That and after a shipload of disinfectant had been sprayed on them, the reached smell filling up her nostrils, but at least it would prevent anything from spreading… hopefully.

After a quick phone call with Pinecone to bring him up to speed the two were heading out of the hospital, that was until a loud scream of terror reached them. One look was enough to let them rush towards the origin of the scream. Several patients and visitor were running their way, only avoiding them on several occasions by a few centimeters. The looks of utter terror were edged into their faces, and their blood curdled screams matched that perfectly. After one, two minutes of doing the blood of people that were heading away from the permeable danger they finally rushed around a corner only to stop dead in their tracks, looking straight at something that could have jumped out of an old horror movie about a cursed monestry.

Before them stood a Corrupted dressed in a long flowing trenchcoat made out of black leather, form it hanging feathers and chains. His skin had taken on a black-purplish tone, and one could see feathers on the back of his hands. He was currently choking a civilian, his long and sharp claws clenching around the neck of the man like a cage. But most unsettling of all was his face, a long beak that and two glowing red eyes. The head looked almost like one of these plague doctor masks that had been used during old times, just this one was made out of flesh and blood. On its head rested a large head.

“Patients…” the monster muttered, swaying from side to side after letting the man fall to the ground, completely out cold. It almost looked like he would fall over, that was until his eyes caught them for a moment. In an instant, the Corrupted turned his head towards them the red, piercing eyes staring at them with an intensity that made them take back a few steps. Then it happened, in an instant, the monster rushed forward and lunged towards them, both ocean and Phoenix jumping out of the way in the last second, being able to see the Corrupted breaks through the next wall, covering the hallway in dust. But they knew far too well that something like this never stopped a Corrupted, activating the Drivers.

\ MAGIC DISC DETECTED! /

\ SCANNING CHARGE! /

“Henshin!”

\ 50, 80, 100! FRIENDSHIP CHARGE! /

\ FRIENDSHIP DISC ACTIVATED! /

And this was indeed the right call, the Corrupted jumping out of the debris and dust, its long claws ready to grab both of them, however, the moment he had gotten close enough he was flung back by both Alchemy’s and Charge’s transformation. Charge was the first to act, pulling out her Charge Magnum and letting three shoots strike the monster as long as it was on the ground, all while Alchemy charged forward and removed his Magic disc from his Driver.

\ Friendship Disc Attack Mode! /

\ Connect Protector! /

While Charge was holding down the Corrupted, he was busy with trying to strike the monster. That however proved to be a far harder challenge than first expected. The thing was fast, scary fast, and nimble. Evading his attacks like a wild jester that was just playing with him and subsequently making a fool out of him. With every strike that he missed he grew more and more frustrated until he just couldn’t hold it anymore. “Hey, Birdnose, how about you stop this bullshit and fight for real. We both know that you have no chance against us, so why not make this quick for both of us, maybe you can get to your feeding at the park in time?” He mocked the Corrupted, big mistake.

Doing the next strike from the Rider, the Corrupted did not just back way again, no it advanced, darting past Alchemy and right behind him. He felt the stinging pain in his back just moments later, but that wasn’t everything, a second attack hit him in the sides, the Rider staggering away from the Corrupted who tried to strike again. However this time his attack was less successful, his attack being blocked by Alchemy’s shield and hold of just long enough for Charge to pepper him with bullets.

He had expected that the pain would have dulled at this point, but far from it, it had actually started to get worse. Purple smoke started to be emitted from the places the Corrupted had clawed at him, the pain growing and growing. With a pained scream, he dashed forward, at the still dazed Corrupted, his sword slashing across his chest and letting sparks fly from the wound.

This moment of victory was however rather shortlived as Alchemy was quickly tackled by the raven Corrupted, its claws digging into his armor, the unimaginable pain spreading through the wounds as the monster rushed forward. With a loud shattering both of the crashed through the windows and wall of the building, falling down several meters to the ground, the Corrupted losing his grip on Alchemy. He could barely see how the Corrupted unnaturally twisted his back, his legs firmly planted on the ground, his body slowly rising. In the end, it looked like his back had been twisted in a ninety-degree-angel before suddenly snapping back into an upright position.

Alchemy meanwhile was still clenching his wounds in agonizing pain, it felt like his body was slowly burning from the inside. The Corrupted tilted his head, staring at him with this emotionless glare, then it lunged forward, or at least it would have if Charge hadn't stopped him, the shots of her Charge Magnum sending him flying past him and into one of the parked cars. Alchemy could just see it out of the corners of his eyes, tears forming in his eyes making it even harder, but right now he was busy with other things. Primarily just getting back up, his teeth clenched he as he tried to push past the ever-spreading pain in his body, desperately ripping the Magic disc from his Driver as he had gotten back on his knees and replacing it with something he hoped would yield his victory.

\ HEUREKA! /

The moment he felt the transformation taking place it felt like he was born anew, the pain his body faded like it was just washed away. As the whirlwind of magical energy faded, he stood there, his cape flying in the wind and his blue eyes staring at the curious Corrupted. With a scream of frustration, the Corrupted rushed towards him, swinging his claws wieldy, Alchemy simply evading the strike with his superior speed. The Corrupted now missing his strikes did not like this at all, stomping on the ground in frustration and running towards him like a mad dog that had been let of his leash. It didn’t take long till the Corrupted was sent flying backward by one of Alchemy’s kicks after the Rider had dodged another strike of the monster and caught his hand. The Corrupted had jumped back in shock, or at least tried to, staring at Alchemy in absolute shock, just before the dreaded kick hit him right in the stomach.

What even Alchemy hadn’t expected however was something that happens right before eth Corrupted hit the next car on the sidewalk. In the blink of an eye something flew past his opponent, and just a moment later the Corrupted was thrown back towards Alchemy, leaving a trail of sparks behind as he flew. A few meters away Monster came to a screeching halt, equipped in his Chimera Armor he took a look at Alchemy and the at the Corrupted, spread his claws and dashed forward.

With every strike more vicious than the last Monster tore apart his opponent, not leaving him any breathing room or chance to retaliate at all, just attacking again and again. The Corrupted in question did not take it well, desperately trying to strike his opponent with any means necessary, but Monster was just far too fast, circling around, over and behind him like a hurricane. With every strike the beast grew more and more tired, until Monster finally kicked it into the stomach, sending him sailing again, crashing into the wall of one of the buildings on the other side of the street. Landing next to Alchemy he just looked at him, before he resumed his stare at the Corrupted.

“Well, nice to see you. How about we finish this one off?” Alchemy chuckled, just at that moment the Corrupted was bombarded with a salve of energy projectiles, Over Charge landing next to him, her gun pointed directly at the Corrupted. “Oh, joining us as well. Then shall we?”

“The faster, the better,” she returned, her finger on the trigger, ready to discharge another salve on the Corrupted.

Just as all three Riders were preparing to strike down the Corrupted a loud sound cut through the air, on they quickly realized it was the sign of problems quickly approaching.

\ FIRE! /

A massive explosion consumed the Riders not even a second later, all of them were thrown backward and landed rather unceremoniously on the ground in front of the hospital. Alchemy could see his comrades clenching their sides in pain, trying to figure out where the attack had come from.

“Well, well. It seems I can’t leave anything to these buffoons. Tsk, tsk, tsk. And I almost lost my new underling to you. I must say, you really don’t like playing along,” he sighed in a mocking tone, jumping from the building he had just been standing on, casually walking towards them with his weapon in hand. “Really, I would have thought you would struggle a bit more, but oh well, it seems I have to intervene again, not that I don’t enjoy crushing you under my boot Alchemy.” A smug laugh coming from the Dark Rider as he came closer and closer.

As he continued Alchemy slammed his fist on the ground, screw the pain right now he just wanted to punch this bastard in the face. With a loud scream, he pushed himself off the ground and stormed towards the Rider, pulling his Philosopher Stone from his Driver.

\ Philosopher Stone Attack Mode! /

\ Magnum Opus! /

Both weapons clashed, the opponents seemingly evenly matched. “You bastard! I knew you were behind this! How sick do you have to be to drag civilians into this?” Alchemy growled, trying to push Chrysopoeia back. “This is between us, not us and them!”

“Oh, but this exactly why, because I enjoy your anger when you see me do it,” Chrysopoeia returned, his voice sounding low and with the gleeful tone in it that could let your blood freeze in your veins. That was when Chrysopoeia stepped back, letting Alchemy tumble forward and slashed him across his backside after circling around the Rider. With a quick push of one of the gems on his weapon, he repeated the process again.

\ THUNDER! /

As the attack struck this time Alchemy felt his entire body being fried in an instant, his muscles refuse to listen to him and he sunk to the ground painting quickly after. Chrysopoeia admired his work for a moment before quickly spinning around and deflecting Charge’s projectiles like it was child play only to again press a gem on his weapon.

\ WIND! /

Slashing through the air, he created such a powerful gust of wind that he knocked several cars back and with it Charge as well, who was pressed against the wall of the hospital, the sound of breaking glass almost being covered by sounds of the wind blowing past her. With a silent thud, she sunk to the ground, Chrysopoeia letting out a satisfied huff before pressing another one of the gems on his speer before jumping up in the air and thrusting his weapon downwards.

\ FRIENDSHIP! /

A beam of energy burst through the tip of the spear, right at Monster who had just tried to attack him from behind. He felt the burning sensation all over his body, like being cooked in his own armor. As the pain finally subsided, he was laying on the ground, beaten and bruised, just like his comrades, the Rider landing next to him and the Corrupted who had witnessed this all firsthand.

“Well, what else was I expecting. It was fun playing with all of you, really, but I have to go now. But I’m curious, what are you all doing here?” Chrysopoeia’s voice went from smug to taunting with that certain spark of maliciousness in it that he had before. “I don’t think your friends made it to the hospital yet,” with that he started to laugh maniacally, none of the Riders able to utter even a single word, just stare at him in shock, horror, and pain. “So, adieu!” He pressed another one of the gems on the spear before spinning the Philosopher Stone on it.

\ THUNDER! /

\ Philosopher Stone Maximum Power! /

With that, a massive whirlwind surrounded the Rider and within seconds it devoured everything it could get its hands on, cars, signs, glass shards, everything and of course the three Riders. After a solid ten seconds of debris and the wind hitting the three the whirlwind finally subsided throwing them out like discarded food, all three landing with a loud crash on the ground, other debris landing around them. Their entire body arched, they could feel the bruises all over themselves. Their armors finally broke away, revealing their wounded body for all to see. But all this just seemed distant, there was only one thought on their minds. One thought that let their guts tighten and created an unbearable pit in their stomachs, what had he meant by that?

The Steanch of Decay - The Blessing of the Phoenix

His hearth kept on beating in his chest, drowning out the noise of the street around them, all the cars and other stuff just was ignored, all consumed by the ever faster beating of his heart, and the haunting thought that he didn’t want to become a reality. He assumed that some of the other drivers were already calling him a madman, but he didn’t care, this was far more important than trivial stuff like traffic laws. Thanks to his bike he was driving through the smallest and narrowest cross between cars, much to the horror and fear of the other drivers, but he didn’t care, far from it, he felt like he could go so much faster.

After passing through between a truck and another car he finally let his bike take the turn, the rubber of his wheels screeching on the asphalt as he did so. In the distance, he could hear faint hooting from angered civilians, but fuck if he cared right now. He could take Ocean’s scolding later, but right now he just didn’t bloody care.

Then he finally saw it, his goal. The Magnum Opus, strangely dark for this time of day, something that let the tight feeling in his chest only grow stronger, a silent curse escaping his lips as he hit the breaks so hard that people a few hundred meters away turned around to see who had made that noise. Without a second thought, he jumped from his bike, pushing away several people who had stopped and stared at the new arrival, several of them landing rather unceremoniously on their buts. But instead of pushing open the door he instead slammed against the glass with a loud groan. Staggering back and holding his head he took one look at the door and dashed forward again trying to push the uncooperative piece of glass and wood open, with no success. Then it hit him, the key, he had a key.

In his frantic scramble for the precious item, he pushed his hand into his pocket, clasping the key firmly, only for it ultimately fall out of his hands and onto the ground where it bounced of towards the next gutter. His face twisting from worried to ultimate horror jumped after the little metal thing. With every little bounce, the thing did he grew more and more desperate, his hands reaching closer and closer to the key until finally… he caught it, his fingers firmly clasped around it, just above the gutter, one second later and he would have lost the thing to the depths of the sewers. A stone fell from his chest, a sigh of relief escaped him as he slowly managed to stand up again, a quick look at the key and with a determined expression he returned to the door. His had still shaking he tried to force the key inside, but it just refuses, always slipping away at the last possible second, much to his frustration. With a silent curse, the key finally slipped into its hole and with a silent click the door opened and was promptly forced open, Phoenix rushing through the empty room. The chairs were still on top of the tables, no sign of anyone even moving a single one of them, this just made him more nervous.

Bursting through the kitchen door he passed the still empty kitchen, not a single kife or ingredient had been moved, it looked exactly how the restaurant looked like when it was closed, this did not bode well. Brushing several pots they came crashing down behind him, Phoenix almost slipping as he turned around, startled by the sudden sound, but shortly after noticing the still retelling pots on the ground he cursed again, and proceeded to rush up the stairs. Every step he made echoed through the room above him, the wooden stairs making weak sounds under him and with a last sprint, he finally came into the living room. Empty, dark and no one in sight. The fear and dread that had clumped up in his through grew to new levels.

No time left to waste he rushed through the room, jumping over the couch, not wanting to run around it he landed right next to the door to Thunders room. The door stood in front of him, looming, imposing, the same door he never had batted an eye at before. Behind this door was the answer to the question that had haunted him the entire way here. His had seemed to be frozen in place, unable to reach for the handle of the door, the lump in his through growing and growing to an unimaginable size, making it hard for him to breath. He didn’t even hear his own breath anymore, his hearth overshadowing everything else in the room. Maybe if he just stood here, nothing would happen? Wasn’t that how this that thing with the cat worked, if you don’t know it’s at the same time true and untrue?

No! No, he couldn’t let thoughts like this cloud his judgment, if it was really true and he wasted any more time who knows what might happen to Thunder, he couldn't live in a delusional after all. With a final breath of air, he slowly opened the door, the piece of wood carefully sliding open, casting the daylight into the dark room before him. At first, he couldn’t see a thing, his eyes not yet used to the dark, but as they slowly adjusted he could see Thunder’s bed in complete disarray. He would never leave it willingly like that, even if no one would ever see it he felt embarrassed if one saw any sign of tardiness. The room was cramped, multiple cabinets lined the wall, as well as a table and a chair, but no Thunder. That was until he heard it, a weak, quiet cough.

His blood froze in his veins, it couldn’t be, right? No, no thinking like this! He had to press on, or else… Setting one foot in front of the other he stepped around the bed and on the ground next to it he could see his nightmare become a gruesome reality, Thunder, limply on the ground, unmoving. That was untiled a small cough escaped his through, the body moving a little bit, only to return to complete and utter stillness, minus the slight movement of breathing. His shock was quickly overtaken by anger, anger that was burning away in him, taking every thought besides the ones about Chrysopoeia. His laugh, he didn’t want anything else than to beat his face in, over and over. There was no way he wouldn’t do that, whoever did something like this to his family had to suffer.

He had almost forgotten Thunder who was still laying on the ground as he shared another one of his coughs, snapping him out of his anger-induced fantasy. In an instant the anger subsided, now replaced by worry and panic. He pulled out his phone, almost dropping it as he scrambled to dill in the right number, only to catch it right before it hit the ground. His hands were shaking as he finally managed to top in the number and put the phone to his ear. “Hello, here is Phoenix Feather, my brother has been infected with this strange new disease! I need help, now!”

--------------<

No one dared to say anything, Ocean just sitting next to him, staring at her own hands, playing with one of her Chargers. Pinecone was meanwhile walking the hallway up and down, the anger and fury in his face telling both of them enough to not even attempt to calm him down, he just couldn’t be reasoned with. They only heard the angry and frustrated grunts of the man as he walked past them time and time again. It had taken half an hour till the ambulance had finally arrived, Phoenix even debating if taking him to the hospital with his bike or powers wouldn’t be far faster, but he couldn’t risk to hurt him, not in such a weakened state. Ten minutes alter Ocean arrived and with her Shining Armor. His girlfriend had been on a school trip on the last few weeks of the school year, and so he had been all on his own in his apartment. She had ordered him to look on his own while they were busy with their stuff, but that all had led to him becoming a victim of the horrific disease.

Ocean looked worried, and he could hardly possible imagine for himself how it felt to lose yet another friend, or at least how it felt that something like this had gotten extremely possible now. She had accepted his huge, and wasn’t able to let go for more than a minute, only when they heard an angry voice call out for the doctors did their embrace end, a voice that sounded extremely familiar. Pinecone had burst into the door, carrying his sister in his arms, she was barely clinging on to conciseness, her eyes half closed and she was coughing weakly. His loud voice echoed through the hallway, demanding that someone get him a doctor, something the hospital staff quickly fulfilled.

And five minutes later the last of the patients was rolled in, Summer. She had been found in her apartment, in the same condition as all of their other friends. She had only been found thanks to Phoenix telling the hospital staff that maybe she was also infected since she had made no attempt to enter the restaurant.

Now they had been waiting for almost an hour, and no one had said a thing to them. They wanted to get out there and hunt the bastard who did this, but their thoughts were by their loved ones, their friends and family. They couldn’t just go without knowing how they were doing, right?

Then, after Pinecone had passed them for at least the hundred times the doors finally opened again, all three of them jumped either up from their seed or turned around on the spot and stormed towards the doctor, who just stumbled back a few steps, trying to avoid being crushed by the three. “Ok, how are thy doc?” Phoenix was the first to ask, his voice was drenched in uncertainty and worry, his eyes mirrored this perfectly, they were a weird mix of worry and begging. “Are they ok?”

“Yes, how are they?” Ocean added, sounding just like he did. All while Pinecone stared at the man, with a look like he wanted to eat him, quite frankly, it was scaring the doctor quite a bit.

He stared back at them with a confused and frightened expression for a few moments before his mind managed to guide him back to reality. He shook his head, adjusted his glasses and looked down on the clipboard in his hand. “Well, they are currently stable,” a sigh of relive went through all three of them interrupting the doctor who looked at them for a moment and waited for the noise to die down before resuming. “Yes, they are stable, but they are in quite the bad condition. Until now we have always received large groups of people all at once, and most of the time not longer than one two hours after the infraction. But this, they were all alone at home without anyone to notice. They weren’t stabilized soon, and in all honesty, they are probably far worse off than everyone else here.” His voice sounded grim, staring at his clipboard, unable to look even one of them into the eyes.

“I’m sorry, but we don’t know how long they are going to hold of, they have until now the most severe cases of the disease we have encountered. And we are only barely able to keep everyone else from getting significantly worse, and they were stabilized hours ago.” Silence went through the group, their quick relive had turned into something far worse. They had again been cast into the dark unknown and worst of all, their friends were in really bad shape.

“Understood,” Ocean almost whispered, her eyes were dead, staring at the ground in front of her, her voice hollow and defeated.

That was when Phoenix grabbed her hand, she nearly jumped up and stared him in the eyes. “Don’t do that!”

She looked at him with a puzzled look. “What?”

“Don’t give up just yet. I know you don’t want to. Where is the Ocean who still hasn't given up on Ivory after all this time?” Phoenix returned, a tear forming in one of his eyes, but his voice remained firm.

Ocean stared at him for a moment before her expression changed again, first to surprise then to determination. “Yes, you are right. I can’t stop now, not while they are still breathing. I’m not giving up, forget that!” She said, her voice growing more confident and determined with every word she spoke.

“That’s more like it. In all honesty, I couldn’t do it without you, your determination and unwillingness to give up really keeps one motivated. Without that I would probably lose myself in damn thoughts about how bad all of this is,” he chuckled weakly before swiftly adding. “Anyway, let’s not dwell on that. So what is the plan?”

“Well, there is only one thing we can do, right? Find that Corrupted and hope that beating him shuts off the magic, or at least we can do it with the artifact,” she said, already deciding who would look through what part of the city.

“Ok, got it,” he returned. Meanwhile, Pinecone had just stared at the doctor in front of him, seemingly not even listening. When Phoenix placed his hand on his shoulder, he nearly jumped out of his skin, turning around and looking at Phoenix in shock. He pulled his hand back and put them up before his body defensively. “Whoa, relax there. I just wanted to ask how about you? Are you coming or do you need some time to-“

He didn’t get any further as Pinecone interrupted him, pushing him to the side and walking past Pheonix. “Of course I’m coming, what else?” he was already a few steps ahead of them when Pheonix looked over to Ocean with a confused look on his face. She just smiled and shook her head before rushing after him, Phoenix looking after her for a moment before shaking his head as well and following foot.

The doctor had remained there, staring after the three of them rather confused. Not that he didn’t knew who they were, just, he hadn't expected them to be this… this weird. They had just learned that their friends and family was infected with a disease that could do Gaia-knows-what and they just shrugged it off with a little speech like this? He just couldn’t grasp it, but they were heroes, after all, this kind of people really made much sense, right? His thoughts were quickly interrupted as a nurse called for him, the man quickly following her demands, silently hoping that they actually knew what they were doing.

--------------<

Ocean had mobilized everything single officer she had gotten her hands on, no matter how much some of them bitched and complained about taking orders from her, she didn’t care, and it was about saving lives, so they quickly shut up and followed orders, much to her relief. She really had no patience to deal with this right now, she just wanted to get back on the streets as soon as possible.

The hours went by like nothing and at the same time, every wasted second felt like hours, the time slowly running through their hands like sand in an hourglass, every passing second bringing them closer to their failure. It was always there, every moment, the thought that they were already too late to do anything, to save anyone, but they couldn’t just stop here, they had to at least try because what else were they supposed to do? Kouwer in the fetal position and wait till everything was over? Tartarus no! If that was what Shadow Gold expected of them, he was sorely mistaken, and they were sure to show him just that.

With the sunset slowly overtaking the city the hope of finding the Corrupted just grew slimmer and slimmer, but no one in the search was willing to stop now, there was just too much at stake here. The police station had gotten an influx of reports of suspicious activity throughout the whole city as well as reports of new victims. The lines were almost always full, the populace was giving it their all to find the Corrupted as well, probably because they could be the next victim. But no matter the reason behind it, it was strangely calming that the entire city was working together like this. If Shadow Gold tried to weaken their resolves he had failed miserably, they were only stronger than before.

Then, when the night had firmly taken ahold of Canterlot City the on important call finally came. Reports of a Corrupted in “Whitetail Park”. This was it, the call they had been waiting for, at least that was what they hoped. Not wasting any time Ocean immediately gave Phoenix the coordinates, being the closest Rider to the area.

With that he spread across the city, his adrenaline boiling up inside of him, heart beating, sweat dripping from his face, but most of all, determination, pure determination. He would stop the guy, and with it, he would save all of them, no matter how hard he had to fight and who would stay in his way.

The sound of screams and civilians that were running for their dear lives was enough of a sign that he was on the right track. With a swift turn, he rode into the park, the trees were waving in the wind like nothing was happening, that was until he reached an area with trees that were missing all their leaves, the trees looking barren and lifeless. Then he saw him, the Corrupted with its strange hat and trenchcoat. In his hands were two civilians, both of them coughing like there was no tomorrow and as the Corrupted heard the loud roaring of the engine, he wasted no time, staring at Phoenix with his two glowing red eyes.

The Rider let his bike come to a stop several meters before the Corrupted, who disinterestedly threw his two victims to the wayside like they were weet sacks of potatoes, much to Phoenix’s disapproval. “So, there you are you bastard. Normally I would offer you an out, but I doubt you would take it. But if you don’t want this to turn violent, why not give up, will you?” While he spoke, he jumped off his bike, eyes on the two civilians that had been thrown to the wayside, several others apparently having returned and were caring them off, not that the Corrupted cared at all about this. He just looked at him, tilting his head, almost like he was waiting for something. During the entire time, Pheonix had grabbed into his pockets, grasping his transformation devices firmly with both hands.

Then the unbearable tension was released in a single instant, the Corrupted pulled up his arms, pointing his and at Phoenix and not a moment later several features flew towards him, some of them scratching his bike while others just were impaled in the ground and several treas around him, the Rider dodging the attack at the last second. While doing so he slapped his Driver on his waist, the device looping around it and put the Philosopher Stone in it as well, there was no time to be wasted after all.

\ PHILOSOPHER STONE DETECTED! /

“Henshin!”

\ HEUREKA! /

The Corrupted, however, did not give up this easily and let another barrage loose on him. The feathers were eviscerated by the magical vortex around him, however, and out of its depths, he jumped forward, speeding towards him, dodging every little thing he could throw at him, the feathers landing behind him harmlessly. With a swift punch to the face, he threw the Corrupted of its feet, expecting to quickly pummel him into submission, but fate had other plans for this little monster.

In an instant he turned in the air, staring at Alchemy, he could swear he could see a twisted smile on his beak, even if it should be impossible. The Corrupted stretched his arms out towards him, as suddenly green mist escaped from the, rocketing towards the Rider. Alchemy’s eyes widened the moment he saw this, in an instead he jumped out of the way of the disgusting looking mist as it consumed the part of the park he had just been standing in.

The Corrupted landed on his feet with surprising amount of grace and then quickly bowed to him, seemingly mocking the Rider. As he returned to a standing position, he coked his head to the side before dashing towards him, his claws steaming with the strange mist. Just as Alchemy dodged the first attack by jumping backward he caught quick glims at the affected area of the park he had just stood at moments before, it was dead. The grass, the flowers, and even the small animals in it had died, lifeless and black. Whatever this thing was it was deadly, and he would not find out if his armor would even protect him from it.

The the second attack hit, its claws almost scratching his arm, only stopped by Alchemy landing forward, grabbing his arm and using its own strength against it by pulling him in the same direction he had tried to go anyway, just with the new force behind it he landed with his back against one of the park trees. The tree quickly turning brown and lifeless, the claws of the Corrupted having impaled itself in it and within seconds the leaves of it were falling down upon him. Alchemy took a step back, this really was nothing good, at all.

The Corrupted meanwhile had stood back up again, seemingly unimpressed by Alchemy’S previous attempt to harm him. It’s arms hanging limply from his body as he slowly staggered towards the Rider, not because he needed to, but because he wanted to. Then his head shoots upwards, the Corrupted jumping into the air, his claws extended and he lunged at Alchemy. The attack came so suddenly that e had barely any time to evade it, but just barely he managed to, by dodging under it, the claws scratching across his antenna, leaving behind several sparks that had taken on a green tint.

But now he was facing away from the Corrupted. Something the monster was oh so keen on abusing, trying to stab his claws into his back, thankfully Alchemy turned around quickly enough, grabbing the Claws of the Corrupted with both his hands. Then it happened, he could see the feathers shooting out towards him from the back of the hands of the Corrupted, the green miasma emerging from them, but he was unable to react fast enough to do anything about it. Then he felt it, small little hist, like someone had hit him with miniature sledgehammers, the force was so strong that it knocked him back a few steppes, even if he managed to stay on his feet. His chest arched, he could already imagine the bruises on it as he tried to regain his balance, still stumbling backward, the pain making it extra hard to do that.

Thankfully, the feathers were not able to pierce the armor, so no possessed gas that could hurt him there, at least that was what he hoped. But if one of the claws of the Corrupted managed to score a hit, he doubted that he would be so lucky and if that was the case, then things would probably take a turn for the worst.

The Corrupted looked at Alchemy for a second, seemingly in disbelieve that this had worked out at all, but this was quickly pushed to the side as he lunged forward, trying to claw away at him again. It let out a bloodcurdling screech that almost let him forget that he had to dodge the attack or be turned into goodness knows what, almost. In the last second his brain finally managed to shut out the agonizing screech at least so much that he could dodge out of the way and send the Corrupted flying with a follow-up kick to the back.

The Corrupted landed on his feet, more or less, it just plunged its claws into the ground and used those to come to a stop again before glaring at him with its two glowing eyes. Alchemy just stared at him, a cold shiver running down his spine. This was taking far too long, and if he was unlucky maybe Chrysopoeia and Alkahest would show up again, no he had to end this faster, and he knew exactly how he would pull this off. He removed his Disc from his Driver and let it erupt in a blinding light all while his opponent rushed towards him again.

\ Philosopher Stone Attack Mode! /

\ Magnum Opus! /

The Corrupted was just mere centimeters away from his face, then he suddenly felt the pain in the side of his face as Alchemy swung his weapon, knocking him into a fountain that collapsed on top of him. Alchemy swung round his weapon again, pushing the red and blue gem on it.

\ WATER! /

\ WIND! /

In an instant the entire area around them was covered in ice, grass freezing over, flowers turning into popsicles and most important the Corrupted who just shoot out from the rubble and water he had found himself in was turned into an ice statue. His eyes glaring at the Rider in absolute contemplated, all while Alchemy didn’t even flinch, dashing forward and pressing a single gem on the weapon.

\ THUNDER! /

The weapon sparked with blue bolts of lightning, and as the Rider stabbed the spear into the Corrupted he could see how the entirety of its energy was discharged into his opponent, the ice shattering around him together with the whole fountain, the scream of the creature could be heard several blocks away.

But against all expectations, the Corrupted had remained to stand. His entire body was chared, small sparks of electricity were still sparking off of him, one of his eyes had a crack in it, and he was steaming. Still, he remained standing, glaring at him with his broken eye. It took one step forward, he looked like he would almost fall over the moment his foot left the ground. He did another steep, the same reaction. The Corrupted was slowly walking closer and closer towards him, shaking and staggering with every step, low growls escaping his beak as he kept glaring at Alchemy.

Alchemy just stared back at him, his blue eyes seemingly glaring through his body and right into his soul, it was frightening. Like he could see who he really was, what he feared, what he desired, his every weakness. It almost made him stop dead in his tracks and actually give up, but the anger won out in the end, the unbridled rage that he had for him, for all of them. They had taken everything from him, his family, his friends, his home, now it was payback time.

“So, I think this is where I draw the line. If I don’t stop you, all these people won’t be able to keep moving forward towards their bright future, and I can’t let that happen.” Alchemy just ignored his pathetic advances, however, simply pulling the Disc from the weapon and put it back into the Driver spinning it without even looking at it. “Birdnose, you used the powers that were bestowed upon you to attack others and infect them with a disease that could easily kill them. By the magic that was bestowed upon me, I deem you unworthy of your powers and will now take them from you!”

\ Philosopher Stone Maximum Power! /

With that, the Rider jumped into the air, the energy gathering in his leg and the wings extending from his back. With the golden lines forming around his leg he rocketed towards the Corrupted and when the whirlwind of light had formed just let him explode in a massive fireball, the beaten and battered man falling to the ground behind him. His skin had a sickly green tint to it, something that made him look even more unsettling with his skinny body, greasy black hair, and ragged clothes. The claw of a raven attached to a string laid next to him, Alchemy quickly rushing over to it and picking up the artifact. This was it, the thing that had caused this whole ordeal in the first place. He could feel the sickly energy surging through him, with a somber expression under his helmet he held the thing high. Seconds later green miasma was being sucked into it from all over the city. After a good minute, he finally felt that there was nothing left of it all, putting the claw down and stared at it, tempted to just absorb it and make sure no one would ever be able to use it.

Then he heard it, clapping. In an instant he shot around staring at Chrysopoeia, Alkahest, and Checkbook, just staring at him while Chrysopoeia was clapping. “Truly, a quite impressive display you showed us here,” he said, a surprising amount of smugness in his voice.

“Oh, you,” Alchemy growled before a smirk appeared under his helmet. “What are you clapping, I won, your Corrupted has been beaten, and the disease had been beaten. You lost, so why so smug?”

The moment later he knew he had made a terrible mistake, he didn’t knew why, but he just knew. “I hoped you would have asked this. Well, sure you healed the important idiots of the city, and I’m sure they will be grateful for this, but you missed one important part,” he chuckled, every word unnerving Alchemy only further.

“What do you mean?” he returned, trying to hide his uncertainty, something Chrysopoeia seemingly caught onto immediately.

“Simple, did you call the hospital already? I wonder if your friends are as happy as you are right now, or if they-“ That was as far as he got as alchemy dashed forward, pressed him to the ground and started screaming his lungs out.

“What have you done! What have you done!” The scream of pure rage and anger echoed through the park, much to Checkbooks amusement who started to chuckle, Alkahest however just ignored him like he wasn’t even there.

Chrysopoeia was just laughing, not even phased by Alchemy sitting on top of him, screaming his lungs out. As the Rider tried to shut him up with a punch he just grabbed the fist and held it there, then all of a sudden stopped laughing. “You really thought I would let this idiot infect your friends and not protect him? What do you think I am, an idiot? No, no, no, that idiot there was never the true culprit, at least when your friends are concerned. That would be me. You would be surprised what you can do with a Philosopher Stone and my knowledge about magic,” he returned with an ice-cold voice. Alchemy’s arm, who had tried to break Chrysopoeia’s hold just went limp. “Oh, you do get it. There is no way to save them, at least not for you. The only one who could is me and believe me, I won’t help you!”

Alchemy just stared at him, his entire body starting to shake uncontrollably. He almost whispered: “Why? Why do you do this? What did I ever do to you?” Phoenix sounded broke, weak and unable to muster up enough determination to just punch this bastard out.

“You? You never did anything to me besides being a thorn in my sights. No, your sins lay far back, so far that you weren’t even born yet, no so far that no one you knew was born yet. You can thank Fools Gold for all of this, he was the one to betray me. Heis responsible for your suffering, so if you want to complain to anyone, he is the right one,” Chrysopoeia growled, anger slowly boiling with every word he spoke. “You think he some hero in shining armor who died to fulfill his lifelong dream? Right?”

“What do I care about this! This has nothing to do with me. I’m glad that he left me the Driver behind and I don’t want to repeat his mistakes, but besides that, I don’t care about him!” Alchemy tried to reason with him, his arm still hanging limply from his body.

“Oh, but it has to do with you. The idiot managed to kill himself and denied me my well-deserved revenge. He took everything from me, and I intend in getting him back for that, or at least what he left behind you! That is what I’m after, all because your ancestor was a madman who thought he could overthrow the princess!” Chrysopoeia barked back, vitriol and hatred in his voice. Phoenix remained silent, he just didn’t know how to respond to this. “Oh, stunned? Didn’t they tell you that I wanted to do that? Liers, all of them. They wanted to look better, that is all. What point is in a legacy where you were the bad guy? Nothing that is what! We searched for the true, whole magic our whole life, my brother and me, the Philosopher Stone. When we found the ruins of this civilization, we thought we finally had it, and we did. I took care of the study of magic, and he was the engineer. But after we had created vessels for the magic, he showed his true colors. My wife had grown ill, and there was no medicine in the known world to cure her, so I had to use the Philosopher Stone.”

Chrysopoeia stopped for a moment, Phoenix could hear something like a desperate whimper before he continued his tail. “He, however, had other plans. He wanted to take over the world, make it his and after that maybe save my wife. I couldn’t let that happen, so I sold him out, hoping that that may be the princess could help me. But in the end, Fool escaped to this world, taking everything we had made, with no time left and my illiteracy in magic-tech I could not complete the stone before my wife died. On this day I swore that I would find him and make sure he suffered as much as I did, but the bastard killed himself because he never knew about the last element that magic consists of, friendship. The element that keeps everything bonded together, without it you will never create something new from the other parts. But eventually I managed to transfer my mind into my body and create a curse that would let me control everyone who wore the necklace, and I came to this world. Now I’m here to finish what I started over six hundred years ago!”

Phoenix just stared through his helmet right at him, unable to process what he had been told right now. But before he could think any more about it, he heard a loud bang. Moments later he could see Chrysopoeia being launched off of him and towards his two comrades who looked shocked towards the origin of the shoot. Charge had her gun pointed at the three, all while Monster was standing next to her, his claws ready to rip apart everyone that got in his way. “Don’t let him get to your head Phoenix, he is still a monster that has to be stopped, nothing changed there!” She shouted, pointing her gun at Checkbook, who had made an attempted to take a step forward, something he stopped the instant he saw Charge pointing the rifle directly at him.

Phoenix nodded, and slowly stood up again, Chrysopoeia did the same, glaring at them through his red bug-eyes. Then everything went extremely fast, Chrysopoeia dashed forward, directly towards Alchemy, while Charge tried to shoot down Checkbook who was attacking her and Monster had lunged at Alkahest with a loud roar.

Alkahest was the first to feel the attack of his own opponent. The Dark Rider was still equipped in his Friendship Mode, and while he tried his best to brace himself for Monster’s lung, his weapon did not stop him from being thrown off his feet. Monster was indeed unrelenting, his speed outpacing the other Rider by a good amount, his claws slashing across his body, Alkahest unable to do anything about it. Still, he did not give up. With every moment he had he tried to evade and counterattack, not that this was graced with any form of success. Even when he managed to get a hit in on Monster, the Rider just shrugged it off, and let his claws continue to dance around his opponent's body.

While Monster was living out his frustrations from his last battle with Alkahest Charge was busy dealing with Checkbook, the old Bussiness partner of her mother. The Corrupted let his metal claws slash past her as she jumped out of the way, her gun firing off several shots at him. While Checkbook let out a pained groan as the projectiles hit him, he didn’t seem to facet by all of this.

“Ah, so we meet again. Wanted to catch up on the death of your mother? Wanted to offer me your services like she did?” She heard Checkbook mock her, a glee in his tone that really pissed her off something fierce.

“Shut up! I’m not falling for this!” She shouted back, letting her gun unload on the Corrupted who merely jumped out of the way, his wings weakly flapping in the air. The suddenly Checkbook turned midair and rocketed towards Charge, who used her own speed to avoid the Corrupted, this however proved to be rather futile. The Corrupted picked up more and more speed and while she probably could do the same and outpace him in a short while this would mean she would have to stop attacking and she sure as Tartarus wouldn’t do that. Out of a sudden, she came to a screeching haul, turning around and standing right before Checkbook. He was already far to fast to stop now and instead readied himself for the impact.

What he had not expected was the impact. The light on Charge’s chest glowed in bright orange as the Corrupted collided with her. She didn’t move an inch, one could basically hear the loud cracking of the metal on Checkbooks body. With a loud groan, he fell to the ground only to be peppered with Charge’s shots.

That was until she heard a loud roar from him, in an instant he shot up in the air, high above her and let loose several of his wing blades that shot towards Charge who dashed out of the way, but a few of them did indeed hit their target. She felt the pain as the sharp edges of the wings slashed across her armor and through it. It hurt like Tartarus, but she just pushed on forward, the engines all over her body springing to live and she shot into the air, heading for her opponent.

Alchemy meanwhile was busy trying to hold his own against Chrysopoeia who was rather angry about the whole ordeal. Apparently, he didn’t appreciate it being interrupted during his monologs, go figure. Both Riders were darting across the place with super speed, trading blows whenever they meet each other. This had gone one for a while now, and Chrysopoeia was gaining ground, for every hit he managed to get in he received at least two in return.

He knew he wouldn’t last that much longer, the fight with the Corrupted had already left him somewhat exhausted, but now he was really hitting his limits. Every sprint just left him more and more out of breath if he couldn't figure out something soon he would lose this. But he couldn’t come up with anything, he had exhausted all of his options, and when he pulled out the weapon, Chrysopoeia would just start to outdo him with his knowledge about magic. There was just nothing else he could d- No, there was one thing he never tried in this mode. A vicious smile appeared on his face as he clashed again with his opponent, getting a kick into the stomach.

But instead of retreating and trying again he rushed forward, trying to strike Chrysopoeia’s foot, and actually succeeded. Well, he managed to grace him but was all he really wanted. After both had raced around the park some more they clashed again, Alchemy hitting the same spot again, not that the Dark Riders really minded, he hadn’t really hurt him there. That was until Alchemy suddenly came to a stop and snapped his fingers. Two seals started to glow on Chrysopoeia’s foot, one red and one light blue. Then it happened, his entire body was consumed by red lightning, agonizing screams echoed through the remains of the park as Chrysopoeia sank to the ground, clutching his chest. “You!” He growled, but Alchemy did not even listen, simply using the time to spin his Magic Disc.

\ Philosopher Stone Maximum Power! /

Chrysopoeia suddenly stopped his silent cursing and realized what was about to happen, with a pained groan he forced himself back up on his feet and did the same thing as Alchemy.

\ Philosopher Stone Maximum Power! /

Now both Riders jumped up in the air, their feet glowing with energy, wings extending from their back, in gold and black respectively. Then they shot towards each other, and the two vortexes of magic collide, trying to push each other back for a few moments before they consumed the park in a massive explosion that forces everyone to the ground.

The two Riders were kneeling in front of each other, both panting heavily, holding their arms respectively. “Enough!” The dark Rider finally shouted, pulling his body back to his feet and ripping the Magic Disc from his Driver.

\ Philosopher Stone Attack Mode! /

\ Magnum Opus! /

With the weapon in hand, he weakly pushed the middle gem on it and awaited the call of the spear.

\ FRIENDSHIP! /

In an instant, all three of them were consumed by magical portals taking them away without even as much as a trace. “Fuck!” Alchemy cursed as he slammed his fist on the ground.

Ocean walked over to him, having already disabled her armor and gave him a slap on the back. “Not that important. We saved the patients, defeated the Corrupted and now we know that Chrysopoeia can be wounded. I would say this is a success.” She said with an encouraging tone, only for Phoenix to shake of her and say in return.

“We didn’t save our friends. The disease they have was created by Chrysopoeia, only he can take it back,” his voice was layered with bitterness and frustration. Ocean just stared at him in complete shock, unable to even say a word. “There is nothing we can do to save them. Only he knows how he pulled it off without the artifact, he would need some-“ All of a sudden he stopped mid-sentence, jumped up with a loud pained groan and ran over to his bike with the best of his abilities.

“Phoenix? Where are you going?” No answer, only the roaring of the engine. “Phoenix?” With that, he took off leaving them behind without any answer whatsoever. Both of his comrades just stared after him, completely confused by what he was trying to accomplish.

--------------<

Midnight, a good amount of time had passed since Phoenix had left them in the park and hadn’t shown up again. That was until she finally tracked down a strong magical energy reading at the hospital. She had immediately raced there, finding an exhausted Alchemy standing in the courtyard of the hospital, activating different attacks without any rime or reason.

“What in all that is good are you doing here?” ocean asked as she approached the ruins of the courtyard that had been partially melted frozen in other way been destroyed. “Only because we can’t do anything doesn’t mean you can let out your frustration out on the courtyard.”

\ WATER! /

\ WIND! /

\ FIRE! /

Suddenly a warm steam-tornado formed around him, followed by a loud curse form he boyfriend. “I’m not letting out my frustrations. Something Chrysopoeia said jumped to my mind. He said he had an illness with he wanted to cure with the Philosopher Stone. Together with the fact that he created the illness, maybe I can create a cure with this. Until now without any success, however.”

Ocean’s mouth was hanging wide open, staring in bath element at her boyfriends. “This is genius. No seriously, I would have never thought about that.”

“Thanks,” he returned, quickly dilling in the next combination of magic.

\ WATER! /

\ WIND! /

\ EARTH! /

Instead of a steam-tornado, this time he was covered in a mud-tornado. Instead, some of it even hitting Ocean, much to her dismay. She, however, did not have any time to complain as she saw Phoenix sink to his knees, leaning on his lance, panting heavily.

“Phoenix, are you ok?” Ignoring the muddy ground beneath her, she dashed over to him, her clothes quickly being covered in mud. She tried to help him up again but was quickly shoved to the side, Phoenix pushing in another combination, but she could see how week he already was, all that energy he had wasted finally catching up to him. On the last button push, however, he slipped, pushing the water gem again instead of the friendship gem, quickly realizing he also pushed the right button again.

\ WATER! /

\ WIND! /

\ WATER! /

\ FREINDSHIP! /

A bright green aura consumed all two of them, and she could feel how her wounds suddenly started to close again, he actually had pulled it off. “You did it, you did it!” She screamed, jumping up in the air. While her wounds were closing her energy did not return, she was still as exhausted as she had been ever since the fight had ended. As she rushed forward to give her boyfriend a kiss on the cheek, she saw how the armor faded from his body, and he collapsed onto the ground. “Phoenix! Phoenix!” He could hear her screams from far away, but ultimately they grew more and more distant until everything went black and silent.

--------------<

He shot up from his bed in a room he quickly recognized a hospital room. Really this was getting far too common of an occurrence when this happened so often. How did he get her? Then it hit him, the illness. He was about to jump out of bed and rush to his jacket to pull out the Driver as he felt a warm and soft hand on his, Ocean. She had been sleeping next to him on her chair and just shook her head with a warm smile. “Ocean, let me go I have to-“

“No, you don’t I already took care of it. After you passed out in the courtyard, I borrowed your Driver and healed everyone. You did it, you found the cure,” she returned with a smile on her face, small tears forming in her eyes. “I hope this was ok.”

Phoenix just stared at her for a moment before lunging forward and pulling her into his arms with following kiss. Ocean’s eyes opened wide but quickly grew back to normal size, returning the kiss. She felt their lips touche, the warmth, and gentleness, it filled both of them with happiness and bliss. But ultimately Phoenix let go of her, and their lips parted. “I fucking love you,” he muttered, still somewhat dazed by the whole ordeal. Again, Ocean just stared at him and started to laugh. “Oh, fuck. I fucked it up. I ruined the moment, right?” Phoenix had gone pale in an instant, the previous blush replaced with a whitish orange.

“No, you didn’t, this was perfect. While this was not the way I expected you to say it, I couldn’t ask for a more sincere way,” she returned with a slight giggle. “Love you too,” with that she pulled him back into the embrace, and into another kiss.

--------------<

Meanwhile, in a warehouse of the MRG in South Marekota, a place where gathered artifacts are stored and studied a scientist of the MRG is on his way to one of the newest artifacts that have been transferred to this side. Bright idea was already giddy to examine these strange rings that had been found a few weeks ago in Neighpone. They were supposedly not of this world, or at least the magic was so different than some thought that. He, however, remained skeptical, probably just a new form of magic, that wasn’t too uncommon, every five years something like that popped up and now seemed exactly the time for something like this.

He passed the last corner before the laboratory he had ordered the rings into, much to his surprise the hallway wasn’t empty, instead one of his colleges was standing in front of the door, impatiently waiting, presumably for him. He had a dark purple skin tone with black hair. “Doctor Pure Blood, what are you doing here?” He sounded already quite annoyed, he wanted to start right away, but now he had to deal with this distraction.

“Oh, I wanted to offer my help director, I’m sure I could be off-“ The man sounded rather snobbish like he thought he was better than Bright, something the doctor had already grown accustomed to. The man was a genius, but far to full of himself.

“No, I already told you that I will make the first testes by myself, there is nothing to discuss about this,” he immediately shut him down, slowly walking past him, pulling out his ID-card, pulling it through the scanner and let it take a scan of his eye.

The door opened with a loud beep as he heard Blood’s voice again as he was about to say something. He turned around with a loud sigh, ready to tell him off, again! But what he instead received was a complete shock to him. All of a sudden Blood rushed forward and stabbed a pencil into his neck, Bright unable to do anything besides grab his punctured neck and try to close the open wound. It didn’t take long till he couldn’t breathe and he sunk to the floor, everything growing hazy. “I was a pleasure working with you, doctor Bright, shame it had to end this way,” Pure Blood coldly returned, not even turning around as he walked into the laboratory, the door closing behind him. The last thing Bright witnessed as his world turned to nothingness was the loud alarm that echoed through the entire site.

Meanwhile, Pure Blood had entered the lab, slowly walking towards the suitcase the rings were being held. He pulled out the ID-card he had grabbed from Doctor Bright and opened the lock on the suitcase, the small metal case opening slowly. His cold face turned into a malicious grin as he saw what was inside, over two dozen rings, some made out of gemstone, some out of metal and six out of stone as well as a small belt buckle in the shape of a black hand with red edges.

“Finally, after so long I have you back,” he chuckled, grabbing inside the suitcase and retrieving the belt buckle and put it on before grabbing a ring with an orange gemstone inside it, covered by a casing in the form of a broken shackle. As he did this he heard footsteps coming closer, he had not much time left. He sipped it on his right hand and held it over the buckle.

The belt buckle spoke out, as a orange light glowed from the buckle. Moments later the inside of the suitcase glowed in the same orange light and the six stone rings flew out of the case and hovered over the ground. Then the room was completely consumed by the light and as it faded six monsters stood around him.

“What is it that you wish master?” one of them asked, all six of them kneeling before him.

“We will take back what is rightfully mine!” He returned, having already switched out the ring on his hand with the silver ring with the hand on it, holding it over the buckle.

The buckle quickly grew in size, and a belt appeared around his waist, the hand on top of a silver background. With a flick of two metallic squares on the side, he flipped the hand around night degrees.

The belt called out, Pure putting on a purple ring onto his other hand and with a swift motion flipped a small little metal visor in the form of a butterfly down onto it. While this was happening, he heard the sounds of someone trying to activate the door and failing. Only seconds, now or never. He put the purple ring over the still shouting belt.

“Henshin!”

Of Wizards, Travelers and Alchemists - The Magic Word is Please

Tokyo, a city, populated by millions, and the crown jewel of Japan. A city that never sleeps, whenever you went onto the street, you could see the city booming with life. While it looked peaceful from afar, it was also one of the most dangerous places on the whole planet. Year after year the city had been plagued by monsters and other dangerous beings, ranging from robots to mutants or even creatures one would only expect from fairy tales, sometimes these threats even spilled over into the neighboring cities of Futo and Zawami. Right now the metropolis was under attack by an interdimensional threat, the Ganglers. But like always heroes had risen to the occasion to fight the looming threat, the two Sentai teams of the Lupinrangers and Patrangers.

But they were not the only heroes that defended the freedom of the people, there were other Sentais, various heroes and of course, Kamen Riders. One of these heroes was enjoying his life right now, having saved the city in the year 2013, the ringed mage, Kamen Rider Wizard, or how his friends called him Haruto Soma. And for one of his friends, this was a very special day.

In the busy streets of Tokyo, there was a small, quiet antique shop by the name Omokagedo. It was a peaceful, homely place, stuffed with curiosity and old treasures. Or at least it would normally be, but today, not so much. The entire room was filled with paper chains and balloons in different colors. Several people were running through the small room, almost bumping into each other on several occasions. A woman in a black suit with brown hair was trying to hang up the last few paper chains, all while trying to avoid a man in his late twenties who however dressed like he had fallen into a can of paint. His brightly colored green shit and the mishmash of colors on his trousers made him look like he far younger than he really was. He was currently trying to balance several wrapped packages in his hands, only to get his foot stuck on the step onto the platform in the middle of the room. With a loud screech, he rocketed towards the ground, the presents flying out of his hands and sailing through the air, threatening to fall onto the floor.

It echoed through the room, the presents suddenly stopping midair, a small orange circle appearing over them, much to Shunpaies relief who let out a loud sigh before jumping up again and shouting: “Haruto!”

Rinko also turned her eyes towards where Shunpai was staring, the entrance. At this moment the door closed, a man with brown hair stepping inside. He was clad in a black leather jacket, and a red and white dotted t-shirt underneath as well as red trousers. On his right hand, he wore an orange gemstone ring he was holding out towards the two, in the other a brown paper bag. A small warm smile on his lips.

“Haruto! I knew you would come,” Rinko added, putting down what she was holding and slowly making her way towards the presents and slowly putting them back down. “Good to see you again.”

But before she could say anything else Shunpai rushed past her, almost knocking the woman off her feet and much to Haruto's surprise embraced him in a hug, Haruto just uncomfortable staring down at his friend. “Haruto, it’s so good that you are back. You won’t believe what rings I made, you have to test them all of them. I’ll show you right away and-“

“Shunpai, hey Shunpai!” Haruto interrupted him, his friend looking up to him, a few moments later the realization hit him. In an instant, he released Haruto from his embrace and jumped back a few feet. Quickly starting to furiously bow to Haruto and start to apologize. He however just started to chuckle, patting Shunpai on the back and returning. “Good to see that you re still the same as always. And you really think I would miss the birthday of the old man? Where is he anyway?”

“He is taking a walk, something about enjoying the summer air or so. We kinda talked him into it, we needed a bit time to set this up after all,” Rinko returned, starting to pick up a few presents, but not enough so she would repeat Shunpai’s mistake.

Haruto was about to return something when he heard something rumbling on the stairs, and not even a second later he could see someone jump down the stairs, landing at the end of the small hallway and point towards him. The man had geared up orange hair, a red jacket with fur on its edges and a silver belt buckle. On his right hand, he wore a silver ring that somewhat resembled the buckle on his right hand.

“Yo, Haruto!” He shouted over the heads of the others, the finger still pointing at him. Haruto raised his eyebrows and smirked, but as he was about to return something he was interrupted by Nitoh’s continuous shouting. “Don’t say it!” He bellowed at him. “You missed me, your eternal rival and wanted to test if you could finally beat me!”

His face had this certain set-confidant smirk on it that Haruto knew far too well. He however just looked at him for a moment and replied with a simple: “No!” Letting Nitoh stumble forward a bit before catching himself again, staring at Haruto with a dumbfounded expression. “I would remember if I ever was inferior to you,” Haruto returned, slowly letting himself sink onto the couch in the middle of the room and pulling out a plain sugar donut from his paper bag.

Nitoh did not take this well, storming towards Hauto, pointing his finger angrily at the calm donut eater. “What? You take that back this instant!” But Haruto just ignored him, taking another bit from his donut, much to Nitoh’s annoyance. He was about to go on another rant as Rinko started to pull on his ear, her expression telling him that she had no time or patience for his usual stick. “Ow, ow, ow! That hurts Rinko!” He screamed, trying to follow his tormentor to stop the pain.

“Cut it! We are not here for you tow to start fighting again, we are here to celebrate the birthday of Wajima, so you cut it out already,” she said with a stern tone but didn’t scream.

After a few more seconds of pained noise form Nitoh he finally returned: “Fine, fine, I’ll stop.” With that she released him, Nitoh quickly grabbing his ear and started to rube it, all while muttering incomprehensible things to himself. As Rinko raised an eyebrow and shot a quick glare towards him, he quickly quieted down, much to Rinko’s delight.

At this moment the door to the shop opened once again, a small, somewhat chubby man in his late his sixties with dark brown hair entered the room. At first, he didn’t even look up, a small basket under his arm, but as he did he looked rather perplexed at the screen before him, Nitoh was rubbing his ear, while Rinko was staring daggers at him, Shunpai was his usual energetic self, and Haruto was eating his usual donut. Then it hit him, Haruto was eating his donut?

Before he could, however, say anything, his words were drowned out by the loud screaming of everyone else. “Happy birthday!” The shout took Wajimaby surprise, setting the basket he had been holding next to him before his expression turned from a surprised and somewhat confused look into a bright smile. He now only noticed the decorations they had made to the shop, something that warmed his old hearth.

Waijima looked at them for a moment before smiling at them and stepping closer into the room. “Oh, this wouldn’t have been necessary,” he chuckled only to grab one of the closest presents and start to unwrap it. “But not that I’m not grateful.” He quickly added, this getting a good laugh from the rest of his friends.

As the wrapping paper was ripped into pieces and the small wooden box inside was opened, he pulled out a small wall clock embedded with small gemstones where the hour marks would be. Waijima just looked stunned, only for Shunpai to jump in: “Do you like it? I found this clock last year just after Christmas at a garage sale and thought this would make a great gift for you. It was just broken and had to be repaired, so I took it to this clock repair shop in the area, what was its name again? 8 4 DO, or something like that? I first thought that the thing was totally busted, but the guy there actually managed to get it working again,” Shunpai continued, a bright smile decorating his face, all while Haruto looked on in amusement, taking another bit from his donut.

Waijima just smiled with silent satisfaction at the clock before putting one of his hands on Shunpaies shoulder. “Thank you Shunpai, it’s great.” Shunpai just jumped up into the air, screaming out of his lungs and letting his arms rais into the air in a pose of victory, much to the amusement of everyone else. “So, where do I put this?” Waijima muttered meanwhile, looking around for a place where the clock would be able to hang.

The moment could have gone on forever, just all five of them here, enjoying each others company, but fate never was so merciful after all. A loud banging on the door let everyone stop in an instant and stare in a mix of confusion and curiosity at the door. Everyone but Shunpai, he still continued his victory jumping, well until he noticed that everyone was staring at the door like a monster would burst through it at any moment. “Uhm, did I miss something?” He asked, with a confused tone, now eyeing the door with renewed interest as well.

Before anyone could answer him the handle of the door slowly started to turn, Haruto and Nitoh were starting to stand up, slowly stepping closer to the door. With a loud creak, the door opened, revealing a man not older than forty standing before them. He wore a rather elegant black suit with a purple tie, and his black hair was waving in the wind that he had brought in. One odd thing about him though was that he wasn’t Asian, something rather rare in this area, maybe he was a tourist?

“Uhm, excuse me, I’m very sorry, but we are sadly closed for the day, if you want something though we will open again tomorrow around 8 P.M.,” Waijima returned, taking a few steps towards the man who simply ignored him and stepped inside, an air of superiority around him as he walked forward.

“Oh, I’m sorry, but it won’t take very long, I just came because I lost something very dear to me a while back, and I heard rumors that you might have it, so I wanted to look if they were indeed true,” he returned, not even once looking Waijiman in the eyes, but instead heading straight for Haruto.

“Uhm, I don’t know, my collection is rather spacious, and I’m not sure if you would find it that-“ He started again only to be interrupted by the strange man.

“Oh, I understand, but worry not, I have already found what I am looking for, “ he returned, now standing right in front of Haruto, who looked the man straight in the eyes.

“And what would that be?” He asked, casually placing his donut bag on the table. As he did so, his eyes glanced over something, a familiar belt buckle. “You are a Magician!” This quickly grabbed everyone's attention, both Nitoh and Shunpai letting out screams of confusion while Rinko just let out a little yelp of surprise.

“Hm, so you did notice. Yes, I’m a magician, the magician Mesmer, or how you would call it nowadays, Kamen Rider Mesmer! But I prefer you use my real name instead of my title, that being Pur- I mean Heinrich von Flügelburg.” He said, his voice booming through the room like he was expecting something, something that never came. “Hmh, of course, you never heard of me. But you should be familiar with my masterpiece, right?” Without any further warning, he let his hand shoot forward directly at Haruto’s chest, the later unable to react fast enough. But instead of the man shoving him back the hand disappeared in his body with a purple glow, Haruto’s body quickly refusing to move even an inch.

“Haruto!” Everyone in the room screamed, all while staring at what was transpiring in shock. All, besides Nitoh, who stormed forward, trying to pull Heinrich back from Haruto, but was quickly brushed aside by a simple sidestep of the magician, Nitoh landing on the floor behind the two.

That was all the time he needed, with a swift motion of his arm pulling it out of Haruto, who staggered back, landing on the couch behind him, holding his chest in pain all while staring daggers at him. Then the shock set in, not because of what he had done, no, but because of what he was holding… “Koyomi!” In his hand, he healed a silver ring, one with a pink gem inside of it, the Hope Ring, the-

“Ah, yes, my Philosopher Stone. While not in shape I lost him, this wills surely suffice. Oh, it feels good to finally have you back after six hundred years, my beauty,” he said, almost like he was in another world, taking in the ring from every side he could turn it. The rest of the room had fallen dead silent, just staring at what was transpiring before them. “See, I told you it wouldn’t take long. And now that I’m done here I will take my leave. Have a wonderful birthday,” he said, turning around on the spot and starting to walk out the door only to stop once more and add: “And thank you for taking such good care of my greatest creation, it would have been a shame if I had to riped it from the claws of a ruffian after all.”

This was the moment Haruto’s senses came back to him, he jumped up from the couch and stormed towards the new mage, screaming at him: “Give back Koyomi!”

Nitoh meanwhile had also managed to get back on his feet and was rushing at him as well and joining Haruto in his screams: “Exactly!”

Heinrich just sighed and picked up his speed, dashing out the front door and storming onto the street outside where he quickly made a left turn, Haruto and Nitoh bursting from the door moments later and hot on his heels. The man was extremely good in shape, evading pedestrian after pedestrians and slowly gaining distance from them. That was until he ducked into an alleyway, probably thinking they had lost him between the crowds of people. As both of them dashed after him into the alley, they noticed him standing at the end of the small alley, a metal fence blocking his escape route.

“End of the line for you, you thief! Now hand over that ring!” Nitoh said, crossing his arms with a smirk on his lips.

“Oh, I don’t think so,” he muttered throwing a bunch of grey stones on the ground between them, stones that quickly grew to hideous creatures Haruto and Nitoh knew far too well, Ghouls. Monsters made out of stone and held together with metal that looked like copper, they wielded spears that they quickly pointed at them. Alone they were no big threat, but in numbers, they were a serious distraction, and the one thing they didn’t have right now was time.

Both Haruto and Nitoh let their respective rings hover over their belt buckles for a moment letting two voices shout out:

Two belts appeared, one that looked almost exactly like the one Pure Bölood had used, just with yellow outlines instead of red ones. Nitoh, on the other hand, received a silver driver that looked like a door. Haruto pulled two metal squares on the side of the belt, and quickly put on a red ring on his other hand and let a small visor flip down on it. Meanwhile, Nitoh made rather exaggerated posses before letting putting the ring into a hole made for it on the side of the Driver and twisting it and letting the gate open, revealing the golden head of a lion inside it.

“Henshin!”

Both of them were quickly passed over by a red and golden magical seal respectively, changing them into their armored forms. Haruto now was clad in black armor with red gems as well as silver accents. His face was a recreation of his ring. Nitoh, on the other hand, had been clad in a golden and black armor in the design of a lion. Before the Ghoules stood now Kamen Rider Wizard and Kamen Rider Beast respectively, something that didn’t deter them in the slightest, rushing at them. Wizard switched out his non-transformation ring with another orange ring and let it hover over the Driver for a moment.

A red magic circle appeared next to him, Wizard quickly pushing his arm into it only to pull out a silver sword with a black hand on it before dashing towards the Ghouls, Nitoh meanwhile doing something similar only that he pulled out a rapier out of his Driver.

Both riders were quickly hold up in their own fights, Wizard busy with blocking the attacks of the Ghouls only to push them back with a swift roundhouse kick, knocking them off their feet. Using his gained momentum, he spun around slashing through the rows of monsters, cutting through some of their weapons. Having gotten a bit of room now, he pushed something on his sword, and it quickly transformed into a gun. He didn’t waste any time and quickly spun around, shooting one of the Ghouls who had thought he could surprise him. With a loud bang, the Ghoul fell to the ground, quickly exploding afterward. But Wizard wasn’t done yet, storming forward he shot at the monsters around him, each bullet hitting its target, changing their directions midair like someone was controlling them.

Beast, on the other hand, was busy stabbing his opponents with his own weapon, cutting through the Ghouls with a ferocity true to his name. Each destroyed Ghoul was quickly devoured by Chimera as well, while only small snacks the Phantom was always happy to devour mana and not just the fruits of Helheim. While they satisfied him, with time this diet grew quite stale.

One of the Ghouls was right now rushing at Beast, swinging its weapon wildly, trying to gaze the Rider at least through a fluke of luck. However Beast was having none of that, dodging the attack quite easily and stabbing the daring opponent directly afterward. “How about we spice this up a little bit?” Beast shouted, putting on a new ring.

A green magic circle past over him, leaving behind a green mantel in the form of a chameleon on his free shoulder. He didn’t waste any time and let the tongue of the mantel shoot out towards his opponents, knocking them over. A few of the unlucky Ghouls were even ensnarled by the tongue of the chameleon, desperately struggling to escape its grip. This however quickly proved to be in vain, the Ghouls not fast enough to not be crushed to death by the strength of the tongue, the mana quickly been eaten by Chimera.

Wizard in the meantime had returned his weapon back into its sword form and was cutting a path through the Ghouls, heading straight for the thief. Heinrich had pulled out a purple ring with a golden casing after seeing Wizard try to get through to him. With an annoyed sigh, he let the ring be scared by his Driver.

A portal appeared behind the mage, its purple glow actually gaining the attention of Beats as well. “Hey! No running, we caught you fair and square!” Echoed es from the Rider, Wizard still trying his best to get through to him before it was too late. That was, however, a fruitless endeavor, the magician already having stepped through the portal, taking the ring with him. There was no time left, they had to end this now. Opening the hand on his sword, he held his Flame Ring over it, determined to finish this once and for all.

Beast has had the same idea, quickly spinning the dice in the hilt of his weapon before inserting the Chameleon ring into the side of the weapon. Four! One could work with that.

While Beast was dealing with his own Ghouls, Wizard was also getting rather tired of the whole ordeal. Letting his hand with the transformation ring rest over the “hand” of his sword, letting the weapon hum out a sound that was like music in his ears.

Both Riders pretty much released their respective attacks simultaneously. Beast let four small ethereal chameleons spawn, that quickly started to gang up on the remaining Ghouls, throwing them over and proceeding to stomp them into the ground. But it seemed like they had missed a few of the other Ghouls and just as they were about to be attacked by the monsters, they were quickly engulfed in flames and were turned into a nice explosion, all while the chameleons just kept on hopping about the place before disappearing. Several golden magic circles flew towards Beast, or more precisely his belt, quickly disappearing with aloud chomping sound.

Both Riders could only watch as the strange mage disappeared in the portal and the ring, no Koyomi with him. Without even thinking about it any further both Riders dashed after the man, and right through the quickly closing portal. Then everything turned dark as their bodies were flung around by invisible forces beyond their control.

--------------<

The landing was less than pleasant, the two were quickly thrown out of the portal landing rather unceremoniously on the cold hard stone beneath them. Their heads were still spinning from the whole ordeal, but things were starting to get cleared again. They were in front of a large purple building, three stories high. Behind them stood a rather strange horse statue on top of a podium right in the middle of a large open courtyard with lots of grass.

“Huh, seems you are quite the resilient mage, well, it’s kind of a given. Otherwise, you would have fallen into despair after all,” the strange mage muttered, both Wizard and Beats turning around to see Heinrich who looked at them with an exhausted expression. “But while this is admirable, it is not something that fits into my plans. I actually felt rather merciful today, thought I let you live after all, but you just had to disobey me. And those who do not follow gods chosen are to be punished!” He almost spat out, his face distorting into a grimace of disgust. “Garuda, would you take care of these peasants!”

“Of course master! They will be taken care of,” a voice echoed through the courtyard right before something slammed down right in front of the mage. A muscular monster stood before them, its body had a silver and red skin-tone. The body was clad in an armor that looked like it was carved to look like feathers, that covered mostly the upper body and two massive wings were sprouting from his back, only to fall behind him like two capes. His head, however, was the most interesting part, two large lines came down to where his mouth would be as well a silver mask that covered the general feature of the monster. Two glowing red eyes stared back at them.

“A Phantom? Well, that means it’s lunchtime, am I right?” Beast was the first to react to the new Phantom that had swooped down before them, the Primordial Mage rushing directly at the monster, leaving Wizard behind, staring after Heinrich who was just casually walking away from the fight. But before he could run after him, the monster let several metallic feathers shoot out towards him, Wizard only sidestepping them in the last second. He had only lost track of Heinrich for a single moment, but the mage was nowhere to be seen. “Oh, Haruto, what are you doing?” Beast shouted back at him, snapping him out of his confused staring. With a silent curse, he dashed towards his “rival” and started to help him in their fight against the Phantom.

It was by no means a pushover until now blocking every swing Beast had thrown at it with its bracelets like it was the simplest thing in the world. That was until Haruto jumped in to join him, actually managing to hit the monster through a lunge with his sword, the Phantom staggering backward as sparks flew from where he had pierced the armor.

“Oy, don’t steal all my thunder Haruto,” Nitoh shouted back to his comrade, who just chuckled and proceeded to duel with the Phantom, each combatant matching the others attacks blow for blow. “Pah thinks he can outshine me. How about we bring this to the next level,” Beast muttered before switching the Chameleon Ring to another ring.

With the red magic circle passing over him he was now clad in his new mantel, a red one themed after a buffalo. “Well, time to go for my meal!” Beast shouted out, rubbing his hands together rather giddy. With a loud scream, he rushed towards the Phantom and Haruto, who both looked towards him when they heard the loud screams. While the Phantom was distracted Wizard quickly dashed behind it and let his weapon slice across his back, only for Beast to slash across the monster's chest thanks to Haruto’s distraction. While the Phantom was screaming in agony, both Riders jumped around and once again used their weapons to slice across the skin of the monster.

However, as they were about to repeat this stunt their attacks were blocked by the bracelets of the Phantom, glaring at Beast with its red eyes. “Enough! I’ll take care of you another time. The master has already made his escape, so there is no point in playing with you anymore.” With a loud roar, the monster shoved both Riders backward, Beast neral falling over, only saving himself in the last second. This, however, was nothing that could stop the Riders, both rushing back at the Phantom, ready to finish what they had started. Wizard had swapped his ring and held it over his new fliped Driver while Beast was spinning the dice of his weapon again.

While Wizard was running at the Phantom, using his hands to gain momentum for himself to launch into the air, flames were gathering around his foot. After he had spun round in the air, a magical circle appeared before him, speeding him up and onto a direct collision course with the monster. Beast had meanwhile managed to score a six, a full-blown success. With a swing of his sword, he let loose a herd of buffalo, six in total that were heading directly for his opponent.

Then everything came differently than anticipated, the Phantom spread out its wings and with one particular strong swing of them launched into the air, leaving behind a small tornado, right in front of Wizard. The unsuspecting mage was quickly taken in by the attack, his finisher quickly failing him and he was thrown out of the whirlwind, crashing against the statue, breaking the top portion in the process. Beast, however, managed to cause even more damage, without a target in front of them, the herd of buffalos was just aimlessly running further and right into a group of parking cars, save to say, they did not survive the attack, instead of being consumed in a massive explosion.

“Aw mou… This was not supposed to happen Haruto! And the Phantom got away as well! What are we supposed to do?” Nitho was already past the worrying stage and was particularly running up and down panicking like the world was ending, much to Haruto’s annoyance. The Rider meanwhile stood back up, dusted off the bit of debris from his armor and just slipped off the ring with a silent sigh, his armor shattering into small gems as he did so.

“Ey, Mayonesse!” Haruto put his hand on Nitoh’s shoulder, managing to stop the panicking mage. “Relax, not like this is the first time this has happened.” Beast nodded and pulled his ring from his finger as well, reverting him back into his human form as well. “We just have to look for a bird monster. Shouldn’t be too hard,” he casually continued. “And if we find him we are sure to find Koyomi,” Haruto added with a bit more sober tone. Then he noticed it, Nito looked different, he had yellow skin, like bright yellow additionally to his orange hair.

Haruto started to shout in shock: “You are yellow! Yellow!”

Nitoh immediately started to scream as well, staring at his skin, and indeed it had taken on this unnatural color. “Oh god! What happened to me? I’m yellow! Yellow!” The in his fear he turned around, looking at Haruto. “You are red! Red!” And now Haruto had to look at himself and started to scream as well.

This would have probably taken a long time if it were not for a new voice asking a question: “You are this gem Kamen Rider, right?”

This managed to get Haruto to stop screaming, turning around while saying: “Right, Kamen Rider Wiz-“

*click*

That was as far as he managed to get as something strangely familiar clasped around his wrists, handcuffs. In stunned silence, he stared at his new restraints, Nitoh turning around after noticing the sudden silence of his allies only to be put into the same kind of cuffs.

“I have a lot of questions for you two,” Ocean said in a low voice that made both of them rather uncomfortable. “Let’s hope that I like your answers.”

--------------<

“Ah, and I’m supposed to believe all of this? With no evidence but your word? Do you think I’m stupid? I have seen my fair share of weirdness around here, even multiversal travelers, but this does sound awfully convenient after all.” Ocean was sitting on one side of the table while Haruto was sitting on the other. The room was barren, bare a table, three chairs around it and a large mirror on one side. “So, let me repeat this again, you are a mage from another world that calls himself Kamen Rider Wizard and is following someone who stole a ring from you?” Ocean was looking at him with a raised eyebrow.

“I suppose. Wouldn’t be the first time I landed in another world,” he returned nonchalantly. “But really, I need to get going, so if you would be so kind and let me go I really need to get this mage,” he continued, about to stand up.

“Sorry, I can’t let that happen. Your story shows no obvious hols, and I want to believe you, and in all honesty, something tells me you are telling the truth, but,” she stopped for a moment, biting her lips while letting her eyes stare down at the table beneath her. “We are currently looking for a gem Kamen Rider. He broke into one of the MRG warehouses where we keep magical artifacts. He stole several rings we recovered a few months back from Neighpone and now you show up, granted the description doesn’t completely match, you are a red gem themed Rider while our suspect was purple, but that doesn’t mean much. Riders tend to be rather color swap heavy, so you are not out. You understand that we can’t just let you go, right?” Haruto looked at her for a moment before letting out a resigned sigh, letting himself sink back into his chair.

“Look, if you are really innocent there is nothing to fear, right? Everything is going to clear itself up, after all, I’m sure. We have the best men and women in the world here, you can trust them. So don’t worry, this won’t take so long, I promise,” she said with a warm tone in her voice.

Haruto in return simply raised an eyebrow. “Oh, why the sudden trust? I thought you didn't believe me?”

“Ok, look, I have seen a good amount of weird shit, but I’m still trying to figure out what is believable and what is not. Our world has gone rather crazy the last few months. And in all honesty, you distantly remind me of someone I trust very much. You have the same eyes, the same glimmer in them, I just know deep down that I can trust you, but I’m on duty and until I know you aren’t our culprit I can’t let you out,” she finished with a heavy sigh. “But, I could bring you something to eat. You are probably starving. There is this donut shop just around the corner and I might-“

“Plain sugar!” He burst out almost immediately, taking Ocean by a bit of a surprise.

“Plain Sugar it is then,” she chuckled and reached for the door that same door suddenly opened, Phoenix walking in with a piece of paper in his hands that he handed Ocean.

“Phoenix, what is this?” She picked the paper from him, noticing that it was a man with purple skin and black hair inside what looked like a laboratory.

“This is our culprit, not this guy,” he muttered with a rather nervous look on his face, carefully throwing a look towards Haruto.

“Well, seems you are off the hook for now. Still, I’ll keep an eye on you,” she put the picture down on the table before starting to walk over to the mage.

Haruto just ignored her, letting his hands grasp for the picture. “That’s him! That is Heinrich!”

Ocean’s eyes sprung open in an instant, staring at Haruto in shock. “Heinrich? No, his name is Pure Blood. He was a researcher of the MRG, well until he went roughly that is and killed his superior.”

But before Haruto could answer the building suddenly started to shake, the chair Ocean had just been sitting on just fell over like nothing. “What was that?” Phoenix was the first to ask, looking rather perplexed by the whole thing.

Then Ocean’s communicator started to beep. “Yeah, what is going?”

“We are under attack. A Corrupted is attacking the building. He is on the twentieth floor and currently engaging the security personnel. If you could come, that would be great!” Shining shouted into his communicator, loud explosions could be heard in the background.

“Bird? The Phantom! I need my rings!” Haruto immediately said, looking at Ocean with a look that was a mixture of pleading and determination.

“Who is that?” Came it from the other side of the communicator.

Ocean first stared at him with a rather concerned looking her eyes before shaking her had and more or less screaming at Shining. “I’ll explain later, you have to get a box of evidence from the storage room, it’s labeled rings, and get it to where the monster is. And fast, I’ll send someone to deal with the situation,” she returned, letting no room to object since she already turned to Phoenix: “Phoenix, take our guest here and get to the monster, I’ll have to get the other one, got that?” He nodded, and the two Riders dashed out the door, directly towards the origin of the noise.

“So, you are on our side then I assume?” Phoenix huffed out while they were running down the stairs to the right floor.

“Presumably,” he returned, speeding up even more.

“Names Phoenix Feather, or Kamen Rider Alchemy if you prefer!” He managed to get out between all the breathing.

“Haruto Soma, Kamen Rider Wizard, but I think we can introduce us latter when this is all over,” he returned, all while pushing through the door and now standing right in front of the monster, Garuda.

“Hey, Chicken, what do you want here? So eager for a beating that you came here?” Phoenix taunted the monster, all while putting on his Driver and pulling out a Magic Disc. The Phantom growled at him in a low tone.

\ MAGIC DISC DETECTED! /

“Henshin!”

\ FLAME DISC ACTIVATED! /

With that Alchemy dashed forward, Haruto remaining standing at the sidelines, a rather annoyed look on his face. The Phantom now dashed forward as well, leaving the guards it had been fighting before behind. As both of them had reached around the halfway point the monster suddenly started to pick up speed, then he noticed why it was flying and directly at him.

This realization, however, came far too late, the Phantom mere meters in front of him, the only thing he could come up with in that short of time was to jump forward, grab the wings of the Phantom and twist them so that he would be sailing towards the next wall and not into him. And low and behold, it actually worked, with a loud crash both the Rider and the Phantom smashed through the next wooden wall, taking a few office furniture with them.

Haruto could only watch as Alchemy disappeared into the wall, stepping up and down as he waited for his equipment. And not even a second later he heard someone running up to him, a box in his hand. Apparently, this was officer Shining Armor. “You are the guy I’m supposed to give this to, right?” He huffed, all while holding out the box towards him.

“Thank you,” Haruto simply replied as he looted the content of the small box, put on his belt buckle and pulled out the right rings. With a casual flick of his wrist, the silver ring with the hand was held over the buckle, and the Driver formed again.

With that he had already put on the other ring and flipped its visor, making himself ready to transform.

“Henshin!”

As the magical circle around him faded he wasted no time switching the direction of his Driver again and put on another ring quickly summoning his magic.

“It’s Showtime!” Now with his sword in hand, he finally rushed after Alchemy through the newly created hole in the wall. What he found behind it was a complete mess. Alchemy had drawn his sword and was currently trying to get a hit in on the monster, but just like it had with him and Beast, it was not letting even a single strike through, blocking everything. All while the rest of the office had been reduced to firewood at best, tables, chairs, shelves all smashed to pieces by the two combatants that were no step closer to beating each other.

But at least the Phantom was distracted by the other Rider, so it was easy for him to attack it in the back, and indeed that was exactly what he tried. Running as quiet as possible towards the monster Wizard dashed through the destroyed office, all while Alchemy was keeping Garuda busy and exactly long enough for Haruto to get a hit in, right across the same place where he had struck it just a few hours before. The agonizing scream of the monster was a good indicator that everything was working and Alchemy knew exactly what that meant, spinning the handguard of his sword.

