The walk home had been a long and exhausting one; the sun was already disappearing behind the mountains, something she could sadly not see as she stepped through the forest bathed in twilight. She knew the path well; she had walked it time and time again since she was a child. She knew every rock, every tree and every oddity that could be found on the way like the back of her hand, the same way, the same stones, and the same trees, like always.
This day full of excitement and action had suddenly turned into the same old walk back home like she had experienced a thousand times until now, as dull and predictable as ever. A heavy sigh escaped her lips as she continued through the ever darker growing forest, like always. The day these two had come she thought her life would finally change, become something more and it had, for about twenty minutes. Twenty minutes full of tension, action, and genuine excitement, even if she was in danger, it didn’t matter at that moment, she never had felt more alive in her entire life than in this moment, running away from this monster.
But then, it ended. The Riders were victorious, and the threat was gone. Sure, she was happy that these two couldn’t harm anyone more and watching the fight from a nearby alleyway was awesome, but it was all over way to fast. And then it set in, the realization that her chances of seeing this again were minuscule, if not next to impossible. She had to go back to her normal life with her brother, caring for the shrine and wasting her time.
She had almost reached her home, silently it stood between the trees, the bike of her brother standing right in front of it, leaning against the wall. He apparently was already back, no wonder actually, with the bike and all, and that meant she probably was about to get another one of his famous lectures about just leaving and going home on her own and all that. She was tired of it, really.
She slowly unlocked the door and opened it as quiet as possible, tiring to not tip of her brother that she had returned, worthless as it ultimately was. “Hello, Emerald. Finally deciding to come back?” His cold voice echoed through the living room, letting her freeze dead in her tracks right there.
“Hey Pinecone. So your already back? What a surprise,” she sheepishly replied, not knowing if not moving or sprinting would be her best course of action.
“Yeah, what a surprise. Where were you? I was looking for you for over an hour and couldn’t find you. You just left,” he continued, his voice still as cold as before.
“Well, you know, that fight was so terrifying, and I didn’t want to get hurt so I-“ Before she could even finish her half-baked excuse, complete with stuttery as she was trying to think of anything that would get her out of this situation, she was interrupted by Pinecone again.
“Oh, of course, and you think walking away and right into the city would be safer than near the MRG van you knew was parking right around the corner? I see. You really think I would fall for your lies? You should know that you shouldn’t lie to your older brother,” he continued, standing up from the chair he had been sitting on for the entirety of the conversation and now was walking up to her, continuously shaking his head in disappointment.
“What were you thinking, just leaving after a monster attack? I didn’t know if you were hurt or worse. But no, you never even considered that, did you? You never do. Not about the consequences, not about your duties, about nothing at all,” Pine sighed, staring at his little sister with an expression of complete disappointment.
At this moment Emeralds uncertainty and helplessness had faded away in an instant, no replaced with anger and unbridled fury. She clenched her fist, took a step towards her brother and with all the strength she could muster smacked him right into his jaw, letting him tremble slightly. “You are the worst! Sure, I maybe should have told you I was ok, fine, but you are worse, so much worse! It’s always responsibility here, legacy here. Shut up, shut up, shut up! I had enough of it. You can shove your responsibility up your ass for all I care. You don’t care about anything else. You have the chance to do something fantastical with the powers you have, but no, of course not! It would go against our legacy!” She shouted back at him, her voice trembling through the entire house, as loud as she could get.
Pinecone just remained silent, holding his wound as he looked at her with his determined look, not seeming to back off for even a second.
“Talk with me! Come on, say something, anything! Don’t just stand there! Or are you finally realizing how stupid this damned legacy really is?”
“There is nothing stupid about this legacy. It is my duty to protect it, not misuse this power for something else,” he drily encountered, matching her stare.
“Misusing? Are you shitting me? You are not using it enough! You are just turning your eyes away from the world and shut yourself in here when you could do so much more than just sitting around her, waiting for an attack that will never come,” she continued, grabbing him by his color and staring him right into his eyes, Pinecone didn’t even flinch.
“And what would that be?” Pinecone said dismissively.
