Everything was back to normal in the “Magnum Opus”, well, as normal as it would get in a restaurant run by a drama queen, a lazy waitress that loved sports and an even lazier waiter that just left the restaurant on occasion to fight some monsters. Adding to this was the food, while well made; some of the combinations of the customers just couldn’t be considered as anything else as downright bizarre, or in Oceans case, abominations that still taste good. Yeah, normal was relative here.
Speaking of the devil, Ocean had arrived for her daily pizza and as usual, a new one. This time a mushroom-salami-onion-pineapple-tuna-pizza. Phoenix had originally wondered how she came up with these weird combinations when she answered: “Don’t know. Just comes to me, I guess,” he had simply rolled with it, like so many things in the recent past. And it was quite effective, lightning blue horsewoman covered in golden armor? Rolle with it! An evil maid, well not really evil, but still? Rolle with it! Or the weirdest until now: Playing hero in a magically appearing armor? Roll with it! Really, it saved him from a lot of headaches.
As he approached Ocean with her order she seemed even happier than usual. “So, everything went fine yesterday? Didn’t see much sadly, was a bit occupied with running for my life,” He joked as he placed the plate in front of her.
“Yeah, pretty fine. Alchemy defeated the Corrupted and we could arrest her and her ‘friend’, well more the person that was exploiting her,” she replied while giddily rubbing her hands together and staring at her pizza.
“Oh right, Rarity told me something about wanting to help, blackmail and a possible new assistant, or something like that. Well after she was done venting her frustrations about me losing her in the crowd and how much she was worried about me. My ears are still ringing from that,” he sighed while Ocean just chuckled.
“If it was only that.”
“And then I was present when Mrs. Hemline said that she had to move the fashion show to next week since her shop was kinda leveled and needed the repairs. On the bright side, Thunder can go again and I can have another free day, save no one invites themselves unannounced again, but I think I'm safe on that front.”
“Well, good for you then. I think I’m going to start now. See you later Phoenix.” But to her surprise, the waiter simply remand silent and stared into the distance, apparently not noticing her. “Phoenix, is something wrong?” Phoenix just pointed at the TV.
An anchorwoman with lime green skin, black hair, and a dark blue business-suit was standing in a well-lit studio, smiling towards the camera. “And back to our segment: ‘The Terror of Canterlot City!’ Last night a warehouse in a secluded part of town was the sight of a gruesome crime. There were in total six victims, all horribly mutilated and covered in wounds. From what we were able to see the warehouse has been devastated, the property damage is immense. Furthermore, all electronics inside the building were completely fried. But this might actually be the first clue on the culprit. This time he apparently got sloppy, one of his would-be victims escaped his fate and this morning was escorted out of the warehouse by the police.”
Phoenix was still staring at the monitor intently. Since his thoughts about the murder during his walk two days ago a strange interessed in the culprit had formed. Maybe it was the secret wish to stop him himself or something else entirely but as soon as the anchorwoman had started talking he had hung on her every word. On the top right side of the screen, a small screen appeared, showing a video clip. In it, a skinny gray mane with black hair was escorted out of the building by four officers of the CCPD. He looked awful, his clothes were shredded and showed visible burn marks. But that was nothing compared to his expression, he looked like he had seen the deepest pits of Tartarus itself, the terror and fear were basically burned deep onto his face and his eyes just stared into thin air, completely lacing focus. He was shaking with every step he made and would probably collapse if he wouldn’t be supported by two of the officers. The entire time he just stuttered out two words, but these utterly terrified Phoenix: “Kamen… Kamen Rid… Kamen Rider!”
The anchorwoman continued: “Does this mean that our local hero is, in reality, a dangerous murder, are there other Kamen Riders that are not as benign as Alchemy or did this man just go crazy from the horrors he had to endure? Well, will inform you the second we find out more on CCTV.”
Apparently, Ocean had noticed the shocked reaction on his face because she called out to him with worry in her voice: “Phoenix? Phoenix! Are you ok?”
He blinked a few times and turned towards her, trying to look normal and failed miserably at it. “Sorry, it is just shocking something like this can happen in such a peaceful city like ours. And the fact that a Kamen Rider is supposed to be the culprit, it just makes me sick.”
“Oh, so you don’t think it was Alchemy, even when we don’t have any other suspects. Strange, especially since you were rather skeptical of him, to begin with,” Ocean replied, eying him curiously.