With a loud scream: “Flaming Slash!” He slashed across the side of the monster, or at least that had been the plan, but this plan turned sour rather quickly. The Phantom just grabbed the blade of his sword, the blade of the flaming sword one might add, and as Wizard tried to strike as well, his sword was also caught in the claws of the monster. With a satisfied laugh, the Phantom just threw them both backward, each of them landing in some of the still intact furniture.

“Ok, you want to play, you can have that. Let’s kick this up a notch,” Alchemy shouted at the monster, trying to crawl out of the debris he had found himself into at the same time. As he stood again, he deactivated his weapon and pulled out another Magic Disc.

While this was happening Haruto pulled himself out of the debris as well, pulling out a ring similar to the one he was currently wearing and simply swapped it before holding it over his Driver.

\ FRIENDSHIP DISC ACTIVATED! /

Wizard was once again consumed by a magical circle all while Alchemy was consumed by the purple whirlwind, both Riders emerging in far stronger forms. Wizards black mantel had been turned into red, and the head of a dragon out of gems had formed on his chest. The helmet had change lightly, but not by much, only a larger gem on his forehead and the lines on it and extended far beyond the casing of the helmet. Without even a second thought he switched the Driver again and held another ring on top of it.

With that, another magic circle appeared and out of it, he pulled another one of his swords. With now two weapons in hand he rushed towards the monster, who tried to block him, but instead of using one arm and bracelet he was forced to use both and just for one of the swords, the other one quickly found its way towards the chest of Garuda. With a loud yelp, the monster staggered back, giving Wizard enough time to follow up with another strike. This continued for a few more attacks, that was until both Garuda and Wizard were interrupted by a loud flick of a finger.

Within seconds purple seals appeared around the Phantom and ethereal chains shoot out of them, wrapping the monster in them, quite effectively immobilizing it. “If you would be so kind, finish him off will you,” Alchemy shouted from the other side of the room, gritting his teeth as he tried to hold the phantom within its restrains. Wizard just weakly chuckled, pulling on another ring, this time with a red gem, flipped his Driver once again and held it over it.

Out of nowhere a flaming ethereal dragon appeared behind him, circled around him for a moment before going straight into him, leaving behind a silver and gold dragon head on his chest. Wizard was starting to hover in the air as he said: “Finale!” That was when the dragon's mouth opened, releasing a storm of flames that headed right for the panicking Phantom that desperately tried to escape his fate, all for nothing, it quickly swallowed by the intense heat of the flame. As everything died down, there might have been a few scorch marks everywhere, but the monster was gone. “Whew.”

“Well, that was certainly something. Thanks for the help,” Phoenix sighed, having already taken off his Driver.

Haruto was just about to say something as someone burst into what was left of the room. “Aw mou… I missed the Phantom! And he looked so delicious,” Nitoh sighed, Ocean quickly behind him, Charge Magnum in hand.

“Well, it seems you made quick work of our intruder. But I think we don’t have much time to celebrate. We have a lot to discuss,” Ocean sighed while gesturing everyone to follow her. This was gonna be a long day.

--------------<

Meanwhile in another part of the city on top of a building something rather peculiar was happening. The air started to dull like a curtain was slowly fading into existence. This continued until a man stepped out of the weird phenomenon. He wore a black suit with a magenta shirt underneath, just like his skin. His brown hair waved in the wind. And the last noticeable thing about him was the fact that a magenta camera was hanging around his neck, one he quickly picked up and took a picture of the skyline before him. “So, this is the Alchemy’s world.”

Author's Note

Well, now it's time for something a bit special. Time for a few canon Riders to mess up Alchemy's world. And this won't just be a two chapter arc, this will take a bit longer. I hope you will have as much fun with these next chapters as I have writing them.

Of Wizards, Travelers and Alchemists - I've got the Gist of It

He hadn’t expected his day to turn out like this, not in a thousand years, especially so soon after the last interdimensional accident just a few weeks back, but here he was, sitting around one of the bigger tables inside the Magnum Opus and talking about dimensions, Phantoms, and magicians. Save to say, this meant a lot of new information he had to make sense of, and he actually managed quite well, as far fetched as it might have sounded, maybe it was the fact that he had come to accept that his life was a cornucopia of weirdness. Ocean was listening carefully, all while Haruto and Nitoh were telling them about their adventures as Kamen Riders. Shining was listening carefully as well but seemed to be a bit more confused by the whole ordeal. A completely different approach to the whole thing, however, was taken by Summer, she was hanging on every single one of their words, asking question nearly every three minutes. And of course, Pinecone who was sitting at the table next to them and listened as well.

“So, let me get this straight, you are from a different world that is inhabitant by countless monster-factions and you wone against one of them. So much so bizarre, but not the first time I hear something like this, but now it gets strange. You say that Pure Blood, or Heinrich whatshisname, stole your ring which is also your dead friend out of your ‘Underworld’ and disappeared into this world… Did I get everything right?” Phoenix stared at Haruto who just nodded nonchalantly like this was no big deal. “Wow, and I thought my life was weird… this is something different.” He just shook his head in defeat. “Let’s hope my life doesn’t turn out like this… Ah, who am I kidding, it will.”

Ocean was about to say something else as she was interrupted by Thunder who placed down six pizzas in front of them, amazingly he had actually managed to balance them all at the same time. “Here you, have something to eat, the whole monster fighting probably tired you out quite a bit, right?” He smiled at Haruto and Nitoh, the later quickly grabbing his pizza, a simple pizza with ham and pineapple. “Well, seems I was right-“ Then he suddenly stopped, his eyes shooting open in shock and a bit disgust. Nitoh was pouring mayonnaise on his pizza! He had grown accustomed to Ocean’s… an acquired taste, but this? This was just… no! And he was not alone, everyone besides Haruto and maybe Pinecone stared at him with an expression of utter confusion. “What in the name of Tartarus are you doing?”

He had just applied the last bit of the paste on the pizza as he looked back up, right into Thunders dumbstruck face and smiled. “Oh, you want something as well, I could-“

This was it! “No! No, I don’t want anything like this! This… This is… How can you…” He was at a loss for words. No, this was barberry, nothing less.

“Uhm, Nitoh would you mind if I could have something of the mayo?” In an instant, everyone on the table spun around and stared at the one who had asked this question, and of course, it was Ocean, who else really could have.

“Ok, Ocean, I love you and your taste, but mayonnaise? Really, you really think this will work?” Phoenix asked with an expression that told everyone that even he thought that she had completely lost her mind.

“Oh, sure, here let me just put this here and…” And so Nitoh leaned over the entire table and poured his mayonnaise on top of Ocean’s pizza that had now been turned into a tuna-ham-pineapple-apple-sweetcorn-mayonnaise-pizza. “So, now hope you like it! Anyone else?” Silence, that was all he received. Instead, everyone was staring at Ocean as she picked up the first slice, slowly guiding it towards her mouth, it closing around it and…

“Mhm… This is great,” she managed to mumble out through the entirety of her food, her expression one of utter bliss. She didn’t even notice the looks of utter incomprehension and disgust she received, only Nitoh was to busy eating his own food to notice and Phoenix who looked like he was struggling with something.

After a good minute of silence, he finally relented. “Ok, fine, I’ll take a bit of mayonnaise as well.” His voice was low and uneasy, one could hear it tremble a bit, all while his face had taken on a far paler tone. Thunder stared at him with a glare that pretty much said: ‘How could you betray me like this?’ He looked in dread as Nitoh happily poured the mayonnaise all over his pizza, secretly wishing he hadn’t said anything. After the bottle was pulled away, he could do nothing else than to star at it, that was until he felled a warm hand on his shoulder, ocean. She smiled at him as well as nodded. He knew what she meant, he had asked for it after all. Taking in a deep breath, he picked up the slice and slowly moved it to his mouth, his hand shaking violently, the scent of the different ingredients creeping their way towards his nose and… it smelled good. His uneasiness had taken a hit, now or nether. He took the bite, his teeth clenching close around the slice.

Seconds went by without any form of reaction from Phoenix, all eyes on him, until… “Hmh, this is good. How could I ever doubt you Ocean?” he almost screamed out. Everyone almost fell off their chairs, they couldn't believe it, he actually liked it?

“You two are made for each other, you know that?” Shining deadpanned, he looked dead inside. “Really, no one else would ever even attempt something like this. Thank goodness you two are together, otherwise there would be two really poor people that would have to put up with your food choices,” he sighed, shaking his head in disbelief.

“Hey, if you want to complain, try it first,” both of them bellowed back in unison, each holding one of the slices in their hands. Shining looked at them with a stunned expression, until the entire table burst out into laughter, even Pinecone escaped a chuckle, this was just too priceless.

“You know, on second thought, I think I’ll pass. Enjoy your meal, I’ll stick to the boring stuff,” he quickly returned, shaking his head vigorously, much to the amusement of everyone else. Well, all but Thunder, but he knew when he was beat, and that was one of these moments.

“Aww, and I thought we might have finally cracked him Ocean. But don’t worry, we’ll succeed someday, trust me. He will break,” Phoenix continued, a vicious smile forming on his lips.

And Ocean joined in with her own. “Oh, you are right. And I’m pretty sure it won’t take that long. I have broken far more stubborn guys.” Both of them now sported a grin that could have belonged to an ax-murder, much to shinings dread. He looked at both of them and gulped, he suddenly didn’t feel comfortable anymore. Then they started to laugh again. “Oh, come on Shining, as if we would force you. That will only happen when you really piss us off, and until yet that hasn’t happened, so don’t worry.”

“Noted,” he weakly returned, still looking carefully at them and their pizzas.

“Anyway, we should probably get back to business. We don’t want our guests to be held here any longer than necessary,” she smiled over to Haruto and Nitoh. “So, any idea why he stole your Philosopher Stone?” The last few words she spoke out a bit more worried.

“Well, apparently he created it, so maybe he just wanted it back? If I made something and lost it, I would want it back as well,” Nitoh muttered, all while gulping down the next slice of pizza.

“I don’t know, all that to simply get back something? Sure, it’s powerful, but traveling between different worlds and killing someone just for that? I don’t know, but there is more to this, I just know. My gut is telling me that there is,” Ocean returned, her forehead covered in wrinkles as she wrote down everything they knew on a small tablet. “And why was he here in the first place? If he really was from your world why was he here? On a similar note, why were his rings in Neighpone, that all makes no sense,” she sighed. “Kamen Rider stuff is so confusing.”

While ocean was trying to piece anything logical together, Haruto put down his own slice of pizza and returned: “Well, there was this one mage that was imprisoned inside of a magic stone, Amadum. He was banished there because of the other mages of his time, maybe they did something similar with Heinrich? It would make sense?” He returned, sounding rather unsure of it himself.

“Yeah, that actually makes some sense. Still, I would like to know for sure, but until then, we will just assume that. But what does he want back here? He tried so hard to leave this world, so why come back? The only reason I could think of is that he still needs something from this world, but what?” Ocean was really starting to get annoyed, this was getting her nowhere. She had already heard the story two times, and still, all this made no sense to here. They were missing something, but what?

“Hey ocean, I think there is nothing we can do besides guessing right now. So don’t worry, we’ll figure it out some way. I have a feeling that Phantom wasn’t the last one we have seen from the guy. If he really wanted to kill Haruto and Nitoh he will try again, I’m sure of it. We just have to wait…” Phoenix tried to calm her down, only for his upbeat tone to die down a bit at the end.

“Yeah, exactly, wait and see. Like we always do. Every time we try to do something before our opponents do, we are too late, We are always reacting, not acting, no matter how hard we try. It would be a nice change of pace if we actually could go on the offensive for once,” she returned, her voice relatively low.

“Oh, don’t be like that! Every pinch is a chance, after all, you just have to grab it by the tail and rille it in, that is all. If the bad guy doesn’t want to be found, you just have to try harder. We pretty much always were the ones looking out for the monsters, we would have lost a lot of the Gates if we weren’t actively looking for Phantoms, right Haruto?” Nitoh said, all while slapping his “rival” on the back.

Haruto threw a quick look at his friend, but ultimately just silently sighed and added: “Yep. Even if it seemed like a drop on the hot stone, it saved lives.”

“Hmh, you are right, so we just have to be persistent, just keep doing what we have been doing before. And not just regarding this,” she silently added, but not so silently that Phoenix couldn’t hear it. He carefully placed his hand on her shoulder, she returning a pained smile.

--------------<

Meanwhile in an empty villa in one of Canterlot’s high society areas six people had gathered in a rather dusty dining room. The table that had stood in the room beforehand had been carelessly thrown into another room, and a large gold painted chair had been dragged in. Candles had been placed all over and illuminated everything in an eerie light. The white wall was already showing signs of decay and root, but this was all they had managed to find in the short amount of time. The villa had been left abandoned for over a year now, or at least that was what people said. It really didn’t interest them who had lived here before, only that they weren’t anymore.

With the chair placed at the far end of the room, one man had taken residence in it, a man with purple skin and black hair, Heinrich! The five other figures were still veiled in darkness, kneeling around the room, all looking towards their master. “So Garuda failed me?” His voice echoed through the more or less empty room, his servants all avoiding his glares, but even then, they knew, he was angry.

“Yes, master. He underestimated the power of-“ The man closest to him tried to say, trying to hide the nervousness in his voice.

“Enough! I asked you if he failed me, not for excuses! He is dead, there is nothing to excuse there! And you better hope that you don’t do the same!” Heinrich’s voice spat out, the wine glass he had been holding in his hand was quickly thrown to the side as he stood up from his “throne”. “Garuda underestimated a magician, he should have known better. It’s his own fault that he failed me, remember that. Now, that we are one servant short, what is your idea? What should we do next?” He asked the man in front of him, the one who had tried to calm him down with weak excuses, grabbing him by the cheeks he lifted his head upwards, their eyes meeting. He could see the fear in his eyes as he continued staring. “Tell, what should we do now?”

“Uhm, my master, I would say we should take care of the interlopers, they might be a three-“ That was when a loud slap echoed through the halls of the abandoned building followed by the dull sound of the man hitting the floor beneath him.

“You dare to insinuate that he could be a threat to me? Me, one of the greatest mages to ever walk this earth? Laughable. For you, maybe, but only if you are is pathetic as Garuda, and you are not right Kraken?” Heinrich’s voice was low, almost sweet, but there was this poised, malicious undertone to it as he stepped away from his beaten servant. “I only have a limited number of you and making new servants in this world would be quite the hassle, and would only delay and endanger my inevitable victory. No, we have to prepare everything for the ritual so you will take care of that and no failures, did I make myself clear?”

“Yes, my lord,” Kraken returned, trying to hold back his coughing. “What is your command?”

“Better, now since you are so eager to follow, why don’t we sent you out there? We need eight positions all around the city, take this,” he threw a small purple gem with golden engravings on it towards him. “Now, get going! Place this exactly where we need it to be and don’t screw it up, or you will regret it! Oh, and if you can get your hands on the tressure of this world, I would be greatly pleased.”

“Yes, my lord, as you command!” With a bow he stormed out of the room, leaving the other five behind.

“My lord, do you think he will survive?” A female voice asked a woman blue skin, and grey hair stepped out of the shadows.

“Oh, Unicorn. I’m sure he will at least be to some use to me if he at least manages to activate one of them and if he gets the tressure, I would be even more delighted. But who knows if he could ever pull that off. Not that it matters, in the end, I was born to rule over everyone and I will, that is the will of God!” He chuckled, returning to his “throne”. “oh, and Unicorn? Can you bring me another glass of wine, I must have misplaced my old one!”

“Of course, master,” she quickly returned, leaving the room with a good amount of haste.

“So, how is this going to go? How long till you all bow before me, like you should?”

--------------<

Loud screams could be heard through the whole neighborhood, until now the threat of monsters had always stayed in the city and hadn’t really affected the outer suburbs of Canterlot City, well until today. A hulking yellow beast had suddenly appeared, turning from a human with yellow skin and silver hair into this abomination. Its body was primarily yellow. However, there were silver bits scattered all over it in seemingly no logical pattern, just dots of silver. Instead of two arms, it had long tentacles and not just two, it had six, all seemingly reaching out for something different. Over its chest lines of silver were drawn that formed into something like armor, just with large missing chunks. And its head, oh, its face consisted of a mass of tentacles that kinda reminded one of a beard as well as two massive horns. The eyes were encased in the same kind of silver lines the body was, creating a sort of mask for the Phantom.

It had just suddenly started to attack people, everyone running like crazy before putting a purple gem in front of it, one that quickly started to glow as well as to form purple cracks on the ground beneath it. While it scared of everyone that was too close to it, it didn’t really seem to be after anyone in particular, just walking around the glowing gem.

This had been going on for a few moments already as the sound of two loud engines could be heard in the distance. The Phantom could just turn its head towards the origin of the sound as two shots rang out, hitting the monster square in the face and knocking it back a few meters. With a loud screech, Alchemy’s and Wizard’s bikes came to a halt in front of the Phantom who just growled at the two Riders.

“Hey, Squidy seems we really just had to look for more of you. And you make it so damn easy, really appreciate it!” Alchemy chuckled as he jumped off his bike, removing his Magic Disc from his Driver.

\ Flame Disc Attack Mode! /

\ Flame Saber! /

Wizard meanwhile had nonchalantly stepped off his bike as it was still slowing down, slowly walking towards the Phantom, his gun pointed at the monster while adding a simple: “It’s Showtime!” Alchemy could not other than to watch in awe as the other Rider stepped forward, and unloaded bullet after bullet at the Phantom, like this was the most normal thing in the world. The monster couldn’t really do anything against this either, it just had to tank the damage as best as he could. Still, the damage was substantial, he was slowly pushed further and further back.

That was until he apparently had enough of this pointless attack. With a loud roar, the monster let it’s tentacles shoot out toward Wizard who easily jumped over them and land stylishly behind the Phantom, quickly shifting the mode of his weapon to dash forward into the following five ‘arms’ managing to counter every single one of them with seeming ease. Every tentacle that came as much as close to him was just slashed away, letting the Phantom roar out in pain at every opportunity it had.

With the Rider managing to slice through the onslaught of attacks, he came closer and closer to Kraken, who was starting to panic, or at least that was how it seemed in the moment. However, like as if someone had switched on a lightbulb the Phantom sprung into action the moment Haruto had managed to get within swinging distance of the monster. His arms shot back at the Rider from the back, grabbing each of his limbs and halting Wizards attempt to put his ring over the hand of the sword.

While the Rider was struggling to break free from the monster Alchemy jumped to action, he had been somewhat awestruck by the efficientness of the senior Rider, but now it was his time to shine. With the Phantom having tied Haruto down with four arms it had limited itself quite a bit and just as it was about to slam the other two at Wizards hat Alchemy stormed towards the monster, weapon in hand and screaming at the top of his lungs: “Hey, Squidy, didn’t you forget someone?”

Kraken just growled and lowered the two remaining tentacles and just thrust them at Alchemy, who trying to imitate the mage, let his sword swing lose at them, just to not feel an impact. Instead of hitting the appendages the Phantom and let them evade Alchemy’s attacks, and now they were already circling him, preparing to grab ahold of him just like with Wizard. With one last thrust, the tentacles shoot towards the Rider, who let ölose a small chuckle, one no one besides himself could hear, but it was the thought that counted after all. Within the last moment, he finally jumped into the air, and over the incoming appendages, and spun the disc on his sword guard three times.

“Flaming Barrage!” What followed were three waves of burning energy rocketing towards the Phantom who did not even know what had hit him, taking the full force of the attack, in the process dropping Wizard who wasted no time in doing what he had wanted to do for so long.

The Phantom had no time to even notice what the mage had planned for it as it was struck by the attack of Wizard that burned away at his body like hellfire. The force of the attack was enough to knock him back over the river and into the next building, right into the living room of a family that thankfully had already decided to evacuate their house. Kraken could feel the burns all over his body, the Rider’s had really managed to get into quite a bind, but he couldn’t just leave, the pillar wasn’t fully manifested yet and if they managed to stop that he would… No, nothing they could do to him could surpass what his master would do if he found out he had one of the pillars get destroyed before it had manifested.

He picked himself up from the rubble and staggered towards the hole in the wall before bellowing out with a loud groan: “Rider’s, that was all? I’m disappointed, I heard rumors about you and your strength, but it seems that was exactly what it was, rumors, nothing more than people overexaggerating.” With that Kraken rushed forward with a loud scream and unleashed several projectiles of water at the Riders.

The Riders meanwhile had noticed the purple gem and the earth that was cracking around it. “I don’t know what this is, but I’m pretty sure it’s nothing good, in the slightest. How about we let it shatter into a thousand pieces?” Alchemy chuckled while playing with his sword a little. Haruto just shook his head and shifted his weapon back into its gu form, took aim and… spun around shooting at several orbs of water that had been hading their way, shattering a few of them in the process while the others rushed past them and let the ground around them erupt into a thick dust cloud. “Ok, change of plans, we deal with Squidy first, then we are dealing with that strange thing.”

Moments later they were again attacked by the orbs of water, the Riders only able to see them at the last moment. Alchemy could feel the impact as they hit him, it felt like someone had thrown a bowling ball at him, both of them were thrown backward and dashed towards the next bit of cover. As the dust had settled, the Phantom was nowhere to be seen. “Dammit, it got away,” Alchemy muttered, walking out from behind the wall he had taken shelter behind.

That turned out to be a big mistake, unbeknownst to him the monster had just dipped into the river and was hiding out there. A Rider just walking out of cover was just the moment he had been waiting for. It didn’t take the Phantom long to let another one of the watery projectiles lose at Alchemy, the Rider completely oblivious to the whole ordeal. While Alchemy might have been none the wiser, Wizard, however, saw the incoming attack and dashed forward with a loud: “Watch out!”

The mage tackled the other Rider to the ground, the projectile just barely missing them and crashing into a nearby building, taking with it huge parts of the wall. It took a few moments for Alchemy to regain his composure. “Thanks, without you I might have had a really bad case of a headache,” he muttered, still trying to sort his thoughts in his head. “So, the guy is in the water? Thinks he can outswim us? I’ll show him, time for a bit of fishing,” he growled, standing back up and switching his Disc with a blue one. Haruto just chuckled silently and switched his ring to a blue one and flipped the hand on the Driver.

\ WATER DISC ACTIVATED! /

Both Alchemy and Wizard were consumed by energy and now sported a new armored look, Alchemy his blue and gold Water Form while Wizard had changed his red gems into blue ones and the gem on his helmet had shifted to a different form as well. Wizard quickly switched the position of the hand again and let a blue ring hover over it while Alchemy activated his weapon again.

\ Water Disc Attack Mode! /

\ Wave Trident! /

Now with the trident in hand Alchemy rushed towards the water, the projectiles heading straight for him, all while Wizard simply turned into a floating mass of water and floated towards the river. “Hey, that’s not fair!” He called out while slashing through one of the incoming balls of water with his weapon, Haruto either just ignoring him couldn’t answer, in all honesty, it didn’t really matter since he outpaced Alchemy by quite a bit, the younger Rider just desperately continuing his sprint towards the water while avoiding the incoming attacks.

While Alchemy was still struggling through the onslaught of attacks that were coming to his way Wizard had already rushed past all of that and reached the water, submerging right next to the Phantom, the Rider washing past his opponent and materializing behind the monster, taking grabbing ahold of his limbs and starting to stretch him. That however quickly proved fruitless, not only because of the extremely flexible body of the Phantom, no but also because of his four additional arms that tried to grab at Wizard in return, the mage quickly turning back into liquid and evading the attack.

Not that this helped him get into any kind of saver spot, the tentacles of the monster quickly trying to reach for him again, but just kept passing through him with every new attempt, the speel still in effect. If this held up, he wouldn’t be able to counterattack and eventually even his supply of mana would eventually dry up.

That was the moment something dived into the river, taking both Wizard and Kraken by surprise. Alchemy had finally managed to get to the water, all thanks to Haruto who had been distracting the monster. And he was no one who would waste such an opportunity, letting his trident slash across the chest of the Phantom who let out a loud screech, only amplified by the water.

“Squidy, keep it down, that hurts like Tartarus,” Alchemy shouted back, hoping in some way the message arrived at by the Corrupted. Wizard meanwhile just let his weapon speak for him, with silver bullets and they did leave a statement, several in fact. The bullets had hit the Phantom, pushing it back even further.

But now that the monster was in his natural habitat this didn’t really face it that much, letting another round of his projectiles rocket towards them, but instead of water, it seemed like they were simple shockwaves underwater, not that either of them had any problem dodging them with their new forms.

With impressive speed both Riders dashed forward, swimming through everything the Phantom could throw at them like it was child play until they reached their opponent and let their weapons come down on them Haruto his WizarSwordGun and Phoenix his Wave Trident. Both of their attacks quickly blocked by the tentacles of the monster which quickly followed this up with its four other arms striking at the two Riders. While both were able to block the incoming attack, they were quickly pushed back by the force of the swings the Phantom had deployed.

Before either of them could attack again everything happened all at once, the ground under them cracked and purple energy shined through it before quickly retreating back. Whatever the Phantom had tried to do, it seemed to be done since the monster turned around at once and was about to swim away as out of nowhere the entire river just exploded. Water spilled over the edges of the river, covering the nearby houses in a good amount of water as well as depositing the Riders somewhere in the area.

When everything was settled down again, there was no Phantom to be seen. “Dammit! He escaped. What in the name of Tartarus even was that?” Alchemy cursed, slowly standing back up again.

“Don’t know, but it packed quite a punch,” Haruto returned, dusting off a bit of the water from his coat.

“Yeah, that is one way of saying that,” Alchemy muttered back.

Meanwhile on the roof of a building a kilometer away an armored figure looked into the direction the fight had taken place. In its hand, it held a golden and black gun that he slowly lowered. His armor was green and black as well as small gold accents like the horns. On its waist, it had a small white box that somewhat looked like a belt buckle.

--------------<

“Dammit,” Kraken groaned as he limped himself along the wall of a nearby building, holding his shoulder in the process. He could feel the hole in it with every passing step, but he had to get away if he didn’t that was it for him. Whatever had hit him was strong, it had clearly shot through his shoulder, and subsequently, unleashed that explosion of water upon all of them, he was lucky to even have survived this long.

That was when his strength finally left him, his legs giving in right from under him and the man fell into a bunch of trashcans that quickly scattered their contents all around them. “No…” he weakly cried out, trying to continue on simply crawling further, but even his arms betrayed him. “No… I can’t die here,” he muttered in defiance to no one in particular, he just knew he couldn’t accept this. Still, he could feel his body slowly starting to break apart, the energy just passed out of him, his eyes grew heavy. Everything was just growing hazier and hazier by the second. This was it apparently, at least he had managed to finish the task of his master.

“No. No!” His eyes darted back open, filled with sheer determination. Screw dying, he still had things to do after all. At this moment something blue shot from the sky and crashed into a small broken ring in front of him that had been thrown into the trash, transforming it into a blue gemstone ring in the form of a Kraken. Not even thinking for a moment he pulled together the last of his strength and grabbed ahold of the ring, a bright blue light enveloping him, his injuries just melting away as the newfound energy ran through his body.

Kraken took a deep breath as he pulled himself out of the trash, accompanied by the sound of clapping. His head spun around staring at her. “Unicorn, you were here the whole time?” He growled at the woman who casually jumped from the roof she had just been sitting on. “Why didn’t you help me?”

“Help you?” She chuckled. “Please, where is the fun in that? And if you can’t even fight off a simple mage and one of these world’s Kamen Riders, there is no reason I should risk my life for you. The master doesn’t appreciate failure. Still, you managed to at least succeed in erecting the first pillar, so you only failed partially. So I guess, giving you this is not a complete waste,” she dismissively added before throwing him another one of the purple gems. “You goal is on the other end of the city, an amphitheater on the outskirts of town, even you can’t miss that.”

With that she started to walk off, only to stop after a few meters and turn around one last time. “Oh, and ty not to get yourself killed. I’m sure the master is interested in what happened to you, even if I already have an assumption. See ya,” she chuckled before turning around again and disappearing in blue light.

Kraken looked after her, and let out a low growl: “Oh, don’t worry, I’ll survive, and after I’m done with the Riders you are next.” He spat out the last words before going on his way, he had a job to do and intended to fulfill it to his master's satisfaction.

--------------<

Ocean and heard about Phoenix’s and Haruto’s encounter with another Phantom but hadn’t managed to get to them in time. But the fact that another one of them had already appeared was worrying, it showed that their opponent was not playing around and knew exactly what he was doing, something that worried her quite considerably. The last time their enemies were just as confused and unprepared as they were and that did make it easier, but this time they were in the disadvantaged, and that was not a good thing in the slightest. And then there was the fact that the Phantom had done something, what exactly she didn’t know, but it was bad news for sure.

With the sun already setting over the city she would probably call it quits soon, but not without someone to monitor the city. Only a few more blocks and she was done for the day, as long as no Phantom or Corrupted decided to act up. She almost thought this would be the end for today as her communicator on the bike started to go off. “Here agent Ocean Skies, what is it?”

“Hey, Ocean, I’ve got another sitting of the Corrupted that escaped Phoenix and Haruto. It’s just a few streets away from you in a park with an amphitheater,” Shining Armor said from the other end of the line.

With a silent sigh she returned: “Good, I’m on my way. How long till anyone else is there?”

“About ten to fifteen minutes, they are all in completely different portions of the city, so you have to do this alone for the time being. But I’m sure you will manage sir,” he returned.

“Good, I'll be right there,” she returned, ending the call. With that, she let her engines roar and raced off towards the familiar park with the theater. The people that were running in her direction were a good indicator that she was indeed on the right track, letting her bike stop right at the entrance of the theater. Inside the Phantom had stepped onto the stage, several props still standing right there and had placed a purple gemstone down right in the middle of it. The stage was already covered in purple cracks that emerged from the point where the gem had been placed, all while the Phantom was just keeping an eye out for anything and anyone that could get in his way.

“So, you are the one that got away from Alchemy and Wizard before. But you are out of luck this time, no water for you to dip into, so be ready for your end,” Charge bellowed over the empty rows of seats, immediately getting the attention of the monster. To her surprise it looked somewhat different from how Phoenix and Haruto had described it, it was now clad in a silver armor that covered its entire body, minus the head and arms. Embedded into the armor were large sapphires that shined in the sunset.

The Phantom glared at her before letting several orbs of water shit towards her, the speedy Rider easily dodging the incoming attacks by sidestepping them. This, however, did not deter the monster in the slightest, simply continuing its barrage of orbs, following Charge as she tried to race through the rows of seats that were quickly turned into debris. While she was running for her life, she fired at the Phantom with her Charge Magnum. But instead of actually achieving anything the blasts seemingly just bounced off the armor of the Monster.

What was worse was the fact that the Phantom showed no signs of slowing down in any way shape or form, all while her five seconds were quickly drawing to a close. With a last ditch effort, she jumped in between the rows and started to hug the wall. This proved only mildly successful, as her cover was quickly turned to rubble by the unrelenting assault of the monster. She could feel every projectile that impacted with her armor as she was thrown back against the wall of the theater. “Ok, outrunning him won’t work, how about this,” she hissed between her pained grunts and quickly switched out her current Charger against another one.

“Charge up!”

\ 50, 80, 100! FIRE CHARGE! /

With the energy barrier blocking the incoming attacks, she had just enough time to activate the boosters all over her suit and rocket away from the incoming attack. The Phantom was taken by surprise as she jetted through the sky and directly towards him, unloading her weapon on him again, this time the blasts actually at least inconveniencing him as they hit him. This success, however, was rather short-lived, the monster quickly regaining his composure and gathered several of the orbs in front of him only to unleash them all at once, knocking Charge out of the sky and crashing into the rows.

Climbing out of the rubble she stared at the Phantom who just threw her a look of utter smugness. She was really starting to get tired of all of this. She was just about to shoot again as she heard it. The sound of something clicking, the Phantom had heard it as well, both staring around the are trying to figure out where the sound had come from. That question was answered rather quickly as they spotted a man with purple skin and brown hair dressed in a black suit and holding an old fashion camera. He had just snapped a picture… in the middle of a battlefield.

“Who do you think you are? Are you trying to mock me?” The Phantom bellowed at him, but the man just remained as calm as before, not even faced by the monster screaming at him.

“I? I'm just a passing-through Kamen Rider,” he returned while standing up and pulling out a strange white box that he put at his waist, it quickly looping around it. With that he pulled out another white and black box and picked a strange card out of it, pulling on the outer parts of the belt at the same time. “Remember that!” With that, he pushed the card into the strange belt and slammed the two ends together again all while calmly saying:

“Henshin!”

|KAMEN RIDE|

|DECADE|

Around the man, a silhouette appeared out of nowhere, Charge unable to make out exactly how they looked from that far away that quickly overlayed on top of the new Rider to form a grey suit. That one, however, was quickly collared in after several magenta cards smalled into his visor, the suit taking on a primarily magenta color as well as a bit white and black. The head, however, was the strangest part, several black stripes running through the green eyes of the Rider.

“So, I assume you could use the help of a professional?” He smugly asked Charge who just sighed and begrudgingly nodded, she was not dumb enough to throw help away when someone offered it, as arrogant as he might seem. “Figured as much,” he added while slotting another card into the strange Driver.

|ATTACK RIDE|

|BLAST|

He picked up the other box that was hanging at the belt, and after a few quick moves the strange booklet had formed into a handgun, the Rider quickly firing a few shots at the Phantom, knocking it squarely back. At this moment the entire area was engulfed in a bright purple light that quickly subsided again. This was just like Phoenix had told about, they were too slow again. “Tsk, oh well, no reason to prolong this anymore. Hey, newbie!” He shouted toward Charge. “Kick it up a notch, I would like to finish this quickly.” She stared at the strange Rider, before grumbling something to herself that the man should better never hear and switched her Charger again. He just put in another card.

“Charge up!”

\ 50, 80, 100! FRIENDSHIP CHARGE! /

|Form Ride|

|Den-O Gun|

While Charge had changed into Friendship Charge, strange small tubes had appeared around the Rider, changing his entire suit into a black one, several silver parts attaching themselves to the suit rather quickly. In place of his magenta suit now stood a black one with silver armor that had purple highlights as well as a purple visor. The shoulders even extended beyond the armor and ended in two yellow orbs, in his hand he held a small little gun. Without much more fanfare he just slotted in another card while Ocean just spun her cylinder again.

|FINAL ATTACK RIDE|

|D-D-D-DEN-O|

\ Maximum Charge! /

The new Rider held his pistol in front of himself, electricity sparking from the weapon and the two orbs on his shoulder, forming into a big purple orb right in front of him. Charge meanwhile gathered all of her energy into her rifle, both Riders unleashed their attacks at the same time, heading straight for the Phantom who just now managed to get back up again only to be greeted by the attacks. With a large explosion the life of the Phantom ended, the only thing left of him was a small sapphire ring in the form of a Kraken that Charge quickly caught.

She took one look at the strange ring and sighed: “Oh, come on, really? Corrupted Phantoms? And a new Rider as well? This is gonna be another long day.”

“Well, at least you have someone with experience here now,” the Rider said to her from behind.

“Oh, the joy,” she just sighed again, this was gonna be a really, really long day.

Of Wizards, Travelers and Alchemists - Missing Piece

Tense, that was how one could describe the air in the room, not a single one of the four dared to speak up, almost able to see the glares of their master who was sitting in his throne, the darkness covering his face. While he sat comfortably and without any sign of stress, all of them could feel it, the anger, the furry and the disappointment. He hadn’t touched his wine in over ten minutes, instead had just sat there, listening carefully to Unicron’s explanations, not speaking a single word. Even the confidant Phantom could feel that even though she brought with her new and useful information, he was none too pleased with her.

“So, Kraken has fallen. A shame, really, but this is just how life goes. If you aren’t born for greatness you will never achieve it,” Heinrich sighed, sounding surprisingly calm all things considered. “However,” he added, a malicious undertone in his voice. “Unicorn, you said you saw everything? From the point you gave him the second stone to his death, may I ask why you didn’t intervene? As much as I despise failures, he still could have been useful to me, so why? Do tell me, I’m interested.”

The Nobel stood up from his throne and slowly walked towards Unicorn, trying to remain as confident as she usually was, with emphasis on trying. Even in the dark room one could see her body slowly starting to shake, first just a little bit but with every step, her master made it grew and grew, her mask cracking more and more as he stepped closer and closer, like a predator that was hunting his pray. “Come now, Unicorn, you must have had a good reason not to intervene, right?” He whispered into her ear, his voice as cold as a blizzard.

With her breath quickly shooting up she stammered back: “Reason… A reason… Of course my lord. I… I just wanted to see how well he faired with these new powers of him.” While she had spoken Heinrich had circled around her, but the moment she said this he stopped, spinning around and staring him right in the eyes.

“New powers? What do you mean with that? And why is it that I only now hear of this, Unicorn,” the last words were spoken with such distance and malice that even the Phantom took a few steps back staring at her master in absolute fear. “Oh, no need to be afraid of me my dear. Well, as long as you don’t betray me, so, do tell, what are these ‘new powers’ and why did you think it necessary to withhold this information from me?” The cold glare that came her way just made her even more afraid, her breathing grew more and more uneven. “Speak! I command it!”

This finally got the Phantom to speak, quickly returning an answer she hoped would save her from an untimely demise. “Magic, he bonded with magic from this world. It acted as a form of an enhancer for his powers, it also saved him from dying,” she spat this answer out so fast there was no chance that she was lying.

“And?” Heinrich asked again, not showing any of the calm and collectedness he had shown before, no he was unearthed, angry and glaring at her.

“I… I was just unsure if my assumption was correct and didn’t want to deliver my lord wrong information, especially if it might have unsuspected side effects,” Unicorn continued, sweet now dripping of her forehead, as she stared back at her master in fear.

“Oh, is that so? You think I can’t handle a bit of magic, as otherworldly as it might be?” He asked with a low growled, taking several steps to his terrified underling. “I’m the greatest mage to have ever walked this earth. I created the Philosopher Stone, I was so powerful that only a group of five mages could restrain me and banish to another plane of existence. You really think I could not master another form of it? How dare you?” He hissed, stepping closer and closer towards Unicorn who started to step back more and more as she tried to avoid the wrath of her master.

“No, no! I would never suggest something as ludicrous as this master. I was just worried about any unforeseeable consequences, but if you say it is of no concern to you I made a terrible mistake,” she returned, the panic in her voice finally boiling over and leaving her a terrified mess as she slumped to the floor and frantically started to bow before the mage. “I made a terrible mistake my lord, please, may you forgive this ignorant servant?” She let her head sink to the ground, forced shut, unable to open them out of fear what would stare back at her if she dared as much as to blink.

Heinrich threw a disgusted glare down at her before his posture relaxed again, the mage taking a deep breath. “You may be forgiven, while your actions were wrong, you handled out of pure intent.” The pressure seemingly melted off of her, her muscles relaxing in an instance. “However, do not think this will always be the case. I decided to be merciful for now, but ever think of questioning me again and…” He continued, leaning down towards the Phantom and whispering it into her ears, the threat clearly pronounced.

“Of… Of course, my master, as you wish,” she added, trying not to stumble over her own words.

“That is good to hear, especially since I managed to get my hands on this,” he pulled out a small bracelet, blue in color and engraved with small lightning insignia, she could feel the otherworldly energy erupting from it. No, she had felt this kind of power before and not too long ago, it was the same energy that had saved Krakens life as he had been on hells doorstep.

“Master…” She managed to stammer, staring at the beautiful piece of jewelry.

“What, do I need to spell it out to you? I thought you were so smart? You should be able to figure out what I want from you. Now, are you gonna be loyal to me, even if it might kill you, or are you just a traitor and worthless to me after all?” Heinrich asked, turning away from her, staring out through one of the windows and into the night sky.

She stared back at him, and then again at the window, if this was indeed going to kill her, then maybe… No, she had been loyal to him for so long, he had created her and showed her true power as well as the world, she couldn’t betray him, never! Right? The pull of the window grew stronger and stronger like it was screaming to her to get out. She almost made the first step as her mind suddenly stopped her, internally yelling at her how ungrateful she would be if she would even for a second think about abandoning him. With her eyes drawn back towards her master, she bowed down and opened up her hand.

“Good, it seems I was not mistaken in you. It would have been a major disappointment,” these words felt like daggers in her no existant hearth, like someone had ripped a hole into her stomach. Her eyes darted towards the floor as her master continued: “Not that I would ever be mistaken,” he added with a dismissive huff as he placed the bracelet in her open palms.

The moment the metal touched her skin, she could feel the strange energy running through her, light lightning. With every passing second, she felt more and more of the power overtaking her body, the small little piece of jewelry starting to glow in a bright blue. From the outside, a one could see a bright light shining through the windows of the old abandoned mansion, but with the fact that night had already fallen over the suburb this did not cause anyone to really notice that they had moved in, the estate had become a meeting ground for the kids anyway.

Meanwhile, Unicorn finally emerged from the light, the bracelet around her arm and still giving off a bit of lighting. With shaking hands she stared at the new accessory before slowly standing back up, everything felt so slow, unlike anything she had ever experienced. Still, it felt good, the power, the strength, everything just felt sharper, like the voice of her master.

“So, it worked. Excellent, excellent, just as expected. Thank god that I took a few of these beauties when we required my gear,” the mage mused, returning to his throne as well as picking up another glass of wine. “Now, what are we gonna do with you? Should I experiment on you? Test you? Or how about I send you on a little trip to further my goals and show your newfound powers? Oh, the last one sounds good, we are still far away from our final goal and with you and my new breakthrough I’m positive we can advance even further. What do you say, Unicorn?” Heinrich asked smugly, before taking a sip from his glass.

“I would be honored to fulfill your commands, my master, especially after this tremendous gift you have bestowed upon me,” she returned, holding back her own tears. “I beg of you, use me; however you see fit.”

“Oh, this is excellent. This vigor, this enthusiasm, this willingness to sacrifice oneself, it brings me to new heights!” The mage burst out, holding his glass of red liquid high into the air before throwing it to the side without as much as a second thought. “Truly, I have the greatest servants a man could ever ask for. A true gift from God showing again that I’m chosen by him!” After he had taken a few steps towards her, he continued: “I will accompany you, it’s time these peasants see who they are up against. Let’s go!” He proudly proclaimed before walking towards the door. Unicorn could only look after him in awe before quickly following her lord.

--------------<

Exhaustion, that was without the shadow of a doubt what all of the felt, the day had taken a good amount out of them. Two attacks plus the fact that they had searched the city the whole day did not work favorably for one's energy. And then there was the arrival of this new Kamen Rider, Kamen Rider Decade was how he called himself. A man named Tsukasa Kadoya, a self-proclaimed traveler of worlds. Apparently, Haruto had meat him on several occasions already, so there was this at least.

Around the small table in the living room, the six Riders had gathered, trying to decide their next move. While Phoenix and Ocean, as well as Haruto and Nitoh, had taken place right next to the table on the couch both Pinecone and Tsukasa, had sat down a bit further away. Nothing new for Pinecone, he enjoyed to listen and occasionally say that their plan was stupid and how to do it better, but with Tsukasa, it irked her. Ocean had already dealt with the man in the previous fight, and it seemed this was just an appetizer of what was to come.

While he had shown impressive combat skills, this did not hide the fact that he was innately rather full of himself, and so quite aggravating to be around, not like any of the Riders they had meat until now, that was for sure. Instead, she had to listen to snide remark after snide remark as he called her a rocky time and time again. It might be true that he had about a decade more experience on his hand, this, however, did not mean he could just walk over her, he was a guest in this world after all. And even during their planning he just decided to sit on the sidelines and occasionally take some photos. Ocean threw several furies looks his way, he either didn’t notice or far more likely just didn’t care.

“You shouldn’t take Tsukasa too serious, he is a good man at heart, just…” Haruto whispered to her, the woman not really impressed with his attempt.

“Just a bit of an asshole?” She bluntly finished for him, getting a weird look from her boyfriend.

“I wouldn’t go this far, without him a good amount of worlds would have ended, he actually brought me to several rather weird ones already, but the one with the talking horses was the weirdest yet. But this is beside the point, he can be rather cheeky, but ultimately he is a good man.”

“Oh, I don’t doubt that, but still… There is just something that irks me about him, and it’s not just his attitude, but really he could work on that,” she whispered back, but apparently not enough.

“You know I can hear you, newbie, right?” The rough voice of Tsukasa hit her like a speeding train, her eyes shooting open and she quickly slammed her hands over her mouth, all while her cheeks were overtaken by crimson. “Maybe if you would learn to take your surrounding into consideration you could become as good as I am one day,” he continued, his aloof tone quickly overshadowing Ocean’s embarrassment and turning it into annoyance.

“I don’t know, I kinda like him,” Phoenix added, giving his girlfriend a little nudge with his elbow complete with a devilish smile. He would regret this, but it was so worth it.

And indeed, she quickly shot him a glare that could have probably killed if that was possible, but unlike usually he didn’t jump back at this, no his smile grew even bigger. “I know you would, you both can be huge pains in the butt, you know that?” Ocean quickly added with a light growl.

“Oh, I know, and I take a good amount of pride in it,” he smirked back, almost tempted to stick out his tongue just to bring it to the next level, but ultimately reason won out in the end… for now.

“You know, sometimes I just could…” she started to mutter before shaking her head and continuing. “Moving on, so you are here because you heard about this guy and wanted to lend your assistance, right?” Ocean returned her gaze towards Tsukasa who was ideally taking pictures of the group.

“Huh?” He looked up, giving her a disinterested look. “Not really, I just thought this might be a fun world for my next stop. Even as a dimension traveler finding a world where two Riders from different universes show up is always interesting. That is all, I thought it would be amusing,” he carelessly continued, taking a snapshot of the baffled Ocean.

“You are shitting me, right? That is all, really?” She was almost at a loss for words, she could only stare at the Rider in complete and utter disbelievement. “And you are supposed to be a savior of worlds?”

“I’m the destroyer or worlds, not a savior, there is a difference newbie,” he returned before standing back up and started to walk around the room, picking up whatever he could get his hands on and putting it down somewhere where it didn’t belong. Haruto meanwhile just shook his head.

This was the point where she had it. “I need a moment,” she gritted through her teeth, storming down the stairs towards the kitchen and a loud bang could be heard in the distance, the sound of a door.

Everyone threw confused looks at Phoenix who had until now just stared after her, the awkwardness of the moment however quickly catching up to him. “So, don’t you want to go after her? I don’t think she will achieve much when she sulks outside a bit, but if you want we can continue without her, I’m sure we will manage,” Tsukasa continued, playing a bit with one of Thunders picture frames, one that showed a newspaper article of Alchemy and Charge.

“I’ll go get her, without Ocean this will dissolve into absolute madness anyway,” he sighed, standing up and leaving the rest of them in the living room. As he entered the kitchen Thunder was already expecting him.

“So, what in the name of Tartarus got her so riled up? Or in other words, what did you do?” The chef asked with a pulled up to browse and a judgemental look in his eyes.

“Ok, first? Why do you think it was me who pissed her off? Am I your go-to problem guy or what?” He asked a bit of aggravation in his voice. “Don’t answer that. Second, nope, not this time, it was this new Rider Tsukasa, he kinda edged on with Ocean. A bit too self-confident and arrogant for her taste apparently. And third, never call her newbie, she hates that,” he finished with an exhausted sigh. “So, would you be so kind and let me talk with her, I kinda want her to be with us when we decide what we will do next.”

“Yeah, you have a point,” he sheepishly returned rubbing the back of his neck as he made room for Phoenix to finally leave. “But don’t make it worse, got it! I don’t want to hear your sobbing because she left you!”

“Yeah, as if. If she stayed with me for so long, this will not break her, she is used to my insanity. I would rather have her get along with Tsukasa, that is all,” he shouted back while dashing towards the door, it falling shut behind him.

“You think they are gonna be ok?” Summer asked, coming in from the restaurant door and putting down several plates next to the other dishes.

“Eh, they’ll manage, I’m sure they will. They always have after all,” Thunder returned with a shrug, getting back to his pizzas.

“Yeah, you are probably right,” Summer added with a little chuckle. “Would be a shame if this would mark the end for them. Nah.”

With that the door slammed shut behind them, leaving them to continue their work for the customers, there were many hungry mouths still to fill at this point, but this didn't matter for Phoenix, right now there was something far more important on his mind. And this thing was not that hard to find, standing in the fresh night air outside the restaurant, not even ten meters away from the door, her entire body tense. With her hands balled up into fists, she slammed one of them against the brick wall of the Magnum Opus. He could almost see storm clouds forming over her head as she stood there, taking one deep breath after the other.

He couldn’t other than to just stare, his tongue seemingly glued to the bottom half of his mouth, unable to speak even a single word. She hadn’t noticed the closing of the door apparently since she made no attempt to turn around and just kept staring straight ahead, her fist cramping up more and more with every second, so much so that he was getting worried that she might pierce her own skin. Then suddenly she spun around, a furious look on her face that made Phoenix stumble backward and right onto his temples as he slipped and fell. He had accidentally knocked over a small empty can next to him, the sound enough for her to jump around and throw a death glare at him, one that quickly faded as she saw who she had just started.

“Phoenix? Oh, no. I’m so sorry,” she quickly hushed, running over to him and offering him a hand he gladly accepted. “Here, let me help you up,” she added, quickly bringing the man back to his feet where he promptly dusted himself off. “Are you ok?”

“Ah, don’t sweat it, I feel over my own two feet, add that to the list of my stupidity,” he chuckled before shaking his head a bit. “Bigger question is if you are ok?” He returned, giving her a worried frown.

She looked at him for a moment in shock before violently shaking her head. “No, no, everything is fine, I just needed a moment. I’ll be right back, trust me. You can go ahead if you want, I’ll be there in fi-“

And that was what she managed to bring out as Phoenix interrupted her. “Yeah, not buying it. You are far too professional to just pull something like this without any reason behind it, and I’m pretty sure I know the reason. A certain Tsukasa Kadoya, am I right?” He asked in a nonchalant tone before giving her a week smile. “Look, how did it go for me when I tried to bury my problems last time? I nearly got myself killed thanks to going insane. And you nearly got a friend killed because you couldn’t open up to us. We are not good at dealing with this shit on our own, you have to get that right?”

“Of course, but-“ She was quick to start again, this time it sounded like she was getting annoyed with him.

“No buts, no complaints, no arguments, I’m right. So, if you get it why do you even think this is a good idea? Because he will be here for only a few days? We don’t know that, and we need you on your best through all of this. Newbie or not, like that matters, you are still a Rider worth the title. Trust me, I know that, so you should act the way and the first step towards that tells me what is bugging you because otherwise, I can’t help you. So, how we start this again?” He cleared his throat before continuing. “So, what is the matter Ocean?”

She looked at him for a moment with a somewhat bewildered look in her eyes before sighing and saying: “Ok, fine, you got me. I can’t stand the guy at all. He just comes off as a massive prick that is only out for himself, that someone like him could become a Kamen Rider at all is beyond me,” she growled, throwing a stink eye at the upper part of the restaurant.

“Look, I get that, but if Haruto said is true then he has saved countless worlds already, you don’t do that without caring about the people in them at all. And he vouched for him, and that seems to me that he is certainly on our side in this. Not that I’m any less cocky,” he started to say before being interrupted by Ocean.

“Oh, yeah, because you are clearly so up your own ass. I know what Haruto said but it doesn’t gell with what I have seen of this guy, he just seems too arrogant and casual about all of this, like he doesn’t care. And why should he? This isn’t his world, it’s just one he is passing through, that is all it is to him, amusement, that is all,” she started to pick up her voice, her words echoing through the small alleyway.

“I don’t think so. If it was all just amusement, then why did he help you? Why did he help us with the Phantom before, because who else could it be? I’m not expecting a fourth Rider from another dimension to just pop up, except if you somehow contacted Scoots. I think he is ultimately a good man, so maybe just try to ignore it? I don’t know, but I have a good feeling with the guy like there is more to him, I don’t know,” he muttered while rubbing the back of his head while grinning awkwardly.

Ocean looked at him for a few more moments before starting to chuckle and finally said: “Fine, you win, I’ll come back with you, and I try to just ignore his bullshit, but you owe me one for that, clear?” She returned with a playful look in her eyes. Phoenix quickly turned crimson, unable to get even a single word out while she just walked past him and right through the door before turning around one last time and saying: “Are you coming?” This got him back to reality, and he quickly jogged after her and back to the rest.

--------------<

Alarm, again, these monsters were really not anyone for a break it seemed. Both he and Haruto had meat up on their way to the next monster sighting, probably another Phantom. It had appeared at another suburb of the city, just like the rest and again there were reports of a purple glow. Both their bikes roared in the distance, alarming the Phantom to their appearance, one she quickly greeted with light blue projectiles heading their way, not that it was hard to dodge them, the Riders managing to maneuver through them with ease. When both hit their breaks, they jumped off their bikes and let their legs head straight for the monster. And it actually worked, the Phantom being taken by surprise by the two Riders that were heading her way through the air and quickly kicked in the head from both of them simultaneously. With the monster landing in a parking car, both Rider quickly summoned their respective weapons.

\ Flame Disc Attack Mode! /

\ Flame Saber! /

With their weapons in hand both Alchemy and Wizard rushed towards the injured Phantom who they just now could really make out in between the wrecked car. She had a blue skin color and was clad in silver armor, her feet ended in horse legs. Engraved in her armor were strange runes shaped like lightning bolts as well as blue gems all over it. He head was covered in an equally as a silver helmet with a long sleek horn at the top as well as two glowing blue eyes, long silver hair flowing out of the back of her helmet. In her hand, she held a silver rapier that was pointed at the two Riders as she charged towards them.

This, however, did not face the Riders all that much, they were kinda used to it at this point, both managing to block the attacks of the Phantom and dashed past her, only to spin around and let her armor groan under the following strikes. With a pained grunt, she stumbled forward only to pierce her weapon into the ground beneath her and covered the whole parking lot they had been fighting in with bolts of electricity that didn’t take long to reach the Riders. Both of them were quickly struck with immense pain as the shock worked itself through their armors and body, their muscles cramping up all, while the Phantom just laughed.

While she was somewhat distracted, Haruto tried his best to switch his weapon into range mode, and after a few failed attempts actually succeeded, the only thing left to do was use that to his advantage. To the Phantom who was far too consumed in her own victory, this came out of left field as several silver bullets hit her chest and send her flying away from her rapier that was still stuck in the ground. With cursing and swearing, she crawled back up only to see both Rider changing into another form.

\ FRIENDSHIP DISC ACTIVATED! /

\ Friendship Disc Attack Mode! /

\ Connect Protector! /

“How dare you stand in my way and in the way of the master? You are nothing but insulant worms to him, not even fit to lick his boots so why do you defy one that was chosen by the heavens to rule?” She growled at them, several blue energy orbs appearing around her horn hat were quickly fired at the two of them. Wizard just quickly switched his ring and held it over the Driver.

Out of nowhere, an earth wall appeared in front of them, the incoming projectiles just crashing into it and with the last one the wall shattered, the debris landing around both of them. To their surprise, the Phantom was gone, together with her weapon. “Well, seems she just got scared. Let’s finish this off and stop-“ Pain, that was what he quickly felt through his back, and just a moment later Haruto staggered backward, clutching his chest in agony. The Phantom came to a stop in front of them, every jewelry on her armor glowing in electric blue.

“Well, seems like you were wrong. And you,” she pointed at Haruto who was right now struggling to get back on his feet in his orange armor. “How dare you even to attempt to take back what is rightfully his? You tainted it enough already with the spirit of this woman,” Unicorn continued, energy sparking of her and scorching the are around her. “I will make sure that you will suffer, slow and-“ Then the gunshots rang out through the empty streets as three more bullets headed for her, only for something to swipe in the way of the bullets. As the dust had settled a man in black armor and long flowing coat stood in front of her. “Master…” Unicorn managed to stammer out before the man started to speak.

“Oh, Unicorn, this is so touching of you, but you should look out what might come your way, after all, I still need you,” the mage chuckled, Alchemy and Wizard now finally able to get a good glimpse of the new foe. His coat was just as black as wizard’s, in general, the suit reminded them a lot of his, minus a few details. The gems on the chest were arranged in the form of a butterfly and a deep shade of purple. There was also the fact that his helmet was in the same shape as well. On his waist, he had a Driver close to Haruto’s just with red instead of yellow. And in his hand, he held a long silver staff with a purple crystal at the tip and small hand near it.

“Yes, my master,” Unicorn quickly returned, lowering her head immediately.

“Heinrich!” Haruto spat out, finally managing to stand back up, Phoenix noticing how the grip on his sword handles quickly tightened. “What are you doing with Koyomi?”

The mage quickly looked up and returned with a smug tone: “Who? Oh, right, the trespassing girl that has nested itself in my creation. Like any trespasser I’m planning to get rid of her, isn’t that obvious.” And with a chuckle, he added: “Oh, and might it be possible to call me by a more fitting name for this form? What was it you called yourself? Kamen Rider’s, right? Then I am Kamen Rider Mesmer, has a ring to it, doesn’t it?”

This was enough for Haruto to go ballistic, he thrust himself off the ground and stormed towards Mesmer, the other mage just sighing in frustration and putting his hand over his Driver.

With this, the entire area in front of him was consumed in a massive explosion, both Riders thrown back by the force of it all. As their senses came back to them, they could only see how a bright purple glow shined over them and quickly disappeared again, their opponents nowhere to be seen. Haruto slammed his fist on the ground before his armor shattered into small gems, Phoenix cursing under his breath and deactivating his transformation as well.

“Fuck, they got away again. They are smarter than they seem, I’m sure they plan this out so they have enough time to finish this thing before we can stop them.” In his anger, he kicked one of the small stones that had been ripped from the concrete as the explosion struck and with a good amount of force it hit Haruto directly in the leg. “Oh fuck,” Pheonix muttered, his face completely pale. “Sorry, sorry, sorry,” he quickly started to stammer, running up to the image to continue his apology, only for him to ignore him and after a few more moments Phoneix stopped and asked rather confused: “Hey, are you listening?”

This snaped the mage out of his own head and turn around with a smile. “Yeah, no problem,” he returned in a tone not even Phoenix was buying.

“Hmh, sure,” he muttered back with his arms crossed. “How much did she mean to you?” The senior Rider looked at him with a confused expression on his face. “Koyomi, the girl in the ring. How much did she mean to you? Apparently a lot or you wouldn’t fight so much for her.”

Haruto just stared at him before sighing and returned: “She was a good friend. In the end, I couldn’t save her, but she was ok with that. She asked me to not bring her back again, she couldn’t bear it if others had to suffer so she could live. I swore to make sure the ring was never used for anything like this ever again, and now this monster has it. As much as it hurts sometimes, you have to live in the now and not in the past.”

Phoenix looked at him for a moment, unable to respond before finally finding the right words. “I know how it is to lose someone and to want them back. I’m sorry for you, but I’m also impressed that he kept that promise for so long, and a stupid mage won’t let you break it. So, let’s get this sorry excuse for a Kamen Rider.” The other Rider just chuckled for a moment before nodding in return, both Riders quickly picking up their bikes again and heading after the monster.

--------------<

It didn’t take long for the Phantom to show her ugly mug again, and not even that far away in a quite populated park. Like the three times before she had placed a purple gem inside a gazebo in the park and scared of everyone around her, with the two Riders quickly arriving on the scene of the crime.

The Unicorn Phantom was currently busy with scaring of several police officers that were trying to keep the situation under control and attempting to evacuate civilians that had been caught in the crossfire as the bikes of Wizard and Alchemy came to a screeching halt a reasonable distance from the monster. “I assume everything is more or less under control?” Alchemy asked the officer who was currently hiding behind a waist-high wall.

“Under control? A monster is attacking us, and we are desperately trying to stay alive and get everyone out of here, how is that under controlled?” The officer shouted back at the Rider.

“Yeah, yeah, get it, I meant for the situation at least. Could be worse, and we are here, after all, so don’t worry, we’ll take care of this,” he returned before unplugging the Disc from his Driver.

\ Flame Disc Attack Mode! /

\ Flame Saber! /

“So, should we teach her a lesson Haruto? No one talks like this to one of my friends,” he chuckled before pointing his sword towards the Phantom. The senior Rider just chuckled as he summoned his own weapon.

With an affirmative grunt, both Riders dashed towards the monster, Alchemy spinning the handguard of his sword multiple times while wizard switched it into gun mode. “Flaming Barrage!” With these numerous waves of fiery energy hurled towards the Phantom accompanied by silver bullets from Haruto.

To no one's surprise this did not really worry the Phantom all that much, brushing off the attacks with nothing more than a flick of her wrist, and the following balls of lightning their attacks were quickly turned into explosions that went off far too early to do any kind of damage. This, however, was precisely what they had waited for. “It’s Showtime!”

A giant magic circle appeared around Haruto’s arm, swallowing it and enlargening it to enormous size. Phoenix quickly ran up to him and jumped into the images open palm which then proceeded to throw him directly through the explosion that had blocked their sight from the Phantom. With insane speed, the Rider flew towards his target, all while spinning the handguard of his sword again, the energy gathering in the blade before shouting out: “Flaming Slash!”

Out of the smoke and flames of the explosion the red Rider emerged, hurdling towards the monster who couldn’t do anything else but to stare at him in horror as he came closer and closer until he finally reached her, the fiery strike slashing across her chest and letting her wail out a pathetic scream as she stumbled backward. The moment Alchemy landed he quickly turned around, spinning the handguard again and dashing towards her to follow up his first attack.

Then the pain hit him, surging through his entire body as acres of lightning danced across his armor, the flaming energy around his sword quickly subsiding and the blade itself tumbling to the ground as he screamed in agony. Unicorn glared at him with her glowing eyes as she took in every scream that escaped his lips with delight. “You think this would hurt me? This was nothing, nothing I tell you. I am the loyal servant of one of the greatest nobles to ever walk the earth! He created me, he gave me life, and I will make sure that the betrayed and injustice that befell him so long ago never repeats itself. And that means dealing with you pests, I can’t be hurt or beaten by the likes of you,” she growled, almost spitting the words out. “Don’t think I forgot about you,” she added with a sadistic undertone, slamming her other fist that was not extended toward Alchemy on the ground, the screams of Haruto soon joining Phoenix. But as she returned her focus to Alchemy something else shouted out from behind her.

“As if this would save you. Just give up and die already,” she hissed over her shoulder with a smug tone in her voice, one that only held on until something else could be heard from behind her.

Out of nowhere, a blue magic circle appeared right behind the Phantom and out jumped another Wizard, just in blue armor. This new development surprised the monster so much that she had not even the sliver of a second to react as the new Rider slashed across her back, stopping her attack on Haruto and Phoenix, the later immediately seizing the opportunity. “How about we shift into the next stage?”

\ FRIENDSHIP DISC ACTIVATED! /

\ Friendship Disc Attack Mode! /

\ Connect Protector! /

With the Rider now equipped with his weapon and new form, he dashed forward, joining Haruto’s clone in his assault of the Phantom, slashing across her chest with his sword. While the two were keeping the monster, busy Wizard pushed a button the strange watch-like contraption on his arm that quickly shouted out something new.

Just like before another magic circle appeared, this time right above the Phantom, out jumping a green clone of Wizard that quickly let his sword come down on the beast. While it seemed to hurt her, the anger of Unicorn quickly pushed away all the pain she felt, letting out a loud scream of rage, electric energy surging around her and knocking all the Riders around her back. “Whatever you are doing, keep doing it, I think it might work!” Phoenix shouted back to Haruto who was already in the process of pushing the button on his device again.

With another magical seal appearing under the monster the next clone jumped out of the ground and slashed the Phantom across her chest, letting her stager back in pain. The orange Wizard quickly joined his fellow Riders in their assault of the monster, the green one circling around her and delivering a quick strick to her backside. Water coming from the side and letting few sparks erupt from there and the original joining Alchemy in an attack from the back and the front simultaneously, both Riders hitting at the exact same time, only to each receive a burst of lightning from the Unicorn that sent them flying backward.

Unicorn was fuming, glaring at Wizard and Alchemy as she tried to figure out who she was taking revenge on first, ultimately turning her sights on Wizard. He, however, had again pushed the button and now put the device over his Driver.

The four mages started to levitate off the ground, and towards one another, the Phantom staring at them in shock as magic circles appeared around them and three of the copies turned into energy dragons heading for the original. With Haruto taking in the dragons each one lett another piece of a dragon appear on him, from the tail to the wings, claws, and mouth on his chest. The mage rushed towards the monster, while Alchemy spun the Disc on his sword. “Eternal Bond!”

Both Riders dashed past the monster, Alchemy delivering a devastating blow with his sword while Wizard used his claws to damage Unicorn who could only screech in pain and sink to her knees as a bot of them passed her.

“So, had enough Pointy?” He mockingly returned, pointing his sword at her. What he received as an answer was however not what he had expected, the Phantom letting out another bloodcurdling scream as countless lightning bolts rained down on them, knocking the Riders back and right next to each other. “Wow, she is one tough cookie,” he hissed through his teeth, all while holding his side. “Any last tricks up your sleeves?”

“Only one. And that will be the finale!”

“Well then, I probably should also go all out, right?” He chuckled back, only interrupted by the pain in his side. Alchemy and Wizard dragging them back to their feet and placed a new Disc into the driver as well as changed rings to let the belt scan them.

<Infinity! Please! Hi-Sui-Fu-Do, Bou-Zaba-Byu-Dogon!>

\ HEUREKA! /

While Alchemy emerged in his white armor, Wizard was now clad in a silver crystal blue armor that reminded him of diamonds. It was beautiful, not a single imperfection in sight and it radiated power. As the mage held his hand out a crystal dragon emerged from him and formed into a silver sword with an ax-like handle. Alchemy following this example activated his own weapon.

\ Philosopher Stone Attack Mode! /

\ Magnum Opus! /

With inhuman speed both Riders rushed towards the monster, slashing across her chest before dashing around her and delivering another strike to her back. Unicorn was flung through the park and right at the steps of the gazebo, just at the moment the stone sunk into the earth and submerged the entire area in its light.

“You are the kind of person I can’t stand. You think you are better than everyone else and because of that, you can trample on everyone else. But news flash, you are just stuck in the past. You can’t accept that the time of your master is long gone. You stand in the way of everyone who looks forward, especially Haruto. And I will make sure that he can move forward towards a bright future,” Alchemy shouted towards the Phantom who was currently trying her hardest to stand back up again.

“Exactly. You can’t just live in the past, you have to live in the now! And right now, I have to save Koyomis soul from your master!” Haruto joined in, turning his sword and now gripping it at the blade.

“The Final!” Haruto pushed a button on the ax hilt before twirling the ax around his body, it growing in size with every second until he jumped high up in the air, the ax now several times his size. Alchemy meanwhile pushed every gem on his weapon before spinning the Disc.

\ FIRE! /

\ THUNDER! /

\ WIND! /

\ EARTH! /

\ WATER! /

\ FREINDSHIP! /

Alchemy threw his weapon towards the Phantom, it turning into a white Phoenix during the flight that collided with the monster just as Haruto brought his ax down on her. The Phantom and the entire gazebo behind her were consumed by the explosion, leaving nothing behind besides the small blue bracelet.

“These Phantoms keep getting tougher and tougher,” Phoenix sighed as he picked it up as well as his weapon. “But they won’t stop us from getting your friend back, right Haruto?” The other Rider just gave a nodded in return as well as a slight chuckle.

Of Wizards, Travelers and Alchemists - Ride the Wind

“Shame, really. And I thought she would not disappoint me after all. But it seems even I can be mistaken a few times, not that it was my fault. She failed, not me after all. You loot better keep up a better work ethic than her, and not die on me. That would be a major disappointment. And trust me, if you fail me like your three friends did, I will find a way to make you pay, understood?” Heinrich was facing the window, the night setting in over the city, a small black bag in his hand that he absentmindedly threw up and down while sipping at a glass of wine.

“Yes master,” all three remaining Phantoms immediately returned, their heads bowed low kneeling before him. One could see their tense bodies, hands clenched into fists and even in the shadow the fear and nervousness in their faces.

“You know, this city is beautiful, almost sad that we have to destroy it, but so is the will of God. And I’m sure they will be glad to be the stepping stone for my ascension, after all, there is no nobler cause to die for. It still boggles my mind how these Kamen Riders think they could defy me? Me? The chosen? It’s pathetic, vermin should know their places, and that is at my feet,” he growled, the foot of the wine glass breaking under the pressure of his hand, the content and other parts just falling to the floor and shattering. Heinrich didn’t even notice and just continued his rant. “No idea where they belong, this entire world. And not even back home people have forgotten their place, it’s pathetic, truly pathetic, but soon they will be reminded of their duties and their masters. Too long has this world lived in ignorance and debauchery, it’s time they are recalled back in.”

“Master, I-“ A man with purple skin and silver hair attempted to say, his massive body dwarfed his comrades and Heinrich like they were nothing, in any other situation one would assume everyone in the room would cower before him. His voice was shaky and uneven, his eyes were pointed at the floor the entire time he spoke.

“Golem! Do you know what you just did?” His voice echoed through the dark hall, he had clenched to a fist at his side, all while his voice was trying to suppress the anger that was boiling inside him. “Do you?”

“Master I’m-“

Before Golem could continue, a frightened tone in every word he spoke, he was interrupted once again. “Do you?!” The voice of the mage came suddenly and surprisingly. He spat the words out, still not having even the decency to look at them. “I asked you a question!”

The Phantom lowered his head even further towards the floor, now touching it with its forehead as he desperately returned: “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have interrupted you, master! I’m truly sorry for my insubordination. Punish me as you do see fit!” The other two Phantoms around him just glanced over to him, looks of terror the woman's eyes while the man looked at Golem with a cold glare.

“That is more like it, exactly like you should. Now, what punishment would be most fit for you? Let me think, let me think. I should probably just execute you for the audacity to interrupt me, but I’m gracious after all, and that would be a waste, all things considered, so be grateful for my mercy Golem, it’s more than you deserve,” he continued, a sadistic glee in his voice.

“Thank you, my lord,” he croaked out, daring a glance at his master who had turned around and smiled down on him, a smile that he had seen many times before, one who reserved for special occasions. A smile he only used when he could place one in their place. “You are too gracious.”

“I know, I know, I’m me after all,” he chuckled before stepping closer to him, Golems eyes immediately shooting back down to the floor. “Now, back on what we should do with you. You interrupted me, so do tell me what you wanted to say if it might have been worth it, or at least a bit, after that I will decide your fate.”

“My lord, I wanted to offer my services in showing these unloyal peasants who they should be following, that was all,” he returned as soon as Heinrich had stopped talking.

“Oh, that was it? Well, that is a good reason to speak up. Still, you should have waited for your turn Golem. Stupid, stupid Golem, you should have just waited, and you would have gotten your chance, but you know, I think I have just the right thing for you,” he continued with a smug undertone. “You know, Unicorn disappointed me and got herself killed, just like Kraken.”

“Yes, they were pathetic and disappointed you. They got off far to easy for their failure in my opinion.”

“Good, good, flattery won’t bring you much, but I like it nonetheless. But their deaths were not in vain. They showed me one of the most magical things I have seen in years, this worlds magic. IT’s magnificent, so much to learn, so much to study, so much to discover. I feel like the first day as a mage, the excitement, the wonder, everything. While I had seen pieces of it as my time as a researcher for the MRG, I could have never imagined the possibilities. Granted, the moment I heard about the Philosopher Stone in this world I knew I could use it as a power source, but besides that? Nothing of value I thought, just a few monsters, that was all. But now I see it, the secrets it holds, how it perfectly harmonizes with our magic, everything. I feel so alive,” he burst out, glee and joy in every single word before turning back to Golem.

“And here is where you come in. Before I left the MRG, I decided to take a few of their artifacts. Until now I have only seen what a Level 5 and a Level 4 artifact can do, and the Level 4 one already put two Riders in quite a bind. I still have some Level 3 Artifacts and a Level 2 Artifact, I wonder what these can do,” he continued, keeping an eye on Golem, who could already see where this was going. “Kraken showed me that the magic of this world could be beneficial, Unicorn showed me that it isn’t dangerous and now I want to see how powerful it can make any of you. And since you are still in need of punishment, I think it would be fitting for you to take this!” He placed a metallic hammer in his hand, it was covered in engravings of earth and crystals as well as two large black onyxes on either side of it. He could feel the power it exerted before he even grasped it, but the moment it did he felt more and more of it flow through him. His body felt new and fresh, this power was truly magnificent and unique to him, but it felt right, so right.

“Thank you, my master, with this, I will crush all your opposition, and I will make sure these Riders will suffer the just deserts for their actions. I vow this with my life,” his voice bellowed through the hall, the doubt and fear had vanished entirely from it.

“Oh, so you found new resolve, impressive. I have to remember that for further studies,” he chuckled, playing around with the small sack in his hand.

“Of course my master, I’m ready for anything this world might throw at me,” Golem returned with a smirk on his lips.

“Lovely, really lovely, this is exactly what I expect from my servants. Enthusiasm and a will to go far beyond what any other lousy grunt would do. This is exactly why I kept you around while discarded of your brothers and sister, you were all willing, loyal and most important, strong. Compare that to the rest of these lousy Phantoms, and you could only shake your head in disgust,” he continued, his voice sounding like he was lost in a wonderful dream. “But enough dwelling on the past, it’s far more important to focus on the future,” Heinrich smirked, gazing at the sack in his hand with a devilish glimmer in his eyes.

“So, Golem, time to prove yourself to me once again. With your strength and newfound power I’m sure this will be no problem for you, you never really disappointed me after all!” He handed him one of the purple gems from the sack.

The Phantom returned an arrogant chuckle as well as: “Of course master, I will make sure that our enemies will bow before you as well as bring you the treasure of this world. I swear this with my life!” With that he grabbed the gem, bowed one last time before Heinrich and stormed out of the door, his head held high.

One of the other two remaining Phantoms looked after him, the muscular one, before speaking up: “My lord, do you really think Golem will succeed in his mission or will fall like Garuda, Kraken, and Unicorn before him?” His voice was raspy and low, almost like a growl. During the entire time, he spoke he never looked up from the floor.

“Oh, Cerberus, do you not trust your brother? I’m disappointed,” Heinrich returned with a chuckle as he turned around again, taking a look through the windows. “Don’t you trust my judgment?”

“I would never my lord, your judgment is far beyond my mind. Still, I doubt he can stand against the Riders and emerge victorious in the end, with all due respect,” Cerberus encountered, a determination and unwavering in his voice.

“Does it matter Cerberus? If he can advance my goals towards their competition, it doesn’t matter if he fails in the end. Ultimately I will sit at the top and have what I want. It’s always that way, even if I have to do it myself, in the ned, I win, I always win!” The last word was almost hissed, a malicious smirk crossing his lips.

“Of course master, there is not even a question about this. In the end, you will once again stand atop the world with no one to stop you.”

--------------<

These Phantoms had no sense of time, really. It was almost midnight, and they still decide that now was the perfect time to cause trouble again. This was getting ridiculous, the fifth time a monster had now attacked a seemingly insignificant place without any rhyme or reason. Worst part of all, they were apparently succeeding, four times already they were to slow to stop the strange lights and cracks that were forming on the battlefield. Whatever their enemy was planning they were succeeding.

Ocean’s thoughts were however quickly interrupted as several purple crystals headed straight for her. In a split-second Charge pulled on the handles of her bike, the vehicle quickly going into a near forty-five-degree angle, just barely dodging the incoming attack that soared over her. With a loud crashing sound the crystals impacted behind her into one of the nearby factories, the gems quickly growing out of control and swallowing everything in their close proximity.

While the overgrowth quickly stopped a good portion of the walls had been covered in the strange crystals, shimmering in an ominous purple, all while Charge jumped off her bike and unloaded her first salve on the monster. What stood before here was a towering behemoth, at least three heads taller than she was, even in her armor. His entire body was made out of fine cut gems, the same ones that had been spread across the factory behind her. He reminded her a bit of a gorilla all things considered. What however was strange was the silver armor across his body, accented by a purple gem on his chest. His glowing dark purple eyes stared at her from behind the silver helmet that protected his head.

With a low growl, the Phantom spat out: “You! You are one of these Riders that stood in the way of our master the entire time we have been here. How dare you! You are not even fit to lick his boots, you are just a lowly peasant. But you, you dare to attack and kill his servants! You are the one that killed Kraken, you will pay for that!” Before Charge could even as much as say anything in return the Phantom raised his hands and let out a barrage of crystals that headed straight for her, all while the six shots of her own weapon bounced off the monster like nothing, not even noticed by the thing.

A little shocked the Rider activated her super speed, dashing out of the way of the second attack aimed at her, the projectiles darting into the ground behind her, quickly covering it in the same substance the factory wall had been covered in. “Well, not to self, stay as far away from him as humanly possible, I don’t want to end as a Rider-statue,” she muttered to herself, currently hiding her frame behind one of the nearby walls that lead into an alley.

“So, this is it? The legends and tales of the great Riders of this city? The Riders that are capable of going toe-to-toe with my brothers and sisters? I’m disappointed, really. The only thing you are capable of doing is hide away from me and nothing more, it’s pathetic. Show me what brought my comrades down to their knees, show me your strength, challenge me! I want to test my newfound strength!” Golem bellowed at her, his arms gripping the concrete beneath his feet and with a loud scream ripped part of it from the street, holding it up over his head. “Come out, or you will regret it!”

Charge just sighed and with one quick dash, raced towards the other end of the alley, taking two turns quickly afterward and came to hold right behind the Phantom, ready to jump him from the alley behind him.

“Ok, you wanted it this way!” He growled, several crystals bursting out of the chunk of concrete before the monster threw it directly at the position he suspected her. A loud crash later and one could see how the corner of the factory started to crumble, several strands of the gems quickly covering the rest before it could collapse, Golem glaring at his work in satisfaction. However, the moment the dust had settled again not a single sign of the Rider could be seen. “Ha, was that everything? Pathet-“

That was as far as he managed to get, the taunt interrupted by a loud roar as Charge’s Stun Baton slammed into his backside, his silver armor bending under pressure and digging into his own flesh. Not even the stumble forward saved him from Charge’s further assault, her weapon slamming into his knee, the limb twisting unnaturally as his legs gave way under the pressure. However, before she could bring down her weapon once again, this time at his face, something else interrupted her.

Right in front of her, a ball of water slammed into the side of the Phantom, sending it flying, nearly throwing her to the ground as well only able to jump to safety in the last second. The Phantom slammed into the next wall, everything around him quickly being covered in crystals, but the bulk of it around him in some sort of shell.

