“So, I want you two to give me a good explanation what you are doing here. I don’t like people like you near our shrine,” the new Kamen Rider finally asked them, his voice making it quite clear that right now had little patience to spare. He had introduced himself as Pinecone, he apparently took care of a shrine devoted to the local forest goddess, Gaia Everfree. He had led them to his house in which his little sister, Emerald Marble, was still waiting for his return. She did look quite surprised at the appearance of two armored figures that then quickly proceded to enter the house, but her initial confusion promptly turned into giddiness. Apparently, she was a fan of the Riders. After a small discussion that seemed oddly familiar to the both of them, they finally had sat down the kitchen table, the breakfast still on it.
Alchemy was the first to speak up: ”Oh, you know. We just like to fight monsters in our free time.” A swift kick from Charge to his shin let him quickly curse out in pain and add: “Don’t you watch TV or at least read the newspaper? We are the Kamen Riders that protect the city. You have to have heard from us. You being a Rider and all yourself.”
Emerald looked at them as if her eyes would jump out of her head any second from now, but before she could even attempt to ask what he meant by that Pinecone continued: “Oh, I heard of you. Playing superhero and all that. Personally don’t care as long as you stay away from my forest. So, again, what are you doing here?”
Charge intersected before Alchemy could dig them into an even deeper mess: “We are here because we received readings that a lot of magical energy was currently active in the area. We went to investigate where it came from. Just making sure nothing dangerous comes into the city so we can stop it before it crosses the borders. It causes fewer problems for anyone involved.”
Pinecone grumpily replied: “It caused more problems for me.”
“And we apologize for that. I hope we didn’t cause too big of an inconvenience for you. But we are willing to make up for our failings. If you want our help, we are willing to give it to you. You just have to ask.”
Pinecone directly stared back at her and raised an eyebrow: “And how do I know that I can trust you? I don’t even know your names. I’m not leaving the protection of my family legacy to some costumed freaks.”
“Says another costumed freak,” Alchemy huffed under his breath. A quick glance from Pinecone let him know that he had not been quite enough.
“Ok, seriously. What do you mean by that? Can anyone explain to me what exactly happened out there? I’m feeling left out here! Pinecone a Kamen Rider? That is ludicrous, isn’t it brother?” Everyone in the room quickly shifted their heads to the screaming girl that stared at them quite agitated.
Charge was the first to break the silence. “You don’t know? You brother saved us from two monsters that were rampaging through the forest. He called himself Kamen Rider Monster. I thought you knew about it,” she slowly replied, tiring to calm the girl down.
To her dismay, she missed the mark by quite a margin. Emerald stared at her brother in a mixture of disbelieve and anger. What followed was an ear-bursting tirade directed at him, leaving no room for any attempts to even explain himself. “What?! And I hear this from someone else? I’m- You are just- Talk to me!”
All eyes were on the new Rider now, eagerly awaiting his response. The seconds in which nothing happened were dreadful. It almost seemed like Emerald would lunge at her brother any moment if the wouldn’t answer fast enough, but while everyone else was afraid of exactly this happening he just sighed in annoyance and remained surprisingly calm. “Emerald, you know that I had no say in the matter. It is one of our family secrets that are restricted to the oldest child. I couldn’t tell you, even if I wanted to. You understand that, don’t you?”
This was the moment something seemingly snapped inside of Emeralds head. “What! You tell me that these stupid traditions are more important than telling your sister? Are you shitting me? No! No, no, no! You are not getting out of this one with your stupid talk about legacy and responsibility and such crap. What would have happened if you told me? My brother is a superhero, and I don’t know about it. When would you have told me? When you got torn apart by monsters? Or never?” With that, she stormed out of the house and slammed the door shut behind her leaving everyone else stunned behind.
Pinecone just shook his head and returned: “Give her some time, and she will cool down like she always does. So, where were we?” He said all this so casually that now Alchemy was the one to be pissed by it.
“Excuse me what? You tell me that you keep this from your sister because of some stupid old family tradition? How pathetic can you be?” His voice boomed through the house, to the displeasure of Charge and Pinecone.
“Alchemy!”
“As if you know what it means to be the inheritor of an ancient family legacy that dwarfs everything you could ever achieve. This is something you will never understand. So don’t even try to convince me. Get back to playing superhero,” he dismissively replied, not even giving him a passing glance.
