Twenty-five minutes ago.
Ocean was sprinting through the side alleys of the city, her shoes had been quickly stuffed into her purse, and she had gone on without them, time was of the essence. This might be the best chance they had to stop the flow of magical artifacts in Canterlot City, ruined pantyhose be damned. She had just received the call from Onyx about five minutes ago, telling her where to go and that he would join her really soon.
She was just a few hundred meters away from it, she had to hurry if she screwed this no date could smooth that over. And the city was not making it easy for her, people were seemingly trying their best to get in her way, much to Ocean’s annoyance. But she pushed through regardless, no matter the annoyed shouts and complaints behind her, she had only eyes for her target, and her target was just around the corner. When she finally reached an alleyway close to the supposed meeting place, she finally slowed down, her breathing heavy from the distance she had just run. She slowly continued her way, trying to be as quiet as possible.
A few meters further she could start to hear two voices, one smooth and silky, the other rougher and strangely familiar. As she sneaked closer to the origin of the sounds she could slowly start to make out what was being said. “Ten minutes late, and I thought your boss was so insistent on punctuality?” The smoother voice said.
“Sorry, won’t happen again. I was actually trying to be a bit more careful this time, someone seems to be on to us, or at least that was what the boss said. But don’t worry, no one followed me,” the rougher voice returned, now sounding even more familiar.
“And you tell me this now? Isn’t that a bit on the ‘need to know’ side of the information?” He sighed in return.
“I don’t decide what I can tell you, the boss didn’t think it was necessary until now,” the man returned defensively.
“Now it seems to be important.” With a loud sigh, he continued. “Nevermind, just tell me about this next time before we schedule this in a dark alleyway right next to a busy street.”
“The boss said this was the best place, not much here anyway. Way fewer chances getting spotted when you hide in the most obscure and obvious places,” he grunted in return.
“I know, still doesn’t mean I would have preferred a good restaurant. Cerberus knows how to treat his business partners.”
“Cut it, I don’t want anyone to hear us,” the rough voice hissed back. In the meantime, Ocean had managed to reach the next corner and carefully looked past it. The first thing she saw was a sleek looking man standing in the light of a lamp. He had whitish orange skin and blue hair and wore an expensive looking blue suit. He looked impatient, tapping with his foot on the ground while looking at his watch. Next to him, cast in shadow right outside the light of the lamp, stood a muscular man, at least a head bigger than she in what seemed to be a grey suit. He seemed somewhat familiar, but with his face being overshadowed she really couldn’t tell. In his right hand, he held a metallic briefcase.
“You know, it’s not getting any warmer here if would just give me the damn briefcase we could move this along, and I can finally return to more pleasant company,” the man in blue sighed again, looking at the other man with an exhausted expression.
“Fine, the less I have to be around you the better,” he huffed back, holding out the briefcase in front of him. This was bad, Onyx wouldn’t be here for a few more minutes, and they were already about to end this. As much as she hated it, she had to act. With a quick press of a button, her Driver appeared and after a quick search through her purse she pulled out one of her trusty Chargers. As she placed the device into the cylinder both of the man quickly turned around, searching for the source of the sudden noise.
\ SCANNING CHARGE! /
“Henshin!”
\ 50, 80, 100! THUNDER CHARGE! /
The bright light from chare’s transformation caught both their eyes, the man in the blue suit sighing in annoyance while the other man stepped back a few feet and was about to run away as two shots hit right in front of his feet. “Arms in the air, you are under arrest!” She screamed at the two, her Charge Magnum pointed exactly at them.
“Huh, why can’t I work with someone competent for once? You let her follow you? And I thought she would have picked someone at least smart enough for the job that wouldn’t let her do that,” he sighed again, completely ignoring Charge and her gun.
“Quiet! You only talk when I say you talk! Now hands in the air!”
“Oh, right, you are there. Well, it seems we won’t be making an escape here, so if you would be so kind and stop trying to run away so we can handle this?” He continued over his shoulder, the muscular man growling, but ultimately turned around, closed hands in the air.
“Now, open your hands, and you,” she pointed her gun at the man in the blue suit. “You put thous hands up in the air as well.”
Before he could even respond a bright light enveloped the muscular man, taking Charges' attention away from him and towards the now forming Corrupted. After the bright blue light had subsided, another monster stood before her. He was massive, at least two heads bigger than her and had the face of a very, very angry shark. He wore armor made out of dark blue corals over his light blue skin and wielded a trident made out of seashells.
“Charge! Coming here was a mistake!” He bellowed towards her before storming towards her. Before the Corrupted could however even cross the halfway point, she had already unloaded the other four shots from her Charge Magnum, letting the Corrupted stumble back in pain with a loud roar.
“You have to do everything on your own, not even a good distraction, can you believe that?” He muttered and pulled something from under his suit, a rather large necklace, made out of black and grey steal in the form of a horse with wings and horn. A beautiful red gem right in the middle of it. Seconds, after he had pulled the amulet out from under his suit dark red energy, started to surge around him, letting both combatants quickly glance over to him.