“What was that?” That was all she managed, staring in the direction of where the attack had come from and low and behold, there he was. A Rider clad in black and silver armor with a green chest as well as two large green eyes. What however seemed familiar was the white box on his waist. “Tsukasa! Who else?” She sighed with a growl. Of course, it was him, no one else would pull something so stupid. “What in all that is holy were you thinking? You could have knocked me to the ground as well!”

The senior Rider playfully pointed his green gun at the monster, or at least its crystal cocoon and unleashed several wells placed shots. The water orbs he sent at the Phantom didn’t really damage the shell it had constructed around it. With a sigh, he pulled the weapon back and dismissively returned: “But you didn’t, so who cares Newbie? You should be thankful really.”

Ocean was fuming, she glared at Decade who just shrugged with his shoulders. Then everything finally burst out: “What is wrong with you? Can’t you just for once act like a damn professional? You act like a complete child, just playing your own game! You are just here for your own fun! If you can’t be bothered to play nice then just leave, no one needs you here!” She turned around, shouting out of her lungs on full volume as she slowly stomped towards the Rider.

The Rider however just ignored her, storming towards the crystal, firing furiously at the structure, to no effect. However, Ocean was having none of that, using her own super speed she dashed to the side of the Rider and halted him right in his tracks, Tsukasa unsurprisingly somewhat agitated. “Hey, Newbie, what is that supposed to be? I’m in the middle of something, you can have a bit of my time later, but right now-“

“Oh, no! This ends here! Either you are going to work with me, or you are going to leave! I’ve had it with you and your stupid ‘I’m better than you’ attitude. You might have more experience than we have, but you know what, it seems you never learned to work together with anyone else! I’m sick and tired of your insults and you making fun of me! It’s enough! If you can’t work in a team with us, you are nothing more than an obstacle! An obstacle I can’t be bothered to deal with!” Charge continued to rant, now glaring at the Rider with her two red eyes.

“Wow, learn some respect, Newbie. I’m far more experienced with monster hunting than you, so learn to respect the ones with experience. You would have gotten a good dose of those crystals if it weren’t for me,” he returned, trying to step around the junior Rider and aim at the monster. She, however, grabbed ahold of his gun and continued.

“Saved me from being crystalized? Ha, laughable, I had him right there where I wanted him to be, and you interrupted me. If it weren’t for you, we would have been done here already and dealt with the-“

She didn’t get any further before everything became purple within seconds only to disappear as fast as it had come. Both Riders stared at the origin of the light in shock. Had they really bickered for so long? An answer to this question quickly came as the crystal around Golem fell away, revealing nothing beneath it, the monster had escaped.

“Good job Newbie, you just handed them another victory,” Tsukasa finally broke the silence, his voice sounding smug. “If you would have let me handle this we wouldn't have to deal with this now.”

“Letting you deal with this? After you nearly knocked me over without any regard to your allies? Yeah, I don’t think so! You would have screwed it up regardless, so don’t try to play the high and mighty here! This is all your fault, if you had just given me a simple heads up this wouldn’t have happened, but no! The oh so great Decade can’t! You are the wo-”

Their little shouting match was interrupted by the sound of an engine drawing closer and closer, quickly revealing itself to be Alchemy on his bike. “What is going on here?”

“Oh, the Newbie just let the monster escape, nothing more,” Tsukasa returned, having deactivated his transformation.

Ocean quickly followed him, also returning to her normal form. “I did not! He was the one that nearly tripled me over by shooting the Phantom as I had the perfect opportunity to stun him. We would have been able to stop him if it weren’t for him! He screwed everything up!”

“I just saved you from the monster, if I wouldn’t have, you would have been covered in crystals. Oh, and who prevented me from attacking the monster again? Oh right, that was you, Newbie. Seems you are shouting at a mirror here,” he returned with his infuriating nonchalant attitude.

“You did not just-“ Ocean growled back.

“Enough!” Phoenix finally let out, taking both of them by surprise. “Both of you! You sound like two bickering children that argue over a damn cookie! This is ridiculous! You are Riders, I expect better from you! Your arguments just let a monster get away! There is no fingerpointing, this is both your fault!” Phoenix was glaring at both of them, none of them able to formulate any response.

“And now to you!” He pointed at his girlfriend. “You stopped him from attacking the monster!” She was about to say something in return, but Phoenix was having none of it. “No! No excuses. It doesn’t matter what, or if you had any reason for it, you stopped him. I don’t want to hear anything. I know you are usually the one in control, but you have to trust him. He is on our side, and even if you don’t know what he is thinking at every point in a fight, you still have to work with him. We are up against an opponent we can’t really judge, and I’m happy for every bit of help we can get, even if the help is a bit special. You got that?” He continued, Ocean just silently nodding as she lowered her head after he finished.

“See Newbie, this is how you resp-“ Tsukasa was about to start before he himself was interpreted by Phoenix.

“Oh, don’t think you are getting away scot-free mister.” This took the senior Rider by surprise, raising an eyebrow. “I know you are doing this for nearly a decade now, and have far more experience than we do. I’m also glad that you saved Ocean from the Phantom, but this doesn’t mean you can just play the lone wolf! I’m happy you want to help us, no matter your reason. If it is only for fun and excitement, fine, I can live with that, even if I have my doubts about that, but you have to work with us, not against or around us. Ocean tried to, but you didn’t give her any chance to react, and she might have gotten into a far worse situation. You were the one that let Kraken escape the first time because you thought sniping him would end this. In the end, he came back stronger than before. We had to deal with that too. So please, work with us, because if you don’t, you can leave this world as well. We need allies, not people that lay their own game, understood?”

Tsukasa just looked at him for a moment and chuckled. “Fine then.” Ocean looked at him in confusion for a moment, before looking back towards Phoenix.

“Good,” he returned before turning back around and mounting his bike. “Have a nice night,” he muttered, still annoyed to a certain extent before driving off, leaving the two behind.

“He doesn’t strike me as that much as a voice of reason. Was it really so bad that he changed roles with you for a moment?” Tsukasa asked, sounding a little less smug than before.

“Yeah, I know what you mean. Every time he has to call me out on something like this it’s generally really bad… Hey, how about we start over?” Ocean asked with an unsure undertone.

“Sure,” he shrugged back. “As long as you know who has more experience Newbie,” he chuckled.

“You are just the worst. But fine, you are the one with the experience,” she returned, literally through her gritted teeth.

--------------<

It hadn’t taken that long for the Phantom to show up again, not even that far away from where it had shown up last time. Right now Ocean was once again the closest to the attack, maneuvering through the cars that were heading her way like it was nothing. Having learned from her last time encountering this particular Phantom she did not just head straight for the monster, instead, she parked her bike as close as possible and raced towards the scene of the crime on foot. Like expected the Phantom was causing mayhem all around it, covering large portions of the are in crystals.

She was about to race towards the monster as something attracted her attention. A man in purple armor was walking across one of the nearby roofs. It was a design she had never seen before, it was just so different, the horns and metal parts all over the suit. There was however one familiar thing, the Dekadriver on his waist. Tsukasa! What was he planning this time? She was tempted to dash out and attack the monster right now, and she almost would have if not Phoenix words would have come back to her at this moment. Maybe waiting was the best option right now? She hadn’t even seen the position of the gem yet. This, however, didn’t really take that long, just on the other side of the street she could see the purple glow, no chance in Tartarus would she reach it in time.

Then it happened, the Rider jumped down two red drumsticks in his hands. The Phantom could only turn around and see how the two weapons came down upon its head, leaving notable dents in the helmet.

This was it! This was her chance to strike. Within a split second, she had dashed across the street and right behind the tumbling Phantom, letting her Stun Baton come down at the same place she had struck the beast yesterday already. With a loud screech Golem sunk to his knees. He, however, had no chance to react as the two drumsticks slammed once again against his helmet, leaving even more dents in it.

Then it happened, out of nowhere the Phantom shot up and threw both his fist in the direction of at one of the Riders, Decade thankfully able to jump backward, Charge, however, was struck and thrown back into the next wall. As she slowly crawled back up she noticed something that led the blood in her veins freeze, the crystals were spreading across her body. Within moments she ejected her current Charger and slammed another one in.

“Charge up!”

\ 50, 80, 100! FRIENDSHIP CHARGE! /

After the purple energy orb had faded away, there was no sign of the crystals left, much to the relive of Ocean. With newfound vigor, she let out a burst of shots at the Phantom who just slammed his fist on the ground before him, crystals forming a shield in front of him that let no shot through.

This little distraction, however, was all Tsukasa had needed, opening his Driver and putting in a new card.

|KAMEN RIDE|

|RYUKI|

And with that his armor had once again changed, now consisting of a red undersuit and silver armor over it, somewhat reminiscent of a dragon. This was however not enough for the interdimensional Rider who inserted another card into the Driver.

|ATTACK RIDE|

|STRIKE VENT|

From the sky fell a red orb that Decade effortlessly grabbed, quickly forming into the head of a dragon. Whatever this fist weapon was he wasted no time and threw a punch in the direction of the Phantom. Out of the dragon's mouth, a burning stream of flames headed straight at the monster who had just enough time to turn around and slam his fist once again on the ground. While the barrier once again rose from the street, it was already far too late, a good amount of the attack hitting him straight on.

The force of the attack was so strong that it sent him flying, straight through the first barricade and right into Charge’s field of vision who was only too happy to unleash a burst of her own weapon on him. Sparks flew, and his screams could be heard across the street as he slumped on the ground. Both Riders smirked under their helmet ready to strick again as a voice cut through their thoughts. It was more of a scream really.

“How dare you! You will pay for this! I will punish you in the name of Heinrich von Flügelburg!” The Phantom rose from the ground, his armor shattering and falling to the floor in useless clumps. Both could see it, the crystals on his body that were quickly growing, forming into a mess of an armor. Spikes were sticking out of every part of his body, uncontrollably, unnaturally, it looked horrid. Then he roared, small pieces of the spikes broke off his body and shoot all around him, several hitting the Riders whole others just scattered across the area.

Charge and Decade were thrown back, stings of agony all over their body. They could feel how the crystals were quickly growing on their bodies. This, however, was nothing that could stop them, Charge was the first one to come back on her feet and inserted her Prism Charger into the Driver, while Tsukasa had pulled out a black and magenta device and inserted a card into it before pushing several buttons in succession.

“Charge up!”

\ 100, 150, 200! OVER CHARGE! /

|KUUGA AGITO RYUKI FAIZ BLADE HIBIKI KABUTO DEN-O KIVA|

|FINAL KAMEN RIDE|

|DECADE|

Both their armors shifted, Charge emerging in her white Over Charge form and Decade’s armor had changed into a far more silver version. Cards lined his chest and one atop his head. Two magenta eyes stared at the Phantom who was still raging, the area around them quickly transforming into crystal. With not much time left to waist Decade removed the K-Touch from his Driver again and Charge spun her cylinder once again.

|FAIZ|

|KAMEN RIDE|

|BLASTER|

\ Maximum Charge! /

While Charge was aiming her weapon at the monster, Tsukasa pulled out a card and threw it into the white part of the Decadriver on his side, accompanied by a Kamen Rider in a red suit, silver armor, and yellow eyes.

|FINAL ATTACK RIDE|

|FAIZ|

In unison both of the pointed their respective weapons at the Phantom, Decade his sword and Faiz, his futuristic blaster. Then all three pulled the trigger at once, unleashing three burst of energy upon the Phantom. The agonizing scream of the monster quickly faded as a massive explosion consumed it, all three of them ending their attacks. Not even a second later they were consumed by a bright purple light, they were once again too slow.

After returning to their civilian forms, Ocean was the first to inspect the crater where the monster had just stood mere moments ago and fished out a metallic hammer out of the derby. “Well, at least we got the artifact and killed another one,” she sighed, letting her head hang low.

“Don’t worry Newbie, you did well,” Tsukasa added from behind her, letting the woman spin around quite surprised. “We’ll get them eventually, we always do. In the end, the Riders always win.”

After a few more moments of genuine surprise Ocean just smirked. “Seems you aren’t so bad after all.”

“Yeah,” the senior Rider returned, only for him to stop after a few seconds and add a “Hey!” One that ocean just chuckled at.

Of Wizards, Travelers and Alchemists - A Pinch is a Chance

“Aww, mou… I’m starving here!“ Nitho moaned, his legs dangling from the rock he had decided to sit on. The scent of grilled fish seeking its way into his nostrils, as delicious as they smelled they were not exactly what he was hungering for.

With an exhausted sigh, he let his body sink onto the stone, staring aimlessly into the sky. The morning sky was slowly passing over him with every second only interrupted by the loud rumbling in his stomach. With an exhausted sigh, he pulled himself off the rock and into a sitting position. In front of him was the old tent he had borrowed from Thunder, even if he had been somewhat weirded out by the fact that he had refused to stay at his house or any other for the matter. It just didn’t feel right, neither did sleeping in this tent, it just wasn’t his own, but still better than a rove over his head.

The park he had set up his little sleeping spot had at first made quite a ruckus about his arrival, but this nice blue lady, Ocean, had come in and sorted everything out in the end, even if she didn’t seem too pleased with what he had done, even offering one of his grilled fish. She had just stared at him in complete bewilderment before walking off, mumbling something about crazy riders and so on.

The rest of the week no one had really bothered him, well besides a few slightly bewildered visitors and joggers, but that was nothing that was a problem really. He offered them some of his grilled fish and a bit of mayonnaise, but to his surprise, no one wanted to join him, they just looked at him in either horror or like he was crazy and then walked away, sometimes even ran. Oh well, left more for him really and he would not complain about that in the slightest.

Still, he had to finish up the breakfast first before he could satisfy at least his own hunger. Chimera, on the other hand, had to go on for a while longer without a meal. It had been far too long till he last ate anything and the few Ghoules the Phantom had eaten wouldn’t satisfy it for too long, and it seemed like his time was quickly running out, especially with the fight against the Phantoms going on for so long and him using a good chunk of his mana. But oh well, that was life. He would have just to get his hands on the next one, and everything would work out just fine. A pinch was a chance after all, and he intended to turn it into one that mattered.

A few minutes later he could already smell the delicious fish that was roasting on the small grill he had also borrowed from the restaurant owner. He really had to thank him for his hospitality eventually, maybe he would give him one of his bottles of mayonnaise? Yeah, he would love it, that was for sure. Seriously, who wouldn’t? With that, he took one last look at his little meal before grabbing the closest of the sticks and picking it up and inhaled the delicious aroma. Out of his pocket, he pulled one of the bottles with his favorite white sauce, spun it in his hand and was about to put a bit of it on the fish when all of a sudden… bonk!

To his horror, the small knock on the head was enough to knock the piece of fish out of his hand, and he could only watch as it fell to the ground. “Aww, mou… No, no, no! My precious little fish. You shouldn’t be on dry land, you will get dirty. Let me pick you- Ouch!” Once again he felt the pain in the same spot, the fish falling out of his hand just like the last time. “Ey, who is that!” He shouted, ignoring the fact that people could hear him and turned around, right into something gold and green that smacked right against his forehead.

With a pained scream, he fell backward and right on top of his fish. It took a few moments for him to recover from the shock and start to rub his forehead. This has hurt like hell, who would do something like that. His thoughts were interrupted by a familiar screech, one that seemed to answer his questions in one fell swoop. “Griffon! What was that for? I sent you out yesterday, you shouldn’t be drained already. What do you want?” At this moment realization hit, the fish! “No, no, no! My breakfast!” He jumped up, ignoring the visibly annoyed familiar promptly and spun around only to star defeated at the remains of his fish. “No… Why?”

Before he could dwell any longer on the lost food the PlaMonster once again screeched into his ear and started to pull on his ear, the Rider screaming in agony as he was dragged along by the little griffon, further and further away from his breakfast. “Oww, oww, oww! Griffon, what has gotten into you?” He shouted, freeing himself from the grip of his familiar, rubbing the ear with a sour expression.

The little green and gold devil however ignored everything he had just said and pointed his head in another direction, Nitoh just looking at him like he had lost his mind. “Do you want to tell me something?” With an accompanying screech the PlaMonster nodded, the shriek sounding suspiciously annoyed.

“Did you find something to eat? Like a tasty, mana filled Phantom?” He shouted out in excitement. Once again the griffon nodded eagerly. “Yes! I knew this would be a good day. Let’s go!” Without any further word, the mage dashed off in a random direction leaving the confused familiar behind only to return after a few seconds, Griffon giving him an annoyed look. “So, where was that Phantom?”

Griffon just shook his head and flew off in the opposite direction Nitoh had just run off to, the mage close behind his little companion. It did only take them about two minutes until the familiar stopped. They hadn’t gotten far, just outside the park and onto a rather busy street. “So, where is my breakfast, Griffon?” Nitoh asked, his hands on his hips as he looked around the area, sadly there was no sign of anything unusual going on, much to his annoyance. The little beast shrieked once again and nodded with his head towards a back-alley that was filled with trashcans and other rather useless stuff like cartons and boxes.

Letting out another breath of air the mage stepped into the alley, the noise of the city quickly moving in the background as he stepped further and further along, his eyes furrowed searching every knock and cranny. With his back hunched over, he must have looked rather ridiculous for anyone that moved past them, but that wasn’t really something that concerned Nitoh all that much, he was hungry and was more than determined to satisfy his little Phantom inside. Then he heard it, something was definitely behind the big trashcan. He just had to sneak a bit closer and-

And with that, he caused a massive ruckus as he stumbled over the lid of a small trash can, losing his footing he fell almost face first against the can and that in turn made one hell of a noise. At the same time, a loud scream could be heard as a woman fell to the ground from behind the big trash can, just like he had. She had long emerald hair and golden skin. She wore a rather warm locking brown jacket and stared at him in shock. “Ouch! What was that you dingus?” She barked at Nitoh, who had been covered in a good amount of trash from the can.

“Ow, sorry, I just fell over this trashcan, hope nothing happened to you,” Nitoh spat out, jumping to his feet and rushing over to the woman to help her up. “So, back on your feet. What were you doing behind that trashcan anyway?” He continued with an innocent smile on his lips.

The woman looked at him suspiciously before returning: “That is none of your business, and I would appreciate it if you would leave now.” The woman seemed quite grumpy.

“Oh, can’t do that yet. How about a little something to make up for it? Oh, I know,” he burst out and pulled another bottle of mayonnaise, this one with the label ‘Sorry’ on it. “Here!” He pretty much shoved the bottle into her face, much to the visual annoyance of the woman.

“Get that stuff out of my face you creep!” She shouted back and slapped the bottle out of his hand, the white sauce landing right next to the big dumpster.

Nitoh reacted like one would expect, looking dumbfounded back at the woman before jumping to the ground and fishing for the bottle. If she didn’t want it, there was more for him after all. However, the moment he let his hand reach out for the precious bottle his eyes spotted something different, a purple gem and around it cracks in the ground that were quickly expanding.

“Uhm, lady, I never got your name,” Nitoh asked.

“What do you care? Ok, fine, Griffon. Happy now?” Griffon barked back and was on her way out of the alley as Nitoh grabbed her shoulder, letting the woman jump back and quickly kick back right at the mage who effortlessly caught her foot.

“You wouldn’t happen to be one of Mesmer's little lackeys?” He asked with a smug grin on his face. “That would be great since I have yet to eat breakfast!”

“Tsk, seems like you aren’t as dumb as I thought. Shame and I thought I could finish this quickly and without much trouble, but look and behold, the Primordial Mage shows up. But don’t even think for a moment that I will become your breakfast,” she hissed back before pulling out a small little claw encased in gold and emeralds that quickly started to glow. Nitoh meanwhile let one of his ring hover over his belt buckle so his Driver would appear.

Striking his usual pose, he slammed the ring into the slot on the site of the Driver and let out a loud:

“Henshin!”

Within seconds the magical circle washed over him, clad him in his golden and black armor.

Meanwhile, the Phantom had revealed its true form. Clad in golden armor with feathers carved into it she stood before him. Her fets were clad in golden armor with talons, her arms as well and even her wings were covered in the gold. The body beneath was emerald green. Her helmet resembled that of an eagle with a large green crest on top of it that kinda looked like a mohawk.

Thrusting his rapier in the direction, he shouted out: “It’s breakfast time!” With that, he dashed towards the Phantom who pulled out two golden gladiuses and blocked the attack of the mage quite easy.

With the Rider repealed Griffon quickly switched to offensive, dashing forward at the Rider, her swords starting to glow a sickly green. The first swing came down right onto the trash can Beast had just fallen into a minute before and cleanly cut it in half, smoke rising from what was still left. The second strick hit its target, however, forcing the Rider backward, even if he had managed to block the strike.

With Beats pressed against the wall and the Phantom still having one weapon free to attack things were looking a bit bleak, but it was nothing a little magic couldn’t fix, a pinch was a chance after all. Within seconds he switched his ring against a new one, just as the monster was about to stab him with her other sword.

The magic circle passed over him right before the blade could connect with his stomach and the Rider had just enough time to push his weapon back and block the blade within the last possible moment. Using this newfound momentum he brought the rapier back up, slashing across the chest of the monster, who let out a pained roar. The red mantle on his shoulder waved in the wind as he dashed forward, piercing the Phantom in the shoulder.

That however quickly turned on him as the monster directly powered through the pain and let the two glowing blades come down on Beast, knocking him back against the wall, or more precisely through it and right into a kitchen. With terrified cocks running for their life the Rider had nearly no time to react to the next attack of his opponent, just barely being able to dodge the next sword swing that carved the offense behind him in half.

Crawling along the ground the Rider desperately tried to gain ground to come back up, but the Phantom was hot on his heels, managing to nearly hit him several times, only stopped by plates, cupboards, and other small little kitchenware. With one last dodge right under another cupboard, he managed to avoid her blows for long enough to come back out on the other side and onto his feet once again. The cupboard he had just been hiding under was quickly dismantled, and the Phantom dashed forward clashing sword with the mage once again.

“You are really making this hard for me, I just want to eat you,” Beast said through gritted teeth as he tried not to be pushed back by the monster.

“And I’m just trying to place the pillar, but you needed to make it difficult,” she growled back, trying to kick the mage with her taloned feet. That, however, did not lead to wanted results as the Rider just jumped over her, and slashed Griffon across her back, she staggering forward.

This was the perfect opportunity for Beast who pushed forward, slashing across the same place once again, and again, and another time, each one accompanied by a loud screech. To finish this attack of he charged at the monster, letting the two horns of his mantle pierce through her armor with ease, the Phantom crashing into the large refrigerator on the wall.

Griffon had disappeared under the debris and food that had been spilled over the ground by Nitoh’s attack, the Rider slowly walking closer to the pile of food on the ground and poking it with his weapon. The moment his blade touched the first piece of meat a claw shoot out of the pile, gripping tightly onto the weapon. Quickly later Beast could feel how he was lifted off the ground and flung backward, the pain soon following all over his body.

Beast landed on the street outside, much to the shock of the civilians that were just walking by, immediately storming off. The Rider tried to sort his thoughts and figure out what had just happened as he noticed something that was heading straight for him, his sword. He could only stare as the blade shot at him, straight for his head. There was no time to dodge, oh this would most definitely hurt. Even if it was fruitless, he tried to jump out of the way, still awaiting the piercing pain that was undoubtedly coming every second now.

But it never came, Beast actually managed to get out of the way, much to his own amazement. As he looked back, he saw why. A Rider clad in electric blue armor stood before him, his helmet resembling that of a bird. Nitoh immediately jumped back up as the Rider said: “You need to be more care-“ And that was about as far at the Rider came before Nitoh interrupted him.

“Stop, don’t say it! You are a new Rider and want me to teach you, right?” Beast burst out, shaking the hand of the new Rider furiously, right until his savior ripped it from his hand in annoyance.

“No! I’m Kamen Rider Monster, you know me! I’m just here to finish off this monster, something you clearly can’t do,” he growled back at him before turning around and pointing his rapier at the monster who was right now stepping through the hole she had Beast just punched through.

“Great, two of them,” she just sighed before enlightening her weapons in the sickly green glow once again. Then she rushed forward, right at Monster who quickly blocked the attack with his own rapier before trying to slash the Phantom in return. With his super speed that was actually quite easy, the problem was just that his weapon didn’t seem to penetrate the armor of the monster.

Meanwhile, Beast had rushed over to his own weapon and pulled it out of the concrete the Phantom had launched it in. With his weapon retrieved he quickly ran towards the Phantom once again, ready to thrust the rapier right into the small area around her neck that was not covered by the armor. Well, he would have done that if a certain other Rider wouldn’t have dashed right into his way and took the blade right into the back. With a pained scream, he spun around and struck his sword at Beats, who also was pierced in the shoulder.

“What was that you idiot?!” Monster growled at him, taking a few steps in his directions, the red eyes of the Rider glaring at him.

“Ey, you jumped in my way! I was here sooner anyway, and I’m hungry on top of all this. You should leave this to me anyway!” Nitoh just shouted back before screaming as well: “Look out!”

Monster could turn around just in time to see the emerald blade of Griffon come down on him and slash across his chest, letting sparks fly everywhere. Beast had already dashed to his side, weapon ready to intercept the second blow, but instead of that, he himself received the second slash as the Phantom cut through his own armor.

With both Riders staggering back she used this golden opportunity and once again brought her blades down on them, each Rider being thrown back to the other side of the street and collapsing to the ground. In the background, the purple light once again arose and disappeared again. Griffon, however, made no sign of stopping and walked towards the beaten and battered Riders, her swords once again being filled with the energy.

That was until she heard the sounds of at least two engines coming her way. With a silent curse, she let her weapons disappear and spread her wings only to shoot up into the sky in the next moment. Just moments later Alchemy and Wizard showed up, taking in the battlefield and the collateral.

“I have the feeling there is a long story behind all of this,” Phoenix just sighed as he looked at the two Riders that were glaring at each other. “One I’m sure I will learn every small little detail about.”

--------------<

And like he had expected Phoenix soon learned every single detail about the entire thing, with the addition of cometary of either Pinecone or Nitoh of how much the other screwed things over for him. It was grading. Not only had the Phantom escaped, no, now they had to deal with this insanity as well. Both Riders were just refusing to see reason and shifted blame to the other party. This also took a good amount of time out of their day, well Ocean’s, Phoenix’s and Haruto’s day, Tsukasa just said something on the lines of “Not my problem,” and quickly left them to their own devices. Well, at least the city wasn’t entirely on its own during the whole process.

Still, it was already early evening when the two Riders were finally let go, much to the delight of the rest. Hunting for a Phantom was sounding more and more like relaxation about now. Pinecone quickly darted out of the MRG headquarters as soon as he could, while Nitoh just stumbled out onto the street, the roaring of his stomach having only grown over the hours. He had to find something to eat, and that quickly, but his best chance at a perfect meal had been spoiled by that Monster. With a resigned sigh, he just started to walk in no direction, in particular, aimlessly wandering around the city.

It must have been two hours already since he had left the building and he hated to admit it, he was utterly lost. He wasn’t familiar with this city in the first place, but he never even was in this part of the city, all the monsters had attacked somewhere else. He was about to take a little break on a nearby bench when a familiar sound came to his ears. And before he could even attempt to turn around, he already felt the pain in his back.

“Ey, Griffon! I heard you the first time,” the mage turned around rubbing the back of his head. The small little familiar just cheaped once again in annoyance and flew off in a direction. “Hey! Wait for me!” Nitoh right behind him. The little Griffon flew through the streets like a madman, Nitoh only barely able to keep up with it, finally flying on top of a roof of a warehouse.

“Oh, you have got to be kidding me!” Hissed a familiar voice, one only too familiar to him.

“Lucky!” Nitoh chuckled activating his Driver, all while grinning at the Phantom in front of him.

“You know, this is perfect, I’m starving, and I have you all to myself. So, let’s get to dining, it’s lunchtime after all!” With that, he slammed the ring into the Driver and let the silver door flip open.

“Henshin!”

The moment the transformation had finished the mage dashed forward, his rapier in hand and tried to pierce the Phantom, only to be stopped by the armor of the monster that had formed with its beats form. When he stood there, he took in his surroundings for the first time. The roof was huge and covered with windows that shined down into the hall below, and in the middle of it, all was the purple gem. While his stomach roared up again, he sighed and before the Phantom even know what was happening kicked her in the stomach, knocking her to the ground and making a mad dash towards the gem. Hunger be damned, right now he knew he had to take care of this first.

Sadly his dash was cut short by the monster coming back up sooner than he had anticipated and grabbed his feet, something that knocked the Rider down as well, rolling past the gem. The damn smug laugh made everything just all the worse, Griffon just like Beast crawling back up on her feet, giving him a glare that said more than a thousand words. He had to go through her before he could break that that damn gem. If that was how it was going to go, then fine with him, he could play to that tune.

“So, you aren’t going to play nice and let me eat you up?” Nitho asked, letting his hand slap on his stomach a few times, much to the aggravation of his opponent.

“You think I would let you do that? Oh, you are even dumber than I thought! And that says something primordial mage. I will be the one who will feast upon your bones little Rider,” Griffon growled before dashing at him, Beast only barely able to block the strike from her blades as she soared over him and right up into the sky.

With the enemy now far out of reach, the mage took one look at a ring on his belt and smirked. “You know, I’m up for a little gamble,” and within seconds he slammed the form ring into the Driver.

The orange magic circle moved over his body and clad his right shoulder in the orange Falco Mantel, one that the mage would not waste in any way shape or form and immediately started to fly up into the sky, his rapier pointed at the fearsome opponent. Griffon in return just huffed in annoyance, well until Beast quickly caught up to him, apparently about to strike at him with his weapon. Cue, a shocked expression on the Phantoms, face as the Rider simply raced around her and instead wedged the blade between her neck and the armor.

With a loud shriek, the monster fell towards the ground, landing roughly on the roof of the warehouse before coming to a stop. This was it! This was perfect to finish off this little snack. He started to spin the dice on his rapier and plugged in the Falco Ring and awaited eagerly the number that would spell the doom for his opponent. A two! A two…

“Aww, mou! That was not supposed to go like this!” He screamed out as he saw the two small etherial falcons head straight for the Phantom and crash into it, to pathetic results, only barely able to push her a bit further.

“Oh, and that was all? I’m really disappointed little mage, and I heard so much about the primordial mages from my master, but it seems you are a failure,” Griffon chuckled as she pulled herself back up again. Beast hissing under his breath and rushing towards his opponent, ready to strike once again as a third voice interrupted them.

“Well, you can call yourself lucky, you have another opponent right here!” The voice was more a growl than anything else, and within mere moments the Phantom was grabbed from behind and rushed towards one of the windows, crashing into Nitoh on her way, taking the Rider with her as she feels down into the hall below.

With a loud groan, both combatants landed on the concrete floor below, joined by the low grunt of the third voice. Before Nitoh could free himself from the weight of the Phantom, he could already hear her anguished screams. Seconds later he witnessed how she pretty much jumped up from the ground was desperately trashing around the room, something green firmly stuck on her back, that was until she finally managed to free herself from the uninvited guest, Monster.

“Ey! This is my prey!” He shouted over to the new Rider, who just seemed to ignore him. “Hey, are you listening?”

“Oh, I’m listening, I just don’t care!” He growled back, dashing forward, his claws ready to once again dig into the armor and skin of Griffon. The first strike went quite well, sparks flying off the helmet as his razor sharp claws scratched across the surface of the metal, but what followed was not so successful. The swipe was swiftly blocked by Griffon’s gladius before the other came down on him, scratching across his own suit and throwing him back.

But this was not it for the Phantom, she had finally found her footing again and dashed forward, her blades illuminated in the sickly green glow, chipping away at Monster who could only manage to block the odd strike, but otherwise was entirely at her mercy.

As Monster was bracing himself for the next attack, he suddenly heard the sound of metal against metal. The moment his eyes opened again he could see Beast blocking the strike that was meant for him, and the next one as well, all while he stumbled into relative safety. He couldn’t other than to star at him and ask dumbfounded: “Why?”

“Because why not!” He heard back between the clashing of swords as the two combatants clashed once again. This confusion, however, didn’t last all that long, as confusing as beast’s actions were he wouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth and opened his Driver once again and inserted a purple Medal into it.

\ AWAKEN: CHANGELING! /

Now clad in his purple suit, he wasted no time and started to assist the other Rider. He might be an annoying idiot but right now the bigger problem was the Phantom, and he wouldn’t let that fool Phoenix look down on him again for failing to beat it because of petty squabbles. With a roar he punched right into the stomach of the monster, the metal bending under his blow as the beast was thrown backward and right into a row of boxes. As the debris flew around them, Beast managed to return: “Thanks!”

“Don’t sweet it let's just beat this monster once and for all. I’m getting tired of her at this point,” he huffed back, his claws ready for the next attack.

“Good. Hey, can you hold her for a moment, I have an idea, and I have the feeling this time this pinch is gonna become a great chance. One that is gonna stuff my stomach,” Nitoh Smirked back, pulling out a gold and blue gun, before smalling a new ring into his Driver.

A massive etherial chimera emerged from the Driver, circled around him and back at the Rider. As the light faded, a new Beast stood there, one in a gold and blue suit with a large lion head on his chest.

“Huh, if you say so,” Monster returned before changing Medals once again and activating the Driver.

\ AWAKEN: CHIMERA! /

Now both in their strongest forms, the two Riders were ready to turn this half backed plan into reality. Ready to play his part in this gamble Monster flew forward, escaping the swings of the enraged Griffon in the last second and grabbing ahold of her, trapping her in a seemingly inescapable old. This was precise that what Beast had needed, swinging his arms around the tassels on his suit extended and acted like a while, dancing across the armor and skin of Griffon who just screamed in agony.

As the Phantom sunk to her knees, Nitoh knew it was time. “It’s time for the main dish!” With that, he pulled open a small mouth on his lion ring and put it into a small hole in the gun.

The chimera once again danced around him before dashing into the gun, as that happened it shoot out of the barrel hurdling at the Phantom who could only scream in terror as she was consumed by the ethereal beast until her screams were silenced for all eternity. The only thing left of her was her magic, and that was quickly swallowed by Beast. The Rider in return slapped his hands together and shouted out: “Thanks for the meal!”

Just as he did the purple light once again shined up from on top of them before vanishing again. While they had one this fight, they had lost once again as well.

--------------<

Meanwhile in a nearby part of town Alchemy was heading straight for their location. When his bike roared around the next turn, he suddenly hit the breaks. In front of him stood a figure he was not sure if he was happy to see or not, Heinrich, and right next to him a man in a black leather coat. “Oh, so you actually crawled out of your hole again? Seems like your little Phantoms are dying left right and center. Already out of them? Or want to give up?” Phoenix returned, trying to maintain a confident tone.

“Oh, that is beside the point. They fulfilled their purpose and that is all that is to that. And no, I’m not here to surrender, I’m here for the treasure of this world, your Philosopher Stone!” The Nobel returned with a calm voice.

Of Wizards, Travelers and Alchemists - The Final!

“Yeah, over my dead body,” he returned. “You’ll never get my Philosopher Stone. You can’t be trusted with one; I sure as hell won’t give you another one!”

“A shame really, seems we can’t do that the civilized way,” he returned with a sigh and a shake of his head before activated his Driver.

“Henshin!”

While the mage was changing into his Rider form, the muscular man next to him started to turn as well, a bright light emitting from a black brass knuckle he held clenched in his fist. In front of the Rider now stood Mesmer, clad in his butterfly inspired armor and a new Phantom, clad in an ash grey armor. His body towered three heads over Alchemy, this monster was a beast, to say the least. The armor was fitted tightly on him and covered his chest and legs, while the arms were left open. The metal was engraved with the images of claws, and a large wolfs head on the front. Two addition wolf heads were used as the shoulder pads, the arms emerging from their mouths. The most impressive thing, however, was the ash grey helmet in the visage of a wolf. Two glowing red eyes staring back at the Rider.

“So, this is your last chance Rider. Bow down to me and surrender your Philosopher Stone to me like a good little peasant, or feel the wrath of my servant and me. And I tell you, he is starving for a good fight and to knock someone down to where they belong. You have the choice,” Mesmer continued, his voice as sweet as honey covered in chocolate, but it could not hide the sinister undertone in the slightest.

“Yeah, how about this blueblooded asshole. Give back the friend of Haruto, piss of back into your world and never bother us again or feel the wrath of the Riders! You have the choice,” Alchemy returned with a bright grin under his helmet.

Mesmers hand clenched into a fist before returning as calmly as he could: “So, you chose death. Very well, you will learn what it means to defy one of gods chosen! Cerberus!” Not even a moment later the Phantom summoned an enormous black tower shield, just like the rest of the armor engraved with the design of a roaring wolf, and a similar styled broad sword and dashed at him with frightening speed.

Alchemy’s grin quickly disappeared from his face as he barely managed to dodge the first strike, one that left a sizeable cut in the street behind. With surprising speed the Phantom pulled back the blade and swung it once again at the Rider, Alchemy dashing beneath it, pulling the Magic Disc from the Driver in the process.

\ Flame Disc Attack Mode! /

\ Flame Saber! /

The weapon formed just in the nick of time to block the next swing of the monster, Alchemy still being pushed back by the sheer strength Cerberus possessed. With a loud groan, the Rider jumped back, seeing how the remaining force of the attack slammed into a nearby car, slicing through it like butter. If he would be hit by that attack, he would… Yeah, better not think about that right now.

And that was by far the right decision as the monster did not stop in its onslaught, jumping at him with speed not to be expected from such a musculus beast. This time he didn’t even entertain the thought of stopping the attack with a block, no, he was already on the retreat, dashing out of the way as the swing of Cerberus decimated the concrete below his feet. With little to no effort, the Phantom ripped the blade from the pavement and once again raced toward him, the glowing red eyes staring directly at the Rider.

This time it looked like there was no way out of this he had to block, with all the terrible implications that brought with it. Breathing in one last time he readied himself as the infeeble happened, the crushing blow hit. He felt his muscles strain and arc under the sudden pressure, the ground beneath his feet starting to crack as the loud roar of the beast echoed through the streets, but most certainly his ears. But against all the odds, he seemed to at least somewhat be able to block the attack, that was until he felt the sharp pain in his back.

With sparks flying everywhere the sudden attack that had hit him from behind was just enough for the Phantom to push through, knocking his sword out of his hand and slashing the blade across his chest, consuming the Rider in sparks as he flew right into the next best car. It felt like someone had poured hot assist on his chest as he regained his senses, everything was burning and just in general hurting. Worst of all, however, was the smug, gloating laugh that permeated the entire street.

“Oh, did you think it would be that easy? No, no, no! This is always what you peasants believe. A fight between you and me. That is so cute. In all honesty, if I were in a better mood and not everything I have worked for, for hundreds of years would rest on this working out, I might have entertained you, but I don’t play fair anymore. No one ever played fair with me, and I fool actually did and look what it got me, banished to another world without my magic. No, this time I will be the one who will be victorious, and I will show them that gods chosen are truly destined to rule the world. I once again offer you to just hand over your Philosopher Stone, and this will be over,” Heinrich’s voice said from not too far away. “But having seen you until now, I think that would be a moot cause. Shame really, you could have made a great servant, if I could have crushed that rebellious spirit you possess,” he added with a sad undertone.

“Seems you finally managed to get one thing right,” Phoenix returned, his voice intersected with pained groans. “I’m not gonna give you the Philosopher Stone! So, just piss off you old antique and accept that your time is over already.”

“Insolent fool! You have seen that you have no chance against me and my most loyal servant, you still insist on being disrespectful? This will lead you nowhere but your end. But if this is the path a fool like you chooses, then that is fine with me. You are the one that has to live with your decision, well to be fair, not for too long really,” he added with a sadistic smile. “Cerberus, if you will?”

“Of course my lord,” the booming voice of the Phantom loomed over the street before he dashed towards Alchemy only to be interrupted by a loud jingle. That however only let him increase his speed.

\ FRIENDSHIP DISC ACTIVATED! /

He was fast enough to get the sword halfway down on Alchemy before the purple whirlwind stopped him right in his tracks, throwing the sword back a few meters, the Rider jumping out of the magical energy and a good distance away before activating his weapon.

\ Friendship Disc Attack Mode! /

\ Connect Protector! /

With a low growl, the Phantom dashed forward, not going after his sword, but instead bashing at the Rider with his tower shield. This was something he had not been anticipating, and his well thought out counter was now pretty much useless, Phoenix only instinctively pulling his shield in front of his face, something that did not stop the massive beast that was heading his way. With the force of at least a damn truck he was thrown off his feet and thrown straight at the next wall, and ultimately threw it.

“Cerberus, fetch!” Mesmer chuckled with a sadistic undertone, pointing his staff at the newly formed hole in the wall. The Phantom nodded and rushed towards its target, much to its master's satisfaction.

Inside the building, Phoenix was stumbling back onto his feet before taking in the surrounding area. Apparently, the warehouse had been abandoned a while ago, dust covering a few remaining crates. But that was beside the point. The colossus that was probably heading his way was far more important than anything else. And right on cue, the hulking beast burst through the wall, before coming to a screeching halt, looking around the area. Phoenix had managed to duck behind one of the remaining crates, trying to keep his breath as low as possible.

“Come out you cowered! Show yourself, so I can properly kill you. There is no hiding, your life has been spent, so don’t prolong the inevitable,” the rough voice echoed through the hall, just like every step of the Phantom and with every step he could feel the monster getting closer and closer. He didn’t want to admit it, but it definitely let a shiver run down his spine as he could almost feel the presence of the thing. Still, he was not just gonna lay down and be lead to the slaughter like a damn lamb, no he had far too much fight still left in him.

Spinning the Disc on his blade, he dashed out, right behind the Phantom, the surprised monster only able to turn around and see how the glowing blade slashed across his chest, complete with an accompanying “Eternal Bond!”

Sparks were flying everywhere, and the growly Phantom even let out a whimper of pain, but even he knew this would not nearly be enough, so he once again spun the Disc and attacked. “Eternal Bond!” With equal intensity and he slashed across his chest once again, this time actually forcing the monster back several steps. But before he could deliver the third blow something else happened.

He felt it instantaneous, sharp pain in his back that quickly blossomed into complete and utter agony. Within moments the Rider had sunken to his knees, panting heavily as he tried his damn hardest to stay conscious. “Well, well Cerberus. You should have taken our friend here more serious, this might have actually become dangerous if he would have continued,” Mesmer chuckled, spinning around with his staff in a quite playful manner.

Before the Phantom answered he glared at Alchemy before striking the rider with his sword, the weapon digging into his armor, small drops of blood quickly gathering on the floor beneath him before the Phantom lifted him off the ground with the blade. “I hope you enjoyed all of this. You really should have just given up,” the monster hissed at him before throwing him across the room and right into a pile of crates.

The pain was unbearable, his vision blurry, but most important of all he was angry, no furious. All the pain quickly just turned into background noise, transforming into new energy he had no idea were actually there. Through all the pain he felt he managed to rip the Disc from his Driver and grabbed ahold of the Philosopher Stone. Then he felt it, the cold hand clutching around his wrist, preventing him from placing the Stone inside the Driver. Towering over him was Cerberus, the red eyes glowed with a satisfaction that was just unsettling. At this moment all the anger disappeared, making room for fear, fear that only grew the moment Mesmer stepped close to him. “Well, good work Cerberus. Let’s finish this up, ok?”

With a swift motion of his hands, he took the Disc from Phoenix who could only stare in disbelief at what was happening in front of him. “Oh, and just in case you have any more stupid ideas like creating another one, I’ll be taking this as well,” Heinrich smugly added, picking up the Friendship Disc as well. “Cerberus, would you be so kind?” He turned around on the spot and signaled his servant to finish off Alchemy.

The Phantom lifted its sword, ready to stab into Phoenix’s chest as out of nowhere a portal appeared next to him, the monster being thrown back by a spear that shot out of the new portal. With an air of superiority, a familiar face stepped out, Chrysopoeia. “While this was entertaining, I can not let you claim my price. Feel free to beat him bloody for all I care, but the one to kill him is me! And no one is going to lay a hand on him beside me!” The Dark Rider bellowed, all to a low growl from Cerberus.

“Fine, I have no time for this. Cerberus, come, we are leaving!” Heinrich sighed before walking off.

“But master, we have him at our mercy, we could just-“ The Phantom tried to return only to be interrupted by a furious Heinrich.

“I said we are leaving! He is no danger to us anyway, so who cares. God is on our side so nothing could stand in our way even if they tried to. Now come!” He spat at his servant who only bowed his head and followed after the mage.

Phoenix meanwhile started to regain his composure, but at the same time could feel all the pain surging through his body as well as the armor slowly beginning to fade away. With his vision slowly fading away he desperately clawed at any other Magic Disc and slammed it into the Driver.

\ WIND DISC ACTIVATED! /

He could feel his injuries healing, the pain subsiding, but even now in his new armor, he could not escape the blackness that ultimately caught up to him. Still, there was one last thing he heard. “You belong to me, remember that!”

--------------<

It hurt, it just hurt all over his body. He could feel the sourness all through it. And then there was the darkness, well not that any of this wasn’t already familiar to him. Still, it sucked bigtime if he was honest. It didn’t take long until he could open his eyes again, quickly closing them once again thanx to the bright hospital light. He hated to admit it, but this was getting a quite common occurrence to wake up in one of them, and he really despised it. With a loud groan, a mixture of annoyance and pain, he hived himself off the bed and into a sitting position, his eyes adjusting to the light in the meantime.

“You really should stop making this a common occurrence,” a sweet female voice said to him from the side, mixed in with a slight chuckle.

“Yeah, yeah, got it. Man, I feel like I was run over by a truck,” he hissed through his teeth before taking a look at Ocean, who was smiling at him, relaxation and release clearly visible in her expression. For a moment everything seemed to be alright, well until he remembered what had happened, and most importantly, what had been taken from him.

Without as much as a second thought, he jumped out of bed, his legs immediately giving up under him and the Rider crashing to the ground with a loud thud.

“Phoenix!” Ocean shouted, dashing down to him and trying to help him up. “Are you ok? What were you thinking?” She glared at him with a mixture of worry and anger. “Even if you are more or less fine this doesn’t mean that you can just jump out of bed like nothing has happened!”

“Yes, I can! I have to! Our blueblooded bastard took my Philosopher Stone and my Friendship Disc! Goodness knows what he will do with them!” He spat back, trying to wrestle himself out of her grasp.

“Oh no, you don’t! We know that, but we can’t just attack him head on, we don’t even know where he is or how many more Phantoms he has at his disposal. This is suicide, especially in your condition right now!

“Yeah, Newbie is right, you really should just lay low for a while, not that you could do much without your Discs anyway,” the smug voice of a certain Rider echoed from the corner fo the room.

“So what? I have to do something! I have a bad feeling about all of this!” Phoenix was not slowing down in the slightest, furiously trying to escape the grasp of his girlfriend.

“Phoenix! Calm down! You are acting like a madman! We aren’t just gonna sit here and do nothing, but we aren’t just throwing us at the city either. And don’t worry, Nitoh and Pinecone are out there and at least looking out for anything suspicious. But right now we need a plan. Our enemies are one step closer to their win condition, and we can’t just let you run off on your own again. We need to think and come up with a way to turn all of this around. So, please, calm down, and we can discuss this, or do you want to let this end like your sleepless escapades?” Ocean was relentless, her stern voice hammering in on him for the entirety of her monologue.

“No,” Phoenix muttered, almost so silent that no one could hear him.

“What was that?” Ocean asked, tightening her hold on him. “Say that again, and this time louder!”

“No,” he repeated, this time louder.

“Still nothing, again!”

“No!” This time he shouted, Ocean finally releasing him, his legs barely able to support him.

“Good, that was all I wanted. Now that you cooled off a bit can we discuss what we should do now? We have a powerful evil Rider and his servants running around the city, and they have done something to eight different spots in the city,” she sighed while pulling out a tablet and placing it on the nearby table, all while opening a map.

“Yeah, this is not good. Where did they attack, is there any recognizable pattern?” Haruto asked, looking over the map of the city right before eight purple crosses appeared on the map.

“This is a circle!” Phoenix shouted out, pointing at the crosses on the map.

“Yeah, exactly. That is something Light Bulb noticed when she was looking at the data we gathered, and I could distract her long enough from the Phantoms and all the things she could learn about them. This is a circle, just like Phoenix said. Every point is roughly the same distance from the nearest away, and all are the same distance away from this building,” she pointed at a building right in the middle of the crosses.

“Huh, so, anything special about this building?” Haruto asks, sounding somewhat worried.

“Well, it belongs to the wealthiest companies in Canterlot City, Change Industries. They are pretty much also the most liked companies in the area and employ about a third of the city. They are big in short really and quite popular I might add. And they have the highest building in the city. But I have no idea what they might have to do with our mage here, especially since he never had much contact with anyone when he worked at the warehouse, so this is just confusing for me. What is his plan?” Ocean groaned, her hand clenching into a fist.

“Well, we could just ask them, right?” Phoenix nonchalantly returned. Everyone in the room turned their heads to the young Rider in disbelief. “What? I kinda know the public affairs guy, and he kinda owes me something, I’m sure he could help us.”

This was enough for Ocean, she just let her head sink into her hands and let out a desperate sigh. “Yeah, I’m sure they would totally tell you when they did something evil, right? Besides, I highly doubt they have anything to do with this, and probably couldn’t even help you out when they wanted to. Phoenix, it’s a nice idea, but it won’t bring results.”

“I… Ok, sorry, I’m just grasping at straws, I know, but I have to do something, anything. I hate not being able to do something, especially when it’s my fault. And now that I can’t even use my strongest from I’m pretty much useless so I thought I could at least do something on the ground when I can’t do something in a fight and would only slow you all down,” he sighed, letting himself sink down onto one of the chairs around the table.

Haruto meanwhile had looked at him with an understanding look in his eyes the entire time, and after he had set himself the senior Rider started to say something: “I know what you mean. I once lost my powers, and I felt just as useless as you did now. I couldn’t help my friend because she lived off of mana only I could provide her with and without my magic I was essentially useless. Thing is, I didn’t give up and kept pushing forward and found a new power I never thought I had, my own power. Don’t lose hope that is the most important thing. Live in the now and not in the past,” he finished with a determined look on his face.

Phoenix looked at him for a moment before his own expression started to mirror the one of the mage, complete with a confident smirk. “Yeah, you are right! I can’t just give up now! Even if I can’t make a dent in the monster or Heinrich, I won’t give up so easily. I’m a Kamen Rider, and I would rather die than give up! Question is just how can I help,” he finished, his confidence sinking once again.

“This is all very heartwarming, really, but I don’t think this alone will beat our enemies. There is however something else that might. Hey, Phoenix, how do you create your powers anyway?” Tsukasa asked, sounding somewhat distant, but still, the smugness was dripping through every word he spoke.

“Well, with this,” he pulled out his last blank Magic Disc. “I absorb magic with this thing, and if I have enough, I can turn it into one of the Discs. Wait that is it, I’ll just ask the girls if they can recreate the Disc, then I’m not completely unarmed!” He added, almost jumping into the air, but settled for an energetic fistbump instead.

“Well, I think this could work. Well, not what you had planned, but what I have planned,” he returned, simply turning towards Haruto, not even waiting for an answer from the Rider. “You still have that Please ring, right?”

“Yes, but why? He doesn’t need any mana from me,” Haruto returned, just as puzzled as Phoenix.

“Oh, trust me, I have an idea!” He returned with a devilish smile. “And I think it will be a far better use for this Disc than to just recreate one you manage to lose.”

--------------<

Tsukasa plan hadn’t taken too long, and against all the odds, I had actually worked. Granted, the Rider was far more experienced with Rider powers than any of them, but still. With his new ace, he felt ready. They had informed both Pinecone and Nitoh about their plan and send them straight to Change Industries. The four Riders were on their way as well. They didn’t know what exactly Heinrich and his entourage had planned, but the building was most certainly involved in some way, he just had a feeling it was, and so did the rest of them.

They could already see the building on the horizon, ominous storm clouds gathering around its top. This was all just not looking good. With the first lightning bolt hitting the highest part of the building everything was pretty much sealed, they were on the right track, and the quickly spreading clouds only cemented that. They had to pick up their pace, or they would be far too slow to achieve anything, and they knew that passing irritated and enraged drivers that were no stranger to complaints, but that was just not important right now. If Heinrich succeeded, there was probably far more on the line as a lost friend, not that it mattered for them. The mage had to be stopped, and that was what they had set out to do.

They just passed the next turn as something familiar build itself up in front of them, something clad in black metallic armor that seemed impenetrable, Cerberus. The Phantom stood dead center in the middle of the street, only roughly five hundred meters away from the damn building. He had his shield slammed into the pavement and his sword ready, ready for them. Then they saw it, the swarm of Remnants and Ghouls crowding around the skyscraper, hundreds of them. Where had they come from?

This question, however, was quickly shelved as the Phantom raised its sword, dark energy starting to gather around it. “Watch out!” Phoenix shouted at his comrades right as the monster unleashed a wave of pure blackness at them. Hitting the breaks he pressed the bike earthwards, his shoulders scraping across the asphalt, spraying sparks, as he nearly avoided the wave of doom. Still, the damage had been done, knocking him almost of his bike as he came to a screeching halt just one hundred meters away from the monster, his fellow Riders joining him shortly thereafter.

The commotion had also attracted the attention of the Remnants and Ghouls that had now turned their heads towards them. With a loud roar, the dashed forward towards them, still, a large chunk of them remaining at the base of the skyscraper.

“Dammit, looks like we have to get through them first and that is gonna take forever,” Ocean hissed, pulling her Charge Magnum from her belt and aiming at the incoming hoard,

“We don’t have time for this. Isn’t their another way? We could just fly, am I right?” Phoenix asked back, a mixture of hope and worry in his voice.

“Hah, you really think the master wouldn’t have planned for something like this. No one is gonna reach the top of this building without his permission, and I will make sure you won’t. Especially when we know your weakness, the peasants of this town. You can’t really leave us down here, god knows what we could do, am I right?” The Phantom added smugly, his eyes glowing from beyond the mask.

Phoenix was just about to throw more insults at the monster when he heard something, the roaring of another bike. And just like this a familiar green bike shot out from a nearby alley and on it both Monster and Beast. How they had managed to drive together without killing each other was a mystery to him, but this was hardly important right now. Both Riders jumped from their bike, and straight towards Cerberus.

The Phantom was in a bit of a shock one could say, only barely able to bring the shield up, so their kicks simply pushed him back, but nothing more. Beast and Monster both landed a few steps away from him before the primordial mage shouted towards them: “Hey, Haruto. We are taking care of this guy here! A little desert can’t hurt, right? So you can take care of the magic clown up there,” Nitoh shouted, all while pulling out his sword. “Oh, and don’t even think about losing, you are my rival after all, and I can’t be the rival of a loser!”

“Good!” The mage shouted back with a light chuckle. “Don’t worry we will take care of this.”

“I’ll be helping them as well. You make sure nothing bad starts happening, ok?” Ocean added before dashing forward, unloading shot after shot at the Phantom, much to Cerberus’s annoyance.

While the monster was slashing with his sword at the Riders, Charge peppering him with shots, Beast slicing across his armor and Monster trying to tear him apart the three remaining Riders were left to their own devices. “So, how are we gonna get up there? Should we just fly? I think that would be the easiest way, really,” Phoenix muttered, looking up at the spire before them with a suspicious feeling in his stomach.

“Well, if we pick up Tsukasa this shouldn’t be a problem,” Haruto returned, already in the process of switching to his emerald-like ring.

“Oh, we don’t need to fly. Or not in the way you think,” the last Rider interrupted them, pulling out one of his cards. Without any more words, he walked towards Haruto, who just looked at him before he slotted the card into his Driver.

|Final Form Ride|

|WIZARD|

With that, he turned the Rider around and nonchalantly said: “This might tickle a bit!” When Tsukasa touched the back of Haruto, a golden light erupted from him before the Rider started to levitate in the air and quickly changed shape. His limbs were twisted in completely unnatural ways, the shape of the Rider disappearing in the silver and gold of this new form. It didn’t take long until one could identify what Wizard had been turned into, a dragon. A silver and gold dragon that let out a loud roar that echoed through the city.

“Well, this is our ride to the top,” Decade continued, like this was nothing noteworthy and jumped on the back of Haruto.

“How did you… This is… Are sure… Wow,” that was all Phoenix could manage to stammer out, staring dumbfounded at what had formerly been his friend.

“If you would be so kind and get up here, we don’t have the whole day,” the senior Rider added sarcastically.

“Uhm, sure. Sorry,” he stuttered back, jumping onto the back of the beast.

“About time,” Tsukasa sighed as the dragon started to flip his wings, dust blowing everywhere as they ascended, heading straight for the roof of Change Industries.

Phoenix had to hold on for dear life not to be blown off the back of Haruto, desperately clamoring onto anything that granted him any kind of halt. They were flying upwards with ludicrous speed, the floors just rushing past them and until now there was no sign of anything that was trying to stop them.

Oh, he really shouldn’t have thought that because at this moment Heinrich stepped close to the edge of the roof and pointed his staff at them. Within seconds the sky was filled with purple magic seals that unleashed hell on them. Hundreds upon hundreds of small purple arrows rained down on them.

“I would hold on tight,” Tsukasa chuckled, all while shielding himself from the barrage of arrows. While Phoenix had no idea what he meant by that he was not about to ask and just listened. He had learned not to question the senior Rider, but just go with whatever he had in mind. And this decision was quickly rewarded as Haruto turned around, now his chest upside towards the arrows, which now merely bounced off the thick hide of the dragon.

|Final Attack Ride|

|WIZARD|

No idea how Decade had managed this, but he had apparently inserted another card into his Driver. They had now overshot their initial goal, hovering over the skyscraper, looking down onto the roof. To their surprise, they could see two Mesmers, not just the one that had attacked them, but another one that was seemingly working on some kind of ritual.

Haruto now spun around, shot straight towards the mage that was taking care of the ritual, Pheonix holding onto dear life. About halfway there the shape of the dragon once again shifted, now turning into a giant claw, Phoenix deciding that this was getting a bit much for him and chose to bail, jumping off the dragon. Decade, however, did nothing like that, he actually jumped upwards and shot back down again, his foot perfectly fitting into place and only increasing the speed with which the claw rocketed towards Heinrich, all while a giant projection of Decade could be seen.

The moment the attack was supposed to hit the mage a massive explosion consumed the roof, Phoenix landing on it with relative ease. When the dust had settled one could barely see the remains of a magical seal falling down from the sky, Heinrich not harmed in the slightest. Now that everything wasn’t moving so fast anymore he could actually see what was going on. Around Heinrich, another magic circle had been erected, glowing in a sick purple and inside of it, Heinrich. He was holding his hand over something quite familiar, a ring and his Philosopher stone. Seconds later both Wizard and Decade landed next to him, and they were rather agitated that this hasn’t had the expected effect.

“Hey, Blueblood, how about you give up now? You are outnumbered and have no chance against us!” Phoenix said, trying to sound intimidating, but no answer came. The mage was simply ignoring him. “Hey! I’m talking to you!” Still no response. With an annoyed huff, he dashed forward, only to be blinded by a bright purple glow. “What is that?”

The light however quickly fade, or at least partially. The clouds above them had taken on a purple hue, as well as the city beneath them. Then they noticed, the city was glowing purple from eight points, all of which they had fought one of the Phantoms at. “What have you done?” He shouted out, taking a step towards the man that finally turned around to them.

“This is just a necessary sacrifice, as, much as it pains me. With your Philosopher Stone and mine, I can actually improve my design. And that is all thanks to you. I just have to fuse them, and for that I need mana. But how do I get it? I could search for Phantoms and slowly gather their mana, but this would take me hundreds of years, and while I have the time, I prefer not to waste it. No, I needed something faster, and well, I just happened to have enough magic stones for a particular ritual. It is a variation of the one you already encountered Soma,” the last words were said with such a self-righteous, smug tone that it just pissed him off.

But before he could even attempt to even shout at him, he noticed the hand of Haruto clench into a fist. “You are using them! You are using all of these people to fuel you sick ritual!” Haruto was screaming, anger clearly audible through his voice.

“Oh, yes. It’s a shame for all the lost servants, but oh well. Not that there aren’t anymore, am I right?” he calmly returned, much to Haruto's frustration who just clenched his fist together. “But I have to show this world the proper order of things again, and I need the ultimate power for this. A few thousand people are a small price to pay for this. With my new power, I can finally return home and set things right. Set the world right. Stop the unnecessary wars and crimes of humanity. When they are united under me, there will be no famine, no war, no despair. I will show them the way and if you insist on staying in my way, then be it, die like the rest!”

“You think you can just use my friend for your means? That you can trample on her last wish? That you can hurt people through her? No! Magic is for bringing hope, and you bring nothing but despair. You are stuck in the past and refuse to move onto the present. And we are gonna show you that!” The mage shouted at him, before pulling out his sword.

“Well, seems like these guys never learn,” Decade sighed before slotting in another card only for a blue image to appear in front of him and the Rider to run through it.

|Kamen Ride|

|Blade|

His suit once again changed, this time into a blue and silver armor with a large horn and red eyes. At the same time, Alchemy had activated his own weapon.

\ Flame Disc Attack Mode! /

\ Flame Saber! /

All three Riders now dashed forward toward the Dark Rider who just sighed and raced ahead as well, the two Philosopher Stones remaining behind as he engaged in combat. Mesmer easily blocked Alchemy’s first swing, the blade with his staff, knocking the Rider backward and that just in time for Wizard to attack. Both Riders clashed, their blades spraying sparks as they went at it again and again, no one seeming to be able to get the upper hand. While Haruto was relentlessly pressing forward, Mesmer gracefully stepped out of the way, and gracefully blocked every attack. But also his advances were quickly deflected, Wizard unwilling to give him as much as an inch.

|Attack Ride|

|Slash|

The voice of Decades Driver echoed over the entire roof, and mere moments later the Rider let his blade come down on the opponent. The blade glowed a fierce magenta and seemed to leave afterimages behind, but still, not even Decades stealth attack was enough to knock the Rider off balance, Mesmer able to catch both Haruto’s as well as Tsukasa's attacks with his staff.

Both Riders tried to push and finally get a hit in on the Rider, but he was just about to give up. But this was a perfect opportunity for Alchemy. With a sly grin, he spun the Disc on his sword and dashed behind the opponent before shouting: “Flaming Slash!”

Even through Mesmer had noticed him, he had no chance to intercept him as Alchemy brought his flaming blade down on his back. A pained scream cut through the windy air of the roof, both Decade and Wizard delivering a well-deserved kick to his chest and knocking him back several meters.

“You think this is over? That this is all, you need to beat me? Well, seems I have to stop playing around,” Heinrich chuckled before pulling out another ring and slipping it on his finger.

Next, to him, another version of him appeared before he repeated the same thing again, Decade and Wizard rushing towards him to stop the mage from another attempt.

Once again he put the Ring over his Driver, summoning another double, but he wasn’t the only one, his first double did the same, summoning its own clone. Before the mage could repeat this process once again, both Haruto and Tsukasa reached him, interrupting him and crossing blades with his staff.

“You can’t beat me! I’m infinite! I have lived longer than all of you combined and have far more battle experience as well as the fact that I was chosen by God to rule over this world and I intend to fulfill this duty, and no filly peasants will stop me!” The four Mesmers said in unison, something that let a cold shiver run down his spine.

--------------<

The blade once again came down on her, Charge only barely able to dodge the wild swing of her opponent as he cleaved through several Remnants and Ghouls behind her. They had tried to keep them busy while the three others had left for Heinrich, but things were not really looking all that bright. Cerberus was relentless, even though they had thrown so much at him already, he just refused to back down, his eyes ever glowing behind his helmet.

“This isn’t working, we aren’t even tiering him out! Any ideas?” She screamed over to her allies who were just as frustrated as her.

“Just hit him harder!” It came back to her as Monster once again jumped at the monster from behind. His claws screeched across the cold dead steal once again, but only sparks were flying no blood or anything else. “Damit!” Pinecone hissed with a growl before he jumped out of the way, but sadly not fast enough for Cerberus swing. The child hit him with its full force, pressing him against his own armor as he was thrown to the side and right into a parking car that immediately exploded.

\ AWAKEN: DRAGON! /

It echoed from the remains of the car, out of the flames shot an ethical dragon that quickly circled around it and slammed back into the fire, blowing them out in the process. Outshot Monster clad in his Dragon Armor and wielding his ax. With an annoyed growled Cerberus turned towards him, just in time to stop his attack with his shield. To everyone's surprise, the attack actually did something, pushing the Phantom back, leaving behind marks on the asphalt.

Cerberus jumped back and swung his sword in the direction of the Rider, who let out an angered roar and swung his weapon at the opponent as well. Both blades clashed, letting ripple out a shockwave that pushed back cars, shatter windows, killing several of the smaller monsters and nearly knocked the two other Riders of their feet. When the dust had settled, they could see that their clash Seems to hit him harder could actually work had resulted in a draw, both combatants too stubborn to yield first.

“Hey, look! Maybe hitting him harder actually works. Well, no other choice than to try it!” Beast shouted out and slotting in a new ring.

Now clad in his mantel the Rider rushed forward, his steps echoed over the silent battlefield that was only filled with the grinding of metal. Both combatants let out a low growl and jumped back from each other, their eyes staring at each other, just before they dashed at each other once again.

The blade of the ax hit once again the shield and pushed him back, but only for Cerberus to push back, both again in a standstill. That was the moment Beast jumped at him, his rapier firmly in his hand as he thrust it forward. Within a split second, the Phantom pulled his sword up and over his shoulder and slammed it down into the asphalt, Beast’s weapon slamming right into the improvised shield.

With both Riders pressing against him his armor started to groan. “Well, better now than never,” Charge sighed before changing the Charger in her Driver.

“Charge up!”

\ 50, 80, 100! FIRE CHARGE! /

She stormed forward while the orb of fiery energy surrounded her, jumping forward the moment it dissipated, rocketing forward. The Phantom could only watch as the Rider raced towards him with inhuman speed, pulling back her fist and letting it rush forward with the help of her engines. A loud crack filled the air, together with the sound of metal against metal as Charge clocked Cerberus in the face, knocking him back several meters and into a nearby store.

It didn’t take long for him to emerge from the rubble, but one thing was different about him, his helmet had started to crack, and with the last step he made out of the store it fell apart completely revealing the face of a wolf, a scrape running down his right eye and two red glowing eyes that stared at them. With a loud and furious roar, he dashed forward towards the Riders.

--------------<

Heinrich was still unrelenting in his assault, every time they managed to beat one of his copies another one was quick to take its place. It felt like a fight against a neverending army of opponents, just that everyone was as strong as a Rider.

This had already taken for longer than five minutes, and the exhaustion was starting to show on their faces, or at least it would if one could see beyond their mask. Wizard was currently being attacked by one of them, the swift motions of his staff forcing the mage on the defensive as he paired the attacks of his opponent. Decade didn’t fare any better, even after activating another one of his cards that had turned his skin into something akin to iron his opponent had not slowed down, instead of activating one of his rings. A powerful explosion consuming Tsukasa as he was thrown backward and nearly of the building.

The worst however was reserved for Alchemy who was dealing with his own copies. The mage was pretty much dancing around him, blocking every strike and delivering devastating blows left right and center. With every hit, he could feel the glee of the noble as he struck and struck again. With a swift motion, he managed to block Alchemy’s next attack, throwing the blade out of his hand, using this opportunity to thrust his staff into his chest. The blow was so strong that it knocked the Rider back against one of the railings that bent dangerously under his weight, right before the transformation stopped, reverting him to his human form. Both Decade and Wizard joined him soon, the three copies walking towards them, their staffs pointed at them.

“How about we finally use our little surprise, I don’t think this is gonna work,” Phoenix hissed, forcing himself from the railing, his hand being guided towards a Disc on his belt.

“If you really want, sure, I won’t stop you,” Tsukasa returned dismissively. “But if you do that I can’t really be outdone, now can I?” With that, he pulled another card from his booker. Haruto as well nodded and pulled out the strange watch-like device as well as a new ring.

Phoenix took a step forward, the three mages looking at him curiously before putting a ruby red Disc with a strange symbol on it into his Driver.

\ RIDER DISC DETECTED! /

“Henshin!”

\ WIZARD DISC ACTIVATED! /

A red magic seal appeared around Pheonix’s feet which started to spin and twirl out into a fiery whirlwind that covered him whole. As the magic disappeared, Alchemy stood before him, clad in black armor, his golden marking shaving been replaced with silver. On his chest, six rubies like crystals had formed as well as Wizards symbol on his chest. His boots had been covered in the same crystals as well. His shoulders had been turned into a copy of Wizards. Two red eyes stared at the opponent together with two horns similar to Wizard’s Dragon form.

|Form Ride|

|Blade|

Wizard changed into his All Dragon form and Tsukasa taking on a more golden form of his Blade armor, complete with wing-like cape they dashed forward, right into the copies.

Alchemy was the first one to attack his copy, having pulled out a version of Haruto’s sword and pushed back Mesmer's own attack, having enough time to switch modes and shoot him right in the stomach. The clone stared backward but wasn’t beat just yet. This, however, was not what the young Rider had been aiming for, no, his hand extending outward towards his previously dropped weapon.

It was already far too late for him to act. However, the Rider getting back his weapon, now having two at his disposal. Wasting no time he once again pressed forward, unloading the gun on him all while slashing across the mages chest with his sword. The copy staggered back, Alchemy glaring at him before he merely lifted his foot and extended it towards him. Mesmer was about to laugh, the Rider was far too far away to actually hit him, that was until the foot suddenly grew several times its size, hitting him with its full force. Crystals cracked, armor bend and he was thrown off the building before delving into nothingness.

Wizard meanwhile was flying circles around his own opponent, letting his claws come down on him time and time again before slapping him back with his tail. The mage crashed into one of the small extensions of the stairwell, tumbling down several stairs as he did so. Haruto meanwhile just swung his wings and dashed into the air. Climbing out of the ruble he could only catch a glimpse of Wizard racing at him, his claw stretched out for an attack. Within seconds the copy had been smacked across the roof and firmly off it, never to be seen again.

The last one to deal with his opponent was Decade who was using his wings to jump over and around him after every successful strike, knocking the Dark Rider off balance every time. With sparks erupting from his enemy with every strike Tsukasa showed no sigh of actually slowing down and readied himself for another blow as the mage suddenly jumped at him, and sourly missed. Dodging out of the way he quickly brought the blade down on him, piercing through his armor and watching as the mage discovered like the rest.

With the original still staying behind and observing the fighting, he was about to place his ring once again over his Driver as he was hit by Alchemy and his gun. “How dare you! Do you know what you have done?”

He hissed back, only for the Rider to smirk. “Oh, I know what. I took back what belongs to us!” At this moment Heinrich noticed the outstretched hand of the Rider, holding both Philosopher Stones in his hands. He let his hand rocket towards the Driver only to see the ring shatter mere inches in front of it, once again one of Alchemy’s bullets.

With a little twirl of his hand, he threw Haruto his ring and pulled the Disc close to him. “Well, looks like you lost something. But don’t worry, you won’t have to worry about it that much longer. This is the end of the line for you!”

--------------<

The street had been turned into a battlefield, the asphalt had been ripped open at several points, windows were shattered, cars demolished and all in all everything in their close proximity had been reduced to debris. But most of all, one could see the duration of the battle on the combatants. The Riders were exhausted, several cracks had formed on their armor. Charge’s rifle had been turned into nothing more than a paperweight, now trying to dodge the attacks of Cerberus in her purple armor. Several of Monsters claws had broke of and his purple armor showings several dents, and not even Beast’s Buffa Mantel had proven mighty enough to beat the Phantom. But Cerberus hadn’t escaped unscathed either, his armor had fallen apart on one of his arms, one of his feet and his shoulder as well as several cracks across his chest. Still, he was unrelenting.

“You won’t win! My master has been borne into a role of nobility. He is one of God’s chosen and pathetic peasants like you will never beat him!”

“So what? What has he ever done for those he deems beneath him? He is a blight on society, on the people within it. He is trampling on their freedom, their rights, and their feelings, just taking what he deems his! He has no idea what it means to be nobility, to be one who is chosen above others, just because you aren’t! You can never be chosen for greatness! You can have the potential, the power for it, but the only one who can carry you to greatness is you! And one who is worthy of that title is one who is compassionate and cares for thous under him. He is an insult for everyone who bears the title Nobel or even worse, Kamen Rider. He is making a mockery of it, and we won’t stand for that! We, the Riders of this world and those from another will never stand for this, and I tell you one thing, your master will never win against them because they have carved their path to greatness and didn’t demand it!” Ocean bellowed through the streets, her voice overshadowing the groans and roars of the Ghouls and Remnants behind her. “You know why? Because they are true Kamen Riders!”

“What do you know about him, how compassionate he is or what he did to get to this point in his life? Nothing, you know absolutely nothing! He created me, he brought us into this world, and he let us serve under him! You know nothing how he really is, what he does to those that are good to him!” Cerberus roared at her before lifting his sword once again and rushed towards them, fury burning in his eyes.

“We don’t need to because we only have to see how he treats the ones that don’t lick his boots!” She shot back, picking the Prism Charger from her belt, Beast summoning his Mirage Magnum and Monster pulling out his Chimera Medal.

“Charge up!”

\ 100, 150, 200! OVER CHARGE! /

\ AWAKEN: CHIMERA! /

All three Riders had been changed into their strongest forms and just in time for Cerberus to reach them. Monster was the first to react, jumping between them, his arms starting to glow in two different blue tones as he caught the blade with his palms. “Do something! I can’t hold him forever!” He barked at them, struggling to keep a firm grasp on the weapon.

That was just the moment Beast dashed around him and let his tassels extend, hitting the Phantom like he was wielding a whip. This was enough to finally shatter the armor completely, leaving him completely open for their attacks.

“Time to end this!” She shouted back at the furious Phantom who quickly received a swift kick into the gut from Monster that threw him back. Crawling back up, his face had twisted into a pained grimace of anger and fear.

\ Maximum Charge! /

\ ROAR: CHIMERA! /

While the Phantom was still trying to regain his footing, all three Riders activated their respective finishers, Beast unleashing a hoard of six times four animals at Cerberus while Monster just let his six etherial beasts rampage towards him. And worst of all, Charge unleashing a single devastating beam directly towards him. All three attacks hit him at the same time, the laser burning through his chest while the ethereal monsters tore into him. “I… I’m sorry… master…” With these last words, his body was consumed in a massive explosion, one big enough to attract the attention of every Ghould and Remnant around, the monsters quickly charging at them. Nodding to each other the three dashed forward, past the remains of Cerberus. This fight wasn’t just over yet.

--------------<

“You really think you can stop me, one of God’s chosen? You are nothing more tha-“

“Oh, just shut it! We heard this spile time and time again from you! Can you stop with this, you are stuck in the past! You can’t move forward towards a bright future, but will! We will for all the people in this world and in every world!” Phoenix interrupted him with an annoyed undertone.

“Exactly! You are stuck in the past, unable to accept what has happened to you! But that makes you blind o the future, you could never rule a world, let alone create one. You are just someone who refuses to grow up and move on, and these men here have done exactly that! They have far exceeded you, they are people who have overcome grief and hardships and have grown because of that! You, however, are still stuck in the middle ages, thinking everyone will just bow to your will!” Tsukasa shouted at Mesmer, who just clenched his fist in anger.

“Who the hell do you think you are?” He hissed back at him.

Tsukasa pulled out the strange device with the touchscreen and returned with a confident undertone: “I’m just a passing through Kamen Rider! Remember that!” With that he switched the white part of his Driver with the strange device, Haruto letting his Infinity Ring hover over his Driver and Phoenix inserting and spinning his Philosopher Stone. This was it for Mesmer, he let out a scream of pure rage and rushed towards them, his staff ready to strike them down.

\ HEUREKA! /

|KUUGA AGITO RYUKI FAIZ BLADE HIBIKI KABUTO DEN-O KIVA|

|FINAL KAMEN RIDE|

|DECADE|

Wizard was the first to counterattack, letting his ax appear in front of him and rushing forward, stopping Heinrich’s attack right then and there. The older mage was taken aback by this new power. This was all the time Haruto needed, speeding around the opponent and slashing him across the back with the sword side of the weapon. This, however, was not enough to stop him from letting another ring hover over his Driver.

Just seconds before he could let the ring register on the Driver a white hand stopped him, and two blue eyes stared at him. “I’ll be taking this!” Alchemy chuckled as he pulled the ring from his finger only to crush it.

The next thing the mage felt was a swift kick to the stomach and the following kick from behind. The pain was nothing like he had ever felt, it was like a cannonball hat been launched at him. He could only watch as he was thrown to the feet of Decade. Desperately trying to crawl back to his feet he was greeted with a swift kick from the Rider and several shots from his gun that let him scream in agonizing pain.

Once again he was thrown to the side, landing right next to where he had started his ritual. Everything should have just fallen into place, so why was this happening. “Why? Why is this happening? I’m chosen! Chosen! You can’t do this to me!” He screeched, anger and fury overtaking his voice, making him sound like a wild animal. Under use of all of his strength, he pushed himself back up, swaying from side to side, trying to remain steady.

“Oh, we can and we will because that is the way we have carved for yourself! Your ‘chosen path’ however ends here! Heinrich, you used the powers that were bestowed upon you to attack others, take away a friend from someone who holds them dear and were willing to sacrifice people for your own gain. By the magic that was bestowed upon me, I deem you unworthy of your powers and will now take them from you!” Alchemy said a conviction in his voice that let the Nobel mage shiver in fear.

“Final!” Haruto added.

“No! No! Don’t do it! I can give you power, a world of your own you can rule in your image. Just don’t do this, I beg you,” Heinrich begged, trying his hardest so his knees would support him, even though they were shaking like wet pudding. The fear that was carried in his voice was mixed with sobbing and in his voice was mixed with sobbing as he desperately tried not to despair.

“Save it!” Phoenix sighed with a somber tone before spinning the Disc on his Driver once again, all while Haruto hovered another ring over his Driver and Tsukasa inserted a card into the card reader on his side.

\ Philosopher Stone Maximum Power! /

|FINAL ATTACK RIDE|

|DECADE|

All three of them jumped up in the air, the whirlwind of golden lines forming around Alchemy together with the wings, a crystal magic circle being pushed forward at Heinrich and Decade crashing through several gold cards. All three Rider Kicks connected at the same time, the armor cracking and breaking under the immense strain before they simply pushed through Heinrich, consuming him in a massive explosion.