“Oh, well. If he meant Alchemy he probably would have said Alchemy and not Kamen Rider. And from what I have seen of the guy, it just doesn’t fit. Adding to that is I had time to think about it and see what he did, as he defended the city time and time again, I have started to change my opinion on him. So, do you think he did it?” Phoenix asked her, his heart beating in his chest like never before. Would he lose one of his most reliable allies or would she trust in him?
“I don’t think he did it. He just doesn’t strike me as a person that would do something like this. Still, I hope we can talk this out as soon as possible. I want his side of the story, until then there will always be that nagging voice in the back of my head that doubts him. And if he is indeed innocent, that means there might be another Kamen Rider running around town killing people and I don’t want to even imagen that. All in all, I hope the city doesn’t devolve into a war zone in the next week, because even if I’m wrong or right, the chance that I have to arrest a Kamen Rider seem quite high,” she sighed, exhaustion started to show on her face, she really wasn’t looking forward to this.
“Hmm, makes sense. Scary thought, an evil Rider rampaging through the city. That would be proper nightmare fuel.” The thought alone let him shiver uncomfortably. “And I don’t even want to know about the other stuff you have to deal with on a regular basis. That you can still sleep at night is a miracle in my opinion.”
“Mah, you get used to it. The possibilities are worse then what actually happens, most of the time at least.”
“So, enjoy your meal then. I think I should head back to the kitchen or Thunder is going to be cranky and I can pass on another argument already,” Phoenix replied, nervously shifting his weight from foot to foot.
“Ok, then I won’t bother you any longer.” As he heard this he started to return back to the kitchen, after already making a few steps Ocean raised her voice again: “Oh and Phoenix.” He just grunted in return. “Just stay inside while this is going on, I don’t want you to get hurt.”
“Sure, I’ll keep that in mind as long as you make sure to be careful as well. If there is really another Rider out there you can’t really do much.”
“Oh, don't worry I know that and I promise to not attack a Rider like this,” Ocean replied, smiling confidently at him.
“So then, see ya!”
“See ya!” And with that, he returned back to the kitchen and an annoyed Thunder that berated him for wasting time and flirting with his customers, a remark that led to Phoenix blush furiously.
>-------<A>-------<
After the customers had left and the restaurant was closed for the day Phoenix had asked his coworkers to stay for a bit longer to discuss something with them. Now they were sitting in their living room and waiting for Phoenix to tell them what he wanted to talk about. They had left the TV on if by any chance something would happen, still, it was at least muted.
“So, what did you want to discuss with us? Did you actually manage to get some information from Ocean?” Summer asked him while lazily supporting herself with the armrest.
“Matter of factly, yes, I did!” Phoenix replied with a smug grin on his face.
“No way! You are joking right, he has to be joking Thunder? That he would manage to get information from a government agent, I can’t believe it!” Summer was shocked.
“Hmm, could as well be her favorite flower for all we know. So what did you find out.”
“Well, real info might be a bit much but do you heard about this murder that is running around Canterlot City?”
“Hmm, that was the guy that left one of his victims drowned in an alleyway, kilometers away from any real water source? Yeah, makes me uncomfortable when going outside after work, even if I ride my bike,” she replied, dread clearly audible in her voice.
“Exactly that one. He or she struck again yesterday night. Killed six and left an entire warehouse damaged. All the electronics in the building were fried. But this time he made a mistake, he missed someone. The police found him the next day and here comes the terrifying part: He only repeated two words, Kamen Rider!”
“What!?” Thunder had jumped up from the couch and stared at his brother in utter shock.
“No way!” Summers reaction was relatively similar, at least on the shock part. The moment her brain had processed what she had heard, her arm had slipped off the rest and she nearly landed face first on it.
“Eeyup, that was what he said. Had a similar reaction, Ocean not. Probably already knew about it, but what she said regarding it was worse, so much worse. But first the good thing, she is not suspecting Alchemy as the culprit, well not completely at least. The bad part is, she thinks there is another Rider out there, one that kills the innocent;” he finished, clearly looking unsettle by Oceans theory. “Still, it’s only one of her thoughts, there is no real prof.”
“An evil Rider, that thought is scary. What someone could do with that kind of power, but where did they get it from? There only comes one option to mind and you know what this means,” Thunderers voice was dead serious, something that unsettled Summer greatly.
“Hey, you don’t know that. How would they even have come here in the first place? It could very well just be a Corrupted and he didn’t notice him, maybe the Corrupted could just shapeshift, or there might have been Kamen Riders in this world too, there is at least some magic here, Kamen Riders are not out of the possibility. There has to be a way more plausible explanation than our past coming back just when we restore the Magic Discs, that is just ludicrous,” Phoenix hastily retorted, looking at his brother with a mixture of fear and anger. No matter how much Thunder had unsettled her with the tone of his voice, Phoenix was so much worse, he actually frightened her.
