There he was, the one that had rampaged through the nights of Canterlot, hunted his victims and ultimately killed them, the one that was wearing an Alchemy Driver and using Magic Discs, the evil Kamen Rider.
As Phoenix approached the figure, it tipped onto something on his hip and in an instant he could hear sounds that had previously not been there. The sound of smoldering wood, footsteps in the grass and the nearly silent groans of the victim that lay in the remains of a tree. It was unnerving, until now he hadn’t noticed the silence that had lingered over the scene, but now he realized, it had been very silent beforehand. The two Riders slowly enclosed on each other, Alchemy activating his Thunder Tonfa, the nameless Rider holding his spear like he was ready to gut his opponent at any moment.
\ Thunder Disc Attack Mode! /
\ Thunder Tonfa! /
“So, you have been looking for me?” The voice of the figure echoed through the night, to his surprise it sounded just like his voice when he wore the suit, somewhat distorted, but ultimately quite normal. But as generic as the voice sounded there was one thing he could make out, he was male. “Then tell me, what did you want from me?”
“I want answers. Who are you, why are you doing this and where did you get the Driver and the Magic Discs?” Alchemy shouted at the man in his black armor with crimson highlights.
The dark Rider just chuckled and relaxed his posture a bit, Alchemy, on the other hand, did not, he still was ready to attack the man at any moment. “Well, I think I might be allowed to humor you. I think you already know where I got the Discs, but the Driver, that was homemade thanks to the notes of your ancestors.” Alchemy tightened the grip on his weapons, continuing to stare at his opponent.
“What I am doing? The same thing as you. Saving the city from monsters, I’m just more thorough.” In an instant Alchemy had charged at him and slammed one of his weapons directly at his stomach only to be blocked by his spear. Still, the Rider was sent back several meters to the other end of the park where he came to a screeching hold.
“Save the city!? What you are doing has nothing to do with saving, you are a murderer!” He immediately continued to charge at his opponent, but the moment he was about to reach him he had rammed the tip of his spear into the ground below him. What followed was a massive explosion that consumed his entire body and the area around him, sending Alchemy flying backward the moment he came into contact with it. As he rolled around the ground, twenty meters away from his opponent, his body aching from the sudden change of direction and the force of the push, he heard something early familiar.
\ THUNDER DISC READY! /
As he looked in the direction of the sound a lightning blue whirlwind with spots of black in it consumed the Rider and after a few seconds revealed his new form. The formally crimson highlights now had changed to electric blue and his horns now resembled lightning, just like his did. In his hands, he held two blue and black pistols aimed directly at him. “Oh, you think so? Well, I really don’t care.” While he had spoken Alchemy had managed to get back on his feet and was about to charge at him again as two shoots suddenly hit him, sending him flying again. “By the way, to answer your last question, it’s Alkahest, Kamen Rider Alkahest.”
When he next looked where his opponent had been standing he just stared at an empty spot, Alkahest no longer standing there. As fast as he could muster he got back on his feet and frantically tried to figure out where he had disappeared to. His answer came in the form of two shots from Alkahest’s guns, one impacting at his right shoulder and the other in his stomach, sending him staggering back. Gritting his teeth he tried to ignore the stinging pain that came thanks to them.
Before the next attack could actually hit him he charged at his opponent, avoiding the next two shots meant for him barely. But to his dismay, his opponent hadn’t just stood around and waited for a tonfa to the face and just like he, had activated his superspeed. Now two people in armor were racing through the park, one taking potshots while the other one was desperately trying to get a solid hit on his opponent. While the first one actually manages to occasionally hit his target and letting him grunt out in pain, Alchemy had no such luck. He just couldn’t catch up to Alkahest, always nearly exactly the same distance away from him.
The destructive chase ended with Alkahest managing to hit Alchemy right at the head, sending him into the next best tree, letting it come down upon him. Suddenly a voice could be heard in the remains of the tree.