When the dust had settled, the only thing remaining of him were several broken rings and the remains of his Driver as well as the Friendship Disc. With him gone the sky returned back to its original color.

“Well, that was that then,” Phoenix sighed before adding. “We should probably help clean up this mess.”

Haruto merely nodded, holding his reclaimed ring in his hand before adding a relieved: “Whew.”

--------------<

The remaining Remnants and Ghouls had been quickly dealt with until sunset, much to Phoenix relief. After congratulating each other on a job well done they had returned to the Magnum Opus and to a victory pizza. They spend the rest of the evening and night bonding, cherishing in their victory and all in all having a great time.

But all good things must eventually come to an end. Around midnight all of the food had been eaten, the drinks had been emptied and the sleepiness was starting to set in and the fact that Tsukasa was pushing everyone to leave, mumbling something about some sort of secret family technic that he would rather avoid.

Outside the six Riders looked at each other once more, a feeling of somberness was in the air. They had only known each other for a short time, but the feeling of letting friends go was always hard.

“Take care,” Pinecone grumbled towards Nitoh, almost inaudible only for the senior Rider to chuckle and give him a small bottle of mayonnaise with. ‘For Pinecone’s personal use’. How he had managed, that was beyond him, but he begrudgingly took the bottle form him.

“Here, I think this will spice up your life. Hope to see you again some time, my rival from this world.” Nitoh had his usual grin on his face, much to Pinecones annoyance, even though if one looked close enough the ghost of a smile was clearly visible on his lips.

“I really hope you learned something from all of this Newbie,” Tsukasa said dismissively before taking another picture of the group.

“Oh, I definitely did. First that if Riders work together, they can overcome everything and second that even though someone can be a massive pain in the ass they still can have a good hearth,” Ocean chuckled in return, a devious smirk on her lips.

“Tsk,” he just returned, pretending not to have heard her.

“And thank you for your help, without you this wouldn’t have been possible.” At this Tsukasa started to go on a tirade of how right this truly was.

“Thank you as well Haruto, I’m glad we could work together. I think I might have even earned a bit from this,” Phoenix said to Haruto, standing a bit away from the others.

“Nice to hear, always glad to help. And I think this world will be in good hands,” he chuckled.

“Uhm, by the way, I think you forgot these,” he said, pulling out two orange rings from his pocket.

“Oh, keep them, they are a parting gift,” he returned with a smile.

“Huh, thank you. So, what kind of rings are these?”

“Oh, these are Engage Rings,” Haruto returned, a smirk on his lips.

Phoenix just stared at him in a mixture of confusion and shock. “Excuse me what?”

“Engage Rings, you might need them at one point.” Haruto continued, his smirk getting wider and wider.

“Haruto, are you gonna settle down here or what? We are leaving,” Nitoh shouted over to them, standing next to Tsukasa who was already looking slightly annoyed.

“I’m coming!” He shouted back, before turning back to Phoenix. “Good luck!” With that, he walked over to the other two Riders, a strange curtain like thing appearing behind them. Everyone was pretty much winking, even Phoenix managed to get out of his little stupor, pocketed the rings and waved towards them as they slowly disappeared into the dimension wall one after another until they were the only ones left in the alley.

--------------<

Through the dimly light corridors of the building, the echo of footsteps could be heard. They were heavy and sounded unlike those of a human. In between, one could listen to the slumping of another set of steps, smaller, lighter. These footsteps were those of two Remnants and one Ghoul that had apparently survived the slaughter. They were aimlessly wandering through the halls and had managed to get to the basement.

The heavier footsteps grew ever louder until something stepped into one of the small lights, startling the three monsters. It was large, at least a head bigger than they were, clad in a purple chitin armor. Two red wings extended from its back and his main body had a turquoise tone. Two red horns extended from his head as well as a smaller horn on his forehead and light purple eyes. On his chest, several light grey orbs could be seen that were shimmering in the light. In his hand, he held a strangely shaped double-bladed lance.

Before the first Remnant could even react, the lance had already shot forward and impaled the creature that went up in an explosion. Not even a second later the lance was already ripping through the body of the Ghuol, leaving several shards of stone behind. The only one who actually managed to pull of an attack was the last Remnant, throwing his fist at the new creature, sadly this was all for not as it caught his arm with its fist before quickly ripping the arm form the Remnant, following to smash its head in with said arm.

The sound of clapping echoed through the halls, followed by the sounds of high heels on the floor. “Good job, I think that was the last one. We can’t let any of those run amok in our facilities, especially if they could get the attention of Riders,” a female voice said, a woman with pale green skin and orange hair in a black business suit.

“Of course mother, we can’t let anyone snoop around here,” he said, his voice intersected with strange clicking noises, almost like those of an insect.

“Exactly, I hope you make sure that this won’t happen, especially when we stand so close to finishing our goal. It won’t take much longer,” she said with a sir of relief in her voice. “And neither the Riders nor they can stop us.”

“Yes mother,” the monster returned.

The Path we Chose - Down the Dimly Light Path

It had been uncharacteristically quiet for the last week after Mesmer had plagued the city. Not a single Corrupted had been spotted or detected, nothing, just silence. The Riders welcomed this, however, savoring their victory, even though the threat of Shadow Gold and Platinum was still lingering over them like a storm cloud. Why they hadn’t started anything new yet was however a concern, this just didn’t sit right. Something was gathering on the horizon, and it didn’t look good.

And indeed, inside a dimly light warehouse, a very impatient Checkbook was walking up and down the room, flipping through several pages on his tablet. “Damn it, damn it, damn it! Why aren’t they doing something? If I can’t get them to act soon, the higher-ups are gonna be on my case again. I can’t stomach another failure, especially after I already lost Monochrome. If I can’t get the blueprints of that damn Driver my head will be the one rolling, and if they don’t do anything I will never get it,” he hissed, desperately searching through the pages upon pages of interesting artifacts. “Maybe if I find one that is interesting I can get Gold to do something?”

“I wouldn’t bet on it. He is not interested in finishing this, he will drag it out as long as he sees fit, so better be prepared for that,” a voice said, sounding slightly amused if he was honest. In a split second, he spun around, staring directly at Platinum Shadow. The young man held a Driver in his grey hand that he casually placed on the table behind Checkbook. Checkbook stared at him, a nervous glimmer in his eyes. “Oh, don’t worry, I won’t tell the old geezer, what do I care what you think about him. He says what to do, and that is it. You aren’t the only one who doesn’t want to drag this out for no reason, but my hands are tied. He is the boss after all.” The last word he said with a dismissive tone, he was sure of it.

“Thank you. I can’t risk losing him as an ally, especially after we invested so much in him, but this playing around with Alchemy only makes the guy stronger. He has filled every plan he hatched until now and who knows if we can keep this up for much longer. He is risking Alchemy getting far more used to his powers. He might have more knowledge about magic and the powers, but if Alchemy learns more and more who knows who would win,” he returned, his fingers tapping nervously on his tablet.

“Oh, don’t tell me. He wanted to beat Alchemy with his own weapons so he could rub it in, not me. Every fight he learns more and gets closer to him and with his allies there is a chance this could end in his favor. All because of some dumb revenge scheme, it’s pathetic really,” he spat out, glaring at the Driver before him.

“Oh, and I thought you were all for that plan, you killed for it after all.”

Platinum looked at him for a moment before starting to laugh. “Oh, yes I did. But I couldn’t care less. I didn’t have much of a say in the matter. It was his idea, and I was just a ‘lowly servant’ how liked to phrase it. He pointed me at what to do and I, like the loyal puppy I was bit down. That is all. I would love to finish this up soon here and be on my merry way, leave him to his delusions and so on and just settle down somewhere where I can live in peace and quiet as far away from this insanity as possible.”

“Huh, interesting. Still, do you think if I find something interesting enough that could torment Alchemy that I could force him into action? I really need him to do something, or I will be in a very tight spot,” Checkbook asked, flipping through the pictures on his tablet faster and faster.

“I don’t know, it could spark an idea, but what do I know. He was always someone who flew by his own rules and mind. If he thinks something will work he’ll try it, if not, don’t even bother,” Platinum returned, smirking as he looked at the Alchemy Driver in front of him.

“I’m not so easily swayed like anyone else. I lead, and you follow, if that is not something you can stand I suggest looking for another business partner, but if I remember correctly the last two failed you, didn’t they,” Shadow Gold’s voice echoed through the room, letting Checkbooks blood freeze in his veins.

“Shadow Gold… I’m sorry, I didn’t want to sound displeased with you, you are still a good partner, and we are willing to work with you for as long as you want. My superiors were just getting a little bit impatient with our progress, that is all.” He was sweating bullets, his eyes following the movement of the man with unnerving intensity.

“Oh, are they now? Not my problem. You offered to help, and you agreed to all my demands, so either accept that or leave. Tell that to your superiors as well as the fact that I’m the one in charge here! And if that is unacceptable for them, they are very much welcome to forget about the blueprints of the Driver. Did I make myself clear?” Even though his voice sounded like Ivory’s more high voice, every word he spoke send Checkbook into another frenzy.

“Ye… Yes, of course. I will tell them that everything is under control and is proceeding nicely,” he stammered, swiping away several drops of sweet form his forehead.

“Good, and I actually have something that you will be happy to hear. I have a new plan so you can tell your superiors that as well. Doesn’t that make you happy?” Gold chuckled, glaring at his business partner with a devious smile.

“Oh, really? So we are actually getting closer to finishing all of this nonsense?” Platinum chuckled, resting his feet on the table while leaving back whit his chair.

“Silence! I didn’t ask for your input! Do not interrupt me again or you will regret it!” He hissed at him, Platinum glaring at him for a moment before quietly sighing.

“You’re the boss, got it. So, what was it you have planned?”

“Yes, that would be of great interest to me as well,” Checkbook joined in, the underlying nervousness in his words not entirely gone yet.

“Well, if you ask so nicely, how could I say no to that?” Gold smirked back before returning to his previous, far more serious expression. “We keep having trouble actually hurting any of the Riders, no matter what we have tried until now. And then there is the fact that not even a Rider from another world with his friends could stand against them. That is a problem, one that can not simply be overlooked. We can’t continue like this.”

“So, what are you suggesting? Look for an artifact that changes your appearance and fuck with them, so they don’t trust each other. I don’t think that will work, they might be a bit slow, or at least Alchemy is, but even he would notice when something like this would happen. If you plan something like this you have to be very careful,” Platinum just chuckled, one of his eyes taking a quick look at his ancestor.

“Silence! Didn’t I say you should stay quiet!” He hissed back, glaring daggers at his underling. “Not that this is the plan I intend to follow anyway, far too risky and reliant on them being stupid. No, I will just remove one of the pieces that keep them so strong. I’m going to eliminate a Rider, and I know exactly which one to chose,” with the last words a devilish grin crossed his lips.

--------------<

That smell, she could notice that smile everywhere, it was just one of a kind, one she would never ever forget. Without so much as a second thought she jumped up out of bed, almost falling over, her legs apparently haven’t gotten the memo yet, before somehow regaining her balance once again. Not wasting her time with such stuff as switching out of her sleep pants and tank-top she burst through the door of her room and almost flew down the stairs so fast she was. Her mad dash ended in the kitchen, storming into the small room and nearly ramming into the creator of the delicious scent.

“Hey, watch out! Or do you want me to drop the pancakes?” A ruff voice barked at her, but really, what was she expecting? He was always like this, and she didn’t really want it any other way.

“Oh, come on you killjoy, don’t be like this. I can’t other than to storm here when I smell your world famous pancakes, what can I do,” she cheekily replied, much to Pinecones annoyance.

“Huh, you never change, do you?” He returned in a mixture of annoyance, exhaustion and a bit of delight.

“Nah, and neither do you, so we are pretty much stuck with each other, but it could be worse,” she returned with a grin.

“Yeah, we could live with Phoenix under a roof.” Pinecone shuddered for a moment. “The thought alone is horrifying,” he added with disgust.

“Oh, don’t be like that, he isn’t that bad, has the hearth at the right spot and is not dangerous, well as long as you are on his side,” Emerald returned, taking a peek over her brother's shoulder and right at the dough in front of him before licking her lips.

“Tsk, you don’t have to be near him every day of the week, he is just the worst. Annoying, stupid and always has a stupid joke ready for every opportunity. By Gaia, do you know how annoying he can get?” He groaned, starting to let out his frustration on the pancake dough.

“He might be a bit annoying, but that is no reason to let it out on the poor defenseless dough. Look at him, he is already nearly jumping out of the pot,” she chuckled, a bright grin on her face, tempted to put out her tongue.

“Uh, yeah, you’re right,” her brother sheepishly returned, slowing down the pace considerably.

“And, be honest with me, you kinda like him, don’t you? The old you would never be so calm while being around him, but you are. You actually appreciate his help, don’t you? You might never change, but you have changed,” she said with a slight chuckle. “The old you would have never helped the city, and don’t come with something like this benefits us as well. No, whenever you come home, I see the smile on your lips, that expression of satisfaction, especially when you fought a monster. And don’t get me started of the day you fought that Mesmer guy, you were smiling more than ever when you came home. I’m glad you found something you enjoy doing and especially that it is helping people. You were always so grumpy and strict, but now you feel like a completely new person,” Emerald finished, smiling at her brother with a heartfelt smile.

“Don’t be ridiculous. My responsibilities lie here, not with the city, you know that” he tried to return, but she wasn’t buying it for a second.

“Oh, don’t give me that horsecrap. I know you better than anyone, I know when you are happy, and you haven’t been happier in ages. I can see it, and no amount of you trying to hide it can stop me from noticing. Why can’t you just accept that there might be something that makes you happier and fulfilled you more than this damn legacy you cling onto? That damn thing won’t make you happy, you are chasing a pipedream,” her words turned from calm and contempt to frustrated and sad. “I just want you to be happy!”

“My happiness is not important, I have a duty to uphold. This duty just happens to coincide with fighting for the city. I might like the fighting and the fact that I can save some people, but this is not why I go out there, I just do what is expected of me. That is all I need in my life, nothing more,” he returned, sounding rather matter of factly. “Now, if you would be so friendly and stop with this nonsense, breakfast is done.”

Emerald was about to say something before sighing in defeat. “Fine, you damn grump. But don’t come complaining when you feel bad or something, you know what it is.”

“Good, well at least I know where I can complain if I ever have problems, he weakly chuckled, placing a pancake right in front of her. “Strawberry yam should still be in the fridge if you want some,” he added before pouring in more dough for the next one. “And try not to eat it too fast, I hate it when you start complaining about the next one.”

As he finished, she had already ripped open the door to the fridge, and her arms darted towards the glass of delicious yam, seemingly guided by an invisible hand. “Oh, but I what am I supposed to do, eat it slowly and just let it sit there taunting me? Yeah, no, that’s just not my style. The little bugger is faster finished than you can say pancake,” Emerald chuckled before grabbing a knife and heading back to her little treat.

“Yeah, was expecting that one, your stomach is an endless hole that is never satisfied. How you manage to keep your figure is beyond me.”

“Hey, I have a great metabolism, thank you very much. No need to get mean. By the way, isn’t like you eat any less of them. Actually, you eat more most of the time,” she smirked back, plastering the delicious red substance all over her food.

“Well, I need it, after all, fighting does take a lot of energy just so you know. Maybe you would even more if you actually worked more.”

“Oh, spare me, I would love to work and no, not some dumb stuff at the shrine, real work. But a certain someone is against that for some reason,” she hissed, in between her bites, that were quickly swallowed.

“You know my answer, so why even try to argue. You have, just like me, a duty to uphold, and we can’t just walk away from it,” Pinecone returned, rather matter of factly, all while flipping the pancake to the other side.

“Heh, I’m not winning against you on this am I?” Emerald sighed, letting her head sink down in annoyance. Pinecone just nodded in return. “Well, at least not now. But give it a bit longer, and you might actually admit yourself and grow a bit more open with this whole thing. Maybe you even lighten up a bit?” That was the point where she just had to giggle. “Nah, ok, that would be even to far fetched for a dream. You will always stay the same old damn grump you always were, and I don’t really mind that.”

Pinecone just looked over his shoulder for a moment, but after that returned to his cocking, but not without the faintest shimmer of a smile crossing over his lips.

“Say, what are you planning on doing today anyway?”She asked after swallowing the last bite of her food. “You won’t be here I assume, even though it has been rather quiet lately. Leaving me with all the work again,” she chuckled.

“Yes, even though it looks quite right now that can change in a heartbeat and especially with that Shadow Gold running the show now we can’t be too careful. He is dangerous, especially after what he did to you,” Pinecone encountered, the lightheartedness in his voice vanished as he continued with his usual serious tone. “Don’t go anywhere and try to stay safe. If anything would happen to you…”

“Yeah, got it and it’s not like I’m completely helpless, having a Kamen Rider as a brother has its perks as well, minus the big target on ones back. But don’t worry, I’ll stay safe, and if anything happens, there is always the phone,” she returned with a bright smile. “On another note, how about more?”

Before Pinecone could answer a sound disrupted the peaceful little breakfast they had going on, the sound of a knocking. “huh, who could that be? One of your friends? Are you expecting someone?” She asked, looking over to the door where the sound continued.

“They aren’t my fr-. Forget it,” he groaned as he pulled the finished pancake from the oven and placed it on her plate. “Wait here, I look who is gracing us with his presence so early in the morning.” With that, he walked out of the room and towards the front door. The entire time they had talked the knocking didn’t stopß for even a second, much to Pinecones annoyance.

Even when he opened the door the hand still knocked on wood a few times, apparently still swinging with full force. “Who in the name of Gaia is tormenting my door so early in the morning?” He hissed out of the door before actively taking a look, one that only let his expression sour more. “Oh, it’s you. What do you want?”

“Morning to you as well Pinecone,” the oh so familiar voice returned. Phoenix stood before him complete with his jacket and a bike helmet dangling from his side.

“What do you want?” He once again repeated, sounding no less annoyed than last time and still sporting his apron.

“Oh, is it Phoenix? Why don’t you invite him in? I’m sure he would love that!” Emerald shouted from the kitchen, much to the apparent annoyance of her brother. “And don’t let Pinecone stop you, he would love to.”

“Well, if you say so. Wasn’t planning on staying all that long anyway,” he returned, trying to hide his chuckle as he entered the house, Pinecone continuing to stare daggers at him. “Hmh, what is that for a smell, it’s wonderful.”

“One of Pinecones famous pancakes… Well, famous isn’t really the word, but they are good, like really good,” Emerald chirped in from the kitchen.

“Hmh, you made those? The smell just as good as Thunder’s and you know how good Thunder is. That is damn impressive, really!” He returned, all while the salvia was almost drolling out of his mouth.

“Want one? I can give you half… a third of mine, the rest is already gone… again,” she chuckled sheepishly, rubbing her stomach as Phoenix entered the kitchen.

“Oh, I would love that,” he returned before he saw her. “Oh, just out of bed I see.”

“Yeah, I just sto…” That was when her face turned from with to a bright crimson as she looked own herself. "Oh, by Gaia, I didn’t expect any guest here so early, I didn’t have time to dress myself properly. I’m so sorry, I’ll be right back,” she stuttered out and rushed towards the kitchen door.

“Ah, don’t sweat it. I sleep enough over at Ocean’s so this isn’t really surprising, not like you have more than her,” he chuckled, still covering his eyes out of courtesy. “But if you still want to change, go ahead.”

“Yeah… I probably should do that and… What do you mean with ‘not like you have more than her?” She asked, throwing an inquisitive glare at him.

“Ahm… I meant you have the same parts and… I probably should just stay quiet right now, right?” Now it was his time to be flustered, his orange sin turning a bright red.

“Yes, yes you should!” Pinecone commented from behind, sounding rather pissy, even more than before.

“Yeah, got it. The offer for the rest of the pancake still stands?” He sheepishly returned, taking a peek at the thing from beyond his fingers, still looking just as delicious as before.

“Yeah, go ahead. And better be quick about it, I’ll be back in just a minute, and if you aren’t done until then I’ll take the rest,” he received a playful answer form, Emerald.

“Yeah, got it and don’t worry, my stomach is fast and so is my mouth.”

“Yeah, you are quick with spewing bullshit and stupid jokes,” he heard from behind, but simply decided to ignore it this time. Within record time he had sat himself there where Emerald had just been seconds ago and took the first bight. The taste was exquisite, almost melting on his tongue. “Damn, these are good. Taste even better than they smell. You are good at this;” he said in between the first and the next bite.

“Cut to the chase, what do you want? I’m sure it’s not a visit just to see how I’m doing, am I right?” Pinecone returned, remaining as stoic as ever, even though Phoenix could have sworn there was the ghost of a smile on his lips.

“Right, right, why I’m here. Well, Ocean actually wanted to call you on your phone, but apparently, it#s dead right now. Did you miss to charge it?” He asked, throwing a slightly puzzled look at Pinecone.

“If my phone is dead? Not to my knowledge, look I charged it last nig-“ The moment he said that he pulled out his phone and to his shook, it showed him that it was indeed out of energy. “Huh, seems I forgot to charge it.”

“Eh, don’t sweat it, these things drain energy faster than a Magic Disc sometimes and forgetting it once is really not that weird, tends to happen. But since the phone was dead, she asked me to meet you in person, just in case something had happened. But it seems that was not the case, thank goodness, or thank Gaia if you prefer that,” he returned before swallowing the last bite of the foot. “And once again, damn this is good, you have to give me the recipe sometime.”

“No, I don’t. Family secret. And that is not important right now. Why are you here? And no more unnecessary stuff got it!” He huffed back, now staring him right in the eyes.

“Ok, ok, got it. A simple please would have done the trick as well. We got a lead,” he said with a heavy undertone, staring right back at him.

“What do you mean with we have a lead? A lead to what?” Pinecone asked, his undertone unmistakably unsatisfied with the answer.

“A lead where Shadow Gold and his allies are hiding. We finally have a lead to where we can find Ivory’s body and all of that. We could put an end to all of this. We need you for this. We don’t know how long they will still stay there or if they know we might know, but we have to act quickly. Are you up for that?” Phoenix said, delivering the last few sentences with an uncharacteristically somber tone. “You don’t have to if you don’t want.”

“By Gaia, finishing this bastard of is something I won’t let pass by. After what he tried to pull with Emerald he will pay!” He growled back, clutching his hand into a fist. “He is responsible for all of this if we can put a stop to it, I’m all in for it. I want my forest to be save again.”

“Thanks, that means a lot to me. We don’t have much time, so do you want to say something to your sister? You know it could be dangerous, right?”

“Do I look I don’t know that? Of course, I know!” He barked back.

“What do you know? Did something happen?” Emerald's voice asked as she walked into the kitchen, now wearing her regular day clothes.

“Sorry Emerald, something came up. I’ll have to go. You know what you have to do over the day, right?” He returned, rather matter of factly.

“Sure I know, but what about the pancakes?” Emerald frowned, looking at the half-finished one in the pan.

“Sorry, this is urgent, I can’t finish this,” Pinecone encountered, sounding surprisingly down about the whole ordeal.

“Ok, fine. But you have to promise me that when you come back, you’ll make as many as I want! Promise it!” She grinned at him, knowing fully well that she had him exactly there where she wanted him.

“You are cheeky I must say, but well, siblings, am I right,” Phoenix laughed, looking at her with a certain amount of respect.

“Fine, I’ll promise it, but only if everything you were supposed to do is done when I’m back, got it?” He sighed before giving her a smile. In return, she just rushed past them and out of the door.

“Well, that certainly was an answer. We should get going as well,” Phoenix asked, Pinecone just nodding.

--------------<

It didn’t take them that long until they had reached where they were supposed to meet with Ocean, just a block away from the warehouse the hint had told them. A shop owner from one of the nearby stores had noticed someone who looked a lot like Platinum leave and enter that warehouse a few times as well as someone who looked like Checkbook and even Ivory. This was nothing more than a small chance, but they had to take it.

“So, ready?” Ocean asked, looking over to her two companions who simply proceeded to activate their Drivers and insert their transformation trinkets.

\ PHILOSOPHER STONE DETECTED! /

\ SCANNING CHARGE! /

\ UNLEASHE THE MONSTER! /

“Henshin!”

\ HEUREKA! /

\ 100, 150, 200! OVER CHARGE! /

\ AWAKEN: CHIMERA! /

After they had all assumed their Rider forms, they raced towards the building, a few police officers in tow. The building looked unassuming enough, just an ordinary warehouse that looked like it had been abandoned a while ago, nothing outstanding, the perfect hiding spot.

All three dashed towards the back door of the building, hugging tightly to the wall, sharing looks before Charge nodded and slowly opened the door in front of them. It creaked, slowly swinging open. Nothing. She was the first to enter, her rifle darting across the dark hall before her, taking notice of every small little movement. With every step the pressure grew, Alchemy and Monster close behind her as they advanced ever closer into the large hall.

Then it happened, something dashed towards them, almost invisible to the human eye and jumped at Alchemy, who managed to jump back in the last possible moment, rolling backward as the monster dashed over him. He could see it, a wolf, or at least that was how it looked like, colored in red and blue, cut through in the middle. Two purple eyes stared at him. He could see the creature clad in what looked like leather armor, and as soon as it had appeared, it disappeared into something that looked like a strange hole in reality.

“Ok, we are probably right. Be careful,” he shouted towards the others who just nodded in return.

Not even a few seconds later the portal once again opened, right behind Alchemy and the Corrupted jumped out of it, grabbing ahold of the Riders shoulders before using his weight to push him forward and to the Riders shock right towards another portal that had opened in front of him. Thankfully luck was on his side, Charge managing to score a hit on the monster, letting him roar in pain and let go of Alchemy, quickly disappearing once again.

And once again, the Corrupted appeared again, right under their noses, jumping up from the floor and out of another portal, one dangerously close to their feet. But the Corrupted had not expected the fact that they now were somewhat prepared for the next attack, and the moment he reached about waist hight received a swift hit to the head. The punch was so strong that the Corrupted was pushed back into the hole he had come from.

A loud sound could be heard after the Corrupted had disappeared into the portal had again, followed by the sound of crumbling walls as the Corrupted crashed through the nearby wall. Both Alchemy and Charge dashed forward as the monster started to get back up. The moment they had reached him two more figures emerged from the whole Alkahest and Checkbook.

What neither of the two had noticed was the fact that the portal under their feet and never disappeared. And that portal would soon spat out another opponent, Chrysopoeia. The dark Rider jumped out from the hole in reality and tackled Monster to the side. Instead of screaming for the others however he had other plans, a blind rage filling his head as he saw the tormenter of his sister. “You!”

As they hit the ground, he managed to get his feet between their stomachs and kick the Rider off him, throwing him into a nearby wall and right through it. Almost like a wild animal, he dashed after him into a nearby room. He let his claws come down on the bastard, slashing crosse his armor and letting sparks fly. He was about to follow up when he received the first kick to his gut, pushing the air out of his lungs as he staggered back.

The pain in his stomach was quickly overshadowed by the new pain in his cheek that immediately followed. Letting out an angry roar he tried to retaliate, throwing his own punch in the direction of his face only for the fist to be caught in his hand. “Oh, why so angry? Was it something I did? Oh, that girl in the woods, right?” He chuckled, this only getting Monster more rilled up. “Would be a shame if anything happened to her or your precious shrine. Especially if they would be completely alone.”

At that moment Monster pushed through, sending the Rider back and following his attack up with another claw swipe across his chest, Chrysopoeia letting out a scream filled with agony. Stumbling backward he held his chest, but still continued. “Oh, you think you can just beat me here, and everything will be over? No, you have no chance of beating me, not even when you are angry. And there is no need to be angry just yet,” he laughed before a portal suddenly appeared under his feet that swallowed him faster than Monster could react, even though he lunged himself at it. Letting out a furious scream he slammed his fist on the ground, multiple cracks forming on the concrete floor beneath him.

It didn’t take long till both Phoenix and Ocean came rushing towards him. “Everything ok?” Phoenix asked, offering him a hand up.

Pinecone however just ignored his hand, shoving him to the side before storming towards his bike. “Hey! Where are you going? Did he do something?” Phoenix shouted after him, concern in his voice.

“I’ve wasted enough time here playing hero!” He barked back before storming off.

“What was that all about?” He asked rather confused, the worried undertone in his voice still present.

“I don’t know, but it can’t be good. We should probably follow him,” Ocean said in return, wrinkles forming on her forehead.

“Yeah, I couldn't agree more.”

The Path we Chose - Consequencesse

The trees passed by him like nothing, familiar, but strangely intimidating even though he had taken this path many many times. It felt like behind every tree another shadow was ready to jump at him the moment he let his guard down. Every tree-trunk felt new, different, unfamiliar and a little bit scary, even though he knew nothing would happen, or at least he hoped that.

The roar of his bike echoed through the woods bouncing off the wood like nothing he had ever heard while still sounding like normal. Still, there was this foreboding sound mixed in with it, like it was taunting him, mocking him. With every bit of the way he had behind him the fear and pressure only grew more and more, threatening to devour him.

The relatively short way through the woods felt like an eternity, time seemingly slowing down to a crawl and at the same time passing faster than ever. He felt he was trapped in a dream, one that went by like nothing and still stretched out. He knew he was fast, he knew he couldn’t make it any faster, he knew all of that, but still, he couldn’t accept it. There was far too much on the line for him to just accept this, to just believe he was already at the limits he could fulfill. With a loud roar, he pulled the handle of his bike, letting the machine revved up, even more, bursting through the trees like a madman, a madman no one could hear.

Finally, the homely clearing opened up in front of him, still just as peaceful like he had left it, no sign of any struggle or danger. Still, he didn’t trust the supposed peace for a second. He knew this was all just to lull him into a falls sense of security, make him believe everything would be ok and then strike. Yes, Shadow Gold was monster enough to do precisely that. He had already infected her with a seemingly incurable illness once so directly attacking her would be easy and in a way tame for him.

Without as much as a second thought, he jumped off his bike, throwing his helmet to the wayside as it landed on the forest floor. He almost tore the door out of its hinges as he slammed against it, stumbling into the living room. Nothing, everything was precisely there where he had left it, even the kitchen had been cleaned up already and the dishes painstakingly cleaned. But there was no sign of Emerald, and he was unsure if that was indeed a good sign.

“Emerald! Emerald, where are you?” He screamed out of the top of his lungs, every word echoing through the small house. Nothing. No answer, not even a sound like someone moving, just silence beyond his own exhausted breath. A look of panic flushed over his face, overtaking the exhaustion within seconds as he stormed up the stairs, every step sounds like the house was threatening to fall in on itself all around him.

Bursting through the door to Emeralds room he once again screamed from the depths of his lungs: “Emerald?” But to his dismay, nothing. This room was also empty, minus Emerald's bed that had been left exactly like she had left it this morning. Notes were scattered all across the floor and desk, but that was nothing noteworthy. What however was unusual was the cellphone on the desk. While the connection was atrocious here, she usually still kept the thing on her for the entirety of the day, for the small chance of actually leaving the forest, but letting it laying around? That didn’t sit right with him.

Once again he dashed through the house, stomping down the stairs and out of the door. Once back outside on the clearing, the sun shining down on them it only took him a moment before turning around and running toward the only place she could be, no she had to be. The wood that closed of the cave did almost not withstand the assault of Pinecone as he pushed the door open with all his force, the wood groaning under the pressure.

He could see the torches and candles illuminating the path, someone was already here. It just had to be her, no one else could or would have done this. “Emerald!” he screamed once again, the sounds of his voice bouncing off the walls back at him, but no response.

That was the moment his brain could no longer hold his emotions in check, unbridled fear overtaking every fiber of his being. He refuses to even acknowledge the idea that something might have happened to Emerald. The notion was just absurd, right?

Just moments had passed until the steps of the heavy armor echoed through the cave, drawing ever closer and closer to the end. Blood was rushing through his head as he stormed forward, almost tripping several times as he went further and further. Then it happened, or at least he thought it did, a voice. A voice was calling out for him. The voice was confused and mixed in with a little bit of fear and uncertainty. Then he heard it again, but this time much clearer. She was calling out to him, and not too far off, getting ever louder and more precise. Once again he screamed the name of his sister and this time he actually received an answer.

“Pinecone? Pinecone what is going on?”

This was all he received, but it was unmistakable, it was Emerald. It was as if a large boulder had fallen from his heart that had previously threatened to crush it. With newfound ease, he rushed towards the origin of the voice. All the worries and fears melting away with every step he made. It was almost like he had been moving through a blizzard and was finally beginning to warm up. As he passed the last corner, he almost ran right into her, only coming to a halt right in front of her, Emerald looking at him in a mixture of shock, fear, and confusion.

“What in Gaia’s name is going on? Did something happen? Pinecone, say something?” She said, looking at him like he was out of his mind. He, however, remained silent, looking at her with an expression of calm and peacefulness that was strangely out of place in the whole situation. Still, not like she could actually see him behind his helmet.

“Are you ok?” Was all he asked, the red eyes staring at her, hiding the true expression he wore behind them.

She looked at him for a moment before she shook her head and returned: “Yeah, I’m fine, but what gives? Did something happen? Speak to me, and I mean actually speak to me, face to face, not behind your helmet. I prefer to actually see what you think instead of looking into these eyes, the kind gives me the heebie-jeebies,” she finishes with a slight shudder as she looked at him with a certain look of uncertainty.

Pinecone stared back before sighing and removing the Driver from his waist, returning him to his normal form. “So, happy now?” He said with a low growl, one Emerald didn’t entirely buy into.

“Yeah, better, but now tell me, what in Gaia's name has gotten into you? You look like she actually appeared in front of you and told you to move a mountain or something. So, come on, don’t hide it from me, I want to know,” she returned with the faintest ghost of a smile, something strangely soothing for Pinecone.

“I… You… I just had to come back. It doesn’t matter why I just had to. Got that? Now get back home and don’t ask me again,” he said, his eyes avoiding the gaze of Emeralds.

She just looked at him, like he had gone insane. “Are you kidding me? You really think I would just listen to you like this? No further questions, no, just accept what you say? Really? I’m not you little servant you can just boss around! I want to know what got you so spooked and nothing besides the truth will satisfy me! You always keep everything from me! Never tell me, just expect that I follow orders. No rhyme or reason, just tradition, and responsibility! I’ve had enough! Either you learn to let me make my own decisions, or I’ve had enough!” She growled, her eyes piercing through his soul, like a burning dagger. “If you can’t give me a good explanation I’m out! And don’t even think that I won’t go through with it! This is long overdone! Either you treat me like a fucking adult, or I’m gone!”

Thoughts, dozens upon dozens of thoughts surged through his mind, some of which told him to tell her the truth, that she was right, they were weak at first but grew louder with every word she threw at him. But then were the others, the worried ones, the ones that knew she couldn’t handle it, couldn’t bear the fear and terror, the danger she was in, all because he wanted to play hero. These voices slowly grow stronger again, turning from a mumbling into a loud screaming, louder and louder until they completely drowned out the other voices.

“I can’t! I just can’t…” he said in a defeated tone, his arms hanging by his side like wet towels. His eyes were staring at the dimly lit ground beneath him, as far away from her gaze as possible.

“What do you mean you can’t? I’m an adult! I can make my own decisions! I’m not some precious little flour that can’t take care of herself! You hear me? I’m capable of living my own life! And if there is something that might affect me I have every right to know! But if you can’t accept that…” she huffed, letting her foot stomp on the ground, snapping Pinecone out of his own thoughts as she passed by him, straight towards the door. “Goodbye!”

The voice was cold, but at the same time filled with a burning hatred that seeped through every bit of it. For a moment he could only look in shock as she passed by him, taking step after step, further and further away from him. After she had made a few steps something clicked inside his head, his hand shooting towards her and clasping firmly shut around her wrist. “No!” Pinecone sounded determined, unshakable, but his hand, his hand was shaking.

“What do you mean no?” emerald shouted back at him, trying desperately to free her arm from his grasp. “You can’t decide that! I’m walking my own path! Just like Phoenix! He is a better man than you will ever be, he actually understands me!”

These words were like daggers in his heart, piercing, burning and agonizing. He felt the gripü on her loss, his resolve crumbles like an old ruin as the thoughts clouded his judgment. Thoughts of doubt, disappointment, and betrayals. But they were quickly brushed aside by what he knew was the truth, the danger, the responsibility, the duty, all of it couldn't allow this, even if she didn’t understand, this was for the best. It was, right?

“No! You will listen! You are going back into your room and stay there until I say otherwise! And that is the end of that! Did I make myself clear?” He said, trying his hardest to prevent his voice from cracking.

“No! You can’t make me!” Emerald tried once again to free herself, but her efforts were all for not. “You only care for yourself! Let me live my own life damn it!”

That was the moment they heard another voice interrupt them, a voice Pinecone didn’t want to hear right now at all. Phoenix! “Hey, Pinecone? Are you in here? We wanted to talk to you!”

Before he could scream something back in return Emerald interrupted him and just screamed: “Help!”

Within moment Phoenix screamed back, worry clearly audible in his voice: “I’ll be right there!” What followed were the sounds of echoing footsteps as he dashed through the narrow corridors of the shrine, almost stumbling over his own two feet, until he finally passed around the next corner. What he saw took him by surprise, Pinecone tightly holding onto Emerald's arm, all while she was desperately struggling to get loss.

“What in all Tartarus is even going on here?” He said, just continuing to stare at him. Just moments later Ocean joined him, dashing around the corner as well, staring at him with the same look.

“This is none of your business. Get back to your city, you have a maniac to catch, so don’t bother me,” Pinecone grumbled back, tugging on Emerald's wrist, before starting to walk towards them, or more precisely around them.

“Oh no, I want to know what is going on here. And no such thing like ‘family traditions’, or something similarly idiotic will stop me from finding out. Emerald screamed for help, something has to be up. Are you even who you claim to be? Maybe you are a shapeshifting Corrupted?” He shot back, stepping in between Pinecone and his exit.

Before Pinecone could bark something else at him, Emerald finally regained her composure: “Help! He has completely lost it and won’t let go of me!” The terror in her voice let a cold shiver run down Phoenix spine, just starting t him in disbelief.

“Excuse me? Pinecone, what are you doing?”

“Doesn’t concern you in the slightest. This is the burden of my family, and I don’t need a second-grade hero for that. I can deal with this on my own! You go back to the city, wouldn’t want Gold starting anything after we almost caught him,” he said, the coldness in his voice sounding even more aggressive than usual like he was playing it up. “My responsibilities are here, yours are down in the city. And believe me, you wouldn’t want that to happen. So leave us alone, we don’t need your help!”

Phoenix just stared at him. What was his deal? This was so unlike him, or at least to an extent, sure he could be unpleasant, but this? This was a whole nother level. Something was definitely off. “Pinecone, if you don’t let go of your sister this instant…” he hissed, staring daggers at him.

“Then what? You are on my land, my home, my responsibility and if you endanger it I have every right to throw you two out, with force if I have to,” the man returned, his eyes burning with anger.

That anger was slowly starting to spark something in Phoenix, he knew he shouldn’t, but the urge of screaming back at him was slowly rising, and he probably would have done precisely that if Ocean wouldn’t have spoken up. “Enough! We aren’t some kind of thugs that solve everything with screaming and violence! Phoenix, don’t do anything you would regret later.” He just huffed and gazed down towards the floor, trying to avoid Pinecone as bets as possible. “And you Pinecone! Please, just tell us what the problem is. Did something happen in the warehouse? We want to help you and if you don’t tell us everything you know we can’t. And in all honesty, we can’t just let you take emerald without at least knowing what you have planned,” she finished with a surprisingly somber tone and worried expression she gave Emerald, one that calmed her down a bit.

“I… I can’t,” he returned, his voice weak and frail, taking Phoenix by surprise as well as ocean and Emerald.

“Pinecone, you can tell us. We want to help you, but you have to talk to us,” she continued, Pinecone still trying his best to avoid her gaze. “Has it something to do with your sister?” This let him step back, glaring at her in a mixture of anger and shook, something Emerald noticed as well. “I knew it. That look is one I know well enough, I have seen him on Phoenix a few times already and trust me, I know how it feels when something like this involves your family or the people you care most about, so please just talk with us. We just want to help.” With that, she extended her hand out towards him, and towards his shoulder.

But before she could put her open hand on it, he stepped back, glaring at her. “Ok, fine, if you really want it, you can have it! But everything that follows is one you!” His voice was filled with anger. “It’s Chrysopoeia! He threatened both Emerald and the shrine! Happy now! Now she knows and is utterly terrified about it. I could have simply protected her here, and everything would have been fine, but no, you just had to-“

That was as far as he got before he was rudely interrupted by A sudden pain in his cheek, one that knocked him to the ground, only getting worse by the second. Over him stood Phoenix, it was like fire was burning in his eyes as he stared down at him, his expression twisted into a mask of pure anger. “What the actual fuck?” His voice was low but filled with pure fury. “Who the hell do you think you are? She has a damn right to know this! She is a damn adult!”

“Phoenix,” she stuttered, still taken aback by the whole development.

“Who I think I am?” Pinecone hissed as he held his cheek. “I’m the guardian of this forest, the Knight of Gaia Everfree and most importantly I’m her brother! I do this to protect my family and its legacy, you have no right to criticize me! You have no idea what it really means to uphold a family tradition like this, you never gave a rats ass about yours. You are pathetic, pretending to be responsible for her, she is my responsibility! I have entertained you long enough, fought by your side, but now I can’t. If I have to choose between the city and the protection of the forest, there is only one right answer!” He barked back, pushing himself off the ground and grabbing ahold of Phoenix jacket, both just centimeters apart from each other, their furious eyes staring at each other with an intensity that was just uncomfortable. “And if you think I will just abandon that duty like you did yours you are sorely mistaken. I will protect Emerald and this shrine! Emerald! We are leaving!”

He pushed Phoenix back, the Rider almost falling onto his back as he stumbled backward, only Ocean managing to catch him. However, after the first two steps, he turned around, staring at his sister who hadn’t moved an inch. “Emerald!” That was all he could manage before the sound of a loud slap echoed through the shrine.

She had slapped him, tears running down her cheeks. “No,” she said, her voice week and sobbing. “No!” This time far more determined. “No, I won’t go with you! Phoenix is right! This is my choice, mine! You hear that I have a right to know! I’m not a damn child anymore Pinecone! I can and want to make my own decisions and if you can’t accept that then… Then… Then that is it,” she finished, another tear running down her cheek. “Phoenix, would… would you protect me from Chrysopoeia.”

Silence filled the shrine for a few moments, everyone just staring at Emerald, most of all Pinecone, unable to process what had happened right now.

“Ok.” That was all he said, all he could say. “I’ll do it.”

Pinecone turned around and was about to grab Phoenix by his jacket as Emerald once again raised her voice. “Stop!” Before she continued, she had to take another breath. “This isn’t his fault, it’s yours. If you really wanted to protect me, then you should have told me. When you actually realize that this wasn’t ok, I’ll be open for an apology, but until then… We are finished!” She said the last word with such determination and finality that Pinecone visibly deflated, his anger disappearing in seconds.

“Emerald…”

“No! I don’t want to see you right now,” she returned, trying desperately to not start crying once again before she rushed past them and toward the exit. Pinecone could just look after her, every step he could hear like a hammer shattering his hearth.

Phoenix and Ocean did loom after her as well, at least for a moment before sharing a quick look and nodded soberly. “We’ll be leaving. Hope you get to your sense eventually,” Phoenix said dismissively. “Thought you had finally started to grow a little but seems I was wrong.” With that, he started to walk after her, not without giving him a very disappointed look before he passed the next corner.

“Don’t worry, we’ll take care of her for you,” Ocean said before she also left him.

Here he was, alone, abandoned in the cave. He could hear the door to the shrine shut close from afar, the ultimate sign that they had left. He had no drive to stand back up again, why should he? The floor felt good, not like there was any reason for him to do right now anyway.

He didn’t know how long he had spent in the shrine, time just seemed entirely out of whack. He just knew that over the time he had spend down in the shrine the weather had changed, a heavy rain now falling down upon the forest ground.

“Well, that didn’t go so well, did it?”

Within an instant, his hazy mind cleared of the fog that had clouded it. He knew that voice, he knew the voice oh so well. He could feel how the anger pushed his body forward, off the ground and directly towards the origin of the sound, that oh so familiar voice.

“Oh, happy to see me or what?” The man said, his smugness just using out of every word he spoke as he stepped out of the shadow. “Or just need someone to beat up because of your failures?”

Pinecones blood was boiling, glaring at the man in his lab coat, stepping through the sanctuary he was tasked with protecting like he owned it. Shadow Gold, how much his face was gasoline for his anger. Around his waist, the Driver had already been placed.

“As much as I hate to do that, I offer you the chance to leave this forest and this sanctuary. If you do so, you have the blessing of Gaia Everfree. She does consider fighting inside her sanctuary. But, by Gaia I hope you decline,” he growled, the pain and sadness quickly being turned into anger. It was his fault, all his fault and if he was lucky, he would finally get his revenge.

“Tsk, oh do I now? How laughable, I can clearly see that you just wait for the time to kill me, or at least try to. I can see it in your eyes, the shimmer of revenge. Really, if you would have just stayed out of this, we wouldn’t have a problem. You don’t like Alchemy as well but still chose to fight with him. Why exactly? I don’t have any business with you, so why pull this all on yourself?”

With a low growl, Pinecone returned: “Because you people came to me. You tried to steal what belongs to my family, I just protect this forest and my legacy, so I had to become preemptive.”

“Oh, believe me when I tell you, I never cared much for your Driver or this forest. You know, I would have left you alone, if not for the fact that you are an unknown variable.” And with that he pulled out his Philosopher Stone and placed it into the Driver, Pinecone following suit and activating his own.

\ PHILOSOPHER STONE DETECTED! /

“Henshin!”

\ EUREKA! /

\ UNLEASHE THE MONSTER! /

“Henshin!”

\ AWAKEN: CHIMERA! /

--------------<

The silence, the silence was the worst. One could drop a pin, and you hear it on the other side of the room, even if it was filled with five people, no one dared to speak a single word. Emerald sat in one of Ocean’s office chair. She looked awful, her eyes bloodshot, but at least she had stopped crying. Her eyes were fixated on the floor.

“I’m sorry.” That were the words that broke the silence. They were spoken with a low voice, one filled with regret, no anger, no malice, just regret. All the eyes in the room instantly shifted towards Phoenix who was leaning against the wall between some of the bookshelves. “I shouldn’t have exploded like that.”

Emerald looked at him with a shocked expression, before weakly shaking her head, a single tear traveling down her cheek. “No. You shouldn’t be. You were right, everything you said. I’m an adult, and I made the decision myself, and not a single one of you is at fault here. I’m the one to blame.”

“No, you did nothing wrong. I definitely did. There was no reason to punch him, I just couldn’t keep my emotions in check, that is all,” he weakly returned. “What if I had done that with my armor? I… No, this isn’t important right now. You are hurting, not me.”

“Phoenix…” Ocean weakly said to herself.

“I... I… Thank you,” Emerald returned, wiping away one of the tears that had started to run down her face.

“So, what are you gonna do now? You can’t really go back now, can you? At least not right now,” Shining said, looking at them with a worried look. “And with the fact that you are the sister of a Kamen Rider, that paints a target on your back.”

Ocean just sighed before stepping closer towards Emerald and laying her hand on her shoulder before stating with a soothing voice: “Don’t worry, we’ll figure something out. You can just stay a bit at my house, Phoenix just has to stay at home for a while, I’m sure he would be ok with that, right?”

Phoenix looked at her for a moment before chuckling: “Sure, not like I have much of a choice anyway. If Ocean decides something, she is set in her path anyway.”

“You know me too well Phoenix,” she returned with a slight smirk. “But only if you want Emerald.”

The girl looked at them, tears in her eyes and a bright smile on her lips “Thank you, thank you so much. By Gaia, I never knew people could be so nice." Without any kind of warning, she shoots forward and swings her arms around a quite startled Ocean. “Thank you, thank you! I hope I won’t annoy you for too long until Pinecone comes to his senses.”

“I don’t want to sound pessimistic, but are you sure he will? I mean he always goes on about his forest and the fact that he basically said we should protect the city ourself doesn’t make him realize he is an idiot more likely,” Phoenix said, raising an eyebrow.

Ocean shoots him a quick glance, but before she could actually say anything, she was interrupted by Emerald. “Because I know he will miss it. He hasn’t been happier in ages. As much as he wants to deny it, he enjoys protecting people. I know him, and he grew to love it. A shame he couldn’t actually admit it and accept that he might have made a mistake.”

“Huh, the old grump actually enjoying helping people? That does sound ridiculous actually, but not unwelcome.” He was about to add something as another sound rudely interrupted him, the sound of clapping.

“Bravo, bravo. Such a beautiful story, so heartbreaking, really,” an oh so familiar voice said. All eyes in the room were on him within seconds, Checkbook! The monster, clad in his metallic armor and the skeletal head with its horn glaring at them. He looked relaxed, two other figures standing next to him. The first one was the corrupted from before, keeping an eye on Emerald, something that both Riders noticed immediately. And the second component he had brought along, Alkahest, clad in his strongest armor, spear, and shield in hand. “Too bad, it won’t have a happy ending.” He merely pointed at them, the Corrupted dashing forward right towards Emerald.

Ocean was the first to react, sprinting towards their friend in a mad dash, tackling her to the ground mere moments before the vicious claws of the Corrupted could cleave into her. The wind was rushing past her as the claws missed them by mere centimeters. Then she heard the glass behind her shattering and the terrifying howls of the Corrupted as it plummeted to its death.

Or at least that was what she thought. She had jumped up from Emerald, Shining already next to the girl and calming her down as she rushed next to Phoenix who had pulled out his Driver. Both were about to activate their respective belts as right in front of them a red portal appeared and moments later, the Corrupted jumping out, his claws ready to tear them apart.

They each jumped to the side, barely avoiding the surprise attack, the cOrrupted coming to a screeching halt just mere centimeters from the window and gave off a vicious roar.

\ PHILOSOPHER STONE DETECTED! /

\ SCANNING CHARGE! /

“Henshin!”

\ HEUREKA! /

\ 100, 150, 200! OVER CHARGE! /

Without waiting even a second, she swung her gun towards the wall and with one shoot obliterated it, opening a path to the next room. “Shining, Light Bulb, get Emerald out of here!” Both looked at her dumbfounded for a moment, Light Bulb more scared than anything, before nodding and pushing Emerald towards the new opening. “And you don’t even get ideas!” She spat out before dashing towards and slamming the rear end of her gun into the chest of the Corrupted.

Meanwhile, Phoenix had attacked Checkbook, slamming his fist into the armor of the Corrupted. Or at least, that was what he had tried to do, his fist having been caught in the metallic claws of his opponent. “Oh, that was all? I thought you would be a bit tougher,” he chuckled, trying to hide the apparent strain in his voice. “But one thing that doesn’t surprise me is the fact that you left yourself wide open.”

Seemingly out of nowhere a black figure appeared behind him and brought its spear down on him, sparks flying off his back as agonizing pain filled his body. What was even worse was that in between his pained screams he felt Checkbook push him back, right into the spear of Alkahest. At first, it was nothing more than the pressure, the immense and inhuman pressure as his body was pressed against the tip of the spear, only his armor shielding him from any further damage. This, however, was not to last as he could hear the armor arching and bending under the newfound pressure. Then he felt it, the sharp pain of the spear, the pressure and sharpness digging into his skin, at least a little bit. He screamed like he had never before screamed in his life. This spear was some of the worst pain in his entire life, slowly digging further and further into his body.

But before the invader could dig further into him the presser from the front suddenly disappeared, the Rider being shoved forward and almost landing on his stomach. After finally catching himself he turned around, only to immediately pull his hands above his head, catching Alkahest’s spear in between his arms he had crossed over his head. Acting on pure instinct, he pushed the weapon back and dashed immediately after him, slamming his fist into the stomach of Alkahest, who stumbled backward, almost dropping his own weapons.

He was about to follow his attack again, only for the sharp pain in his back to return, letting him stop dead in his tracks. But unlike before he didn’t feel any pressure, just the pain, small drops of blood landing beneath him on the floor. In the corner of his eyes, he could see Checkbook getting back on his feet, clutching a burned part of his armor. Apparently, Ocean had managed to shoot him of Alchemy, he had to thank her later for that, but right now, he had other things to worry about. While Alkahest was regaining his composure, he ripped the Magic Disc from his Driver and activated it.

\ Philosopher Stone Attack Mode! /

\ Magnum Opus! /

With the weapon now formed in his hands, he felt a part of his pain subsiding, all thanks to the fact that he could somewhat relieve his back by leaning on the spear. His hand shook as he reached up to punch several buttons in, all while Alkahest had started to dash at him.

\ WATER! /

\ WIND! /

\ WATER! /

\ FREINDSHIP! /

Alchemy managed to hit the last button just right before Alkahest could strick him once again, and instead dodged out of the way, all while green energy started to surround him. Within seconds the pain had vanished and just right in time before Alkahest brought his weapon down on him, Phoenix easily able to deflect the attack and send the Dark Rider staggering back, right next to his two comrades.

“Oh, now it’s on!” He hissed, Ocean having stepped next to him, aiming her gun at the three opponents, all while Alchemy firmly gripped his spear.

--------------<

With a loud crash, a white mass burst through the entrance of the shrine, the wooden door being utterly demolished by the mass and power of it. Out of the debris and dust, two shapes rose from the ground, Monster, and Chrysopoeia. Both had scratch marks all over their body and were glaring daggers at each other. Both were breathing heavily only for Monster to dash forward in the blink of an eye.

Chrysopoeia grabbed the spear that had fallen next to him and managed to jam it between the claws of the Rider and himself. Sparks flew everywhere as he was pushed back, Monster continuing his assault with a loud roar and a mad rush forward. The claw almost connected, slashing across his chest if not for the fact that Chrysopoeia turned his spear around and swung it in the direction of his opponent. Both the claw and the weapon clashed, the rainy forest illuminated by the bright light the sparks gave of as they clashed. Each of them was forced backward, almost toppling over as they tried to regain their footing.

Chrysopoeia was the first to regain any sort of balance, by slamming his spear into the ground beside him and using it as a launching point to deliver a quick kick to Monster’s stomach, the Rider staggering back even more while growling in pain. But the Dark Rider wasn’t finished, continuing his attack with another swing of his spear that cleanly slashed across the Rider’s chest, followed up by yet another strike.

Pinecones chest had meanwhile felt like he had been used as a chew toy for a giant monster. His breath grew more and more irregular, his vision becoming more and more blurry with every passing second and his legs were on the verge of surrendering altogether. This couldn’t be the end, right?

No! He wouldn’t just lay down and die here, he would fight till the last breath had left his lungs. Just as Chrysopoeia was about to ram his weapon into his chest he let out anear bursting roar, his helmet glowing in a bright green and every raindrop around them was pushed to the side. In an instant, his vision was restored, and the pain subsided, slipping in the background, joining the fall of the rain as background noise. He could just see Chrysopoeia being flung off his feet and smashed into a nearby tree that collapsed on top of him. New energy flowed through his veins, the thoughts slowly draining from his mind as he felt his muscles filling with the newfound power.

Opening his claws, he raced forward, jumping towards Chrysopoeia who could only watch in shock as the Rider swung his claws, throwing the spear out of his hands and clasp one of them firmly around his neck. He felt himself being lifted off the ground, only the glowing red eyes and the low breath of his opponent in his mind, desperately struggling to get loss. With every passing second, the claws dug deeper and deeper into his neck, the sound of cracking armor accompanying his slow loss of breath.

Monster was just about to stab his claws into the chest of his opponent as Chrysopoeia finally managed to order his thoughts, kicking the other Rider firmly into his chest, sending him flying. His landing, however, was not as comfortable as he had wished, landing instead roughly on the wet dirt below him, coughing and gasping for air.

The sound of Monster crawling back up just a few meters away was also clearly audible, the sound of a wild beast clawing for solid ground, intersected with growls and grunts from him. Chrysopoeia stared at him as he heard himself of the earth, his hands covered in mud, but this did not in any way impede him, the fire in his eyes clearly directed at him. What Monster, however, had not noticed was the seal on his chest, white, almost disappearing under the armor if not for the mudstains it had already been covered in. As the Rider dashed towards him with an bursting scream he held out his hand, a sadistic glee taken over his lips, covered by his helmet.

Within seconds the seal burst into a cocoon of ice, one that consumed the Rider quicker than he could react, turning him into a perfect little ice statue, the rain around him freezing solid at the same time. He had done it, not that there was ever any doubt that he wouldn’t. Monster was frozen solid, right in front of him, as helpless as a puppy. Finally, he could get rid of him, and after that, eventually bring down Alchemy, down to the depths of Tartarus he deserved. With a mad shimmer in his eyes, he staggered forward towards his spear. “Now, feel my wrath. If you had just stood by, this wouldn’t have happened!” He hissed, in between pushing one of the gems on the weapon.

\ THUNDER! /

The weapon was sparking with immense energy, every raindrop that dared to come too close was quickly turned to steam, the Dark Rider holding the weapon ready to strike. A precisely that he did letting an arc of a lightning shot towards his opponent, one that consumed the icy prison in bright light, several rouge bolts actually hitting several trees around him, letting them collapse like broken toothpicks.

The sound of a body hitting the dirt was like music to his ears, casually walking towards his victim. “Well, that was it then. Shame that your family legacy ends here,” he chuckled.

Lifting the spear up, he was about to strike it through the hearth of Pinecone as the seemingly unconcise armor sprung back to life, wings sprouting from its back and the Rider dashing towards him. Completely take of guard he felt the full weight of the Rider as he was slammed against tree after tree only for the sensation to be overshadowed by the sudden surge of lightning that was passing through him and his Driver. Shadow’s pain filled screams filled the air, echoing through the tree. With one final scream, he brought his elbow down on his opponent, both of them quickly losing altitude and crashing into the ground below.

Two pairs of red eyes stared at each other, partially covered in dirt, only a few meters apart. Neither of them was finished yet, and no one was willing to surrender. With new screams the once again dashed towards each other.

--------------<

The fight had progressed rather nicely, the two Riders not relenting even a little bit. They had managed to knock back every attempt their three opponents had made, and while it seemed that Checkbook and Platinum were not really worse for wear, the Corrupted had taken a few good hits. He wasn’t as much as an energy bundle like before, but still, he was quite creative. Whether they thought they finish him off, he just slipped out of their reach. But what seemed somewhat odd was the fact that he was still here, even though he was already partially limping.

Phoenix was right now wrestling with Checkbook, his weapon thrown to the side. Both of them seemed equally matched and were struggling to not lose the upper hand. All while Ocean was preoccupied with the Corrupted, trying to hit it with her gun, but even when the thing was injured, it was still fast enough to escape her attacks. And every time she tried to help Alchemy, the thing just got in the way, primarily through cheap attacks to her back.

They had been at this for far too long, Ocean clearly feeling the exhaustion sinking into her with every passing second. They had to finish this sooner rather than later. She pressed the trigger once again, her gun unleashing a fury of shots that headed straight for the Corrupted, finally looking like she was to hit him. Then she noticed he folly. The monster grinned, and a portal opened up under his feet, swallowing whole. And then it just came worse, a second portal open just where he had stood, and it didn’t take long for her own attack to be swallowed up by it.

The next moments were agonizing, she knew precisely what the Corrupted had planned for her, but no idea from where he would attack. Every little bit of movement freaked her out, and in the end, it didn’t even make a difference when she felt the burning pain in her back, knocking her off her feet, weapon falling to the side. Out of the corner of her eyes, she could see the Corrupted falling from the ceiling and dash towards her with a mad grin.

Alchemy, however, was far more occupied with his own opponent, who was still holding strong against him, not having budged an inch. If this kept on, he would be exhausted before he could deliver the finishing blow. “Alkahest! Now!” Checkbook shouted in between their struggle.

However, even after a few seconds nothing, no attack, no sign of the Dark Rider, just nothing. “Alkahest? Where in the name of Tartarus are you?” He barked out, but once again, nothing. This was it, this was the moment he had been waiting for, within a split second Alchemy had pushed back the Corrupted, who was still in some sort of shock state. Through this newfound opportunity, he managed to win the upper hand and follow up with a switch kick that sent Checkbook flying right out of the window.

He was about to dash after him when he noticed the situation Ocean had found herself in. The Corrupted had already reached her and kicked the downed Rider across the room, luckily enough, right next to her gun. Before the monster could strike once again, Phoenix rushed across the room with his super speed and delivered a punch right to his stomach, a punch that was only enhanced by the speed of his opponent. “Get him! Now!” That was all he screamed at Ocean who quickly grabbed ahold of her gun and aimed, all while Phoenix flicked with his fingers once again, turning the seal he had left on the Corrupted chest into a new cocoon of ice that turned him into a statue.

\ Maximum Charge! /

The Corrupted could only look at them in horror as the energy blast hit him, shattering the ice in the process and punching through several walls until the room was consumed in a massive explosion, leaving the unconfessed man behind, a pair of red and blue scissors next to him. “Well, that was that. But where did Alkahest go?” Phoenix sighed after deactivating his Driver.

Ocean was about to respond as another voice interrupted them, Shining. “Ocean, Phoenix! We have readings coming from the forest! It’s Chrysopoeia!” Within seconds their relaxing expressions turned into pure terror.

“So that was what they tried to do here! Fuck!” Ocean hissed before shouting over to Shining: “Take care of our little criminal here!” All while already rushing past him.

--------------<

Meanwhile, the fight had waged on, the clearing around Pinecones house was almost unrecognizable. Toppled trees littered the area, broken pieces of rocks were scattered all over, and the ground had been decimated and left in shambles, craters everywhere. And amidst all this chaos Monster and Chrysopoeia were staring at each other. Their armors were battered and bruised, cracks and dents covering them like they had been shot at with one thousand cannonballs.

Both were staring each other down, Chrysopoeia’s spear having been impaled in one of the nearby trees, each one was breathing heavily, their arms hanging limply at their side. Still, there was not a single sign that any of them would give up. This fight wasn’t over just yet. “Why don’t you just give up and die already?” Gold said, completely out of breath.

“Because I don’t have the permission to die yet!” Monster hissed back, clearly just as exhausted as his opponent. “And because I won’t entrust this burden onto someone who doesn’t deserve it!”

“Oh, sweet Celestia, can you stop it with this damn bullshit already! What do I care about this, about the opinion of someone else? The only person that counts is me!” With a loud roar, he dashed forward, his fist ready for another round. Monster just growled and ran ahead as well.

When both their fists clashed the following shockwave pushed the rain around them away purely through the immense strength of the attacks, only for Chrysopoeia to be thrown back once again, the armor around his arms cracking even further.

While Monster had barely managed to remain standing, he was not prepared for what followed next. Once again, electricity surged through his body, traveling up his arm from the point where Chrysopoeia had hit him. With an agonizing scream, he sunk to his knees, all while his breath got heavier and heavier.

With a loud grunt, Chrysopoeia pushed himself off the ground and staggered towards his weapon. With an exhausting pull, he freed it from its imprisonment, the spear quickly turning back into the Philosopher Stone. He placed the Disc back into his Driver, his hand shaking like never before. What he however completely missed was the fact that his Driver had started to once again spar a little bit.

Monster meanwhile had pushed through the pain, staring directly at his opponent. Both Riders activated their Drivers once again, ready to finish this here and now.

\ Philosopher Stone Maximum Power! /

\ ROAR: CHIMERA! /

Monster and Chrysopoeia both jumped into the air, all of Monster’s beasts gathering into him as well as Chrysopoeia performing a version of Alchemy’s finisher, just with black wings and black lines instead of golden ones. They rocketed towards each other, the impact like nothing they had ever felt. Their feet felt like they were about to be crushed, but none of them was willing to surrender. With every passing second, the energy gathered more and more around there feet until…

The entire forest was consumed by a bright light, followed by one of the loudest explosions any of the two had ever heard. His body was immediately struck by energy, surging through him like he wasn’t even there before Pinecone was thrown back and landed roughly on the ground. He could feel his armor shatter around him, the pain all over his body only now setting in. He felt like he had been cooked alive and with every second it just got worse. He couldn’t see, he could only feel the pain that had taken over his body, all while every other sense was slowly fading.

Shadow Gold hadn’t faired any better, actually even worse. His stomach was plastered with small little metal shards from his Driver which had fallen of his waist after it had exploded. His Magic Discs laying around him. He could feel the warm blood soaking his clothing.

Before everything, however, could settle in they were both caught off guard by loud clapping. “Bravo, bravo! Finally! After so long I have finally won!” The voice was one Shadow Gold immediately recognized, Platinum.

“He… Help me…” He managed to stammer while desperately trying to hold his blood inside of his body.

“Help you?” He chuckled before starting to laugh like he had heard the funniest joke ever. “Why should I help you bastard? I’m finally rid of you!” He said with such glee it let Pinecones hairs stand up and even ignore the pain for one moment, only for it to return immediately after, and this time from inside of his stomach, his bloody scream echoing through the whole forest.

The new arrival had stepped closer towards Shadow Gold and was about to kneel down beside him as he heard the scream of the second Rider. “I would say I’m sorry that it had to come this way, but I don’t want to lie. I have lied far too long already, to myself and everyone around me. I, however, want to thank you Pinecone. Without you, this would have never been possible. Only because of you and your tenacity did the Driver reach the limit I had build into it. If you hadn’t fought so hard, my trap would have never snapped. Because of that, I thank you, from the bottom of my heart. It ‘s a bit sad that you have to pay with your life for it, but this had to be done. Don’t worry, the magic that destroyed your body won’t take long to claim your life, I give you about two more minutes, so you can be glad that you don’t have to suffer for too long,” Platinum finished with a calmness that drove the fear and terror even deeper into Pinecone’s hearth.

Did he tell the truth? Would he really die here? Was there really no hope? And if he truly told the truth who would take care of… That was when another surge of pain took hold of him, his eyes slowly losing the limited sight they had regained after all of this and the taste of blood in his mouth. With every passing second, he could feel the warmth slip further and further out of his body.

“Why…?” Gold croaked, desperately trying to grab ahold of Platinum’s leg.

The Dark rider just threw him a look of utter disgust and without as much as a second though slammed his foot into his stomach, driving the metal shards even deeper into the body, followed by Gold spitting blood. “Why? You ask why? You know why!” He screamed. “I’m no longer your slave you slimy bastard! I’m finally free of you and your insane revenge. Something my mom never could be thanks to you! I can finally decide my own path. Good riddance to you!” With that, he grabbed hold of the Philosopher Stone next to Gold, and within seconds the rest of the Disc started to hover towards him and into his hand. “May your last moments be the most painful on this earth.”

And with that, he started to walk away. He hadn't even walked a few meters when the life drifted out of Shadow Gold’s eyes, leaving nothing more than a bloody corpse behind, his eyes dead and filled with fear and shock, accompanied by the shattering of the purple necklaces around his neck. He couldn’t say he cared much, well at least for Shadow Gold and not at all when he felt the life slowly leaving him. He tried to convince his body that he couldn’t die just yet, but it was a losing battle. His last thoughts were not ones of anger over his defeat, worry about his responsibility or fear. No, they were only directed at Emerald and the regret he now felt. “I’m… I’m sorry…” With these last words, his world turned black, the feeling in his body subsiding, surprisingly welcome after the pain he had suffered. The last thing he felt was the soft touch of the raindrops on his face before everything was no more…

--------------<

Their bikes echoed through the woods as they raced towards the house. The wet mud under their wheels didn’t make it any easier. They had already nearly slipped two times, but time was of the essence. Whatever Shadow gold had planned he would succeed if they were too slow. Then it ultimately appeared through the rows of trees, the house. What they, however, saw when they came closer was not what they had wished for, it was far worse than their worst nightmares. The house itself was ruined, walls filled with holes and most windows had been shattered, but everything around it was even worse. Trees had been toppled, stones crushed and the ground demolished.

And in the midst of all oft, two bodies. Phoenix blood froze within his veins. He recognized both of them. Without any regard to his bike, he threw it to the side and dashed over towards them, an expression of utter shock etched onto his face. Ocean followed right after him, a similar expression to his.

With every step, they came closer their blood froze more and more until it was almost impossible to breathe. Ocean passed him and immediately rushed towards Shad… Ivory. Her expression hurt to look at, the utter terror was unmistakably carved into every fiber of her being as she taped onto his neck. Nothing, absolutely nothing besides the wet, cold body. Phoenix just sunk to the ground next to Pinecone and repeated what Ocean had just done, nothing, just as cold as Ivory.

He hadn’t even noticed the tears that were running down his face until they had reached his cheeks. His heart felt like it was about to explode every moment from now, only interrupted by his sobs. He still couldn’t really grasp what had happened, it felt so unreal. Just gone, like nothing.

Before he could think any more about this, his thoughts were interrupted by the loud sobs of Ocean. He looked up from the remains of his friend and over to her, her head buried in Ivory’s chest. He sighed before turning around one last time and whispered: “I’m so sorry my friend,” before closing the yes of Pinecone.

Every step felt heavy and sluggish like all energy had suddenly left his body. When he kneeled down next to Ocean, it felt like a relive in a way. He hesitated for a moment before laying his arm around her, she winced for a moment before she calmed down once again. With a loud cry, she pretty much threw herself into his chest, warm tears soaking his already wet shirt. He just tightened his embrace even more. “Let it out, just let it out,” his own tears joined hers soon after.

Picking up the Pieces - The Morning After

The morning sun was slowly starting to rise over the city, gracing it with its warm and soothing light. Even though the light shined into the living room, shimmering through the still wet windows above, the warmth and soothing feeling were lost on all of them. Everyone in the room just stared somewhere, if it was the floor or the wall, it didn’t matter, everything felt cold, distant like something was missing.

Light Bulb was distantly searching through data on her notepad, Shining sitting next to her and doing something similar on his own notepad, searching for any sign of something going wrong, anything. Thunder and Summer had sat down a plate of food on the table, a plate that hadn’t been touched the whole night and were now just sitting next to it, clueless expressions on their face.

And of course, Emerald who was just sitting there, a blank expression on her face, staring at the floor beneath her. A blanket had been pulled over her shoulders, one she hugged tightly to her. Emerald’s eyes were bloodshot and tear-stricken. In seemingly random intervals she just sobbed, but no tear rolled over her swollen face, all of them having already been spent. An arm swung around her, Ocean hugging her tightly, her eyes similarly tear-stricken.

Not too far away from the Phoenix was sitting on the couch, an expression of uncertainty and confusion shrouding his face as he stared at Monster Driver in front of him. The device had besides a few dents not taken and damage, still looking like it was fully functional. It was impressive that it had survived the fight in such a pristine condition, especially after… No, he didn’t want to think about that right now. It might be true that he and Pinecone had never really seen eye to eye, but this? This was just too much. He never wished this upon the man… no, his friend. He had this feeling of emptiness, loss, and helplessness that threatened to suffocate him. He would miss their little arguments, them butting heads, them disagreeing even if he had at times nearly hated him, but he was a good man, at least that was what he thought.

Lifting his head, he looked over o Emerald. She looked awful and was most likely even more distraught then all of them thrown together. She had lost her brother, a person she had known for her entire life. If he lost Thunder, how would he feel? That thought alone was horrifying enough for him to stop thinking about it. And if the idea alone was so horrid how would it be if it happened for real and you couldn’t do anything to stop it? The cold shiver that ran down his spine was answer enough for him.

With a silent sigh, he finally broke the dreadful silence that had held the room captive until now. “It’s not your fault.” That was all he managed to say, managed to bring out and even it sounded wrong.

Within seconds every eye in the room was now staring at him, at the one who had dared to disturb this moment.

“What?” She said, halfway sobbing, the hint of new tears in her eyes, staring at him like he had just murdered a puppy right in front of her eyes.

“It’s not your fault. Nothing that happened today is your fault. At all. And convincing yourself that it was won’t make anything better,” he repeated, this time sounding far more confident than before, even though the eyes on him felt like daggers.

“Phoenix…” Ocean said, unsure of what to make of his words right now.

“Not my fault? Not my fault! How could it not be my fault? He died because he thought this would protect me! He died because he retreated back into the forest, back home, completely alone. If it weren’t for me, that monster never would have had the chance to attack him alone. It was my fault!” She shouted back at him, several small tears falling down her cheeks.

“Phoenix! This is not the time for this! Let her-“ Ocean hissed back, pulling Emerald closer into her hug.

“No! This is precisely the time for this! I won’t let her suffer under this, let her be caught in this damn spiral of guilt. If we let this fester she will just hurt more and more. I won’t let this happen. I don’t want to see her suffer more than necessary and neither would Pinecone. I can’t help him anymore, but I can help her, and by Celestia, I will help her!” He hissed back.

Ocean was about to throw something back at him, but her mouth just opened and closed again without any sound escaping her lips. Instead, she lowered her eyes towards the ground.

“Oh, now you want to help him? You are too late, we were all too late! And all because I made a mistake! Because I was selfish and-“ Emerald barked back, a low growl audible in her voice, all while clenching her hands into fists.

“Bullshit! He put himself into this situation, one he could have seen coming if he wasn’t so damn stubborn. He pushed us away, the people that could help him and you standing up for yourself had nothing to do with it! And yes, he did all of this for his duty, but more importantly, for you. He wanted to protect you. He might have gone overboard with it, but he did it for you! He cared a lot for you! He was your brother for crying out loud. He tried to protect you from all of this, in his own weird way, but he did it o defend you. And he would be relieved that you are okay right now! I’m sure he would do it again if it were the only way to protect you! And I would do it for Thunder as well, in a heartbeat. He is your brother, and siblings care for each other, and as much as I had my problems with Pinecone I always could see how much he cared for you! He wouldn’t want you to cry over him and wast the life he gave his for. Be honest with yourself, would he be happy with you blaming yourself for all of this?” He continued, his voice growing more and more firm the longer he spoke.

“I… I… But…” Emerald stammered, desperately looking around the room.

“Phoenix! This is enough! She just lost her brother, let her grief! You can’t expect her to be over the death of your brother so fast!” Ocean once again interrupted them, glaring daggers at her boyfriend.

“I’m not. I know that scares like this won’t heal fast, by all means, I’m still carrying my own, but the thing is, I’m not suggesting she shouldn’t grieve. Oh, the contrary, she should. But she doesn’t have to grieve over things out of her control. She did nothing wrong, and if she beats herself up over it she won’t start to heal and be forever stuck in this state! She has to see that she did what she did and that it wasn’t part of why Pinecone died. It was his own decisions that caused this. We all make mistakes, and sometimes the consequences are just that hard. But he wouldn’t want you to lose yourself in it. Grief, but don’t blame yourself, you don’t need to,” he finished, his voice a strange mix of confidence and somberness.

Emerald looked at him for a moment before more small tears ran down her cheeks. He was about to say something else as she weakly nodded. Phoenix just smiled weakly before sighing and standing up. “I think I need a bit of fresh air,” he muttered before walking down the stairs, much to the surprise of everyone in the room. Ocean looked after him for quite a while, not even noticing how her grip on Emerald weakened with every passing second.

“It’s ok, go,” the weak and fragile voice next to her said, Ocean winced immediately, staring at her with wide open eyes.

“What?” Was all she could manage, sounding quite surprised.

“You know what I said, just go. I’m fine,” she said, looking at her with a weak smile on her lips.

“But-“

“No buts, no nothing. Just go. Not like I’m alone,” she returned, the last word sounding significantly lower than every other one.

“Thanks,” she said, smiling back at her and standing up to follow Phoenix, but not without giving her another hug. “Take care, I’ll be looking for our idiot.”

--------------<

“Fuck, fuck, fuck!” He screamed, slamming his fist on the desk in front of him, the small lamp on the ceiling swaying back and forth from the impact. “How could this happen? I thought finally things would move forward, I could actually make progress here, but no. Here he comes and fucks everything up. I lost the Corrupted, ok not good, but no big deal either. But Gold? How, did this happen? This is just the worst,” Checkbook was rambling on and on, his dimly light face cast in doubt and fear as he desperately tried to make sense of what had happened today.

“And I thought this was a good idea? I should have known that this wouldn’t end well, but no. I had to make the glorious decision to help this insane bastard. Hey, he might be a bit nuts, but I can work with that.” Once again the fist slammed on the table, the old wood cracking under the immense pressure. “But no, here comes this damn brat and ruins everything. Now I have nothing, absolutely nothing. No plans, no Drivers, nothing. And I don’t even know where he is. Oh, this is bad, so bad.” With a nervous swipe, he went through his hair, messing up the meticulously kept hairstyle he had.

“And if I can’t find anything else my head will be the one on the chopping block. No hiding, no escape. I’m a dead man walking, or worse I’ll become another experiment. Oh, sweet mother, what should I do?” Checkbook was getting more and more nervous. “Maybe they have some plans laying around here? Or I could steal the schematics from the MRG while the Riders are busy grieving? Yeah, that could work, or get me captured. Oh, what should I do?”

“First things first, you should relax. The scared act doesn’t suit you,” a voice cut through his solitude, a voice he was not in any way shape or form happy to hear.

“You! What do you want?” He growled, spinning around and staring with a mad gleam in his eyes at the man, Platinum Shadow. The amulet around his neck was starting to glow through his suit.

“Oh, is that how you greet a comrade? Really, a shame. I had expected a far more warm welcome. I took care of the old geezer for you after all. He won’t be bothering you with his insane revenge schemes anymore. Isn’t that great?” Platinum asked, a wide smile on his lips.

“Great? Are you insane? I lost my business partner, again. If my higher-ups find out about this, I’m finished. Expect…” Checkbook snapped back in anger before his eyes wandered towards Platinums waist.

“Oh, I see what you mean, but trust me. You don’t stand a chance against me, especially with this,” he chuckled, pulling out Shadow Gold’s Philosopher Stone. Checkbook immediately tensed but remained silent. “But a nice try none the less. But it was also smart not to try your luck. Do you know what I’m capable of and that with a Philosopher Stone? Oh, believe me, you have no idea.”

“I have a good guess,” Checkbook hissed back, glaring at him, still tempted to strick the Rider down before he could act.

“But we should get back to business. Both our situations are a bit tense right now. You are without a business partner and I… Well, let’s just say, I’m a target for the Riders, one they won’t let go. I’m a wanted criminal after all and if they find out who is in a way responsible for killing one or two of their friends I won’t have a quiet moment on this world anymore. This is why I need your help,” Platinum said, casually examine the Disc in his hand.

“My help? After you put me on the chopping block? What are you expecting? That I jump into the fire for you because you ruined my life?” He hissed back, taking an angry step towards Platinum.