“Possible, still, you shouldn’t rule out the possibility entirely,” Thunder replied as calmly as possible.
“I know, I know! But I’m going to deal with that when it really comes up, not when there is no evidence. I’m not going to chase some stupid fantasy of gramps, is that clear?” Phoenix asked almost threatening.
“Crystal clear. So what are you intending to do if it is indeed an evil Rider?” Thunder calmly replied, not letting his brother's tone affect him in any major way.
“I… I… I don’t really know. I could start patrolling the city at night, but I don’t think this will yield many results. First, the city's big and second I’m just going to make myself look suspicious, so I don’t think this is a good idea. Right now, I don’t know, that just annoys me. I can’t just sit around, but on the other side, I don’t know what to do. It’s driving me crazy,” he returned, the wrinkles on his face show just how much it worried him.
“How about you sleep over it a bit. Calm down, order your thoughts and think about it tomorrow. You don’t have to make a decision now. Going crazy while deciding what to do will help no one, so just take it easy Phoenix.”
“Yeah, yeah you are right. I need to calm down, right now I’m just making myself crazy. And like you said, that won’t help anyone. I think I’ll go to…” he stopped midsentence as he glanced over at the TV for a second. What he saw on the screen let him forget all about his current problems and replaced them with completely new ones. “Can you turn the volume back on Thunder?”
At first, he was somewhat perplexed by his brother's reaction but as he saw what was on the TV he obliged as quickly as possible. With a simple click, the audio returned to the room:”…towne, two monsters just attacked a CIT, apparently in an attempt to steal its contents.” The video on the screen showed an illuminated spot on a rather dark street from about one hundred meters above ground. What could be made out from such a distance was that a good part of the street was on fire, cares and trees that were planted on the sidewalk had gone up in flames and blocked the street. A large black armored car lay on its side, apparently, the monsters had managed to do that. In the light of the flames a small creature could be seen walking towards the transporter, well it looked small from up there. Right at this moment something flow past the camera, he couldn’t entirely make out what it was, but one thing was sure, it was fast. Shortly thereafter the connection to the camera was lost.
Phoenix immediately jumped up and went for his jacket and keys. He was just about to rush down the stairs as Thunder called out to him. “Phoenix,” he looked towards his brother. “makes sure you are safe.” Phoenix just nodded and continued his sprint towards his bike.
“Thunder, why was Phoenix so angry when you brought up the potential identity of the other Rider?” Summer asked Thunder somewhat hesitantly, not sure if she was interfering with something to private.
“Well, that is an interesting thing. First, my guess was that one of Shadow Golds descendants might have done it. The plans for the driver were left behind in Equestria and the disappearance of the Magic Discs so many years ago points towards them. But the reason he reacted the way he did was basically thanks to gramps. Our father died in a car crash when I was one year old. He was traveling with gramps at the time and only he survived. He kept blaming the entire accident on Shadow Golds family.”
“Let me guess, Phoenix blames him for it?” Summer replied, already sure she was right.
“Exactly. He sees it the way that gramps just wants to shift the blame for his own failings. He thinks if father never went on this mission he would still be here and he isn’t exactly wrong about that. Add his general distaste for the family business and you get the reaction he had just a few minutes ago,” he finished, looking a bit sad while he spoke.
“Well, damn. I get why he thinks that and why he reacted that way. Still, if it really was one of Shadows family he has to accept that and blindly denying it until he can’t refute it anymore isn’t really a solution now is it.”
“I know. But I think right now is not the time to discuss that with him. I will talk to him about it, but not right now. Something like this needs to be treated with a lot of care.”
“Hmh. Fine, just don’t forget it. By the way, you think he can handle two Corrupted?” She asked, a tad bit nervous.
“Well, he has to. But yeah, not sure about this myself. The best thing would be to attack them separately, but that isn’t really an option right now, is it? The only thing we can do right now is to wait and hope for the best, like always.”
“Yeah, your right, like always. Just sitting around and doing nothing. I hate it, so much,” she sighed, frustration clearly audible in her voice.
“Me too. But look at it that way, we make sure he can actually come back to something and not just a smoldering ruin. He really should be thankful,” Thunder chuckled.