The light quickly faded again revealing what could only be described as a warrior in ebony armor, red gems decorating it and letting off a sinister glow. His head was completely covered in a helmet that somewhat resembled a horse, just more skeletal and with glowing red eyes, a sharp metallic horn extending from his forehead. On his back two massive wings could be seen, every ‘feather’ was razor sharp and seemed as deadly as a sword. He tilted his head a bit as he eyed the Rider, Charge staring at what stood in front of her in absolute horror.
Nonetheless, she couldn’t be afraid now. Rushing past her first opponent, not without giving him a swift kick to the stomach, and straight towards this new monstrosity. Circling him she was prepared to tear into his backside, but before her kick could even connect she stopped dead in her tracks. It took her a few moments to realize what had just happened, he had caught her foot. Not even her super speed had stopped him, not even made it harder, he had just grabbed her and now hold her in his hand.
“That is all? I’m kinda disappointed, really, Kamen Rider. And you are supposed to be a protector, with so little power? Who could you really protect?” He chuckled before shoving her back, Charge coming to a stop at least fifteen meters away from him and even then, just barely.
With a single motion of his hand, a massive wind rushed towards her, Charge braving against it as best as she could, but it didn’t really take long till it simply overpowered her, sending her sailing several meters away landing very unceremoniously easily on the ground and continuing to be pushed on it even further. “Really disappointing. I think I’ll take my leave,” he continued, walking over to the suitcase, picking it up. Before h ascended towards the skies however he looked one last time towards the Other Corrupted: “Take care of her. But don’t overdo it, you know who she is.” Not waiting for an answer he just shot right towards the dark night sky, disappearing within its blackness like he never even was there, to begin with.
Meanwhile, Charge was trying her hardest to stand up again, she had taken quite the beating and he hardly even lift a finger, what even was that thing? Before she could finish that thought, she already heard the loud roar of her other opponent running directly towards her. The claw of the beast slashed centimeters away from her through the air, Charge only able to dodge at the last moment.
No matter how hard it might seem right now, she couldn’t let this monster rampage through the city or get away really. With gritted teeth, she reloaded her weapon, right before jumping back away from the claws of the beats, but this time he didn’t stop, he marched forward clawing at her without ever slowing down, Charge barely able to evade the attacks, all while reloading and unloading her gun for at least three times. But no matter how many shots hit their target he wasn’t slowing down.
“You won’t stop me, you are just too week. I still don’t understand what she sees in you Rider,” he growled at her as she once again jumped over him and unloaded her entire magazine into his back. However, instead of landing behind him, something the Corrupted had already expected she had landed right on his shoulders and with a swift knee to his face, the Corrupted stumbled backward.
In his rage, the monster actually managed to hit himself, letting out a pained groan and stumbling backward. This was the moment she had been waiting for, within a split second she had rushed behind the beast and pulled out both of her Stun Batons and already started hitting the oversized shark in front of her.
While she was pretty much racing around the Monster, she continuously smacked him once or twice every second, the lumbering beast unable to even get close to her. As she continued the Corrupted finally started to slow down, his attacks grew more sluggish and shoddy, not up to standards for what he had managed to pull off just a minute ago.
With a loud whimper, he fell on his knee, staring blankly at Charge who was rushing towards him. One last time she dodged the claw of the monster before jumping towards his face and with a powerful swing of her baton hit him right on the head, dazing the creature enough to finally finishing this with another spin of her Driver.
\ Maximum Charge! /
Time again slowed to a crawl, or at least for her. Before even a second had passed, she had already grabbed to him by his shoulders and slammed her foot into his chest. Pulling back she repeated the process with the other foot. As the five seconds, slowly ticked down she repeatedly slammed her feet into the Corrupted, for everyone outside it would just look like a blur. As the time finally ran out, he finished off with one particularly strong kick and jumped back from the monster, it exploding before she had even landed.
Before her lay the man in his suit, unconscious and with a small seashell ring next to him, an artifact Ocean immediately recognized. It was part of a set of ten she had recovered not even three years ago. Now that she could finally see the man in the light of the streetlamps that feeling of familiarity came back to her, but why? Had she seen the man before? His face, it was his face she had seen before, right, but where could she… no, it couldn’t be. This was impossible. He couldn’t be. He was…
She stumbled back a few steps as she let this sink in. She knew where she had seen his light purple skin and dark purple hair before. She had seen him time and time again, but not like this. This man was Unbreakable Shield, one of Monochrome’s, no one of the bodyguards of her mother. She must have at least stared at the man for over a minute, trying to think of any excuse she could come up with, but she just couldn’t. She couldn’t deny it, it had to be true.
After turning off her transformation, she let her hand reach to her purse, the fingers trying to get a hold of her phone, but it just kept slipping out of their shaky grip. Ultimately she finally managed to retrieve it from her purse and dialed in a number, taking one last deep breath before speaking up: “Hey, Onyx.”
“Hey, Ocean, I’ll be there in seven minutes or so. Don’t start anything, got it?” Onyx returned, as silent as possible.
“Too late for that. Had to engage them or they would have been long gone when you would have been here,” she returned with a shaking voice but tried her best to remain calm and collected. “I captured one, but the other one escaped. “
“Damit, well at least we have one. So, did you find anything to identify our little criminal here?”
“Ye… Yes, well, I didn’t need to. It’s… It’s… It’s Unbreakable Shield…” she finally managed to say, her hand shaking even more than before.