“Wow, wow, easy there! I get what you mean. You are screwed right now, and this was your great chance to rise in the ranks. I understand that. But, it’s not like I can’t offer you some things. You know who maintained the Driver? Or who made the second one? That was me. Not like Gold could have done much as a passenger in the necklace. Every ‘servant’ of Gold was a master in magic tech. I can build a Driver from scratch if you want. Or write down a detailed plan to make a Driver. All of that comes naturally to me. You know what that means? Your head isn’t off just yet. You just have to switch partners, how does that sound?” Platinum grinned, knowing fully well that he had all the cards in his hand.

“You… You mean… You… What is the catch? I’m sure you won’t give me this out of the goodness of your hearth. That is not how this works, right?” Checkbook stammered before raising an eyebrow and regarding Platinum with caution.

“Oh, of course. I knew you would be smart enough to understand that. And don’t worry, I’m not like that old geezer. I’m not interested in revenge or any of that crap. I just want something simple, something we can achieve very fast if we work together. And if we get a little bit of help.”

“Help? What do you mean with help?”

“Oh, we get to that when we get to that. First I need an answer. Are you in, or are you out?” He asked the question with such a low voice that a cold shiver ran down Checkbook’s spine.

“What do you want?” He asked, his voice somewhat shaky.

“Oh, believe me, it’s simple. Peace and quiet…”

--------------<

The morning sun bathed the small alley in its light, a soothing feeling washing over her as she stepped through the rays of light. Still, the wet asphalt under her mad the whole scenery rather sober. A sense that was only strengthened as she spotted Phoenix at the end of the alley, staring out at the street before them. Every step she took echoed from wall to wall like it was loud the stomping of a giant.

“Hey,” she merely said, stepping next to him. One could see the closed shops on the other side of the street and a few that were already in the process of opening, like a small bakery, it’s light casting long shadows onto the road.

“Hey,” he returned, not even looking back at her. “Let me guess, you want to chew me out for what I said back there? That I was too harsh?”

“Actually, not really. I think what you said was exactly what she needed to hear right now. Though I don’t think this will stop her from blaming herself forever. But right now, I think she is in a good place, well as good as she can be really. No, I wanted to talk about something else,” she returned in a hushed voice.

“Oh, what is it?” He asked in return, sounding quite intrigued.

“How do you feel?” She simply returned, in the most nonchalant way he could imagine.

“What do you mean?” He said, a bit of nervousness in his voice.

“Just, how do you feel? Good, bad, something in between? Tell me?”

“I… Well, I wouldn’t call losing a friend good, but I’d say I’ll manage,” Phoenix said, the nervousness in his voice only growing stronger.

“Oh, really?” Ocean asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Yes, really,” he said, sounding slightly irritated.

“You know, I don’t buy it. Not for a second. You know, you really should start listening to the advice you preach. Primarily the ‘don’t blame yourself’ one. I mean seriously, you are good at giving it, but applying it to yourself, not so much.” Phoenix expression was getting more and more desperate with every passing second and before he could huff something in return Ocean continued: “I know you. I know you far too well. I know how you think, at least on a fundamental level. I know how you react, and I know how you feel. And right now, you are hurting, and I can’t just watch how you eat all of this up like you always do. When you decided you weren’t doing enough and stopped sleeping when you lost your grandfather, and it came back up in Scootaloos world and now with Pinecone. You always think you can handle it and bottle it up, but you can’t,” Ocean said, stepping closer to him and laying her hand on his shoulder.

“I… I’m fine, believe me,” he desperately returned, not entirely sure if he was saying this to her or himself.

“No, you are not. And you know, if you think this will protect us you are dead wrong. It hurts to see you like this, to see you suffer. It hurts from the bottom of my heart, especially since he helped me through my own problems. You convinced me that mistakes are human, that I’m allowed to make them. You pulled me back when I lost myself in doubt when I turned into something I would have regretted. Saved me from my own self, my own blame monster. You pulled me back from turning into a madwoman because I had lost a friend and was willing to do everything to get him back. And you helped me smooth things over with my sister. Without you, I would never stand her right now. You saved me countless times, and now it’s time for me to return that favor,” she returned, tears in her eyes.

“Phoenix, I love you, and I just can’t take seeing you this way, so please, let me help you,” she pleaded, looking at him with these tear-filled eyes, a desperate look in her eyes. “Phoenix, please!”

He looked back at her, into her beautiful eyes, filled with sadness and desperation, feeling the pain and helplessness in them, but also the warmth and care. He hadn’t even noticed the tear running down his own face until its warmth passed his cheek. Then he couldn’t hold it any longer, tears were bursting out of his eyes, and he threw himself into Ocean’s arms. “I… I… It’s all my fault! I can’t help anyone. Every time my friends need me, I fail them. I couldn’t stop the Magnum Opus from being destroyed and protect my brother. I couldn’t protect Summer when she was kidnaped. I couldn’t be by your side when you fought your mother. I could help Ivory when he was kidnaped. I couldn’t protect Shining when he got injured and worst of all I couldn’t have Pinecone. I could have done something, I should have done something, but I couldn’t. I’m just a failure, a massive failure. Whenever push comes to shove I fail time and time again,” he sobbed.

“You are not a failure. Sure, you might make mistakes, but like you said, we all do. We just have to not do them again, that is all, right?” She chuckled while giving him a weak clap on the back. “And I know you know it. You made a good amount of mistakes, but you are still here. You always stood back up, and I know you will do it again. That is what I love about you, your determination. You fall, you fail, you make mistakes, but you aren’t above yourself to see that and correct them. You aren’t perfect, but you aren’t ok with that. You always strive to be better, and that makes you a good man. A man I can respect. I once saw the ability to do good in you, even if I didn’t know you at all, but there was that certain something. That spark for greatness and I was right. You are a good man, a hero and a Kamen Rider I can be proud of. One I love, so please, listen to me. This isn’t your fault, neither is it Emeralds or mine. The one to blame for this was Shadow Gold and no one else. You know that, so please, don’t put yourself through this, don’t put us through this,” she finished, the love and care in her voice was heartwarming.

If he hadn’t been crying, already he would be now. Every single word was filled with warmth and peace; it was almost unbearable. But it felt so good, finally letting go of all the burdens and filth that had weighted his hearth down for so long. Letting go of the failure, the shame and the self-pity felt so good. “Thank you.” That was all he said and all he had to say, his feeling carrying through the two words better than through a thousand. He felt good and free.

“It’s ok. We are friends after all, aren’t we? That is what friends are supposed to do, be there for you when things get though and I couldn’t hope for better ones. Believe me,” she returned, sobbing just like Phoenix did.

Their embrace lasted for a few more minutes, the warm morning sun gently causing them as it danced passed the clouds through the fresh morning air. But all good things had to come to an end, the small oasis of peace and quiet didn’t last forever. Eventually, they had to stop, ending their embrace. Still, their hand remained firmly locked,

“So, what now?” That was the question he had suppressed for so long, feared it, but he couldn’t hide from it, he eventually had to ask the question. He felt the levity drain from the moment, disappear into nothingness and the crushing reality take its place.

Ocean looked at him with a somber smile and after a silent sigh returned: “We have to finish this. Tartarus is no more, and Shadow Gold is gone. The only two people that are any sort of danger to the city now are Checkbook and Platinum Shadow. They are still out there, and goodness knows what they will do now that they aren’t under Gold’s thumb. We have to find them and finally put an end to this. We might not be able to stop the Corrupted, but we can stop them. They have to pay for what they did to this city and the sooner, the better.”

Phoenix nodded. He had already known it, but now it had been spoken, set in stone. It was tangible. “We are gonna leave no stone unturned we will pull out everything we have and won’t stop until they have been dealt with. This is all we can do, and we will do it. For everyone who has suffered thanks to them.”

“Then we have a goal. No matter where they hide we will find them and bring this to an end,” he returned, having found new resolve.

“And of course we have to… have to arrange the funeral,” she added with a somber tone. “This will be an interesting discussion with Emerald. But I don’t think we should talk with her right away about this. Let her grief a bit.”

“Yeah, we don’t have to start right now. A bit of time won’t hurt anyone. And I’m starting to get hungry. You think there is still something left of Thunder’s food?” Phoenix weakly chuckled and smiled.

“You know, some things never change,” Ocean returned the chuckle with one of her own.

“Yeah, I know. But some things don’t need to change, am I right?”

“Yeah, some things are perfect the way they are,” Ocean said with a satisfied tone. “Come you, idiot, I’m getting hungry as well.

--------------<

The streetlamps were glowing brightly, their constant buzzing getting on his nerves. It was already way past midnight, but who gave a crap? Especially when he had the whole house for himself for a few days, and it was weekend. And even if it weren’t weekend, it wouldn’t really change much. Walking through the dimly light streets, past all the graffiti and trash felt liberating, like he was truly at home. Well, as home as you could feel in this god-damn city.

The last few months hadn’t really been great, scratch that, they had been awful. He had become the laughing stock of everyone. He almost was afraid of leaving his house because he would just end up with another laugh at his expense. And it was all his fault, all that damn bastards fault. That damn feather-bastard.

With anger boiling up inside him he stepped over the broken glass bottle on the front porch and ignoring the snickers he heard from the other side of the street and pulled out his key. The moment he had entered the rundown house that looked just like the other ones beside it he slammed the door shut behind him. “These fucking bastards!” The door violently shook inside its handles, the young man with his grey skin and red mohawk having slammed his fist against the wall.

“One day I’m gonna get them back, just wait. And all because I thought one could help them by making the world a better place free of these corporate slavers. But look at how they thank me. Pathetic, the only one you can trust is yourself,” he growled, a raging fire burning in his eyes.

“Truer words have never been spoken,” another voice said, catching the young man by surprise, slamming back against the door. Inside the dark living room, he could make out a shape sitting on his couch.

“Who are you? What are you doing here? Answer me, or you will regret it,” he barked back. Still, his voice did sound somewhat scared.

In return, the strange figure simply raised his hand, something that let him stay silent. “Ok, first, threatening me will get you nowhere besides an early grave, so knock that off. Second, excuse me, I shouldn’t have entered like this, how uncouth of me, but that is beside the point. I’m Platinum Shadow, or how most people know me, Kamen Rider Alkahest. And you are Crimson Napalm, right?” Platinum asked in an unnerving casual tone, one still layered with power strangely enough.

“Yea... Yeah, that’s me. So, what do you want?” Napalm stuttered, staring at the murder on his couch.

“Oh, that is simple, I want to help you. Well in a way. We both have… People that stand in our way or have problems with. And it just so happens that one of these people we both can’t stand. Take a guess who it is,” he chuckled.

“Alchemy!” Napalm hissed, his expression suddenly turning to pure vitriol.

“Bingo, you’re right. Alchemy, the first Kamen Rider of the city. The goody two shoes. Oh, I know how much he screwed you over. After he beat the ever loving shit out of you, everyone lost all respect for you. You are the laughing stock of your neighborhood even if you didn’t really have any other consequences because ‘you weren’t in control thanks to the magic’ or something like that. And now you are stuck, no power, no friends, and he is still loved all over the city. It’s almost like he is mocking you,” Platinum said, his voice hitting just the right spot to let his anger boil over.

“Ok, listen up you bastard. I don’t care who or what you are, but if you continue insulting me, I swear to Tartarus that I’m gonna rip-“ Napalm burst out, storming towards the man on his couch, not even thinking about the consequences.

He was however halted in his steps when Platinum stood up from the couch and stared at him, with these cold, unforgiving eyes. “Ok, I think you are overestimating yourself here a bit. Let’s make a thing clear. I’m here to offer you the opportunity of a lifetime. Your revenge on Alchemy and you decide to bite the hand that feeds you? Really, you should know better than that, especially since I’m sure you know what I have done to people that have done way less to me than you have. So, how about this, you treat me with the respect and grace I deserve, and I won’t kill you right now?” He said, a ruthlessness shining through his voice that was chilling to the very core.

Napalm could only nod nervously. “Good. So, this is my offer. You know this?” He held up a red Magic Disk, Napalm simply nodding silently in return. “Good, that makes this easier. You know that Alchemy draws his power from them through the belt around his waist. But did you know that you could draw power from them without the Driver and end up even stronger than him?” A devious smirk crept across his face as he realized what Platinum was offering him. “Excellent.”

“What do I need to do for this beauty?” He said, glaring desperately at the round artifact.

“Oh, it’s simple. Fight Alchemy for me.” The moment he had said that Napalm reached out to grab ahold of the Disc, only for Platinum to pull it back just before he grabbed it. “Na, na, na. Not so fast. There is a catch after all. You will listen to me, no questions asked, no complaints and if you show any sign of insubordination, you will regret it. Got it?”

Napalm looked at him with a nervous look in his eyes before the desire overtook him, grabbing the Disc out of his hands. “Got it! So, when are we gonna start?” He said these with so much conviction every normal person would have taken a few steps back, Platinum however just smiled in return.

“Patience. We are still short a few others. But trust me, we will get this over with as soon as possible. Until then you should lay low for a bit,” he returned, all while pulling out his phone. Napalm nodded, but not without a displeased growl, but another glare form Platinum shut him up rather quickly. “Good, now, where was I?”

The phone rang a few time until: “Yeah?”

“Hey, Checkbook, how is it going? I’m done on my end.”

“Don’t rush me! This takes care, finesse and an unholy amount of money. I hope for you this works, you wouldn’t want to piss off the Circle. But I should be about done here, so don’t worry, we can start soon.”

“Perfect. I want this to be over as soon as possible. So, be ready. We are in the endgame now,” Platinum said, a devious smile across his lips.

Picking up the Pieces - The Fight Never Ends

Time had just flown by like never before. Every day had passed like nothing, hours felt like minutes and days like hours. Everything just felt so… detached for the lack of a better word. Day after day had been the same, looking for Alkahest and Checkbook, but until now without any results, it was once again like the had just dropped from the face of the earth as if they had never existed, to begin with. And even if they didn’t want to admit it, life went on, people none the wiser of what had happened inside the Everfree Forest a week ago, just living their lives like nothing had ever happened, the city just as peaceful-looking like it had weeks ago.

The ky was drenched in clouds, the white of them preventing the sun from even shining onto her face as she stared down at the city. Ocean let out a sad sigh as she stared down at the city beneath her. It all felt so far back, but still so fresh. And now she had to face it all again. No one had taken this lightly, but Phoenix, she and especially Emerald had taken it the worst. Even if she had talked some sense into him a while back, the whole thing still hurt, for both of them. They had lost people before, and now it had just come back to haunt them. Still, she had to be strong, especially for Emerald.

And speaking of her, a sleepy Emerald just walked through the doors of ocean’s bedroom, letting out a loud yawn.

“Well, look who finally woke up? Slept tight? Any bad dreams?” Ocean asked with a warm smile on her lips.

Her guest slowly opened here tiered eyes and after another yawn returned: “As good as you expect. Just not enough. There is never enough sleep!”

Ocean just chuckled and shook her head in amusement. “Oh, not enough? Where did I hear that before? You know, there is someone who that reminds me of. Someone who loves to slack off when he has nothing to motivate him. Or at least that is what Thunder told me about him.”

Emerald just threw her a skeptical look. “Yeah, sure, Phoenix, lazy. As if. I could never wake up so early and spend the rest of the day, driving around the city in hopes of finding something worse.”

“Oh, like I said, he has to be motivated. If he isn’t, oh boy can he be lazy, especially with things that aren’t connected to anything Rider related? Ask him to clean the apartment, and you can, believe me, he will bitch and moan the whole way through. But if it is connected to Rider stuff, he will move mountains. It’s all dependent on the motivation. I’m sure you have things you would give everything for, right?” She said, knowingly raising an eyebrow.

“I… Yeah, maybe. I kinda wanted to start working a while now, but never got the chance because… because Pinecone said, I had responsibilities at the shrine. We had a few arguments on the subject actually. I’m not entirely sure if I should follow that now, well since he is…” She didn’t need to finish her sentence, the weight of her words already enough for anyone to understand.

“You don’t need to talk about it now. Just take your time, you can stay here as long as you want. Everything will sort itself out eventually, trust me. You just need time,” she said while putting a hand on her shoulder.

“But how much? If I never actually move on and decide what I have to do now, how am I supposed to ever leave,” Emerald looked back at her, a desperate look in her eyes? “I don’t want to lay on your pocket for too long.”

“Oh, don’t worry about that, sweety. You aren’t. It’s actually nice to have a ‘roommate’ that isn’t as chaotic as Phoenix. I love him, but at times, he can be a bit of a handful. Believe me,” she said.

“Boys, am I right? They can get on your nerves?” She devilishly smiled back.

“Oh, for sure. But they have their good sides.”

“Yeah, they do,” she returned while looking off in the distance beyond the city and its sights. “Hey, ocean, can I ask you something?”

She looked over to Emerald with an interested look in her eyes. “Sure, shoot. You can ask me nearly anything.”

“What should I do? Should I go find work somewhere or should I stay at the shrine? I always wanted to strike out on my own, find my own place in this world even if my brother never was that happy about it. I want to find out what I’m good at. But at the same time, I feel like it’s my duty to take up his mantel as the guardian of the shrine. Take care of it and make sure it is still as pristine as before. I think he would want that, me finally accepting the family legacy. Both ways are calling out for me, but none of them feel one hundred percent right, and like I would betray someone. You know what I mean?” Emerald said, her voice weak and uncertain.

“Huh, so you don’t know what to do? I’m not entirely sure if I can help you with this. I always kinda knew what I wanted, well after I found what I wanted to do. At first, I didn’t really care about following a carer in law enforcement, but after my father died, yeah, it simply felt right. My sister could help you more on the subject since she dreamed about following my dad and mom, but instead of me who chose this path, she decided that she would follow another one. She is an athlete now, but I’m not sure what she would tell you. I just knew what was right for me. No one can really tell you what to do there, it’s your decision, isn’t it?” Ocean said, trying her best to sound confident.

“Yeah, I guess, but what is the right thing, and how do I know if I made the right call? Pinecone thought he made the right call and… and he paid the price for being wrong. I… I just don’t… I just don’t want to end up like him, you know?” She looked at Ocean, a desperate look in her eyes.

“Ok, listen kid. I don’t know. I just do what I think is right, and that is something impossible to describe. You just do what feels right to you. If you are wrong, you just have to learn from it, that was what Phoenix told me. No matter how often you are gonna fail, you have to accept it and try to better yourself. Why don’t you talk to him about it? I’m sure he would love to, and he is quite good at these pep talks. Wouldn’t be standing here without him,” she returned with a somber expression.

“Maybe…” She muttered back, looking at her before out in the distance. “Probably should do that. I wonder how he did it? Deciding that he was not his family's pawn? Was it just the distance, or was it his conviction?”

“Maybe a bit of both? He always was headstrong, for good or for ill. But at the same time, I’m not sure how he was back home. That is something you either have to ask him or Thunder about. But you’ll have ample opportunity for that today.” She had said the last part without even realizing what she had implied, only for herself to bite her tongue in regret. “Sorry.”

“No, no. It’s fine. Just because you don’t say anything doesn’t mean he would come back to life. Funerals aren’t all that pleasant, to begin with, so it’s hardly a big deal,” she said, her voice quite low. Ocean could swear she heard a silent shiver in it, but Emerald continued. “We should probably get dressed. Wouldn’t be good if we were late to the thing,” Emerald sighed, taking a last look at the city before turning around and heading back to the bedroom. Ocean looked after her, before shaking her head and following after her.

--------------<

The way through the woods was one of the most awkward and quiet moments in her entire life. She wanted to say something, anything, but every time she tried the words just wouldn’t fall into place. And worst of all, the roaring of the bike did not really make it easy to say anything anyways, not that it mattered.

When the house finally came into view, she could already see the rest of the guest gathered around it. The mood was low, not really a surprise, but still, seeing all her friends so somber was not something that was assured, no far from it. Their heads turned around when they heard the roaring of the bike coming closer.

Phoenix was the first one to walk to them, he wore a suit, something that looked completely strange on him. Really, it just didn’t suit him at all, even if Thunder had managed to get at least something somewhat fitting. “Hey, good to see you could make it,” he awkwardly said, trying to avoid eye contact with Emerald.

“Hey, Phoenix. You got my-“ Ocean tried to say but was interrupted by a very uncomfortable Phoenix who was shifting from foot to foot.

“Yeah, I got your message,” he said before turning back to Emerald. “If you want, we can talk after the funeral.” He continued a weak smile on his lips. “How does that sound?”

“Good,” Emerald simply returned, her voice extremely low. Phoenix just stared at her for a moment, not entirely sure of what to say.

“We should probably get going. The others are probably already waiting for us, aren’t they?” Ocean said, saving him from the uncomfortable situation. Emerald just nodded, he following them back to the others without as much as another word.

The atmosphere was tense. Everyone was just standing around, maybe silently talking to someone else, like Thunder and Summer, but that was it. It just felt wrong to see all of these usually upbeat people so down, just unnatural. Time seemed to crawl by like a snail, no one was entirely sure what to say or do, they were just standing around like toys one had forgotten on the floor until it was finally time for the ceremony to start.

Phoenix had a lump in his through for the entire time, staring at the rather rustic coffin Emerald had chosen for her brother. They had dug up a hole behind the house the day before, or better Shining and Phoenix had. The whole thing was just awkward the entire way through.

But even though the ceremony was about to start Emerald was nowhere to be seen. They had been standing around for a few minutes already, but she was just not showing up. Worry and anxiousness were spreading across everyone's face. Shining was whispering something to his girlfriend while Thunder and Summer were just giving each other, unsure looks and Light Bulb was standing in the back row, nervously shifting from foot to foot.

“Phoenix,” Ocean whispered. “Can you look after Emerald for a moment? I think she might need someone to talk to her for a moment.”

“Sure,” he returned, trying to sound as confident as he could.

“Thanks. I saw her go back into the house a while back. Maybe she is somewhere in there.”

Phoenix merely nodded and quietly left her side and slipped into the house, the door sliding shut behind him. The house was quiet, not a single sound could be heard. As he looked around, everything was just… off. He couldn’t quite put his finger on it, but nothing felt right. He wasn’t here that often, but the times he was, he had felt a completely different atmosphere. Warm, orderly, and just welcoming in a weird way, but now, it was cold, distant, and alone.

Every step he made felt like an invasion, like a foreign object somewhere where it didn’t belong, echoing from the walls. Still, he moved forward, looking through the empty kitchen and living room. Nothing. With a silent sigh, he walked towards the stairs, every step accompanied by a loud growling of the stairs that made the entire situation even more uncomfortable.

The way up was almost unbearable, like his actions were an insult to the house in and of itself. He was immensely happy when he had finally reached the upper floor. Looking around, he noticed the half-open door of a room at the end of the hallway. Every step towards it made him feel more and more uncomfortable. The creaking, when he pushed the door slowly open, made it even worse only for him to be stared at by two sad looking green eyes.

“So here you are?” He finally said after what had felt like an eternity standing in the doorframe. Emerald was sitting on the bed, an old leatherbound book tightly clutched in her hands as she looked over to him. Her eyes staring at him with directionless eyes, unsure of what to do next. After another eternity, she simply nodded, avoiding his glare.

“So, what do you got there? Seems to be an interesting read if you would ditch the funeral for it,” he continued, a weak smile on his lips.

That snapped her out of her small little world she had retreated into. “Oh by Gaian, the funeral has already started? I should be-“ She didn’t get any further before Phoenix shushed her.

“No, no. Don’t worry. That is not that important right now. What is it that bothers you?” He calmly returned, sitting down next to her on the bed.

“But, the others? What is about them?” She tried again, but he just shook his head and returned.

“Like I said, don't worry right now. They’ll understand. I know they will. Right now, you are more important than a stupid ceremony. So, what do you have a problem with? Does it have anything to do with what Ocean told me?” Phoenix said, putting his hand on her shoulder. Emerald snapped back for a moment before calming down again.

“I.. You… This is… Yes. Yes, it is. I just… I just don’t know. Don’t know what to do, what to say. If I should follow what I wanted before all of this or if I should, you know, pick up where my brother left off? I mean, who else would and this whole place would just fall apart. I’m not sure if I can do this to my brother, or if I could stomach staying here,” she sighed, staring helplessly at the book in her hands.

“You know you don’t have to decide that now, do you? Sometimes waiting for the right answer is exactly what you need to do. Sleep over it for a while. Let your feelings settle down before you make a decision you might regret in the long run.”

Emerald looked up from the book again, her desperation visible in her eyes. “But what when I never know what is right? What if I can’t decide what I want to do for ages? What if I make the decision too late and things will only get worse? Or if I make a decision and it’s the wrong one? I just don’t know what to do. Please, help me. You always know what to do. How do you do it?” She was begging him, desperately clinging to him like a terrified child.

“You think I always know what to do and don’t make mistakes? Emerald, I have made countless mistakes. Didn’t know what to do so often and have regretted so many decisions. If I were perfect, we wouldn’t be in this situation. I would have stopped Platinum and Gold way before this got out of hand. I would have saved Ivory, and your brother would still be here. But look where we are. I’m a fuck up, and I know that. I know that with the dozens of decisions I make on a daily basis, a good of them will come back to haunt me. That whatever you do, you will never succeed one hundred percent. Even in a one in a million chance, there are still points where you fuck up. But that is life. You have to accept that and be willing to learn from your mistakes,” he finished with a somber tone.

“I… I know, but how do I know I made the right decision and won’t throw my life away like my brother?” Her desperation had only increased.

“You don’t know that until you are done. And are you sure he threw his life away? Maybe in our eyes, but in his? In the end, it really only matters if you thought you lived your life well. That is one of the only things no one can ever take away from you. He believed in what he fought for, so I have no right to say he threw his life away. Sure, I don’t agree with it, but it was his choice. Do you know what he truly believed and fought for?”

“Well, obviously being the servant of Gaia,” she dismissively returned.

“And what did this mean to him. Or what does it mean to you? There has to be something more than he just did what was asked of him. He was so dead set on it.”

“Well, it’s nothing really grand. It’s protecting the people that travel through the forest and to keep the shrine in good condition. This book was pretty much a guide to do that, just very bloated and filled with useless stuff,” she sighed, looking at the book with a pained expression.

“Huh, so he was a protector if you really boil it down? So, he was just like us? I like that. But it kinda confuses me, why was he so against helping people outside the forest? Wh would your goddess be against what she preaches? I don’t get that. But that was Pinecone, very by the book, am I right?” Phoenix chuckled.

“Yeah, very by the book,” Emerald returned, looking off in the distance. “Doesn’t mean I have to.”

“Exactly. Now, how about we get back to the rest? I’m sure they are getting a bit antsy about now.”

She looked back at him before putting the book back down and returned with a weak smile. “Yeah, you are right. Can’t let them wait forever.”

“That’s the spirit!”

With that, the two finally headed back down and outside, much to the relief of the rest. While Phoenix returned to Ocean, Emerald stepped in front of the caffeine, all eyes on her.

“Good job, she seems far more comfortable,” she said to him.

“Don’t sweat it.”

“Thank you all for coming here today. You don’t know how much this means to me. Pinecone never had many friends, something that shouldn’t really surprise anyone who knew him. He was arrogant, hotheaded and very much stubborn, but that he still touched everyone here so much that they decided to spend their day mourning with me. Thank you all. He would never admit it probably, but he would be happy that you all are here today,” she started, a soft smile on her lips.

“I know many of you never saw eye to eye with him, butted heads often and just had problems with each other, especially you Phoenix. But you still stood by his side and wanted to help him even when he seemed against you.”

She stopped for a moment, trying to hold back tears before continuing. “I might not have stood behind him at all times, questioned him and called him an idiot who valued some stupid rules more than the people around him, but I still know how much he loved and cared for me all this time. I might never truly agree with what he did and why he did the things he did; I will always know that he did them out of the goodness of his hearth. He could have turned his back on this city and lived with himself because he wouldn’t have broken the rules he lived by. He could have lived in the forest and only ever fight inside it, uncaring about the outside world, but he didn’t. He even fought to protect another world with no ties to ours simply because he thought it was the right thing to do. He had that voice inside him that told him that certain things were wrong, that he had to stand up for the ones that didn’t, that it was the right thing to do. Even with all his edges and mistakes, he was a true Kamen Rider, but even more important, he was my brother and my hero.”

That was the moment she couldn’t hold them any longer, tears rolling down her cheeks, but her smile persisted, really, warm and full of life. “He is a person I look up to, but I can’t pick up things where he left off. He is he, and I am me. I will never be him, and I really don’t want to. I will learn from him, his values, and his sacrifices, but I will be my own me. I don’t know what I’ll be doing now that he is gone, but I know one thing, I will do what I think is right even if I don’t know what that is yet. And I thank you Pinecone, for always being there for me when I needed you, even if we had our differences. I will take what you have told me and lived by as an example for my own path, my own future and I will forge a way that you can be proud of. Thank you so much and goodbye brother,” she finished her tears still dripping down her faces.

At first, the clearing was silent, no one dared to even say a single word, only a few tears ran down some people cheeks, like Thunder or Light Bulb, but it didn’t take very long for the rest to react as well. At first, it was silent, almost disruptive, the sound of two hands clapping coming from the end of the group, Phoenix. Within seconds Ocean joined him, then Thunder and slowly but surely the crowd all started to clap, something that let even more tears run down Emerald face.

Time seemed to melt away, lose all meaning as the clapping continued. It was a peaceful, relieving moment that looked like it could last for an eternity. At least until the sound of a cellphone interrupted the clapping. Ocean desperately rummaged through her purse to find the devious device. It took far too long for her to finally grasp it and answer the call. “What?! I swear to everything that is holly if this isn-“ She hissed quietly into the phone only to stop midway through her rant, her expression shifting from anger into terror.

--------------<

Building after building was rushing past them as they drove past cars and bikes alike. Of all the times, something like this could have happened, this was the absolute worst. Whoever was ballsy enough to pull a stunt like this would definitely regret it, even if it was pretty obvious who dared to attack the MRG headquarters in the city if one thought about it.

Even though they were almost flying through the city, it still felt too slow, only as they heard the sirens of police cars come into range did their anxiousness finally dissipated a little. The already present police officers had hunched around the building, taking cover behind their cars and staring at the smoldering hole in the front of it. “What is going on here, officer?”

“Eight people entered the building, six in long cloaks and two which match the descriptions of Platinum Shadows and Checkbook. Two of the cloaked figures turned into Corrupted and proceded to storm the building. Since then we have nothing concrete,” the leading officer returned, occasionally glancing back at the hole in the wall.

“Thank you, we wil-“ Ocean tried to respond only to be interrupted by another voice screaming out from the remains of what formerly been the door.

“Ah, finally, you have arrived! We can at long last finish out battle that is long overdue! It’s time for the revenge of a god!” It bellowed before a monster stepped out of the hole. It kinda looked like a red samurai with golden detail and an intimidating gold skull mask for its helmet.

“Oh, please don’t be who I think it is,” Phoenix sighed while pulling out his Driver.

“I see you remember your biggest adversary after all! Rejoice for my return,” the Corrupted almost pureed.

“Would you finally shut up! You aren’t the only one who wants a shot at the damn Rider,” another voice said before a female Corrupted joined him. She was also clad in some sort of green samurai armor with what looked like a cat mask and a long flowing white scarf. The entire getup seemed oddly familiar and raised some severe suspicious.

“You don’t think they are-“ Ocean was about to say when the green Corrupted dashed forward and brought down her katana where they had just stood. Both Riders managed to dodge the attack at the last seconds and when they came back up had already put on their Drivers and activated them.

\ PHILOSOPHER STONE DETECTED! /

\ SCANNING CHARGE! /

“Henshin!”

\ HEUREKA! /

\ 100, 150, 200! OVER CHARGE! /

Both of them immediately dashed forward, Alchemy punching the Corrupted in the face while Charge circled around the other one and unloaded a burst of energy through her weapon. Both Corrupted were thrown back, but instead of complaining about the attack, both of them immediately dashed in the opposite direction and towards their partners opponent.

Alchemy was the first to react, dodging out of the way, though still being scraped by the blade of the sword. Letting out a quiet groan as the edge scratched across his armor, leaving a small scorch mark behind. Charge, on the other hand, had managed to push her rifle in between the sword and managed to push it to the side, dashing further away.

She dashed forward once again, sword pulled high to deliver a swift cut down on Alchemy.

\ Philosopher Stone Attack Mode! /

\ Magnum Opus! /

Metal meat metal, the loud ringing vibrating through the air and their arms. The green Corrupted did not waste any time, waving her hand at him. To his shock this did far more than push a bit of wind his way, the gust was so strong that it nearly ripped him off his feet if he Hadn’t slammed his spear into the ground to hold him.

“Ha, you see what happens when you stand in my way? I will always find a way to come back on top. Not you nor these damn Riders from another world can stop me!” She screeched at him, throwing another gust towards him before dashing towards him herself, the katana glowing a bright green.

\ EARTH! /

The gem on his weapon glowed, and only moments later small seals appeared under her feet that quickly grew into small earth spheres, encasing her feet in them. The Corrupted was brought rapidly to a halt, almost planting her face on the concrete underneath her was it not for her weapon.

“Time to end this. I’m not in the mode right now, so you have to live without a speech from me,” Phoenix said plainly before spinning his Disc again.

\ Philosopher Stone Maximum Power! /

The energy gathered into his fist, letting it shine in a blinding light. The Corrupted desperately tried to hack at the stone encasing her feet, but nothing made even a dent in the rock and could only watch in horror as he pulled his fist back and pushed forward. It hit her right in the gut, her armor shattering under the weight before she was consumed by the usual explosion.

While Phoenix had battled his opponent ocean had been busy with the red Corrupted that had been swinging his sword at her like a madman while waxing what he assumed was a grand speech. “Fear me! Fear the new god of this planet and eventually all of existence!”

With every word out of his nonexistent mouth, her annoyance and frustration only grow. Still, his sword was nothing to be underestimated, slicing through the concrete like nothing and leaving only molten ground behind. If she was hit, it could definitely tip the battle in his favor. She needed an opening and that opening was about to be delivered to her on a silver platter. The Corrupted had once again swung his sword with the strength of a damn truck and sliced through the wall of the building with a wave of energy. Instead of jumping to the side, she ducked under the swing and straight towards the wall. She could feel how her hands made contact before she pushed herself back off it and straight towards her opponent, with a bit of help from her engines. "Would you finally shut up!"

Like a speeding bullet, her feet rocketed back towards him. She could hear the metal around his body bend and crack as her soles dug into the flesh of the creature only for it to be flung across the street like it was nothing. Her feet hadn’t even really touched the ground before she already started to spin her Driver again.

\ Maximum Charge! /

With inhuman speed, she rushed towards her opponent, fist glowing in the bright light. She pretty much shoved it into his face and cemented it into the ground with terrifying speed before he was also consumed by the explosion.

When the dust around both their opponents had settled, they revealed two quite familiar faces. A punk Phoenix remembers just well enough to sigh, Napalm and a girl in a Crystal Prep uniform, Suri Polomare. But what caught their attention, even more, was what laid next to them magic Discs.

“What?”

“Oh, seems like you are already done. And I thought this would keep you busy for a bit longer. But it can’t be helped,” a voice Phoenix immediately knew said, stepping out of the remains of the entrance, Platinum Shadow. Around his waist was his Driver and in his hand… A Philosopher Stone. With unerring casualness, the Disc was placed into the Driver and spun.

\ DETECTING PHILOSOPHER STONE! /

"Henshin!"

\ DISSOLVE! /

The Dark Rider was covered in a black whirlwind that shattered the remaining glass around them, the police cars and even the other side of the street. Before them stood a figure clad in black armor, mirroring Alchemy’s. The gold of his armor had been replaced with white, and two red eyes glared back at them. Two axes had disappeared in his hands, each decorated with three gems of differing colors.

It was as if the air had suddenly turned into ice, no one dared to move or speak a word. That short peace was however quickly interrupted by Alkahest dashing forward towards Alchemy and bringing down one of his axes. Phoenix immediately pushed his arms in a shielding position above himself, blocking the swing right under his arm. Still, the strength that with what Alkahest pushed down the bladed weapon was immense, slowly pushing him further and further towards the ground.

If he wasted any more time, he would be crushed under his strength, but there was still a way. With a sly grin behind his helmet, he manifested two seals on the arms of Alkahest, barely visible from his point of view. Then came the flick… and then nothing. Just nothing, no thunder, no lightning no agonizing scream from Platinum, just nothing.

But before that could sink in a bright light rocketed towards them, one of Ocean’s blasts from her weapon. The Dark Rider simply turned his head around and stared directly in its direction. Without any urgency, he simply dropped the weapon in his other hand, the black obsidian ax falling down to the ground and the bright light had simply vanished.

The silent shock that echoed through the air was quickly covered by the crashing sound of armor against armor as Alkahest kicked Alchemy into the chest, having used the opportunity to his advantage. Phoenix felt the immense power that had slammed against his chest and the following flight he was sent on. It was like he had been the target of a battering ram, a battering ram strapped to a truck. His flight was only stopped by one of the cop cars around them, and even then he could feel and see the vehicle being yanked off the ground and landing several meters behind where it had stood before, right behind him. Every bone in his body was aking as he tried to crawl back onto his feet, a task that grew more and more agonizing the further he got.

What Phoenix had not seen was what had happened after he had been caught by the attack. Alkahest had grabbed ahold of his weapon that he had dropped once again and dash towards Ocean. She in return pretty much pushed the trigger of her gun once again in a mixture of fear and shock even if she knew this probably wouldn’t work if it hadn’t the first time. Still, this was the only thing that had sprung into her mind at that moment, and it definitely beats doing absolutely nothing.

Alkahest had already passed a quarter of the way when she had pulled the trigger and showed no sign of slowing down, no he even grew faster, throwing his other ax at her, or to be more precise directly towards the beam of magic that was heading his way. Then it happened again, the bright glow of her magic just vanished, and the only thing staring at her was Alkahest with an outstretched hand and an ax that was heading her way.

With no time left to react, she could do nothing else than to try shielding herself from the attack, something that ultimately proved rather fruitless, the ax slicing through her arms and armor she had instinctively pushed in front of her, leaving behind a small cut at the side of them and impaling itself in her shoulder. What she, however, had not expected was the fact that another, similar pain erupted in her other shoulder. As she looked closer, she could see another ax sticking out of it, just like on her other shoulder.

Through her screams of agony and pain, she did not realize that Alkahest had jumped towards her, feet first. Only as the boots of his armor pushed against her own did she notice what was transpiring. Before she was about to be pushed back, the Dark Rider grabbed ahold of his weapons and ripped them from her flesh, blood dripping through the outer shell of the armor, and she was sent crashing into a nearby building. Her armor was still holding firm, but it was about to give in, sparks erupting from her wounds and all energy used by the self-repair and healing factors of the system.

Phoenix had only been able to see the last portion of Alkahest’s assault, but he was furious. All the pain and agony he had felt was simply washed away by anger and rage. With a loud roar, he pushed himself off the ground and ran towards Alkahest who simply turned around and within a split second had dashed over to him, slicing across his chest with one of his weapons, sparks flying everywhere before repeating the process once again with his other weapon. Phoenix was about to fall to his knees when he was once again kicked into the stomach and sent into the next building.

Alkahest was about to walk towards him when another voice shouted out to him. “We have what we were looking for!” Checkbook and with him, four other people clad in cloaks.

Alkahest turned back and simply said: “Good, about time, really. We don’t have much time to waste.” With that, he simply turned on his heels and walked towards his alleys, one of which pulled out a purple Magic Disc and held it out in front of them. Within seconds a portal opened, swallowing all of them within seconds and only leaving the two defeated Corrupted and them behind on the demolished street.

The Vault - Into the Depths

Letting out a pained yelp Phoenix almost jumped up from the chair he was currently sitting on, much to the annoyance of the nurse who was struggling to get the bandages on him, something Phoenix seemed determined to prevent.

“For the love of… Would you hold still already? This is like bathing a cat, you know that? And I thought superheroes were supposed to be though and not such big crybaby’s,” she hissed, wrapping the bandage extra tight, much to Phoenix displeasure.

“Yeah, Phoenix is by far not the first time you have been injured. One would assume you would get used to it after a while,” Shining added, shaking his head from the side of the room.

“Oh, how about you let yourself get beat up on a weekly basis? I’m sure you would love- Ouch!” He snapped back before another tug from the nurse shut him up again. “You know, only because I wear armor doesn’t mean this doesn’t hurt. I don’t even wanna know what would have happened without the armor,” he added, his voice shuddering a bit.

“Probably would have been dead, no, let me scratch that, definitely dead,” the officer returned snakily.

“You really are wonderful in cheering someone up, you know that,” he said through his gritted teeth. “I really got the best friends one could ever imagine.”

“Oh, don’t be like that. You are fine, or you wouldn’t be joking like that. Just trying to keep you distracted really. If you wouldn’t be acting this way, that is when I would be worried. But right now, you are golden. No sleep deprivation, no being beaten into unconsciousness and no stupid plans, at least right now. You should be fine. You are fine, right?”

Phoenix just rolled his eyes and returned: “Yeah, guess I’m fine. Right now I’m far more worried about Ocean. These axes seemed to dig in quite deep… You know anything? I just can’t stop thinking about it?” This time Phoenix looked over to his friend he looked far more worried and unsure.

“She should be fine. At least that was what Light Bulb told me, something about healing factor of the armor and life support systems. I didn’t really get everything, just that she thinks she will be fine and the fact that we haven't heard anything else seems to be a good sign, at least I hope it is. But if you want to hear my opinion, she survived going out with you she will survive this,” he chuckled, not completely masking his worries.

“You know you are the worst, do you? And if I’m so bad, I wonder how much your girlfriend can stand. Maybe she is even tougher than Ocean?” A weak chuckle escaped his lips before the nurse tugged one last time on his bandages, accompanied by another yelp from Phoenix.

“There, that should be everything. Nothing more than a few cuts and bruises. A few days of rest and everything should be fine,” she said, Phoenix just nodding absentmindedly.

“Yeah, yeah, I have my own ways of getting back into shape. Shouldn’t be a problem,” he returned, not even looking at her properly and jumping from the stretcher, much to the annoyance of the nurse. “I’ll just turn into Alchemy, and everything should be fine.”

Letting out an exasperated sigh, the nurse shook her head again and walked out of the room, leaving Phoenix and Shining behind in the infirmary. “Well, I think I did kind of upset her.”

“You think?” Shining returned with a raised eyebrow.

“Yeah, but to be fair, she doesn’t really know how this works beyond hearing about it, right?”

“Don’t ask me, I don’t work here and don’t know what she knows,” he just shrugged.

“Yeah, figured. So, what are we gonna do now? Wait for Ocean or should we do something on our own? Anything?” He looked over to his friend with a rather clueless expression.

“You think that would be a good idea? She is the one that holds most of the information, we could ask Light Bulb if she knows anything, but I’m not entirely sure what to do really. I’m just a lowly police officer and, not to sound insulting, well, you are you. I’m not entirely sure if you can handle all of this on your own,” he sheepishly returned. “ I would say we should just stay put.”

“I know what you mean, but I can’t just sit here and do nothing, that is just not how I roll. No matter how insignificant, I want to do something, anything. Even if it is just driving through the city and looking for our friends out there,” he sighed back, slamming his fist on the stretcher he was sitting on, letting out a silent hiss.

“But what would that even achieve. I get what you mean, I hate sitting around just as much, and I don’t have any fancy superpowers or armors. I feel that urge to help every time you two fight, but I can’t do anything besides sit around the battlefield and help civilians. I wish I could do more, but at times there are just other people that can do the job better than you, and no amount of unique things about you is gonna change that, not even being a Rider. Some tasks are just better suited for someone else, it’s the hard truth sadly,” Shining said, a frustrated undertone in every word he spoke.

Phoenix looked back at the officer, who was clenching his fist right now and simply said. “I know, but that doesn’t mean I’ll just stay put. Because one thing Ocean told me was that I have to be my own man. I haven’t fought this long only following orders, I make my own decisions. Often that decision is to listen to her, but if she can’t I can’t just expect someone else to take over, I have to be able to fight on my own. I might not be the best or have the most efficient plan, but I have to do something. Because if I let others decide my every move, I will never be someone who can stand on my own. A strong team is important and helps you to achieve things you alone never could, but there are times you have to act on your own because too much stands on the line.”

Shining just stared at him for a moment before opening his mouth to respond only to be interrupted by a familiar booming voice: “Ha! I knew the kid has it in him! You really found a good partner there!” The voice was loud, powerful, and surprisingly in an extremely good mood only strengthened by the loud laughter after his sentence.

“You heard that?” Phoenix asked, a confused expression on his face.

Shining looked just as dumbfounded as Phoenix and was just about to voice this confusion as the doorknob started to ratel, and within moments the entire door was pushed open. What stood before them was indeed a sight to behold, one that would surely stay in their memories for a while. Next to Ocean who was wearing a tank top, the bandages clearly visible under it stood Light Bulb, wearing her usual labcoat and strangely enough with the widest grin they had ever seen her with. But the really baffling part was the third ‘person’, Onyx. But instead of the mountain of a man, there was just a monitor, mounted on top of what seemed to be a broomstick that was vigorously tapped and bolted on top of a Roomba.

“I have so many questions,” was all he could say, staring in disbelief at the contraption that had just rolled in front of him.

“You like it? I call him Mr. Cally! Isn’t he cute?” Light Bulb chirped in, grinning at them like a madwoman, something he wasn’t sure wasn’t the truth after all.

“I… I… I have even more now…” He stammered, his eyes jumping back and forth between Mr. Cally and Light Bulb. “Why? Just why?”

“Well, it was just the logical conclusion really. You would have done the same thing in my situation,” she returned in a surprisingly chipper tone.

“Logical? That? How in the name of everything that is holy is that the logical conclusion? I mean, really? Why stick a pole and a monitored on a Roomba? How? I just want to know.” He once again said, even more exasperated.

Light Bulb just frowned at him. “Hey, you figure out a way to carry around a monitor like this on short notice. I think I did well. Don’t you agree, sir?” She huffed and looked expectingly over to Onyx who had enjoyed the strange performance that was transpiring in front of him. He laughed so loud that Phoenix was worried that ‘Mr. Cally’, or whatever Light Bulb had called the thing, would fall over.

“I have to applaud her for her ingenuity. Without her effort, this would have never worked like this. And in all honesty, it does put a smile on my face,” he returned in his usual chipper tone.

“Gee, couldn’t have guessed,” he returned with a sigh.

“Well, I told you now, so don’t you don’t have to be left in the dark,” he once again returned with a loud chuckle.

Phoenix just shook his head and returned with an exasperated sigh: “Sure, whatever. What is the reason for… this.” He pointed at the small group, just as confused, if not more so than when they had first entered the room.

“Well-“ Onyx was about to say when Ocean interrupted them.

“Finally a good question,” she returned with an annoyed undertone that let Phoenix and Onyx fall silent immediately. “so, care to explain why Light Bulb here needed to cobble together this, sir?” She continued with a knowing undertone.

“Didn’t I say… Eh, forget it,” he grumbled, knowing fully well what she was playing. “Yeah, I guess we should get to the point, shouldn’t we?” Onyx continued with a far lighter tone. Still, there was a serious undertone to it.

“Yes, yes we should,” Ocean said in a mixture of satisfaction and annoyance. “You know why Alkahest and his entourage attacked the MRG building?”

“Uhm, no, not really. But really, at this point there could be a bunch of reasons so often the thing gets attacked after al-“ he returned only to be interrupted by Ocean’s glare, one that told him in no uncertain terms that she had no patience for any stupid jokes right now. “on second thought, do tell me what it was,” he awkwardly chuckled back.

“Thank you,” she calmly replied, smiling back at him. “Alkahest knew precisely what he wanted and ignored everything else, probably thanks to Checkbook. They ignored everything else and went straight for my office, or in other words, the office that has access to a good amount of MRG files. Be it information about current missions in the area, the records of everyone here that works with us and a databank for every artifact we have ever contained, or at least every single one that isn’t kept secret. You know what that means, right?” Ocean was nervous that he could tell. She was near panic if he was honest with himself.

“Nothing good. Nothing good at all,” he simply whispered.

“Oh, it’s far worse. They somehow managed to gain access to our database and look through every item we ever collected. Every single one of them, what they do, and where we keep them! This is the worst thing you could imagine. There are some harmless ones, sure, but then there are the ones that can cause serious harm, especially if used to create a Corrupted. He could build up an army and crush us with numerical superiority. Or worst case scenario he could take one of the world ending artifacts, and goodness knows what he would do with them,” she finished with what was almost a whisper.

Most of the color had drained from Phoenix’s face. The thought alone what Platinum could do with all that power was frightening. “Fuck. Any idea what he is after or where he wants to go? If he is really out to build himself an army, he needs to attack one of these warehouses or is he looking for something specific. There has to be something.” Sweat was already starting to drip down his face, and an unnerving feeling was crawling down his spine with every word he said.

“Thankfully, there is. They looked through our files and stopped at a specific artifact, R155. It’s nothing special really and has been in possession of the MRG for a few decades, so I have no idea why they would stop looking for anything else after it, but one thing is for sure it can’t be anything good.”

He looked back at her and asked: “But what does it do? It has to do something, right? Otherwise, you wouldn’t have taken it, right?”

“Yeah, it does something, but nothing that really would help him, or at least that is my opinion. It makes things disappear, and that is about it. We send drones and recording devices into it, but never got any of them back. And the field of effect is so minuscule that anything bigger than a book won’t fit through it. I have no idea what he is trying to do with it,” Light Bulb interrupted them. “I once experimented on it, swallowed everything I gave it and never got anything in return. It’s almost like a baby, just not cute. The idea once was to use it to get rid of our waste that humanity produces but with it small radius that never got of the ground, not forgetting that we don’t know where exactly everything goes. And before we start a war by dumping our waste on an alien planet, we decided to can the research until we figure out a way to deal with these problems.”

“Starting war with an alien civilization? Isn’t that a bit far, fetched?” Phoenix chuckled weakly.

“Says the magical Kamen Rider who fights monsters,” she snarkily replied, a smug grin on her lips.

“Point taken. We live in a weird, weird world. Aliens wouldn’t be too much out there really,” he returned, shaking his head in quiet amusement before his expression darkened once again. “So, we know where he is, then?”

“Depends. If he is indeed after R155, we know where he went, Warehouse 13 in Southe Marekota. Far away from any form of civilized life. One of the safest places on the planet, but I think it won’t bare the frontal assault of a Rider and his army of monsters. So, even though we have the chance of being wrong, we can’t ignore this. You two will go there immediately. Let’s hope we aren’t too late or else…” Onyx finished in an unusual stern voice.

“Got it,” Phoenix nodded before glancing over to Ocean. “Are you sure you can-“

“Yes! I’m one hundred percent sure. He won’t take me off guard again,” she returned with a grim expression on her face.

“Well then, after this is clear, time to move out for you two. I’m sure you’ll pull it off,” Onyx said, a weak smirk on his lips.

Before they left the room, Ocean whispered something to Light Bulb: “Prepare everything we have, even your small little projects.” The scientist nodded and watched the two of them more or less storm out of the room.

--------------<

This was the first time Phoenix had really seen the true reach and power of the MRG. Not even ten minutes later, they were already on their way towards Warehouse 13 and all its deadly artifacts. But no, not on their bikes or any vehicle, no that would have been to slow and wouldn’t have let the MRG flex their muscles. No, they were on a plane, a fucking plane. And not just any fucking plane, it was one that didn’t even need a runway, oh no, this one just shot into the air. And it kind of looked like a brick with wings that had a large hatch on the back. How they had managed to land that thing on the top of the MRG so fast was beyond him, but it was definitely a feat. What impressed him even more though was that they had managed to get their bikes into the small plane and all that in record time.

Seeing the city behind them get smaller and smaller was somewhat frightening, especially how fast everything was happening. One minute and the city was already only a tiny speck on the horizon. Sure, he had flown a bit in his armor, but never something like this. This was an entirely different beast. He felt like he was traveling inside a bullet, a bullet that had just been shot at something.

“Relax, nothing is gonna happen to you. It’s just a small little flight. You are a Rider, you could definitely save us all,” Ocean said calmly, having gabled ahold of his hand and was gently holding onto it. “So, don’t worry.”

Phoenix looked over to Ocean, her relaxed expression was precisely what he needed right now, and with every second, he felt her hand around his and her face in front of him his anxiety shrank and shrank. “Yeah, yeah, you’re right. Why did I have to worry, anyway? Isn’t really hero worthy, am I right?” He awkwardly laughed.

“Oh, Phoenix, there is nothing wrong with being afraid of flying. You would be surprised at how many are. But you are still here, so really, I think that is even more heroic than never being afraid. That is what I like about you, you know your weaknesses, your shortcomings, and failure, but you don’t give up. You keep pressing on and fighting. That is what I love about you. A true hero, at least in my book, and that is really all that matters to me,” she said before leaning in for a kiss. Her soft lips were the last bit of calming influence he needed to suppress the urge to force the pilot to land right now.

“Thanks,” was all he could say in return.

“Don't sweat it.”

For a moment, everything seemed perfect, the situation they had found themselves in was forgotten, and the world was not in any danger at all, just them with no worries what so ever. But like everything beautiful in the world, even that moment had to end, the thoughts flooding back into his head and one in particular.

The moment everything flooded back, he sighed and pulled his hand back from hers, much to her surprise and displeasure. “Phoenix?”

“Hey, ahm, I hadn’t had the chance yet, but are you ok?” He returned awkwardly, worry in his eyes.

“Wha… What do you mean? I’m afraid of flying, so don’t worry about it,” she returned, taken aback by his sudden question, though there was a hint of nervousness in her voice.

“Not that and you know that I didn’t mean that. How do you feel? And no excuses, you know exactly what I’m talking about,” he continued, finding more and more confidence with every word he spoke.

“You… I… I’m fine. If this is about the fight before, I’m ok,” she returned defensively.

“He ramed two axes into your shoulders, the least I could do was ask,” Phoenix simply said. “If you are fine, that is good, but I’m still sore from before, so I just wanted to check up on you, not that I would push you too far.”

She angrily looked at him for a moment before she just sighed, and her expression mellowed out. “Thanks. But I’m fine. I used one of the Chargers to get back into fighting form. A bit sore still, but shouldn’t be a problem. We don’t have time for stuff like relaxing anyway. Platinum is planning something I can tell that it won’t be anything good, so excuse me for being a bit reckless, not like we have any other options.”

“Says the one that laid into me for skipping sleep and abusing my Magic Discs,” he returned with a raised eyebrow.

“That was different! You just caused more problems than solve them and put your psyche at risk. I’m just going into battle a bit sore, that is all. Nothing comparable to what you pulled. And as if you wouldn’t do the same thing? I know you, and you can be far more stubborn than me! Or do I need to remind you of the time you went after Cerberus after you were already beaten into the hospital?” She said, getting a bit louder.

“Hey, that time saved your life! So no complains, ok!”

“And there we have it, why can’t this be the same case? We could save so many lives, especially if Platinum has something big planned. I’m not sitting around in a damn hospital bed and let you deal with all of this alone. What good of a Kamen Rider, would I be if I did that?”

Phoenix just shook his head before a chuckle escaped his lips: “And that is why I love you. Stubborn as Tartarus, but damn if you aren’t right. Fine. So we are doing this together. Till the end, then!”

“Till the end,” she nodded in return. “But you should relax a bit, we need you when we jump out.”

Phoenix laughed only for Ocean to not join him and just look back in confusion. “Uhm, why aren’t you laughing? Jumping out is a funny way to say walk out of this thing. Why aren’t you saying anything and just grinning at me? Oh… Oh, no…”

--------------<

“Just for the record, I think this is an absolutely terrible idea!” He screamed over at Ocean, both having suited up and were sitting on their bikes pointed directly at the hatch of the plane.

“Noted!” She simply returned before signaling one of the other agents on the plane something. Seconds later, the hatch at the end of the machine opened slowly, wind storming into the cargo bay, much to Phoenix dismay.

“Do we really need t-“ that was as far as he got when Ocean pulled back the gas on her bike, pretty much rocketing out of the cargo bay. “I hate you all!”

Following Ocean’s example, he also let the roar of his bike echo through the cargo bay, even if it was somewhat drowned out by the wind blowing over everything. He could see his life flash by him as he saw the walls of the plane disappearing, stranding him above the clouds. Within moments everything was overtaken by pure white, the clouds obstructing every bit of sight he had left. And still, in the blink of an eye, they were gonna, above him hovering in the air like nothing had ever happened. It would have been amazing, the wind rushing past him, the gorgeous view across the empty desert and the night sky that stretched across the horizon, well if it weren’t for the fact that he was rocketing towards his doom.

“Phoenix! Would you stop being scared for one second and save us!” Did it scream into his ear, something that did indeed knock him out of this little stupor. With death coming ever and ever closer it was increasingly hard to remember what precisely the plan was, but with Ocean’s… calm voice shouting… encouragements his way, this did get easier.

Against all better judgment, he pulled his hand from the gas and instead pointed it towards Ocean, or at least where she was under him. With what felt like someone yanking him up, the bikes slowed down significantly. Still, they were far to fast, and the ground was coming closer and closer and with it something that looked like a field of lights, it had to be the Warehouse, it just had to be. But what was concerning was the fact that small lights ran around what looked like a runway and the small sporadically placed spots of light.

But all this was just secondary for Phoenix as he concentrated harder and harder, the magic surging through him was starting to really strain him, his muscles were tightening and slowly pain was spreading all through his body, but they were getting slower and slower. Just a little bit more, only a tiny while longer and they would-

With a loud crash both bikes landed on the ground, the machines shaking like it was an open threat to them that they would break and getting back control of them after they had landed was indeed quite hard it still went all relatively smoothly all things considered. Still, Phoenix did need a little moment to catch his breath.

That was, however, when they could truly take in their surroundings. What they saw before them was absolute pandemonium, fire everywhere, burning vehicles, smashed supply boxes, and even the remains of an aircraft were littered across the runway. The asphalt had been partially ripped from the ground and thrown at buildings that stood around the track and small spires littered the large open area. And then there was the large hole inside the most prominent building. This was a battlefield! Soldiers were trying valiantly to fight against something, firing at someone ahead, but right now it just looked as if they were shooting at random. A single tank was still standing and unloading his rath onto its victim. Well, it had until a large boulder smashed into the war machine, rushing the front of the tank and sending him flying back.

Whatever they had gotten themselves into one thing was clear, Platinum was already here. Let’s hope they could still stop him from whatever his plan was. But to do that they had to bring the situation on the runway under control, something that was far easier said than done. Whoever was causing this chaos, he would definitely be a handful.

And right on cue that someone made itself know to them, in the form of a massive rock barreling their way. While still taxed from this little maneuver, evading the thing proved to be simple enough, the heavy projectile landing a bit behind them and tearing through concrete like butter.

That was when they first saw their opponent. Before them stood a man clad in orange armor that looked like it had been worn for at least a decade. Scratches and marks were left on the otherworldy metal. The armor let him look like he was a mountain of muscle-clad in metal. His helmet was formed in the shape of the skull of a bull with two massive horns. Two glowing golden eyes looked from where the eye sockets should be and in its arms were two large stone hammers.

“You! You two ruined my life! Now it’s time to pay the price for that! Slowly and painfully!” The Corrupted bellowed towards them before smashing his foot on the ground. Out of nowhere two spikes crashed through the concrete followed by multiple similar ones, all appearing in front of the last one and were heading directly their way.

In a split-second decision, both Alchemy and Charge steered their bikes away from the wave of spikes that was heading their way, or at least that had been the plan, but instead of just circling around them the peaks followed. They had only barely passed them and already felled themselves save when the shock hit them. One look in their mirrors and they saw it, the spikes had changed direction and were close on their tale and worst of all, quickly catching up to them.

The oud roaring of their engines almost drowned out the chaos around them, almost. Still, they had to stop this as fast as possible and especially now with these things on their tale. The last few meters were gut-wrenching, the spikes were almost on them, threatening to tear into their bikes until…

A loud groan could be heard from the Corrupted as he flew through the air, a significant dent in his stomach as both Alchemy and Charge had passed him and delivered a devastating double kick to the gut. The armor rattled and dented even more as he rolled around the ground. The two Riders meanwhile had stopped their bikes and dismounted them, standing in front of the Corrupted.

“I’m really not remembering you, all that armor really does not help with that,” Alchemy said, sounding somewhat out of breath. “Wanna help with that?”

“You! How dare you forget me! You ruined my life! And all of that because of a damn pizzeria! Of a damn shop that no one cared for!” He growled, grabbing his hammers tightly and slamming them on the ground, forming a wall in front of him.

“Oh, it’s you! I still have a few punches right for you! Whoever hurts my friends, destroy their stuff or even kidnaps them is gonna have a problem with me!” Phoenix hissed, the exhaustion in his voice having disappeared seemingly in an instant.

Just as he was about to dash forward two large pieces of the wall broke off it and rocketed directly towards them. Instead of avoiding them, however, they did instead just jump straight towards them. The entire battlefield around them was quickly covered in dust after both of them had shattered the boulder into thousands of pieces, leaving the Corrupted for all intents and purposes blind.

The Corrupted stumbled around, his hammers at the ready if anything would jump his eyes. Then he heard it, the sound of a footstep and just a moment later one of the two Riders jumped out towards him. Out of pure instinct, he brought the hammer down on the Rider. The loud sound of the weapon crashing against the armor echoed through the entire battlefield.

But instead of the agonizing screams, he had expected the Rider just stood there, her arms crossed over her head perfectly catching his hammer all while an orange glow emitted from the orb on her chest.

\ Philosopher Stone Maximum Power! /

It echoed from behind him. In utter shock, he turned around, completely ignoring Charge behind him. As he turned around, he could see the glowing foot of Alchemy heading his way. About to dash out of the way he suddenly felt something from behind, the other Rider! She had wrapped her arms around him and was holding them closed behind his neck, completely immobilizing him. That was when it dawned on him, that was it!

And just moments later Alchemy’s finisher connected, drilling through the armor and letting him exploded in a fiery ball.

As the dust had finally settled he was simply hanging in Ocean’s arms, an Earth Magic Disc falling to the ground beside him. The female Rider let him sink to the floor before nodding to Phoenix and dashed back to their bikes and by extension into the depths of the Warehouse.

The Vault - The Depths of Depravity

Their machines roared over the crackling oft he flames, the wind that was rushing past them and the screams that bellowed over the runway were unnerving, even though they had taken care of things over the earth. Still, the worried agents that they drove by were a sign that things were only just beginning, even if the fight would have already ended. They would still be here, dealing with the aftermath. Whatever they would do scraps would remain, their job was it to minimize these scars.

The feeling of dread only grew larger and larger the further they went, passing debris after debris until it loomed over them, like a maw to the depths of Tartarus. A hole in the large hangar at the end of the runway. It stared at them with its cold darkness, daring them, taunting them that deep inside loomed death and destruction. The remains of what had formerly been the gate to the hangar was unnerving as they passed by, almost like they were swallowed whole by a giant monster.

Inside they could see the destruction the Dark Rider and his compatriots had brought. Walls had partially collapsed, most likely because someone had thrown something at them. The lights were all destroyed, glass shards littered the ground, and a constant humming filled the air, making the whole situation even worse. Quite a few bodies were lying scattered across the ground, the ones that hadn’t escaped fast enough to escape the wrath of these monsters. And crates that were scheduled for transport laid shattered and broken everywhere, some artifacts falling out of them.

A fence, or more a small wall that had been erected in the middle of the hall and designed to separate the entrance from the loading-bays, large rooms equipped with several shelves and one large elevator. Six of the seven were pretty much intact, besides the last one. Its gate had been ripped open, shelves threw to the wayside, and the elevator was closed. No doubt they had come through here. Especially since some bodies still littered the ground beneath them.

The entire area was illuminated by one faulty light on one wall while the rest of them had been shattered and now decorated the ground in the form of shards. The constant flickering lit the room in an ominous aura, unnerving even to the two Riders in their respective armor like something was ready to crawl inside their suits and devoured them from the inside.

Both of them shut off their engines, the constant rattling that echoed back from the walls falling silent in an instant, leaving them only with the buzzing of the light. The elevator that led deeper into the facility stood before them, or at least the large steel gates that had been building into the ground that led into the earth. They had presumably been shut close after Alkahest and his Corrupted had attacked and managed to get into the base, probably by them to stop anyone from following them.

After Phoenix and Ocean had dismounted their bikes, they slowly walked towards what looked to be a control terminal. It was in a sorry state, remains of the lights had fallen on it, together with the denser parts of them, leaving dents and scratches behind. But that wasn’t even all, several parts of the terminal had been hit by what looked like lightning, scorched and sparking. However, it seemed to be still in working order, even if the question was for how long.

Ocean quickly jogged towards the terminal, taking in the damage and after a silent sigh pushed a button on her Driver. To Phoenix surprise, a small hatch opened up on her forearm, revealing several mechanical parts as well as a small monitor with a keyboard. Before he could even ask what this was for she had already pulled out a short cable that she plugged into a small slot at the terminal. Within seconds both her arm monitor and the terminal sprung to life.

“Please identify yourself or security will be informed! Ten seconds remaining!” The terminal blurted out in an unnerving mechanical voice.

“Agent Ocean Skies, Security Level 3, Operator of the Charge System, CH4R6-KR,” she simply returned, the devices beeping happily before a new sound interrupted the work of them.

“Acces granted! Preparing for- ERROR! ERROR! Unable to comply! ERROR ERROR!” The mechanical voice screamed at them, much to Ocean’s annoyance.

“Figures, what was I expecting anyway?” She huffed before shouting over to Phoenix: “Hey, I need your help here for a moment. We need to break into a secure government facility with high tech technology as well as several highly dangerous criminals. So get to work and grab one piece of the hatch and start pulling.”

He looked at her for a moment before he shook his head and simply returned: “Ok, whatever you say. As long as it doesn’t bite me in the ass later. I really don’t want ‘destroying a government facility’ on my record. That would be really annoying.”

“As if you would need to look for work anyway ever again,” she chuckled. “Now, quit joking and help me here for a moment,” she added with a much more severe tone. As she spoke, she bent down and grabbed one of the parts of the hatch.

“Yeah…” Phoenix simply replied, following what ocean had already done.

Now that both he and Ocean were ready they started to pull, the metal in their fingers slowly beginning to groan and bend, slowly and steadily as the sound echoed through the hall, like the roaring of a metallic beast. Their muscles tightened with every passing second, both putting everything they had into the attempt to bend the half meter thick steal. With every passing second, the metal was more and more bent out of shape until after a good thirty seconds the metal had finally opened up enough for them to jump down into the dimly light shaft below. They couldn’t even see the ground, only the darkness that swallowed everything that dared to enter.

“Well, there it is. Are you ready?” Phoenix was the first to ask, looking over to Ocean.

“Yeah. Time to end this once and for all! If we don’t stop him now, who knows what…” She was about to say before she stopped herself, looking back down into the darkness.

“Yeah,” was all he could return, the usual relaxed tone in his voice completely vanished. “But who else if not us, right?” He added with a weak chuckle.

“Yeah, who else than us?” She returned before taking one last breath and jumping down the hole and disappearing in the shadows, quickly followed by Phoenix.

Everything just rushed past him, lamps and steel bars. All just melted into one dark tunnel interrupted by the dim light of the lamps. It was in a weird way calming, beautiful even, like the silence before a loud thunder. But even these small moments of peace, or perhaps most definitely these small moments of peace had to end. The light at the end of the tunnel grew bright and brighter.

Just as they were about to smash into the ground below them, their fall was slowed down, once again Phoenix used his powers to prepare them for a comfortable landing. And indeed, instead of crashing full force onto the elevator below them, they simply landed on the large steel plate like feathers.

The sight was similar to how it had looked on top but far, far worse. Crates had been shattered and thrown around the large hall, magical Artifacts falling out of them like unwanted candy. Several shelves were thrown over, scattering their content all over the floor. Turrets that had previously been mounted atop the ceiling were either mangled beyond recognition or simply ripped from their spots. Several of the hallways leading deeper into the facility had collapsed or sealed shut by bending the massive steel doors horribly out of shape. The large overseer position at the top of the opposite end of the hall was utterly ruined, windows shattered and entirely out of operation. But worst of all were all the guards scattered around the place, ranging from some minor wounds, so they were only rolling around the ground in agony to people with missing limbs that screamed bloody murder, guards that had been beaten into unconsciousness and the dead. They all were scattered around the place like they had been thrown around by the wind and had landed where it had brought them.

And in the midst of all of this was he… The one responsible. Platinum Shadow, Kamen Rider Alkahest.

He was sitting on one of the boxes he had thrown around the place, clad in his armor and seemingly without a care in the world. One of his axes twirling around in his and while the other one had been embedded into the crate, he was sitting on.

“You!” Phoenix hissed over to him, the Dark Rider looking over to them with his glowing red eyes, stopping to play around with his ax.

“Well, There you two are. Isn’t really a surprise that you managed to figure out that I would be here. You two aren’t stupid, at least on that angel. That you look for me again after I kicked your ass? That might point to the opposite, but really, I don’t really care. I just know that you should have just let me do and all of this would be so much easier for all of us,” he nonchalantly returned.

“Let you be? And let your murderous rampage continue? Are you insane? We can’t let a maniac like you run free! Especially not after all you have done!” Phoenix shouted back, clenching his fist while he did so. “Just look around you, all these people you have injured, maimed, or killed? What about them? How could we let you ever run free? Tell me?”

“I gave them the same choice you had, leave me alone and live on unharmed, or suffer the consequences. I don’t find any pleasure in hurting these people, why should I? They are an obstacle in my way, and if they chose to stand in my way, so I had to do it. And I offer you once again the same choice, leave me be and end this without a fight or be stubborn and face me and be prepared for the consequences. This isn’t your fight, what should you care about it?” He said.

Not even a second after Alkahest had said that Phoenix had dashed towards the Dark Rider, ready to punch him right in the jaw. To his frustration, his opponent had anticipated that, dodging the swing of the Rider, all while still sitting down. Before Alchemy could react, he pushed himself off the ground, and out of his sitting position backward. He even had kept ahold of his weapon, the crate being pulled back with him and slamming into Alchemy’s chest.

But instead of sending the Rider flying it just ended up shattering on his leg and arm he had pulled up to block the incoming attack. Alkahest chuckled once and was about to dash forward once again when he saw something out of the corner of his eyes, something bright.

Out of sheer instinct, he pulled down his head instead of rushing back at Alchemy and indeed, that was a quite smart idea he realized as several bright glowing projectiles flew over his head.

Just like expected, Charge had summoned her rifle and unloaded a salve on him, but missed every shot entirely. Still, if stayed around like an idiot, she would hit him eventually, so he had to act fast. And he wasn’t the only one that had reacted to the sudden interruption.

\ Philosopher Stone Attack Mode! /

\ Magnum Opus! /

It bellowed through the hall as the Rider dashed towards him, his weapon in hand, all while Charge was still firing her gun at him. These two were starting to really get on his nerves. Before he could even pull up his hand and point it at Charge, Alchemy had already reached him and thrust forward his lance towards him. A loud clinging could be heard as Alchemy’s weapon slammed against the broadsides of his axes. He could feel the power the Rider had put into the attack, Alkahest’s muscles were tensioning, and he had to actually put effort into his defense not to be overwhelmed. The pressure was finally lifted after what had felt like an eternity, but in reality, only were three seconds as the Rider pulled back to strick once again. And while this was happening Charge had shoot once again at him, the projectiles rocketing towards him with terrifying speed.

Instead of taking the attack once again Alakhest instead dashed under Alchemy’s swing and right between him and Charge. The female Rider just hissed and tried to run forward to get him back into her line of sight, only to be interrupted by her partner trading blows with Alkahest and always just getting in the way, much to the Dark Rider’s amusement.

Alchemy had tried to strike the Rider time and time again, but at every opportunity, he was stopped by the two axes he wielded with frightening precision. His long weapon was just no match for Alkahest’s speedy little devils he had mastered.

Once again he seemingly pulled back his spear to strike his opponent after being pushed back once again, but instead, he dashed forward, raming his spear into the ground and pushing himself forward like during pole vault. With his feet in front, he rocketed towards his opponent, slamming into the axes he held in front of him like a shield. But not even Alkahest was strong enough to withstand that attack, being forced off his feet and thrown against the next wall, crashing inside it like it was a cheap cardboard box.

Before the dust had even settled and Alkahest could crawl out of the Rider shaped hole he had been thrown into Alchemy had already jumped back, grabbing his spear in the process. Dashing forward he jumped into the air, pushed two gems, spun the Magic Disc on the weapon and rammed it into the concrete below him.

\ FIRE! /

\ EARTH! /

Just moments after he had slammed the weapon into the ground, the earth started to shake only for razor sharp blades made out of dark metal to burst out of the earth and straight towards Alkahest. Boxes and crates were ripped to shreds as they were pierced by the blades erupting from the ground. With unmatched ferocity and speed, they advanced towards the Dark Rider, ready to turn him into a shishkebab, all while he was stuck in the hole, and just a few moments later they…

They just stopped! The blades standing out of the concrete like rocks, leaving only Alakhest behind, his hand stretched out from within the hole, carefree like he was never in any danger at all. A silent chuckle filled the air, slowly rising in volume, turning into a triumphant laugh. A laugh that could freeze blood and scar away everyone with a weak will.

“Oh, this is precious. I wish I could see your faces right now, realizing that you are hopelessly outclassed, that you never could hope to beat me. It’s delicious. And all this could have been avoided if you just minded your own business and left me alone. But no, you just have to play the hero. I don’t get you, people, what have these people ever done for you? Nothing, you have no reason to protect these people that would never do the same for you! You know, I don’t get you, really! You put so much effort into all of this and your family legacy, even when you hated it so much! You and me, we are so similar. Why are you doing something like this, then? You just wanted out of all that guardian shit, so why stop me? Because of some dumb family legacy?” Platinum was getting louder and louder as he crawled out of the hole. Both Phoenix and Ocean just stared at him.

“What do you mean? We are nothing alike! I’m not a homicidal monster like you! You killed people, willingly without any shred of remorse! You are a monster! Just look around you, all these people you hurt! Gow could you even think about comparing me to you! You know what makes me different than you, I chose to not be a monster with the powers that were given me, you, on the other hand, use them without any sort of care and remorse. You disgust me! I’m not doing this because of some stupid family legacy! No, I do this because it is the right thing to do, to protect people from monsters like you, no matter where they come from! Because that is what Kamen Rider does, a title, you don’t deserve!” Phoenix screamed back, ripping the spear from the ground once again and reading himself to race towards their opponent once again.

Platinum just growled and barked back: “You have no idea what you are talking about! You had the chance to run, the opportunity to do whatever you want, and you just throw it away. I never had that luxury! And now you tell me what I did wrong? You are pathetic! You know nothing about me! Nothing!” With a that he dashed forward towards a startled Alchemy who ran ahead as well.

The two Riders clashed once more, the shockwave from their impact knocked over crates and debris alike, nearly knocking both combatants back, but they remained standing. Their angry screams almost drowned out everything else and drew in Ocean into their angry cries. Almost. After what felt like an eternity she snapped out of the hypnotizing struggle of the two, hastily aiming her gun at Alkahest and-

A scream even louder than the ones from the two Riders locked in combat filled the hall, a cry filled with agony and pain. Phoenix recognized the voice almost immediately, snapping his head back towards her. He could see how Ocean had been knocked off the ground, several metallic feathers scratching across her chest and landed rather unceremoniously on the ground, her weapon falling next to her.

“You really should focus on the things in front of you,” Platinum’s said with the unnerving amount of malice in his voice. Before he had even any chance to react, he felt the pain in his stomach and stumbled back. The two blades of the axes came into view as they came down on him, slashing across his chest, leaving trails of sparks behind where they had hit him, accompanied by the burning sensation of pain.

What followed was another kick to the stomach, knocking him on his back, rolling around the ground in pain while holding his stomach.

Over the groans and pained yelps, they could hear the sound of footsteps, one pair loud and heavy, the other others far lighter, accompanied by frustrated grunts. “Move it, you worthless pile of trash, Be glad that we let you live for so long,” a familiar female voice said.

“Alchemy, Charge. Of course, you two would be here. Doesn’t take a genius to guess that. It also doesn’t take one to guess that you would not stand against my partner here. He is just far superior to you two,” Checkbook smirked. The businessman was clad in his Corrupted form, accompanied by three remaining figures in long robes, every single one carrying two metallic briefcases in their hands. And then there was the scientist he was pushing forward, arm twisted behind his back and obviously terrified for his life. He had an ember skin tone with black hair. “Especially since he-“

“Checkbook!” Alkahest growled towards him, shutting up the Corrupted before he could say any more. “You want the blueprints or not? If yes I would suggest you shut up now or will suffer the consequences. Question is if you should be more afraid of me, the Riders or your employers,” he simply continued with a cold voice.

“Of- Of course. Understood. Won’t happen again,” Checkbook returned, his voice uneven and shaky. “Still, there is no chance you can stop us now. And I suggest you don’t even try, it will end badly for you!” He continued, slowly regaining his composure before twisting the arm of his hostage further. The helpless yelp of pain let them both shoot up and grit in frustration. “No, no, no! Any step further and he might not make it. Capishe?”

Their low growl was all the answer he needed as he started to chuckle. “How predictable you all are,” Platinum added, his twisted glee clearly audible through the mask. They could already imagine the sick grin under it. “Like he said, don’t try anything funny. You lost again. But look on the bright side, at least you got away with fewer injuries this time, am I right? Anyway, you will let us leave now, is that clear, or else..” Alkahest pointed at the scientist.

Ocean looked over to Phoenix who begrudgingly nodded, relaxing his posture, much to Platinums delight. “Perfect. I knew you would do that. Now, Checkbook, do you have what we came here for?”

The metal-clad Corrupted simply nodded and returned: “Yes, and as you ordered, we took as many artifacts as we could carry. This should be sufficient for what we have planned. Should I tell her to open up the portal so we can leave?”

“Excellent. Yeah, it’s time we leave,” he returned, flicking with his finger at one of the hooded figures. She chuckled and once again pulled out the Friendship Disc and held it in front of her with her yellow hands. Moments later, the portal had appeared behind them, the two other servants attempting to go through it as they were grabbed by Alkahest as he whispered something into their ears. With a silent nod, they walked through the portal and disappeared.