That was it, he had enough. With a swift motion, he yanked the Alchemy Driver from his waist and slammed it down on the table. “Oh, you couldn’t be more wrong even if you tried. I know exactly what you mean. This,” pointing at the Driver currently pressed on the table. “Is an artifact my family has been guarding for around six hundred years. I’m the current guardian of this stupid thing and am responsible for recreating other artifacts connected to it. Add to that my family expects me to create a Philosopher Stone if I collect all of them, something that is probably going to kill me. So you can shove your stupid ‘don’t know my burden carp’ up your ass.”
“Oh, so you know what it means to carry a family legacy. So why do you not agree with me? This is the way it has to be,” he asked somewhat confused.
“Don’t you get it? This legacy is bollox. What life is this if you blindly follow rules that someone you never meet laid out for you? Grow a backbone man! And if you knew about these powers why have you not used them before? Tell me? How many people could you have saved?” Right now Phoenix was in top gear, he just went on and on, just shortly stopping to breath. With every passing word, the intensity of his voice grew ever louder.
“The Monster Driver’s only purpose is to protect the Shrine of Gaia Everfree, nothing else. Using it for something as laughable as playing superhero would be a disgrace to it.”
That was it, he had enough. Rage started to overtake his senses and began to move his body on its own, guiding his hand right towards his face. But before he could even implant his fist in the cheeks of Pinecone Ocean finally screamed: “Phoenix! Enough!” This outburst from her was enough to snap him out of his rage, stopping his fist a few centimeters before Pine’s face. With an aggressive motion, he snapped his fist back from the face of Pine.
“Fine. I’ll leave you alone for a while. Be right back,” and with that, he stormed out of the house, leaving the two other Riders behind.
“I- I’m so sorry. He didn’t mean it, it’s just that he had a rather-“ she tried to explain but was interrupted by Pinecone.
“I’m pretty sure he meant what he said. But it is not my problem if he fails to uphold his own family legacy. He should show more respect to those who came before him. What a pathetic excuse for a guardian. But I digress. So, where were we?” His voice had grown a bit strained, and his expression had slightly shifted, now appearing more agitated than before. “Oh, right, I remember. Why should I trust you, especially with what Alchemy just pulled?”
Charge remained silent for a few seconds until she stood up from the table and removed the Charger from her Driver, subsequently turning her back to normal, something that even took Pinecone by surprise. “My name is Ocean Skies, and I am an agent of the MRG, a government organization specialized in finding and neutralizing magical anomalies and artifacts. And Alchemy’s name is Phoenix Feather. He recently moved to this city because of his family legacy. If you have any further questions, you are free to ask.” During her entire speech, she remained a calm and determined demeanor, on the other hand, Pine let his stoic facade dropped for the first time, just staring at her in disbelief.
It took him a few moments to formulate a reply and even then his voice was quite weak and unsure: “Why- Why did you reveal your identity to me? I don’t trust you and neither should you. You just endangered yourself and your partner for no reason whatsoever.”
“I just believe in the best in everyone. And if you want trust, you have to earn it. I made the first step with this, I hoped you might follow suit.”
He kept staring at her in bewilderment, only to finally break the silence that had meanwhile permeated the room. “You are insane. I don’t want anything to do with this superheroes thing. I just protect the shrine and nothing else, so you revealing your identity will bring you no closer to getting me on your side.”
“Well if you just want to protect your little shrine I have nothing to worry about, now do I? What would you gain from revealing our identity anyway?” She casually added, Pine still just staring confused at her. After a few more moments of silence, she added: “By the way, what is the name of the god this shrine is devoted to if I may ask? I was always interested in local legends and religions.”
She smiled back at him, the quick change of topic giving him new wind to continue this conversation. “Gaia Everfree. The goddess this shrine is devoted to is Gaia Everfree. She is the guardian goddess of this forest and everyone passing through it. Our family's duty is it to tend to the shrine and protected everyone that ventures through this forest from those with ill intent. The Monster Driver is a gift that has been passed down for generations,” while he spoke his voice grew more confident again.
“A nice story. This goddess seems to be one of the nicer ones I heard about. As an agent of the MRG, you tend to learn a lot about different gods and goddesses and most of the time it is nothing too pleasant, especially when they are connected to magical artifacts.”
“Of course she is one of the nicer ones. Why else would she give our family the Driver to protected the people traveling through the forest?” He defensively added.
“Definitely and I’m quite glad about it. You can only run into blood gods so often and be genuinely surprised by them. A nice guardian goddess is a nice change of pace. But anyway, I think I’ll look where Phoenix stormed off to. Should I look for your sister as well?” She asked him after stretching herself a bit.