“Fuck, so it’s exactly as I expected. All the clues lead to it… Ok, Ocean, I’ll be right there, and then we are going to…”
“No!” She merely said.
“No? What do you mean no? Don’t tell me you don’t want to believe it or… Ocean, please don’t tell me you are-“
She had interrupted him and continued. “No, I need answers now. I’m going to figure this out, no more waiting, no more excuses, I’m getting her to talk,” Ocean growled back, anger quickly sweeping over the normally calm portions of her brain.
“Ocean, when you go there now you might actually ruin everything. Keep a calm head and just wait for me. After that we will get answers, you just have to-“ With a determined press of a button, Onyx voice disappeared. Without even as much as a second thought, she dashed back to her apartment, well after taking a picture and handcuffing the traitor to the next best pipe. She knew Onyx was right, she knew it, or at least a part of her did, but right now that part was locked away in the furthest depths of her brain. Her anger was now in control and maybe a little bit the desperate wish to turn her around, as ridicules as it might seem.
>-------<A>-------<
Not even fifteen minutes later she had already grabbed her bike and was already at the MRG building. The drive had pretty much all blurred together, she was just too angry to care, or to even think straight. She had looked up to her entire life, and she made deals with criminals? How could she? Maybe there was a good reason a quiet voice in her head tried to say but was quickly shut down by far angrier one that let out every frustration she ever had towards her mother.
The guard at the underground parking lot immediately realized who she was and opened the gate, but unlike every other day, she did not great him back. He looked after her with a bit of confusion but ultimately just shrugged and went back to work.
Jumping off her bike, she walked towards the elevator, still with no shoes. Everyone that walked paster her quickly increased their distance to her, realizing just in how bad of a mood she truly was. The poor soul that had to stay with her in the elevator though. He didn’t look older than twenty, and he had bare the look of absolute furry on Oceans face. The moment the doors opened again he rushed out of there as fast as he could, Ocean didn’t even react.
It wasn’t too long to Monochromes office, and she was definitely grateful for that, she had questions, and she had them now. Before the office stood two other of her bodyguards, Braas Knuckle and Iron Fist, both of them extremely muscular and threatening, at least they would be for anyone but Ocean at this moment. “Ah, agent Skies, what can we do for you. I don’t remember you having an appointment with the director,” Braas returned, looking towards her with a friendly expression.
“No, I have not, but right now that doesn’t matter anyway, let me through!” She demanded, her eyes burning with anger and her voice had a threatening undertone to it that let both agents take one step back.
“I’m sorry, but if you don’t have an appointment, you can’t see here. I know she is your mother, but no expectations,” Iron returned trying to not anger her even more.
“This is more important than stupid bureaucracy, so if you may,” she returned, trying to take a step forward only to be blocked by two muscular men before her. “Ok, you know, I’m really not in the mood for this right now, so either you get out of my way, or-” She started to shout, but before she was interrupted by the door slamming open and hitting both of the bodyguards in the back.
“What is that for a raucous out her? And why aren’t you two doing anything against…” That was when she spotted Ocean, staring daggers at her. “Oh, agent Skies. What is the matter?” She asked not even faced a little bit by her daughter standing in front of her in a dress, without shoes and one of the angriest expressions the world had ever seen.
“We need to talk, now!” She growled back, shoving both of the men away and forcing herself into the office.
“Well, I usually prefer it when someone wants to talk with me to actually announce themselves, but if it is important I think I can make an exception just this once,” she sighed and followed her daughter into the office, leaving her bodyguards behind in the doorway, rather confused one might add. “You two, close the door, we want to have some privacy.”
“Oh, so grateful that you make room for your daughter mother, oh so grateful,” Ocean hissed, just loud enough that Monochrome could hear it.
“Agent Skies, that is no way of talking to a superior,” she returned, not even giving her one lousy look as she sat back down on her chair and turned to face her. “So, what was so important that you had to come unannounced?” She eyed her carefully, almost letting Ocean think she knew more than she had let on to believe.
“This,” was all she said before shoving her phone right under her nose. On it, one could see the picture of Unbreakable Shield right next to the ring.
Monochrome stared at it without any kind of reaction for a second and returned coldly: “So, and what is this? One of my bodyguards knocked out cold. Are you telling me to get better men?”
“Don’t try to sell me for stupid! You know exactly what this is!” Ocean hissed back at her, pointing with her finger on the ring.
“And what should it be?”
“An artifact that I recovered not even three years ago. How could he have gotten his hands on it? He is your subordinate after all mother!” She almost shouted back as she slammed her fist on the deck.
“How should I know, I don’t have an eye on my bodyguards twenty-four-seven, he might have grabbed it at some point, but I assure you I will look into it,” she calmly returned, putting on a cold smile as well.
Meanwhile, Ocean had put back her phone into her purse. “Oh, yeah, sure, and he just happened to have a briefcase with goodness knows how many other artifacts with him. Artifacts that have been distributed to Tartarus. All of which were in the care of the MRG. Not in a thousand years could he have pulled that off, especially not so often. The only one who could even theoretically steal so many artifacts would be one high enough up in the MRG. And there are only five people in the entirety of the MRG that have access to every vault we have and could smuggle something out without someone noticing, as well as wipe the data connected to their visit.”