\ WIND DISC ACTIVATED! /
What had mere moments ago still been a pile of wood now was thrown around the park without any regards to collateral. The already wrecked park suffered even more, benches were crushed under the weight of the remains of the tree, statues were shattered and some of the wood pieces even managed to knock over several more trees. And in the midst of it all stood Alchemy in his Wind Mode, his posture tense and with every breath, his body shook. Then, he quickly gripped the Wind Disc and ripped it from the Driver, activating it shortly thereafter.
\ Wind Disc Attack Mode! /
\ Hurrican Bow! /
While the weapon formed in Alchemy’s hand Alkahest was already working on switching his Disc, as he was about to insert it into the Driver an arrow made out of emerald light headed straight for his head.
\ WIND DISC READY! /
Like before, an emerald and black whirlwind of pure energy consumed the Rider, every attack Alchemy threw at him being rendered useless by it, revealing Alkahest own Wind Dissolve Form. Just like his other two form, the only thing that had changed were the highlights, now emerald green and his horns, now resembling clouds in the wind. In his left, he held a large tower shield that was primarily black in color with small highlights of green that resembled wind. Meanwhile, his other hand held firmly onto a black and green crossbow he had pointed directly at Alchemy.
Growling he draw his bowstring again, aiming at Alkahest, who just stood there, unmoving. The moment he released the arrow and unleashed it on his enemy he quickly pulled his shield in front of him, it starting to glow and the arrow just doing nothing as it hit its target, not even a sound could be heard as it collided with the shield, Alchemy just silently cursing his opponent.
Alchemy’s silent curse was however cut short as something hit him right in the chest, letting him stagger back several feet. Moments later he felt the sensation again, letting out a sharp groan while continuing to be pushed back. Two more followed, the last one knocking him off his feet and landing unceremoniously on the ground while clutching his chest. While he lay there, riddled with pain, he tried to slowly return to his feet, even if every bit of movement was agonizing, he bit by bit managed to stand up again, all while the red eyes of Alkahest stared directly at him, like he was staring into his very soul.
The moment he finally stood on his feet again he started to spin the Wind Disc on his weapon and draw the bowstring again. “Arrow Storm!” Like the times before Alchemy had aimed directly above him and as the arrow shoots straight towards the sky it eventually disappeared into a seal that had opened up in the air. After a short moment a bigger version of it appeared and from it, a barrage rained down upon Alkahest, who in return just raised his shield over his head and awaited the onslaught of arrows that would soon descend upon him.
The entire area around him was coated in a thick dust, Alchemy desperately trying to see if his attack had actually worked. As the dust started to settle a single figure stood in it, first small outlines could be seen, the shape became more distinct until finally, Alkahest stood amongst the small craters Alchemy’s arrows had coated the area in, unmoving and staring directly at him. For a moment he just stood there, his mouth open underneath his helmet, staring back at the man in armor, then a cold shiver run down his spine. His right hand started to shake, then his entire arm, the shaking slowly crawling along his body until every part of it was consumed by it.
As Alkahest made one step towards him, he reacted by taking a step back, completely by instinct. Then as he made the next step he followed suit again, screaming internally to stop but as Alkahest advanced again he just stepped back again. That was when he turned back the Hurricane Bow into its discform, put it away, replaced it with Flame Disc and spun it.
\ FLAME DISC ACTIVATED! /
The moment the fiery whirlwind had died down he immediately removed the Disc again and held it out in front of him, his hand still shaking violently.
\ Flame Disc Attack Mode! /
\ Flame Saber! /
As the sword had formed in his hands he quickly grabbed onto it with both hands and with a bloodcurdling scream rushed towards his opponent: “Aaaaahhhh!” Alkahest in return simply removed his own Magic Disc and replaced it with another one, spinning it the moment it was properly inserted into the Driver.
\ FIRE DISC READY! /
Phoenix advanced all while Alkahest was consumed by a black and crimson whirlwind of energy. As the energy finally subsided he was only five meters away from the evil Rider, raising his sword he rushed further and brought down the Flame Saber upon his opponent, to his utter dismay he hit resistance far quicker then he had anticipated, his slash had been stopped by the lance Alkahest had wielded earlier. With a swift motion, Alkahest pushed Phoenix back a few steps and brought his spear down on him, he on the other hand frantically tried to put his weapon between him and his opponent.