“Yeah, I think you are right. Makes me feel a bit more useful, thanks,” she smiled back at Thunder who just rubbed the back of his neck and chuckled. It didn’t take long for her to join him.
>-------<A>-------<
Meanwhile, Phoenix was driving towards the scene of the crime. Before he had transformed into Alchemy he had made a quick check about the street the robbery was taking place. Thankfully news stations are always quite quick when it came to something like this and like expected they didn’t disappoint. It hadn't even taken three minutes and a small article about the attack on the CIT had popped up, complete with street name. Really, sometimes the speed of the news was scarier than the actual content of the article.
Nonetheless, he knew where he had to go and was on his way right now. As he rode through the city he noticed that there was relatively little traffic towards his goal, apparently, people had listened to the warning over the news. Probably it had come to be something far more normal then most people would be comfortable with. It didn’t take long till he passed the first police barricade that had been hastily put up to prevent anyone from coming to close to the robbery and into the crossfire. He had to give it to them, the speed they had erected these barricades was impressive, he had to mention it to Ocean the next time he saw her and the best part was that he didn’t even have to stop to get past it. As soon as they saw him, they opened the makeshift barricade, they even were the same policemen that had denied him passage last time. Ocean really knew how to drill something into someone's head.
After Phoenix had passed the barricade it didn’t take him long till he reached his destination. The fire illuminated the street quite nicely and made it easy to spot his target. It was a two meter Corrupted with a rather muscular physique that was carrying a few containers with probably money in them that he just took from the CIT. As he came closer he could make out more, first was that the Corrupted had red skin and a spiky black armor over several parts of his body, primarily his torso, forearms, and lower legs. His arms didn’t end in hands or even something like claws, no they ended in something that looked like barrels made out of his skin. They probably had a purpose, but right now Phoenix couldn’t figure that one out even if his life depended on it. Lastly was his face, it looked strange even for a Corrupted. It was not in any way similar to that of a human, more akin to a spider but had only two glowing yellow eyes. The entire face was elongated and ended in two fangs that seemed to be able to bite through anything.
But it didn’t expect what came next. The Corrupted had heard the motorbike coming closer, but as he looked in the direction of the vehicle he was stunned. He saw a foot coming towards him, or to be more precise Alchemy heading towards him with his foot aiming right at him. Apparently, he had jumped off his machine when he got close enough to pull this stunt off and now was heading towards him with alarming speed. Thanks to the sudden shock of the Corrupted the attack went off without any complications and send the Corrupted flying. While this was happening the containers of money were scattered all over the street as he was unable to hold onto them.
Alchemy landed on his feet and started in his usual mocking tone: “Hey Spidy, I thought spiders were more the heroic type, but apparently I was wrong. You should know the drill, we fight, I win and you lose. Why not skip this, give me your artifact and I’ll make sure you get off more or less scot-free. How does that sound? If you refuse we can do it the old fashion way, which means I’m going to beat you unconscious and give you over to the police.”
While he spoke the Corrupted began to get back up and from the looks of it, he glared at him. As he had gotten on his feet again Alchemy just looked at him, curiously awaiting his next move. He didn’t need to wait too long since the Corrupt growled and rushed towards him. Alchemy sighed and responded: “Well not the talkative type are we? Fine. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.” With that, he charged towards his opponent as well, but unlike his opponent not to bullrush him but for something a bit more refined.
Before he clashed head against head with his opponent Alchemy sidestepped, letting the confused Corrupted stumble forward. While he was unable to stop his advance Phoenix used the leg that was closest to the enemy to deliver a kick to its side, making it lose its balance and roll on the floor a few meters.
Not wanting to waste his opportunity Alchemy stormed towards the Corrupted, sadly the monster was a stubborn one and was already back on his feet and swinging wildly with his arms that had started to glow in a fiery red. He managed to dodge the first blow and in return punched the Corrupted in the stomach. Sadly while he stumbled back a bit it didn’t seem like the attack had the intended effect thanks to the thick armor.
The Corrupted didn’t slow down and continued his barrage of attacks, this time he had increased his speed and with that, his attacks had only gone more uncontrolled and wild. He was lucky that he managed to evade all of his attacks if he had been hit that would have been painful. But after about fifteen seconds of evading his attacks, there was finally an opening and he would damn well use it. And so he threw another punch, this time aimed at the head.
At this moment everything went south. Instead of actually hitting his target the Corrupted had foreseen this, apparently, he had a bit more brain matter in his skull than he had given him credit for. He slammed one of his “fists” down onto the ground, Phoenix only barely able to escape his attack. As the attack hit the ground, cracks started to form on the street and from the cracks, a fiery light started to glow. Seconds later he was thrown to the side as the ground exploded, parts of the street landing everywhere and causing quite the collateral.