“Oh, I don’t know, help people. The city has been under attack for over a month now and you never even thought about helping out! No, everything is about this dumb legacy. Don’t you get it? You have the chance to make a difference, something countless people wish for and you are not using it. How can you be so selfish? You- you are awful. How can you live with yourself anyway? All the people that got hurt because you didn’t do anything? What is with them?” While she spoke, she stomped down with her foot one time, right next to his foot. Still, he kept his expression, not faltering for a second.
“I’m not a hero. Never have been, never will be. There are others out there that deal with this kind of stuff, and it is not me. Alchemy and Charge are the ones responsible, not me. I have my responsibilities, they have theirs. That is all,” he continued, no doubt in his voice, entirely convinced by his reasoning.
“And ever thought about making it your responsibility? Uh, you are the worst!” Without waiting for an answer, she stormed off towards the stairs and right up, Pinecone sighing behind her and shaking his head. After slamming the door to her room shut behind her, she let herself fall down on her bed, the exhaustion of the day finally setting in. “Stupid Pinecone and his stupid responsibility crap. How I hate it. He has the chance to do something more with his life, be worshiped by the people as a hero, and he just says no. How can you be so stupid?” What followed was a long groan from the deep of her heart, silenced by her pillow.
There she lay, face down on her bed, all the anger and frustration she had felt quickly melting away, giving space for sadness and heavy feeling of hollowness. It didn’t take long till her silent sobs filled the room. “Stupid, stupid Pinecone!”
Outside her brother was about to knock on the door as he heard the sobbing of his sister, even if it was muted thanks to her pillow. He remained there, staring for a good minute at the door, his expression having changed since their conversation, now having taken on softer and more somber tones. Lowering his hand again he silently walked away from the door, returning to his own room.
>-------<A>-------<
The night went by like nothing, peaceful and quiet. One of the bests Phoenix had in a while, probably thanks to the fact that he had finally completed his selection of Magic Discs and actually used them all. He felt like nothing could bring him down, that was until Ocean knocked on their door and asked for him. He had expected her, but nearly forgotten about it, until now. Everything he had pushed of came flooding back in an instant, and his chipper mode was quickly replaced with annoyance and displeasure.
“You know, I sometimes hate you,” he sighed as they were driving through the city, the early morning sun eliminating the streets as they slogged through the morning commute.
“Could you please not play the drama queen right now? You knew this was coming eventually, so pleases, for the love of everything that is holy, don’t make another scene. Please!” While she spoke the wrinkles on her forehead only grew in intensity as well as her grip tightening around the steering wheel.
“Yeah, yeah, I’ll play nice. At least as long as she is around. Hopefully, she will be in a better mode today, still, would rather have it that way that I wouldn’t have to meet her again,” he sighed, during which he started to stretch himself a bit.
“Good, and if you actually do it, I’ll have a little surprise for you. But, you have to behave, understood?” She playfully replied, giving him a delightful smile, one he was not so sure meant good things for him or bad.
“Ah, ok. Present, ok. It is not one of that prank presents, now is it, just to be sure?” he carefully replied, trying to look as relaxed as always.
“Oh, don’t worry. You’ll like it. No strings attached, I promise. Well, besides that behaving thing,” she chuckled back at him, which eased his worries, a bit at least.
“Ok, fine, if you say so. Let’s hope this is good,” he jokingly replied as they drove into the parking deck of the MRG building.
“Oh, trust me, you’ll love it,” she playfully replied, a devious smile on her lips. With a silent squee the car came to a standstill, bot Riders exciting and continued their way towards an elevator that would send them up higher in the building.
“Oh, hey! Wait for me!” Came from behind them as the elevator door opened, both of them looking back and seeing that behemoth of a man in a suit running towards them. It didn’t take long for him to catch up to them, both recognizing him immediately.
“Onyx, right?” Phoenix asked, trying his hardest to remember his name.
“Right kid, you are not as dumb as you look.” Phoenix looked at him in shock, unable to say anything thanks to this out of nowhere comment. What followed was his laughter, echoing through the parking lot. “Just joking.” He looked at him somewhat perplexed and added: “You really shouldn’t take everything I say too serious kid.” Phoenix nodded in return, still his expression filled with a bit of confusion. “Oh, right, hello you two. It’s a nice morning isn’t it?”
“Yeah, would be even better if I wouldn’t have to meat Monochrome,” Phoenix muttered under his breath.