“Oh, and you are insinuating that I am the traitor? Please, really? Who puts that in your head? It was Onyx, wasn’t it? He wanted me gone for years, and now he just turned my own daughter against me. I expected better from you. He probably set all of this up, as if I ever could betrail the MRG, that is ridiculous,” she returned with a hint of disappointment.
There was it again, the voice that kept telling her to listen to Monochrome, she was her mother, she was the director of the MRG, she could never do something like this, right? She wanted so desperately to believe it, but the other voice drowned her out, the trust in Onyx, the evidence, the fact that everything pointed towards her. She couldn’t be swayed, no that was something Monochrome told her time and time again if the evidence points one way you have to follow that lead, it doesn’t matter how much you hate it, you have to find the truth. She still lived by that standard, even if it seemed like her mother had betrayed that trust, her lessons would always carry the same weight they always had.
“No, it’s not. These people are unbelievable loyal to you that even one of them would even think about betraying you, that is ridiculous. Two other heads of the MRG where outside of the country when one of the last break-ins took place, the artifacts became even more prevalent the moment you moved to Canterlot City. Onyx has shown to me already why he couldn’t be behind it, especially since you would have noticed. I’m right now disgusted by you, but you would never let something like this slip, you just wouldn’t, you are too smart for that. So, that leaves you and one last member, and right now everything is pointing towards you. And if we combine that with what else Onyx has found out we will get you, so don’t even try to deny it,” she finished, staring at her with a mixture of disappointment and rage that was impossible to replicate.
Monochrome sat there for a moment, staring back at her daughter before sighing heavily: “Well, what else should I have expected from my daughter. Still, I’m proud of you. You managed to figure all of this out, even if it was with some help. You are truly my daughter.” This left ocean dumbfounded. She had just admitted to being a traitor,and she was happy that she had figured it out? Why? This didn’t make any sense, especially for someone like Monochrome. All her hatred and anger had just evaporated and replaced by utter confusion in an instant. “It’s a sign that I trained you well, I hope I the rest of what I told you is also in there as well,” she continued with a weak smile on her lips, something that was quite unsettling for anyone that know Monochrome well, she never smiled expect when things really went her way.
“What do you mean?” Ocean weakly returned, eying her mother carefully. “You just admitted to betraying the MRG, why would you be so happy?”
She raised an eyebrow before starting to laugh, a quiet laugh that was just so full of herself, it was unnerving. “Oh, I did, you put it wonderfully, but I’m not in any kind of danger. Just listen to me for a few minutes, and you will understand why.” Ocean was about to shut her down, but that damnd voice told her to at least hear her out. As Ocean remained silent, she smiled again and continued. “See, just listen a bit to me Ocean and you will understand. This country is headed for a disaster. Magic is running rampant, and with the data we have, it’s only going to get worse. Eventually, everyone is going to tear itself apart over these artifacts. Really, the fact that Corrupted number One and number Five accelerated the return of magic to this world only speed the problem along even further. It was always inevitable that magic would become a weapon for people to use, I just never expected it to turn just so bad.”
Ocean looked at her in utter shock and terror. “What? What do you mean? Answer me!”
“If you ask for it, but I would keep my voice down, you wouldn't want anyone to hear you, now would you?” She continued while leaning back in her chair. “So, the only way to save this world from tearing itself apart itself piece by piece is to take everything magical and store it in some vault so no one can ever get their hands onto it, right? Well, at least that was what I believed in for the majority of my life, but after I became the director of the MRG, I could see everything. Hundreds upon hundred incidents a year and there was no sign of it slowing down any time soon, no it got worse. That was when I realized that we were only delaying the inevitable, not actually stopping it. We had to use them if we ever hoped to stop the end of the world, not just stashing it into a dark room and forgetting about it.”
“You… you want to use it? Are you crazy? You know what people can do what this stuff?” Ocean stuttered back, staring at her mother in disbelieve.
“Oh, I know, that is why giving these artifacts to people that actually know how to use them is the only way to stop this. If we would continue like now, we would eventually face a disaster unprepared and without any chance to stop it. We have to get proactive, not just searching for artifacts, but rather make sure that no one can get their hands on them beyond us,” she continued, sound calm and collected as ever, much to the shock of her daughter. “I had to show the world what would happen if we continued on our path and Tartarus was perfect for this. They would have swept across the land like a wave with teeth and show everyone what the right path would be. If I had to sacrifice a few lives for this, who will care about it? Ultimately I will save more people this way than the MRG ever could, they are just the casualties of saving the world. The lives of the many outweigh the lives of the few.”
“What! No, no, not like this! You can’t just sacrifice people like that! That is not what is right, what it means to save them!” Ocean shouted back at her mother, the anger filling her eyes.
“Oh, I see where you are coming from, but ultimately it’s the only way. You and I might not like it, but this is how things will eventually have to go. Sometimes you have to trade lives for others. And when the crime wave hits it’s highest point I will be there with a solution. The MRG wielding the artifacts will talk down the Corrupted and Tartarus, and I will stand in front of them, as their savior. And I will use that power to make sure the MRG will be prepared for anything that will come our way, no matter the cost. The only way to save this dying world is to force it to salvation,” Monochrome finished, a determined look in her eyes.