After a few seconds he managed to lift his head again, the right side of his body arched horribly thanks to some random bits of debris that had hit him and it didn’t get any better when he could see what was right in front of him. And that was one of the barrel-like “fists” of the Corrupted directly pointed at him. Now he noticed that the “fists” were hollow and a lot of magical energy had been gathered inside them. “Damn!” was all he could say before the magical energy was released and a beam made out of flames that hit him dead center.
Phoenix was thrown through the air and smashed into the window of a store, shattering it in the process. While the heat hadn’t really affected him thanks to Falme Mode, the force of the attack and the subsequent impact, with him crashing through some bookshelves, were more detrimental for his current state. As he clumsily stood back up he realized that this wouldn’t work. He had underestimated his opponent and had been played. But if he wanted him to be on his A-game he would surely regret it. With that, he removed the Flame Disc from his Driver and held it in front of him.
\ Flame Disc Attack Mode! /
\ Flame Saber! /
He hoped that his opponent didn’t associate the blinding light of one of his weapons transforming with exactly that and after holding the Flame Saber in his hand walked back towards the window. He increased his speed the closer he got to the window and as he finally stepped outside he was greeted with a stream of flames from the barrels on the Corrupted arms. To the surprise of his opponent he just jumped over them and after making a somersault in the air he brought his sword down upon the monster. Alchemy finally seemed to have made a dent in the armor of the Corrupted, sparks flew and he cried out in pain.
As the Corrupted staggered back from the first really successful strick Phoenix didn’t waste any time and followed up his attack with another sword strike. Like before the attack broke through the armor of the Corrupted, sparks erupting from the wound and let him stagger back, unable to retaliate. He continued his furry attack with another strike and finished with the last slash with the sword. Both hitting without interference.
The Corrupted dropped to his knees apparently losing his strength for just a moment. This was perfect thought Phoenix and placed his hand on the handle of his word to spin it.
But suddenly something hit him from behind. It was causing him extreme pain as it traveled through the different parts of his body, starting from his back. Under his helmet, Phoenix grimaced in pain and his hand firmly gripped the Flame Saber even harder, thanks to his tensing muscles.
As he looked behind him he saw another Corrupted, apparently, the one that had flown by helicopter before. It had a pale green skin color. Its shape was rather frail and skinny. Two massive wings grew from its back, but currently, they just stood still, apparently the monster was gliding. It was clad in a dark green armor that covered his torso but nothing else. His hands ended in razor sharp claws and looked like they could even tear apart the armored hull of the CIT. His head resembled that of a bat, complete with huge ears and sharp fangs. A fierce green glow was emitted from his eyes.
“Behind you!” Something growled behind his back. Phoenix immediately spun around, realizing his grievous mistake. He had turned his back to his opponent, something you should never, ever do and now he paid the price for it. The Corrupted was towering over him, his right fist engulfed in the firey glow and was about to strike.
He only managed to say: “Crap!” before the Corrupted slammed his fist right into his stomach, sending him flying about twenty meters and landed unceremoniously on his back, the Flame Saber landing a few steps away from him and turned back int the Flame Disc. The pain in his stomach was nearly unbearable, he felt like a truck had just rolled over him. Still, he couldn’t simply give up, now could he. He gathered all his strength and tried to stand up again. While painful, it seemed to work, well until the halfway mark anyway. His vision started to blur and his arms and legs simply yielded, dropping back to the ground, now staring at the ever closer coming Corrupted.
His vision was still somewhat blurry but it came back slowly, but that wouldn’t help him much when the Corrupted reached him. He was only ten meters away and cackling to himself. Phoenix tried again to lift his bruised body from the ground but just failed as miserable as last time. Now his opponent was only five meters away from him, not much longer and he could simply wail on him and he couldn’t even do anything against it. Phoenix felt a mix of anger, frustration, and fear.
As the Corrupted gathered new magical energy in the barrel of his arm something unexpected happened, something hit him. Sparks flew off from the impact point and he was pushed back. Then another shot hit him, like the first one pushing him back even further. Now the Corrupted was grunting in pain. Three more rounds hit the monster, letting him cry out in a mixture of pain and frustration. As he tumbled back a perfectly aimed shoot hit him straight in one of the wounds Phoenix had dealt earlier. The force of the attack and the lack of actual armor at this specific point were enough for to send him flying a few meters back, all while sparks were spraying from the wound that had been hit again.