“Sure, look for the idiot.” With the mention of the word ‘idiot’ she sighed heavily, but ultimately remained silent. “But you don’t have to look for Emerald. She can take care of herself. Just give her some time, and she will come to her senses, that is what always happens.”
Ocean didn’t look too convinced, but ultimately just relented. As she was about to stand up again, both of them heard a loud crash coming from outside the house. In an instant, both of them jumped up from their respective chairs and rushed towards the door.
>-------<A>-------<
Closing the door behind him, Phoenix stepped into the forest, which was far quieter than Canterlot City ever has been. It kinda reminded him of home. The silence was mesmerizing to a certain extent, all the anger he felt not even seconds ago seemed to be washed away and forgotten. Phoenix was tempted to take a little stroll through the woods but knew better than to just leave Ocean here without any indicator of where he went.
That was when he heard something cut through the silence of the woods. It sounded like something was hitting on wood, but he could not make out what exactly was making the sound. One thing, however, he could make out was the fact that it was coming from behind the house and did not stop. Every two seconds he could hear another thump echo through the forest.
Slowly stepping behind the cabin, the curious Rider somewhat expected another Corrupted right away, but in the end, he was pleasantly surprised. After he had circled the house, he did not see another monster, quite the opposite actually. He only saw Emerald who had left the house a few minutes before him. She was currently in the process of kicking an innocent tree repeatedly, she was so focused on it that she didn’t even notice that he had come close to her.
“So, did this tree steal your money or why does he deserve to be at your mercy?” Emerald immediately jumped back by the sound of his voice, staring at him like he was some sort of monster. “Sorry, didn’t want to scare you.”
It didn’t take long for her to retaliate, her voice still shaking: “Scared? Me? That is ridiculous! I’m not afraid of anything.”
“Sure, if you say so it has to be true,” he sarcastically replied.
“What are you doing out here anyway? Don’t you have some Kamen Rider stuff to discuss?” She still sounded slightly grumpy when she brought up the Kamen Rider thing, but really he couldn’t blame her for that.
“Well, I kinda had a little shouting match with your brother. Let’s just say it was best if I just left the house for a bit,” Phoenix sheepishly replied while rubbing the back of his head.
“Oh, I heard that. About time someone told him that he is an idiot for religiously following these stupid traditions.” Phoenix just nodded slightly, earning himself a bright smile form the girl. “So, what was that with this ‘having your own legacy to hold up’ thing?”
He grew a bit more somberly. “Oh, that. Basically the same thing your family is tasked with doing, just more along the lines of traveling around the world and gather magical energy. It also involves stupid rules, and so on, the difference is, I just don’t care. I use the thing to save people, not because I have a responsibility to uphold a stupid family legacy.”
“Oh, my gosh, you really talk like one of these comic book heroes.” In response, Phoenix just chuckled nervously. “That was actually meant as something positive. We sometimes just need people that tell it if there are only good people in the world. Or something like this. Ok, I’m not good at this. I just wanted to say you are awesome and what you do is great.”
“Ok, ok, stop. I’m really starting to feel embarrassed here.” And indeed his cheeks had taken on a more crimson look, what immediately let a little chuckle follow from Emerald. “But on a different note. I think your brother just wants to protect you. He somewhat reminded me of my own brother. Don’t hold it against him. Tease him a bit over it but besides that, don’t let this get between you two.”
This left her speechless for a few moments only to counter: “You don’t hold a grudge against him for what just happened? Why?”
“Because I know that he just wanted to protect you. My little brother tried the same for me. He worked far harder than me and tried to convince gramps to give him the Driver and Discs instead of me. He wanted to get me out of this bollox. He did not succeed, but I appreciate the effort.”
“Pah, as if you know Pinecone. He is obsessed with this stupid legacy and would never do anything that would break it. He forces me to stay here, is that the actions of someone that wants to protect me,” she sounded quite defensive and angered at the mere suggestion of Pine actually looking out for her.
Phoenix just shrugged with his shoulders and added: “Siblings tend to watch out for each other, that is something I learned. I might not know his true intentions, but that is what I chose to believe.”
Before she could offer any counter-argument, someone else spoke up, prompting them both to frantically turn around. “Well, well, isn’t that cute? You don’t mind if we take the Monster Driver?” The voice chuckled, and as soon as the laid eyes on it their blood froze as they looked at the face of the water Corrupted that had fought Phoenix and the other two Riders just an hour before.