“You are insane. We are guardians, not dictators! We are protectors, not some damnd army! You have no idea what the MRG truly stands for! Onyx, I and the rest will stop you! We have enough evidence to get you convicted!” Ocean stuttered before her voice started to grow more stern and determined, almost sounding like her mother.
“You have? Oh really? As far as I know, you don’t have anything concrete and nothing to warrant an actual trial. Everything can be explained by Onyx setting me up. That would undoubtedly also hurt your career very badly, but if you come to my side, I can make sure that this does not come close to you. Trust me, I wouldn’t want my daughter to suffer for the actions of a fool like Onyx,” she returned, that unbreakable smile of her covering her lips.
To Monochromes surprise Ocean did not appear shocked or anything, no she started to laugh. “What is so funny? Don’t you care for your carer?”
“Oh, I just found the part about no concrete evidence funny. You know what you told me after I had my first mission? If you don’t have enough evidence just bluff until they slip up. I got to say, mom, that tip worked wonders,” as she spoke she pulled out her hand from her purse and tabbed onto it once.
“Oh, yeah, sure, and he just happened to have a briefcase with goodness knows how many other artifacts with him. Artifacts that have been distributed to Tartarus. All of which were in the care of the MRG. Not in a thousand years could he have pulled that off, especially not so often. The only one who could even theoretically steal so many artifacts would be one high enough up in the MRG. And there are only five people in the entirety of the MRG that have access to every vault we have and could smuggle something out without it noticing, as well as wipe the data connected to their visit.”
“Oh, and you are insinuating that I am the traitor? Please, really? Who puts that in your head? It was Onyx, wasn’t it? He wanted me gone for years, and now he just turned my own daughter against me. I expected better from you. He probably set all of this up, as if I ever could betrail the MRG, that is ridiculous.”
Monochrome stared at her in shock, unable to even bring one word out from her lips. “You taught me too well mom, and the ethics you lacked I got from dad and sis,” Ocean smirked at her. “The entire conversation is on this, all of it.”
“You… You, how dare you? I got you this far, how can you even think about betraying me like this?!” Monochrome mask shattered, revealing a furious woman underneath as she slammed her fists on the desk and shouted from the depths of her lungs.
“Yes, I got here thanks to you, but I will not follow the path you have laid out before me anymore. I will forge my own. That is what my friends told me,” she returned back, an unbreakable determination underlining her voice.
At this moment the door was pushed open, and the two guards stormed inside, staring daggers at Ocean. “Milady, should we escort her out?” Braas asked.
“No, I got this under control, but I think we have a guest in the lobby that needs your attention instead. Now hush,” she hissed as she stood up from her chair. The two guards nodded before rushing down the corridor.
“So, everything under control? What, did Onyx finally arrive and you plan a daring escape?” Ocean jokingly asked.
“Oh, no. No daring escape needed, I just need to get my hands on your little phone, and the whole thing will be done for,” she said, trying to calm herself down, slowly coming out from behind the desk.
Ocean equally took a few steps back and pressed the button on her belt buckle to let her Driver appear. “Oh, you are willing to go up against a Kamen Rider? Just a warning, your chances are very low,” she casually returned.
“Oh, I know. As a normal person I would probably be crushed, but with this,” she pulled out something from her desk and put it on her waits, the device quickly looping around her waist and remaining there. It was, by all means, an exact replica of the Charge Driver. “Oh, surprised? And I thought I had told you to never let your guard down,” Monochrome smiled back, Ocean being in complete shock. “It seems this Phoenix guy really got into your head. You would really be better off without him, and now you even went onto a date with this fool,” she sighed as she pulled out an orange Charger from the same place as the Driver.
“How do you…”
“Please, don’t think I wouldn’t care for you. I know what you are going to do every day,” Ocean just stared at her mother in shock. “I know that you went on a date with him today, that’s the reason you are dressed this way,” She continued casually.
“You are spying on me?” Ocean screamed back at her, finally her sense returning to her and she quickly shoved her hand into her purse and fished out one of her Chargers. “Ever heard of some privacy?”
“Oh, privacy is overrated. Only the ones unwilling to go throw with the hard decisions would not use everything at their disposal.” With that, she shoved her Charger into the Driver and gave it a good spin.
\ SCANNING CHARGE! /
“Henshin!”
\ 50, 80, 100! HYPER WATER CHARGE! /
That was the moment Ocean truly snapped out of her daze and quickly shoved in her own Charger into the Driver, proceeding to transform, just like her mother.
\ SCANNING CHARGE! /
“Henshin!”
\ 50, 80, 100! EARTH CHARGE! /
Both women were swallowed by their respective colored energy and emerged in their armored forms, Ocean in the Earth State and the other Charge in her Water State. Monochromes armor looked almost identical to Charges own Water State, but there was one significant difference, the colors. While Charge had a colored undersuit covered by silver plates with black edges, the new rider had a black undersuit with dark blue plates as armor as well as silver edges on that armor.
Charge and the other Rider stared at each other for a moment before both of them pulled out their respective Gun and started to fire at each other before jumping out of the way of the incoming shots. Around them, pieces of bookshelves and glass were flying everywhere. Around Oceans wrist her purse was still dangling around. She had to get this out of here. Hopefully Onyx would show up soon, she really should have waited for them.