This continued for several more swings and with every single attack Phoenix was forced back more and more, Phoenix dumbstruck by how fast his offensive had turned back into a defensive, his breath growing more and more erratic as the battle went on, his heart beating faster and faster, only to skip a beat as Alkahest managed to fling his weapon away with his last blow. Unable to do anything he could only watch as Alkahest slammed his spear right towards his chest, the weapon seemingly moving in slow motion as it pierced his armor, sending unbearable surges of pain through his entire body.
As he flew backward, his entire armor started to slowly dissolve, the moment he hit the ground again it was gone, leaving only his Driver and Magic Disc behind. For a few second nothing in the world mattered besides the pain that surged through his body, he didn’t even notice Alkahest stepping next to him, pointing the tip of his spear at him. “Well, you were entertaining, I gotta give you credit for something, but now I think I have to end it.” Phoenix was snapped out of pain as he heard what the evil Rider had just said, his muscle sprung into action, ignoring any pain he made have had, slowly crawling away from his opponent, desperately trying to save his life even if he knew he couldn’t escape the Rider, that all didn’t matter at that moment.
Alkahest was about to strike Phoenix down as a scream of pain cut through the night and another voice could be heard: “Enough! This kill does not belong to you! I will strike him down, not you! Did I make myself clear?” Phoenix had turned his head towards Alkahest who was holding his chest in pain and saw firsthand how the eyes of the Rider glowed purple with every word the voice spoke, letting another cold shiver run down his spine.
“But I have him right here, no way of escape, he can’t fight back! If we kill him now we won't have any further compl…” His rant was cut short by another streak of pain and him staggering back.
“Did! I! Make! Myself! Clear!” The voice bellowed. Alkahest just gave back a pained groan of agreement. “Good, then get back to the task at hand.” With that the purple glow in his eyes disappeared again, leaving only the glowing red eyes behind. With a grunt of disapproval, he stepped away from Phoenix and walked back towards the park.
At first, a wave of relaxation washed over him, whatever had saved his life he was grateful, small tears of joy formed inside his eyes. This joy immediately disappeared as he saw where Alkahest was heading, towards the man that still lay unconscious in the remains of a tree. His breath stopped immediately, unable to draw in anything more as he watched in horror as the Alkahest slowly stepped closer and closer towards the man. “No, no! Stopp, I beg you, please, anything but that!” He desperately screamed at the Rider who just ignored him and continued his way towards his victim.
The screaming continued and Phoenix started to crawl towards the man in a desperate attempt to do anything. Then his blood basically froze inside of his veins as Alkahest reached down and helped the man out of the rubel, in his other hand his spear. With one swift motion, he rammed his weapon through the gut of his victim, Phoenix let out a pained scream that quickly turned into sobbing. He couldn’t save the man, another victim had been claimed by the monster that wore the armor of a Kamen Rider and he hadn’t been able to do anything about it. He had failed, not just him, but everyone in the city. Warm tears rolled down his face, blurring his vision.
Meanwhile, Alkahest pulled his weapons from the still warm corpse, pulled out a white Magic Disc and absorbed the magic from the thing that lay next to his victim, afterward the bland Disc turned into a Flame Disc. After he spared one last look over at Phoenix he started to walk towards one of the alleys that lead to one of the main streets, leaving the sobbing man behind. In the distance police sirens started to come closer, they would soon be arriving, but right now Phoenix couldn’t care less, he was to busy sobbing over his failure.
>-------<A>-------<
The light in Ocean’s office was warm, welcoming and in a strange way calming. He hadn’t spoken much since Ocean had picked him up from the scene of the crime, only the bare minimum to explain the situation. She had left him here with a mug of hot chocolate and said she would be back soon. So while he waited for her to return he started to look around the room for anything that could get his mind a bit distracted from what had just transpired.
