The air in the room was tense. While the small office looked lovely with its large window and bookshelves lining the walls, but right now, Ocean couldn’t care less. She was frantically walking up and down, mumbling to herself, all while Phoenix was casually leaning back in his chair. She had switched her usual blue jacket and light blue t-shirt for an expensive grey business suit and had made sure she looked the best she could.
Phoenix also wore some quite formal looking clothes. Ocean had shown up on his doorstep at five am. in the morning, rudely waking him up from his slumber, something he found quite funny. She had stormed in and shoved him into a black suit, complete with matching tie and shoes. He thought he looked ridiculous, but all his complaining didn’t help him one bit. Before he had even realized what was going on, she had dragged him to one of the vans of the MRG, shoved him inside and was off. Where exactly? He didn’t know then, but it became quite apparent after a while.
It hadn’t taken them too long until they had arrived in the downtown area and right in front of a massive skyscraper with the letters ‘MRG’ on the front of it. The façade of the building was mostly made out of glass with two big concrete that separated the building into three parts, it all looked quite nice. Still, he had not any time to admire the building since Ocean was dragging him along again.
After a long and quiet elevator ride, they had finally reached her office that towered over the city. It was quite the view. But like before he had no chance to admire it since Ocean was finally telling him why she had dragged him over her at such an early hour of the morning. She had arranged a meeting with her mother who still wanted to meet him and currently was trying her best that nothing would go wrong.
Meanwhile, Phoenix was leaning back in his chair and listening to her going on about everything that could go awry. In a way, it was quite funny to see the one that was always in control of the situation frantically stumbling around the room and come up with more and more ludicrous reasons this could end in a disaster. Well, it was funny until she reached the ten-minute mark and was still coming up with more and more reasons, it had grown quite annoying.
“Ocean, Ocean. Why don’t you just sit down, drink a cup of water and breathe?” He basically shoved her on the chair and pressed a glass of water in her hand that started to violently shake the moment she touched it. “I’m sure this is going to be fine. If one can pull off a perfect impression, it’s you. So don’t worry too much, we will wing this. Why are you so worried anyway? You have me with you, what could possibly go wrong?”
She just stared at him for a few moments until her shaking increased, even more, nearly spilling a drop of it onto Phoenix, who jumped out of the way in the last second. Oceans expression was stressed and covered in wrinkles. Her breathing picked up again, and her eyes were darting around the room seemingly at random. “It’s because of you I’m so worried.”
Phoenix sighed in return but could not prevent a little smirk to cross his lips. “And what is that supposed to mean? Do you think I’m going to screw this up?” She nodded in return after she had taken one sip from the glass of water, painstakingly making sure that she indeed not got any of it on her suit. “Goodness, you are more worried that if a monster hoard would rampage through the city. She is your mother for crying out loud, how bad can it get?” A heavy sigh escaped his lips as he looked at the mere shell of a woman he had come to know.
After she had finished the last sip of her glass of water, she quickly placed it on the table and replied quite fast: “She has led the MRG for over ten years and served it for over twenty-five. She is the best director our organization ever had. She has more solved cases on her back than anyone else in the MRG. She is a living legend and notorious for her perfectionism. She never failed, not once, in the end, she always succeeded. She has saved the world countless times over. If everything is not perfect, who knows what might happen? I certainly don’t want to find that out, and I’m not planning to. Now tell me what you are not allowed to say again.” Her look was that of pure determination mixed with utter anxiety as she looked at him.
Meanwhile looked at her with an expression that perfectly showed how out of touch he was with this situation. This could be very well the most important “talk” in her life, and he was just not taking it seriously, she could just strangle him. That would just not look so good, so it was out of the picture for now. What infuriated her, even more, was his response. “Let me think, the sleep thing was number one. No jokes, apparently she has no sense of humor and nothing that questions her authority.”