“You know, I’m generous today. I offer you one last chance. Forget about me. Let me go, and this will be the last you ever see of me. This one thing that is all I have to do. That is everything I ask. Please. I just want my freedom and peace. I will not break this promise. Let our family history die on this day and end forever, and we both can be free. I know you want that. I will leave now, and if you don’t follow me, we will never see again. But if you do, I will make sure you will never be able to follow me ever again!” Platinum finished with a chilling voice and strangely with what sounded like sincerity, honesty. “Checkbook!”

With that both of them stepped into the portal, but not without shoving the scientist towards them, the poor man helplessly landing on the floor before them. And as soon as the portal had appeared, it had disappeared once again.

“Damnit!” Phoenix hissed, slamming his fist on the ground beneath him, leaving a small dent in it.

Ocean, however, was far more occupied with the man that had been thrown in front of them, rushing over to help him up after deactivating her Driver. “Are you ok?”

After a few coughs, the scientist nodded weakly. “Yes, I’m fine. I’m sorry. If I wasn’t he-“

“Bullshit. They would have found another one instead. That is just the kind of monsters they are,” Phoenix interrupted him, having deactivated his Driver as well and dragging himself over towards the man. “And we will stop them, there is no other option.”

“Phoenix…” Ocean whispered.

“I… You… Thank you! The name is Test Tube, a researcher for the MRG. And you must be the Kamen Riders, right?” His terror slowly melted away into nervousness, something quite calming after what had happened just now.

“Yeah, Agent Ocean Skies and Phoenix Feather. We are glad that you are alright, Test Tube,” Ocean returned with a warm smile, or at least what she had managed through the pain and anger that was currently rampaging through her body. “I’m sorry, I know you are still shaken from this whole ordeal, but we have to ask you, did they get Artifact R155? Do you know what that is? This is extremely important!” Her voice filled with guilt she continued, her expression taken over by a grimace of shame.

“R155? R155! Of course, I know what it is. I started researching that thing today! You know how hard it was to get it back out of storage and to testing again? A scientist in Canterlot, a good friend of mine, sent me several files of very fascinating readings that were from a while back. She called it a crossover event. What was fascinating was that the data was nearly identical to the artifact R155. So, after a while of trying to convince my superiors, I was allowed to research it more. I sadly couldn’t find out much, but I was making progress. The energy is definitely similar, and with what we know about this little beauty so far, I think I have a solid theory what our little artifact does. Or would have if it wasn’t taken by that barbarian!” Test Tube hissed, angry overtaking his expression.

“Wait, it had similar readings to the crossover event? Do you mean?” Ocean said back, things were starting to fall into place.

“Yes, it is a portal to another reality. Or at least, I assume it is. But why that savage would want it is beyond me. It can just transport small things to other realities. Expect if he would want to get rid of something,” he returned, sounding somewhat distracted.

Phoenix and Ocean just looked at each other with a worried and knowing glance. “Say, could he make it more powerful so it could teleport him? Just curious,” Phoenix asked, worry and uncertainty in his voice.

Test Tube looked at them with a confused expression before continuing: “Theoretically, but anything other than a similar power source would just cause significant unforeseen consequences. It could backfire and hurt him, and form of the looks of it, they know at least something about magic. But if one would find a suitable magic source that has a similar energy, sure. One could strengthen the artifact on a theoretical level. You would need to know exactly how, though. Otherwise, who knows what could happen.”

“What… What exactly could happen?” Ocean asked, her nervousness growing with every second.

“Well, if everything goes well, you would strengthen the artifact, but if not, who knows. A massive explosion is one option, a discharge of magical energy that could scar the area around it for decades, or if everything goes completely of the rails, well…” he was about to finish when he suddenly turned pale, staring at the two of them with an expression of absolute terror.

He suddenly felt two strong hands grabbed ahold of his shoulders and start shaking him, something that did not help with his fear and terror. “What! Tell us! We need to know now!”

“Ocean!” That word was what finally stopped the violent shaking, the grip on his shoulder disappearing as he sunk to the floor, his head spinning. “Shaking him like a maraca won’t get you your answers sooner!”

“I… I’m sorry. It’s just…” she tried to return only to bit her lip in shame.

“No, problem, no problem. It’s fine. And before you ask. The worst possible outcome is a tear in reality that won’t close again and instead expand, ripping apart this universe in the process with no way to stop it.” Test Tube had delivered that last part with a voice that left no room for interpretation, cold, serious, and without any sort of uncertainty.

Like expected, the color had been drained from both Phoenix and Ocean’s faces. They were just nodding silently. “Hey, you think you can handle things here? I know we could help you here a lot, but we have to-“ She couldn’t even finish what she wanted to say before Test Tube put his hand up.

“I get it. You have to got to save the world. If you think he could find a way to rip apart reality, you are probably right. What does it matter if people here are safe? We are doomed anyway if you don’t stop him. I’ll try my best to deal with things here so you two can stop him before he does something dangerous,” he said, pushing himself off the ground.

“We do care if everyone here is safe. Just look around, you all are hurt or near death. I’m not just leaving. But we have to…” Phoenix said with a stern voice. “But I still have one thing to do before that!”

“Are you sure about this? You could tax yourself and-“ Ocean was about to say before she was interrupted by Phoenix.

“Yes, I’m sure!” With that, he pulled out his Magic Disc and Driver once again.

\ PHILOSOPHER STONE DETECTED! /

“Henshin!”

\ HEUREKA! /

\ Philosopher Stone Attack Mode! /

\ Magnum Opus! /

Now once again clad in his Rider armor pushed several buttons in quick succession on the weapon.

\ WATER! /

\ WIND! /

\ WATER! /

\ FRIENDSHIP! /

The entire hall was bathed in a golden light, a warm, caring golden light that disappeared just as fast as it had appeared. Test Tube felt far better all the pain over his body was like it had been washed away. And as he looked around, he could see that several others were also starting to move again, their injuries seemingly gone.

“What have you-“

“What I needed to do. Now, I need to stop a madman!” That was all he received as an answer from the Rider before he turned around and walked towards the lift shaft, followed by Ocean who activated her Driver as well.

\ SCANNING CHARGE! /

“Henshin!”

\ 100, 150, 200! OVER CHARGE! /

Both of them looked back one last time before Alchemy once again pushed a button on his weapon.

\ FRIENDSHIP! /

Out of nowhere, a portal appeared in front of them that quickly swallowed them whole and throwing them back out over the ground where they had jumped down.

“And he was right. Look, brother, they just can’t stop, can they?” A familiar voice said.

“Yeah, brother. They are stubborn. But in the end, that won’t help them. This ends here,” an almost identical voice returned.

Both Riders immediately shot around, staring at two cloaked figures who were holding out two blue Magic Discs.

Author's Note

And with that, we are in the final with the next chapter. I'm so happy for all of you that stuck with me and this story, it really means a lot to me.

Now, let's bring this to a satisfying conclusion.

The Battle for Canterlot - Towards a Bright Future

The smell of ash and flames lingered in the air as they raced through the city, dodging Remnants and their attacks. Streets they once recognized now filled with rubble, debris, and monsters but nothing else. Occasionally they would see a group of officers trying to push back a few of the Remnants to get people to safety, as futile as it might seem. Still, they had to press onward. There was no point in saving these people if they wasted their time and Platinum succeeded in tearing this world apart then their safety would not last long, even if it hurt like Tartarus to leave them be. Everything inside him screamed to save them, but he knew that he couldn’t right now.

Pacing another stretch of road that was quite familiar was the worst, the place he had called home for so long now, the Magnum Opus. He could see these feral monsters walking through the streets, throwing stuff at everything, moving or otherwise and not even the loved restaurant of his brother had been spared. Windows had been shattered, and several of the tables as well as chairs were laying on the street like discarded trash. The temptation to just unleash all his anger that was slowly growing in him was getting bigger and bigger, but he had to ultimately swallow it, knowing fully well that as long as the world was still there things could be repaired and rebuild. That was the ting, as long as the world was still there.

Lost in his thoughts, he almost overheard Ocean scream something over the chaos in the streets. A loud: “Watch out!” snapped him back to reality just in time to see the razor sharp blade heading right for them. With a swift move, he ducked under the incoming projectile, pushing his bike down with him as the blade soared over him and right through two remnants that had been standing behind him, letting them limply fall to the ground and explode.

Their bikes came to a screeching hold, the Remnants around them just eying them curiously, but strangely not attacking them. Both of them glared up at the sky and directly at a rather familiar metal face.

“Oh, I see you could make it. And I was almost expecting that you finally started to get a brain, but what was I thinking? Heroes, that grow a brain? As if. So, let me guess, you are here to stop Platinum? Of course, you are, but I really don’t get why. Wouldn’t it be good if he disappeared from the face of the earth? I mean, really? What do you have to gain by fighting him? Shouldn’t you be saving people?” Checkbook smugly asked, flying over them in his Corrupted form.

Phoenix was about to shout something back at the monster, but Ocean held up her hand and said with a calm voice: “Don’t, he isn’t worth your time. I’ll take care of this. In a way, I’m responsible for this. Who else should clean up my mother's mess than me? You get Platinum and save the world, I’ll deal with this clown here!” And with that, she jumped off her bike, the Remnants around her eyeing her with their glowing eye.

Phoenix was about to say something, but she just looked back, that look of determination feeling almost scary. With a silent sigh, he let the engine roar again, dust kicking up behind him as he raced forward, crashing through the swarm of Remnants.

Checkbook simply looked down at the speeding of Rider and silently chuckled at him while he pointed his hand at the bikes, a long sharp blade growing out of the palm of his hand. He was about to unleash the spike of death upon the Rider when something shot through the cindering of the street below him, a gunshot. Turning his head around, he glared at Ocean, her Charge Magnum directly pointed at him. “Yeah, no! Not today! It’s finally time to put an end to your schemes!”

As he turned back again, the Rider had already disappeared into the sea of Remnants. With a silent curse, he turned back to his now opponent. “Well, seems I have to deal with you first, but that shouldn’t be much of a problem. I wish you were as smart as your mother, we could have worked so well together, but oh well, you had to play the hero. Fine, I’ll just clean this mess up once and for all!” Checkbook raised his hand once again, releasing the sharp blade that was initially planned for Phoenix on her.

Ocean hadn’t just stood around and done nothing in the meantime and activated her Driver and put in a Charger. As the blade rocketed towards her, she spun the cylinder, letting herself be encased in a bright blue orb.

\ SCANNING CHARGE! /

“Henshin!”

\ 50, 80, 100! THUNDER CHARGE! /

With a loud ringing, like it had slammed into something hard, the blade jumped off from the orb, landing beside her. Charge glared at him, and before he could send another attack at her, she dashed forward, Charge magnum aimed at him.

--------------<

Phoenix was tempted to turn around and help Ocean, everything inside him was telling him exactly that, well everything besides his brain. That knew he couldn’t without risking everything he had fought for. With a silent curse, he continued his way through the streets filled with Remnants. He had already passed hundreds of the monsters, the flames and smoke hiding the night sky. It was a miserable image, but still, it wasn’t far anymore.

The school he had passed his first day in town stood in front of him, strangely enough, it still looked completely intact. The Remnants seemed to avoid the building like the plague, and the most likely explanation for that stood right in front of him, Platinum!

The man was standing in front of the big horse statue in the courtyard of the school, the Artifact hovering over the figure while glowing brightly. Platinum just sighed and turned around towards Phoenix who had jumped off his bike. “And here you are. I just knew you would come. Also not surprised that neither the girl nor Checkbook could stop you. You are so damn, stubborn, you know that? Ah, regardless. I offered you so many chances to let me go, but no! The righteous hero just has to play the good guy. I really don’t get you, and I thought you would understand me the best, but instead, you just blabber useless platitudes. You had the chance to walk away from all of this, and instead, you decide to hunt me. Why? I just don’t get it! Why are you here and if you really are such a great hero, why aren’t you protecting the city and instead of harassing me? Is it because of that damned legacy? It is, isn’t it?” Platinum spat towards him, clenching his hand around the Driver in his hand.

“Because of the legacy? Of course not! It’s because I chose to follow this path! You could destroy the world if you don’t stop now! Just give up already! I will never stop getting in your way as long as you are a danger to the world! So please, just this once be the better man!” Phoenix shouted back, trying his best to hide the anger in his voice, giving talking one last chance.

“Then fuck the world! What has it ever done for me? Nothing! So who cares when it dies, I certainly don’t! Serves them all right anyway! They aren’t worth your bloody time and effort, just a bunch of disinterested bastards!” Platinum screamed back at him, his eyes flaming with a mad spark.

With a sigh, Phoenix looked back down at his Driver and Magic Disc before slamming it on his waist with an unwavering determination in his eyes: “Fine! Then I just have to beat you to stop this!”

Following him beat for beat Platinum also slammed the Driver around his waist, both Riders outing in their respective Magic Discs. Both Riders spun their Disc in the Driver and ran towards each other with a loud scream.

\ MAGIC DISC DETECTED! /

\ DETECTING MAGIC DISC! /

“Henshin!”

\ FLAME DISC ACTIVATED! /

\ FLAME DISC READY! /

The black and fiery red whirlwinds illuminated the night even more before both Alchemy and Alkahest burst out of them, rushing towards each other. The sound was deafening, echoing through the entire city as their fists meet, the concrete walkway under their feet starting to crack.

--------------<

Emerald didn’t know how to feel, in one way this was the most exhilarating sensation she had ever felt. Nothing compared to this, the power, the energy, the heightened senses, it was breathtaking, she wanted to just run around in this and let loose, but she knew she couldn’t, at least not now, because that was where the rest of her feelings kicked in. Emerald was scared, frightened, and unsure of what to do. She wasn’t trained for this, she had no idea how to use these powers, and yet here she was, fighting against one of the strongest monsters this city had ever faced. Granted, she wasn’t alone, but she felt utterly outmatched by the ferocity and strength of her opponent. And she could only wonder how Timber felt, but all of this was secondary right now because she knew what had to be done.

With that thought in mind, she flew forward, the wings on her back pushing her further even more as she rushes past Adagio, her whip wrapping around the wrist of the Corrupted as she flew by. Adagio was about to throw a punch at Applejack when she suddenly felt her wrist being pulled back. This was all the time Timber needed to dash towards her and together with the farmgirl slammed his fist right into the chest of the Corrupted, knocking her back a few steps.

“Ha, get ya!” AJ screamed out, a smirk on her lips only for that to be whipped away rather quickly as Adagio yanked her arm forward, pulling Emerald with her and throwing the screaming Rider at the two other ones. AJ and Timber were both knocked off their feet as they suddenly felt the weight of Emerald thrown upon them, leaving them in a pile of bodies on the floor.

“Cute attempt, but ultimately worthless,” was all Adagio returned with a disturbing undertone. “But since you try so hard, how about I show you what I can do? You know, would be really lame if I wouldn’t join in, in showing off our powers. And the bonus of seeing your scared little faces will be enough for me to draw this out a little longer,” she called as the crystals that together made up her wings slowly hovered in front of her. When that was done, they quickly started to glow a bright purple until…

Turning the night to day Adagio unleashed an enormous blast of energy, tearing apart the asphalt below her and rocketing towards the pile of bodies that was the girls and Timber. In the last second, something that looked like a purple blur that zoomed right in front of them, but before any of them could make out who or what it was everything was covered in an explosion and the following dust.

“Are you fine dears?” Rarity’s voice asked from within the dust, their vision becoming clearer again, looking at a rather cracked diamond shield that had shielded them from their grouse demise just now. And instead of a typical answer, the sound of Emerald’s driver came back in return.

\ AWAKEN: SPHINX! /

Dashing forward, the Rider crashed through the remains of Rarity’s shield, letting several of the shards scratch across Adagio’s armor as they were thrown in her direction mere moments before Emerald let her claws come down on her. The first strike cleaved across not only several of her crystals, ramming them into the asphalt below, but also across her chest, letting several sparks fly and fall onto her own armor. The Corrupted couldn’t other than taking a step back, followed by the next swipe of the claws, once again swiping several crystals out of the air and slashing across the monster's chest.

Filled with newfound confidence Monster tried to bring down both claws at once, but to her surprise, both hands of Adagio shot up, closing shut around her arms and holding her in place. Then she felt the pain, the sensation of razor-sharp blades slicing through the back of her armor, skin, and flesh like a knife through butter. Within seconds her world had changed from hopeful to one filled with pain and suffering. She didn’t even notice her own screaming and how she was thrown to the side like an uninteresting toy by a child.

“AJ, throw me!” Timber said with a low voice, his voice uneven and filled with anger. The girl simply nodded, grabbed his arm, spun him around a few times, and catapulting him directly at Adagio who simply pulled her crystals in front of her, blood still dripping off of them. The punch rocked the entire street as Timber pushed back against the makeshift shield, both combatants not winning any ground, only for another sound to interrupt their struggle.

\ AWAKEN: RIVERSERPENT! /

From behind something blue jumped up from some rubble, it had a helmet shaped like a serpent with fins and a mustache and rammed a spear in the form of a snake into the back of the Corrupted. With an annoyed grunt, Adagio slightly turned her head, glaring into the crimson eyes of Monster. “I just sliced you open with my crystals, how are you back?” But instead of an answer, she instead felt the push from her front. She had totally forgotten about the Rider in front of her, and that came back immediately to bit her.

With her distracted Timber finally had the chance to push through the makeshift shield of his opponent, breaking it apart and scattering the crystals across the ground, pushing her against the spear. That was finally enough to puncture her armor, the spear finally digging into her flesh. The pained scream of the Siren echoing off the side of the lab.

Sadly, this little victory was rather shortlived as the light in her eyes suddenly glowed even bright, pushing the two Riders back through seemingly no doing of her own. Timber was thrown off and was about to crash into the next wall when suddenly he disappeared mere moment before he would have found himself again in the rubble.

Instead, he suddenly stood behind the Corrupted and right next to Rainbow Dash. “Heh, seems like saving the asses of Rider’s is getting a bit of a hobby for me,” she said with her usual arrogance as she smiled at him with a big dumb grin.

“You never change, do you?” Timber simply returned with a chuckle before adding a simple: “Thanks.”

“Don’t sweat it. Thank me by beating that rejected pop idol over there,” she returned while pointing at Adagio.

“Sure,” he simply chuckled back, both dashing towards the Corrupted.

In the meantime, Monster had also been thrown back, but instead of one of the Rainbooms coming to her help, she used her own weapon to regain her footing, raming the tip of the spear into the ground and using it like a pole dancer, spinning around it right back towards the Corrupted.

To her delight, the Corrupted wasn’t at all expecting her to attack again and was taken a bit off guard, being knocked forward by her feet, stumbling right towards Gaia and Rainbow.

While Timber slammed his fist once again into the stomach of the beast, Rainbow was coming around her opponent striking her at every opportunity, like an angry wasp, knocking around Adagio quite a bit. That was until a familiar sound caught her attention.

\ AWAKEN: THUNDERBIRD! /

Almost like out of nowhere, Emerald rushed in from behind, ramming her rapier right where she had stabbed Adagio with her spear before. The fact that she was stumbling backward only helped push the thing deeper into her skin. The scream of pain was exactly what she wanted to hear. Both Rainbow and emerald proceded to race across her at superspeed, taking chances whenever possible and being as annoying as possible, just like a fly that just doesn’t know when it was enough. And during all of that Timber continued to pummel her into submission.

Or at least that was their plan, but sadly, plans are always perfect in one's mind, but applied to reality they can quickly crumble. And so did this one. Just as Gaia tried to deliver the next punch, something flickered in the corner of his eyes. Just as he looked towards it for one second, everything turned sideways.

The crystal he had seen shot up to him, shooting through his shoulder pad and partially through his skin, knocking the young Rider back. But this gem wasn’t the only one that was let loose on them, every single other one shot up from the ground, formed a circle around her and were rocketed outwards, soaring over his head.

“Down!” Was all he heard, the voice unmistakably Sunset. The silence that had to be a good sign, right? At least no one was injured, so it had to be good. As he was somewhat lost in his own thoughts, holding his shoulder he looked up again, and to his shock the gems came back, forming a circle around her, now hovering right over him.

In an instant, his worry turned into straight-up panic, desperately trying to crawl away, all while the gems above him angled themselves and-

BOOM!

Instead of the sharp pain of several small crystals embedding themselves into his skin, the sound of an explosion was instead what followed before he was picked up by Rainbow again and put on his feet next to Emerald. What he saw in front of him was in equal parts weird and impressive. Pinkie was throwing rock after rock at the Corrupted, every single one exploding, forcing the monster back with every attack.

“Take that, you big meany! Feel the power of the rocks! Maud taught me well!” She screamed out, all while continuing his bombardment. He was about to ask something before he remembered the first rule in dealing with Pinkie Pie, ‘it’s Pinkie Pie, don’t question it.’

While he had been staring in awe at what was transpiring in front of him, Emerald had changed her Medal once again and was just slamming the Driver shut once again.

\ AWAKEN: DRAGON! /

Now clad in her red armor and with her ax she simply nodded to Gaia who looked at her confused for a moment from beyond his mask before nodding as well, both Riders running forward. Monster used her wings to get back up in the air and rocket back down towards her, while Gaia simply ran like Tartarus was on his heels. Adagio was far to occupied with Pinkie Pie to notice them, or at least she should have been. The moment they brought down the ax and swung their fists, a sinister chuckle was all they could hear. Moments later both their attacks were stopped dead in their tracks by the damn gems.

“Enough!” Adagio shouted, glaring specifically at Pinkie. For a moment, the world seemed to stand. Still, no one dared to move even a muscle. Then everything just happened so fast, the crystals came back to life, zooming across the battlefield, slashing across the girls and Riders, knocking all of the back in an explosion of sparks. “I’ve had my fun, and you did fine, but here it ends! Time to see the despair in your eyes!” She chuckled, ready to use her gems once again.

\ AWAKEN: CHANGELING! /

Out of nowhere, an etherial changeling appeared, knocking back Adagio and letting the crystals fall limply to the ground. “We are just really getting started!” Emerald huffed out, crawling back up from the rubble, quickly followed by Timber and the rest of the girls.

The ear bursting scream of the Corrupted didn’t even deter them as Adagio jumped back up, reassembling her wings and hovering over the ground. “You will regret this! The time for games is over!”

--------------<

One after the other a row of blades slammed into the asphalt behind her, where she had stood just moments ago. Whatever she did next, one thing was clear, stopping to run would be a death arena. Mid-sprint, she turned around, jumped off the ground, directly towards one of the burning cars and aimed. The shoots echoed through the streets, foiling the air with even more dread as Checkbook unleashed another barrage of blades at her, most missing, but one slicing across her leg. It cut right through the armor and drew blood.

Her landing was far rougher than expected. Without the use of her leg, she landed shoulder first behind the car. Her leg hurt like Tartarus, but she had no time to dwell on that. Slowing down meant death and Checkbook would leave her no openings. Gritting her teeth, she rolled under the car, the blades slamming right there in the ground where she had laid before. What followed were six shots that hit dead center, right on his head, with one actually managing to strike an eye. With a loud wail, the Corrupted trembled in the air, holding his eyes in pain. Perfect, that was precisely what she needed.

Dashing forward from beneath the car raced directly towards the next wall, reloading her revolver while doing so. The lightning-fast blur of a Rider jumped up, landing on the wall and immediately jumped off it again heading right for her opponent, still holding his hands in front of his eyes. A surprised yelp accompanied her arm, suddenly garbing onto the monster from behind. Checkbook started to wildly swing around the air like a wild bull at the rodeo, but Ocean held onto him for dear life.

The frantic swaying across the sky was quickly cut short as Charge jammed her Charge Magnum right into a small little opening between the helmet and the rest of the armor. Every single one of the six shots let electricity run through his body, accompanied by a bloodcurdling scream. After the gun clicked empty Checkbook quickly lost altitude, crashing right through the outer walls of the Magnum Opus and into Thunders living room.

The silence that had lasted for a few seconds suddenly ended with the sound of a metal claw scraped across the floor, Checkbook raising from the debris with two glaring red eyes. But to his surprise he wasn’t the first one, Ocean had already stood back up, her gun aimed at the Corrupted. Before he could even react, his eyes were once again hit by the Rider.

“Charge up!”

\ 50, 80, 100! WATER CHARGE! /

Within seconds the entire room was filled in a thick mist, making it impossible to see farther than your own hand. The only thing one could see in the foggy room were the glowing red eyes of Checkbook as he frantically spun around, expecting the Rider to jump him any moment now. But nothing, just silence, the only sounds were the destruction in the distance, but inside the room? Not even a mouse was moving, just silence. And worst of all, it seemed like his eyes were playing tricks on him, every time he thought he saw something in the mist, it turned out to be nothing more than furniture.

As he jumped around once again, throwing one of his blades at what turned out to be a chair, splitting it in two. And just a moment later two glowing red eyes emerged from the mist, jumping on his shoulders and raming two batons in his eyes. The scream that followed was awful, every still standing window shattering into a thousand pieces. Checkbook swung his hands like a madman, desperately trying to throw the Rider of him, but Ocean was already off him, landing right in front of the stairs before changing her Charger once again.

“Charge up!”

\ 50, 80, 100! EARTH CHARGE! /

Without even thinking the Corrupted dashed towards the sound, the floor under him straining under the weight of him. With a blind charge, he tackled Ocean to the ground, or at least he would have if there was ground, to begin with. Instead, he fell down the stairs, both of them ending up in a tangled ball of limbs. To Checkbook’s surprise only he was groaning in pain, Ocean was just fine how it seemed, something that as only was reinforced as she was the first one the get out of their entanglement and throw him across the room and into an oven, denting it beyond recognition.

He could just see the glow of the gem on her chest fade before she dashed forward, trying to slam her fist into his chest. To her dismay Checkbook wasn’t so out of it that he could react, instead catching her arm and twisting it back, forcing the Rider in a quite uncomfortable position.

“I give you credit, you really know how to get on my nerves, but this won’t save you in any way shape or form. You are just as stubborn as your mother,” he growled, pulling back his arm to stab her with one of his blades that had grown out of the palm of his hand.

The blade came down, right at her heart, only to break all of a sudden when it hit with full force against the armor, the orb on her chest glowing again. Without missing a beat, Ocean jumped up, spun around her own axes and delivered a dropkick that knocked him through the wall of the kitchen and right onto one of the tables.

“Charge up!”

\ 50, 80, 100! WIND CHARGE! /

Checkbook’s eyes were glowing like never before, almost seeming like there were about to burst out of his helmet. Letting out an angry scream he just unleashed a barrage of his blades at the kitchen only for them to suddenly blow to the wayside, ramming into the walls of the restaurant. But before he had any chance to process any of this, he was also taken by the wind, flinging him across the room and through the doors of the building. His landing was accompanied by an annoyed grunt.

“Charge up!”

\ 50, 80, 100! FIRE CHARGE! /

Like a rocket the Rider burst out from the dust, heading right for the Corrupted who could only throw his hands in front of him and let her slam into them, almost knocking him back. And as if as a statement to this thought, in particular, she followed up her attack with a roundhouse kick, letting him stumble to the side, his side stinging a little where she had hit him. Like a fire that had come alive, she kept on fighting, slamming her fist into his stomach and letting her engine erupt right on his armor, slowly coking him alive, or at least would have if Checkbook hadn't retaliated, slashing across her chest, sparks flying and Charge staggering back.

But she wasn’t done, not by a longshot, pulling out one of her Stun Batons she threw it in the air and with another roundhouse kick assisted with her engines kicked it right at the point where she had heated him right before. Like a hot needle through butter, the baton slammed through the armor and into the unprotected skin beneath.

This was it! He had been humiliated for far too long! Anger surged through his body, swallowing the pain and turning it into new power. With a scream of utter contempt, he dashed forward, much to Charge’s surprise, slashed across her chest two times, the sparks flying like on a sparkler and threw her back into the building. Not missing a beat he dashed after her, accompanied by the sound of her Driver.

“Charge up!”

\ 50, 80, 100! FRIENDSHIP CHARGE! /

--------------<

Both Alchemy and Alkahest were throwing punch after punch at each other, both matching the others attack every time, no one able to get a hit in, all while refusing to back down first. Alkahest pulled out for another hit when instead of the Rider matching him beat for beat jumped back. The Dark Rider just chuckled, shook his head and ran straight ahead once again. Alchemy just slammed both of his fists together and dashed forward as well.

Once again, their fists meat, but instead of being equally matched like the countless times before a massive explosion rocked the ground, right where they had clashed. Alkahest was thrown back, crashing through the doors of the school, Alchemy’s hand, however, was left burned from the whole ordeal, the flesh under it burning like it was on fire. Gritting his teeth, he simply ignored the pain of his injured arm that hung limply from his side and dashed after the Rider.

Jumping through the gaping hole in the wall where before had been the doors he pulled back his other arm and brought it down at the still startled Alkahest. He could only pull up his arms to at least partially block the damage, how futile it might be.

The explosion that rippled through the building was strong enough to shatter any sheet of glass in the nearby area and knocked Alkahest back once again, his armor smoldering like someone had kipped out a fire on him. His glowing red eyes, however, were still fixated on Alchemy as he slowly rose up again.

Alchemy had also not escaped the entire ordeal that well, his armor was scorched and cracked to an unnerving degree. His breath was low and more panting than anything else. As he slowly raised his one hand, weakly grasping the Disc on his Driver before ripping it out of it and switching it for another one. That was the moment Alkahest dashed forward, hand on his driver as well.

\ THUNDER DISC ACTIVATED! /

\Thunder Disc Attack Mode! /

\ Thunder Tonfa! /

\ THUNDER DISC READY! /

Within the blink of an eye, both Rider’s had disappeared only for an excessive amount of bullets to hit the lockers around them, shotting through them like butter. But that wasn’t what the two were seeing, they were speeding across the halls of the school like two madmen that were chasing each other. Alkahest was running ahead, pestering him with a barrage of shots that hit everything besides him.

Alchemy, on the other hand, was racing after the Dark Rider, dodging bullets left, right and center and trying his best not to fall victim to his attacks. With every corner, he expected another attack, and most of the time, his instincts didn’t betray him. Instead, he was pretty much always greeted with another barrage of bullets that were flung his way.

After the last burst of bullets, Phoenix could only see how Alkahest dodged into another room, quickly dashing after him, only for his superspeed to wear of the moment he entered the room. Completely caught off guard, he immediately lost his footing, stumbling over his own feet and almost flying into one of the many bookshelves inside what must have been a library.

Even under the broken shelf and dozens of books, he could still hear the delighted laugh of Platinum before that laugh suddenly stopped and instead being replaced with the sounds of a trigger being pulled. That was music in his ears, and within a split second, he dashed forward, tanking the shots that slammed against his armor like cannonballs.

Not even Platinum had expected this, being taken entirely of guard by the sudden rush of his opponent had no chance but to be tackled to the ground, Alchemy rolling on top of him.

What followed was what could only be described as a beatdown, Alchemy slamming his tonfa against Alkahest’s helmet time and time again, ever hit dazing the Rider even more with no chance to retaliate. This must have gone off for at least ten seconds until Platinum finally managed to snap out of and grabbed one of the tonfas, stopping it before Alchemy could slam it down on him once again. The second weapon quickly followed and like a speeding bullet, he snapped forward with his head, giving his opponent a solid headbutt, knocking him off him.

Alchemy stumbled back, but at the same time managed to pull out his Magic Disc and slam another one in right before Alkahest dashed forward and ran right into the whirlwind, being thrown to the side.

\ EARTH DISC ACTIVATED! /

\ Earth Disc Attack Mode! /

\ Boulder Shield! /

Not missing a beat Phoenix immediately threw the shield after him.

\ EARTH DISC READY! /

With the shield bouncing off him like nothing, it flew back, Alkahest holding two small black and orange hammers in his hands that were attached to his armor with chains. Not wasting any second on anything else he slammed his hammers on the ground below him, a shockwave, unlike anything he had experienced until now rummaging through the entire building, parts of the roof falling on top of them, shelf falling over and glass shattering all over the place. It was like a localized earthquake.

And as much as he tried to keep a steady stand, he was still thrown around bobblehead. What was worse was the fact that he could only watch as Alakhest slammed one of the hammers once again on the ground, a massive boulder jumping up and slamming it at the Rider with his other one.

With the massive rock hurtling his way Phoenix pushed all his weight forward, seemingly losing balance and landing with his hands and knees on the floor, the projectile coming closer and closer. But at the last second, the sound of a hand flicking echoed through the room, and just mere moment a seal appeared beneath him, ready to activate only to disappear again. “What?!”

Without his magic, Alchemy could only watch in horror as he was swatted away by the massive rock and thrown right throw several walls and ultimately landing in what must have been the cafeteria. Dust and pieces of the roof had fallen down, crashing several tables like it was nothing beneath them.

It was uncharacteristically silent, no footsteps, no screaming, no nothing, it was early. Alkahest could attack any second from now, and he was a sitting duck all things considered. Then he heard it, the sound of a rattling chain, acting more on instinct than anything else he pulled up his shield, just moments before the weapon crashed against him, letting him stagger backward as the next hammer came hurtling towards him.

Unlike last time he had no chance to block the weapon, letting it hit him square in the chest knocking him back once again, slamming into the cantina of the cafeteria, but not without managing to grab the hammer one time, but without any sort of effect.

But as Alkahest pulled back the hammer once again, he just snapped his finger, a massive rock forming around the weapon. Pushing past the pain in his chest, he threw the shield once again, and this time it did hit its target, smacking him across the jaw and knocking the Dark Rider to the side. Catching the shield as it returned, Phoenix immediately switched to another form once again.

\ WATER DISC ACTIVATED! /

\ Water Disc Attack Mode! /

\ Wave Trident! /

Running straight ahead, he jammed the spear behind him and immediately flicked with his fingers, letting a wave of water sprout out of the ground, surfing in the direction of his opponent. He held his trident ready for the next attack, or move of Alkahest, one that he wouldn’t have to wait for too long.

\ WATER DISC READY! /

It didn’t even take two seconds for two harpoons to suddenly burst through one of the nearby walls, missing him by mere inches and impaling themselves in the lockers behind him. There was no time to react as the water he had used to traverse the are suddenly stopped working and slumped to the ground like regular water, not that he hadn’t expected this after the last time he had used his powers, landing more or less on his two feets, minus a bit of a stumble.

His eyes were locked on the wall he had seen the harpoons be launched off of, tightening the grip on his trident, ready for the next attack. And just like clockwork, he hadn’t had to wait any longer when once again the harpoons rammed through the wall, six all at once and hurtled towards him with unnerving speed. Reacting quickly he started to spin around his weapon in front of him, the spears bouncing of his weapon, well all but on that slammed right into his shoulder, pinning him against the next best wall.

The bloodcurdling scream of Phoenix could be heard through the whole building, and they still couldn’t convey the absolute feeling of agony that surged from his shoulder throughout his entire body, making everything just blurs into the background. After a few seconds that felt like an agonizing eternity, his mind finally grasped back onto some kind of clear though: ‘Get! It! Off!’ Without wasting any more precious moments thinking about it any longer he slammed his fist right on the rod of the harpoon, snapping it cleanly in two. Accompanied by even louder screams, he pushed himself off the wall, leaving behind the snapped of, bloody stump of the harpoon. Phoenix could feel his concern dwindling, the pain overwhelming him completely, weakly reaching for his belt before he would lose this fight and with it probably everything.

\ WIND DISC ACTIVATED! /

\ Wind Disc Attack Mode! /

\ Hurrican Bow! /

Letting out a loud gasp for air he could feel the pain subsiding, his vision returning as he panted on the ground. But there was no rest for the wicked after all as he pushed himself back up. Even with the energy, he had already gotten back through the Disc, he was slowly getting exhausted. The only hope was that he wasn’t the only one. And still, he had no idea where Alkahest was, but that could be changed he thought as he spun the Disc on his weapon once again.

“Arrow Storm!”

He once again pulled back the bowstring and let the energy arrow sore towards the sky, or in this case, the roof of the school, forming into the seal way above the building and letting rain death and destruction in the form of dozens upon dozens of arrows rain down on them. With the rain of arrows coming down around him, decimating the roof, even more, he listened carefully.

\ WIND DISC READY! /

There it was, precisely what he had waited for, pulling back his bowstring again and waited. He hadn't had to wait long as the rain of arrows suddenly stopped, a smirk crossing his lips under his helmet. Then he let go, the bolt crashing through the next wall disappearing in a mist of dust and debris. What followed was a scream filled with agony, much to Phoenix’s delight. But that small victory was only shortlived as the sound of loud thunder echoed through the school. He had to hurry, they were running out of time.

--------------<

Monster was meanwhile busy keeping Adagio occupied, the Corrupted having grown more and more frustrated with every strike they were able to land. Gaia and the Rainbooms were dealing with her on the ground, utilizing more or less hit and run tactics, but without any meaningful progress, all while she was continuously ramming her horn in the Corrupted by flying into her.

The powers of her Changeling forms were overwhelming, never had she felt so powerful before. The temptation to just cut loose and let her inner monster out was tempting, oh so tempting. She could feel her anger and adrenaline spike with every time she hit the beast, a rush of excitement rolling over, begging the young Rider to just let go and pummel that bitch into submission. It was a strange mix of liberating and scary at the same time.

She was, however, knocked out of her thoughts as one of the wing-crystals of Adagio was flung her way, the Rider during the attack in the last second before returning her gaze to the battlefield beneath her. She was so sunken into her own thoughts that she hadn't even noticed how beat up everyone looked. If they didn’t beat her soon…

No! She couldn’t think like that, not right now! And to make everything even worse all of a sudden at least a dozen Remnant’s stormed the battlefield. She was about to swoop down and attack one of them when she noticed it, they ignored everyone and were heading straight for Adagio. Even she was taken aback by that, and before she could even make any attempt to act, she was dogpiled by all of them.

“Your chance Emerald!” Echoed it through the street as Sunset stepped back into view, a massive grin on her face. Monster just stared at her, but snapped back rather quickly, activating her finisher.

\ ROAR: CHANGELING! /

Changing her direction once again, she rocketed towards the pile of Remnants and Corrupted, her horns being enveloped by bigger etherial projections until she finally hit her target.

The entire street was covered in a massive explosion, consuming everything with Emerald coming to a screeching halt behind it. The moment she wanted to look back at her handiwork, however, she felt it, the sensation of something grinding through her armor, slowly digging into her flesh.

Stepping out from the dust was Adagio, not really worse for wear, the wing-crystals flying back to her after they were done shredding through Emerald’s armor, leaving her behind on the ground, panting for breath. This fight was anything but over.

--------------<

The hulking body of the Corrupted slammed into the ground next to her, his arm blade he had grown embedding itself in the ground like butter. Not missing a beat he slashed through the concrete, swinging his blade at her. Ocean meanwhile was entirely on the defensive, only able to dodge every swing, but unable to attack on her own.

She had to do something, or this would eventually turn sour for her. That was the moment she spotted the car with its wide-open doors. Perfect. Picking up her pace, she dashed forward, blades flying after her, slowly catching up to. There was only one way out…

With a loud scream, she jumped forward, right through the passenger door of the car, blades right behind her, all while unloading her weapon like a madwoman, shooting right through the open car. The moment the blades rammed into the car, she could see it starting to move, thrown aside with her inside.

She could only barely make out her shoots as they suddenly curved in the air and headed straight for her target. The air was rocketed by a loud explosion and a bright purple light as well as the grunts of Checkbook.

This was it, that was the only chance she would get. Now or never. Not wasting any more time she spun the cylinder on her Driver before jumping out of the overturning car.

\ Maximum Charge! /

Her weapon was aimed right at the Corrupted as she unleashed her wrath on the Corrupted. A bright purple beam of energy was let loose from her threat enveloping the street in another explosion. After she had landed again, she let out a silent sigh before pulling out her Prism Charger. And like on cue Checkbook stepped out of the dust and smoke, his armor sporting a few dents.

--------------<

Once again their weapons clashed, Alkahest blocking Alchemy’s sword strike with his spear before slamming his shield into the side of the Rider. Stumbling back Alkahest tried to follow up only for Phoenix to block the attack with his shield and return the favor by stabbing at the Dark rider with his sword, Platinum barely flinching.

After another second they once again dashed at each other, crashing against each other with their shields, both of them knocked back and right through the next wall. Alchemy was the first to stand back up, his body ached all over, and exhaustion was really starting to take its toll on the Rider, but he forced all these thoughts aside, as long as there was any fight left in him this wasn’t over. Pointing his weapon forward, the entire building was filled with the sound of stone cracking and metal bending.

Platinum meanwhile had stood back up again a well, hearing the strange sounds all around him. Then he noticed it, the small droplets of dust from the ceiling, quickly turning bigger and more frequent. But before the realization could set in it happened, the ceiling caved in, no, even more, it particularly shot at the Dark Rider, burying him under tons of debris and rubble.

Alchemy meanwhile was running head first towards his opponent, the building collapsing around him as he spun the Disc on his weapon again. “Eternal Bond!”

Holding out the bright glowing weapon he let it come down on the pile of rubble he had buried Alkahest under, the blade moving with frightening speed, only for the glow to suddenly disappear and the sword just embedding itself in the rubble. Not even a second later the pile of debris exploded, Alkahest jumping out of it and right at Alchemy, stabbing the spear right into his armor. Only the attempt to jump away from the attack prevented the spear from impaling him right then and there, but he still didn’t escape unscathed as he was thrown back and directly out of the ruins of the school, landing once again in the courtyard.

The pain was surging through his body from the spot where Alkahest had stabbed him, a bit of blood dripping from the new wound. Trying to stand up again was a futile endeavor, his limbs just giving in every time he tried to stand back up, the steps of Alkahest coming ever closer.

About to scream out in frustration, something else happened, a loud roaring rolled through the city before it happened. The sky broke, shattering in several places, the night sky with its stars replaced by something else. A city, surrounded by a desert. One could look up at the night sky, into a crack and right down at a desert town.

Then it happened again, roaring thunder followed by the sky breaking apart, this time revealing another city, next to a mountain range and a desert. Then another city almost identical to Canterlot City, another one with a strange red and white tower in a bay and so many more. The sky was filled with cities upon cities, and there was no sign that this would slow down at all.

Phoenix stared in horror at what was transpiring in front of him, and he was just lying here? No! This was not how this would end! Letting out a primal scream, he pushed past his aching muscles and back onto his feet before pulling out a certain Magic Disc.

\ WIZARD DISC ACTIVATED! /

The Rider now clad in the form created from his fellow Rider’s powers dashed forward, pulling out a version of Wizard’s sword out of nowhere and quickly shoot at Alkahest who was far too shocked to react. Each bullet hit its target, letting him stagger back. This was enough time for him to close the distance between them, slashing across the chest of his opponent until he regained his composure and started to block the incoming attacks.

Not contempt with just letting him do as he pleased Alchemy quickly switched the form of the weapon once again, firing at him before suddenly turning around and shooting into the air. That little stunt left him however open for a counterattack, Alkahest slashing across his back, letting sparks fly and Alchemy stumbles forward. Alkahest was about to follow his attack up when the bullets hit him against every bit of logic.

“Oh, didn’t I tell you, the bullets are target searching. But I think you know now,” Phoenix smirked before turning around and lifting his hand that quickly grew in size until it was bigger than his opponent. With a forceful push, he threw the Dark Rider back into the ruins, ready to charge after him when he heard it.

\ DISSOLVE! /

--------------<

Emerald was bearly clinging onto conciseness, the wound in her back stinging worse every second. And yet she did notice what had happened around her, the Rainbooms and Gaia had defended her with all their might, taking several hits from the crazy Corrupted. But then it happened, the deafening thunder and the breaking of the sky. She could barely make out what was going on, but she didn’t really need to know what it was, she knew enough to determine that it was probably nothing good.

As if to confirm her suspicions the thunder once again rocked the city, letting the sky shatter more and more almost in rhythm with the pulsating of her wound. It all melded into one continuous pull that echoed through her body, something primal, natural, instinctual. Almost like it was telling her something, she didn’t even notice her hand slowly reaching for the Chimera Medal until she felt the round object in her hand.

That was when the realization hist her and the fear returned, even worse than the pain. If she activated the Medal now, who knows if she didn’t lose control, become a puppet to her own instincts. The thought alone was paralyzing. But the feeling tried to push her on, letting images of a world slowly falling apart flash in her head. It was apparent what it was trying to tell her if she didn’t act now there would be no world anymore. She knew that, but still, the fear was ever-present, seeping through her body like a snake caressing its poisoned victim.

Thoughts upon thoughts were shouting over each other, the idea of holding onto a single thought was almost impossible. Well, until he came into her mind. Phoenix! There was just one question in her mind right now, what would he do? Did she even have to ask? With a resigned sigh, she slammed the Medal into The Driver and closed it shut around it again.

\ AWAKEN: CHIMERA! /

She could see how the ethereal beasts broke free from the Driver only to crash back into her, with every one of the bringing back some of her power until the manticore returned. The battlefield had fallen silent as she rose from the ground. Her ascend was material, janky and just unnerving until just at the end her head snapped forward, glaring at Adagio with her bright red eyes, letting the Corrupted take a step back.

Before a single thought could even form in her mind, her legs had already moved on their own, her left arm glowing in a bright blue and she sped towards her opponent, jumping at her and knocking her off balance. Before adagio had even hit the ground Emerald already let her fist come down on her, her right leg glowing in a bright red, leaving a sizable dent behind in her helmet. And it was no sign in sight that she would stop any time soon, letting her fist come down time and time again on the Corrupted, leaving no room to retaliate at all. She had never felt so free and right in her entire life.

Well at least that was how it looked, while Monster was delivering a savage beatdown on Adagio she wasn’t just ideally sitting by, no she was slowly moving her wing-crystals in position over Emerald.

“Emerald! Watch out!” Was what finally snapped the Rider out of it and took everyone else by surprise as well since they were more or less still staring in awe at what had happened in front of them. Twilight had been the only one to realize what Adagio was planning.

Without wasting any more time, Emerald growled at the Corrupted and jumped off her, the gems following the direction she was headed and started to glow in bright light. But before they could unleash their devastating blast, the suddenly changed course again, pointing straight down at the Corrupted who noticed far too late what had just happened.

The bright light was accompanied by the loud screams of Adagio as her own attack shredded through her armor, leaving her smoldering body behind on the ground. Her breathing was low, and she seemingly wasn’t able to move anymore. “That is our chance! We have to end this here!” Twilight screamed at everyone only to be interrupted by a low, fuming voice.

“Enough! Enough! I have had it with all of you! You won’t beat me! I will have my revenge!” She shouted out, her screams filled with unbridled fury. Just moments later, her wings started to glow as well as her armor as more and more crystals began to form all over her body, coating her in a new form of armor. It didn’t take long until she had grown to a massive size, at least ten times as big as before, her body had shifted into a hulking behemoth with large crystal hooves, the wings had grown to enormous size, and the horn on her head had grown as well.

“Adagio! Calm down! You don’t know what might happen if you are defeated like this! You could… You could die!” Sunset screamed, or more precise begged the creature, but the only response she got was a loud roar and the Corrupted storming towards her, ready to impale her on her horn.

But before the raging beast could lay its hoves on her, it was thrown to the side, Emerald landing in the place the creature had just stood. Sunset was sure if she could have seen her expression, she would have been terrified, the way alone how she moved and stood was unnerving, like a wild animal, ready to attack at any moment.

“E… Emerald? Everything ok?” Was all she managed to say, staring at the Rider nervously, not entirely sure what to make of all of this.

“Never felt better,” Emerald growled back only to add a far softer: “How are you?”

“Fine,” Sunset simply returned, slowly regaining her composure. “You think we can beat her?”

“Only way is to try, isn’t it? Not like we can let her rampage around town, right?” The Rider smirked in return before dashing off once again, over to Timber.

“Well, she just grew a little. Any ideas? I’m a bit clueless right now,” he asked as the other Rider dashed right next to him.

“Just hit her hard enough!” That was all the answers he got, and before he could even move a muscle, he felt his arm being grabbed and his entire body lifted off the ground. What followed was arguably worse than that as his body was spun around like on a carousel before he was flung at the Corrupted with just enough time to ready himself for a punch.

Kicking up a dust cloud and accompanied by the sound of crystals cracking Gaia slammed right into the side of the Corrupted, knocking her off the ground. However, while it left the Corrupted injured and vulnerable, she wasn’t the only one that was left in a compromised position. Gaia was still feeling dizzy from the whole thing, stumbling around next to the beast, not able to react when she turned around, her horn glowing and pointed directly at him.

When she unleashed her attack, dust and clouds were kicked off as a beam of pure magic was directed at him, ripping apart everything in his path. But through the blinding purple light of the attack, something suddenly appeared in front of him, something with a blue glow to it. Already resigning himself to whatever pain awaited him, he barely managed to raise his hands in front of him, closing his eyes and awaiting the inevitable.

But instead of unimaginable pain, he felt… nothing. The light flashed in front of his closed eyes for a few more seconds before it faded, the young Rider daring to open them after a few more seconds. The street had been torn to shreds, concrete having been ripped off the ground, but it had skipped the area around him, like an island in the ocean. The confusion was running through his mind before his eyes focused on something in front of him. No, someone. Standing before him stood Emerald, her armor charred and burned, cracks covering the integrate designs. But still, she stood firm, her arms crossed in front of her, the claws of her Sphynx form having partially protected her from the Corrupted's wrath.

“Are… Are you ok?” She asked, her voice weak, but he could still hear that tenacity she had shown earlier.

“Ye...Yeah, but… you?” Timber simply returned, staring at her.

“Just a flesh wound!” Emerald grimaced, letting her arms fall to her side. “But right now we have to end this once and for all!” Gaia just nodded, the girls having heard her as well.

The Corrupted was roaring once again at them, ready to attack once again only for a red light to hit him, followed by a purple and cyan only to form into a seven-colored rainbow that formed into what could only be described as a ribbon that wrapped around Adagio who let out screams of anguish as she felt the magical bindings around her. The seven girls were hovering around her, giving it their all to fight against the creature. Monster just nodded to Gaia before opening her Driver and shutting it close again.

\ ROAR: CHIMERA! /

Both Rider ran toward their target before jumping into the air, making a frontflip and straightening out, their foots pointing towards the Corrupted. All six of her beasts emerged from each part of the armor only to gather in her foot, letting it glow in bright white light, all while Gaia’s foot simply started to glow in bright green. Aiming for the place Gaia hat injured the Corrupted before both rocketed towards the Corrupted, smashing into her and dragging her across the ground, her armor slowly being chipped away before both broke through her, letting Adagio exploded behind them.

“You! You… You damn…” Adagio growled at them, still standing, not even noticing that her body started to disappear. “You ruined everything! Everything! I will…” She raised her hand only to see that it was slowly turning into dust. “What? What is happening?” The terror was etched into her face, staring in shock at her hands and then down her entire fading body.

“We tried to warn you...” was all Sunset could return, her voice low as she stared towards the ground, the rest of her friends doing mostly the same, minus Fluttershy crying.

“Help me! Help! Please!” Adagio’s screams echoed through the streets, her body fading more and more, her last scream accompanied by fear and desperation in her eyes and a weak last: “Help…” For a moment, the world went silent only for the sound of the Friendship Disc falling onto the ground where Adagio had just stood, no one daring to say a word.

thump

The sound suddenly interrupting the silence, all eyes immediately snapping back around and at a bloody and beaten body on the ground. “Emerald!”

--------------<

\ 100, 150, 200! OVER CHARGE! /

Charge was zooming across the battlefield, letting her rifle fire at Checkbook at every opportunity, leaving dent after dent in his armor, but that was all, dents. Nothing more substantial, the Corrupted still looked like he was no worse for wear. Hovering over her like there was nothing that could hurt him. She could hear his satisfied canceling as he threw another barrage of blades at her, turning the building behind her into a ruin that collapsed in on itself.

“So, was that all? I’m kinda disappointed. If this was all, you can put out you will never beat me. It seems like your little Ivory couldn’t match the power of a Corrupted. But your technology was never the reason we worked with your mother in the first place,” he said with a condescending undertone.

“Don’t dare to even mention my mother with your filthy mouth, you criminal!” She barked back, letting out another rush of projectiles Checkbook more or less dodged by flying through the hail of projectiles, only a few grazing his armor before he landed in front of Ocean.

“Oh? Hit a sore point there? The shame on the family name? The traitors head of the MRG? The one that betrayed all you stand for? The one you killed in cold blood? You mean her?” The delight he took in tormenting Ocean was disturbing, especially missed in with that underlying glee in his voice.

“Yes, her! But not because of what she did with you, but because of what she did for me and the MRG. She might have had her faults and failures. I’m disgusted with everything she has done, trying to take over the country, but she still told me so much about what it means to be an agent and protector of the people. She might have gone too far, but everything she taught me still holds value, at least for me! And I will use all of this knowledge to protect the world and forge my own legacy! That is something Phoenix taught me! I’ll forge my own path with what have others done before me! And you don’t deserve to talk about her, someone without whom I never would be here!” Ocean returned her voice determined and firm, much to Checkbooks delight. His deafening laughter echoed through the streets like thunder, only dwarfed by the sounds of the sky breaking apart over them.

That was until everything behind the Corrupted was lit in bright light followed by explosions that rocked the entire street, pushing him right towards Ocean who, with a smirk behind her helmet, rushed towards him. Before she was even really off the ground she could feel the yets all over her body to spark to life, and before she could even think about it all of them were firing on all cylinders, pushing her forward, her foot extended towards him. The sound of cracking armor accompanied her foot crashing into him, all while still being pushed forward, leaving him hanging in the air for a few seconds before Ocean finally managed to push through the explosions and sent him flying into the next building.

The sound of the building collapsing over him was soon overshadowed by the screaming of Checkbook: “You think that this was it? That you would have just won? I can’t afford to lose here! And I won’t be beaten by a loose end like you! When all of this is done, I will finally get the promotion I so rightfully deserve!” As he roared, one could see the blinding light shimmering through the debris, a claw bursting through the rubble like it was nothing. Within seconds something monstrous emerged from the ruins of the building. It stood on two hoofed hindlegs, its body was covered in blades, and the two wings had grown immensely in size. Two hulking fists had replaced the slick forms from before, and his head had taken on a far more horse-like shape.

With a loud roar, the Corrupted burst free from the remaining rubble around him and stormed towards her, leaving massive footprints in the asphalt below him, the ground rumbling beneath every step. Ocean stares at the monstrosity that was coming her way for a moment before shaking her head, aiming right at the glowing red eyes of her opponent. She was just about to pull the trigger when blades grow out of Checkbook’s body before the suddenly shoot at her, landing all around her and one even impaling itself deep in her gun.

Being knocked back by the force of the projectile, she crashed into one of the cars parked on the sidewalk. Her entire body was arching, this would probably leave behind a few bruises were her thoughts as she looked down at her rifle. To her horror, she noticed the blade sticking in it, having pierced right through the weapon which now had started to spark and heat up. Without even thinking any longer, she immediately threw the gun directly at Checkbook, the moment the device hit him exploding, not that it left much more than a dent in his armor.

The raging beast stormed forward, charge only barely able to jump out of the way in the last second, her body making this far from easy for her, arching the entire way through. Checkbook absolutely demolished the car like it was nothing as he stomped over it and right into the next building. He was like an avalanche with feet.

Taking a deep breath the Rider dashed forward again, Checkbook turning around once again, his glowing red eyes immediately locking onto the blue blur that was heading his way and with a loud roar brought down his fist. The attack left behind a massive crater, the concrete of the street had been cracked as far as the eye could reach, but what was missing was the Rider under it. Instead, she rocketed up, right towards his chest, the engines on her right arm starting to glow.

Moments later the entire street was covered in mist and only the bright red glow of multiple engines shined through it. She had slammed her fist right into his chest, all of the engines on the arm firing on all cylinders and by extension covering the street in the smoke, accompanied by the agonizing screams of both Ocean and Checkbook.

The pain was almost unbearable, her arm felt like it was being cooked alive, but she wasn’t done yet. No, she had to keep firing, even if the pain was mindnumbing. Not even her sensors were able to give her any kind of picture of the situation, only smoke and the glowing exist of her engines.

That was until something in front of her started to become visible, the glow of melting metal. Things were finally getting to where she wanted them to go, the armor of the Corrupted slowly beginning to groan and bend inwards, accompanied by the screeches of the beast. Just a little longer and she-

Her thoughts were interrupted when something pushed through the smoke, pushing it away only for that thing to hit her, slamming into her left side. It felt like a truck was in the process of hitting her, the pain from her right arm was quickly forced into the background, instead replaced by the feeling of pure agony. She could have sworn that she heard the sound of something cracking, but that was quickly drowned out by the sounds of breaking rocks and concrete as her limp body was slammed into the ground once again.

Ever little bit of her body was hurting, beaten and bruised she laid in the crater she had just been punched into. The thought of just laying down and letting it all end was a tempting one right about now. Just let him finish this already and let the pain end…

No! Gritting her teeth, she slammed her broken fist on the ground, the pain surging through her body, but right now she just didn't care, slowly rising off the ground, ignoring the pain in every bone in her body. Checkbook however also wasn’t just sitting around and doing nothing, no her let out a thunderous roar and stormed forward, the glowing mark on his chest still visible.

“This is where this fight ends, and I’ll make sure to correct the mistakes my mother has made! And I’ll start with you, and I won’t rest until I restored what our family name stood for, no matter the cost!” And with the ground shaking beneath her she once again spun the cylinder on her Driver.

\ Maximum Charge! /

Taking one last, breath, she dashed forward with her superspeed before jumping towards her opponent, the engines on her back springing to life once again and rocketing her towards him, all while the gem on her chest started to glow. With inhuman speed, she crashed into Checkbook, right where she had heated up the armor beforehand. With every passing moment, she pressed against the metal of the armor her screams grew louder and louder, the metal bending and groaning under her until…

With one last scream, she broke through, coming to a screeching halt behind the Corrupted as he exploded, leaving behind Checkbook and the amulet.

“Not bad. Better than expected,” he weakly chuckled, looking down at his own body, already knowing what would follow next.

Ocean turned around, holding her arm as she returned, her voice filled with exhaustion: “You are taking this surprisingly well. No last minute rants? I actually would have expected something like this.”

The fading Checkbook returned, a twisted smile creeping across his lips: “Tsk. Don’t be mistaken, I’m just at ease because I know that your days on this planet are numbered. While I’m disappointed that I can’t deal with you myself, the ‘Circle’ never forgets! Cherish these moments that you still have, because they won’t be disrespected. Remember that.” With that and chilling laughter, he faded from reality, leaving the Rider behind.

Ocean finally felt like she could relax and take a small breather before- That when the pain and everything flooded back into her, letting her sink to the ground with a loud scream. Her body was burning, from her arm to the broken counterpart, her entire body was in agony. “Seems this is the end of the line for me. Now everything is on you Phoenix. I know you won’t disappoint me,” she weakly chuckled, the sky once again rocked with the appearance of yet another city.

--------------<

Like a truck, he ramed again into him with his shoulder before letting his axes dance across his body and cut right through his armor before he kicked him away. For the last two minutes, Alkahest had just wailed on him, canceling any attempt he had made to use his magic, and he showed no sign of slowing down. His body was plastered with new wounds and bruises, his opponent once again running straight at him.

Once again, he took a deep breath and ran forward, his gun aimed at his opponent. Alkahest already raised his hand, reading his weapon in his other hand as he dashed at him, like before his gun refused to fire as he pulled the trigger. But in the very last second Alchemy jumped to the side, just barely dodging the swipe of his opponent, taking a role before turning around to face Platinum again. But on a second look, something had changed, the Disc on his Driver had changed.

Under his helmet, Platinum's eye twitched a bit, and with an annoyed growl, he rushed forward, ready to strike him down before he had any chance to turn the tides in this battle, throwing both axes towards him, soaring through the air with inhuman speed. Phoenix, however, was not about to let it end like this, putting his hands on the disc and spun it with a loud roar.

\ HEUREKA! /

The axes slammed against the whirlwind, both being flung to the side, embedding themselves in the ground while Alchemy burst out from the magical energy. Just moments after his helmet had emerged from the whirlwind he already raced over to Alkahest, jumping at him with his fist ready to be bash into his face.

But to his dismay the Dark Rider managed to grab his fist with his own hand, stopping him right in front of him, only able to lightly push him back. Not about to just stop he didn’t even think for a second before slamming his other fist right at him, only for it to be caught just like the first one.

With a slight chuckle, Alkahest pulled the Rider off the ground before he threw him over his shoulder and right at the field. Phoenix felt the pain surge through his body as he bounced off the earth and immediately was greeted by a swift kick to his side. Everything just spun around him until the wall of the school, or at least what was still left of it stopped him, only to collapse in on him.

“You know, I’m actually kinda disappointed in you. I always thought you would understand me. That would get what I went through and why I’m doing what I’m doing now. There is just no other way!” Platinum began to talk, almost in a regretful tone as he walked over to where Alchemy had been buried, picking up one of his axes on the way. Standing over the rubble, he had buried his opponent under he took one last look at it before raising his weapon.

Like an explosion, Alchemy shot out from the debris, cementing his fist in the stomach of Alkahest, knocking him back in return. “No other way? Understanding you? What are you talking about? I’m not like you. There is no reason you could present to me that would make me agree with all of this! There is always an away!” Phoenix barked back, anger overflowing his voice before he ran towards Platinum once again.

Platinum, on the other hand, had managed to ram his fingers into the ground, slowing his flight down significantly and regaining his footing, now looking at the approaching Alchemy. “Oh, but we are!” Both their fists slammed against each other, creating a shockwave that rocked the very ground they were standing on. “We are very much alike. Men thrust into a role they never wanted in the first place. A legacy that was never one they were invested in, nothing more than pawns for someone else! I just had it worse. You could ignore it, I couldn’t. I just want to finally be free of all of this, why can’t you understand that?” He bellowed at him before throwing the next punch.

Alchemy returned just as fast, both their fists heading right for the others head, both hitting at the exact same time, only one difference, Alchemy’s fist exploded, leaving Alkahest’s helmet far more cracked than his opponents. “Oh? Why couldn’t you ignore it and I could? Tell me, I would love to hear! What was the reason you were willing to murder so many people?”

Phoenix furious screaming echoed through Platinum’s head, letting his expression change from pain to rage as he slammed his foot down once again and let his fist fly towards Alchemy’s chest with superhuman speed. “Oh? You want to know why? Fine! I’ll tell you!” Phoenix visibly jerked back as the fist embedded self his stomach, knocking the air clean out of him. “Because of that fucking amulet I wore! It’s an ancient family heirloom given to the next servant of Shadow Gold! This was a ‘present’ from my mother when she was at death's door, forcing me into his servitude! He could hurt me, let unimaginable pain surge through my body to the point where it could have killed me. I couldn’t take it off! What else was I supposed to do! I had no choice!” Platinum said, the hate and anger seething through every bit of his voice as he kicked Alchemy in the side, the Rider letting out a pained gasp for air.

With Alchemy stumbling back Alkahest could only look at him with disgust and disappointment. All this time he thought maybe he would understand, he would get it, but if he refused, he could end this cursed family feud here, once and for all.

“Bullshit!”

That was all Phoenix hissed out, letting Platinum halt in his tracks and stare at him in surprise and anger. “What?”

“You heard me! This is fucking bullshit! You had a choice. The moment you were free of the amulet, you had the chance to set things right! To actually fight back, take your life in your own hands! But you didn’t. Why?” Alchemy growled back, raising his head and glaring at him with his cracked, judging blue eyes.

With a loud roar, Platinum lunged forward, letting his fist crash into Alchemy’s helmet, making him stagger backward once again. “Because there was no chance in Tartarus that you would have won against him! I won’t throw my only shot at freedom away like that! This was the most secure way of doing this!”

He was about to follow the attack up once more with a punch to his face when Alchemy suddenly dashed forward, dodging his fist and slamming his own fist right into his stomach. Platinum letting out a pained whimper. “And here we are again with your bullshit. You are just scared and selfish! Because this way would have actually involved risk, and you just can’t do that!” Quickly pulling back his fist only to punch him once again, this time delivering a devastating uppercut that sent him flying.

“You are just a coward! You can’t fathom why we are doing what we are doing, even if the odds are insurmountable. Because for you, everything just revolves around yourself, the thought of caring for others is foreign to you! You disgust me when you try to rationalize your actions and beg for validation from me! You’re pathetic!” He spat out, glaring at the Dark Rider who just glared at him.

“Even if you would have succeeded and escaped all of this, you know what? You would have fallen into the same pitfalls time and time again because you are only out for yourself. You don’t care about others, and in the end, people would have started to come after you simply because you refuse to change. You might think this family feud is pointless, and I agree, but the thing is, you are just like Shadow Gold! You can’t let the past be, you can’t accept what has happened and grow from that! You are stuck in it and in your ways, and they will always cause you the same problems, time and time again!”

Platinum just stared at him, unable to move even a single muscle. That was when a primal scream swelled up in him before it burst out screaming at Alchemy before the Dark rider dashed forward.

“What? No witty response? No justification? Seems like I just hit the nail on the head, didn’t I?” Phoenix chuckled before he as well ran towards his opponent, his leg starting to glow in a white. Just before he jumped towards Alkahest and stretched his leg out towards him, a loud flick echoed over the battlefield.

Alkahest meanwhile had raised his hand and was about to open it only for it to refuse his commands. A cold shock went through his body as he tried again… nothing. That was when he saw what had happened to his hands, they were frozen. Before he could even do anything else, he felt the cold touch on his chest, mixed with the force of a stampeding buffalo as he was thrown back and landed against the statue. Within moments the ice on his hands and chest expanded, covering his entire body and shackling him to the statue.

“Oh? Surprised where the seals came from?” Phoenix chuckled. “And how I knew this would stop you? Simple observation. I might be an idiot, but I’m not blind. I thought you more than enough to notice that whenever you open your hands, you can cancel out our magic. So, I thought, maybe if I prevent you from using your hands I could stop your magic canceling ability. And it seems like it worked. All I had to do was place two ice seals on the inside of your hands with my first two punches, wait for the right opportunity and voila, I stopped you from turning off my magic!”

“So, this is it. Do you know why you lost? Because you are still stuck in the past, unable to move on and fix what holds you back. You could have turned this all around and helped us save our friends together, but you are selfish and a coward. You fucked up, royally! But compared to you, I know how much I fucked up and actively strive to improve myself. That is what it means to be a Kamen Rider. That is why I will keep on moving towards a bright future!” With a silent sigh, he spun the Disc on his Driver a and regretfully added: “Platinum, you used the powers that were bestowed upon you to kill, hurt and almost destroy the world. By the magic that was bestowed upon me, I deem you unworthy of your powers and will now take them from you!”

\ Philosopher Stone Maximum Power! /

Running forward, his leg being coated in the radiant energy he jumped up, his wings extending from his back and carrying him up into the air before he rocketed down, the whirlwind of gold lines forming around his leg. He came down on Alkahest like a rocket, breaking the ice around him in an instant, as well as the statue behind him, coating the entire area in bright white light.

--------------<

He felt exhausted, his body was feeling like it was completely drained of all of its energy. All his wounds and bruises finally started to show their actual intensity as they hurt all across his body. He was contempt to just lay there, that was until he heard the sound of footsteps, not just a pair, but a few instead. He finally forced his eyes to open, slow as it might have been.

He found himself again in a small alleyway boxed in by brick buildings. But the most striking thing was the… stuff in front of him. They were clad in black chitin armor, dark blue wings on their back and strange faces with a single horn as well as cold green-blue eyes. But worst of all was the clicking, the everpresent clicking these things were giving off. A few of them had long double-bladed spearlike weapons in their hands as they slowly approached him.

In an instant, his fragile calm was shattered, and he was thrown back into the fight. But instead of jumping up and striking the strange creatures down his body refused to move, instead only crying out in even more pain, all while these monsters were coming closer and closer.

Just when one of them was about to pull back his weapon and try to stab Alchemy with it when something echoed through the alley:

[SP-SP-SPEED!]

Just as the bug creatures turned around, a green explosion filled the end of the alley, quickly followed by another explosion as well as four more bugs being thrown over him, revealing his savior, a girl dressed in what looked like red spandex. Her suit was separated into red shoes followed by black sections of her legs and red ones that started in the middle of her thighs and ended around her waist, caped of by a silver belt with a star-shaped belt buckle. What followed was a black part of the suit that reached just above her breast with the rest of her torso being red as well as red gloves. The same star-shaped emblem could be seen on her belt had been placed on her chest. On her arm, one could see a grey and gold device. Her red and black helmet having a star-shaped visor and in her hand was a black blade with red handle in the shape of the star.

“Don’t fear, Shadow Force Red of the Power Rangers is here!” The girl yelled, Phoenix just looking at her in absolute confusion. “I’m here to sa-“ That was as far as she got before her voice suddenly stopped midsentence. “OH MY GOD! You are Alchemy! What are you doing here? I thought you had left the city a while back? Oh, this is so awesome, I get to save the hero of Canterlot! Do you believe that?”

Phoenix just stared at her before just letting out a defeated sigh and pointing at the monsters behind him. “Oh, right! I’ll be right on that!” She returned enthusiastically before pulling what looked like a coin out of her sword and replacing it with another one from a small box on her belt.

[ST-ST-STREGTH!]

While she had been busy with that, the bugs had stood back up again and were glaring daggers at her before rushing forward, right over Phoenix. Red didn’t waste any time and ran towards them, swinging her sword like a baseball bat she slashed right through the first one and pulled the blade back to swing it at the next creature who had drawn his weapon in front of him to block the attack. However that did not work as Red just slashed through the material, cutting him in half as well. With a loud and energetic scream, she jumped forward and pushed her sword right through the bug and through the one behind him as well.

That was when all four bugs exploded one after another, leaving only him and the girl behind in the alley. Well, that wasn’t entirely true, four other figures now stood at the entrance of the alley, arms crossed and seemingly not amused with them.

Red immediately turned around, waved her sword like a flag and screamed from the bottom of her lungs: “Hey girls! Look who I just saved! Sorry that I didn’t leave anything for you, though!”

“Oh, it’s not so bad,” the green one said with a sweet voice. “Not like we wanted some of the action anyways,” she added far more hostile

“Yeah, that was quite stupid,” the blue one added with a very emotionless voice.

“Exactly! We wanted some fun as well! Letting drones explode is always so damn cool!” The yellow figure shouted, almost bursting Phoenix’s eardrums.

“Typical of you, never leaving us something to do,” pink hissed at her.

“Ok, ok, I’m sorry, but come on, girls! Alchemy and Drone-butt to kick? How could I not? That is totally awesome!” Red returned, almost forgetting to breathe over her fangirling. All while Alchemy was suddenly glowing once again, something the girls didn’t notice over there arguing, all besides Blue who saw him disappear as soon as he had appeared.

“He is gone,” was all Blue said, much to the confusion of the rest of them who just looked at where the Rider had only been seconds ago.

--------------<

And before he knew it, he was back in front of the school. The sun was finally starting to come up, bathing the city in its light, it had something calm and soothing to it. The silence around them just added to that. That was when Phoenix snapped back to reality, whatever this was, he had no time to dwell on it. He managed to pull himself up enough that he could see what was around him. The first thing that came into view was the ruins of the school, their fight had definitely left its marks. Then it hit him, the sky, the sky was normal once again, just the red of the morning. And lastly, Platinum, he laid next to him, his Driver having been knocked off him and he had fallen into unconsciousness.

A wave of relief washed over him, he had done it. He had won. The fight was finally over. That feeling of relief and satisfaction was utterly overwhelming, slowly taking over his body, that feeling of pure bliss, so much so that he didn’t even hear the sound of sirens in the background that were coming closer and closer.

--------------<

Two months had passed since The Battle for Canterlot. The city had slowly been rebuilding and recovering from the disaster, and much to their relief, not a single Corrupted had shown up at all since then, well not in the city at least. It was almost like things were finally getting back to normal, something that the smell of pizza only confirmed.

Thunder just pulled out the last pizza for a large table, even if he questioned the candy corn on it, he was not above fulfilling the wishes of his customers. Rolling his eyes one last time he pulled the pizza from the oven before pushing open the door and delivering the treat to a table of eight.

As he placed down the plate, the eyes of the seven Rainbooms and Timber were all on him. “And here is your order Pinkie. Hope you… like it,” he awkwardly said.

“Oh, I will Thundy,” the pink girl returned and wasted no time in starting to devour her unique food.

He was about to leave them to their meal when he heard Timber say something: “So, has he already said goodbye to you?”

Thunder’s smile quickly vanished, replaced with a far more somber one. “Yes, he did. I still can’t believe he will be gone once again. It was so much fun to have him around again. But what can you do, right?” He weakly chuckled.

“Oh Darling, don’t take it so hard. You have company after all,” Rarity cheekily returned, looking in the direction of Summer.

Thunder reacted how one would expect, getting red and stammering: “I… I don’t know what you mean!” It didn’t take long for girls to start laughing and after a few seconds even Thunder joined in on their fun.

--------------<

The warm breeze blew past her on her daily walk to his grave. It still felt somewhat unreal, but she knew it was. She had long accepted that it was real and not some illusion. Yet, every time she saw it, something pulled her through teaching. With a deep breath, Emerald placed down the flowers next to his grave.

“Hey, Pinecone. It’s me again. You know, I miss you, I really do. But you know that I tell you that every day. But I’m gonna miss you even more soon. I’ll be away for a while. Ocean offered me the chance to train my abilities as a Rider. So, I’ll be gone for two weeks next month. I know you probably wouldn’t approve of this, but I have to do this. This is just who I’m. And how would I ever protect my forest if I didn’t take it seriously,” she chuckled with a weak smile on her lips.

--------------<

The sounds of humming filled the air of the lab as Light Bulb was casually typing away at her computer sifting through the last bits of data from the Battle of Canterlot. It was a perfectly normal and peaceful day for her, well that was until someone slammed open the door, more or less storming inside.

She let out a silent sigh before looking up from her monitor and right at Shining Armor who staring at her in complete disbelieve and a piece of paper in his hands. “What is this? I know you know something about this! I just know!” He said, sounding like he had just seen an alien.

“Ah, Local Director, it’s nice to see you. So, the promotion arrived?” She cheekily returned, raveling in the feeling of superiority.

“Local Director? What is that supposed to mean? Is this a practical joke? Because, really, this can’t be real! I have no experience in anything of the sorts!” He snapped back, almost on the verge of panicking.

Light Bulb just shook her head before returning with a soft tone: “Ocean knew you would say that and so you couldn’t refuse actually already left. She said that you are by far the one most experienced with Corrupted, magic and this town. You played a part in many operations previously, far more than some senior agents. And you taking the initiative in the Battle was something she really liked. She thinks you are the best for the job, but she also said if you really don’t want to, she can find someone else.”

Shining just stared at her for a moment before he gave a resigned sigh. “No, it’s ok. If she really thinks I’m the best for the job, then it’s fin. As long as someone can show me the ropes that is. I don’t think I can do this without at least a little bit of help,” he nervously replied.

“Don’t worry, Ocean left me a binder of tips. We two will make this work. And shouldn't be too stressful a position after Alkahest has been incarcerated and the Corrupted have dispersed over the country and aren't all crammed into this city, so don't worry,” she chuckled before looking back up from her monitor again. “But before that, I need to work, so shush!”

Shing just looked at her for a moment before shaking his head and leaving the room again, letting her obsessed with her work once again.

--------------<

It was strange, looking down on the city he had called his home for the last couple of months, the city that had changed him so much. Now that it was time to leave it just kinda felt wrong, but also right at the same time.

“You are gonna miss it, won’t you?” Ocean’s soft voice asked from right next to him as she was holding his hand.

“Of course, I will. You as well? I know it was just one of many city's for you, but it definitely has a lot of memories, am I right?” Pheonix returned, not breaking away from his look at the city.

“Just one of many? You’re funny. It’s the city I became a Kamen Rider in, I lost my mother and found you. So really, this place will always be special. Will be weird to leave it behind, but I’ll always keep a piece of it close to me,” she chuckled in return, but he didn’t miss the serious undertone.

“Oh, and that would be?”

“You of course,” she said, blushing lightly and letting her head rest on his shoulder.

“You know you can be really sappy sometimes, right?” He returned while trying to hold back his own chuckle.

“Comes with the job really. And trust me, you had your hand in this as well,” she smirked back, her cheeks getting redder by the second. “Now, want to push the sappiness into next level?”

Phoenix just looked at her, his orange cheeks taking on a far more reddish tone before he smirked: “Oh, you know I want to. And I think I know exactly how to do that.” He turned around, finally letting his eyes stray from the city and right into her eyes. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” she simply returned before they shared one last kiss in front of the city that meant so much for them, the warmth of the sunset, their memories, and the kiss mixed together, creating an unforgettable experience.

After what felt like an eternity, they had to separate again. “Now come, Agent feather, we don’t want to be late, right?”

Phoenix just shook his head in amusement and added: “Oh, don’t worry Agent Skies, we won’t.”

With that, both turned around and mounted their bikes, the roaring of the engine fitting perfectly into the sunset as it echoed through the scenery. With a last nod to the city they finally started letting their bikes drive off towards the sunset, they had a long way in front of them after all, and this was just the beginning.

--------------<

Not too far away, an old man dressed in a long blue robe with stars all over it, a beard and what looked like a magicians hat looked after the two Riders riding off into the sunset with a worried expression on his face. “So the Age of Slumber truly ends. Now, the question is, will this new age be an Age of Heroes or an Age of Destruction?”

Author's Note

Thank you all so very, very much for sticking with me for all of this story, it really means a lot to me.

Now, I would love to hear your opinions. What worked, what didn't, and what could I improve in my next story? Please tell me!

And as a small little tease for my next story "Power Rangers Shadow Force" I'll show you the cover made by Malunis :

See you soon!

The Fruits of Hard Work - Appearances can be Deceiving

Three days had passed since the most recent monster attack, time that had not been wasted. While Phoenix had suffered through Ocean’s brutal training, leaving him quite exhausted Ivory had been working on something she had put him up too. Now that he apparently finished his work he had called the two Riders in. To Phoenix'ssurprise, he had actually waited for them at the door, with a mixture of excitement and worry. This behavior continued as they followed the scientist towards his personal laboratory, a room filled to the brim with strange machines and lab equipment Phoenix could not identify for the life of him, Ivory being extraordinarily hasty and nervous the entire way there.

After they had finally reached he basically shoved them inside, looked around for one last time and slammed the door shut behind him. Something Phoenix was not too pleased with. “You know we have ears and legs? And shocker, we are actually capable of using them,” he groaned back at the stressed out scientist.