“Good morning Mr. Gleam, I-“
She was again interrupted by Onyx who merely sighed and said: “Didn’t I tell you to call me Onyx? Come on, I know that you haven’t forgotten. It’s, not that hard.”
“Excuse me, Onyx.” All three entered the elevator, Onyx pushing the button for the twentieth floor. After the door closed again, Ocean was awarded balancing from one foot to another only to weakly say after a while: “I’m sorry for my outburst the other day. I’m truly ashamed of my actions and I didn’t act like an agent of the MRG should act. I’m so sorry.” While she spoke, she bowed her head in shame, unable to look into Onyx eyes.
“Oh, don’t sweat it. I get it; you don’t want to even entertain the thought that there might be someone that might betray the MRG. I understand, but you can’t shut out the truth forever, now can you?” Onyx softly replied, his expression equally soft.
“Yeah, I know. Sorry again, I’m willing to work with you, if that is still what you want that is,” she continued, her eyes still staring towards the floor.
“Of course I would love to work together with you kid. You are a great agent, and I’m sure we can finish this in record time if you help me out,” he happily replied.
“There are records for finding a thief in the MRG?” Phoenix asked, sounding quite confused.
What followed was a hard slap on his back from Onyx with his hand and his usual laughter. “Kid, I like you! You have a good sense of humor,” Ocean looked at Onyx, seeming not entirely convinced. Phoenix just nodded slowly, not entirely sure what was happening around him right now.
“Thank you Onyx. I’ll give it my all,” she said, her voice having regained her usual tone of confidence.
“That’s more like it!” As he spoke, the door opened again with a ding. “Yeah, I have to go now. You two take care and if anything happens, tell me, not just the bad,” he winked at them, both of them turning crimson as they realized what he meant; only saved by the closing door.
The rest of their stay in the elevator was spent in utter silence, both of them staring towards a corner, trying to avoid looking at each other at all cost. The entire experience was incredibly awkward, every second that passed felt like an eternity, only getting worse with every additional second. With a loud ping that managed to knock them both out of their embarrassed state, what helped was the voice that asked them: “What's with you two?” Shining Armor said, somewhat confused by what he saw in the elevator.
Both of them suddenly snapped their looks towards him, neither of them looked, pleased. If the officer had looked a little bit more, he would have noticed that both of them were blushing furiously. He quickly added: “Uhm… I mean, good to see you, sir. Director Monochrom is waiting for the both of you in her office. Mr. Diamond is already there, I wouldn’t let her wait any longer.” Sweet had suddenly started to drop down his forehead.
“Of course Officer Armor. Thank you very much, you are dismissed,”Ocean quickly responded, trying as hard as she could to hide her blush.
“Right! And good luck you two,” and just like that he rushed away, in quite a hurry one might add.
“You sure know how to control your underlings,” Phoenix chuckled, while Ocean was slowly breathing out, having regained her usual composition again, inner and outer.
“It’s my job to do precisely that, so don’t act so surprised. Now come, we don’t want to start off with coming too late. You know, scratch that, we should be there five minutes earlier at least!” Before she even had finished her sentence, she grabbed his arm and yanked him behind her, Phoenix stumbling after her, trying not to land face first on the floor.
After a short, while he managed to get lose from her grip, quite hard surprisingly. “Yeah, I get it, gotta move, good. You don’t need to lead me around like a dog on a leash, thank you very much!” He sighed as he tried to keep up with her considerably quick pace.
“Sorry, I’m just a bit nervous that is all. So please, just leave the talking as best as possible to me. I’ll make sure we get out of this unscathed. Be quiet and polite, I think you can manage that,” she said, trying to sound as confident as always. Still, her voice betrayed her thanks to a bit of uncertainty that had managed to seep through.
“Eh, yeah, got it. I’m sure this is going to be just fine,” he casually added.
“Thanks.” As he spoke, they finally reached the door to Monochromes officer, Ocean taking a last deep breath before saying: “So, ready?”
“As ready as I will get,” he replied, the nervousness slowly rising up in him.
Without wasting any more time Ocean knocked on the door, which was quickly followed up by a loud: “Come in!”
“Ah, Agent Skies and Phoenix Feather, good to see you and on time, that is good,” Monochrome continued in her usual monotone voice. Her office was spotless, not even a speck of dust, no paper laying around somewhere where it didn’t belong or anything else what would look out of place in the office. As they entered, they could see Ivory already standing next to the door, nodding towards them as they came in.