“Are you ok?” he heard a voice from his right, sounding somewhat familiar but he could not quite put his finger on it. As he turned his head to see the origin of the voice he was quite surprised, what stood beside him was another Kamen Rider. And from the looks of it, it was a woman.
The armor she wore was made out of silver plates with black outlines and an electric blue material under it. Her feet were armored by two boots made out of the silver material and had black outlines like the rest of the suit. They were relatively compact and streamlined, unlike Alchemy boots. However, there was something strange about them. Apparently, there was something built into them and separated by a black outline. It looked like electric blue tubes, four of them on each foot and placed so that they all were equally distributed. Her thighs were protected by the same armor and just like her boots without any sort of unnecessary details. She wore a silver belt, the left side of which was covered in blinking lights and a round red gemstone embedded into it. The right side was made out of what seemed like a hexagonal cylinder of a revolver with every side either colored black or silver. On her belt dangled two small silver sticks. The upper torsos were covered in the armor as well, it looked somewhat similar to a SWAT armor with relatively bulky shoulder plates. Like the rest of the body, the arms were also covered in the same armor. Her helmet consisted of a silver mouthguard with black borders while the rest of the helmet was electric blue. Two red bug-shaped eyes stared down at him. Between them two thin silver antennas extended outwards. Her hand she held a revolver with a mixture of electric blue and silver parts that she aimed at the Corrupted.
“I’m… fine. Who are you?” Phoenix managed to respond, every word was like he was stabbed with a dagger.
“We already meat, but not in this attire. I’m Kamen Rider Charge and am here to arrest these two,” she replied, sounding quite confident that she could actually pull it off.
“Then… do your worst. I’ll join you as soon as possible,” he replied heavy breathing while doing so. He didn't know who she was but right now he simply didn’t care. She saved him from a probably gruesome demise and he was happy about that, questions could wait for later.
“Will do. Just join in when you feel comfortable,” she chuckled and started to walk towards the Corrupted. Phoneix saw how the tubes on her legs started to glow and a second later she had rushed over and punched her opponent right into the stomach, the strike perfectly placed on top of one of the previous wounds and the Corrupted flew several meters back. “You are under arrest! You also have the right to remain silent! Everything you say can and will be used against you!”
The Corrupted simply growled and released a stream of burning hot flames towards Charge. She easily dodged the attack with her super speed and thankfully it also missed the still earthbound Alchemy, but only by two meters. As she reappeared Charge had grabbed the right arm of the Corrupted with her left and her right hand encircled his waist and now rested on his back. The monster didn’t even realize what was happening until he stared down the end of a revolver barrel. She had simply lifted the Corrupted up by the waist and onto her back, it kinda looked like she was giving him a piggyback ride. Well, it looked that way until she pulled on his right arm with her left hand and slammed him right into the pavement over her shoulder. It really looked unpleasant and with that not enough, she immediately slammed her foot into his side and held onto his arm with her hand. The other hand was too busy firing six shoots with her revolver at point-blank range into one of the previous wounds. The tortured screams of the Corrupted filled the night and he almost felled bad for him, until Phoenix remembered what he had done to him, that feeling evaporated relatively quickly.
After he had witnessed how Charge was dealing with the Corrupted he was sure she could handle it on her own and started to look for his Flame Disc. If he could get his hands on it again, he would probably be able to at least stand again thanks to the magical energy replenishing his body, at least to a certain degree. Right at this moment he finally found the little disc, laying about seven meters away from him, the question now was how to get it? Walking wouldn’t work, so he did the next best thing, crawling. It was a gruesome task, the pain in his stomach was barrable, but still, he felt like he was continuously hit by a group of thugs with sticks in the stomach. The tedious and painful crawl towards his goal probably would take him a while, hopefully, Charge could handle everything, but given her performance until now, she would be fine.
Meanwhile, Charge was about to reload her revolver when she saw something coming closer towards her out of the corner of her eye. It seemed to be some sort of soundwave, probably the other Corrupted that was trying to protect his comrade. But she had seen the trick performed on Alchemy and wouldn't fall for something she had already witnessed. Within a split second, she had rushed away from the Corrupted and spun the cylinder of her weapon. The revolver sparked a bit, but it didn’t seem to bother Charge and she aimed her weapon at the flying Corrupted. Three shots left the barrel of the gun and three hit her target. Every hit was accompanied by an ear-bursting shrike and an eruption of sparks. After the last bullet, he started to lose hight and crashed landed atop one of the nearby buildings. While she couldn’t hit him anymore, at least he would not be a problem for the foreseeable future.