>-------<A>-------<
A few minutes earlier Phoenix was sprinting into the lobby, his bike having been parked hastily next to the building. He pushed open the door of the lobby, pretty much getting everyone attention within a heartbeat, but right now he just didn’t care and just rushed towards the elevator. That was until two extremely muscular men stepped between him and the doors.
Coming to a screeching halt just before them he sighed in annoyance: “Ok, I get that you are just doing your job, but right now I’m really not in the mood for this. I am allowed to go up there, so just let me through.”
“Oh, and who are you then? You surely have an identification batch or at least a name?”
“Phoenix Feather, now let me through,” he insisted and tried to push past them, but not a single one of them budged an inch. “I know Ocean, I was here with her a few times, and I have no time for this bullshit right now. She is up there right now.”
“Mhm, sure. You know agent Skies. And agent Skies is surely up there as well,” He sighed in return. “Sir, I have to ask you to leave now, or we will be forced to take more drastic measures.”
“Damit Onyx, why can’t you be here already,” he sighed before quickly pulling out something from his pocket, his Driver and a Magic Disc. “So, you know what this is?”
This left them speechless for a second before one of them managed to snap out of their little stupor and returned with an unnervingly threatening voice: “You better leave now, or things will get really unpleasant for you, Rider.”
Before Phoenix could say anything in return, he could hear something loud from above them, something that sounded like an explosion. Everything that could shake started to violently do so in an instant, knocking over some potted plants. It didn’t take more than a few seconds until everyone was running out of the building screaming in terror and who could blame them. All but Phoenix and the two guards, both of them pulled off their respective gloves and reviled two different rings, one made out of a flaming red gemstone while the other depicted a mossy stone. Within seconds both of the rings started to glow only to reveal two Corrupted.
One was a humanoid red dragon clad in golden armor with an equally golden facemask. The other one, however, resembled more a collection of misshapen, moss-covered rocks than anything humanoid looking. Nonetheless, he was the first to slam his fist, or what would pass for a first down on him. Phoenix jumped out of the way in the last second and ran around a corner, quickly taking a deep breath before slapping on the Driver and placing the Disc inside it.
\ MAGIC DISC DETECTED! /
“Henshin!”
\ FLAME DISC ACTIVATED! /
After the flames had set again, he charged back at them, unbuckling the disc from the Driver again.
\ Flame Disc Attack Mode! /
\ Flame Saber! /
The sword appeared in his hand not a second too late as he blocked one of the attacks from the dragon before it could slash across his chest. Still, the blow was nothing to scoff at and pushed him back a few feet. Wile this was happening the rock monster had run past him and was about to punch him from the side. While he managed to put the blade between him and his opponent the force was still strong enough to launch him through the next wall, the two Corrupted quickly chasing after him.
As the two monsters were busy with Alchemy Onyx finally arrived, with a mad dash, he traversed the lobby, sparing Alchemy a quick glance before storming further towards the elevator. He could deal with whatever was happening here, he had to stop Ocean, or at least try. And the short elevator ride was the perfect time to call for backup.
>-------<A>-------<
With a loud grunt, Charge landed on her back, the gaping hole in the wall in front of her still getting bigger as Monochrome walked through it, her engine dispensing the fog that made it almost impossible to see. “Where did you get that Driver anyway,” she groaned as she tried to stand up again.
“Well, there was still two-thirds of the Charge Stone left. Would be a shame to let it go to waste and really stupid of me to not have an ace up my sleeve,” she returned casually. “Now, if you would just give me the phone we can stop all of this right here. You have no chance against the Hyper Charge System.”
“Yeah, how about no,” Charge returned and in an instant jumped forward from her sitting position and slammed her fist right into Hyper Charge’s chest, letting the Rider stager backward.
“Clever, but not clever enough,” she returned and with a swift motion dodged Charge’s next attack and within a heartbeat had punched back and sent her crashing through the next wall. She landed with a resounding grunt, but ultimately the invincibility had prevented anything further. As she lay there she could see that someone was running up to her, someone with grey skin, black hair and rather muscular… Onyx.
This was exactly what she had been waiting for. Within moments she was back on her feet and threw her purse over to him. “Get out of here, now! I take care of mom!” And without waiting for even a second, she switched out her Charged, spun it and ran straight ahead.
“Charge up!”
\ 50, 80, 100! WIND CHARGE! /
The fog was quickly blown away by the propellors on Charges back, and before Hyper Charge had any chance of reacting to her, she had already grabbed the evil Rider and was crashing with her through the wall to the outside. But before Charge could do anything more, she was pushed back by Hyper Charge’s own energy bubble, green in color.
\ 50, 80, 100! HYPER WIND CHARGE!/
Like before Hyper Charge wore a black undersuit and green plates over it. It didn’t take long till she ascended again, pointing her gun at the other Rider, Charge quickly doing the same. She was however not fast enough to actually pull the trigger, and with the force of what felt like a tornado, she was thrown back into the building. All the windows around her shattered in an instance, falling down towards the street below. “Are you insane? You know how many people are down there?” She screamed at her mother who merely shrugged and aimed again.
This time Charge was prepared and responded with a shoot of her own, the two whirlwinds hitting midair, seemingly canceling each other out, well until Hyper Charge increase the power of her own, blasting Charge back further into the building. With a sigh, she rocketed forward back inside.