“Hey, Fishface! Don’t you know the rules? You are only allowed to appear again tomorrow. I mean seriously, are you being paid overtime?” While he spoke he slowly pulled the Driver out of his pocket again as well as a Magic Disc.
“Oh, you are the first one. Well, I’m going to enjoy ripping you apart!”
“Yeah, I’ll pass.” And with one swift motion, he slapped the Driver on and activated the transformation.
\ MAGIC DISC DETECTED! /
“Henshin!”
\ EARTH DISC ACTIVATED! /
The first thing he could see was Seventeen rushing towards him, claws glowing a deep shade of blue. With a quick dodge, he managed to avoid the attack, staggering back in the process. “Hey Emerald? I think you should run!” This was enough to snap her out of her little shock and run as fast back towards the house as she could. “Good, now we can have a little fun.”
“Oh, we will have fun!” A devious smirk appearing on his lips.
At that moment a loud the ground under his feet started to rumble and moments later a fist emerged from it, smashing right into his face, knocking him off his feet. “Ow, now that was not fair,” he groaned while rubbing his chin.
“Sorry, we don’t play fair.” Seventeen replied, a lite chuckle in his voice.
In a swift motion, he returned to his feet and casually replied: “Well, could have guessed that.” While he spoke the other Corrupted unleashed one of his energy waves upon the Rider, who barely managed to evade the deadly attack, which crashed into some trees behind him.
Wasting no time both monsters stormed towards him, blocking their attacks quite well, even managing to get in a few counterattacks. Still, he was slowly pushed back towards the house, as much as he didn’t want that. After successfully pulling off another counterattack he quickly grabbed the Disc that on his Driver and swiftly removed it turning this motion into another block. Slamming the Disc into the chest of number Eighteen, sending him sailing back a few meters, right into another tree, all while the Disc started to glow a bright orange.
\ Earth Disc Attack Mode! /
\ Boulder Shield! /
While the weapon materialized in his hands, he quickly stomped his foot on the ground one time, letting one of his seals appear on the ground. Meanwhile, Seventeen had recovered from the shock of seeing his partner being flung across the forest and was about to attack Alchemy again as he merely flicked with his fingers. Faster as it could react the earth covered by the seal rocked upwards letting it slam its fist right through the rock all while Alchemy used the sudden accent to jump off the pillar and let his shield soar at him with immense strength. The following blow was so intense that it knocked the monster off his feet and slammed him at the ground, even causing a decently sized shape being formed where the Corrupted had landed.
Catching the shield again after it had bounced back towards him he was about to rush towards the incapacitated Corrupted as he heard something from behind his head, something akin to rocks crumbling. And just as he turned around, a boulder was heading straight at him, giving him nearly no time to react. Only by using the motion of the returning shield was he able to put it between himself and the incoming projectile. The force of the impact was so immense that he was flung across the forest quite a bit, crushing through at least seven trees, each consecutive one feeling worse than the last. After his little involuntarily flight had ended rather uncomfortably with crashing into a giant boulder, he merely lay there, groaning in agony. His back ached horribly, no wonder after smashing through so many obstacles, but his shield arm was in no better shape, stinging everytime he even attempted to move it, even a little bit.
So there he was, laying there around a hundred meters away from his opponents and not even able to stand, something that seemed oddly familiar. His eyes were fixated on the two Corrupted that were slowly making their way towards him. Fishface, judging from his stance quite aggravated by the previous attack from him held his claws in a vicious position while Eighteen was just plainly walking towards him, almost like he was bored. As he saw the two walking towards him, a certain feeling started to slowly creep up again, something he had tried to buried as deep in his mind as possible, pure fear.
His breath started to grow rigged, uneven and louder with every passing second, he had to lay there. He couldn’t move or break his stare on the two monsters that were heading his way. Not close his eyes, not crawl away, nothing, he was paralyzed. Memories from the night he had been demolished by Alkahest flashed before his eyes, more and more the longer he laid there, unable to move. Phoenix was about to scream as something zoomed across the forest, hitting both Corrupted in the back and letting them stager a few foot forwards.
“Didn’t I tell you to leave? Why are you back again?” He asked them, sounding extremely irritated. A few meters away from them stood Monster, or at least it looked like him in different armor. His armor had taken on a crimson red with a black undersuit. His shoulder pads now resembled the heads of something akin to a large lizard with golden gems for eyes. The fur that had disappeared when he had dawned his Sphinx Armor had returned to his neck, gloves, and shoes. His helmet now resembled the head of a dragon, complete with emerald green eyes that stared directly at the two Corrupted who were currently scrambling to get back into a proper stance. In his hand, he held a crimson ax that looked like the claw of a dragon, while in the other holding a dragon head shield.