“Of course director, we would never even think about coming too late,” ocean quickly replied, trying to remain her usual confident expression, but cracks were already starting to form.
“Good, good, as expected from any of my agents, at least it should be,” while she spoke she quickly glanced over to Phoenix, who did not change his expression even if he desperately wanted to. “So, mister Feather, you know why you are here?”
“Uhm, well, to see how I’m holding up?” He weakly replied, hoping his answer was at least partially capable.
“Well, in a sense, that is accurate. I’m judging your capability of acting as a vigilante with government authority and how you have improved since our last talk,” she continued, staring him dead in the eyes, something that quickly became uncomfortable for him, the first drops of sweat appearing on his forehead. Still, he didn’t forget to nod. “Good, then agent Skies, I would now like to hear your report on how mister Feather here has improved since our last meeting.”
“R- Right,” she shuddered a bit. “Phoenix has shown significant signs of bettering himself; first and foremost his training sections with me have already proved to be quite useful in a fight. He has also showed increased interested in the more theoretical and investigative portion of my work, with positive results I might add. I have to say that Phoenix has shown him willing to learn and improve, so my judgment on the situation is that he should continue to act as Kamen Rider Alchemy.” During her entire report, Ocean remained firm and confident.
“Ah, I see. Agent Diamond, what your opinion on this situation, if I may ask?”
Ivory cleared his thought before speaking, Phoenix and ocean looking expectantly towards him. “Well, everything agent Skies said is true. I don’t often interact with him, but in the last time, he has shown himself interested and willing to listen. So ultimately I have to say that he should remain as the current user of the Alchemy Driver, training a new recruit would just be a waste of time if the current one is adequate enough,” he finished, not shifting from his calculating tone for even a moment. Phoenix was about to say something, only to be stopped by a quick look from Ocean.
“Mhm, I see. I also received a recommendation from Mr. Gleam, which said, and I quote: ‘The kid is perfect for the job!” The two agents and Phoenix looked at each other quite confused, only to be interrupted as Monochrome continued. “In light of all this, I will let Mr. Feather keep the Alchemy Driver for a while longer.”
“Yes,” Phoenix hissed under his breath, but apparently loud enough for Monochrome to notice. “Uhm, excuse me,” he quickly added.
“As I was saying, we will keep you as the current Alchemy; however, if there is any sign that you don’t take your position seriously, I will personally make sure that you will lose the Driver. Did I make myself clear?” She coldly continued.
“Crystal,” both Phoenix and Ocean replied in unison.
“Good. You’re dismissed!” With that, she returned her attention to her computer monitor and started to tip away, completely ignoring them. It didn’t take long till the three left the room and closed the door behind them. Monochrome let out a frustrated sigh.
Meanwhile, Ocean, Phoenix, and ivory were walking through the building, Ivory as composed as ever, Ocean was visibly drained, and Phoenix was still filled with euphoria. “Yes, yes, yes, I can keep my Driver.” As the two others looked over to him, he quickly added: “Wouldn’t have given it away anyway, still, being told that you are actually good at your job is something that is good, right?”
“Yeah, right,” Ocean replied, a small smile creeping onto her lips. “I’m just glad that this went so well, I’ll have to thank Onyx for this at one point.”
“Aren’t you forgetting something?” Phoenix expectingly asked her, resulting in a rather confused Ocean. “Hey, you promised it, not me.”
“Ah, now I get it. Yeah, yeah, you behaved, so I think you can have your gift.” She quickly looked over to Ivory and asked: “Is it ready?”
“Yes, it is ready, but are you sure you want to give something like this away? I’m sure we can find a better use for it than he ever could,” he jokingly replied.
“Ivory,” Ocean sighed in return.
“I’m just joking. I didn’t do all this work to not give it to him in the end, would be a wast honestly,” he mumbled back at her.
“Ahm, interested in telling me what exactly it is you want to give me? I’m kinda curious, you know,” he playfully returned.
“Oh, I think you can stay in the dark a little longer, so, nope, you’ll have to wait just a teeny tiny bit more.” While she spoke, she had this joking expression on her face, kinda cute if Phoenix was honest.