The first thing his eyes caught onto was a picture of two small kids and an older woman with grey skin and black hair. The two girls, on the other hand, looked both nearly identical, both had a bluish-white complexion and light and dark blue hair. All three were smiling. He stood up from his chair, placed the mug with the hot chocolate on the table and picked up the picture, examining it closely. All the bad things that had happened this night seemed to simply slip away, being drawn out by the innocent picture of the two children and the woman.
The small moment of peace was however rudely interrupted by Ocean slamming the door open, sighing and walking over to Pheonix. He just winced the moment he heard the woman come in and hastily placed the picture back on the desk, smiling innocently at her.
She looked not good, she held a coffee mug in one hand and a tablet in the other, her expression was exhausted, her eyes only half open. To perfect the picture she only would have needed to yawn one time, but she didn't, instead staring Phoenix and the picture he had quickly returned to the desc. “You know, I don’t have any problem with you looking at my stuff. I put the thing there out in the open to look at it, as long as it is out in the open you can take a look.” She sounded tired and not as fast as usual.
Phoenix chuckled a little and returned his gaze towards the picture. “Yeah, probably right, you startled me, that is all. I hope I’m not asking anything too personal, but is this you in the picture?” He pointed at the child with the somewhat more subdued smile.
She picked up the picture and stared at it for a few moments, a heartwarming smile creeping onto her lips. Then she softly replied: “Actually, no. This is my sister, I’m the other one.” Phoenix seemed somewhat surprised by her answers, raising one of his eyebrows slightly before looking back at the picture in confusion. Ocean just chuckled: “I’m not surprised. Everyone always thinks that is me, it has kinda become something I expect.”
“Yeah, I can see how everyone thinks that is you. The girl seems way more subdued, just like you are.”
She just smiled back at him. “I hear that a lot and it’s not surprising actually. I wasn’t always the more responsible and mature one of us two, that was actually Star Catcher. She always would get me out of stupid situations I managed to get myself into. Kind changed as we grow older, she got a liking to sports and was getting more confrontational, while I started to get interested in police work. And when we were teenagers we basically had switched, I was the responsible one and she was the one that always got into trouble, as much as she wanted to deny that, claiming that she would always watch out for me and get me out of every situation. Ah, good times.”
He listened carefully, smiling all the way through, all the while looking at the picture that still seemed somewhat surreal, especially the brightly grinning Ocean on it. “Would have loved to see that firsthand. I mean you getting into all sorts of trouble, just for the contrast. You are the one that gets me out of trouble, so seeing you get saved by your sister sounds fun.” She looked at him with a raised eyebrow and sly smile on her lips, in return he quickly added: “Just to see the difference, you know. Would love to see your sister at some point, she seems like a good sibling. I’m sure we would get along quite well.”
“Well, she will be here in a few weeks for a while during a racing competition, I’m sure she would love to meet you and probably your brother as well. It has been far too long since we meet each other, so why not.” Her smiles suddenly withered and she returned to her more serious expression. “Anyway, we should get back to the task at hands. So what exactly were you doing there?” Her eyes felt like daggers that could tear through his very soul, his regained lightheartedness was quickly snuffed out and the dread returned, his smile quickly changing to a frown.
“Well, I was just driving around town, nothing special.” Phoenix couldn’t have made a more suspicious expression, even if he had tried.
Ocean just stared at him, raising an eyebrow and replying: “Sure, driving around Canterlot City at three AM with a magical energy detector and in full Kamen Rider gear. Like you do. Seriously, you think I’m stupid? Just tell me what you were really doing.”
He looked somewhat nervous, his eyes darting around the room for a few seconds until he finally sighed and returned: “Ok, fine, I couldn’t sleep. I knew that this… this monster is running around town and possibly murdering his next victim and I just couldn’t only stand on the sidelines, I just couldn’t and so I decided why not ride around Cantorlot City and maybe actually find him. Worked out a bit too well it seems.”
Ocean looked at him with a rather stunned expression, it took her a couple of moments to actually formulate an answer. “I know what you mean. That knowledge that you are one of the few that can actually make a difference and when you sleep peacefully someone else might just be in grave danger, it is hard. You can’t sleep, but that is not the way to go if you do not take care of your own needs like sleep you just create more problems. If you let someone die because you were too tired that will drive you insane, I have seen it. Some of my former colleagues just couldn’t bear the pressure and it always ended badly for them. The best outcome was that one of them missed a shoot and with that caused the death of a family, he quickly quit afterward.”
