//------------------------------// // Episode 9 - The "Hero" // Story: Kamen Rider Bass // by Noise //------------------------------// "Hmph, that didn't take very long." "Oh? Another human seeking an audience with me? You never stop being interesting. Very well, I assume you want to become a Changeling too?" "I have no desire to become a monster like them. I actually have a few questions for you." "Oho? I see no reason to not deny your request." "First! What are you? And second! What is your end goal in turning people into monsters?" "I am a Changeling. The Changeling Queen. I simply wish to convert all of humanity into Changelings and remove all traces of emotion from them. Emotion clouds and twists their judgment. Emotions block the way towards progression. The Changelings I've created until now have simply been a means to distract the Riders until I can discover a way to convert all of humanity in one fell swoop. Satisfied?" "I like your idea. I'l like to make you an offer." "I'm listening." "I will allow you the free use of my estate and all of my assets to achieve your goal. In exchange, I want you inform me of all your actions and decisions. Also, I will reserve the right to request that you convert any person of my choosing." "Interesting. I will accept your terms for now, my little human." "Then let's shake on it, to make the deal official." "Very well." "I'd prefer it if went back to your human form before we shake, or at least just your hand." "Hmph, if you insist." "Perfect. Then we have ourselves a deal. "Indeed, and I shall make good on the offer of your estate. As interesting as roaming this city has been, I would prefer to have a place to settle down." "An excellent decision. You'll see that Diamond Tiara doesn't skimp on her end. I will ensure that you are treated like royalty while within our walls. I do however have one small condition. As long as you are within my estate, you are to assume your human form. Are we understood." "That won't be a problem." "Come with me then. I'll be more than happy to show you around. You may take whichever room you desire. My parents are gone and won't be back for a few months, not that they would mind in the first place." --- Vinyl awoke at noon to the sound of her phone's notification ringtone. She rubbed her eyes and tried to get up, but had trouble moving her legs. She looked paused for a moment and lifted her blanket a bit to find her brother hugging her legs together in his sleep. She groaned and gave him a swift slap on the thigh. "Dude! Wake up! Your spooning my legs." "Mmmm, I don't wanna mooooove. Your bed is so comfy and your legs are so soft~." "I will punch you in the dick!" Longplay quickly released her and shifted away slightly, knowing full well she wasn't bluffing. He pulled the blanket over his head and continued to lay in bed as Vinyl slowly dragged herself out of bed and over to her desk. She muttered something about murdering someone if her phone woke her up for something unimportant. Lazily sliding her finger across the screen, she noted she had receive a text message from an unknown number. She opened the text and gave it a quick scan, expecting some nonsense with no context from a wrong number. Her eyes slowly widened as the words started to hit her brain. She gave her head a quick shake and reread the message to make sure she wasn't hallucinating. I know you're true identity, white armored hero. Meet me at the park in Lazy Oaks in Middle Manehattan at 5:00 PM. If you don't, I'll release this footage to the public. She quickly downloaded and watched the attached video, breaking into a panicked sweat as it finished. --- "Yes dear, don't worry, Gyro's been wanting some extra hours anyway. Of course he, we both know he just wants to spend more time around me. Luckily, I won't be working during those times. ...Yes, yes, she will be back tomorrow. You don't have to worry about that, Lyra. You only worked three hours today anyway and I'll be covering those for you. I want to thank you again for covering for Fluttershy. Poor dear has been through quite a bit. ...Sorry, it's not my place to say. If you really want to know, you will have to ask her yourself. ...In any case, enjoy your days off. I have to head back and get dressed for work. I just drove my little sister to a friend's to carpool to school together. ...Not a problem. Have a wonderful day, Lyra." Rarity put her phone down and started up her car. Her house wasn't too far away. The drive was normal enough, but something caught her eye as she waited at a red light. A familiar girl with rainbow hair colored was sitting alone outside of a Taco Shack to her right. Rarity quickly turned as soon as the light allowed her to and parked. She had plenty of time before work. Even if she was late, she didn't care. She was a manager. No one would question her. She made sure her hair was okay and made her way to Rainbow's table. "Mind if we have a little talk?" Rarity asked sternly, already taking the seat across from her. Rainbow was taking her sweet time eating a cheese quesadilla. She glanced up at Rarity, her sullen expression