//------------------------------//
// Wings of Freedom - Shocking Beauty
// Story: Kamen Rider Alchemy
// by Layton13
//------------------------------//
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.