Avoiding eye contact with her he just nodded and replied: “Ok, I won’t go out there if I’m not in good physical condition.” Ocean was about to say something else but he quickly continued: “So, I assume you want to hear what happened and what I might have found out about our Kamen Rider, am I right?” She was about to say something, but then simply nodded. “Well, I found him as he was just about to… to kill the victim. Something that was quite strange was that everything was completely quiet, well until he touched something on his belt.” Ocean nodded while tipping away at her computer. “And then, I… I asked him some things. Well, it seems my brother was right. When I asked him about where he got his Driver and Magic Discs from he replied that I should know where he got the Discs from. And regarding the Driver, he said he made that one himself from the notes of Fools Gold. So, yeah it seems like my family history actually caught up to me. I’m one-hundred percent certain he is one of Shadow Gold descendants.” After he had finished speaking he slammed his fist on the desc.
“Everything ok?” She asked with a concerned look on her face.
It took him a moment to register what she had just said. “Yeah, yeah, I’m fine, just a bit angry that I couldn’t stop him, that’s all.”
“You know, if you need to talk to someone, I can make sure that one of our personal psychologists will talk with you, no worries about your secret identity. But if you don’t feel comfortable, I’m a good listener as well. Just so you know.”
Phoenix just nodded and soberly replied: “No, I don’t need to. I just have to work harder, that is all. Anyway, I actually found out the name of our mystery man. He calls himself Kamen Rider Alkahest.”
After tipping away at her computer for a few moments she sighed and turned back to Phoenix. “Well, we don’t have anything on someone calling himself Alkahest, sorry. But at least we know his name now, maybe that will help. But I can’t promise anything, but at least something was gained from this travesty tonight. There is just one thing I wanted to ask you, how did he get away?”
Suddenly his throat felt like it had been sewn shut, breathing had become extremely hard in an instance. “He… He just left me. Something seemed off about him, his eyes suddenly turned purple and he started to talk to himself and said that only he would kill me. I… I don’t really know what he meant by that, sorry.”
“Well, that is certainly wired, I can’t deny that. I’ll tell Ivory about it later. Anything else?” Phoenix just shook his head. “Well, I think that was it then. You just should go home, it’s enough if one of us is losing sleep over this.” Phoenix was about to reply as she continued: “And I will not hear a no here. You need sleep, now go. I want to see you top fit tomorrow.” He just grumbled something that somewhat sounded like a ‘yes’. “Good, then see ya!”
“See ya!” With that, he walked towards the door, looked one last time back at Ocean who now was tipping away at her computer and the closed the door behind him.
>-------<A>-------<
The early afternoon sun shined down upon the beach of Canterlot City, it was quite the busy day, at least half of the beach was plastered in towels and children were running through the still open spots. Even if school had only just ended students could be seen everywhere, some sunbathing, some swimming and some just playing volleyball. The constant sound of joy could even be heard at one of the cafés that were located at the edge of the beach and near the road.
At this particular café, a group of man was sitting around a table, six in total. One one side of the table sat Thorax with his brother, both clad in business suits of exceptional quality. Next to them to them stood two men with black complexion and short emerald hair, like their superiors, both wore black business suits, they also wore black sunglasses and an earplug, both just standing there, motionless and directly at the other two man.
One of which was a rather muscular man with bluish-grey skin and grey hair. Unlike the two Change Industrie representatives, he wore a light blue shirt with a black tie and dark blue trousers with suspenders. A smug grin was present on his face at all times, casually leaning back in his chair like he had nothing to worry about in the whole world.
Thorax was the first to break the silence: “So, what is your offer today Mr. Well-to-Do?” He already sounded rather annoyed and stared at the bulky man before him.
“Well, like always I’m offering progress! And I heard Change Industries is all for progress.” He bellowed over the table, some patrons from the other side of the veranda started to look in their direction, Thorax sheepishly signaling to them that everything was perfectly fine, they just shrugged and continued to drink their coffee.