was quickly replaced by aggravation. "Whadda you want?" "I'm here on behalf of Fluttershy. Put simply, Rainbow Dash, you need help." "Uuuuuggh. I can't even count on her to keep a secret anymore." "She told me because she's worried sick about you Dash!" "She's a pain in the ass is what she is. I'm perfectly f-" "You are not fine, Rainbow Dash! You're hurt! Badly! I know the subject must be hard for you, but you can't just pretend like your father's d-" Rainbow immediately sat at attention and slammed the table with her fist. "SHUT UP!" Rarity kept her firm posture, not intimidated by Dash. "How long do you think you can keep up this little fantasy world of yours, hmm!? Do you honestly think you can keep up this little lifestyle of yours forever!?" "I'm outta here!" Rainbow took a big bite of her quesadilla and prepared to get up and leave. "Do you really think you can run forever just because you have some magical whatever giving you super power!? Is that it!?" Rainbow froze and swallowed the chunk of food in her mouth. "Ffffff, she told you!? I specifically told her not to tell anyone! COME ON!" "But I'm right aren't I? You can't keep doing this! Running away won't solve anything!" Rainbow slammed the table again. "I'm not running from anything! I'm just doing what's right!" "For who? Manehattan? You? Or Armored Hero Blitz? Honestly, I'm not even sure who I'm talking to right now. Tell me, are you Rainbow Dash, or Blitz?" Rainbow silently grit her teeth. "The road to ruin is paved with good intentions, Rainbow Dash. With the way you're going right now, I'm afraid there won't even be anything left of Rainbow Dash ! Is that really something you're okay with!?" "Fffffffffffffffffff, sh-shut up!" "Rainbow Dash, just sit down with Fluttershy. You two can talk this over. You need to sit down and confront the main issue here, Rainbow Dash. Just stop trying to hold it all in and talk to us! Talk to her. If you don't make peace wi-" Rainbow got up. "SHUT UP ALREADY! I'M SICK OF FLUTTERSHY AND I'M SICK OF YOU! THERE'S NOTHING WRONG! I'M COMPLETELY FINE!" She stormed off. Rarity stood up to chase her but hesitated as Rainbow yelled back at her. "AND DON'T BOTHER FOLLOWING ME OR SO HELP ME, I WILL KICK YOUR ASS!" Rarity didn't want to risk calling her threat. She sighed heavily as she watched her go. She had a feeling that laying into her as hard as she did might enrage her further, but she didn't think Rainbow would have listened to her if she had been any nicer about it. She reluctantly walked back to her car, ignoring the few curious glances the confrontation had managed to draw. Explaining this to Fluttershy was going to be hard. --- Vinyl was pacing back and forth in her room, panicking over the text message. She had at least managed to come out for dinner, but quickly devoured it and went back to her room. She was wracking her brain, trying to figure out where she had screwed up. She knew she had checked her surroundings everytime she transformed and reverted back to normal. "Vinyl." There was no footage of her on the news yesterday when she fled the scene. The camera was focused entirely on Blitz. "Vinyl!" The only person she could think of was that 'Blitz' girl. Could it be her? Was she really the kind of person wh- "VINYL!" She was finally broken out of her trance by a pillow to the face. She threw the pillow back at him, though he easily dodged it. "What!?" Her brother was sitting on the bed watching her with concern. "What are you panicking about woman!? It's almost lunch. Shouldn't you be out there in the kitchen making me a sandwich?" She groaned and threw herself on the floor. "Dude. Not in the mood for jokes." "Then tell me what's up." She stayed quiet for a moment. "I caaaaaaaaan't." She whined. "Why not." "It's complicated. "Oh, you finally find yourself a nice guy or a chick? Are you a lesbo? I'm telling ya, it's okay if you are. I am completely okay with that." "NO!" She snapped. "Stop frigging saying that! I'm with anyone right now and I'm not gay. Piss off." He grabbed the pillow from behind him, reeled it back over his head and slammed it down on her stomach. She let out a small pained grunt. "Tell me or I will harass the crap out of you all week! It'll suck and neither of us will have fun. I mean, I'll have a little fun, but I'd rather be doing other things. So out with it." "Ugh, LP, I can't tell you because...it's a secret. I'll explain later someday, but I just can't right now." He left the pillow on top of her and sat back in a comfortable position on the bed. "Vinyl. You are terrible at dealing with stress. Just let it our alright? I hate seeing you freak out like this. When have you ever needed to keep a secret from me, huh?" "I really don't want to hide this from you...just...just trust me that I can't alright?" She grabbed the pillow and shoved it over her face. Longplay sighed and got up. "Fine. I'm going to get to the bottom of this. I even went to the trouble of bringing you a present and I'll be damned if I'm giving it to you when you're too stressed out to geek out over it." He left Vinyl to lay on the floor. He