“You forgot the most important thing! Do not, under any circumstances call her anything other than Director, she hates that! And don’t forget to over her coffee. She is certainly going to refuse, but she is always pleased when someone offers it to her,” she continued, still with her talking speed that was quite hard to keep up with.
Phoenix raised his hands defensively as he casually replied: “Sure, sure I got it. Madam likes to be pampered. Goodness, you think I am not good with people. People love me, they always laugh with me. Don’t worry, we got this.”
“Yeah, more like over you,” she added under her breath. “Why does this not raise my confidence in any way shape or form? Just promise me, don’t do anything stupid,” she added with a heavy sigh.
Phoenix in return raised an eyebrow and looked at her with an unconvinced look. “When did I ever do something stupid?” A simple glance from his partner was enough to let him back peddle immediately. “Ok, that was stupid. But besides that?” She just continued to stare at him with the same expression. “Ok, maybe that too, and that, oh and that one was foolish. Ok, I think I know where you are coming from, but come on; you have to trust me here. I’ll do my best so don’t worry.”
“Oh, because you trusted me so much,” all she gained from that was a frown from Phoenix. “I know will try your best, but from what I have seen of you, you are just not a person that mother is going to like. Just talk when you are asked, be quick and to the point and talk as little as possible. Please, I beg you,” she looked at him with eyes that screamed out in desperation.
After a few moments of heart-wrenching staring from Ocean he relented and defeated replied: “Fine, I’ll play it low. No talking if not asked, be to the point and keep it to a minimum. Happy now?”
Before she could reply, someone knocked rather forcefully on the door. In an instant, the already tense atmosphere in the room skyrocketed. After a few moments of unbearable silence and shook Ocean finally spoke up: “Come in.” She sounded confident, but her expression was a different matter entirely. It seems like she was about panic at any moment now, but as the door slowly started to open it was quickly replaced with an emotionless expression that just added to the unnerving atmosphere in the room.
“Ah, Director, a pleasure that you could make it,” she replied happily. Still, her eyes seemed to scream something more along the lines of: “Oh, we are so fucked.”
Through the door stepped a woman in her late forties in a black business suit and determent expression. Monochrome, the director of the MRG and in a way the woman that decided if he was an unauthorized vigilante or a partner to the MRG, so no pressure really.
“Ah, agent Skies, of course, I could make it. I’m never late, you should know that.” Ocean just nodded hastily. “So, you are Phoenix Feather, am I right?”
“Yes, mam. Phoenix Feather, or like I’m more commonly known, Kamen Rider Alchemy. I think we already meat, in a way.” He casually replied, as he quickly glanced over to ocean she looked at him in shock, as if to tell him to stop. “Ah, by the way, want some coffee?” he quickly added.
Monochrome quickly looked over to her daughter who looked as stoic and innocent as possible. Still, some small little sweat drops were slowly running down her face. After a few seconds, she merely sighed and returned her attention back to Phoenix. “No, thanks. I don’t like distractions during work as anyone should. I recently went through all the information we have on you and your fight data, and I must say I’m not really impressed. While agent Skies vouches for you that does not mean you are beyond scrutiny. Especially after your last failure.” The entire time she spoke, she sounded somewhat monotone, but still, every word she spoke was like it had weight to it and made him more and more uneasy.
“Oh, well, you win some, you lose some.” Right as he had finished Ocean, who was standing behind Monochrome was frantically waving with her hands, signaling him to stop. Frantically he added: “I mean, won’t happen again,” while rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. Ocean leads merely her head sink into one of her hands and shook her head in defeat.
Monochrome looked at him for a few more moments without any sort of reaction and then merely continued: “I hope so; still you will pick up your training. We will not tolerate any form of laziness here. Agent Skies, you will see to that you will be as qualified as any of our own agents in no time.”
There was a nagging feeling in the back of his head that started to grow as time had gone on and he had continued to talk with the director of the MRG, a feeling of dislike that was steadily increasing, but until now he was not able to place it, but now it was getting more evident by the second. “You know, Ocean and I already came to this conclusion,” he copied replied, sporting a slight grin. While this was happening, Ocean was staring at him in utter shock and horror.
