//------------------------------// // Life is a Runway - The Joys of Creation // Story: Kamen Rider Alchemy // by Layton13 //------------------------------// “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.