Ivory shoots him a glare that would have shut up anyone and directly countered: “I have no time for this right now. So please, just shut up and listen.” Every word he spoke was filled to the brim with annoyance, and his look rounded it up perfectly. He had never seen the man in such a foul mode. As he was about to speak up again, Ocean subtlety nudged him in the side and just shook her head, letting him sigh in defeat.

“So, since we are done with this pointless conversation can we please get back to what we came here for in the first place?” Not even waiting for any kind of answer he hastily walked over to one of the tables in the lab and picked up a small orange rock on a chain, something Phoenix recognized quite fast. “This is A-5T31N, an artifact we found one year ago in an old mine in the Midwest. It can let the user enlarge the chain and stone and swing them around like nothing. It also allows the user to control the earth around the impact point, a class four artifact.”

“Wait, wait, what do you mean with found in a mine? We got that thing from a Corrupted, so how does that work?” He asked slightly confused while rubbing the back of his head.

With a heavy sigh, Ivory continued: “I was getting to that. If you would let me finish, I could tell you. And this should also look familiar to you,” he pointed at two pictures he had pinned on a whiteboard. The first one was a picture of a blue claw necklace, the same one that had been destroyed days prior and the second one was another necklace, this time one in the dark blue and in the form of a seashell.

“This- how is this possible? Both of them were destroyed, how are there pictures of them,” his confusion was only growing bigger with every passing second he stared at the pictures that shouldn’t exist.

“Phoenix, I told you that the seashell was once in the hands of the MRG. Did you forget that?” Ocean asked him in a mix of annoyance and worried, quite the odd combo if he thought so himself.

“Ah, probably,” Phoenix sheepishly grinned back, trying his best to avoid eye contact with anyone in the room.

Ivory quietly muttered “Stupid insomniac,” under his breath and quickly continued with his findings. “Since some of us apparently are not up to speed when it comes to the artifacts I think I’ll explain it again. These two are the artifacts A-CR4L3 and A-54LL3; both of them class four artifacts as well.”

His streak of confusion just continued, and he gained two somewhat miffed looks from the two as he asked: “Class four? What’s that?”

“Right, of course, you don’t know. I’ll make this short. We separate magical artifacts into five different classes. Class five artifacts are in general rather weak and unrefined. Most of the time they are just chunks of magical energy in a common object. Most of the powers gained from them are quite basic.”

“So, the ones on normal Corrupted?” He slowly replied, his brain trying its hardest to understand what Ivory was explaining to him.

He just nodded. “Class four artifacts are ones that were created with a bit more finesse and actually planning. The art of creating something like this has long been lost to history, so all of them are from the past. Until now those only appeared on the members of Tartarus, or just lost in all manner of places.”

“And these were Fifteen, Seventeen and Eighteen. All of them had class four artifacts,” Ocean added, her forehead covered in wrinkles as she looked over to the pictures.

“Exactly, but back to the topic at hand, class three are relics that were crafted with extremely high skill. Your Magic Discs and the Charge Stone fall under this category.” Ivory added, his voice had slowly calmed down again, and he had returned to his usual smug tone as he explained Phoenix everything he wanted to know.

“Wait, so I could turn into a Corrupted if I use them?” He asked somewhat taken aback by the statement and looked rather shocked at Ivory.

“Sure, if you use just the Disc, but with the Driver, you just bypass that. So, don’t worry. Now back to class two artifacts. More powerful and, so powerful and rare that we have not seen more than a handful of them in all of the years the MRG was active. And lastly the class one artifacts. We only have one recorded incident of one, and we weren’t even present when it was active, but it was in this town around autumn last year. You heard of the incident at CHS at that time?” Phoenix nodding in return.

“Good, then we can return to what we actually wanted to talk about. All there of these relics were once in possession of the MRG and after a bit of investigating I can safely say they are not anymore. They went missing, and we have no idea who took them,” his voice grew tenser with every word he spoke, shortly glazing over to a less than pleased Ocean who was gritting her teeth.

“Ok, you don’t know who took them? Shouldn’t there be something like a list of who took what, when?” He interrupted Ivory again, much to the annoyance of the scientist.

He was about to reply as he was interrupted again by a new voice, rough and raspy, but still in a strange way comforting and warm. “Well, there actually is. Sadly, our thief didn’t think it was necessary to write down his name. Add to that that all footage of the time of the theft is mysteriously missing and we don’t have many leads.” Everyone in the room suddenly spun their heads around to see the new arrival. A man was towering over them right at the door. His frame was enormous and muscular and all that crammed into a suit that looked slightly too small for him, nearly bursting under his muscles. His skin had a dark greyish tone to it, and his short military cut hair had a black tint.

“I- I- I'm glad to see you Mr. Onyx Gleam, but what are you doing here? We didn’t do anything wrong did we?” Ocean was the first to break the silence, her voice shifting from surprise to delight to fear in the span of seconds, something that just earned her a genuine laugh from the man.

“Oh, Ocean, how many times do I need to tell to just call me Onyx? I’m not your mother, it just sounds wired otherwise. And far from it, you are doing remarkably well, trust me. No, the one that did something wrong was the thief. Stealing from the MRG never works out. Still, that someone could steal something right under our noses and no one even notices it does make me nervous,” his voice boomed through the room, letting everyone just stare at him not knowing how to react to him.

“Excuse me, but who is that?” Phoenix asked, his face covered in a confused expression.

Ocean hissed at him a quietly as possible: “Phoenix! Watch your manners. That is Onyx Gleam, the head of internal affairs in the MRG. I don’t want another situation like with the director, so behave yourself, capiche?” The look she shoots him was terrifying.

In return Onyx just laughed again. “Oh, Ocean. Don’t be so hard on the kid. You have to be Kamen Rider Alchemy if I’m not mistaken.” While he spoke, he slowly walked closer to Phoenix, something he was not entirely comfortable with. As he stood next to him a quick on his shoulder, let the Rider nearly tumble towards the floor as Onyx continued: “By the way, good job kid. Wished I had powers like yours.”

Phoenix was meanwhile rubbing his shoulder and just replied a slightly unsure: “Thanks?”

What followed was another ear-bursting laugh from Onyx. “I like you kid! Hey Ocean, I think that one would make a good boyfriend for you, don’t you think?” Both of them immediately turned crimson and stared at the man in complete embarrassment.

“Would you stop that?” Ocean managed to force out of her ever brighter turning lips.

In response, Onyx simply continued to laugh: “Ah, I see it’s as easy to get you flustered as always. I like that about you. You are not as cold as a rock like your mother, you are still vulnerable. Makes you way more fun to be around.”

“Sir, please!” She hissed back at him, her cheeks still as red as a burning building.

“Yeah, yeah, I get it. I’ll stop. So, what were we talking about again?”

Phoenix gave a quick glance over to Ocean and quietly asked: “Yeah, how is this guy so high up in the MRG?”

She slyly replied with a devilish smirk on her lips: “And how did you become a Kamen Rider?”

“Wow, that cut deep. But not wrong.”

“Well, you can believe what you want, but this man here was once one that went out there and dealt with the worst kind of stuff. That one time I was fighting against some crazy old lady that had found an old ring that turned everything she looked at into chickens. Took me two weeks to finally get the drop on her. And I had no handy-dandy armor like you kids. No, we did it old school. Not that anything you two do is in any way lesser.” He had stepped right behind them and had apparently heard every word the two had said. As he laid his hands on both of their shoulders, they immediately froze in place, hoping he wouldn’t be mad at them. “But, I can see where you are coming from. I’m not really what you expect from someone in my position, I give you that.” And like always he ended his sentence with a loud laugh, as unexpected as it might be. “Oh, right, now I remember! Our little thief in the MRG.”

This was enough to break Ocean out of her embarrassment and stare at him in shock. “What do you mean with a thief in the MRG? That is ridiculous. No one that could pull off something like that would even think about that!”

A weak smile appeared on Onyx lips for a moment but was quickly replaced by a more somber expression. “Believe me, kid, it means a lot to me that you believe that, but not everyone is as loyal to the MRG as you are. Money and power are some things only a few can withstand the temptation of. If everyone were like you kid, my department wouldn’t even exist. But, sadly that is not the case. And I already have a few suspects that I’m investigating. After I found out that you stumbled across some of the missing relics I just had to come here. This could be the breakthrough I was looking for.”

“And who might these suspects be that you have in mind? If I may ask?” To nearly everyone surprise it was Phoenix to ask this question, gaining shocked looks from Ocean and Ivory. Onyx on the other hand just smiled back at him.

“Sure, you can’t really help me if you don’t know who I’m suspecting. Well, the answer is rather cut and dry. Only five people could have pulled off a stunt like this. Myself, the three local heads of the MRG, the head of the Manehattan, Seaddle, and Whinneapolis department and of course our director.”

He couldn’t even really finish his last sentence as he was interrupted by an enraged Ocean: “What!? Not a single one of them would ever do that. I don’t believe it for even a second. Phoenix!” With that, she grabbed the surprised man and yanked him out of the room, right behind the angry agent. “There was something I wanted to investigate anyway,” she grumbled, not even slowing down for a second.

“Well, that could have gone better,” Onyx said quite puzzled.

“Don’t worry, she’ll come around eventually. Let her blow off some steam, and she’ll listen to you. She is not stupid enough to ignore this even if she doesn't want to think about it,” Ivory casually replied, sitting down on his desk and starting to tip something on the computer.

“Probably. Hey, I still have some questions for you, so if that wouldn’t be a problem-“

“Sure, I’m all yours. Just ask away,” he replied somewhat distractedly.

“Great, so then, let’s start.”

--------------<

While these two were discussing essential details, Phoenix had been shoved out of the building and right into Oceans car, who had promptly slammed the door shut behind him. It didn’t take long before they had started moving. “Seriously Ocean, you could have just asked. I would have just followed you, no need to get so pushy.” She simply remained with her eyes on the road and didn’t even give the slightest hint of a response. “Wow, so bad? I know you believe allot in the MRG, but this is even beyond my wildest dreams.”

This was enough to finally get her attention. “Stupid Onyx and his stupid arguments. These four people have sacrificed so much for the MRG, it is ridiculous that one of them could have even thought about betraying us. It is just- just so wrong.” The entire time she was angry raving on about all that had just transpired her driving style grew more and more reckless.

“Ocean, I get that you don’t believe it, but can you give me any other explanation how someone could pull of a heist like this?” The moment he finished an angry glare struck him.

“Magic, it has to be magic. There is no other way!” She simply huffed back.

“Aha, magic. Inside a vault for magical artifacts for an organization that is extremely experienced with dealing with magical artifacts. Sure.”

This left Ocean speechless for a moment, gasping desperately for words where there weren’t any. “I- You know- It has to be- Magic!” The last word was basically spat out at him and contained pure desperation and bitterness.

“I take this as an ‘I don’t know’ then. But to get to something hopefully more pleasant. Why did you drag me into your car anyway?”

As he spoke Ocean visibly relaxed and her grip on the steering wheel lessened immensely. “Thanks. Well, we received magical energy readings from a small shopping district of the city. Nothing major, we just assumed it was background notice the first one to three times it appeared, wouldn’t be the first time that this would have happened in this city. But after the readings became more frequent, we couldn’t really say that anymore. The readings are still not strong enough to be anything other than a relic being used normally, so, for now, no sign of any Corrupted. This might actually be a relaxing job for you.” Oceans tone noticeably shifted the longer she talked, from anger and frustration she slowly transitioned to her usually calculating and confident demeanor.

“Knowing our luck we will get jumped by an army of Remnants and at least two Corrupted. By the way, shouldn’t there be some of those flying around after our fight with Blady? We haven’t seen those. You think they got scared and are hiding from us,” he jokingly asked his partner.

“Well, knowing our luck, no. They are just waiting to strike at the best moment.”

“Probably. Why can’t anything be just easy for once? Oh well, we can only hope, right? By the way, you do know where exactly the energy thing is coming from, do you?” He asked while raising one eyebrow.

“I know the that it is in a radius of five hundred meters, roughly,” she casually replied. “Actually a tiny radius and in the city no less. Most of the time we have a twenty-kilometer radius in uncharted land, more or less uncharted. That takes forever.”

Phoenix quietly sighed in return and let his head sink into his hands as they continued to drive towards their destination.

--------------<

The sun was starting to lower over the horizon and slowly creeping towards the rove of the skyscrapers in the distance as the two were still walking through the streets and from shop to shop. Phoenix felt exhausted, his legs had grown tired, and his thought had practically dried out. He was slowly dragging his body along, right after Ocean, who to his surprise also showed signs of fatigue, sweat was running down her forehead, and a lot of her usual energy was gone, replaced by slower, more sluggish movements.

“Seriously Ocean, we have been searching for hours and still haven’t found anything. This plan is stupid,” he sighed in annoyance.

“Oh, then give me a better one. I’m willing to listen.” And just as expected Phoenix stayed as silent as the last ten times, he had complained. “See, and come on, we only have this street to go throw until we can call it a day. Four shops that is all. So quit complaining and get moving,” she jokingly continued, her partner just groaning in return.

The next stop on their trip was a shop with an orange exterior and a large blue and gold shield above the entrance that read: “The Flim Flam Brothers Everything Under The Sun Emporium.” Looking through the windows, one could see a collection of random junk and collectibles and judge from that it was some sort of pawnshop. But what catches Phoenix attention way more than another stupid shop in which they undoubtedly woulöd waste their time were two people that seemed to be heading towards the shop.

He knew them, the first one was Sunset, and the other one with a small carton under her arm was Applejack if his memory was right. They were chatting and seemingly didn’t notice him and Ocean as they continued to make their way towards the entrance.

“I still don’t think that is such a good idea AJ, especially after what these two tried to pull last time we were here,” he heard Sunset speak, in a somewhat unsure tone.

“Ah, don’t worry, Ah don’t want to sell anything, just want to know the price. And if they are not telling us the truth, ya just have to touch them once, and we know what they truly think,” AJ casually replied, her friend not looking so convinced, however.

“Hopefully you don’t mean with your geode, because I’m quite sure this would mean abusing its power,” Ocean sarcastically interrupted their conversation. Something that let the two girls snap out of their discussion looking in shook at Ocean who in return just chuckled a little and smiled back at them only to relax again after they had seen who was talking to them.

“Oh, it’s only you Ocean,” Sunset quickly replied in a mixture of calm and still partly shocked voice.

“That still doesn’t answer my question, however. What do you want to use that thing for? I hope it is not something illegal.”

“Does reading the minds of two well-known con artist to find out what something is really worth and not just the lousy prices they would offer you count as illegal.”

“Ah, oh well, I think that scratches the line but does not cross it, barely. But I’ll keep an eye on you. So, why do you think they are going to scam you? Just a hunch or something happened between you two?”

“Well, tha tried to rip us off after Grany Smith accidentally sold them ma bass for two dollars and we could prove that that was ma bass they wanted to sell it back for one thousand dollars. Ah only got the thing back because Ah could prove that Ah could play it and even after that Ah had to work as a banana mascot for them. That was embarrassing,” she sighed as her cheeks turned a slight shade of red while Sunset silently chuckled as inconspicuous as possible.

“So, if you know that they are going to scam you, why even go here? Aren’t there more pawn shops in the city?” This time it was Phoenix who asked the two, stepping out from behind Ocean and casually waving at the two.

“Oh, hey Phoenix, Ah didn’t see you there. What are you doing here?” AJ asked him, slightly surprised.

“Just tagging along on her shopping trip for a while, a long while,” that comment let the two girls looked at each other with a look that was quite unnerving for him. Shortly after that, they started to giggle a bit. “What?”

“Oh, nothing,” Sunset quickly added, a bright smile still on her lips. “But didn’t you want to know why we went here? Well, AJ wanted to buy her brother a present, and since he is going to be on a trip for a week, she tried to hold a garage sale and use the money from that to buy the present. And for that, she wants to get the opinion of someone who knows what these are worth to sell them for a reasonable price. And these two are in her opinion the best for this since she doesn’t want to sell them to them, but to people that could use the things.”

“Ah, ok. If you say so. Makes sense, I guess. We’ll be careful if you say that the two who run this shop are really that big scam artist like you say. Let’s hope that Ocean is bright enough to not fall for them.”

“I wouldn’t worry about that, you, on the other hand, should just leave the talking to me, just to be sure,” she slyly replied, looking at him with a look that said everything he needed to know.

“Yeah, yeah, I got the message, you don’t need to rub it in,” he deadpanned back at her. Meanwhile, the two girls had started to chuckle again. “Yeah, yeah, very funny, I get it.”

“Oh, come on Phoenix, I’m sure she doesn’t really mean it that way,” Sunset tried to comfort him, Ocean just waggly shock her hand in response, something that let him smirk a bit.

“Ah, it really doesn’t matter now does it, why don’t we go inside and not waste any more time here?” He casually continued and was the first to grab hold of the door handle and swung it open with an expected ringing from a bell. The inside of the shop was filled with all sorts of random assessments, some would probably call it junk, but everything could be useful in some way, at least that was what he thought, but this was really scratching it. From tubas to old child's toys to some stuff he couldn’t even correctly define nearly everything one could imagine landing in a pawn shop was here.

Seemingly out of nowhere two-man appeared right in front of them in some rather strange clothing. They both wore striped blue and white shirts with also white trousers. Both had a black bow tie, and an apple pin, at least these were different from one another. Their skin was yellow, and their hair was a mixture of white and red. The only other difference one could make out between the two was that one had a mustache. They both nearly yelled at the four customers in unison: “Welcome to the ‘Flim Flam Brothers Everything Under The Sun Emporium’.”

“How can we,” the one without the mustache begun.

“be of any help to you?” As they spoke they stretched out their arms with an enthusiasm that was just uncanny.

But as they opened their eyes and saw two of their supposed customers their bright and cheerful expression disappeared in a heartbeat. “Oh, it’s you. What do you want? We didn’t buy anything from your Grany Smith this time,”

“so what do you want? Want your job as mascot back or what?” Both looked at each other and started to giggle. Meanwhile, AJ looked at them with a look that perfectly encapsulated what she was thinking, and it wasn’t anything to positive. “Ok, that isn’t, so what do you want girl?”

“Ah wanted to know how much this stuff is worth,” and with that, she pulled out the carton she had been caring under her arms for the entire time and set it down on the counter of the shop, the two brothers immediately walking over to it and opened the decently sized box. Their first reaction was one of intense wonder and suspicion only to turn around and to the four of them.

“Well, we can’t really say how much we are willing to pay for this right now.”

“But if you would follow me to the back room we can discuss this more furrowly,” finished the other brother, the one with the mustache.

AJ glanced over to Sunset for a moment who just nodded in return, and the three walked towards the door at the end of the room, disappearing from sight and leaving Phoenix and Ocean behind with the other brother.

“So, since Flam is busy with our other customers, how can I help you so you can help me?” Before any of them could even answer, he had already zoomed off towards one of the piles of “treasures” they were selling here. “Want something to dazzle your girlfriend here?” He grabbed one of the guitars laying around and held it out to Phoenix, he and Ocean in return just shook with their heads, all while their checks turned a bright shade of red.

“Ok, no problem. How about a lovely painting to spice up your living room?” He pointed at a painting of what looked like the coast of Canterlot City, and if he would be honest, it was indeed quite the stunning painting.

“Ahm, no, but you could-“ Ocean tried to say only to be interrupted by the man again.

“Not the slightest of problems. How about a stunning necklace, it would look breathtaking on you young lady and-“ that was as far as he got as he was interrupted by a loud scream of Ocean, who had gotten slightly annoyed with the man.

“Enough! We are only here to look around, nothing more, nothing less, so could you please let us look around in peace?” She looked at the merchant like she was about to strangle him at any moment, something that apparently worked quite well on him since he backed off visibly as he noticed the looks that were thrown at him.

“Fine, fine. No need to get so aggressive all of a sudden. A simple no would have been enough. But if you need anything just-“ One further look from her was enough for him to quickly change subjects. “Oh, I remember, I still have to do something over at the cash register, oh how forgetful I’m sometimes. I’ll leave you to your own devices then.”

“Thank you very much,” she replied with the most innocent of voices, making Phoenix fell even more unnerved after this.

“You know you can be really scary sometimes?” he asked her in an intimate tone.

With a light chuckle, she jokingly replied “All thanks to years of training.” He just nodded, not wanting to pursue this conversation any further.

After a good five minutes, both of them were interrupted in their search for anything of magical origin by a loud crashing sound and subsequent cry from the shopkeeper. “Oh no, why? How could this happen?” As they turned around they saw what had happened, a vase had fallen from one of the shelves and now laid broken on the floor, the shopkeeper screaming bloody murder over the broken piece and how valuable it was.

It didn’t take long until Sunset and Applejack returned from the backroom to investigate where the screams were coming from. They both looked at the screaming man and slowly walked over to him, trying to calm him down. As they were halfway there, Sunset noticed that Flam hadn’t followed them, something that didn’t really felt right and she quickly turned around and walked back through the door. Moments later aloud: “What the hay?!” could be heard followed by a pained grunt only for a shape to run through the open door and storm towards the exit.

It resembled a jester in red, blue and with clothing. His entire stature was rather slim and lanky, almost like he was made entirely out of sticks. His head was covered in a jester hat with bells on it as well as a white mask that had a face painted on it with red paint. It only took seconds till it had stormed out of the door and was running across the street. Ocean was the first one to be snapped out of her state of shock and screamed to the rest. “Applejack, look how Sunset is doing. I’ll take care of our friend here!” With that she stormed off towards the exit of the store, all while pressing the button on her belt, inserting the Charger and spinning the cylinder.

\ SCANNING CHARGE! /

“Henshin!”

\ 50, 80, 100! THUNDER CHARGE! /

After her transformation had finished, she speeded after the Corrupted, leaving the rest to their own devices. AJ immediately stormed off towards the backroom while Phoenix didn’t waste any further time and ran right after her, only to quickly dive into a nearby alleyway to put on his own Driver and transform.

\ MAGIC DISC DETECTED! /

“Henshin!”

\ THUNDER DISC ACTIVATED! /

Seconds later he had joined the fight, or what nowadays passed for a fight. The Corrupted was trying his hardest to escape the two Riders, only to fail miserably. Every time it tried to run away one of the two managed to get in front of it and send the monster flying back where it had come from.

“Hey, Joker, why don’t you just give up and we can end this the peaceful way for once? You of all people should know that fighting is no laughing matter,” Alchemy jokingly asked the monster.

“That was awful! You should be ashamed of yourself,” he retorted, still staggering from the last attack.

“Aw, come on, it wasn’t that bad, now was it Charge?” She just ignored him. “Really? So bad.” A small nod was all he needed to know.

While both of them had been talking the Corrupted had secretly been gathering magical energy in his hands and now snapped once with his fingers, something that quickly returned their attention back to it only for them to turn their heads around a second time as the Corrupted suddenly stood behind them making the exact same motion. A small ball of red and blue energy emerged from its fingers and hovered right above the two Riders only to suddenly split apart and crash into the ground around them, emitting a thick fog around the two of them that covered the entire street.

“Alchemy, get over here!”

The two Riders were now leaning against each other back, trying to find any movement in the mist. They remained there for a few moments, the waiting was agonizing, every bit of movement in the fog seemingly a monster that was out to get them, only to reveal itself as nothing more than fog. Then it happened all in an instant, four identical Corrupted charged directly at them.

The first one tried to slam his fist right into Alchemy’s face, who in return quickly circled around him and kicked him in the back, the beast disappearing on impact into more mist. Charge had meanwhile dodged the two attacks that had been directed against her and taken out her Stun Batons, charging at the enemy and smacking her first baton right into the face of the Corrupted, evaporating into smoke like the first one, quickly following it up with tossing her other baton right through the eye of the monster, destroying it.

Alchemy was meanwhile busy with finishing up his last opponent. With a swift strike to the punch, he just punched through the beast, letting it evaporate like the rest. It didn’t take long for the mist around them to subside and revealing to them that their actual opponent had disappeared.

“Well, shot, that didn’t work out, but on the bright side we found our shop, didn’t we?” Alchemy casually said.

Charge sighed in return and added: “Well, it seems we have our work cut out for us. Tomorrow is going to be a busy day.”

To Catch a Star - Hello Sis

Within a day life had changed, from weird to completely insane. At the time he hadn’t thought about what might happen after everything was wrapped up and done or what might come from his decisions. But it didn’t take long. The day after he had defeated Cerberus and saved his friends his life had been turned upside down, even more so than it was already. Thankfully Ocean wasn’t really hurt and a night at the hospital was all that she needed to get back to health, and everything else would be taken care of during their next fight. But they could have never expected what happened the moment they left the hospital.

At first, it looked like they had stepped into a thunderstorm, something that shouldn’t be the case since the weather report had said that the entire week would be sunny with almost no clouds. It took Phoenix and Ocean a few minutes to realize what they got themselves into, paparazzi, dozens of them. Like hornets, they swarmed the hospital, and at first glance of Phoenix they freaked out. He could hear them screaming questions, shoving microphones in his face and generally making almost impossible to get through them.

It hadn’t taken more than fifteen seconds until he had already enough of them. Questions like: “Where are you from?” “How was your childhood?” Why did you keep your identity a secret?” or one particular blunt one: “Are you single?” This was all just too much for him, it felt like they were crushing him, one question here another there and about twenty other ones from elsewhere. As much as he kinda liked the attention at first, it was kinda charming, in a weird way, but it didn’t last long. He just wanted out at this moment, these people were like vultures and Ocean seemed to agree. She quickly grabbed hold of his arm and dragged Phoenix through the hordes of paparazzi till they reached their bikes, but they still didn’t want to give up. They were swarming them, completely cutting off every way of getting past them.

That was until Ocean let her engine roar and screamed: “If you don't get out of the way I’ll arrest you for hindering a government agent in their duty. I give you ten seconds! Ten! Nine!” The paparazzi immediately went dead silent; they stared at her in shock and confusion. “Eight! Seven! Six!” Now the chatter began, all of them quietly asking the others if she was serious. “Five! Four!” They grow louder and louder just like their speed increased as well. Several of them looked at the two Riders with a mixture of fear and anticipation. “Three! Two! One!” Ocean let the engine of her bike roar one last time, and like a miracle, a path emerged from the swarm of people. Not wasting any time both of them let their machines roar and rushed past the paparazzi that looked after them with a mixture of disappointment and relive.

The rest of the week didn’t go any better. It didn’t even take them an hour till they swarmed the Magnum Opus, at first much to Thunders delight, that however quickly changed as they just kept coming. No amount of telling them nicely that no place was available could deter them from trying to storm the restaurant. That went even so far that Thunder lost it and raised his voice. “Everyone that is just here for Phoenix, you can leave right now! I had enough of you! You don’t appreciate my cooking, you don’t care about my art, you are just hungry locusts looking for the next big scoop! So out now! I only want guest that appreciate my cooking and not that want to see my brother! And if I see you near here again you are going to regret it!” That did get their attention and with it their ire. Loud complaints were raised, and they tried to protest, much to Thunder’s annoyance.

After a bit more shouting, shoving and a broom he actually managed to get the slimy bastards out of his restaurant and even at least a few meters away from it. The customers that stayed looked at him for a moment before simply shrugging while others just let out a sigh of relief. Still, the paparazzi stayed outside, just waiting for the moment they could snack a picture of Phoenix or any other Rider. It was disgusting really.

And as the week went on it didn’t get any better. Every day Phoenix and Ocean tried to search for ivory and Alkahest they had to waste precious time on these pests. It even got so bad that Ocean didn’t even come anymore, at least in the morning and Phoenix just meet her somewhere else. Neither of them were pleased, just like Thunder who was fuming. While he was thankful for the new customers that actually stuck around thanks to his pizzas he just couldn’t stand the people that asked him about the Kamen Riders.

At the end of the week, Phoenix and Ocean finally had enough of this. At least for one day they didn’t want to deal with this annoyance, so a plan was made. Instead of fighting through the hoards of reporters and meeting up somewhere in the city they would just skip the meeting up part. Phoenix would have just to stay at Ocean’s apartment for the night. If you would ask either Thunder or Summer about the conversation, they would probably start to giggle and say something about bright re heads and awkwardness.

And so the evening came and with it an extremely nervous Phoenix. The two Riders had a long and drawn out day of looking for clues about Ivory’s or Alkahest’s whereabouts, but like before they turned up empty. Besides an explosion in the warehouse district a week ago nothing had really happened. No Corrupted attack, no Riders, no nothing. In one way they were glad that the city was peaceful, but on the other hand, it just lowered their chances to ever find Ivory. But if that what Cerberus had said was true, it meant that Alkahest had something planned for their friend, something that couldn’t be good.

So with the day coming to an end they returned to Ocean’s apartment, but left their bikes at least five hundred meters away in a Parkhouse, they really didn’t want to risk anything. Add a shoddy and trying to walk as normally as possible and you got two normal civilians that just wanted to go home. Like expected there were a few leaches in front of Ocean’s apartment. Apparently, they hoped that they would have better chances to snatch a foto there. The worst part was, they were actually correct, but luckily they didn’t know that.

Walking past them felt like operation on an open hearth. One wrong move could make everything worse for them and could cause a wave of reporters to crash down on them. The moment they stepped into their field of vision Phoenix tensed up, he could feel the eyes of them, eyeing him, looking at him with their seemingly all-knowing suspicious eyes. He hated every moment of it. His breath also started to grow infrequent and heavy, something that a few of them actually took note of and more and more eyes were diverted towards them. Still, he moved forward. He had only like ten meters between him and the door to the apartment, just a bit more.

Then it happened, one of the reporters simply stepped into his way, a bright smile that couldn’t have been faker on his lips as he asked him one question: “Sorry sir, but do you know when agent Skies might come back here? She generally comes home around this time, and we were wondering if you might now if she would come soon?”

Phoenix just froze, sweet started to pour down his forehead like a waterfall. Fighting monster? No problem, but this? What was he supposed to say? No? Yes? Tell a lie? He really didn’t know, that was always the job of others like Ocean and Thunder, but Ocean hadn’t noticed that he had been left behind and was just walking further towards the door, leaving him alone with this damned reporter and his slimy voice.

“Sir?” The reporter asked again, tilting his head in annoyance as well as confusion.

That was when Ocean finally realized that Phoenix was not right behind her, but instead in the claws of the reporter. At first, she thought the worst had come to pass, but since this was the only reporter asking him something she could safely assume that their covers had not been busted. That, however, didn’t mean that they wouldn’t be if she wouldn’t intervene before Phoenix ruined everything.

“Ember! Hey Ember, what’s taking you so long?” She huffed only to walk back to Phoenix, apparently fuming, her hands balled together to fists before she grabbed him at his color and dragged him after her, much to his confusion. “Seriously, why can’t you be less awkward around people. If you can’t talk to them just say ‘sorry, no time’ and be done with it. But no, you have to stay there and look like a complete idiot. Now come, we don’t want to miss my show,” she continued, dragging him through the door, Phoenix still so confused that he didn’t even get a single word out. A few of the reporters snickered while the on that had asked him the question just stared after him with a quiet confused expression on his face.

As the door closed behind them, Ocean let out a loud sigh and shoved Phoenix forward only to give him a light smack on the back of his head. “Owww! What was that for?”

“What was that for? Are you kidding me? You almost blew our cover, note to myself, never ever bring you along for undercover work, like ever. That the loudmouth of Kamen Riders would almost choke on his own tongue is just baffling to me,” she returned with an exhausted tone, shaking her head in defeat.

“Ahm, to be fair, you never said to me what to do,” he awkwardly chuckled only for Ocean to spin around and star right at him, her eyes looking more like the two glaring fires at this moment. “On the other hand, I’m an idiot,” he quickly added.

“More like it. But you are my idiot,” she returned with a small bump to his shoulder. “Come on, we should get going, we don’t want them to figure out who we are, right?” She continued with a far softer tone, Phoenix trotting after her with a happy nod.

The rest of the way to the apartment was a piece of cake, neither reporters nor annoying fans, just empty hallways. They definitely never valued the simple things like privacy until the whole Cerberus fiasco. The door swung open and revealed Ocean’s apartment. Everything was clean; nothing seemed out of place and oh boy the view. A large window gave him a great view of the city below them, it was mesmerizing. Then there was the couch that looked far more comfortable than the thing that he had been sleeping on for three months. This would be a great night, especially if she held up her promise about ordering pizza and a very, very special topping she had been working on. It sounded like the perfect evening, away from all the bullshit that had happened in their life in the last few weeks.

“Ok, wow. You got an eye for apartments. This looks amazing!” He finally broke the silence after he had stared at the room for at least a few seconds, receiving a chuckle from Ocean.

“Yeah, I use something that is called ‘order’, maybe you heard about it?” She slyly returned, throwing her boyfriend a taunting look.

“Yeah, heard about it, but I’m more of a chaos guy,” he sarcastically returned, raising one of his eyebrows, all while stepping into the room and letting himself down on the couch. “Oh, yes, this is great. It feels like sitting on a cloud,” Phoenix sighed while stretching himself with a loud yawn.

“Make yourself at home, not that you didn’t do that already anyway,” She looked over towards Phoenix while razing an eyebrow, he in return just sheepishly looked back at her while rubbing the back of his head. “Ah, don’t worry. I’m lenient today.” She then proceeded to sit down right next to him.

“Oh, how merciful of you, oh great queen of this apartment,” he returned, even bowing to her, getting a good laugh out of her. “So, this really didn’t turn out well for us, didn’t it?”

“No reason to complain about spilled milk and in all honesty, even if there was a better way of handling this, it doesn’t matter now. You just went with it, and I’m not complaining that you saved us, that would just be ungrateful. It’s just another challenge like any other before this, we just have to keep on moving forward, or how you would say it,” she smiled back at Phoenix.

“You really know how to wrap me around your finger, you know that?”

“Yep, and I enjoy every moment of it.”

“Yeah, I can see that. By the way, Thunder is going to a date tomorrow,” Phoenix returned with a wide grin on his lips. “They grow up so fast.”

“Oh, he does? He was even faster than you,” Ocean said, not without letting her tongue stick out for Phoenix to see.

“Hey! That’s unfair!” This was enough to get him out of his comfortable position and to almost jump up from the couch.

“Oh, but he is your younger brother, so how is it unfair?” The smirk on Oceans face just grew wider and wider with every passing second.

“You know that I hate you sometimes, right?” He grumbled while crossing his arms.

“I know, but it’s just so fun, and you aren’t that resentful anyway,” she smirked at him with that oh so innocent face of hers, Phoenix just pouted, much to the amusement of Ocean. “Who is the lucky girl then? I have a sneaking suspicion, but do tell.”

“Yeah, it’s Summer. They had a bet on our first date.”

“Oh, did they thought that we would screw it up?”

“Nope, they bet on something different. If we would kiss or not, fair to say, Summer won. That are siblings for you,” he returned while shaking his head. “Seriously, do you believe it. A friend you know since a few months has more trust in you than your own brother.”

He had expected a snarky remark or a small chuckle at least, but Ocean remained silent. As he looked over to her, he could see that her relaxed and pleasant expression had vanished, instead replaced with a sober look in her eyes. That was when it hit him. “Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t want to remind you of her,” he quickly added, almost stumbling over his own words.

“No, it’s ok. You don’t have to be so careful. I can take it,” she returned with a low voice and her eyes directed towards the floor. “On another note, where are they going? I would very much like to know that,” she continued, putting on a new smile, but something was just off about it.

But before Phoenix could answer, he heard the ringing of the doorbell. “Oh, I’ll go take that, you’ll just go to the table already, food will be there right away,” Ocean jumped up from the couch and rushed over to the door, leaving Phoenix behind. He just shrugged and did as she told, dragging himself over to the table and down on the chair. Like the rest of the apartment the table was set up properly and seemingly without even the smallest piece of dust on it, really impressive.

“Ah, there we go. Here Phoenix,” he shared from behind, and not even a moment later he saw the pizza carton being placed down right in front of him. “Be prepared to be amazed. My best creation yet. Behold: A pepperoni-extra-cheese-ham-pineapple-strawberry-wasabi-pepper-pizza. I don’t know how I could make this any better than it already is,” she smiled at him before taking of the slices for herself, Phoenix doing the same.

For any normal human, this probably would have sounded like the worst thing someone could ever eat, but Phoenix had learned that Ocean didn’t believe in such trivial stuff, she was all for experimentation and the unusual, at least when it came to food. Picking up a slice he slowly guided it to his mouth, the strange and intense smell already burning his nose, but he trusted in Ocean, so he swallowed his hesitation and with it a good bit of the pizza. And indeed, it tasted wonderful. Like a fire in his mouth, but not too much, a certain sweetness and a certain lustiness from the ham, it all mixed together so well, it was magical. “I gotta give it to you, you are a god when it comes to food, at least figuring out how it works,” he returned, a bright and satisfied smile on his lips as he spoke, the food not even properly swallowed yet.

“Oh, I know. This is great, I love it. And I’m happy that you like it too, but I have the feeling I made one mistake,” she said with a low voice while staring at the pizza in front of her.

“Huh? And what would that be? I have no complaint,” he returned rather confused.

“I should have ordered two of them, not just one,” she chuckled back. “Knowing us two, this probably won’t be enough.”

That got a good chuckle out of Phoenix as he stared at the food as well. “Yeah, come to think of it, you might be right…” He threw Ocean a challenging look. “So, who is going to eat what?”

“Oh, you want to fight over food? Try me,” she returned, a certain fire in her eyes that he really didn’t like.

“Well, I saved you, so why not give me one more slice?”

“And how often did I save or help you?” Ocean returned, picking up another slice of the deliciousness. “And what happened to your manners? Be a gentleman for once. You wouldn’t let your cute girlfriend go to bed hungry, now would you?” She gave him her most innocent and adorable puppy look.

No, he wouldn’t cave in, he wouldn’t, ho he… “Fine, take it you managed hungrily…” The rest of what he said quickly was lost in incomprehensible mumbling, all while Ocean was enjoying herself far too much.

“Knew you would, and I’m very grateful for it,” she said with glee before picking up her last piece and biting into it with delight. “So, good.”

“Yeah, yeah, you don’t have to rub it in,” he returned, his arms crossed over his empty plate.

“By the way, you never said on what kind of date they are going on.”

“Oh, you heard about that track competition that will take place in the city. Tomorrow is the first day, you probably heard about it. The best athletes in the nation come together, and it’s supposed to be really great. Too bad I’m not so into sports, neither is Thunder, but he has to bite that bullet because of himself and in all honesty, I’m not so sad about that. Not believing I could get a kiss on the first date,” he jokingly finished, but again Ocean remained silent, and as he looked up he could see that Ocean’s face had twisted into one of shock, and desperation. “What?”

“Well, I might have forgotten something, a small little thing. The labs of the MRG in the city have been in the rebuilding process for a while now, and they finally finished, and they managed to get to the technic up and running and with it Ivory’s computer. I know he had several projects he hadn’t gotten to there. And indeed, some of the other scientists found interesting data on his personal pc. Problem with the data is that only he knows the code. I wanted to see if I could get the code for them to data from the pc and that was planned for tomorrow. I think there might be incredibly useful information in there. Ivory said something really important he was working on and it wasn’t the Friendship Charger. Maybe we could find something important there,” she returned, sounding rather sheepish.

“And what does this have to do with me? I’m not really a computer scientist and am actually really bad with anything beyond a phone, how could I help you?”

“well, I forgot that I have a meeting with my sister tomorrow as well. She is a professional track racer, and she is in the city thanks to the competition. She wanted to meet me before the whole thing starts, but now I have this thing with the computer and…” she started to get rather hasty, and her breath was starting to pick up. “And… You know…”

“So I should stay with her for a while till you…” Phoenix asked rather unsure.

“Till I’m done there. Don’t worry, it won’t take long, and if there are actually complications, I’ll just do it later. I would change the schedule, but I already told them that I would be there around twelve A.M. and I can’t really cancel that now. I’m sorry, I just forgot about it,” she continued, sounding incredibly embarrassed.

“I don’t like this one bit. She is your sister, I don’t think it’s such a good idea to let her wait for so long, especially since you said that you two were rather distant during the last time you saw each other. In all honesty, you should just go to your sister and not to the lab.” Pheonix voice was nervous, and his forehead had been filled with wrinkles as he looked back to his girlfriend.

“I know, I know, but please, do me this one favorite. I’m sure she’ll like you, and you can soften her up a bit till I get there,” she had this perfect puppy look in her eyes he could just not say no to, and he hated it.

“Fine, ok. I’ll do it, but just for the record, this is a really stupid idea. But you have to actually come, and not just after the competition starts, got it?” Phoenix sounded extremely serious, much to the surprise of Ocean. “You shouldn’t risk your relationship with your sister so easily, you might regret the outcome.”

Ocean couldn’t just remain silent, but her expression told him everything he needed to know, that sadness and fear in her eyes were enough. She nodded somberly before looking back at him and finishing her last slice of pizza. “I think I’ll head to bed now. The meal was great,” she said before standing up from her seat and walking toward her bedroom door.

As she reached the door, she looked back and towards Phoenix who was slowly making his way to the couch. “Where are you going?” She looked at him with complete confusion, as if he was a complete idiot, ok an even bigger idiot than usual.

“What do you mean? Going to bed, like always,” he returned quite confused himself.

“On the couch? Since when did I say that you would sleep on the couch?”

“Uhm, what do you mean? Where should I sleep otherwise?” He returned, his confusion growing with every second.

Ocean just chuckled, put on a devious smile and just winked him over to her. Phoenix at first didn’t get it before he suddenly turned crimson. “You mean… I… You… Is this really o…” He was again interrupted, but this time by Ocean simply grabbing him and dragging him inside, not even giving him any chance to wiggle out of this and to be honest, he really didn’t want to. The door fell shut behind them with a silent *click*

--------------<

He had slept like a rock, all thanks to Ocean’s wonderful, comfortable bed. Really it was godly, or it was just the fact that it was the first time since he had come to Canterlot City that he had slept in a bed at all, well minus his hospital visits and in all honesty, a hospital bed really didn’t count. He probably would have slept till noon if he hadn’t been interrupted by a loud alarm. Not having expected the ear-bursting sound he jumped up and only barely managed to suppress a scream only to frantically look around the room for the source of the horrid noise. Right on the nightstand stood the little offender, a small clock that was surprisingly loud for its size.

Whit a pained groan he pushed the thing, and that sound finally ceased thank goodness. The little thing also showed him the time, ten A.M. actually a really good time for him, but still, there was never enough sleep and being so rudely interrupted definitely somewhat soured his mood. As he looked over to the other side of the bed he could only see that it was empty, no surprise there, she had said that she would probably be already gone when he woke up. He really was impressed by her, he could probably never get up that early, or at least not without any good reason.

Letting out another yawn he finally forced himself up from the bed again and trotted out of the bedroom. To his surprise, there was a note left for him on the kitchen table, complete with breakfast. Really, he had made a good catch, and his stomach agreed with him in that regard. And in typical Ocean fashion, the breakfast was as weird as it tasted good. A cereal mixed with yogurt, bananas, chilly and weirdest of all, pineapple, still this ranked low on her imaginative creation list. He sat down on the table and started to enjoy his meal, complete with a cup of hot chocolate.

“So, what did she want to tell me?” He muttered in between bites as he unfolded the latter and started reading it.

“So you woke up and found the breakfast. Good. At least you didn’t oversleep, was really worried about that,” he let out an annoyed groan, even if she was somewhat right probably. “Anyway, don’t forget that you are supposed to meet my sister around twelve A.M. at the Canterlot Stadium, please don’t forget about it.”

“Yeah, I’m doing your work here. Still can’t believe that you pulled this over your sister,” he mumbled only to add: “Maybe a little.”

“Her name is Star Catcher, and you can’t miss her, just look for the woman that looks pretty much exactly like me in front of the stadium since you know, twins. And for the love of all that is holy, don’t do anything stupid. Probably would be best if you went there more or less undercover, she doesn’t need any stress before the competition starts. And most importantly, have fun you two.” That was the last thing written on the note.

Phoenix just shook his head. “Who does she think I am? A complete idiot? I’m at worst a half idiot. I’m sure this is going to go great, at least I hope so.” With this he swallowed the last piece of his meal and headed for the bath, he didn’t want to be late. If Ocean wasn’t coming from the start at least, he could be on time.

--------------<

She could still see some of the damage caused by Alkahest’s attack on the lab, several corridors were still under construction, and she could see scorched parts of the wall and floor everywhere. But still, things were starting to get back to normal, even if it was slow. On her side stood a small woman with white skin and long blond hair. She had introduced herself as Light Bulb, seemingly with a lot of enthusiasm. She had been sent here by the higher-ups to take Ivory’s post, even if Ocean was not entirely ok with that. It just didn’t feel right.

They had stopped right in front of the door she last had stormed through, frantically looking for her friend, now it just stood there, slowly opening, revealing an empty lab behind it. With a week sigh, she stepped inside. She had to say, while there were still clear signs of the struggle that had occurred here, they had managed to restore the lab quite well, at least all the technology. Ivory’s personal save had been opened and was now empty. However, there were several rather interesting items on the lab table instead.

First, something that looked like a large cylinder with what seemed like a Charger sticking out of it. Ocean stepped closer to it, picking it up and examining the little device. On a second look, it had a similar shape like her cylinder on the Driver. Sadly it didn’t seem to be finished, several wires hanging out of the device.

Right next to it laid something she was however familiar with, the artifact that had belonged to Timber. She knew what Ivory had planned with it, but without him, it probably would never come to pass. And lastly what seemed like a small necklace, just half finished.

“So, that was what he had to hide from me? I’m kinda disappointed, I had expected more from him,” she said jokingly to herself.

That was when she received an awkward chuckle from Light Bulb lightbulb “Well, we haven’t gotten into his computer yet, who knows what dirty secrets we might find there.” Ocean just stared at her in a mixture of confusion, shock, and disgust. “But that would probably pail in comparison to the secrets this little thing houses.” She picked up the strange device with the Charge sticking out.

“What is it?” She returned, eyeing the small device carefully, trying to figure out what it was.

“It seems to interact with the Charge Driver, but right now it’s nothing more than a high-tech paperweight. It lacks the programming that makes it work and the only place it could be…” She finished, pointing at the computer.

Ocean sighed again, putting down the strange device before turning back to Light Bulb. “Ivory’s computer. You said that you managed to repair the computer, but you lack the necessary password to get in?”

As she noticed that Ocean was now looking at her, still with a bit of a weirded outlook in her eyes, she quickly let her head sink to the ground and whimper: “Yes… That… That is exactly how it is.”

Ocean took one look at the computer and the devious login screen before simply saying: So, this is going to be fun. You should get comfortable, I have the feeling we will be here for a while.”

--------------<

Ok, he had to admit, he was impressed. The Canterlot Stadium was truly a sight to behold. The crimson walls and the oval shape were breathtaking. Phoenix never had really cared for this portion of the city that much, not that it was ugly, but he had just nor reason to be here for any reason what so ever, he might regret this now. Around the stadium, several stands had opened up and were selling stuff like fan articles and food, a lot of food. After parting with a bit of his money, he was walking through the different stands, on the lookout for the woman that looked like his girlfriend.

It took him about five minutes, but he finally caught someone that did indeed look very similar to Ocean. She wore a black tracksuit with a black cappy, but he would recognize the light and dark blue hair that hang out from her cap in a ponytail everywhere. Her skin had the same light blue color as Ocean. She was sitting on a well in front of the stadium, feet in the air and seemingly waiting for someone. He chuckled a bit as he saw here, her outfit reminding him a good amount of what he himself was wearing, a leather jacket and cappy to hide his face.

With a smile on his face, he casually walked over to her until he just sat down next to her. She looked over to him, her face almost a perfect copy of ocean’s, well minus her expression. Star Catcher was cocky, very cocky. “Huh, who are you? What do you want?”

“Star Catcher, right?” He merely responded, looked at her with a confident grin.

“Great, another paparazzi. How often do I have to tell you people that I don’t want to give you an interview? I need my time before the race, and you are just annoying me, so piss off before I get angry,” she growled back at, Phoenix raising an eyebrow at this.

“Ahm, not really. I’m no reporter. Believe me; I dislike them just as much as you do. Clingy guys never know when it’s enough. But back to the topic at hand. My name is Phoenix Feather, nice to, meet you. I’m the boyfriend of your sister. She sends me to meet you here, she currently still at a meeting, but she’ll be here in half an hour, don’t worry;” he returned with his usual upbeat tone.

“Oh, what a surprise, madam decides she has better stuff to do than to meet her sister. Typical, she is becoming more and more like mother,” she muttered in annoyance.

“To be fair, it’s nothing small. It’s really, really important Kamen Rider stuff,” Phoenix tried to calm her down, to less than stellar results.

“Yeah, and next time it’s important MRG business. She always has something to do when I’m around. I have the feeling she is turning into our mother, and you saw how that turned out,” she abruptly stopped, her expression changing from that cocky, arrogant and somewhat angry look to a far more sober one. “Stupid Monochrome, always knew she would get herself killed, just not like this.”

“Yeah, actually ocean wanted to talk to you about the whole thing. She said you were really distant during the whole funeral, pretty much like everyone there. I think-“

She rudely interrupted him: Yeah, not my finest hour. But if she acts like this, I won’t feel bad about that. But it wasn’t really a surprise why everyone was so hostile to her. Monochrome was pretty much a god to them, someone that could do no wrong. The shining jewel of the family, and if you ask me, a lot of them knew how she really was and what she planned, I assure you that. They hated Ocean for ruining it, destroying their precious reputation and plans. You know, my family is known for having a lot of police officers and other similar jobs. Our dad was the Manehatten Chief of Police, a very prestigious position and with mom, as the head of the MRG, we were the pride and joy of the family. The rest was just stuff like local chiefs or simple officers. There were very few that didn’t go into that branch, and those that did were pretty much shunned by our family,” she muttered, sounding angrier and angrier the further she came.

“Hu, I never knew your father was the Chief of Police of Manehatten, impressive. Wonder why Ocean never told me about that?” Phoenix returned before it came back to him.

“Yeah, probably because she doesn’t want to talk about it and I can’t blame her. It was pretty much what turned our family upside down. Up until that point, she was the unruly one, and I was the perfect child that looked out for her. But when dad was killed during a hostage situation. He was negotiating with the criminals as one of them just snapped and started to shoot like a madman. Dad was one of the few that were hit by him,” her voice was starting to grow weaker, and as Phoenix looked over to her, he could see small tears starting to form in her eyes. “And worst of all, people blamed him for all of this, a dead man that couldn’t defend himself. That was when I saw police work for what it truly is. You are trying to play the savior for a few ungrateful bastards,” Star spat out, her expression now back to angry.

“I wouldn’t say that. Some people have to play the part of the protector. It’s nothing other than what I do as a Kamen Rider,” he returned.

“Oh, yeah, you were a Kamen Rider. I don’t get it, throwing your life away for nothing. I saw you on TV as you thought against that stone guy to save Ocean. I’m glad you did manage to save her, but I don’t get why you fight so hard. When I saw my dead die like this and the people more or less missing on his grave, I just gave up on becoming like him. Mom really didn’t like that. But Ocean saw it as something noble, even if she hated the people that spoke badly about dad. She wanted to be just like him, and so our roles in the family shifted. I turned my attention to the sport and edged on more and more with mom and Ocean became the perfect child that mom ever wanted, determined to get herself killed like dad. I tried and tried to get her out of that, but she wouldn’t listen and when I decided against police training mom finally had enough. She said I could follow my stupid dream and see where it would get me. Save to say, I made the right decision. Forcing someone its something they don’t want is always a stupid idea, and I damn well showed it to them,” Star gloated, her malicious smile on her lips.

“I know what you mean. My path in life was pretty much decided upon on the day of my birth. I was the firstborn of our family, and the firstborn would always be the guardian of the Alchemy Driver and risk his life to complete the Magic Discs that were part of it. Save to say, I was not really thrilled about all of this, but what could I do? Not much really and so I just endured it, not without a lot of complaining, but I followed their wishes. In the end, I ended up here and in this entire fight of Corrupted and Riders. But I made my own decisions, I became my own person, and in the end, I think even the old geezer understood that” Phoenix stopped for a moment to take in a deep breath.

“Huh, so you know how all of that is? Then why are you still helping everyone in this city? They will turn on you in the drop of a hat. One mistake and they will abandon you, so why?”

“Because I don’t do this to be famous. I could have lived without that really. It’s really annoying, can’t even leave the house without being swarmed by reports. I do this because I want to help people simply because I can. I don’t want them to suffer. I don’t care if they like me, I just want to help. That is the way I want to live my life, and that is just it,” he finished, looking off towards the sun and the horizon.

“You know, you sound exactly like my sister. I think she made a good catch with you and not just because of your looks,” she chuckled, hiding a devious smile under her hand.

Phoenix just let his head spin around and stared at her in shock, trying to hide his blush. “Apparently the snark runs in the family, great.” That just got him a few good chuckles from her.

“Well, siblings, am I right?”

Before Phoenix could respond, he heard the scared screams of people. Jumping from the well like a bee had stung him he stared in the direction where the noise had come from. People were running towards them, screaming for dear life and to no one surprise there was a reason to that, one Phoenix was half surprised of. Remnants! He hadn’t seen them in ages, where were they coming from? Didn’t matter now anyway, he had to act. “You should probably seek a safer place, I’m taking care of this,” he said to Star before rushing off towards the monsters.

\ MAGIC DISC DETECTED! /

“Henshin!”

\ FRIENDSHIP DISC ACTIVATED! /

\ Friendship Disc Attack Mode! /

\ Connect Protector! /

Now clad in his armor and wielding his weapon he rushed forward towards the monsters, and there were a lot of them. This had to be the biggest amount of them he had ever seen, made out of several different types of them. From water, to earth, to fire they were wildly attacking the civilians with no remorse and he couldn’t let that go on, right?

Letting his blade come down on the first monster he reached it immediately was cut in half and falling to the ground beside him. That got him the attention of a few of the beasts who let out a roar and rushed towards him. The first one to reach him just lunged at the Rider, its fists burning bright with smoldering flames as he tried to beat him into the submission. But that was all that it was, an attempt. The Remnant was quickly outmaneuvered and had a sword sticking in its stomach before Alchemy pulled it out of the limp body just to stick it into the next one that was approaching.

As both of the Remnants went up in flame, he was caught off guard by something from behind, a rock. One of the little buggers had thrown a rock at him. It hurt like someone had bashed him over the head with a newspaper, but nothing too worrying, at least for him. The Remnant however quickly learned that messing with a Rider was not a good idea. Throwing his shield, the star-shaped object sailed through the air and straight through three of the monsters, including the one that had just attacked him. “Serves you right. So who is next?”

While Alchemy was dealing with these little pests, someone was standing not too far away, slowly approaching the well Star Catcher was still standing at. She was watching the fight in aw, blown away by how easy the Rider was dealing with the Remnants. The woman with grey skin and light blue hair had a vacate grin on her lips as she kept stepping closer and closer towards Star. She wore a black leather jacket with a dark blue feather collar as well as a necklace around her neck depicting a wing made out of metal.

Alchemy didn’t even look at Star anymore, he assumed her save, but that would be his folly. Fury hated the fact that she was explicitly told not to engage Alchemy, even if he would try to get in her way. It was tempting, the fight, the adrenaline, the excitement when things would turn serious, she lived for it, but this damned Shadow Gold said no. Usually, she would have just blown that order of, may be considered it if it would have come from Cerberus, but this was different. Shadow Gold and Checkbook had been furious with them when Cerberus had failed them. Worst of all, he had made the Rider even stronger.

Gold and Checkbook had made their threat reality. At least ten of their men had been kidnapped and executed. The only reason that she and Elysium hadn't tried to rip the head from their bodies the moment they had been shown it was because if they did, they would just cause more harm than good. These bastards and for their stupid plan did Cerberus sacrifice his life, no for his men. They would pay for what they did, but even she knew that right now was not the time to strike, especially with their new advantage on their side. She was rash, not stupid. So, the only thing she could do right now was to follow their orders, no matter how much she hated it.

She was about to snatch up Star as she heard the sound of an engine roaring. Dammit! Another Rider was coming, and not even a second later she saw Charge’s bike jump up seemingly out of nowhere, talking some potshots on some of the remaining Remnants. With a resounding thud, her bike landed mere meters away from Star Catcher; The Rider bellowing out: “What are you still doing here? Get somewhere safe!”

“Oh, miss high and might finally come. A monster attack and she is immediately here. Too bad you don’t have time for your family,” Star hissed back, stepping closer towards her sister until she was mere centimeters away from her bug-eyes.

“I don’t have time for this right now. Let me quickly finish this, ok? After that, we can talk as much as we want, but right now I have to do my job. So please, get somewhere safe,” Charge returned, sounding like a mixture of annoyance and anger.

“Forget it, I’m staying right here!” Star smugly said in return, grinning gleefully at her sister.

“Fine, whatever, I don’t have time for this right now. But don’t do anything stupid, ok?” With that, she jumped from her bike and stormed towards the Remnants with her weapon in hand.

“Pah thinks she can boss me around,” Star Catcher just huffed before returning to admiring the battle that was transpiring before her.

Fury just stood there for a moment before starting to quietly curse: “Dammit, two Riders? I can’t risk it, but don't worry little one, we will meet soon enough,” she chuckled before leaving the Riders to pick up the last few stragglers.

The Battle for Canterlot - Keep Moving Forward

“Great, we have company. Should have expected that,” Phoenix hissed in annoyance, cracking his knuckles at the two cloaked figures that were standing opposite to them in the hall of the warehouse.

“Yes, but intelligence was never something one attributed with you,” one of the cloaked figures said in a condescending tone.

“Especially from what Platinum told us about you. You beating us was just because you beat us with numerical superiority. But now?” He chuckled, the voice growing more familiar with every passing second. “Now you are just you two, and we are even stronger than last time.”

“Ok, listen. Whoever you two are, we don’t have time for this, so can we cut this short? I’m really not in the mood for any of this. Your ‘boss’ is trying to rip apart reality itself right now and your only chance not to die with this world is to just let us through. Right now, we two are the only chance to stop him. And really, I highly doubt that he offered you something more important than the world. You have no chance of winning against us anyway. All your friends have been defeated already and now you two think it will go different with you? Yeah, as if. So, how about you just let us go, and no one is gonna get hurt? Doesn’t that sound nice?” Phoenix asked in a mixture of exhaustion and annoyance.

Both of them looked at each other and started to chuckle. “Oh, sure. We believe you. Why wouldn’t we? You just ruined our business, beat us up, and don’t want to fight. Truly the most trustworthy of people right here!” One of them chuckled.

“We know how to manipulate people, we build a living on that. And you, you slimy ‘hero’ are just using of manipulation. You can’t trick masters of manipulation, especially not as a novice,” the other one chuckled.

“But I’m not lying. I’m telling the truth! You can’t tell me that you don’t believe me!” Phoenix shouted back in frustration. “I’m just trying to save the world here!”

“Suuuuure,” the two men said in unison with a strangely familiar annoying singsong.

“Oh no…” Ocean sighed. “Phoenix, I think I just figured out who our two Corrupted here are. And I have the feeling any attempt to solve this diplomatically is gonna fall on deaf ears…”

“Who? Who are they?” Phoenix immediately barked back, the frustration clearly audible in his voice.

“Flam and Flam, right?” She returned, deeply hoping that she was wrong, even if it was against all the odds.

“Oh, you actually managed to figure it out? Impressive,” Flam chuckled.

“But far more likely that you would figure it out than the Buffon right over there. But even knowing who we are won’t save you from us. You won’t trick us with your pathetic lies, no chance. That would be pathetic Flim added in a smug tone.

“But we aren’t-“ Phoenix once again tried to say before Ocean interrupted him.

“Forget it, we aren’t winning a flower pot with these two. They won’t believe us, even if we had better evidence. They just want revenge,” she said with a silent sigh.

“But… But… Oh fine. Then we just have to beat them up, right?” Ocean just nodded back to him.

“Oh? Just beat us up? That won’t happen,” Flam once again said.

“You two have no chance of ever winning against us. We are far too powerful for you!”

“You are finished!” Both of them said at the same time, their Magic Disc starting to glow a dark an light blue.

After the light had faded, two blue armored Corrupted stood opposite to them.

Flam had been transformed into a dark blue humanoid monster. His armor was formed from metallic seashells and scales that formed into an armor that covered his entire body. Several golden decorations in the form of tridents were scattered across the armor, one of the chest two on his knees and two on his arms. He held a similar trident in his hands. And then there was the helmet, it looked like a long pointy seashell with a golden trident covering the hole where the face should be. Only two dark blue eyes stared back at them.

Flim, however, had been turned into a thin, angular armored monster. His limbs had changed dramatically, no longer human, but bent in several places, bending backward right under the knees that had been moved upwards. Electricity was sparking off the sharp, lightning-shaped decorations of the light blue armor. His helmet looked like a long lighting bolt that extended far longer than expected, almost reminding him of a wizard hat with two slits for the light blue, glowing eyes.

Not even a second after they had emerged from the light Flim had already sped away, disappearing in the blink of a moment, leaving them behind with his brother who swung around his trident and thrust it into the ground.

Both Riders knew that this couldn’t mean anything good, dashing towards him with their super speed. They had almost reached him when they felt something scratch across their chest and sending them flying back. But before they could even land on the ground, they once again felt a sharp pain in their backside as they were thrown back at the Corrupted in front of them.

And once again they didn’t reach their destination as a powerful stream of water was thrown their way, washing them over the ground like wet paper. And Flim, not wanting to let this golden opportunity go to waste unleashed his powers one them once again, letting a lightning bolt hit them with its full force. The pain that surged through their body was terrible, only worsened by the water they had been covered with, both Riders letting out screams of pain and anguish. Their armors were chared and fuming after Flim finally stopped his attack to gloat.

“Ha, the great Kamen Rider Alchemy, nothing more than a weakling. Just like expected,” his voice echoed through the hall.

“Ok, this is seriously not what I had in mind,” Phoenix hissed, slamming his fist on the ground, letting small drops of water fly everywhere. “Damn it! We don’t have time for this!”

Before even waiting for any snarky answer form Ocean he already dashed forward with his inhumane speed, right towards Flam who readied his trident to strike once more. But instead of racing headfirst into his attack, he jumped out of the way in the last second, the gust of water missing him completely. The water Corrupted just stared dumbfounded at where he expected the Rider to be only to see nothing instead.

“Not there! He is over there!” Flim’s voice cut through the silence, knocking his brother out of his little stupor. Snapping around, he could see how Alchemy picked up his spear he had lost after the first attack, glaring at him with his blue eyes. Like in slow motion Flam turned around towards the Rider, ready to unleash another one of his attacks at the disgruntle Rider, but instead of doing so quickly looked back at his brother.

A loud cry of pain had echoed over from where he had stood just moments ago only a blue flash could be seen, and moments later another loud sounded directed his eyes towards several boxes at the other end of the hall. That was where he found the shape of his brother again, under the debris and splinters of the crates he had just been thrown into. Pained grunts of pure anger could be heard from the remains of the boxes, the sharp head of the Corrupted rising from them, lightning sparking out of his eyes, as he glared over to the Rider responsible for this, Charge.

She had managed to get back up from the ground and while everyone was distracted with Alchemy and him regaining his weapon. With this golden opportunity for her, she had dashed towards Flim and tackled him to the ground and into the next wall.

“You damn! I’ll show you!” With that, the Corrupted raced towards her, and so did Charge. Both disappeared into a bright blue blur, the world around them slowing to a crawl as they clashed, their fists meeting mid-air, sending shockwaves through the whole room.

While both were equally matched in speed, Charge had one massive advantage over her opponent, experience, and training. A simple charlatan with little to no fighting experience could hardly keep up with her, and as soon as the third punch he had thrown she had already had seen enough, instead of matching his attack simply dodging under it and slamming her fist into his chest.

“Ahh! What?”

She could hear him cry next to the distinctive sound of metal bending as he fist pushed further and further into the armor. The Corrupted stumbled helplessly back, having lost his speed in the process and was now once again visible for the human eye.

“Flim!” She heard from behind her, only to be ignored as she spun her cylinder on the Driver once again, screaming something at her opponent with an uncharacteristic angry undertone.

“And you can shut the fuck up! I have endured your blabbering once already, I’m not doing it again! Now, time to end this!”

\ Maximum Charge! /

Faster than any normal eye could see she rushed forward, her arms glowing with bright with light, and she started to lay into him like there was no tomorrow. Letting her fists crash into his armor, time and time again, denting the metal like it had been hit in a car crash and that all in just three seconds for a few dozen hits. The last one was the most satisfying, felling her first dent in his helmet, right where his damn blabber mouth should have been was quite cathartic, especially as he was flung against the next wall, exploding upon impact and falling to the ground unconscious.

“Finally, silence!” She sighed in relive before looking over to Flam and Phoenix.

What she had missed in her little outburst was that Phoenix had also continued to attack his opponent, all while the Corrupted had been busy worrying over his brother. Using his spear, he had slashed across the back of the Corrupted, letting him cry out in pain, still not as loud as Ocean was right now. Wasting no time he spun around his weapon and let it slice through the armor of the monster time and time again, even managing to circle around him while doing so and delivering one last strike that made the Corrupted sink down to his feet.

Looking down at the weakened opponent he took a step back and pressed one button on the Magnum Opus before spinning the Disc once again.

\ THUNDER! /

\ Philosopher Stone Maximum Power! /

The entire weapon was quickly engulfed in the bright, blue lightning that was erupting from the Disc and with one last firm grip around the long end of the weapon Phoenix jumped forward, spear pointed right at the Corrupted.

The dimly light room was quickly engulfed in the bright blue of the lightning as the electricity surged through Flam’s body, the spear sticking out of his chest. The whole ordeal lasted a few seconds before the usual explosion rocked the room, leaving behind only the defeated brother and his Magic Disc.

“Finally! No damn gratitude for saving the damn world,” he hissed before deactivating his spear again and with it his Rider-form. With an annoyed huff, he kneeled down to take back the Disc in front of him.

After Ocean had done the same and deactivated her Driver, she started to walk over to him. “Don’t worry about it, we still have time. They’ll know what we did for them when they wake back up,” she returned with a weak smile, the fatigue finally starting to come over her bruised and injured body. Ocean was just about to put her hand on his shoulder and tell him that they had to leave when her hand grabbed nothing.

Her eyes immediately darted towards Phoenix, who was beginning to slump towards the floor, his legs had given up under his own weight. Within the blink of an eye, all her exhaustion and fatigue was all but gone, Ocean dashing forward and catching her boyfriend on her shoulders.

“Phoenix? Are you ok? Do you need a small break?” She immediate blurted out, genuine worry in her voice as she tried to balance the limp body of him on her back. He felt like a sack of potatoes weirdly, just laying there, no muscles tension, just a weighty bag.

“I’m… I’m fine. Just tripped, that is all,” he returned. He sounded exhausted, every word was more of a sigh than actually talking, and she could clearly hear the fatigue and tiredness in his voice.

“Tripped, yeah, sure. And I’m a beautiful princess,” she returned in a sarcastic tone.

“I’m fine. We don’t have time for this,” he huffed back, pushing himself of her back, or at least tried to and almost planted his face on the concrete below.

“Yes, we don’t have time for this. We don’t have time to repeat your suicidal idea of ignoring your body and pushing yourself way past your limits. You are so damn stubborn sometimes. Why can’t you get this in your thick skull? Even if you could stand, you are in no shape to fight. You are exhausted, that is just how it is. I’m as well, and dragging you around doesn’t help much in that regard. So, for the love of everything that is holy, please, just accept that you are ko for now. You can’t fight like this, I need you at your best for what we have planned, or we can give Platinum the victory on a damn silver platter already,” she huffed back, dragging the exhausted Rider to one of the still intact crates laying around. With a bit of effort, she actually managed to sit him down against it, only to be greeted with a rather pissed of expression from Phoenix.

“But if we don’t do anything we are doomed anyway. Right now it doesn’t matter what happens to me, we have to stop this madman before he decides to rip apart reality! I’m not sitting on the damn sidelines, and not even you will convince me too! So, let’s get going!” He grumbled back, trying once again to stand, only to be pushed back down by Ocean.

“You are the most stubborn idiot I have meat ever. You can’t even stand up on your own, leave alone when someone is pushing you down. And you want to fight? This is suicidal, damn it!” Ocean hissed back, starting to pace around in front of him in visible annoyance.

“I'm not going to-“ Phoenix was about to return as Ocean interrupted him again.

“You know what? Screw it. I’ll let you fight if you can stand up,” she said in complete annoyance.

“Finally!” With that, he pushed himself off the box again, or at least he tried only to be pushed back once again by Ocean. “Hey! I thought we were done with this? Let me get up! We had a deal!”

“Oh, I know. But until now I don’t see you standing. So, either show me that you can stand up all while I’m pushing you down, or damn accept that you are in no position to fight!” Ocean returned with a smug smile on her lips, even if her eyes told an entirely different story of worry.

Phoenix just huffed and once again pushed himself off the crate, actually managing to get halfway up before Ocean’s had sent him back down, with no effort what so ever. “That isn’t fair!”

“Oh, is it now? And Platinum will be fair with you? No! You damn idiot! You can’t fight like this, how often do I have to tell you this? Why can’t you just accept that? I… I… I don’t want to lose you damn it. I can’t let you throw your life away like this, why can’t you get this into your damn skull already?” She screamed back, a scream that turned into sobbing the further she went, tears running down her face.

Phoenix just stared back at her in shock, unable to utter a single word, like his throat had been pulled shut. “I know you. I know I can’t convince you to sit this one out and neither can I sit this one out. But I know I can convince you to not overexert yourself right now. This fight is in Canterlot, and even if we try to get there as fast as we can, it’s still a few hours away. So please, at least don’t do it now. Just relax for a few hours. If you power yourself out, even more, you will just lose!”

Phoenix could just look at Ocean, her tears running down her cheeks as she desperately tried to get through to him.

“Please.”

That was the last word that stung like a dagger that had been thrust into his hearth. “I… You… Damn it, why do you always have to be right?” He hissed back, tears starting to run down his face as well.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” she sobbed back, pulling him into a long, tight hug. The warmth he felt was overwhelming, letting him forget everything around them, time, sound, and even the pain and exhaustion, just the warmth he felt from her.

And when he felt the warmth slowly fading, and the tightness of her grip loosening everything came flooding back, leaving him sitting there while Ocean pulled out her phone. “I’m calling the piolet to get us. Shouldn’t take longer than ten minutes and then we have a few hours until we are back in Canterlot. Until then, you can take a quick nap, should at least partially bring your energy back. And I won’t hear another word from you, you got that?”

“Yeah, you’re right. I’ll try to rest a bit, as long as you do too,” he said, looking down at the ground below them, all while his eyes were getting heavier and heavier.

“I...” She tried to return but started to weakly chuckle. “Fine, I will. But not until I called Light Bulb and the rest so they know what might be coming. I’m calling them all to the lab. I ordered Light Bulb to prepare some things, and I think we will need them. But after that, I’ll join you in resting, promised,” she smiled back at him right at the moment when his eyes finally fall shut.

--------------<

A few hours later, inside what seemed like a library, three people had gathered. Everything was veiled in pitch black, the moonlight shining through the large glass dome on the ceiling.

Platinum was sitting on one of the chairs in the room, looking mesmerized at the artifact in his hand, a small necklace made out of pulsating purple crystal. Checkbook meanwhile was going through the suitcases they had taken from the MRG, separating them into three piles, two of them next to two bags.

And lastly, the girl. She had pulled back her hood, releasing her long-locked golden hair finally unleashed from its restraints. Adagio was just walking up and down the library, letting out annoyed grunts the entire time. “Oh, by Tartarus, why can’t we get started already? We are wasting so much time here. I finally want to rip these Rainbooms apart, especially that little Shimmer! And after that, I’ll be on my way. I could be done already with that, but no, mister high and mighty here needs to check Tartarus knows what and drag it out. If we wait any longer, they’ll be here!” She growled.

“Quiet! You will get your time soon enough. Just one thing left to do for you, and you can go off on your own. But if you want to challenge my authority, you are very much welcome. Come, try me and fail miserably. There are enough sorry excuses out there that would gladly take a shot at Alchemy for the power you have,” Platinum returned with a twisted smile. “Now, what is it gonna be? Follow orders and get your revenge on these high schoolers, or try to fight me, fail, die, and cause the death of your sisters? Tell me.”

Adagio stopped right on the spot when she heard that, her expression changing from annoyance to fear. “N… No. It’s fine. If it’s only one last thing, then it should be ok. There is no need to fight,” she stammered back much to the amusement of Platinum.

“See, knew it. But still, I kinda have to agree, we are wasting time here. Checkbook, are done soon? We are on a tight deadline here. Not much longer until the two goody-two-shoes will show back up here again. No chance in Tartarus that these two imbeciles managed to stop them,” he returned with a chuckle before looking over at the man in his suit.

“I’m working on it. I’m almost done anyway. This is a chance like no other. If I can get these Artifacts back to the Circle, all my failings will be forgotten and if I can bring back the blueprints for the Driver’s I could even get promoted. Come to think of that, how will you pay me when you succeed, you won’t be here anymore, so how are you gonna pay me?” Checkbook said, stopping his work for a moment and looking up from the table and over to Platinum.

He, however, just rolled his eyes and looked back at him with a disappointed look in his eyes. “Really? You don’t trust me? After all, we have been through? I’m disappointed. But really, I can’t blame you. You only can trust yourself, no one else. That is the ultimate truth of the world. The moment you trust someone, they will betray you. Just look a Shadow Gold, even if he didn’t like me, or respected me, he still trusted the fact that I was far too scared and weak to do anything against him. And now he’s dead. Six hundred years and he never learned the most important lesson. I’m not gonna make the same mistake. But I also know that if I don’t follow our agreement, I still would have unfinished business here that could haunt me even in my new home. So don’t worry, I placed the blueprints somewhere and ordered someone to call you when I’m gone. He will tell you the coordinates, so you will get your payment. There is no need to betray you, so don’t worry, everything will be fine,” he smiled his devilish grin before jumping up from his chair and walking over to his partner. “So, when are you done?”

Checkbook simply nodded and returned with a nonchalant voice: “I’m pretty much done. Everything that was in any way interesting and useful has been sorted out and is ready for shipping. I’ll call someone to pick it up, and that would be it. The rest is perfect for spawning an army of Remnants. That bag there,” he pointed at one of them. “Is your’s Siren. Take it and shatter every last one of them, and after that, you are free to pursue your tormentors. I heard they had gathered inside the MRG laboratory. Shouldn’t be too hard and would actually help us out a bit,” he chuckled before throwing her the bag.

“Then this is settled. You two start the mayhem while I begin to work on my part. If everything goes well, we will never see each other again. Let’s hope that is the case. Goodby and hopefully forever.” With that, he stood up and walked out of the library, holding the necklace in his hand. Both of the Corrupted shared one last look before Adagio summoned her portal once again, swallowing them whole.

--------------<

The plane soared through the sky, both Phoenix and Ocean havening closed their eyes, using every second they had to regain their strength as much as possible. The flight had been entirely peaceful, and both having dozed off to sleep a while ago. So the sound of a loud alarm going of definitely got them on their feet as fast as possible.

“Attention, attention. We will be entering Canterlot airspace in two minutes. Prepare yourself for landing,” the voice from the intercome blurted at them.

“You couldn’t have chosen a better alarm, could you?” Phoenix groggily returned. He felt better, that was sure, still not at the height of his power, but with the Driver, he definitely felt like he could do that.

“Oh, shut up. It’s not like it-“ she was about to return when suddenly the buzzing voice of the intercome sparked to live once more.

“Incoming! There is a message from one Light Bulb, putting her through right now.”

With that, the voice changed to one more familiar: “Uhm, hey, does that thing work? Of course, it works stupid,” she hissed from the speakers. “Ocean, Phoenix, can you hear me?” She sounded like she would have a panic attack every moment now. “It’s awful. The city is under attack. Hundreds upon hundreds of Remnants roam the streets and attack anything in sight! Officer Armor already went outside to coordinate the police to evacuate anyone he can get to. We really need you down here. But before you do anything, I need you back at the lab, asap. Our guests are getting anxious down here, and I don’t know how long I can keep them here.” With that, the message ended, leaving them behind, staring at each other in shock.

Within a split second both of them jumped up and dashed towards one of the windows, trying to get a look on the city. At first glance, everything looked fine, nothing out of the ordinary, but the closer they got, the better they could see the flaming cars in the streets and the army of remnants roaming the streets.

The next minute was unbearable, the plane hovering over the city and slowly descending towards the roof of the lab. Every second felt like an eternity, an eternity they let the city be ravaged by these beasts, all while they couldn’t do anything. When the hatch of the plane finally started to open they pretty much immediately jumped out of it, landing right in front of a rather frantic Light Bulb.

“Ah, there you two are. Took you long enough,” she blurted out before grabbing both of their arms and dragging them after her before they had any chance to object or even say anything. “We don’t have any time to waste, the kids are already about to storm out there and get themselves killed. I need you here.”

When she had finally dragged them to her lab, she pretty much shoved them inside and said: “Fix! Now!”

Inside they found precisely what Light Bulb had promised them, the seven Rainbooms, Thunder, Summer, Emerald and Timber, all of them arguing: “Can’t we skip this talking stuff already? People out there need someone to kick some butt, and we are the only ones that can right now!” That was what Rainbow spat out when Light Bulb shoved them into the room, diverting the attention towards them.

Before Phoenix had any chance to do anything, he was immediately forced into a huge from Thunder who screamed out: “You are ok! Oh, thank goodness.”

“You are back!” They all screamed back in unison before Rainbow once again interrupted them.

“Great! Now you can help us kick those monsters out of the city! We just need to-“

“Rainbow!” Sunset interrupted her, all while shotting her an angry glare, Phoenix in the meantime having freed himself from Thunder. “Sorry. She is a bit… energetic right now. We are so glad you are back, everything has gone horribly out of control. But she is also not the only one that thinks that we should do something and if I’m honest I don’t know how long I can stand here and wait,” she looked at them with a worried look on their faces.

Ocean just nodded with a somber expression and leaned back to Light Bulb. “You got everything ready? Right?”

“Yes, everything is finished and combat ready. I just need your permission to give it out. If you want that, that is,” she added with an unsure undertone.

“That is their choice, not mine. Get it for me please,” she whispered back before turning back to them. “Ok, I know all of you want to do something to help this city. Some have ways of helping more than others and some not. In all honesty, I would probably want to do the same thing as you. But you have to know that this is dangerous what you want to do. This is a warzone out there. If you really want to go out there, you have to accept the consequences that come with that. If you go out there you might not come back, you know that?”