After a quick elevator ride, filled with Phoenix pestering them about what it was, both of them not relating in any way they finally in the underground parking lot again.
“So, is I not here, or why are we back again?” He asked the two again, both of them sighing frustration as they walked through the rows of parked cars.
“Wait and see, what is so hard to understand about that?” Ocean groaned in annoyance. “Don’t worry, you’ll see it right about-“ they reached a from their position seemingly empty parking space. “Now!”
What stood before him was a beauty of a bike colored n crimson red with golden lines covering it. The bike seemed to be designed so it could also drive in more uncharted territory, something his current motorcycle lacked. What caught his eyes eventually was a symbol that resembled the one he wore when he was in his Flame Mode on either side of the bike.
“Wow, ok, I’m stunned. You made this?” Phoenix was nearly at a loss for words, not able to look away from the beauty that was standing before him.
“Oh, of course, I did. I designed Oceans bike as well, it’s unique in that regard. Was just as fun,” Ivory cockily replied, looking at his creation with an extraordinary amount of pride.
“Yeah, I asked him to build this since driving you around all the time was getting a bit tiring, no offense.”
“How could I take offense when you give me something like this?” He replied, still mesmerized by the bike.
“Yeah, ain’t it beautiful? My best one yet, the ‘A2018R’, I can tell you that. It has a maximum speed of over six hundred km/h, has over five hundred hp, can reach a speed of one hundred km/h in less than three seconds and-“ Ivory stopped, looking at Phoenix who was inspecting every inch of his new bike. “And you are not even listening to me, are you?”
“Huh, did you say something Ivory?” He quickly replied, still not averting his gaze from the thing.
“Of course,” he muttered as silent as possible. “Just that this is a damn fine bike,” he sighed with a bit of frustration.
“Oh, for sure it is!”
“By the way, there is one thing I haven’t shown you,” Ocean stepped closer to the bike and pointed to something on the fuel tank. She unclipped a communicator from what previously had seemed like radio. “This is a way for you to listen to police radio and MRG transmissions, well as long as you put in the code that is: 120418, so you can actually go on patrol alone. And this,” she pulled a new helmet, as well crimson with golden lines. “Has a build in communicator. Just push this button, and you can talk to me without any problems. And, what do you say? Like it?”
“Like it? Like it? Are you shitting me? This is amazing. Come here you!” Without a second warning, he grabbed Ocean and gave her one of the tightest hugs in her life, the pore girl so surprised and embraced that she could do nothing besides stutter weakly. He was only snapped out of it by Ivory’s increasingly louder snickering; suddenly realizing what he was doing and releasing Ocean. “Uhm, sorry,” he sheepishly added. Ocean just nodded in return.
“So, wanna take it for a test drive?” Ivory asked him, sounding himself quite giddy about the possibility.
But before he could reply Ocean's phone ringed. “Yeah. Yeah. What?! Ok, got it, be right there.” The two others looked somewhat perplex at her. “We have another case of high magical energy in the woods near Pines house, but this time it’s even bigger the biggest reading we had since you appeared.”
“That is bad, right?” Phoenix asked, his voice sounding somewhat worried.
“Yeah, pretty much. Look on the bright side, you can test your new bike right away,” Ivory jokingly added, receiving a slight chuckle from Phoenix. Meanwhile, Ocean was running over to her own bike and quickly turning it on.
“True that. Huh, apparently there is nothing like a quiet day in the city,” he muttered to himself as he put on the new helmet and let the engines spring to life. “Let’s take you for a ride my beauty!” With a loud roar from the engine, he raced out of the underground parking lot and straight for his goal, felling the wind as it passed by, Ocean right behind him.
>-------<A>-------<
Meanwhile in the wood Emerald was still lying in her bed, not being able to muster up the strength to get out of bed. Pinecone had already asked her to get some breakfast, but she had ultimately declined, not feeling particularly hungry right now. After that the hours were merely passing by, nothing noteworthy happening until a loud explosion outside let her jump up and roll out of her bed and landing directly on the floor. “Oww!”
After rubbing her body where she had fallen off the bed, she quickly moved towards her window, carefully taking a look outside, what she saw did not help her to calm down. Outside were standing three Corrupted and her brother in Rider form, he apparently trying to dodge their attacks.