This time it was Pharynx to replied with his rather grumpy demeanor: “Well, yes Change Industries is indeed interested in progress, without it everything on this planet dies. We understand that contrary to you Mr. Well-to-Do. You use it as a nice buzzword, that is all.”
The eyes of the man narrowed as he replied: “Huh, you certainly speak from the hearth.”
“Strange I thought I was speaking from my mouth,” he dryly replied.
After a heavy sigh of the man, he continued: “Anyway, I know very well what progress means, it is my life motto. If you need any further proof then just look at any single one of my recent projects and you will see, my name brings success!”
Now Thorax started to grin and confidently replied: “Oh, we did and to be honest, we were not impressed.” The previously friendly mask of Well-to-Do shattered in an instance. “From the looks of it, it seems you build the respective building and then sell it to the highest bidder, who in return pays you royalties for the name. I wouldn’t call that progress in any way, you just build stuff and sell it, there is no risk here, you just use a tried and true formulae. I would actually call this stagnation.”
A low growl came from the man as he tried to twist this in his favor: “What are you talking about, I develop useless land that no one uses to its full potential and make something worth selling off! Isn’t that progress?”
While Thorax looked at the man with a somewhat unsure look Pharynx confidently replied: “No, it is not. Only building something doesn't mean progress.”
Thorax nodded in agreement. “Exactly and with that, we wanted to tell you that we have thought thoroughly about your offer but came to the decision that we will not take it. We also don’t want any further offers. Still, we thank you for your interested to do business with Change Industries. We hope you understand.”
Now he was angry, his expression had turned into a grimace of anger as his fist slammed down on the table, spilling the coffee that had been standing there: “What do you mean you won’t sell? This reached place is not even worth half of what I offered. You will never make anything close to what I would pay you. Are you completely out of your mind?”
Thorax had visibly jumped back in his seat and needed a moment to calm himself first but ultimately replied rather calmly: “What we mean is that this public beach will stay a public beach and will not be remodeled into a private one for your big hotel. This is not about the money anyways, this is because our mother wants to give something back to the city that raised her and made her who she is today. I’m sorry, but this is not negotiable. Have a nice day.” With that Thorax and Pharynx stood up and left a bill under their cups, enough to pay for the entire table and a hefty tip on top of it.
As Well-to-Do spoke up again he sounded way more subdued, but a certain level of malice could be heard in his voice: “Well, we’ll see about that.” Thorax and his brother didn’t bother to look back at the man and continued walking towards the parking lot. “Would be a shame if no one would come here anymore,” he threateningly continued, letting of a low chuckle after he finished.
Like on cue screams could be heard from the previously rather peaceful beach. The two brothers running towards the fence of the veranda and stared down on the beach. To their shock they saw how the people were running away in masses, all screaming like they were chased by Cerberus himself. After a quick glance over the area and the fleeing people, Pharynx finally spotted the cause of the commotion, a monster.
The creature appeared to be rather big and muscular, well at least its torso. It was primarily covered in light blue corals, its head was completely integrated into its torso and contrary to the rest of its body consisted of a gelatinous mass, similar to a jellyfish, with two eyes and no mouth. Its feed were two dark blue tentacles that grew wider the further they were away from the main body, ending in something that could actually supüort the monster. His arms were also two dark blue tentacles that reached quite far out and we're currently trying to grab hold of anything he could get his slimy arms on.
Thorax looks over to his brother who just shook his head, he in returns just cursing silently. As Thorax did thisPharynx step away from the edge of the veranda and headed straight for Well-to-Do, grabbing him by his suspenders. “What have you done?”
With a smug grin, Well-to-Do calmly replied: “I don’t know what you are talking about. I have nothing to do with this. But it has to be bad for the beach if everyone is afraid of sea monsters.”
“You little… I’m going to…“Pharynx was about to slam his fist right into the face as Thorax called out for him.
“Stop! This is just going to let us look bad.” Begrudgingly Pharynx lets go of the man and started to walk back to his brother, only for him to turn back halfway through.