“I see, then why have I not been informed about this? I demand that every bit of information is brought to me. I don’t want to be left in the dark,” she replied, in her voice, the slightest bit of anger could be heard as she continued to stare directly at Phoenix, who in return simply stared back.
“Ah, my deepest apology, we only decided that yesterday and planned to tell you this today Director. It won’t happen again,” she basically begged for forgiveness, something Phoenix could only look at in disbelieve.
“That is not an excuse agent Skies. I hope this will not happen again.” She quickly nodded. ”At any rate, I would like to continue. Next, I wanted to get to your performance agent Skies, and I have to say…” While she was speaking something interrupted her. All eyes in the room immediately darted towards Ocean and her ringing cell phone. While Phoenix looked more in surprise at her Monochromes expression was more annoyed than anything.
With a silent nodded from her mother, she picked up the phone and answered. “Hello Ivory, what is it? What? I’ll be on it as fast as possible! Where exactly? Got it!” While first, she sounded rather nervous and hasty, the moment she received an answer her expression changed to something more focused and confident. “Extremely high magical energy readings in the Everfree Forest. Possibly Corrupted activity. Awaiting permission to leave director.”
Monochrome didn’t even waste any second with this and simply replied: “Permission granted!” Ocean immediately started to rush out the door. Alchemy, on the other hand, stared one last time at Monochrome who stared back at him. He was only snapped out of it as Ocean called out for him. He quickly rushed after her, leaving the room and the Director behind.
He managed to catch up to Ocean at the elevator. “We two will have a talk about this,” she stared at him with an expression that could kill if possible. Phoenix quietly gulped in response as the elevator doors closed.
>-------<A>-------<
Meanwhile inside the forest stood a small house made out of wood, seemingly forgotten by the rest of the world. Inside a young woman had currently finished dressing and was just now leaving the bathroom. She had pale white skin and dark emerald hair that was neatly brushed and reached down to her shoulders. She wore a brown tank top and some jeans and was right now absentmindedly walking down the stairs while listening to music on her phone.
From the kitchen, someone was screaming out to her, it took her a few times till she actually realized this through her headphones. Quickly pulling them from her ears, she screamed back: “What is it Pinecone? Can’t you leave me at least alone until breakfast is over?” She sounded quite annoyed, and her previous carefree attitude was quickly washed away.
“Well, I would if you wouldn’t waste forty minutes in the bathroom. The visitor hours start in one and a half hour, and we still haven’t started the preparations,” a male voice called back to her. As she finally reached the kitchen, her brother was standing next to the kitchen table and was holding two bowls of cereal he was in the process of placing down on it. His skin was a light brown, and his hair had a darker shade of brown. He wore a simple green T-shirt and short beige pants.
“Oh, give a girl a bit of time to get ready. It’s not like we will get any visitors that early anyway, if at all. Who wants to waste their times here at all? Seriously!” She countered with quite an annoyed undertone as she rolled with her eyes.
“It doesn’t matter if there might be no visitors that early in the morning, there is the chance that there will be. You can’t simply say to your boss that you will come an hour later simply because you think no one is going to come and expect to be paid.”
“Tsk,” she dismissively replied. “That would be a good argument if I actually would get paid. Seriously, I still only have enough money to buy one pair of shoes each month, that is just wrong,” she frowned back at him.
“Well, if you would just be more responsible with money we might be able to talk about this, but right now,” but before he could continue, he was rudely interrupted by his sister.
“Oh, yes. Be more responsible with fifty dollars? Are you kidding me? At least let me take a part-time job so I can earn my own money, but nope mister ‘responsibility’ here, says no,” she shot back at him, her expression shifting from annoyed to angry.