“Now back to you.” She took one of the silver sticks from her belt. As she held it in her hand it extended into a baton. Holding the revolver in one hand and the baton in the other she immediately charged towards the other Corrupted that had gotten back up, apparently, it was a persistent one.
On the other end of the street, Alchemy had nearly reached his Flame Disc. It had been an unpleasant crawl, to say the least. The pain had gradually become more bearable, but it still hurt a lot. He only had about a meter left, soon he could return to the fight, finally.
The Corrupted had swung his arms around wildly, hoping to hit the speedy Rider somehow, but that hadn’t turned out well for him. Charge had used one opening to hit him right in the face with her baton, disorienting him quite effectively. As soon as the weapon had made contact it started to produce electricity that surged through the body of the Corrupted. Not wasting any more time she followed the strike up with another one, but this time towards the upper body of the monster, specifically one of the wounds she had already hit multiple times.
The outcry of the Corrupted was painful to listen to, but not as much as the attack probably itself. But Charge was not impressed and continued her attack with one last smack across one of his wounds and before the Corrupted had any chance to stagger back she put her revolver directly on top of the wound she had recently aimed for. Her opponent just stared at her in horror and she pulled the trigger, three times. Each shoot let sparks erupt from the impact point and the last send the monster flying directly into a nearby wall.
Now that her opponent was more or less on his last legs she again looked over how Alchemy was doing. He had reached his disc and now was in the exhausting progress of getting on his knees and reinserting the Flame Disc into his driver. Right now he had nearly managed the get onto his knees and was only one painful push away from it. So he gathered all his strength, ignored the pain and pushed as hard as he could. The pain was nearly unbearable, but he had managed to do it, now he simply had to put the disc back in. The moment he finally reunited his Driver with the Flame Disc energy started to flow through his body and he felt better again, even if it wasn’t by so much. Still, he could finally return to the fight.
Then Charge noticed something, the Corrupted she had shot down had crawled on top of the edge of a building and was about to release one of his sound-based attack on Alchemy. She probably would be too slow to aim, shoot and hit him fast enough so there was really only one option. Ignoring the weekend Corrupted next to her she rushed towards the other Rider.
The Corrupted unleashed his attack towards the defenseless Rider and just tackled him off his feet while screaming: “Phoenix, watch out!”
Thankfully she managed to get to Alchemy before the attack hit him. The two rolled around the ground. for a bit until they came to a stop. The tubes on her legs had stopped glowing. As this happened Charge immediately looked back to where Corrupted had stood. He wasn’t there anymore, where had gone? That was when she was interrupted by Alchemy stuttering: “How do you… That shouldn’t… How?” Now she realized she had let something slip she wanted to reveal a bit later.
“Well, that is a long story and I think we won't have time for it now. How about I tell you later when this is over, then you can ask me every question that is on your mind right now. But until then, focus on the target.”
“Fine, but a deal is a deal,” he returned and began to stand up again, still a bit shaky.
“Sounds good, now where did that flying one go?”
“Bats is over there!” he replied, pointing towards where the two Corrupted were standing. The flying Corrupted was talking to his partner who had apparently regained his strength somewhat after Charge had save Alchemy.
They were about to attack the two Corrupted as the red one suddenly shouted: “You will never catch us!” His voice sounded rather convinced even though their situation was not the best. Alchemy was about to jokingly reply as something came flying towards the two Riders. A red orb, Alchemy already knew what that meant.
The orb smashed into the pavement and kicked up quite an impressive dust cloud. After it had settled twelve figures stood in its place, Remnants. This time their body, as well as the glow from there eyes, were red. They glared at them and seemed ready to attack at any moment.
The two Corrupted had used the chaos that the Remnants had caused and had tried to escape. The green Corrupted had grabbed the red one with the claws on his feet and simply flown off. It was quite impressive that something so frail could carry someone that bulky and heavy. Charge tried to shoot them but her revolver just clicked empty, apparently, she hadn’t managed to reload in time and before she could try again after she had fixed this one of the Remnants had thrown a fireball in her direction.
Both Riders managed to dodge the attack and sighed in frustration. “Well, seems we have to deal with the Remnants first. You think you can handle it?”
“Yeah, sure, as long as you take the bigger part, I’m not going to test my luck right now,” Alchemy replied, still breathing rather heavily.
“Sure thing, take it easy for this fight. But next time I expect you give one hundred percent,” she jokingly retorted, Alchemy just chuckling and readied himself to attack.