“I hope for you that this is not your doing, or we are going to make sure you will never get any significant work ever again.” With that, he continued his walk to his brother who in the meantime had pulled out his smartphone and started tipping on it.
After he had finished he pulled the phone up to his ear and started to speak. “Yes, hello. Here is Thorax Change and I’m currently at the Canterlot beach. I wanted to report a monster attack. Yes, yes, understood. Thank you very much!” He turned to his brother after he had put away his phone and continued: “The MRG should be here rather soon. Let us keep an eye on Mr. Well-to-Do for the time being.”
Well-to-Do just shrugged and sat back done. “If you insist. But I have nothing to do with this.” Both brothers eying him rather unconvinced.
>-------<A>-------<
It didn’t take long before the sound of engines could be heard approaching. As they draw closer Thorax could make out that it were two motorbikes that were headed for the beach and if his ears did not mislead him he recognized at least one of them. With a loud screech, both bikes came to a halt just at the edge of the road that leads to the beach and tow figures clad in armor jumped from them down towards the beach, Kamen Rider Alchemy and Kamen Rider Charge respectively.
The beach had been completely abandoned, towels and parasols lay scattered around the place, the emptiness was somewhat uncomfortable. Not a single sign of life could be seen, well besides the seagulls that were currently devouring the leftover food the people had forgotten during their mad dash for safety. They found all that, but not a single Corrupted in sight.
Charge quickly pulled her Charge Magnum and slowly advanced through the rows upon rows of towels, looking for any sign of life. Alchemy meanwhile followed her carefully, quickly looking from side to side like something would jump up from the ground any second. As they slowly made their way towards the water something carefully wound itself towards an abandoned mini fridge that lay relatively close to the ocean, sliding its slimy appendages around it and with a quick motion throw the fridge at the tow Riders.
Charge was the first the notice the incoming projectile and quickly dashed out of the way, multiple towels flying after her. Alchemy noticed moments after her and with a mad hump to the side narrowly avoided the device slamming into him, landing in a quite impressive sandcastle. The fridge, on the other hand, landed behind them with a loud crunch as it was crushed the moment it his the wall of one of the shops.
“Well, someone is not really happy to see us,” he joked as he returned to his feet, brushing off any sand that had stuck to his armor. “I hope I won’t find sand everywhere tonight.”
The moment Charge came to a screeching hold she immediately pointed her gun towards where the fridge had come from. Seconds passed, no one dared to say anything, she just staring towards the ocean, looking for any kind of movement. Then a loud shoot shattered the silence that had permeated the air until now, a light blue bolt of energy shot towards the tip of a dark blue tentacle that had just popped up from the water.
A loud screech echoed through the empty beach as the bolt connected and the tentacle returned underwater. Seconds later two tentacles burst through the surface and rushed towards the two Riders. Charge refused to move and instead unloaded what remained of her magazine at the encroaching appendage that was heading for her. All five shots connected, letting it twist in pain. But apparently, it didn’t stop the limb for long as it quickly grabbed onto a parasol, and throw it at her, Charge quickly dashing out of the way and reloaded her gun.
Alchemy meanwhile was stuck avoiding the tentacle that was constantly trying to grab him. During one of his many dodges to the side, he managed to dismount the Flame Disc from his Driver when he dodged out of the way next time he held out his Disc and it started to glow.
\ Flame Disc Attack Mode! /
\ Flame Saber! /
The tentacle was about to grab onto him as Alchemy cut through it with his newly formed weapon in just the right moment. The piece of the tentacle that had been separated from the main body flopped around for a bit until it turned into water and splashed all across the sand. When he looked back at the rest of the appendage water had begun to form around the cut end of it, restoring the separated limb. With a flash, the water had again formed into a solid limb that continued his attack at the Rider.