“Fifty dollars is more than enough, you don’t have to pay for anything when it comes to food or clothes. You should be thankful that I give you anything at all Emerald,” she just huffed in return. “And we have been over this. I need you here; I can’t handle everything on my own. Without a helping hand, everything here would collapse. You really should show more respect to what our ancestors have built up here and devoted their lives to. What could be more fulfilling?”
She just deadpanned back: “Working as a police officer, firefighter, or a gaiadamn fast food worker for all I can care. Nearly everything is better than sitting around this forest for your entire life. There are so many great things out there, but no, I have to stay at this stupid shrine.”
Pinecone just sighed and encountered: “We have been through this a hundred times; this is the most important thing you could ever do. You are part of this family, and I need the help. It is your duty to stay here, and that is the end of it. Now, eat your breakfast and just help me. We might actually still manage to finish everything before the first visitors come.” He pointed towards one of the bowls and proceeded to sit down on one of the chairs, staring expecting at Emerald.
“Fine, whatever. But mark my words, one day I will escape this stupid place. You just wait and watch,” Pinecone just rolled with his eyes and lifted his spoon towards his mouth as a loud sound managed to catch them both off guard. He dropped his spoon right into his bowl and letting milk spill everywhere, but right now he couldn’t care less. The earbursting sound had come from the direction of the shrine, and that could not mean anything good.
“What in Gaia's name was that?” Emerald was the first to speak up again, all while her brother was jumping up from his seat and rushing back up the stairs, leaving his sister behind in the kitchen. “Hey, where are you going? At least clean up your mess!” But no response. “Pinecone?” She started to get a bit worried.
Then he came back running down the stairs, even skipping the last few steps downward, landing right in front of Emerald, who just stared at him as if he was out of his mind. In his right hand, he held a small wooden box, one she had never seen before in her entire life. “Hey, what is that?” He simply proceeded to rush towards the door, apparently completely ignoring her. “Hey, I’m talking to you. Can you explain to me what is going on here?”
As he finally reached the door and had opened it, he turned back one last time and replied: “Stay here, I’ll be back soon. Under no circumstances are you to leave the house! No circumstance, got that?” She only nodded slowly, staring at her brother in confusion. And with that, he slammed the door shut and was running through the woods to Gaia knows where.
“What was that?” She mumbled to herself and returned to her own bowl of cereal. She took one look at the mess her brother had just caused and sighed, proceeding to get a towel to clean it up. “Seriously?” She sighed one last time and went back to cleaning.
>-------<A>-------<
While this was going on, in another part of the woods were two people slowly making their way through the rows of trees in front of them. Ocean was currently at the front, leading the way, while Phoenix was trotting behind her.
“I still can’t believe what you did back there. She has the authority to take your Driver away, and you try to provoke her? Have you lost your mind?” Ocean was currently going on a tangent and nearly screaming at her partner as they walked through the forest, her expression a mixture of anger and bafflement.
“What authority? Last time I checked this thing belongs to me. I didn’t sign any contract that would give it to her. If she wants it she has to take it by force,” he grumbled back at her.
That prompted her to stop right then and there. “What authority? She is the head of the MRG! She can let the entirety of the organization come down upon you with as much as a single word. You just don’t piss her off!” Ocean’s annoyance and anger just grew more and more with every passing second.
“If she does that she can be sure that she will regret it. Seriously, some respect would be nice.”
“Respect? She was to the point that was all. She did not disrespect you in any way shape or form,” she countered quickly and with conviction.
“Yeah, not buying it. Seriously, I’m not one of her underlings, she can’t order me around. No one can,” he growled back at her.
“Oh and all the times I ordered you around don’t count or what?” Ocean looked skeptically back at him.
“That does not count. I chose to follow your orders willingly because I trust you, not because you demand it,” Phoenix defensively replied, crossing his arms to emphasize his point even more.
“Yeah, I get that but she is the Director, you just don’t want to get on her bad side. The people that did had not a happy life afterward. So please, don’t try to get on a warpath with her,” she was basically begging him.