The first of the Corrupted looked like he was made out of wood and plants. His body was sleek and nimble and covered in what looked like brown wood armor. The only parts of his body that were not covered in the strange armor were covered in green vines instead, which included his arms and legs. His face resembled that of a flower, just that in the middle, instead of what would usually be in the center of a flower, an overgrown human skull could be seen, an ominous green light coming from within it.
Monster was currently flying directly at the Corrupted in his Dragon Form, his ax ready. The first hit did end the Corrupted staggering back, some of his armor seemingly burned by the heat of Monster’s weapon. The rider was about to continue his attack as the Corrupted pushed through his pain and unleashed a swarm of vines on him that enveloped the Rider and slammed him against the next best tree. Monster cried out in pain as he felt the vines slowly crushing his body in their embrace. Still, he wasn’t beaten just yet. His weapon burst into flames, burning the vines, even traveling along them till they reached the Corrupted, who cried out in pain. As he was about to attack the monster again, he was suddenly struck by something in his back.
As he turned around another one of the Corrupted slammed something that looked like a drill into his stomach, sparks flying as he was thrown back by the attack. What stood before him was a monster made out of black and grey stone. His body was covered in rough rocks, scattered throughout were green glowing crystals. His hands were too large drills that looked just as painful as they were and his head looked like it was carved into the stone by an amateur. Still, the glowing green eyes that stared directly at him were unsettling.
As the monster was about to charge at him again, he quickly swapped his medals and activated his Driver again.
\ AWAKEN: SPHYNX! /
The ethereal sphinx emerged from the Driver, knocking the attacking Corrupted back a few meters and changed his suit into his Sphynx Armor again, complete with the claws. Before the Corrupted could stand up again, Monster was already slashing wildly at the beast, letting it stagger back with every attack, accompanied by its pained screams. With one especially powerful slash, he sends the Corrupted flying again, right into a group of trees that quickly collapsed on top of him.
As he was about to finish off his opponent, the Corrupted suddenly dug himself into the earth with immense speed, leaving the Rider behind and open for another attack. And right at this moment, his last opponent made his move, grabbing Monster and caring him into the air, only to quickly throw him into some trees. The last Corrupted also looked humanoid, just that his body was covered in white feathers. The beast also wore a sky blue and golden armor that covered his upper body and knees. His hands were equipped with razor-sharp black claws, and his head had the form of a falcon with a golden beak.
As Monster slowly crawled out from the debris, he had been buried under he quickly changed his medals again.
\ AWAKEN: MANTICORE! /
Now clad in his green armor, he quickly ascended into the air and rocketed towards the Corrupted, ignoring all the pain he still felt, even after changing medals. Both of them raced through the trees, evading every obstacle that stood in their way. After a while, Monster had finally caught up to the Corrupted, and with one swing from his whip, he managed to grab ahold of its leg. With one swing he threw the beast towards the ground, right into a rather large rock, splintering it in the process.
About to continue his assault something grabbed him in return, vines. eH was yanked back and pulled towards the ground, as he was about to crash into the ground as suddenly something emerged from the earth. Two drilled pierced his armor, letting him cry out in unimaginable pain that continued after he was send sailing again, landing a good thirty meters away from them on the ground. His entire body arched and sparks were flying off all over his armor. He tried desperately to stand up, but every time he tried the pain just increased like he was pierced by needles that were as hot as the sun.
“Well, well, should have given up right away. Say goodbye to this world,” the earth Corrupted mocked him, pointing his arms directly at Monster. Within seconds both of the drills detached from his body and rocketed toward the Rider who could only watch as his doom was quickly approaching.
That was when everyone heard a loud roaring like it was from an engine. Right behind Monster a red and gold bike jumped up and landed between him and the incoming projectiles. With a swift motion of his sword, the figure redirected the drills, letting them crash into the ground behind them in a massive explosion.
“Need a hand Monster?” Alchemy asked him, extending his hand towards him.
Monster just stared at him, only to ask: “Wh- Why?”
“Because that is what partners do, isn’t it?” He casually replied as a second bike drove up to them, sitting on it was Charge. With a little tug, Alchemy brought the Rider back to his feet. “So don’t worry, we’ll take care of this together,” he continued as both of them dismounted their bikes, ready for the fight ahead.