In the meantime, Charge was furiously firing at the Corrupted. While she managed to hit it with every shot it didn’t seem to amount to much and she was forced to avoid all the random objects the monster was throwing at her. And that had actually worked for the most part, but as she was about to activate her superspeed again it refused to work. That was when she noticed that the tubes on her legs weren’t glowing electric blue anymore, silently cursing she was hit by the newest object the Corrupted had gotten ahold of, another mini fridge. It slammed against her, what had still been inside shattering and drenching her in various liquids. “Ok, maybe a change of tactics is in order.” With that, she removed the Thunder Charger from her Driver, replaced it with the Fire Charger and quickly spun the cylinder.
“Charge up!”
\ 50, 80, 100! FIRE CHARGE! /
A red ball of energy surrounded her and as it subsided again she now wore her red armor. Without wasting any time she unloaded her magazine on the tentacles. Like the last time the appendages flailed around in pain, but unlike last time, smoke was coming off of them and burn marks remained. She quickly got a hold of her baton and charged towards the Corrupted, all while reloading her weapon. The moment she closed up to the limb she slammed a steaming hot baton down on it, smoke erupting the instant it made contact with the weapon.
Another bursting scream could be heard from the water and suddenly four more tentacles burst through the surface of the water, rushing towards the two Riders with unbelievable speed. They first reached Alchemy, while the first appendage was still attacking him from the front as unrelenting as ever, the second one was about to attack him from the side. With its inhuman speed it aimed to crash into him, thankfully he managed to avoid the attack narrowly and managed to slice of the part of the tentacle that had past him, but just like the times before it just regrew itself.
But to his dismay, he had forgotten about the last tentacle. Suddenly it wrapped around his waist, tightening with every second, threatening to crush him if he didn’t do something fast. The other two limbs weren’t just standing around and doing nothing, they were attacking the Rider as well, the first one wrapping around his arms and the second wrapping around his legs. The ever-increasing pain that surged through his body as the tentacles tightened their grip on him was mindnumbing, still, he held onto his Flame Saber. While his body was crushed he managed to slowly but steadily force his hands closer together, as the finally were able to touche he managed to spin the Disc of his Flame Saber. “Flaming Slash!”
The enormous heat that emanated from the weapon was enough to lighten the grip of the tentacles and with a quick slash he was able to separate himself from the invasive limbs and managed to cut them to pieces as well, leaving them to fall to the ground and dissolve into water.
Charge was currently still evading the constant attacks of the tentacles, her boosters gave her an edge over them and with her Charge Magnum and baton, she smacked down any appendage that actually managed to get close to her. Still, they got closer and closer, she couldn’t do this any longer and as she managed to get a glimpse over to Alchemy, who had just managed to gain a short breather period and screams: “Alchemy! Change to Wind and bombard the water, you might actually hit him and make it fast!”
After he heard her scream to him he quickly deactivated his Flame Saber and put it back on his belt. While he did this he quickly took the Wind Disc, placed it into his Driver and spun it.
\ WIND DISC ACTIVATED! /
The emerald whirlwind managed to knock the approaching tentacles back again so the transformation could proceed without any problem. The moment the whirlwind had died down he quickly grabbed onto his Wind Disc again, removing it from the Driver and held it in front of him.
\ Wind Disc Attack Mode! /
\ Hurrican Bow! /
With the tentacles approaching again he wasted no time and spun the Wind Disc on the bow, magical energy began gathering into the bow. “Arrow Storm!” He quickly drew the glowing bowstring and unleashed the arrow straight towards the sky, moments later he was grabbed by the tentacles again and slammed to the ground.
Meanwhile, the arrow gained on altitude until it disappeared into a seal in the sky, seconds later a bigger one appeared right where the arrow had disappeared and unleashed a storm of arrows upon the water. Every arrow shot straight down towards it, crashing through the surface like raindrops. The moment the first ones hit the water the grip the tentacles had on Alchemy weakened and to his relive actually retreated towards the water, Charge witnessed the same phenomenon.
And with that, the tentacles returned to the ocean and only left the two Riders behind, both breathing heavily staring at the ocean, awaiting the return of the limbs to attack them once again, but no, the ocean remained as calm as he could be. Silence had fallen over the beach. “Well, that was certainly something.” Charge just nodded in return. The sound of sirens let them both shift their gaze towards the road and the arriving police officers.