“Fine, I’ll try my best. Still, the way she treated you is just wrong. You give your all, and all you get is complaints thrown into your face. And to make this even worse, you are her daughter, and she just insults you. I’m probably not going to be friends with her.”
“But she was right with everything she said. I still have much to learn and failed in so many ways. She is perfect, and I’m not. If I ever want to be an actually good agent I have dedicated all of my life to this,” The determination in her eyes was almost scary.
“Weren’t you the one that told me not to be consumed by this, at least in some way? Trust me, you are doing great. You managed to stop every Corrupted that came in your way, helped me since even before becoming a Kamen Rider, have by far the better planes when it comes to us two, and without you, I would probably be six feet under. If she thinks you are not good enough, then no one is. Believe me, you are the best person for this job.”
Ocean was stunned, for a few seconds, she just stood there with mouth standing slightly open, staring at Phoenix. “I… Thank you.” She started to blush a little and avoided eye contact with Phoenix. “That means a lot to me that you think that. Still, I shouldn’t just dismiss everything my mother said. I still can improve and have to improve. I just have to work harder and as you said, avoid the mistakes I made.”
After a few moments of silence, he was about to reply as he heard something from his right. In an instant, he spun around and stared through the rows of trees in front of him. Ocean soon followed his gaze towards the direction he was looking. At first, both could not see anything and after a few moments just assumed it had been an animal, but then they caught something poking through the trees for a short moment, something dark blue.
Then it peaked through the trees again, and this time they could clearly see it. It was a Corrupted, clad in dark blue and orange armor, or at least it looked like armor. His entire body was clad in dark blue armor with orange decorations on the knees and shoulders. The armor somewhat looked like scales, and on his arms, sharp blades were sticking out of the armor. His head looked like a moray while the back of his head was coated in orange. His eyes were glowing yellow.
“Well, it seems we found our energy readings. So, wanna pummel this thing into the ground?” While he pulled out his Driver and was fishing for one of the Discs in his other pocket, he looked expectingly towards Ocean.
She just started to smile and replied by pressing the button on her belt buckle. As she pulled one of her Chargers from her pocket, she quickly added: “No Fire Disc, you are just going to start a forest fire.”
He just sheepishly looked at her for a second only to reply with: “Of course not, that would be stupid.” He then proceeded to pull out the Wind Disc and after putting on his Driver proceded to activate it. Ocean in the meantime had also pulled out her Charger and put it into her Driver.
\ MAGIC DISC DETECTED! /
\ SCANNING CHARGE! /
“Henshin!”
“Henshin!”
\ WIND DISC ACTIVATED! /
\ 50, 80, 100! THUNDER CHARGE! /
\ Wind Disc Attack Mode! /
\ Hurrican Bow! /
After both their transformations had run their course both stormed towards their opponent with Charge rushing ahead and Alchemy directly pulled his weapon and aimed for the Corrupted. But before either one of them actually managed to attack the Corrupted, the monster simply seemed to crouch, and a rock the size of Phoenix’s head came sailing towards them. Charge managed to dodge the attack at the last second, but just barely, screeching to hold right behind a tree.
Alchemy watched this all unfold, and as the rock headed for him, he quickly jumped out of the way. He could even hear it rush past him and crash into a boulder behind him with one massive crash that probably could still be heard a few kilometers away. Then there was another sound, something like a rattling chain. Looking back he could only see how the rock was flying back towards him on a metal chain, unable to dodge he was hit by the boulder this time, sending him flying into one of the many trees, which quickly crashed down on him. His shoulder, the place where the rock hat hit him arched horribly.
Charge, on the other hand, did not fare any better, she also noticed the incoming danger far too late and was caught by the chain and pulled through the tree she was currently hiding behind, landing unceremoniously on the ground. Contrary to Alchemy she was holding her stomach in pain.