quickly popped his head in, hoping to elicit some kind of response. "By they way, I'm going to ask your roommate since she tells me everything." He quickly ran off, giggling out loud. Vinyl groaned and left to him to probe around aimlessly. She looked at the clock. It was only 2 PM. She groaned some more and eventually slumped on to her bed. Vinyl parked in the small parking area just outside the Lazy Oaks public park. Time had passed agonizingly slow, but she was slightly glad to finally be moving. Sadly, the drive didn't help her relieve her stress. Along the way, she had passed by what she assumed to some kind of Changeling-related incident on the road. A car had apparently been damaged slightly, and she saw police questioning a small crowd. No doubt she would hear about that later. She pulled out her phone, giving it another read after parking her bike. Sighing loudly, she put her phone away and awkwardly walked across the grass, avoiding families and couples as her eyes darted back and forth. She went straight for an empty bench and sat down. She glanced at the message on her phone again and resumed scanning the crowd. "There you are, Vinyl Scratch." A voice called from behind her. Vinyl quickly turned around. A scrawny young man, most likely five or six years younger than her was smiling at her. He was carrying an expensive looking camera around his neck. "You gotta be freaking kidding me. You're still in freaking middle school or something?!" This seemed to slightly annoy him, but he kept his composure. "I'm actually in high school." "Whatever. What do you want?" The high school student walked around to the front of the bench, standing before her. "I'll get straight to the point then. It's simple really. When ever I need you to do something for me, I'll send you a text, and you get the job done for me." "You can't be serious!" Vinyl did her best to keep her voice down. "You're gonna blackmail me into being your little errand boy!?" The student grinned smugly and shrugged. "Blackmail is such a dirty word. You're a big shot super hero now, right? DJ by day, hero whenever the city needs you?" "That's bull! I'm no hero, buddy! I had my reasons to take out those Changelings! I have my own plans alright!?" "So, you're just some selfish punk who only cares about herself? To heck with everyone else right?" Vinyl got and grabbed the student by the collar. "Listen you little prick! Spare me your moral bullshit alright!? You've got no right to guilt trip me when you're trying to blackmail me! I am not gonna be your little slave alright!?" He seemed unfazed by Vinyl's sudden physical approach and remained completely lax in her grip. "You're in no position to threaten me, Vinyl Scratch. That footage I sent you? It's not on my phone anymore. It's already been transferred to my computer. One wrong move and that footage goes viral." Vinyl was seething with rage. Every part of her wanted to punch that smug look off his face. "Y-you...little..." "Let me go Vinyl, or I'll do it right now." Vinyl hesitated for a second but released his shirt. "Good." He started slowly circling her. "Like it or not Vinyl, you've somehow come into possession of super powers. Now hogging them all to yourself is just not fair. It's downright selfish. You may not want to be a hero, but we can't very well let those powers go to waste. Just think of this little arrangement as way to help make this city a better place." "Bullshit. You're just some bratty little teen who got lucky and wants me to do his dirty work. The hell would you know about making this city a better place you scrawny little prick?" She grabbed his camera and flicked it up, letting it fall back against his chest. "You're just another filthy little paparazzi looking to profit off of someone else's personal problems!" Vinyl evidently struck a nerve in the high school student. "Like it or not, I own you now! Got it!?" "Lemme guess, you didn't get your way? Got rejected by a girl? Some mean old bullies call you bad names? Oh boo-freaking-hoo." The student was enraged by her comment. He glared up at her, breathing heavily as he tried to think of a rebuttal. After a brief moment, his smug grin returned, though his anger was still very evident. "Say whatever you want Vinyl. Just make sure you do as I say or you can kiss your privacy goodbye!" The student walked off, leaving Vinyl to herself. She slumped down on the bench behind her. Her mind was racing, trying to figure a way out of her current dilemma and worrying about what kind of jobs the kid would have her do. She eventually got up and left. She drove off to the Starry Brew cafe to get a drink to help her think more clearly. Vinyl bought a hot chocolate and sat down alone at a booth. She was a little disappointed to find Lyra wasn't working today. She forced herself to take a few sips of her fresh hot chocolate, which only burned her tongue a little. She had hoped the burn would jog her brain at little. A silly thought, but she couldn't think of anything else. The time passed, Vinyl finally started to enjoy her hot chocolate now that it had cooled down a bit. She