Both of them rushed towards their Remnants, Charge towards a group of eight and Alchemy towards the four on the left.
Charge was the first to come close enough to her opponents to attack. She had holstered her revolver and instead had taken up the other Shock Baton. The first Remnant that came into her swinging distance was hit right at the ankle, making him lose its balance and it was lifted off the ground. Its small airtime was interrupted as she stabbed the other baton right into its eye, pinning him to the floor. Within seconds cracks began to form in its helmet and not shortly thereafter it exploded.
Charge had already moved on to her next target. The poor Remnant she had chosen was assaulted with her two Shock Batons like she was playing the drum. She continuously slammed them at his helmet, with every hit new cracks began to form and with one extra strong smack, she shattered it completely, all while excess electrical energy was spraying out and hitting his comrades, incapacitating them for a short while.
This was all the time she needed to grasp two Remnants by their helmet and unceremoniously smashing their heads together, both shattering on impact. Behind her the Remnant she had just slammed continuously just explode and the two before her soon followed. Now only four were left.
Meanwhile, Alchemy was somewhat struggling with his opponents. He didn’t dare to remove his Flame Disc again and so was limited to simple hand to hand combat. But thanks to the rather limited intelligence of the Remnants this could still work. He managed to evade their strikes and even push them back at times, all despite his injuries.
His current opponent was swinging its fist at him, he managed to dodge under it and deliver an uppercut that sends the Remnant flying and after landing rather rough he just lay there for a few seconds. The other Remnants started to rush towards him. The first in line swung wildly to hit him, but thankfully it didn’t hit him. Alchemy basically just avoided their attacks until they were in suitable position for what he had planned.
He dodged the next swing from his opponent and finally retaliated with a swift kick to the stomach. The attack was so strong that it lifted him off his feet and send him flying. On his way, he crashed into his two comrades and all three landed right next to their still incapacitated partner.
“Well, let’s finish this shall we.” He put his right hand on the Magic Disc and spun it.
\ Flame Disc Maximum Power! /
Like usual the magic started to gather in his right leg and he jumped into the air and aimed at his four opponents. With his right leg stretched out and headed for the four, meanwhile he started to spin and a fiery whirlwind manifested around him. The closer he got to his target the faster he got.
“Flaming Whirlwind Kick!”
As he made contact with the first Remnant, a massive explosion consumed them. Alchemy came to a screeching hold only a few meters behind where the Remnants had just stood. As the explosion subsided the monsters were gone, he was rather thankful that this had actually worked. After he had finally dealt with his opponent he looked over to Charge and her enemies.
She had already disposed of four of the Remnants and now was dealing with the rest. She had managed to get a bit of a distance between her on her assailants and he realized the moment she made her move why. She tossed her two Shock Batons towards two of them and hit both rights into the eyes. The batons got stuck in them and released a surge of electricity throughout their body's. While the two Remnants were being electrocuted she grabbed her revolver and shoot the two remaining ones three times into their eyehole respectively. The two with the batons stuck in their head explode and shortly thereafter the other two followed suit.
“Well, that was that,” Alchemy sighed and looked over to Charge who was picking up her batons. “So, you said we talk after this was finished. It’s finished, so I have quite a few questions for you if you would be so kind and answer them.”
She looked over at him and simply replied: “Sure, but how about we talk somewhere more comfortable and private. I think the ‘Magnum Opus’ would be a good place. Or would you prefer something more close by? Since, you know, you don’t seem to be in top condition.”
Under his helmet Phoenixes eyes narrowed as he looked at the new Kamen Rider. How had she managed to figure out who he was? “Nah, I think I can manage to get back home. But only under one condition,” she cocked her head and looked towards him, well at least that was how it looked like. “Tell me who you are!”
“Like I said, you already met me. I'm Ocean!” Charge responded and now he recognized the voice and why it had sounded familiar. It was indeed Ocean. That realization hit him harder than a speeding truck. How could he not have noticed? How had she known? Had he screwed up somewhere and let his identity slip? It was nerve-racking.
“That… That makes way to much sense. Fine, whatever, but you are going to talk when we are there! No more stalling and excuses, did I make myself clear?” Phoenix was somewhat on edge, all that was a lot to take in all at the same time.
“Fine, that was the plan anyway. So, are we going?”
“Sure!”
With that they both mounted their motorbikes, Oceans standing at the edge of the street, and rode off towards the “Magnum Opus” so he could finally get some solid answers.