“Well, well. What do we have here? Two annoying Kamen Riders. I think it is payback time for our comrades you put behind bars. Oh, this will be fun,” the moray Corrupted chuckled as he walked towards Charge.
“Wait!” Another voice shouted out to the Corrupted. “Don’t let your guard down. These Riders are a tricky bunch.” Another Corrupted stepped into view. His body was made out of rocks and covered in metallic armor. His chest, legs, arms, and shoulders were included in the armor. His shoulders were made out of stones. At the end of his arms were however not any hands and fingers. Instead, there were two rocks; one of them had just been used to attack them. His head was similar round and covered in a metallic cage that seemed to act similar to a helmet.
On command, his partner stopped dead in its tracks and eyed the two Riders carefully. To its surprise, its two opponents didn’t take long after the command from his comrade to stand up again. “Hey, Rockbrain gotta give you credit. At least you are smarter than Fishface over here,” the Corrupted above was about to rush towards Alchemy for his insurance but was stopped by a loud grunt from the Rockbrain. “So, tell me, what are you doing on such a beautiful day in the middle of this forest. I’m pretty sure it’s not a simple stroll through the woods.”
“Fuck off, that does not…” The water Corrupted was about to reply but was again interrupted. But this time by Alchemy and not his partner.
“Hey, I want to speak with someone actually at my intelligence level. Not a bumbling idiot.”
As Alchemy was mocking his opponent Charge had slowly lowered her hand towards her waist and subsequently her weapon. The moment however she pulled her gun the earth Corrupted shoots one of his rocks at her. The object rushed past her, nearly scratching her armor and crashed into some trees behind her that started to tumble over. But all this didn’t interest Charge at the moment, she was to busy with unloading her gun on the Corrupted that had just attacked her.
Sadly her attacks didn’t seem to do much, and her opponent simply shrugged them off like it was nothing. And while she was focused on her opponent, Fishface had rushed towards her. The moment she had unloaded all of her rounds on the Corrupted a wave of water headed right for her head, one she only managed to dodge at the last second. The razor-sharp wave of water even managed to cut through several trees. And without any chance to recover the Corrupted continued his onslaught of vicious attacks.
Meanwhile, Alchemy was drawing his bow again, aiming straight at the Corrupted that was currently attacking Charge. Just as was about to let the arrow shoot at his opponent the other Corrupted let one of his morningstar like rocks head straight towards him. It was quite easy for him to avoid the first attack by merely humping out of the way, as well as the quick pulling back of the weapon. What he, however, did not anticipate was the second rock that hit him right in the back, still looking out for the first one. He was sent flying several meters and through some trees, which ended with him rolling on the ground in pain.
Charge meanwhile could only watch as her partner was flung through the air. She was just distracted for a single second, but that was all her own opponent needed to find an opening, letting one of his attacks hit her. Staggering back in pain she clutched the place where the attack had hit her and was utterly incapable of blocking the next attack. What followed were several more of the attacks, each leaving her in a worse state than before until like Alchemy she was knocked off her feet and was rolling around the ground in agony.
“Well, well. It seems the Kamen Riders aren’t what they are made out to be. Now, let's see how loud you can scream.” The water Corrupted cackled as he walked towards Charge’s injured body.
“Leave! You are not welcome here!”
“Who is there?” The Corrupted frantically started to look around the area, trying to make out where the voice was coming from.
“I said leave! I won’t repeat it again.” And with that, a man stepped into sight with light brown skin and brown hair, under his arm holding a wooden box.
As the Corrupted saw him, it immediately started to laugh. “Good one. Now leave so I can have some fun with these losers here.”
The man just sighed and slowly opened the box, grabbed something from inside it and threw the box away. He now was holding a strange oval object in his hands that he quickly put on his waist. In an instant, a white glow surrounded his waist and moments later a black belt had formed around it, holding the strange device in place. He then proceeded to pull on two handles on either side of the thing, letting the device open in the middle and revealing a round hole right in the center.