nearly had a heart attack when she felt her pocket vibrate. Pulling her phone out, she saw she had received a new text message. She took a deep breath and opened her messaging app. She was relieved to see the message was from Lyra. She apparently wanted to talk as soon as possible. Vinyl relaxed and drank a bit more of her hot chocolate as she called Lyra. "What's up Lyra?" "Did you see the news? We got another Changeling on the loose." "Haven't seen the news yet. I might have passed it though. Did it involve a car accident or something?" "Yeah. He's been pretty active today. He's been going around pretending to be some kind of hero or something." "What do you mean by pretending to be a hero?" "He's been mainly going around assaulting people violating the law and ranting about justice and what not. Like, some guy ran a red light and he apparently showed up and busted up his car." "...so...this he's a super cop or something? That's good then, we don't gotta worry about this one." "He's a Changeling. We definitely have to deal with him." "But if he's doing the city some good, then why should we hunt him down for it just cuz he's a Changeling? Sounds kinda racist if you ask me." "Okay, first of all, that's not funny. Second, he's a Changeling. What if this is all a trick? What if he's got something planned? We can't take that chance!" Vinyl sighed. "I guess. Off-topic, Lyra, I need your help with something important. Some kid saw me change back to normal and now the little bastard's blackmailing me. How do I stop this? He says he's got the footage backed up at home and he sent me a copy of it to my phone, so I already know he's not screwing around." "...aw crap... Ugh, I can't think of anything off the top of my head. Don't worry though, I'll make some calls to a few friends and see if I can figure something out. Do you know anything about him? His name or anything?" "He didn't tell me his name...I...I never asked..." Vinyl realized her critical mistake mid-sentence. "Fantastic. Just text me his number. I'll see if I can find out who he is. In the meantime, just...well...just do whatever... Try and find that Changeling if you can. I'll keep you updated if I find anything." "Thanks. Later." Vinyl hung up and slid her phone into her pocket. She let her head slowly fall to the table. Her brother was right. She was terrible at dealing with stress, and this was possibly one of the worst situations she could have ever gotten herself into. She could only imagine what kind of errands that teen might have in store for her. If she failed to follow through, then her secret would be released to the public. She shuddered to think what could happen if her secret got out. She pulled her head up and stared out the front door of the cafe. Her train of thought completely halted as her brain now worked at full capacity to process what she was currently seeing. Out of the front door, across the street, standing on the sidewalk, was Vinyl Scratch. Her doppelganger was outside, staring straight at her. As soon as Vinyl was sure that she wasn't hallucinating, she shot out of the booth and made a beeline for the door. She flung the door open and slammed into someone as she tried to sprint out of the cafe and across the street. She shook her head and pulled herself off the ground, offering a hand to the other party. “I'm so sorry! I wasn't looking where I wa...LP!?” Longplay grabbed her hand and pulled himself up. “Yes, I'd like a coffee please.” Vinyl ignored his dumb remark and took a glance around him. Her clone was nowhere to be seen now. Her brother took note of her behavior and took a quick glance around as well. “Alright Vinyl. Get back inside and sit down. We're gonna have a little talk.” “Okay, dude, not right now, I-” “Fair enough, I get it. Let's go somewhere else to talk. Eating at the same place twice is weird.” He grabbed her by the hand and led her around the cafe, heading towards the center of the plaza, where a few tables and food stands were set up. Vinyl tried to pull herself free, but he made it clear that he was playing the 'big brother' card. He grabbed a large cinnamon pretzel from a snack stand and sat at a table nearby the stand. There was a group of punks nearby blaring loud music from a table and generally being obnoxious not to far away from their table. People passing by made a clear effort to walk around and their distance from them. Longplay sat down set his pretzel down and leaned in forward. “Alright. Out with it. What's got your panties all in a twist?” “LP, please. I told you, it's private.” “The fact that you're flipping out over private matters is what worries me the most. You can't at least tell me what it's about. Is it work related?” “Ugh, yes. Kinda. I mean, i-” He leaned forward, laying his arms over each other on the table. “Look me in the eyes, Vinyl. Is it work related?” Vinyl's gaze quickly shifted off to the side, looking slightly away from him. He always pulled this trick when she was being difficult when she was younger. She had tried a few times to look him dead in the eyes right back and lie to him, but he always seemed to