\ 50, 80, 100! HYPER EARTH CHARGE! /
Charge in the meantime had managed to get back on her feet and changed her Charger as well, rejuvenating herself for the next part of the fight.
“Charge up!”
\ 50, 80, 100! WATER CHARGE! /
As Hyper Charge stepped further into the building, she quickly took note of what Charge was planning. She took one look around and just stood still, in the middle of the thick fog. Everything around her was dead quiet, only the occasional scream or footsteps disturbed the silence, well that was until Charge came from behind and tried to knock the Rider down. It sadly remained as an attempt as Hyper Charge spun around, grabbed hold of Charge after she had hit her and slammed her on the floor. What followed was a punch that was so strong that not even the floor could withstand it, both Riders tumbling down through the newly created hole to the floor below.
Hyper Charge was the first on her feet again, slowly walking over to where Charge had fallen and with a swift kick send her through the next best wall. She looked after where her daughter went and was about to follow as she heard something.
“Charge up!”
\ 50, 80, 100! FIRE CHARGE! /
A second later Charge came rocketing towards her, taking the new Rider by surprise and seconds later she found herself again in yet another room with a new hole in it. Charge had meanwhile started to beat her with the power of her engines, the floor beneath her slowly starting to crack and worst off all, her inability would run out shortly. She had to think quickly. Without Charge noticing she reached down to her belt and pulled fourth another Charger and switched it out with her current one.
\ 50, 80, 100! HYPER THUNDER CHARGE! /
The orb of energy pushed Charge back, and within seconds Hyper Charge had circled around her and sent flying, tumbling through the walls like a ragdoll. Charge’s body ached all over, and she was covered in debris. As she tried to stand up again, she just feels back down, staring back towards the hole she had come through. Out of the smoke and dust Hyper Charge slowly walked towards her. That was all what she needed to get herself into overdrive. Pushing past her pain, she managed to get back up and replace the Charger with a new one.
“Charge up!”
\ 50, 80, 100! THUNDER CHARGE! /
And then it happened, both of the Riders clashed together at super speed, not managing to damage the other in any meaningful way. But it didn’t stop there, within moments Charge and Hyper Charge clashed again and again. Sometimes Charge getting a hit in, sometimes Hyper Charge. This little struggle, however, came to an abrupt end as Charge’s super speed failed her and just shut off. This was enough for Hyper Charge to deliver one final kick that knocked Charge back again, letting her crash against the wall so hard that it canceled her transformation, the armor fading away.
“So, you see, you can’t win. You have not a single form left that could beat me. Just give up and help me save this world,” she started, looking down towards her beaten daughter as she slowly advanced towards her.
Ocean just growled, her body was covered in bruises wounds and everything just hurt. Still, she wasn’t done, she still had one ace up her sleeve. With all of her strength, she pushed herself up on the wall, shakingly standing before her mother. “Really? You think I’m done already? Then I have some bad news for you.” With that, she swapped the Charger one last time and started to spin the device.
\ SCANNING CHARGE! /
“Henshin!”
\ 50, 80, 100! FRIENDSHIP CHARGE! /
>-------<A>-------<
Meanwhile, Alchemy was still busy with his opponents, that had grown considerably harder since they had gotten company. Two more monsters, one looking like a steaming pile of rocks, not dissimilar to one of the other ones and what looked like a mechanical, humanoid rabbit and if that wasn’t enough, he also had guns all over him. He really had enough, this was really getting ridiculous. That was when he was rudely interrupted by one of the Corrupted that sent my sailing through the air and through another wall.
Picking himself up from the repackage he could see all four Corrupted walking towards him, ready to strike him down. “You know, I really would have preferred not to do that, ok, that’s a lie, but you leave me no other choice.” With a quick motion, he had activated another transformation.
\ FRIENDSHIP DISC ACTIVATED! /
The purple energy surged around him revealing his newest form and without hesitation and renewed vigor he pulled the Disc again from his Driver.
\ Friendship Disc Attack Mode! /
\ Connect Protector! /
With his new sword and shield in hand, he charged towards the Corrupted, they quickly following suit. The first one to receive his attack was the dragon Corrupted, getting slashed square across the chest, penetrating his armor. But that wasn’t all he received. Afterward, Alchemy kicked him out of the way and on the other side of the lobby. While this had been happening the moss Corrupted had tried to sneak up on him, as he, however, tried to slam his fist down on Alchemy, the Rider simply waved his hand, and the attack of the Corrupted stopped in midair. Casually he spun the Disc on the shield, energy flowing from it to his other weapon. “Eternal Bond!” With that he slashed across the chest of the Corrupted, the monster being consumed in an explosion before reverting to his human form, ring next to him.
That let the rest of the Corrupted stager back a few steps, but Alchemy really didn’t want them to get any dumb ideas and leaped forward towards the rabbit, who unloaded all of his arsenals on him. He would have actually hit him if it weren’t for the fact that Alchemy’s shield provided him with an energy shield as well. But with it, all of his attacks just evaporated on impact with the shield like they were snowdrops landing on a volcano.
Leaving the Corrupted shocked Alchemy charged forward, again spinning the Disc on his shield. “Eternal Bond!” This time he cut through the Corrupted top to bottom, effectively cutting him in half. A bright purple line appeared on the shocked monster before it exploded as well, reverting to its human form. “So, who is next?”