Both Corrupted stared at him in confusion, but as he held out a green coin, the smarter one immediately went wild. “That is it! That is it! Get it, get it!”
While this was happening, he put the coin into the hole in the middle of the device. Right afterward it shouted out.
\ UNLEASH THE MONSTER! /
With a quick motion he closed the belt-like device again and screamed:
“Henshin!”
\ AWAKEN: MANTICORE! /
A green etherial beast emerged from the belt. It had the body of a lion, as well as its face, batlike wings, and a massive scorpion tail. While the creature made out of energy emerged from the belt, the Corrupted had started to attack the man. But both their attacks just didn’t harm the beast in any way shape or form and simply bounced off it. The creature then turned around and headed straight for the man, enveloping him into a bright green glow.
As the light faded, he was clad in green armor, similar to the ones of Alchemy and Charge. His chest plate was covered in a dark green chest plate and an emerald undersuit. At the portion where neck went over into the chest armor, a thick fur line was drawn. His shoulder pads had the form of scorpion tails, and his arms sported several emerald plates protecting it. The hands of the armor ended in razor sharp claws with the end of the glove covered in light brown fur, just like the shoulder pads. A similar design was designed could be seen on his legs, also with fur on the end of the armored boots. The most striking thing, however, was the helmet, it had the form of a lion head with the mane simply being represented by darting out portions of the helmet. The new Rider looked at them with glowing red eyes.
“I’m merciful today. Leave, and we can forget what has happened here today.” Alchemy and Charge were stunned. Another Rider right in front of them, they had not expected that.
The first Corrupted to react was, of course, Fishface who merely threw his attacks at him, hoping the Rider would not be able to evade the attack. But to his dismay the new Rider simply jumped up and started to fly through the forest, wings appearing on his back that looked similar to batwings, easily evading everything the Corrupted could throw at him. While he was dodging the attacks of his opponents grabbed hold of something on his belt.
As he flew closer and closer towards his opponent, he pulled a green whip from his belt. The weapon was separated into smaller parts that mimicked the appearance of a scorpion tail. The next attack that was headed his way was quickly destroyed, just like the following ones. The new Rider landed right in front of the Corrupted and ready himself for his next attack.
“You… You… Who are you?”
“I am the guardian of this forest. Kamen Rider Monster. And I will not tolerate any invaders that walk on this holy ground.” Whit that he swung his whip again, letting it loop around the waist of the Corrupted and with one quick and powerful pull send him sailing far away. The only thing that could be heard from him afterward was his screams that grew ever quieter and at last a loud crashing sound.
“That idiot. Anyway, just give me your Medals, and we are going as fast as we appeared. Doesn't that sound good?” The other Corrupted tried to reason with Monster, but he just pulled out another one of his Medals and replaced it with the one he currently was using.
\ AWAKEN: SPHINX! /
Just like before an ethereal beast emerged from the belt, this time an orange cat-like being with wings and a strange headpiece. His armor had taken on an orange color. Every bit of fur on the suit had vanished, and the shoulder pads had taken on the form of wings, all while the head also had the strange headdress. His eyes had taken on a bright blue tone. The wipe he was previously holding was gone and replaced with two massive claws that were incorporated into his armguards.
Without even waiting for the Corrupted to attack him with his weapons he rushed towards him. The moment the first rock came flying towards him he managed to block it with his weapons, sending it crashing into a nearby tree. And as the second one was heading for him, he just repeated the process. After he had crossed the distance between them, a few quick slashes with his weapons managed to set his opponent off balance and with another well-placed strike tumbling back a few meters.
“Fine, you win for now.” With that, the Corrupted slammed his “fists” on the ground, and the earth just seemed to swallow him whole, letting him disappear in nearly an instant.
The new Kamen Rider simply stood there and sighed heavily. Alchemy and Charge just staring at him, unsure of what to say.
“I hope you have a good explanation for this,” he dryly said. Both of the other Riders just staring at him in confusion.