know if she was lying or not. It quickly grew to a point where she couldn't even look at him anymore if she was lying and he pulled this. “Vinyl, what's going on?” Vinyl was getting nervous. “LP, please do-” “I was a tiny bit concerned at first, but you couldn't even give a me a vague reasons as to why, and after following you around today, I'm extremely worried. Now spit it out.” “You followed me!?” “Yes. Yes I did. Now explain yourself.” “I-it's a long story.” “Oh, I think I can make time for it.” Vinyl was cornered. She tried to speak, but every time she opened her mouth, her body stopped responding. It was less than a day and he had just about wrenched her secret out of her. Meanwhile, he was waiting patiently. She gave up. There was no hiding it from him anymore. She took a deep breath and prepared herself to drop the bomb. Her words were drowned out and cut off by sudden screaming all around them. Vinyl and Longplay look towards the table of the obnoxious punks to see them suddenly engaged in a fight with a humanoid grasshopper. Vinyl knew it was a Changeling. The monster had broken their stereo and was taking them all four of them on at the same time. Two of them tried attacking the Changeling from behind only get elbowed in the face. Another tried to grapple it and hold it's arms down for his friends. The Changeling easily broke the hold and punched him a few times in the chest, sending him to the ground with a final, powerful kick to the stomach. The last punk cautiously circled the monster, looking for an opening. “You four are guilty of disturbing the peace and being a menace to society. For this, I shall punish you all in the name of justice!” The monster proclaimed to the group. Vinyl remembered what Lyra said about this Changeling. He was apparently going around being a hero of justice. She continued to do nothing but watch for now. The remaining punk grabbed a chair and charged. The Changeling didn't flinch as the chair was slammed into it's chest. It grabbed the chair, wrenching it from the punk's grasp and threw it to the side. It grabbed him by the shoulder, started pummeling him with it's free hand and tossed him to the floor after delivering a few devastating blows to the stomach and chest. It approached the two that had attacked it first and picked one of them up, started punching the punk in the stomach and stomped on the other punk's chest. Vinyl was getting concerned as the beating continued. This was too much for just disturbing the peace. The Changeling landed another punch to his stomach, causing the punk to cough out blood. That was the last straw for Vinyl. She got up and ran to their aid. “Hey! That's enough! Leave them alone!” The monster dropped the punk to the floor and gave one last stomp to the one already on the ground. “You would defend these worthless delinquents?” She knelt down beside the punk currently bleeding. “Look, I'm not saying they weren't being annoying. I'm not gonna defend what they were doing, but at this rate you're gonna kill them! Just lay off them already!” “Do you think my justice is wrong?” “I think you're crazy!” Vinyl stood up confidently, glaring the monster in the face. Her confidence faded slightly when she realized she was still in plain sight. If she transformed here, her current problems would only get exponentially worse. “I will ignore your interference this once citizen. Get in my way again and you will face justice.” The Changeling turned and leapt high on to a nearby building and continued leaping further away. Vinyl made a quick call for an ambulance and checked to make sure they were still okay. She finally relaxed for a second when she felt a hand on her arm wrenching her to the side. Longplay wasn't happy. “What the hell was that!?” “They could've died! I had to do something!” “So getting yourself killed is the better alternative!?” Vinyl opened her mouth to reply but stopped herself. “Haven't you seen the news Vinyl!? These monsters are dangerous! All we can do is wait for those heroes to show up!” “And you're okay with letting people die in the meantime!? We should just sit and enjoy the show until some random super dude decides to maybe show up!?” “Of course not!” Longplay sighed and shook his head, realizing his terrible word choice. “Of course I'm not okay with that, but there's nothing we can do against them.” Vinyl heard sirens in the distance. Either someone must have called the police when the fight started, or they were packing some serious speed. “Come with me. I have to show you something. In private.” Vinyl led him to the Ship Shape Pier. She made her way towards the edge of the pier and turned to face her brother. “There's no easy way to spring this bro, so I'll just show you.” She pressed the button down on her headphones, starting her transformation. Longplay stared wide-eyed at the armored Vinyl in front of him now. Vinyl shrugged her shoulders slightly. “So...yeah...this is a thing now... But I swear, even if I didn't have this, I would've helped those guys!” Longplay stayed silent for a minute as his brain started processing this new information. “Is