“You! You little insect! Give us that thing around your waist, and we might let you live,” Eighteen tried to reason with Monster, but he just ready his weapon and charged towards the two again.
“As if I would give a family heirloom to such lowlifes as you,” He almost growled back at them as he slashed across their chest while using his newly formed wings.
While Monster was keeping the two Corrupted occupied Alchemy was still laying on the ground, unable to even stand up, as much as he tried. That was when someone else rushed to his side, Charge. “Well, we can’t leave you alone for ten minutes without you getting yourself in mortal danger. Seriously, sometimes I think the best thing to do to you would be to put a leash on you,” she said with a slight chuckle, trying to hide her more worried undertones.
While she spoke, she carefully pushed him onto his back and removed his Disc from the Driver while also grabbing for another one from the belt. “You and me both know that putting a leash on me would never work,” he jokingly replied, even adding a slight chuckle only to stop right in the middle of it to hold his side.
“Probably. Now be quiet, I don’t need you flailing around during this!” With that, she put the Disc into the Driver and spun it. A quick dash out of the way later the transformation started to take place.
\WIND DISC ACTIVATED! /
The emerald whirlwind consumed the Rider and after a few agonizing seconds of waiting rereleased him, gently dropping him on his own two feet, where he staggered a bit only to find his footing shortly after that. “And? Feeling better?” Charge asked him, her voice still not the strong and confident tone she usually had.
“Yeah. I’m fine. And by the way, thanks. You saved my life again. I think I have to start making a list for that,” he jokingly replied, his voice still somewhat weak.
That was all Charge needed to let out a small little laugh, bumping Alchemy’s shoulder a little with her fist who in return just staggered back one step. “Well, if you are fine then let’s help our new ally. It would be rude for the seniors to just sitting on their asses all day while the new guy takes care of the problem,” with that she activated her boosters and rocketed towards the two Corrupted, only to just pass them, confusing Alchemy quite a bit. Well, only for a bit as she quickly changed directions and smashed right into Fishface, lifting him off the ground and rushing with straight towards the Rider.
Without even a second thought he quickly drew the bow and released one of the magical arrows at his opponent who still had no idea what was actually happening right now. Just as the bolt was about to connect Charge let go of the Corrupted and quickly ascended through the use of her boosters. With no one to hit besides Seventeen, the arrow landed dead center at his back, consuming the monster in an explosion.
Before the dust could even settle Charge was already executing her next move. Changing the direction her boosters were taking her she descended again, directly towards the dust cloud. With immense force, she dived into the cloud with her feet and moments later emerged from the other side with Seventeen under her feet. The following crash echoed throughout the entire forest and let even Eighteen and Monster glance over to them, but right now both were to focus on their own battle to really care. The spot where Seventeen had made contact with the ground was now a small crater with the Corrupted right in the middle of it, groaning in agony.
As both readied themselves to finish this fight as to their surprise, Fishface jumped up and unleashed one of his energy waves directly at them with Charge rushing towards Alchemy and slamming him to the ground, letting the attack safely pass over them and only cut down some trees and boulders behind them. “You think you can put me out of commission with something as pathetic as this? Oh, please, what are expecting from us? That we go down as easily as your other monsters? Tough luck, we are professionals, we don’t go down like amateurs!” The entire time he was speaking he was breathing quite heavily and carefully eying the two Riders, at least it seemed that way.
“Actually, yes. And we would really appreciate it if you would just give up already. I have already wasted enough time in this stupid forest,” without waiting for an answer he spun the Disc on his weapon again and pointed it towards the sky. “Arrow Storm!” And just like all the times before a barrage of arrows rained down upon the Corrupted all while Charge unloaded her entire magazine on Seventeen. That all ended with a colossal explosion that after it had faded away revealed the Corrupted still standing, however showing quite clearly that he was nearly done for with his shaking legs.
“Fishface, you used the powers that were bestowed upon you to attack other people and planned to steal something priceless from them. By the magic that was bestowed upon me, I deem you unworthy of your powers and will now take them from you!”
And like that Alchemy and Charge spun their respective parts of their Driver preparing to finally finish this.