In response, she received a unanimous nod followed up by Rainbow screaming over the head of everyone else: “Of course I know, but if we don’t do anything who knows what happens. I’m not sitting on my butt if I can help!”

“Rainbow is right, Ah could never look at ma family eva again if Ah would chicken out naw,” Applejack joined in.

“Exactly Darling, I would never give up as well. That would be unbecoming of a lady,” the posh voice of Rarity added.

“Yay, we are gonna kick so much monster butt!” Pinky screamed from the back of the group.

“I… I’ll fight as well,” Fluttershy hesitantly said.

“Exactly. I can’t let monster roam through this city, right Sunset?”

“Yeah Twilight is right, we aren’t gonna sit around and do nothing. We haven’t done it until now and we by Celestia, we won’t start now. Otherwise, I wouldn’t even be here!”

“That is the spirit!” Phoenix joined in. “Probably couldn’t stop you even if we tried. Just promise us that you will be safe.”

“And to be the safest, you should sue these!” Light Bulb interrupted them and placed one of two suitcases on the lab table beside them while placing the other one down next to her. “These are Magical-Enhancers,” while she spoke, she opened the case and revealed seven colored rectangular necklaces with a small indentation in the middle of it. “These were something Ivory started to develop after he came into contact with you,” Light Bulb had to stop a moment before continuing. “I didn’t know him, but I’m sure he would be proud that his invention would help bring down his own murderer. They work by interfacing with your geodes and enhancing their power. They won’t make you as powerful as a Rider, but you should still be able to deal with Remnants far more easily. He never had the chance to test precisely how these things would enhance, but they should still work.” She hadn’t even managed to finish her speech before the girls had already grabbed the Enhancers and jammed their geodes into them, colored lightning flickering across them.

“Uhm… Do… Do you have something for me? At least my Artifact?” Timber asked, a mixture of desperation and hope in his eyes. “I know Phoenix said I shouldn’t use it anymore, but… I can’t just stand ideally by while everyone else is helping! I had to stand by while you saved my sister, I had to stand by during the festival. I want to help too. Even if it could fuck with my head. The Riders could just beat me if I can’t control it. I just want to help.”

Light Bulb looked at him with a guilty expression before stepping back a bit and whispering something into Phoenix’s ear, the color draining from his face immediately. After a few seconds of absolute silence, Timber was about to say something again when Phoenix finally spoke up, his voice heavy and weak. “Timber, yes we have something for you, but before you put it on, you have to promise me that you know what you are doing!”

“Of course, I would nev-“

“No! I mean it! Promise me this. This might as well be the most important choice in your life, you got that! And no one is gonna think less of you just because you chose the easy way out, you got that too?” Phoenix was more serious than he had ever seen him before. He looked at the Rider for a moment before silently nodding.

“Good. Now listen, this,” he pulled up the second case and opened it right in front of him. “This is the Gaia Driver.” Inside one could see a silver belt with a red crystal in the middle. If one looked close enough, they even could see what looked like a grasshopper encased in the crystal. “This will turn you into a Kamen Rider!”

Timber was about to immediately grab the device and slam it onto his waist only for Phoenix to yank it back before he could get his hands on it. “Hey! Didn’t you promise me something?”

“I… I… Yes. I’m sorry,” he returned, letting his hands sink down just like his head.

“Good, now listen. This Driver works differently from the ones we use, this was made out of the Artifact that let you turn into a Corrupted. Because of that it’s far more connected to you and can’t be used by anyone else because we never separated you from the Artifact. That has some… repercussions. If you activate it, it will strengthen the bond between you and your artifact. In fact, it will strengthen it so much that you two will become inseparable. You will become one with your Driver. There is no turning back after that, you will become something that isn’t truly human. If you are willing to accept this, together with the fact that you could very well die out there, I can’t stop you. But think before you act,” with that he placed the Driver on the table and stepped back.

At first, Timber couldn’t other than to stare at the Driver, his eyes mirroring the thoughts that undoubtedly rushed through his head, clashing for dominance before being pushed aside by another idea. That was until one idea seemed to take shape in his head and simmering through his eyes as he clenched his fists together. “Fine! I’m not sitting around here and just let others get hurt because of my inaction. Consequences be damned because that is what a hero does, what a Kamen Rider does!” With that, he took the Driver. Phoenix smiled back at him. Still, there was that spark of sadness in his eyes.

“Ok kid, hope you don’t regret that choice.” He was about to send everyone outside when he heard another voice.

“I’ll fight too!” He slowly turned around and looked at Emerald who stared at him with a fire in her eyes he hadn’t seen in many people.

“Huh, so you are gonna fight even without powers? Admirable. I’m sure Ivory ha-“

Before he could even finish, she interrupted him. “No, I’ll fight as a Kamen Rider! My entire life, I was told to live by the teachings of Gaia Everfree. I never cared much for them, but never had anything against them. Stuff like protecting those in need of help and looking out for the people who couldn’t defend themselves were always something I looked up to. Just, I never understood why that stuff was limited to the forest. If someone would be attacked a few hundred meters away from the woods and you would help him would Gaia Everfree even care? Those were questioned I struggled a lot with, and Pinecone never could give me a satisfying answer. But now? Now I can find my own answers. Because I have the power to do so. I will protect my forest and forest is the entire world. I’ll make Pinecone proud by walking my own path and that all thanks to him and all of you. I’ll fight for this city, just like my brother has fought for it!”

Phoenix took a step back before letting his grin returned. “You know, I’m sure your brother would be proud. Well, after he had gotten over the fact that you are a Rider now.”

Emerald was about to return something snarky when the building suddenly started to shake, lights flickering as something fell off the table. “Oh, that can’t be good.”

“Ocean! Ocean! Remnants are attacking the entrance, and it seems they are under the control of a woman!” That was all Light Bulb blurted out after she had pulled her hand from her earpiece.

“Got it, we wi-“

“No! We are gonna take care of that! You two get your bikes and stop whatever is causing this! We can handle this!” Sunset interrupted her with a determination that was almost scary.

Both Phoenix and Ocean looked at them with raised eyebrows before sighing and returned: “Fine. You’ll take care of this, we stop Alkahest!”

He was about to storm off when he turned back to Thunder one last time and said with a smile: “Don’t worry, I’ll be back. Couldn’t stop bugging you after all.” And with that, he stormed off out of the room, leaving a weakly smiling Thunder behind.

--------------<

Outside an army of Remnants were storming against the building, throwing cars and rocks ripped from the street at it. And in the middle, Adagio, raveling in the destruction and mayhem around them.

One of her little soldiers was about to throw one of the cars that had been parked on the sidewalks at the door of the building when that one was thrown open by itself, and the vehicle caught in midair and flung back at the poor monster, crushing it beneath its weight.

Out of the door stepped several people, most rather young, two she had never seen before and seven she most definitely recognized, the Rainbooms. “Ah, look who actually shows up? Want to get it over with so soon? Well, I can’t blame you, really. Wouldn’t want to see this city go to shit either. Now, how do you wanna do it? Line up or be wiped out all at once? I’m really open for options,” she chuckled, the anger burning in her eyes like wildfires.

“Yeah, screw that! We are here to kick your ass back to wherever you came crawling back from!” Rainbow shouted back in her usual cocky tone.

“Tsk, you think so? You couldn’t beat me with your third class magic back at the festival, and you definitely won’t beat me now! Not since I got a generous donation from a fan of mine,” she chuckled, pulling out the purple Magic Disc. “You have no chance!”

“Sorry to disappoint you Adagio, but the Magic of Friendship will never bow to you. Especially not with a few upgrades our friends gave us,” Sunset chuckled before activating her enhanced Geode which quickly covered her entire body in bright light.

When the light had finally subsided, she was once again clad in her magical clothing, but things had changed. She now wore a metallic, armored recreation of her previous dress and what looked like rocked powered wings on her back. And soon after that, her friends joined her, sporting similar outfits like her.

“Oh, you got a few upgrades? So have I,” Adagio just chuckled letting her Disc glow in bright purple. When she was once again visible, one could see what she had become. She was clad in purple armor with elaborate detailing and two more massive wings made out of floating blades on her back that weren’t connected to each other. Her helmet had taken the form of a horse head with a massive horn at the end. In her hand, she held a long rapier, pointed directly at them. “This is where you die, you pests!” She chuckled, ready to attack when her eyes landed on the two people in front of her that hadn’t transformed yet. “And who are you two? Cheerleaders?”

“No!” Timber shouted back, pulling out his Driver.

“We are the protectors of this city, and it’s inhabitants!” Emerald continued, pulling out her own Driver as well.

“We are Kamen Riders!” Both screamed in unison, slamming the Drivers onto their waists.

All of a sudden lightning sprung from Timber’s Driver, surging through his body, letting him experience pain like never before. Still, if this was the price to pay for finally being able to do his part, he was willing to do just that. With a loud scream, he crossed his arms in front of him, almost like a shield and screamed, the belt starting to glow in a bright green light, all while Emerald had opened the driver and inserted the green medal into it.

\ UNLEASH THE MONSTER! /

“Henshin!”

\ AWAKEN: MANTICORE! /

Emerald had dawned a female version of the Monster armor while Timber had been clad in dark green suit with turquoise plates a downed on it. A long red scarf hung around his neck, and his helmet resembled that of a grasshopper with two sizeable red bug eyes and antenna.

Both Riders dashed forward, towards the Corrupted, taking her by surprise and each of them managed to embed their fists in her armor, pushing her back. “I’m the new Kamen Rider Monster, and this entire world is my forest!” Emerald shouted at the Corrupted.

“And I’m Kamen Rider, Gaia! I’ll fight for those that can’t!” Timber added, both pointing their fingers towards her.

“And in the name of the Kamen Riders, we will defeat you!” They screamed in unison.

At that exact moment, the sound of two bikes roared through the night, and just moments later both Alchemy and Charge soared over their head and landing behind the Corrupted, having jumped from the roof onto the street. With one last look, they speed off through the hoards of Remnants.

While all of this had transpired Adagio rose from the ground and growled: “You will regret this!” and dashed towards them.

The Battle for Canterlot had truly begun.

Rebirth of a Hero - Awaken, Kamen Rider Alchemy

It was early spring, the sun shining down onto the surrounding hilltops, birds singing, and the wind gently blowing by. On the road leading to the outskirts of a city, a man clad in a black leather jacket, a helmet in the same color, a backpack and jeans, on his maroon motorcycle rides ever closure to its border.

“Good Morning Canterlot City to another wonderful day in this lovely place we call home. I’m Open Mike, and I’m your host for the time being. The weather has graced us with pleasant temperatures and a clear sky, so the perfect day to go to the beach and enjoy the first waves of the year; who knows when you have the chance again. Sadly not everyone can go out there and experience the comforting embrace of the sunlight. So for those of you, like me, that still have to work, here is a local song that surely will cheer you up, the song “Dance Magic” from the Crystal Rainbooms, enjoy.” The radio in his helmet began picking up the local radio station and started to play a rather catchy song.

As he came closer to the outskirts of the town, he moved past a residential area with small but relatively comfortable, looking houses. The district gave off a welcoming atmosphere and seemed pleasant enough.

Driving further, a Highschool came into view; it was a huge building drenched in purple with a brown-red roof and several golden horse-head-ornaments placed at each corner of the building—a round glass dome toward over the school with an actual tower on top of it. In the courtyard, a grey pedestal could be seen, strangely empty, that was encircled by a path that leads straight to the front entrance and with that to three glass double doors. To the right of the statue a massive golden horseshoe with an equally golden C in it, probably meaning Canerlot, could be seen. The courtyard was not abandoned, some students could be seen going about there normal lives. Apparently, they had a break and used their short amount of free time to enjoy the sunlight before having to go back to there respective classes.

Two girls, one with a spring green complexion, cyan hair with a streak of white in it and pink top and light blue shorts, the other having a washed-out yellow skin, cobalt, and pink hair, as well as wearing a white dress with two blue and a yellow stripe on it, are lying next to each other, eyes closed and apparently enjoying the soft breeze and the sun shining down on them.

On the grass next to them, two boys, one wearing a red t-shirt and a sleeveless brown jacket over it, orange skin and green hair hidden under a grey cap and the other wearing a yellow sweater with a green collar, he wore black glasses and had purple skin with grey hair, were playing football. The one with the glasses aiming the ball at his friend, double-checking if he aimed correctly and then…

Threw the ball in the complete other direction nearly hitting a blue-haired boy with yellow-orange skin in a black jacket, that mear moments ago was playing his guitar, now was looking somewhat perplexed at the pair. The green-haired boy started to rub the bag off his head and began to look in another direction while the other boy winked cowardly at the “attacked” student while trying to imitate a turtle and unsuccessfully attempted to hide his head in his body. But the boy with the guitar simply smiled and continued to play.

And last, seven girls sitting before the podium, talking and laughing with each other. One with pink hair and a lighter skin tone, another one with a light blue complexion and rainbow hair sitting on the right of the podium. The girl with the orange skin and blond hair was biting of an apple and covering one to the timid yellow girl with the pink hair. Another one of the girls, the one with the white complexion and purple hair meanwhile was talking to the girl with the glasses, purple skin, and even purpler hair with streaks of a lighter shade of purple and rose hair between it. A girl with red and yellow hair and amber skin was sitting in the middle of them and was writing into a book with a big smile on her lips.

As he moved past the school he could feel a relaxing and happy atmosphere coming from it, it seemed to be a beautiful place, for school-standards at least.

After he had passed the school, the area changed from a residential district to a street with shops and restaurants on either side. He was sure he was getting closer to his destination.

A few turns later he had stopped before a restaurant, named the “Magnum Opus Pizzeria” in bright red letters with a golden outline and a black background. The pizzeria had a glass door with big windows on each side of it. The walls were made of sandstone bricks and so had the color of sand. Under the nameplate of the restaurant, the slogan could be read: “Magnum Opus Pizzeria, we make your wildest dreams come true!”. A small blackboard stood right next to the door, and someone had written: ” Create your dream combo, combine all our ingredients, and create your Magnum Opus!”, under the sentence, a rather long list of different fruits, mushrooms, meat, and other ingredients were listed.

“Well, here it is. It can’t be too bad, can it?” he muttered to himself under his helmet and parked his bike. After turning off his radio and removing his helmet and opening his jacket, so the heat would not be too unbearable, more of his features were revealed. His short bright red hair with an orange streak in the middle was now visible and was accented well with his light orange skin. Under the jacket, a red t-shirt with a red and orange feather could now be seen. After stretching himself after the long rider with his bike, he approached the door of the “Magnum Opus”.

The door opened with the ring of a bell, and he stepped inside. The inside of the pizzeria was somewhat compressed, twelve wooden tables with four equally wooden chairs each were arranged, so they were all spread out in the room, but space was undoubtedly sparse. Still, it had its own charm. From the ceiling bay leaves and garlic-tubers were hanging on strings, probably to give the restaurant a mystical atmosphere. A flatscreen-TV was hung on the wall left from the entrance over the heads of the customers. The sandstone-like bricks that were visible outside were also used inside and gave the restaurant a rustic feeling. Surprisingly the restaurant was relatively well visited, no seat was left empty, and everyone seemed to enjoy their pizzas.

A young woman, dressed in a blue t-shirt and a brown apron with the “Magnum Opus”-logo on it started to move towards him. Her electric blue hair was bound in a ponytail and mixed well with her bright yellow skin. She was leaning against a wall and didn't seem to be thrilled about the new visitor until she put on a smile and moved towards the newcomer.

“Good morning sir, do you have a reservation, if not we currently have no free tables, I’m really sorry.”

“Oh, no, I’m not here to eat. I’m looking for the owner, Thunder Cloud, I have something to discuss with him, so if you would be so friendly and bring me to him, I would greatly appreciate it,” the man replied to the waitress, all while sporting a smug smile.

“Thunder? He’s busy and didn’t tell me that he expected someone today, so would you please be so friendly and lea...”

“Phoenix! I knew I heard your voice.” A man with yellow skin and black hair had stepped out of the door to the kitchen. Over his grey t-shirt, he wore the same brown apron as the waitress, just covered in flour. His arms were extended outwards like he was presenting himself on a stage. Some of the customers had begun shifting their attention towards the man with a look of bewilderment on there faces. Strangely most of them didn’t even bother to look at the cook, just smiling at each other and some snickering. Apparently, this was normal here, which didn’t surprise Phoenix a single bit, he knew the man, Thunder Cloud, and acting this way was just normal for him.

Then he rushed towards him and began crushing him in a tight bearhug. “It’s so good to see you got here without any incidents, you know since that isn’t always sure with you,” Thunder basically shouted this next to Phoenix’s ear, all while steadily increasing the intensity of his hug.

Phoenix was first overwhelmed by his brother, but that wasn’t anything out of the usual, this quickly shifted into happiness to see his little brother and turned into frantically trying to get lose from him because he was feeling the air being hugged out of him. “Thunder. Thunder! Please … air … need … it … now!” Was all Phoenix could croak out.

“Air? Air! Ups, sorry I was lost in the moment, but it feels so good to see you again.” The cook released his brother, who in turn began gasping for air. “So we probably should continue this conversation somewhere else, or the people will start looking.” The waitress just leads her head fell into one of her hands and began to shake it, apparently unable to believe the obliviousness of her boss. Phoenix just gave him a simple smile and nodded while trying to get the flour, that was still sticking to him, off. “Summer you take over for a short while, I’m busy.”

“Wait, wait, what? Take over? The restaurant is brimming, and you want to hold a family reunion and leave the inexperienced waitress to do everything on her own?” She stammered trying to process what she just heard.

“Yes! I’m sure you can handle it and besides its only going to be twenty minutes tops, so just wing it till I’m back. And don’t forget, the show must go on!” And with that, he dragged Phoenix with him towards the kitchen door, but not before bowing to his customers and proclaiming: “I will be back soon, so long I will leave you in the capable hands of Summer Breeze. If any problem occurs she will be happy to help out in any way possible.”

Apparently, Summer had finally realized what had just happened and looked like she had just been instructed to kill an ancient demon that wanted to destroy the world. She didn’t seem happy, but Phoenix couldn’t make out more because he was dragged into the kitchen, a relatively small room with a workplace on the entrance side of the room and a pizza oven with other electronic devices to prepare food on the opposite side of the room, next to a door that apparently leads outside into a backstreet. He was the lead up the stairs that were located on the right and lead to the first floor and into a living room.

The room was equivalent to the restaurant-area in size and was outfitted with a red couch, armchair, and a small table, all of them facing a TV. On the other side of the room, a wall with books sorted into bookshelves could be seen. Paintings of pizza and other food were hanging on the walls, Thunder apparently had made his job something he treasured in his private life as well. A ding table with four sets was placed in the corner next to the stairs, empty save a flower in a green vase.

After taking place on the couch, Thunder claiming the armchair, they continued their conversation: ”You seem to do just fine here Thunder, the restaurant is stuffed with people. Color me impressed. By the way, since I can now breathe properly, it is also a pleasure to see you, even if the trip was not at all my decision.”

“Oh come on, are you still sour about grandpa's decision? You know very well that this the biggest chance to complete a Disc in years, if not centuries, you can’t blame him, he has sworn to fulfill our family legacy. And look at the bright side, the old geezer can’t bug you here as much as he did back home. This will be quite refreshing and relax for you, and I know how much you like that.” The black-haired man replied to his brother while leaning back and starting to smile.

“Oh yeah, I replaced the old geezer for his loyal lapdog, I’m sure in heaven.” The biker jokingly returned. One skeptical look from Thunder was all Phoenix needed to paddle back. “I’m joking, man, you should know that. It is nice to see you again after three years. So how many hearts have you captured with your pizzas? How many taste buds have you conquered and how many magnum opuses created?”

“Oh, what interesting question, I have spread my art through the city and have captured the hearts of many with my mouth-watering treats of delinquent flavors. I have fought the crime against art that is fast food and have shown time and time again that the old and refined skills of a craftsman are superior in any way then the hacks that make these, atrocities to cooking, obviously not talking about those burger-artists. I have created a safe haven for true food, one that in times like these is increasingly difficult to find and preserve. And my lovely customers are the reward I receive, I could not be happier.” In the middle of his little rant about the “true art of cooking” he had stood up, raising one arm towards the sky, more so the ceiling, as if imitating a play, his brother just smiling at him.

“I’m glad some things never change, goodness have I missed your antics. By the way congratulation on your restaurant, seems to be popular with all those customers down there.”

“Thank you, but it is no surprise since I’m the cook.” Phoenix just snickered at the words of Thunder. “On a more serious note, I hope you are aware that you will not just lounge at my expenses. You will pull your weight around here and I’m sure Summer will appreciate a new helper.”

“Well, there goes one of my dreams, still not surprising. I just know you too well, ok I will be your waiter, but don’t expect your level of enthusiasm, little brother.” The older one answered, with some level of annoyance in his voice.

“Good and I thought this would involve arguing, fighting, bribing, and then me winning.”

“Hey we can still do the bribing, it is always appreciated.” Said the Phoenix with a mischievous smile on his face.“

“Nice try, maybe I make a pizza as a welcome present, or I could sing.”

“No, please have mercy, everything but please, never sing, ever, please!” A look of utter terror and dreed was visible on Phoenix face, Thunder just started to laugh.

After brushing a tear away, that had formed thanks to his laughter, he continued: ”It feels so good to joke around with you after such a long time, but still, I think we should get to business. Do you have it with you? No problems, no complications?”

“I knew this was coming, yes I have the stupid Driver in my backpack,” Pointing at the backpack he had dumped right next to himself on the couch. “as well as the Discs, all intact and unharmed. What were you expecting, me dumping them on the road and just leaving? I don’t care for these things, but I’m not dumb enough to do that, even if they are only useful as paperweights.” With that, he opened the bag and threw six white discs and a rectangular metallic object towards his brother, who frantically managed to catch all of them. The square object resembled somewhat a belt buckle, just with a five-centimeter pol sticking out of the middle, on each side was a crescent moon shaped elevation surrounding the rod.

“Are you insane! Do you know what could have happened if I didn’t catch them? They could have been damaged! Do you really not care about family heirlooms that have been passed down for centuries, the most important things our family possesses. Can’t you just show a little bit of respect, you are the guardian, it is your duty, treat the Driver and the Discs with the respect they deserve,” his brother began to belittle him.

“Sorry, but look, they are fine, no damage, nothing, I’m careful.” While Phoenix was talking Thunder examined the Driver and the six Discs thoroughly. “And don’t come me with the family legacy bollox again, we have had them for six hundred years and still have not recreated one of the Discs. I will not complete one and in the next hundred years, no one will. This world just lacks the magic to charge them even if you claim this town has shown an affinity for magic, the chance of another phenomenon appearing here that is actually usable are minuscule. Can’t we just leave the stuff in a save and forget about it?”

“No, we can not, especially not in Canterlot City, a place which in the past year had four magical anomalies occur. The first at one of the local Highschool, CHS, during there Fall Formal, a beam of rainbow light was seen rising up from the school and was documented, that was the time gramps send me here to look for magical activity. The second incident, again at CHS, had something to do with there “Battle of the Bands”, a competition between, well bands, ended rather different then they had expected, three ethereal horse-fish-hybrid-things were seen in the sky, multiple other magical constructs were flown around and a giant ethereal alicorn could be seen kilometers away, I’m quite sure this was equestrian in origin. I was just crossing by on the street and I saw it with my own eyes. And with the third anomaly, again at CHS, reality itself had been pulled apart and rifts opened to a world with ponies, I assume Equestria. Some students managed to take some pictures of what happened and it was thoroughly discussed in the entire city. And the last incident, surprisingly not at CHS but at the local mall, was when a girl turned into a three-meter big woman and scaring everyone there, saw it myself, disrupted my shopping day. You have a high chance of running into a magical incident, so please take this seriously.”

“Ok, ok you are right, maybe I can actually get a Magic Disc finished, that would annoy gramps so much, I can already see it in my head.” Phoenix gave in, taking back the Alchemie Driver and the five partially filled Magic Discs. Thunder still eyed the last disc, a spare one if any other was ever damaged.

“Oh yes he would be, the slacker finishes the first Disc while he traveled the globe and didn’t find a single anomaly, I would pay for that.” Thunder smilingly replied. “But anyhow, that something like that happens soon is rather unlikely, so don’t sweat it and as long as nothing happens, we can have some fun. Do you want to ride around with our bikes this weekend? I need an excuse to use it more often.”

“Sure, it's not like I know anyone around here, so I have nothing planned. And I will always take an opportunity to let you eat dust.”

“Oh, it! Is! On! You are going down.” Apparently, he had sparked the competitive side of his brother, well at least it would be an exciting weekend. Still, he had to survive the week first, and that meant working, not his favorite thing to do.

--------------<

Well, Thunder didn’t waste any time and send him straight to work, typical for him. He had discarded his jacket upstairs with his backpack and its content. Thunder had introduced him to Summer Breeze, the waitress that had claimed that Thunder was busy, as Phoenix Feather, his brother.

She had given him the task to take up the customer's orders while she helped Thunder in the kitchen. At first, he had some problems remembering what tables had what number, but after she explained that table with the number one was on the right of the entrance and every following number was counting upwards, set up like a clock, he improved massively. He had to give Thunder credit that was a smart system, his brother, how much he loved the limelight, was smart and more organized then he ever was. He could make decisions on the spur of the moment, which helped him in sports, but was completely lost when it came to planning or decisions with long-term consequences.

Several hours had past caring for the customers and morning had shifted into the early afternoon. He had just served a salami-pepperoni-ananas-pizza too table number eight and returned to the kitchen. Apparently, Summer had waited for him on the other side of the door because he wasn't even properly troughed the door as she already had started talking.

“So you are the big brother of the boss? He sometimes spoke of you, you are supposed to be a real slacker.“

“Great, my brother apparently only talks about my best parts, did he also tell you about my unbelievable good looks, my stellar personality, or my unrivaled humor?” She just stared at him with a skeptical look. “Well in regards to the rest of my family at least, it is all a matter of perspective really.”

“No, but he talked about the pranks you pulled on your grandfather, and to be quite honest they do sound kind of fun.”

“Oh, so he did talk about my good parts, I knew it.” Phoenix triumphantly exclaimed.

“And about the punishments, you received afterward, the one where you had to scrub the entire basement with a toothbrush was my favorite.”

With this Phoenix deflated visibly, all the confidence he had mere moments ago gone. “Of course he did, that is so up his ally. But you will see, revenge will be mine!” And with that, the confidence that had disappeared for only a few seconds was back again. Apparently, nothing could keep the guy down.

“I can definitely see that you are his brother. You two are very much alike. Question is if I can endure two of you, or if I will go insane and join you,” she jokingly replied, while curling her lips into a blissful smile.

“Oh I take that as a challenge, how long do you think till I break you?”

“If you are half as bad as Thunder, a month, tops. But I will not make it easy for you, you have to work for that. On that note, you are not completely awful, which is actually more then I expected. Regardless you are still at the beginning and have much to learn till you become as good as a waiter as I. So always listen to me and do what I tell you and you will be a master in serving in no time.”

The new waiter just skeptically stared at her, arms crossed in front of him. “Oh, now I get what you are trying to do. You want an underling that you can boss around and load your work on, don’t you? You are as lazy, if not more so than I’m.”

“No, no, no. I’m just trying to be nice, you know, the bond between coworkers and so?” Phoenix just chuckled. “You are not buying it, are you? Fine I tried to use you as a way to work less, satisfied? As if wouldn’t have done the same.”

“I knew it! I definitely recognize a slacker when I see one, and you have it written all over you. I think I will enjoy working with you if only to drive Thunder insane.” A mischievous smile had formed on the face of Phoenix.

“As fun as that sounds, I think I have to go back out there and,” she shuddered for a second, “Go back to work. Goodness, I can’t believe I have to play the role model.”

And with this, she moved towards the door, but before she could open it, Thunder came storming in, nearly knocking her off her feet.

“Hey! Watch out, you usually are not that careless, what if I had someone's food with me!”

Thunder just ignored her and closed in on his brother, grabbing him by the collar of his t-shirt and dragging him in the direction of the stairs.

“Thunder? What are you doing? I can walk just fine you don’t have to drag me along like a dog!” But his complaints fell on deaf ears as he was pulled up the stairs without a word from his brother.

“Hey, don’t leave me alone again, the first time was already awful. Fine, but you owe me. You hear me? ” She shouted up the stairs.

--------------<

After dragging his older brother up to the first floor he let go of him and moved towards the TV.

“So what do you want? Did I do something wrong?” Awaiting a response from his brother he stopped questioning him for a few moments, but still, nothing came in return. “Oh come on, talk to me! I don’t know what I did wrong if you don’t tell me. That is unbecoming of you to leave me in the dark. Usually, you let something I did wrong never go, so why the silence? Did something happen?” The last question sounded somewhat afraid, but still no response.

Then Thunder turned on the TV and just said: “Look!”

The screen showed a view from, apparently, a helicopter hovering over a small paved piazza with a water fountain in the middle of the area. But the place was not the important part, what was standing on it was. A monster, drenched in a fiery orange was laughing maniacally and troughing fireballs at everything that didn’t get out of the way fast enough. The beast measured roughly about two and a half meters and was towering over everyone trying to run away from it. The claws that it had on its feed were shining an energetic yellow and digging into the pavement. The legs were extremely muscular and could probably even dent steal. A lump yellow-orange fur was visible on the monster's chest, which in turn only made it look even more intimidating. On its arms, small wristbands could be seen, both of which helped crimson gems with ethereal flames extending off of them. It had the head of a lion if the mane would have been replaced with actual fire. Its mouth was equipped with vicious fangs that could tear a human in half. The entire horror was completed with a small heading, again with a crimson gemstone embedded within it, that glowed with fierce red energy.

“I’m Wide Lens your trusty reporter from CCTV, and we are not afraid to show you the truth, even in situations like this. Out of nothing this … this monster has appeared in the middle of our beloved city out of nowhere. We currently have no information on what it is and how it appeared here but seeing this beast with my own eyes I can assure you it does not come in peace. In the last five minutes, it has rampaged from a small park to this piazza and left a path of destruction behind. Something like this has our city never seen before. If it continues its current path the Change Industries headquarters will suffer horrific damage, not forgetting the possibility of human casualties if this thing is not stopped.”

The reporter continued on only for Thunder to mute the program.

“What… what was that? I have never seen anything like this before.” Completely shocked by what he had just witnessed, Phoenix was trying to regain his composure.

“I have no idea, in my time in this city I have only once seen something similar and that was the three-meter woman in the shopping center, but she didn’t look anything like this, this looks way more malicious and dangerous. But one thing I’m sure of is that it is magical in origin, I would bet the “Magnum Opus” on it.”

“Magical? No, nononono! Absolutely not, are you insane? I’m not doing it!” Apparently, Phoenix had picked up on what his brother was suggesting.

“You have to, it's your duty as the keeper to look for magical anomalies and drain them of their magic.”

“I know, but I didn’t sign up for fighting monsters. How am I supposed to do anything about that thing, I’m toast before I can even get close to it. I’m not suicidal.”

“You have the Discs, and if you had actually paid attention when gramps explained the mechanics of them to you, you would know that they can absorb magical energy. It doesn’t matter in which form, attack, or artifact, they can suck in all magic.”

“Oh, I listened, and I remember that the only one that attempted to absorb an attack was electrocuted to death. If you are so insistent on going, take it, be my guest, and through your life away for such a foolish legacy,” he now began to shout.

Thunder remained calm and continued: “You are the guardian, you have sworn to protect and recreate the Discs. You know secrets to them I was never told, I’m your assistant, you, however, have the responsibility and knowledge to carry on the history of our family. Right now you are the only hope the people that are currently in danger have if you sit here and cower in fear there blood is on your hands. So are you man enough to do your part, as guardian of our family legacy or for the people that need your help, or are you the failure grandfather always saw you as, because I think I know what you are.”

Clinching his fist together he exclaimed: “Dammit! You are right, I hate it when you are right! I can’t let these people take the fall for my cowardliness, even if this plan is downright stupid, I just couldn’t live with me anymore. Why do you know me so well? That’s unfair.”

His brother just chuckled: “I knew you would do the right thing.”

Picking up the Alchemie Driver, the six Magic Discs, helmet, and his leather jacket he began to rush to his bike, only to hear the voice of his brother before he could sprint down the stairs. “But promise me one thing, come back alive because if you die because I pressured you into this, I couldn't live with myself.”

“Sure thing!” With that, he continued his dash towards his bike, on the way rushing past Summer.

“Where are you going? Your shift isn’t over! Hey, I’m talking to you!” She shouted after him.

“Getting something, see you later, bye!” And with that, he was gone.

“These two are maddening, is it that hard to stop and explain something, and worst of all I’m still alone?”

Moments later Phoenix had put his helmet back on and was sitting on his bike only to realize: ”Wait, I didn’t ask where the monster was. Dammit, I’m an idiot. Wasn’t it headed for some company's headquarter? Right, Change Industries. So the question is where is it… I didn’t think this through, did I?” While he was thinking his eyes caught a white skyscraper in the distance, with the insignias Ch. Ind. in black letters written on the front of it and not far from the tower a small amount of smoke could be seen. That had to be it, without wasting any time the engine sprang to life, and he began to drive where he suspected the monster.

--------------<

Close to the Change Industries headquarters, people were running away in terror and who could blame them, the monster hadn’t stopped and still was throwing fireballs around like in a snowball fight. It had moved away from the piazza and now stood two streets away from its apparent goal. The buildings behind him had already caught fire, illuminating the monster as it stepped closer towards some cowering people, all while cackling maniacally. “Run, run to your masters, little slaves of this oppressive system. But I, I have been granted the power to live free of its limitations. I’m Napalm, and I have cast off the shackles of captivity and have become something beyond you puny humans. I’m a god that no one can challenge!”

As he approached the helpless civilians, he suddenly felt that something had hit him. Shortly after the impact several metallic objects fell to the ground and bounced off of it. As he shifted his look to where the projectiles had come from he could see three policemen standing there, shaking and pointing their guns at him. He twisted his head as if trying to figure out what to to do with them, then he began to laugh, which shook everyone present to the bone. “How cute, the lapdogs of the slavers have decided to protect the monsters that keep them down. I know your type, you look down on us, but newsflash I’m not part of the ‘us’ anymore. I have risen above all the rest and can now do how I damn well, please. You can’t stop me! No one can stop me! I will be the god of this world! Now catch!”

With that, the monster threw a fireball, he had created in his paw, towards them, only barely missing them and hitting there police car behind them, which immediately exploded throwing the man on the ground in pain. Unable to stand up the Napalm eyed them with sadistic glee in his eyes and began again: “Pathetic, I at least expected a little more but that was just laughable. There is truly nothing that could harm me. But enough of the this, time to end your miserable existences!” The police officers still unable to move due to their injuries staring desperately at the beats as it slowly stepped ever closer towards them, dragging out the inevitable. As he was one meter away from them and begin to form another fireball in his paw, he suddenly heard something from his left.

“Hey, hothead, are you truly so pathetic that you have to attack people that are already down, or are you just afraid someone that could actually fight back will put you out? Seems to me like you are nothing more than a fire-chicken you pathetic dandelion.” A man with orange skin and red hair was shouting at the monster and waving his arms in the air to attract the beast, while slowly backing into a backstreet.

Napalm growling in annoyance and started to move in the man's direction, already having forgotten about the three policemen. “How dare you mock me. If one of us is pathetic, then it is you. I will rost you like a chicken so you can see what happens when you try to define your superiors. Die” And with that, he threw another fireball at Phoenix, who managed to dodge it in the last second.

“Why did I think this was a good idea again?” Now he was moving even faster into the backstreet while taking a white magic disc with the words “fire” on it out of his jacket. All this while still mocking Napalm: “That was all? Please, I could dodge these for days and wouldn’t get tired, you really have to step up your game to kill me, or are you truly this pathetic. You and my superior? Not in a thousand years!”

His words enraging the fire monster finally enough to stop in his tracks and gather energy in his three gemstones. “You! You will be an example of what happens when someone dares to insult me!” And with that he crossed his arms over his bracelets and unleashed a beam of fire magic that shoots directly at Phoenix, melting or igniting everything in close proximity to it. He was just able to hold the magic disc in front of him before the beam hit him. The entire alleyway was consumed by a massive explosion.

As the smoke had settled the monster stared at the alley in disbelief, there he was, still standing. His arms burned and charred, barely able to stand. In his hands, he held the magic disc, but it had changed now resembling a spinning flame with four curled flame-shaped extensions from the center where the hole was located. A fat grin had appeared on his face mixed in with the pain of the burned.

--------------<

“Today you will learn to activate the Alchemy Driver if you ever need it,” An old man with white skin and grey hair said to a little boy with orange complexion and fiery red hair.

“But why? The thing doesn’t work and probably never will! Why can’t I play with Thunder instead, this is pointless!” The boy whined.

“Silence! It is the family tradition that on his eighth birthday the oldest son of our family will learn how to use the driver. It is our only reason to exist, and you will learn it too! Now, do I hear any objections?” But the boy just stayed silent. “Ok, now listen…”

--------------<

Phoenix took the driver out of the pocket of his jacket, his hands shaking from the pain, and put it in front of his waist where it immediately looped a metal band around it and pulling tight. Next, he brought the fire disc closer to the beltlike device, barely able to hold it, and put it on the rod in the middle of the device. After fitting it in, he started to spin the disc with his right hand and pointing with that hand towards the sky.

At this moment Napalm had regained his composure and hastily threw a fireball at the burned man.

\ MAGIC DISC DETECTED! /

“Henshin!”

\ FLAME DISC ACTIVATED! /

Whit that a fiery whirlwind began to encircle Phoenix, starting from his feet reaching up to his waist, and finally arriving at his head. The fireball Napalm had thrown at him just exploded as it hit the flames that spun around him. After a few seconds, the flame-whirlwind burst away and revealed, that instead of the burned man that stood in the spot mere moments ago now an armor-clad warrior had taken his place.

The armor was made out of crimson material. His feet were armored through boots with a slick design that ended into a spike at his knee, decorated with golden details. At his waist, a cape that reached to his knees and grew ever shorter the more it reached his backside, was build into the armor and held by the belt, its edges accented with gold. All over his breastplate were small lines of gold worked into the armor, and a symbol that represented fire was present on his left chest. His shoulder plates looked like flames that were blowing in the wind and ended in ridged edges. The gloves had a golden line on them were the went over into the rest of the armor. Green bug-shaped eyes stared at the beast, while the rest of the helmet was primarily red, with a metallic mouthguard. Two golden crescent horns extended from above the eyes, both with a flame motif worked into them.

Phoenix felled an incredible power rushing through him, his arms that had mere moments ago, hurt in nearly unbearable agony felt like nothing had ever happened to them. He even felt better than before, this was not comparable to anything he had ever experienced. Like he was for the first time truly alife.

“What are you? Who are you? And most importantly how dare you to stay in my way? I will not accept such disrespect!” And with that, the fire monster charged towards Phoenix, charging energy into its fist. But before it could connect Phoenix had already slammed his fist into the stomach of the beast, which in turn flew out of the alley into the burned-out wreckage of a car on the opposite side of the street. Napalm visibly confused just shouted: ”What? How dare you? I’m a god! You have no right to harm me!”

The man in the crimson armor quietly walked out onto the street and stared at the monster. Remembering back to one of his grandfather's lessons and broke the silence: “I’m Kamen Rider Alchemy, specifically Kamen Rider Alchemie Flame Mode! And I’m here to put you out.”

--------------<

In a different part of the city, Thunder had gone ecstatic over the appearance of Alchemy. His brother had done it, he had managed to finish what his family had begone hundreds of years ago.

“Yes! Yes, yes, yes. He did it, he did it. Oh, he will never stop annoying gramps with this. Yes, he did it!”

Tears of joy had begun forming in his eyes over what his brother had archived.

--------------<

“Put me out? You? That was just a lucky shot, nothing more and to prove it I’m going to crush you!” And with that Napalm slowly started to stand up. Clenching his fists together he again began to charge at the Kamen Rider. This time Alchemie smashed his own fist against the monsters, sending sparks flying from the impact. With Napalm being pushed back by the force of the attack, the rider advanced keeping the beast on the defenses. As the monster was pushed further and further back more and more hits struck there goal, every time letting sparks spray of the impact point.

“Didn’t you want to crush me? Where is this spark of determination now? Already blown out by the wind kitty? I thought you were a god, till now I’m not impressed. You are not a god, you are a human who got to close to the sun and was burned!” That was enough for the beast and slammed his fist in the direction of Alchemie, even more, ferocious than before, only for the attack to be blocked by his opponent that had crossed his arms. Napalm was fuming, but before he could act upon his impulses, he was hit by an uppercut, sending sparks flying off of him as well as himself about five meters into the air. Napalm landed unceremonially on his back about seven meters away from his opponent.

“ENOUGH! I will deal with you another time! And then I will be prepared because no one can stand against the god I have become, especially not you!” With that, all of his three gemstones began to glow and were unleashed as an all-consuming firestorm. Alchemy began to shield himself from the flames with his arms. After the flames had died down Napalm had vanished leaving the armored hero standing there dumbfounded. Thankfully no one was caught in the crossfire. Still, it was frustrating that the beast had escaped.

Hearing police sirens coming closer, he figured that his best option was to get his bike and hightailed out of here because he wasn’t too interested in explaining the police about everything that had happened and didn’t want to lose the Alchemie Driver. Thankfully he had parked his bike far enough from the monster that it wasn’t damaged by the attacks of it. The moment he touched his crimson motorcycle a fiery light erupted from it. After the light had died down enough that one could see again without being temporarily blinded something different had taken its place. It was still a motorbike but looked entirely different. The rims had changed color and were now a bright orange with a flame motif. This was reflective in the rest of the bike, while still crimson it was accented with gold and orange to envoke fire. The exhaust was designed as a burning flame.

As strange as it was that his bike had changed so massively he hadn’t time to dwell on it and simply accepted it, what other choice did he have? And with that, he drove away from the approaching sirens of the police cars until they faded into nothingness.

--------------<

The evening had set in over Canterlot City, and Phoenix had finally reached the “Magnum Opus” again after getting lost a few times in the unfamiliar city. He had changed back into his civilian form in an abandoned alleyway to travel more inconspicuous. The patrons had already left after Thunder had closed the restaurant early, blaming it on the monster attack, which wasn’t a complete lie.

As Phoenix walked through the door, his burned leather-jacket crumpled under his arm, Summer was finishing cleaning the pizzeria for the day as she saw him coming in. “Ah, you are back, and did you get it?”

“What?”

“You went out to get something for the boss, and now you don’t know what? What were you doing?”

“Oh yeah, right. I forgot. It’s no problem,” he tried to dismiss her questions.

“What? That was the purpose of this trip, and you forgot it? How can you forget that? Am I surrounded by idiots? And you left me here to do everything myself to just forget what you were supposed to do? What have you done anyway if not get the ‘thing’?” She seemed to be fuming, and how could blame her, she had been leafed to take care of the restaurant two times this day both times given no explanation.

Phoenix was struggling to find the right words, hell any words for the matter. “I called him that I simply overlocked the pineapples and since he is unfamiliar with the layout of the city it took him a while to get back here. Oh by the way you really worked outstandingly today and in the last weeks, I think it’s time for an increment in your salary,” Thunder interrupted the pair's conversation.

Summer standing there dumbfounded but quickly regaining her composure: “Thank you Thunder!” All while Phoenix visibly relaxed.

“Please, I’m glad to have such a good employee as you, now go, we can handle the rest. Phoenix I wanted to talk to you upstairs.” With that, he turned around and started to walk back up the stairs again.

“Thank you, goodbye Thunder, goodbye Phoenix. See you tomorrow!” And with that, she left the restaurant, a scream of pure glee could be heard from outside.

The older brother followed Thunder upstairs and throw his ruined jacket on the couch. “Before we discuss anything else, you owe me a new jacket.”

Thunder just chuckled and added: ”I’m glad some things never change.”

Fully Charged - You are Under Arrest!

Everything was back to normal in the “Magnum Opus”, well, as normal as it would get in a restaurant run by a drama queen, a lazy waitress that loved sports and an even lazier waiter that just left the restaurant on occasion to fight some monsters. Adding to this was the food, while well made; some of the combinations of the customers just couldn’t be considered as anything else as downright bizarre, or in Oceans case, abominations that still taste good. Yeah, normal was relative here.

Speaking of the devil, Ocean had arrived for her daily pizza and as usual, a new one. This time a mushroom-salami-onion-pineapple-tuna-pizza. Phoenix had originally wondered how she came up with these weird combinations when she answered: “Don’t know. Just comes to me, I guess,” he had simply rolled with it, like so many things in the recent past. And it was quite effective, lightning blue horsewoman covered in golden armor? Rolle with it! An evil maid, well not really evil, but still? Rolle with it! Or the weirdest until now: Playing hero in a magically appearing armor? Roll with it! Really, it saved him from a lot of headaches.

As he approached Ocean with her order she seemed even happier than usual. “So, everything went fine yesterday? Didn’t see much sadly, was a bit occupied with running for my life,” He joked as he placed the plate in front of her.

“Yeah, pretty fine. Alchemy defeated the Corrupted and we could arrest her and her ‘friend’, well more the person that was exploiting her,” she replied while giddily rubbing her hands together and staring at her pizza.

“Oh right, Rarity told me something about wanting to help, blackmail and a possible new assistant, or something like that. Well after she was done venting her frustrations about me losing her in the crowd and how much she was worried about me. My ears are still ringing from that,” he sighed while Ocean just chuckled.

“If it was only that.”

“And then I was present when Mrs. Hemline said that she had to move the fashion show to next week since her shop was kinda leveled and needed the repairs. On the bright side, Thunder can go again and I can have another free day, save no one invites themselves unannounced again, but I think I'm safe on that front.”

“Well, good for you then. I think I’m going to start now. See you later Phoenix.” But to her surprise, the waiter simply remand silent and stared into the distance, apparently not noticing her. “Phoenix, is something wrong?” Phoenix just pointed at the TV.

An anchorwoman with lime green skin, black hair, and a dark blue business-suit was standing in a well-lit studio, smiling towards the camera. “And back to our segment: ‘The Terror of Canterlot City!’ Last night a warehouse in a secluded part of town was the sight of a gruesome crime. There were in total six victims, all horribly mutilated and covered in wounds. From what we were able to see the warehouse has been devastated, the property damage is immense. Furthermore, all electronics inside the building were completely fried. But this might actually be the first clue on the culprit. This time he apparently got sloppy, one of his would-be victims escaped his fate and this morning was escorted out of the warehouse by the police.”

Phoenix was still staring at the monitor intently. Since his thoughts about the murder during his walk two days ago a strange interessed in the culprit had formed. Maybe it was the secret wish to stop him himself or something else entirely but as soon as the anchorwoman had started talking he had hung on her every word. On the top right side of the screen, a small screen appeared, showing a video clip. In it, a skinny gray mane with black hair was escorted out of the building by four officers of the CCPD. He looked awful, his clothes were shredded and showed visible burn marks. But that was nothing compared to his expression, he looked like he had seen the deepest pits of Tartarus itself, the terror and fear were basically burned deep onto his face and his eyes just stared into thin air, completely lacing focus. He was shaking with every step he made and would probably collapse if he wouldn’t be supported by two of the officers. The entire time he just stuttered out two words, but these utterly terrified Phoenix: “Kamen… Kamen Rid… Kamen Rider!”

The anchorwoman continued: “Does this mean that our local hero is, in reality, a dangerous murder, are there other Kamen Riders that are not as benign as Alchemy or did this man just go crazy from the horrors he had to endure? Well, will inform you the second we find out more on CCTV.”

Apparently, Ocean had noticed the shocked reaction on his face because she called out to him with worry in her voice: “Phoenix? Phoenix! Are you ok?”

He blinked a few times and turned towards her, trying to look normal and failed miserably at it. “Sorry, it is just shocking something like this can happen in such a peaceful city like ours. And the fact that a Kamen Rider is supposed to be the culprit, it just makes me sick.”

“Oh, so you don’t think it was Alchemy, even when we don’t have any other suspects. Strange, especially since you were rather skeptical of him, to begin with,” Ocean replied, eying him curiously.

“Oh, well. If he meant Alchemy he probably would have said Alchemy and not Kamen Rider. And from what I have seen of the guy, it just doesn’t fit. Adding to that is I had time to think about it and see what he did, as he defended the city time and time again, I have started to change my opinion on him. So, do you think he did it?” Phoenix asked her, his heart beating in his chest like never before. Would he lose one of his most reliable allies or would she trust in him?

“I don’t think he did it. He just doesn’t strike me as a person that would do something like this. Still, I hope we can talk this out as soon as possible. I want his side of the story, until then there will always be that nagging voice in the back of my head that doubts him. And if he is indeed innocent, that means there might be another Kamen Rider running around town killing people and I don’t want to even imagen that. All in all, I hope the city doesn’t devolve into a war zone in the next week, because even if I’m wrong or right, the chance that I have to arrest a Kamen Rider seem quite high,” she sighed, exhaustion started to show on her face, she really wasn’t looking forward to this.

“Hmm, makes sense. Scary thought, an evil Rider rampaging through the city. That would be proper nightmare fuel.” The thought alone let him shiver uncomfortably. “And I don’t even want to know about the other stuff you have to deal with on a regular basis. That you can still sleep at night is a miracle in my opinion.”

“Mah, you get used to it. The possibilities are worse then what actually happens, most of the time at least.”

“So, enjoy your meal then. I think I should head back to the kitchen or Thunder is going to be cranky and I can pass on another argument already,” Phoenix replied, nervously shifting his weight from foot to foot.

“Ok, then I won’t bother you any longer.” As he heard this he started to return back to the kitchen, after already making a few steps Ocean raised her voice again: “Oh and Phoenix.” He just grunted in return. “Just stay inside while this is going on, I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“Sure, I’ll keep that in mind as long as you make sure to be careful as well. If there is really another Rider out there you can’t really do much.”

“Oh, don't worry I know that and I promise to not attack a Rider like this,” Ocean replied, smiling confidently at him.

“So then, see ya!”

“See ya!” And with that, he returned back to the kitchen and an annoyed Thunder that berated him for wasting time and flirting with his customers, a remark that led to Phoenix blush furiously.

--------------<

After the customers had left and the restaurant was closed for the day Phoenix had asked his coworkers to stay for a bit longer to discuss something with them. Now they were sitting in their living room and waiting for Phoenix to tell them what he wanted to talk about. They had left the TV on if by any chance something would happen, still, it was at least muted.

“So, what did you want to discuss with us? Did you actually manage to get some information from Ocean?” Summer asked him while lazily supporting herself with the armrest.

“Matter of factly, yes, I did!” Phoenix replied with a smug grin on his face.

“No way! You are joking right, he has to be joking Thunder? That he would manage to get information from a government agent, I can’t believe it!” Summer was shocked.

“Hmm, could as well be her favorite flower for all we know. So what did you find out.”

“Well, real info might be a bit much but do you heard about this murder that is running around Canterlot City?”

“Hmm, that was the guy that left one of his victims drowned in an alleyway, kilometers away from any real water source? Yeah, makes me uncomfortable when going outside after work, even if I ride my bike,” she replied, dread clearly audible in her voice.

“Exactly that one. He or she struck again yesterday night. Killed six and left an entire warehouse damaged. All the electronics in the building were fried. But this time he made a mistake, he missed someone. The police found him the next day and here comes the terrifying part: He only repeated two words, Kamen Rider!”

“What!?” Thunder had jumped up from the couch and stared at his brother in utter shock.

“No way!” Summers reaction was relatively similar, at least on the shock part. The moment her brain had processed what she had heard, her arm had slipped off the rest and she nearly landed face first on it.

“Eeyup, that was what he said. Had a similar reaction, Ocean not. Probably already knew about it, but what she said regarding it was worse, so much worse. But first the good thing, she is not suspecting Alchemy as the culprit, well not completely at least. The bad part is, she thinks there is another Rider out there, one that kills the innocent;” he finished, clearly looking unsettle by Oceans theory. “Still, it’s only one of her thoughts, there is no real prof.”

“An evil Rider, that thought is scary. What someone could do with that kind of power, but where did they get it from? There only comes one option to mind and you know what this means,” Thunderers voice was dead serious, something that unsettled Summer greatly.

“Hey, you don’t know that. How would they even have come here in the first place? It could very well just be a Corrupted and he didn’t notice him, maybe the Corrupted could just shapeshift, or there might have been Kamen Riders in this world too, there is at least some magic here, Kamen Riders are not out of the possibility. There has to be a way more plausible explanation than our past coming back just when we restore the Magic Discs, that is just ludicrous,” Phoenix hastily retorted, looking at his brother with a mixture of fear and anger. No matter how much Thunder had unsettled her with the tone of his voice, Phoenix was so much worse, he actually frightened her.

“Possible, still, you shouldn’t rule out the possibility entirely,” Thunder replied as calmly as possible.

“I know, I know! But I’m going to deal with that when it really comes up, not when there is no evidence. I’m not going to chase some stupid fantasy of gramps, is that clear?” Phoenix asked almost threatening.

“Crystal clear. So what are you intending to do if it is indeed an evil Rider?” Thunder calmly replied, not letting his brother's tone affect him in any major way.

“I… I… I don’t really know. I could start patrolling the city at night, but I don’t think this will yield many results. First, the city's big and second I’m just going to make myself look suspicious, so I don’t think this is a good idea. Right now, I don’t know, that just annoys me. I can’t just sit around, but on the other side, I don’t know what to do. It’s driving me crazy,” he returned, the wrinkles on his face show just how much it worried him.

“How about you sleep over it a bit. Calm down, order your thoughts and think about it tomorrow. You don’t have to make a decision now. Going crazy while deciding what to do will help no one, so just take it easy Phoenix.”

“Yeah, yeah you are right. I need to calm down, right now I’m just making myself crazy. And like you said, that won’t help anyone. I think I’ll go to…” he stopped midsentence as he glanced over at the TV for a second. What he saw on the screen let him forget all about his current problems and replaced them with completely new ones. “Can you turn the volume back on Thunder?”

At first, he was somewhat perplexed by his brother's reaction but as he saw what was on the TV he obliged as quickly as possible. With a simple click, the audio returned to the room:”…towne, two monsters just attacked a CIT, apparently in an attempt to steal its contents.” The video on the screen showed an illuminated spot on a rather dark street from about one hundred meters above ground. What could be made out from such a distance was that a good part of the street was on fire, cares and trees that were planted on the sidewalk had gone up in flames and blocked the street. A large black armored car lay on its side, apparently, the monsters had managed to do that. In the light of the flames a small creature could be seen walking towards the transporter, well it looked small from up there. Right at this moment something flow past the camera, he couldn’t entirely make out what it was, but one thing was sure, it was fast. Shortly thereafter the connection to the camera was lost.

Phoenix immediately jumped up and went for his jacket and keys. He was just about to rush down the stairs as Thunder called out to him. “Phoenix,” he looked towards his brother. “makes sure you are safe.” Phoenix just nodded and continued his sprint towards his bike.

“Thunder, why was Phoenix so angry when you brought up the potential identity of the other Rider?” Summer asked Thunder somewhat hesitantly, not sure if she was interfering with something to private.

“Well, that is an interesting thing. First, my guess was that one of Shadow Golds descendants might have done it. The plans for the driver were left behind in Equestria and the disappearance of the Magic Discs so many years ago points towards them. But the reason he reacted the way he did was basically thanks to gramps. Our father died in a car crash when I was one year old. He was traveling with gramps at the time and only he survived. He kept blaming the entire accident on Shadow Golds family.”

“Let me guess, Phoenix blames him for it?” Summer replied, already sure she was right.

“Exactly. He sees it the way that gramps just wants to shift the blame for his own failings. He thinks if father never went on this mission he would still be here and he isn’t exactly wrong about that. Add his general distaste for the family business and you get the reaction he had just a few minutes ago,” he finished, looking a bit sad while he spoke.

“Well, damn. I get why he thinks that and why he reacted that way. Still, if it really was one of Shadows family he has to accept that and blindly denying it until he can’t refute it anymore isn’t really a solution now is it.”

“I know. But I think right now is not the time to discuss that with him. I will talk to him about it, but not right now. Something like this needs to be treated with a lot of care.”

“Hmh. Fine, just don’t forget it. By the way, you think he can handle two Corrupted?” She asked, a tad bit nervous.

“Well, he has to. But yeah, not sure about this myself. The best thing would be to attack them separately, but that isn’t really an option right now, is it? The only thing we can do right now is to wait and hope for the best, like always.”

“Yeah, your right, like always. Just sitting around and doing nothing. I hate it, so much,” she sighed, frustration clearly audible in her voice.

“Me too. But look at it that way, we make sure he can actually come back to something and not just a smoldering ruin. He really should be thankful,” Thunder chuckled.

“Yeah, I think you are right. Makes me feel a bit more useful, thanks,” she smiled back at Thunder who just rubbed the back of his neck and chuckled. It didn’t take long for her to join him.

--------------<

Meanwhile, Phoenix was driving towards the scene of the crime. Before he had transformed into Alchemy he had made a quick check about the street the robbery was taking place. Thankfully news stations are always quite quick when it came to something like this and like expected they didn’t disappoint. It hadn't even taken three minutes and a small article about the attack on the CIT had popped up, complete with street name. Really, sometimes the speed of the news was scarier than the actual content of the article.

Nonetheless, he knew where he had to go and was on his way right now. As he rode through the city he noticed that there was relatively little traffic towards his goal, apparently, people had listened to the warning over the news. Probably it had come to be something far more normal then most people would be comfortable with. It didn’t take long till he passed the first police barricade that had been hastily put up to prevent anyone from coming to close to the robbery and into the crossfire. He had to give it to them, the speed they had erected these barricades was impressive, he had to mention it to Ocean the next time he saw her and the best part was that he didn’t even have to stop to get past it. As soon as they saw him, they opened the makeshift barricade, they even were the same policemen that had denied him passage last time. Ocean really knew how to drill something into someone's head.

After Phoenix had passed the barricade it didn’t take him long till he reached his destination. The fire illuminated the street quite nicely and made it easy to spot his target. It was a two meter Corrupted with a rather muscular physique that was carrying a few containers with probably money in them that he just took from the CIT. As he came closer he could make out more, first was that the Corrupted had red skin and a spiky black armor over several parts of his body, primarily his torso, forearms, and lower legs. His arms didn’t end in hands or even something like claws, no they ended in something that looked like barrels made out of his skin. They probably had a purpose, but right now Phoenix couldn’t figure that one out even if his life depended on it. Lastly was his face, it looked strange even for a Corrupted. It was not in any way similar to that of a human, more akin to a spider but had only two glowing yellow eyes. The entire face was elongated and ended in two fangs that seemed to be able to bite through anything.

But it didn’t expect what came next. The Corrupted had heard the motorbike coming closer, but as he looked in the direction of the vehicle he was stunned. He saw a foot coming towards him, or to be more precise Alchemy heading towards him with his foot aiming right at him. Apparently, he had jumped off his machine when he got close enough to pull this stunt off and now was heading towards him with alarming speed. Thanks to the sudden shock of the Corrupted the attack went off without any complications and send the Corrupted flying. While this was happening the containers of money were scattered all over the street as he was unable to hold onto them.

Alchemy landed on his feet and started in his usual mocking tone: “Hey Spidy, I thought spiders were more the heroic type, but apparently I was wrong. You should know the drill, we fight, I win and you lose. Why not skip this, give me your artifact and I’ll make sure you get off more or less scot-free. How does that sound? If you refuse we can do it the old fashion way, which means I’m going to beat you unconscious and give you over to the police.”

While he spoke the Corrupted began to get back up and from the looks of it, he glared at him. As he had gotten on his feet again Alchemy just looked at him, curiously awaiting his next move. He didn’t need to wait too long since the Corrupt growled and rushed towards him. Alchemy sighed and responded: “Well not the talkative type are we? Fine. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.” With that, he charged towards his opponent as well, but unlike his opponent not to bullrush him but for something a bit more refined.

Before he clashed head against head with his opponent Alchemy sidestepped, letting the confused Corrupted stumble forward. While he was unable to stop his advance Phoenix used the leg that was closest to the enemy to deliver a kick to its side, making it lose its balance and roll on the floor a few meters.

Not wanting to waste his opportunity Alchemy stormed towards the Corrupted, sadly the monster was a stubborn one and was already back on his feet and swinging wildly with his arms that had started to glow in a fiery red. He managed to dodge the first blow and in return punched the Corrupted in the stomach. Sadly while he stumbled back a bit it didn’t seem like the attack had the intended effect thanks to the thick armor.

The Corrupted didn’t slow down and continued his barrage of attacks, this time he had increased his speed and with that, his attacks had only gone more uncontrolled and wild. He was lucky that he managed to evade all of his attacks if he had been hit that would have been painful. But after about fifteen seconds of evading his attacks, there was finally an opening and he would damn well use it. And so he threw another punch, this time aimed at the head.

At this moment everything went south. Instead of actually hitting his target the Corrupted had foreseen this, apparently, he had a bit more brain matter in his skull than he had given him credit for. He slammed one of his “fists” down onto the ground, Phoenix only barely able to escape his attack. As the attack hit the ground, cracks started to form on the street and from the cracks, a fiery light started to glow. Seconds later he was thrown to the side as the ground exploded, parts of the street landing everywhere and causing quite the collateral.

After a few seconds he managed to lift his head again, the right side of his body arched horribly thanks to some random bits of debris that had hit him and it didn’t get any better when he could see what was right in front of him. And that was one of the barrel-like “fists” of the Corrupted directly pointed at him. Now he noticed that the “fists” were hollow and a lot of magical energy had been gathered inside them. “Damn!” was all he could say before the magical energy was released and a beam made out of flames that hit him dead center.

Phoenix was thrown through the air and smashed into the window of a store, shattering it in the process. While the heat hadn’t really affected him thanks to Falme Mode, the force of the attack and the subsequent impact, with him crashing through some bookshelves, were more detrimental for his current state. As he clumsily stood back up he realized that this wouldn’t work. He had underestimated his opponent and had been played. But if he wanted him to be on his A-game he would surely regret it. With that, he removed the Flame Disc from his Driver and held it in front of him.

\ Flame Disc Attack Mode! /

\ Flame Saber! /

He hoped that his opponent didn’t associate the blinding light of one of his weapons transforming with exactly that and after holding the Flame Saber in his hand walked back towards the window. He increased his speed the closer he got to the window and as he finally stepped outside he was greeted with a stream of flames from the barrels on the Corrupted arms. To the surprise of his opponent he just jumped over them and after making a somersault in the air he brought his sword down upon the monster. Alchemy finally seemed to have made a dent in the armor of the Corrupted, sparks flew and he cried out in pain.

As the Corrupted staggered back from the first really successful strick Phoenix didn’t waste any time and followed up his attack with another sword strike. Like before the attack broke through the armor of the Corrupted, sparks erupting from the wound and let him stagger back, unable to retaliate. He continued his furry attack with another strike and finished with the last slash with the sword. Both hitting without interference.

The Corrupted dropped to his knees apparently losing his strength for just a moment. This was perfect thought Phoenix and placed his hand on the handle of his word to spin it.

But suddenly something hit him from behind. It was causing him extreme pain as it traveled through the different parts of his body, starting from his back. Under his helmet, Phoenix grimaced in pain and his hand firmly gripped the Flame Saber even harder, thanks to his tensing muscles.

As he looked behind him he saw another Corrupted, apparently, the one that had flown by helicopter before. It had a pale green skin color. Its shape was rather frail and skinny. Two massive wings grew from its back, but currently, they just stood still, apparently the monster was gliding. It was clad in a dark green armor that covered his torso but nothing else. His hands ended in razor sharp claws and looked like they could even tear apart the armored hull of the CIT. His head resembled that of a bat, complete with huge ears and sharp fangs. A fierce green glow was emitted from his eyes.

“Behind you!” Something growled behind his back. Phoenix immediately spun around, realizing his grievous mistake. He had turned his back to his opponent, something you should never, ever do and now he paid the price for it. The Corrupted was towering over him, his right fist engulfed in the firey glow and was about to strike.

He only managed to say: “Crap!” before the Corrupted slammed his fist right into his stomach, sending him flying about twenty meters and landed unceremoniously on his back, the Flame Saber landing a few steps away from him and turned back int the Flame Disc. The pain in his stomach was nearly unbearable, he felt like a truck had just rolled over him. Still, he couldn’t simply give up, now could he. He gathered all his strength and tried to stand up again. While painful, it seemed to work, well until the halfway mark anyway. His vision started to blur and his arms and legs simply yielded, dropping back to the ground, now staring at the ever closer coming Corrupted.

His vision was still somewhat blurry but it came back slowly, but that wouldn’t help him much when the Corrupted reached him. He was only ten meters away and cackling to himself. Phoenix tried again to lift his bruised body from the ground but just failed as miserable as last time. Now his opponent was only five meters away from him, not much longer and he could simply wail on him and he couldn’t even do anything against it. Phoenix felt a mix of anger, frustration, and fear.

As the Corrupted gathered new magical energy in the barrel of his arm something unexpected happened, something hit him. Sparks flew off from the impact point and he was pushed back. Then another shot hit him, like the first one pushing him back even further. Now the Corrupted was grunting in pain. Three more rounds hit the monster, letting him cry out in a mixture of pain and frustration. As he tumbled back a perfectly aimed shoot hit him straight in one of the wounds Phoenix had dealt earlier. The force of the attack and the lack of actual armor at this specific point were enough for to send him flying a few meters back, all while sparks were spraying from the wound that had been hit again.

“Are you ok?” he heard a voice from his right, sounding somewhat familiar but he could not quite put his finger on it. As he turned his head to see the origin of the voice he was quite surprised, what stood beside him was another Kamen Rider. And from the looks of it, it was a woman.

The armor she wore was made out of silver plates with black outlines and an electric blue material under it. Her feet were armored by two boots made out of the silver material and had black outlines like the rest of the suit. They were relatively compact and streamlined, unlike Alchemy boots. However, there was something strange about them. Apparently, there was something built into them and separated by a black outline. It looked like electric blue tubes, four of them on each foot and placed so that they all were equally distributed. Her thighs were protected by the same armor and just like her boots without any sort of unnecessary details. She wore a silver belt, the left side of which was covered in blinking lights and a round red gemstone embedded into it. The right side was made out of what seemed like a hexagonal cylinder of a revolver with every side either colored black or silver. On her belt dangled two small silver sticks. The upper torsos were covered in the armor as well, it looked somewhat similar to a SWAT armor with relatively bulky shoulder plates. Like the rest of the body, the arms were also covered in the same armor. Her helmet consisted of a silver mouthguard with black borders while the rest of the helmet was electric blue. Two red bug-shaped eyes stared down at him. Between them two thin silver antennas extended outwards. Her hand she held a revolver with a mixture of electric blue and silver parts that she aimed at the Corrupted.

“I’m… fine. Who are you?” Phoenix managed to respond, every word was like he was stabbed with a dagger.

“We already meat, but not in this attire. I’m Kamen Rider Charge and am here to arrest these two,” she replied, sounding quite confident that she could actually pull it off.

“Then… do your worst. I’ll join you as soon as possible,” he replied heavy breathing while doing so. He didn't know who she was but right now he simply didn’t care. She saved him from a probably gruesome demise and he was happy about that, questions could wait for later.

“Will do. Just join in when you feel comfortable,” she chuckled and started to walk towards the Corrupted. Phoneix saw how the tubes on her legs started to glow and a second later she had rushed over and punched her opponent right into the stomach, the strike perfectly placed on top of one of the previous wounds and the Corrupted flew several meters back. “You are under arrest! You also have the right to remain silent! Everything you say can and will be used against you!”

The Corrupted simply growled and released a stream of burning hot flames towards Charge. She easily dodged the attack with her super speed and thankfully it also missed the still earthbound Alchemy, but only by two meters. As she reappeared Charge had grabbed the right arm of the Corrupted with her left and her right hand encircled his waist and now rested on his back. The monster didn’t even realize what was happening until he stared down the end of a revolver barrel. She had simply lifted the Corrupted up by the waist and onto her back, it kinda looked like she was giving him a piggyback ride. Well, it looked that way until she pulled on his right arm with her left hand and slammed him right into the pavement over her shoulder. It really looked unpleasant and with that not enough, she immediately slammed her foot into his side and held onto his arm with her hand. The other hand was too busy firing six shoots with her revolver at point-blank range into one of the previous wounds. The tortured screams of the Corrupted filled the night and he almost felled bad for him, until Phoenix remembered what he had done to him, that feeling evaporated relatively quickly.

After he had witnessed how Charge was dealing with the Corrupted he was sure she could handle it on her own and started to look for his Flame Disc. If he could get his hands on it again, he would probably be able to at least stand again thanks to the magical energy replenishing his body, at least to a certain degree. Right at this moment he finally found the little disc, laying about seven meters away from him, the question now was how to get it? Walking wouldn’t work, so he did the next best thing, crawling. It was a gruesome task, the pain in his stomach was barrable, but still, he felt like he was continuously hit by a group of thugs with sticks in the stomach. The tedious and painful crawl towards his goal probably would take him a while, hopefully, Charge could handle everything, but given her performance until now, she would be fine.

Meanwhile, Charge was about to reload her revolver when she saw something coming closer towards her out of the corner of her eye. It seemed to be some sort of soundwave, probably the other Corrupted that was trying to protect his comrade. But she had seen the trick performed on Alchemy and wouldn't fall for something she had already witnessed. Within a split second, she had rushed away from the Corrupted and spun the cylinder of her weapon. The revolver sparked a bit, but it didn’t seem to bother Charge and she aimed her weapon at the flying Corrupted. Three shots left the barrel of the gun and three hit her target. Every hit was accompanied by an ear-bursting shrike and an eruption of sparks. After the last bullet, he started to lose hight and crashed landed atop one of the nearby buildings. While she couldn’t hit him anymore, at least he would not be a problem for the foreseeable future.

“Now back to you.” She took one of the silver sticks from her belt. As she held it in her hand it extended into a baton. Holding the revolver in one hand and the baton in the other she immediately charged towards the other Corrupted that had gotten back up, apparently, it was a persistent one.

On the other end of the street, Alchemy had nearly reached his Flame Disc. It had been an unpleasant crawl, to say the least. The pain had gradually become more bearable, but it still hurt a lot. He only had about a meter left, soon he could return to the fight, finally.

The Corrupted had swung his arms around wildly, hoping to hit the speedy Rider somehow, but that hadn’t turned out well for him. Charge had used one opening to hit him right in the face with her baton, disorienting him quite effectively. As soon as the weapon had made contact it started to produce electricity that surged through the body of the Corrupted. Not wasting any more time she followed the strike up with another one, but this time towards the upper body of the monster, specifically one of the wounds she had already hit multiple times.

The outcry of the Corrupted was painful to listen to, but not as much as the attack probably itself. But Charge was not impressed and continued her attack with one last smack across one of his wounds and before the Corrupted had any chance to stagger back she put her revolver directly on top of the wound she had recently aimed for. Her opponent just stared at her in horror and she pulled the trigger, three times. Each shoot let sparks erupt from the impact point and the last send the monster flying directly into a nearby wall.

Now that her opponent was more or less on his last legs she again looked over how Alchemy was doing. He had reached his disc and now was in the exhausting progress of getting on his knees and reinserting the Flame Disc into his driver. Right now he had nearly managed the get onto his knees and was only one painful push away from it. So he gathered all his strength, ignored the pain and pushed as hard as he could. The pain was nearly unbearable, but he had managed to do it, now he simply had to put the disc back in. The moment he finally reunited his Driver with the Flame Disc energy started to flow through his body and he felt better again, even if it wasn’t by so much. Still, he could finally return to the fight.

Then Charge noticed something, the Corrupted she had shot down had crawled on top of the edge of a building and was about to release one of his sound-based attack on Alchemy. She probably would be too slow to aim, shoot and hit him fast enough so there was really only one option. Ignoring the weekend Corrupted next to her she rushed towards the other Rider.

The Corrupted unleashed his attack towards the defenseless Rider and just tackled him off his feet while screaming: “Phoenix, watch out!”

Thankfully she managed to get to Alchemy before the attack hit him. The two rolled around the ground. for a bit until they came to a stop. The tubes on her legs had stopped glowing. As this happened Charge immediately looked back to where Corrupted had stood. He wasn’t there anymore, where had gone? That was when she was interrupted by Alchemy stuttering: “How do you… That shouldn’t… How?” Now she realized she had let something slip she wanted to reveal a bit later.

“Well, that is a long story and I think we won't have time for it now. How about I tell you later when this is over, then you can ask me every question that is on your mind right now. But until then, focus on the target.”

“Fine, but a deal is a deal,” he returned and began to stand up again, still a bit shaky.

“Sounds good, now where did that flying one go?”

“Bats is over there!” he replied, pointing towards where the two Corrupted were standing. The flying Corrupted was talking to his partner who had apparently regained his strength somewhat after Charge had save Alchemy.

They were about to attack the two Corrupted as the red one suddenly shouted: “You will never catch us!” His voice sounded rather convinced even though their situation was not the best. Alchemy was about to jokingly reply as something came flying towards the two Riders. A red orb, Alchemy already knew what that meant.

The orb smashed into the pavement and kicked up quite an impressive dust cloud. After it had settled twelve figures stood in its place, Remnants. This time their body, as well as the glow from there eyes, were red. They glared at them and seemed ready to attack at any moment.

The two Corrupted had used the chaos that the Remnants had caused and had tried to escape. The green Corrupted had grabbed the red one with the claws on his feet and simply flown off. It was quite impressive that something so frail could carry someone that bulky and heavy. Charge tried to shoot them but her revolver just clicked empty, apparently, she hadn’t managed to reload in time and before she could try again after she had fixed this one of the Remnants had thrown a fireball in her direction.

Both Riders managed to dodge the attack and sighed in frustration. “Well, seems we have to deal with the Remnants first. You think you can handle it?”

“Yeah, sure, as long as you take the bigger part, I’m not going to test my luck right now,” Alchemy replied, still breathing rather heavily.

“Sure thing, take it easy for this fight. But next time I expect you give one hundred percent,” she jokingly retorted, Alchemy just chuckling and readied himself to attack.

Both of them rushed towards their Remnants, Charge towards a group of eight and Alchemy towards the four on the left.

Charge was the first to come close enough to her opponents to attack. She had holstered her revolver and instead had taken up the other Shock Baton. The first Remnant that came into her swinging distance was hit right at the ankle, making him lose its balance and it was lifted off the ground. Its small airtime was interrupted as she stabbed the other baton right into its eye, pinning him to the floor. Within seconds cracks began to form in its helmet and not shortly thereafter it exploded.

Charge had already moved on to her next target. The poor Remnant she had chosen was assaulted with her two Shock Batons like she was playing the drum. She continuously slammed them at his helmet, with every hit new cracks began to form and with one extra strong smack, she shattered it completely, all while excess electrical energy was spraying out and hitting his comrades, incapacitating them for a short while.

This was all the time she needed to grasp two Remnants by their helmet and unceremoniously smashing their heads together, both shattering on impact. Behind her the Remnant she had just slammed continuously just explode and the two before her soon followed. Now only four were left.

Meanwhile, Alchemy was somewhat struggling with his opponents. He didn’t dare to remove his Flame Disc again and so was limited to simple hand to hand combat. But thanks to the rather limited intelligence of the Remnants this could still work. He managed to evade their strikes and even push them back at times, all despite his injuries.

His current opponent was swinging its fist at him, he managed to dodge under it and deliver an uppercut that sends the Remnant flying and after landing rather rough he just lay there for a few seconds. The other Remnants started to rush towards him. The first in line swung wildly to hit him, but thankfully it didn’t hit him. Alchemy basically just avoided their attacks until they were in suitable position for what he had planned.

He dodged the next swing from his opponent and finally retaliated with a swift kick to the stomach. The attack was so strong that it lifted him off his feet and send him flying. On his way, he crashed into his two comrades and all three landed right next to their still incapacitated partner.

“Well, let’s finish this shall we.” He put his right hand on the Magic Disc and spun it.

\ Flame Disc Maximum Power! /

Like usual the magic started to gather in his right leg and he jumped into the air and aimed at his four opponents. With his right leg stretched out and headed for the four, meanwhile he started to spin and a fiery whirlwind manifested around him. The closer he got to his target the faster he got.

“Flaming Whirlwind Kick!”

As he made contact with the first Remnant, a massive explosion consumed them. Alchemy came to a screeching hold only a few meters behind where the Remnants had just stood. As the explosion subsided the monsters were gone, he was rather thankful that this had actually worked. After he had finally dealt with his opponent he looked over to Charge and her enemies.

She had already disposed of four of the Remnants and now was dealing with the rest. She had managed to get a bit of a distance between her on her assailants and he realized the moment she made her move why. She tossed her two Shock Batons towards two of them and hit both rights into the eyes. The batons got stuck in them and released a surge of electricity throughout their body's. While the two Remnants were being electrocuted she grabbed her revolver and shoot the two remaining ones three times into their eyehole respectively. The two with the batons stuck in their head explode and shortly thereafter the other two followed suit.

“Well, that was that,” Alchemy sighed and looked over to Charge who was picking up her batons. “So, you said we talk after this was finished. It’s finished, so I have quite a few questions for you if you would be so kind and answer them.”

She looked over at him and simply replied: “Sure, but how about we talk somewhere more comfortable and private. I think the ‘Magnum Opus’ would be a good place. Or would you prefer something more close by? Since, you know, you don’t seem to be in top condition.”

Under his helmet Phoenixes eyes narrowed as he looked at the new Kamen Rider. How had she managed to figure out who he was? “Nah, I think I can manage to get back home. But only under one condition,” she cocked her head and looked towards him, well at least that was how it looked like. “Tell me who you are!”

“Like I said, you already met me. I'm Ocean!” Charge responded and now he recognized the voice and why it had sounded familiar. It was indeed Ocean. That realization hit him harder than a speeding truck. How could he not have noticed? How had she known? Had he screwed up somewhere and let his identity slip? It was nerve-racking.

“That… That makes way to much sense. Fine, whatever, but you are going to talk when we are there! No more stalling and excuses, did I make myself clear?” Phoenix was somewhat on edge, all that was a lot to take in all at the same time.

“Fine, that was the plan anyway. So, are we going?”

“Sure!”

With that they both mounted their motorbikes, Oceans standing at the edge of the street, and rode off towards the “Magnum Opus” so he could finally get some solid answers.

Author's Note

Well, here is the first of the two chapters I have been dying to write for a while now and with it our second Kamen Rider. I hope you like it.