this why you're stressin' out?” “N-no. Not exactly this. Some kid caught me transforming on camera and now he's blackmailing me. That's why I'm freaking out.” Longplay simply nodded and went quiet again, which only made Vinyl more anxious. “Just say something, please.” “Well, where do I start? My little sister is some super hero out risking her life fighting monsters and now she's getting blackmailed into doing who knows what.” “It wasn't supposed to be like this. Look, I know who's making these monsters. That's all I'm after.” Vinyl disengaged her transformation. Longplay simply nodded. “I'm heading back to the apartment. I'll see you when you get back.” “D-don't say anything to Trixie, okay! She doesn't know about this! I don't want her to!” He threw a thumbs up in acknowledgment. Vinyl watched him go and sat down at the edge of the pier. She felt her phone ring in her pocket. She couldn't have been more happier to have a distraction, even if only for a few minutes. “What's up.” “I got some info on the guy. His name is Featherweight. I know where he goes to school, and his address if you want.” “Cool. Ya got anything else on him?” “Not really. The internet can only take you so far, and none of my friends or co-workers that I've been able to get a hold of know him. I'll text you the info. What you do with it is up to you.” “Lyra... Do you think someone can be a bad guy...even if they're trying to do the right thing?” Lyra was quiet for a minute. “...yeah...I believe so. I believe even someone with good intentions can do wrong, if they go about it the wrong way. Why, you doubting yourself?” “Maybe. Kinda. I'unno...” “Well, just ask yourself if you think you're doing the right thing. As long as you fully believe what you're doing is the right thing, then that's all you need. I believe that all Changeling's need to be destroyed. However good they may seem at first, it'll always end the same. They're not human anymore. I just need to take them out before they do any serious harm. That's what I believe, Vinyl. I can't tell you what to believe in. That's up to you.” “...Right...” “I'm gonna see if I can get any dirt on Featherweight to help you out. I wouldn't cross your fingers if I were you, but I'll try. Talk to you later.” Vinyl let Lyra end the call. It had only been a few hours since she woke up, but it had felt so much longer. She decided to stay and think for awhile before heading back. She was a little afraid of facing her brother again. --- “Doctor, I've just about confirmed that these new Changelings show up on the monitor whenever they change. It wasn't just some weird one time thing with that last one. This Changeling has been changing all over town. None of the other Drivers have gone active all day though.” The Doctor walked to Ditzy's side and took a look at the monitor. “Really? Not even Blitz?” “Nope. I think we should send one of our own after it next time it changes. If we keep waiting for the other Riders to show up, people could get hurt.” “And I was really hoping this would be a golden opportunity. This one's been acting surprisingly harmless for a Changeling. I guess the others won't attack it either unless it starts threatening innocent people. That or they may not be around when it starts doing things. Oh well, it's getting late. We should call it a night for now. We'll get it the next time it shows up tomorrow.” “Okay. Have a good night, Doctor!” “You're staying again?” “Mmhm. Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. I don't mind working overtime!” “If you insist.” --- “I'll be honest, I still don't know what you see in Vinyl. She doesn't seem to be as great as you keep making her out to be. What exactly makes her so special?” “Still doubting me?” “Not exactly. I just get a little antsy when I don't have the full picture.” “And I've told you before, I can't tell you everything. I've already told you everything I can.” “Yes, yes, I know. Doesn't change the fact that it bugs me.” “Sounds like a personal problem.” “But my original question stands. What makes Vinyl so special? Honestly, out of everyone, it seems like that Blitz character has the most potential. Given a little more time, she could probably take on the Queen. She's a little brash and cocky, but she already outclasses all the other Riders.” “Blitz is definitely strong, but it's too early to be judging her potential compared to the other Riders don't you think?” “Fair enough. Are you saying Vinyl will surpass her eventually?” “Not exactly. Her potential as a Rider has nothing to do with the matter.” “Ugh, you're enjoying this aren't you? How about you stop making me fish for an answer and just spell it out for me?” “But where's the fun in that? You've been watching her right? You should have seen it already.” “You're not gonna tell me are you?” “Mmmmm, not now. Maybe next time.” “You are the worst.” “Oh you'll live.” “Whatever. Our next little meeting might be delayed a day or two. People are starting to question me. I have to put in a little work to make them shut up.” “Okay. See you later.” “Don't forget. You're answering my question next time.”