\ Wind Disc Maximum Power! /
\ Maximum Charge! /
While Alchemy jumped up into the air Charge rocketed towards the Corrupted and clocked him right into the face sending him straight upwards. She evidently following him by changing her trajectory and aiming to force him with her foot to ever greater heights. It didn’t take long for Alchemy to rush downwards as well, both Rider charging directly towards each other, to the utter horror of Seventeen. It didn’t take long for the two to ultimately collide with each other and of course the Corrupted right in the middle of their attacks. They soon were consumed by another explosion and descended towards the ground with a scruffy blue man with black hair in their arms and a blue claw necklace.
“You- You will never win against us. There is no way you-“ The man tried to speak but was quickly interrupted by Alchemy.
“Sorry, but there is only one way for us, and that is the path towards a bright future. And I assure you we will not strive from this path.” With a heavy groan, the man fell into unconsciousness, Alchemy carefully letting him rest on the ground. “So, anything interesting about the artifact?”
But Charge simply ignored him and continued to stare at the thing. Then something unexpected happened, one of the rocks of the Corrupted was shot directly at the artifact, shattering it in the process. Where the thing had been mere moments ago an orb of dark blue energy now had emerged, seemingly scattering into smaller parts. Alchemy didn’t even think for a second and pulled his last unfinished Magic Disc from his belt and pointed it towards the rapidly scattering orbs, sucking them in. Just as he had sucked in the last one, the disc began to glow and change for, now taking on a dark blue color and looked like it had the form of waves chasing around a planet. “Sorry.”
“Dammit! I knew this thing, or at least I think I did. This damn Corrupted did this on purpose. I’ll have a good talk with him when we are done with it,” she growled, completely ignoring Alchemy. While they spoke the rock that had destroyed the priceless artifact returned to his owner, completely missing the two other Riders and Monster.
Monster was currently trading blows with number Eighteen, both not being able to really make any significant dent into the other. Still, Monster was now slowly pushing Eighteen back away from the house more and more. One particular strong slash from his ax was the one opportunity he needed, letting the Corrupted stager back a few steps and giving him enough time to formulate a counterattack.
The blade of his ax started to glow a fiery red, and he dashed towards it with his wings, slashing across his chest leaving a glowing line behind on it. Without wasting any time, he quickly changed his direction and swiftly repeated the attack just on its back. This continued for a good amount of time leaving Eighteen quite bruised and beaten behind, holding its side in anguish.
“You are going to regret attempting to steal from my family!” And with a quick motion, he opened the Driver again and switched the Medals out, quickly closing it afterward.
\ AWAKEN: MANTICORE! /
The ethereal manticore emerged from the Driver, dawning him in his Manticore Armor again. And without leaving the Corrupted any time to actually regain any sense of strength he quickly opened and closed the two parts of the Driver again, letting the Monster Medal inside glow a bright green.
\ ROAR: MANTICORE! /
And like before an ethereal manticore emerged from the device, but this time it headed for his foot. After a quick glow, the manticore had wrapped itself around his foot with the teeth right at the end. Jumping up high he angled his foot just right and dashed towards the Corrupted, the mouth of the manticore opening and biting down on Seventeen as he slammed his foot into it, letting the Corrupted be consumed by an explosion.
After everything had settled down, and Alchemy and Charge had come over to him he picked up a small rock on a chain next to an orange man with dark brown hair and threw it to Charge who caught it without any effort on her part. “Here! Take it and leave!”
“Thanks, we appreciate your help. And I assure you we will leave as soon as possible. But there are two things we still need to take care of first. Phoenix, if you would be so friendly?”
He in return just sighed and continued: “Thanks for the help and I’m sorry that I insulted you for upholding your family legacy. It might not make sense for me, but that doesn’t mean I should judge you on that. I’m sorry.”
While the apology didn’t completely sound genuine Pinecone just shrugged and replied coldly: “Thanks. Now, what was the second thing?”
Ocean sighed but continued: “Just an offer. If you ever need help, just call me,” while she spoke she deactivated her transformation and gave him a small calling card that he just held in his hands. “Oh, and we would love your help when it comes to incidents in the city. I know it is not your responsibility, but we would appreciate the help. And you never know when a Corrupted might get a problem for you here. So, that was all. Goodbye.” With that, she basically dragged Phoenix with her who had picked up the two encounters criminals, and now both were walking towards civilization.
In the meantime, Emerald had left the house again and had sneaked up on her brother who had returned their goodbye. “You are growing soft;” she playfully said letting her brother shift his head towards her.
“I’m not. They might just be of use to us,” he grumpily replied.
Emerald just chuckled and added: “I think I like it.”