>-------<A>-------<
Hyper Charge stood there in shock, this couldn’t be, there was not even the slightest bit of data on this. This just couldn’t be right.
“Surprised? Well, this was a gift from Phoenix, a sign of trust if you may call it that. He trusted me enough that even if the MRG would betray him one day that I would do what was right. And it seems he was dead on about that,” Charge returned. Her blue undersuit having been replaced with a bright purple. The silver and black had remained, and her eyes had also remained just as red as before. In her hands, she held a rather big gun, shaped like a laser rifle from a video game if she was honest.
“No matter, my Hyper Charge System is superior to you in every way, even if you have something I don’t have access to, there is no chance that you could win,” and with that Hyper Charge rushed towards her daughter, she merely fired her rifle, shots of purple energy flowing towards her. The Rider was easily able to dodge the attack, or at least that was what she thought since the projectile changed direction midflight heading straight for her. Unable to realize what was happening it wasn’t too hard for them to hit her and send her flying into the next best wall. “How?” She groaned as she forced herself back up again.
“It’s simple. He trusted me because I trust him. He sees that what I saw in him, the making of a hero. And that is what I fail to see in you. I can’t fail here, not because I don’t want to lose to you, no, because these people out there trust in me and I won’t betray that trust like you did. You are an insult to what Phoenix and I see in the term Kamen Rider. We defined the term, as a hero that protects everyone's freedom, that hears when someone calls for help, not a judge that deems the world to be failed.” She pointed her gun at Monochrome. “That is what it means to be a protector, a Kamen Rider. I’m sure you knew this at one point as well, but right now you don’t. And if it means to go against my own mother to be a Rider, then be it!” With that, she pulled the trigger again unleashing several shots of purple energy at her mother.
With a mad dash she tried to escape the incoming attack, trying to let it hit walls or anything, but the attack just went through them, not even slowing down. That was when she made one last desperate attempt if her daughter chose the wrong way, there was only one way. Rushing towards her with all her speed trying to knock the weapon out of her hands, what she had not expected was Charge stopping her with a well-placed kick. What followed was her back being bombarded by a barrage of magic lasers, leaving her stumbling backward, completely exhausted.
“You… You ungrateful…” Monochrome hissed, spinning the cylinder on her Driver.
\ Maximum Charge! /
Charge was not far behind her and did spin her Driver as well.
\ Maximum Charge! /
Hyper Charge rushed again towards her while Charge gathered energy in her weapon, it almost looked like Hyper Charge would be fast enough to actually hit her, but within the last split-second, Charge pulled the trigger, unleashing what looked like a flood of purple energy shoots at her mother. Countless smaller ones hit her all at once, knocking the speed right out of her and even forcing her back. What was even worse was that it didn’t stop, more and more of the painful shots hit their mark, sending her flying further and further until she was finally forced out of the window?
She could see the night sky above, almost letting her forget the unbearable pain as she looked upwards, seemingly falling in slow motion until everything just suddenly stopped with a loud crash.
Alchemy meanwhile was dealing with the other two Corrupted as he heard a loud crash, shattering glass and what he was almost certain steel bending. He and his two opponents stopped dead in their tracks and looked around where the noise had come from until their eyes looked onto a car. The rove had been bend inwards, and someone was laying on top of it, small drops of red liquid dropped down from the car.
Before Alchemy could actually understand what was going on the two Corrupted had started to run, he was about run after them as he heard something else fall down next to the car, Charge. She quickly ran towards the car and looked at the person that was lying on top of it. With a sigh he let the two Corrupted escaped and joined her.
“What happened?” He screamed over to her as her knees went limb, she canceled her transformation and started to cry.
“I… I killed her…” She whispered, staring at the bloody corpse of her mother, her throat feeling like it had been sawed shut. Warm tears were streaming down her face, unable to hold them back. “I didn’t want to…”
Phoenix turned pale under his helmet, what lay before him was Monochromes lifeless corpse. He froze on the spot, what had happened up there? Why was Ocean crying like this, why- No, that could wait, right now Ocean needed him more. He crouched down next to Ocean and laid his hands on her shoulder, she twitched for a moment, but ultimately let herself be pulled into an embrace from him. She let out her feelings, tears running down his armor. He would have loved to have said something, but right now he just didn’t know what.
That was when things got even worse. Onyx had apparently managed to return to the lobby and was running straight towards them, stopping halfway through as he saw Monochromes corpse. “What happened?” He stared at it a few more moments before shaking his head again and ran the rest of the way towards them. “I got the evidence here,” he stammered.
“As if we care about this right now,” Phoenix shot back, staring at him through his bug eyes.
“You should, or else all of this was for nothing,” he returned weakly. “And you probably want to know this. Alkahest has made his move,” he stopped for a moment, visibly shaking. “He broke into our lab and kidnapped Ivory.”
This got ocean to freeze as well, within seconds she had dragged herself from the ground and was staggering towards the underground parking lot. “Are you sure? I can take care of this, you don’t have to-“
“I’m not leaving a friend alone who needs help. He trusts in me, I don’t want that trust to be broken… as much as it hurts right now.” Phoenix nodded, quickly following her.