//------------------------------//
// Keep your Goals in Mind - A Piece of Advice
// Story: Kamen Rider Alchemy
// by Layton13
//------------------------------//
Silence. That damned awful, unbearable silence that permeated the room. You could hear a pinfall, and it would scare everyone in the room. It was the worst, and still, she couldn’t say anything. What could she really say? Nothing, that was it. She could feel the eyes that were staring at here, eyes she knew so well. The eyes of her team, her subordinates, her friends, and worst of all, she could feel his eyes. All of them were boring into her skin, trying to judge her for her mistakes. The countless mistakes, but primarily her newest.
As she looked up she could see that she was right, everyone was looking at her with a look of utter contempt and uncertainty. She had thrown away their trust, just like she always expected. She was just not made for this, she knew. The eyes that were all concentrated on her made here incredibly uncomfortable, letting her shift around quite a lot. She could swear she heard some of the mutter something, most likely nothing good. Seconds felt like minutes, minutes like hours and everything beyond that just felt like an eternity.
But worst of all was the look on the woman's face. She had a light pink skin color and multicolored hair consistent of pink, purple and a mixture of light yellow and light brown. She looked at her with the wrath and anger of a thousand suns. It really scared her, as unbelievable as it might have sounded. She was apparently Shinings girlfriend, Cadance was her name if she remembered correctly.
She had rushed over here directly from work and as the headmaster of a school that definitely meant something. A few of her man had told her what had happened, all with her permission of course. Throughout the conversation, her expression changed into more and more venomous ways, staring directly at her whenever possible. She really couldn’t blame her, it was all her fault after all. She shoots him for crying out loud.
When the door to the room swung open with a loud thud, looking up, she could see a doctor, and two nurses leave the room, the doctor keeping a close eye on his board, apparently checking some things.
Within a second she rushed over to the man and weakly asked: “Doctor Horse, how is he?” She must have looked extremely desperate since the man stepped back a few feet and took on a worried expression. Right behind her Cadance also arrived, looking just as expectingly at the doctor as she had.
“Well, I would call him lucky, well at least for the situation. It borders on a miracle that he was only hit once and that one shot was only a glancing shot. Still, he needs a bit of silence and quiet. No visits longer than a few minutes, he needs to rest,” he said with a serious tone. “But besides that, he should be fine.”
“Yes doctor,” both women returned in unison, Cadance quickly shooting a venomous stare at her. Ocean just stepped a bit away and looked towards the ground, trying to avoid her look. Sadly, she could feel the stare on her, and with it the rest as well. The judgmental, knowing looks that pierced through her.
“Would it be ok if I saw him now?” Cadance asked, her voice sounding even more worried than she had expected.
The doctor sighed and waved her through. “But not more than ten minutes, he needs his rest. And nothing that gets him riled up got it?” She nodded silently and rushed towards the room her boyfriend lay, but not without throwing one last glaring look at Ocean. She just sighed as she saw it, she deserved it after all.
She slowly returned back to her seat, her arms hanging limply on her side as she let herself fall back on the chair, her head sinking towards the floor.
“Wow, that really took a toll on you,” she heard someone says from her side in a comforting voice. As she looked up, she saw Phoenix standing next to her, in his hands two cups of steaming hot chocolate. “Hot Chocklet?” He asked, putting one of the cups closer to her. She looked at him in confusion and then back at the cup. “Believe me, it’s just a hot chocolate, nothing else. Will cheer you up a bit, always helped me when I was down.”
Ocean sighed and took the cup, the warmth of it quickly spreading across her hands, giving off a soothing feeling. She stared at the swirling dark liquid for a few moments, apparently not hearing Phoenix as he said something to her. That was until he carefully tapped her on the shoulder. She jumped up, nearly spilling her drink and looked towards him.
“Wow, didn’t mean to scare you Ocean, are you ok?” He jumped back a bit before calming down again. “Dumb question, of course not. You know if you need someone to talk to, I’m here. How about you drink a bit of the chocolate and you will feel better.”
She nodded, letting the warm liquid run down her through, feeling as the warmth of it quickly spread throughout her body, a weak smile appearing on her lips as she let the last drop disappear in her mouth. “Wow, you really were thirsty. I could get you another one if you want. Just take it easy for today, don’t let it drag you down.”
That was when her expression turned sour again, avoiding Phoenix friendly smile, unable to bear it. That let Phoenix sigh out loud, as he let his own cup down next to him on a small table. He was about to say something as Ocean returned. “No, I’m fine. I can’t let this stop me, just have to continue. We almost had him… I almost had him. I can’t just give up now, Ivory wouldn’t want-“
“Stop!” Phoenix said with a deformed and firm voice, his friendly smile all but vanished as he looked at her with uncommon determination, almost like Ocean usually was.
“What do you mean stop? I can’t stop! I can’t just sit around and do nothing! I’m not letting Ivory in the hands of this madman. If I can find him again, I’m sure I can save-“ She desperately tried to return only to be once again cut off by Phoenix.
“I said stop.” He took a deep breath, all while avoiding to make eye contact with her. “We need to talk.”
“We need to find Ivory, that is what is important now, not some stupid talk!” Ocean was starting to get louder, staring at him with a mixture of determination and anger.
“No, we need to talk. Just like we needed to talk when I went on my allnighters.” He returned her glare with his own. “And we need to have it now, not later, now! I can’t let you get someone else hurt again, not after this. So, are we going to talk or are you just going to continue this and at the cost of your men?”
She was about to say something, but the words just refused to come out of her mouth. She opened it, but nothing. Ultimately she let her head drop back down and weakly nodded. “Thanks. You know, that means a lot to me. How about we look for a little bit more private place? I think I saw a broom closet somewhere around here. They have worked out for us until now with serious things,” he chucked with a gentle time. Ocean just rolled her eyes with a weak smile and followed her friend into a few corners and into the closed broom closet. For a closet, it was surprisingly big. Still, the stench of Clorox and bleach filled the air.
“Yeah, not the best and most comfortable place to talk, but it’ll have to do,” he chuckled weakly, Ocean avoiding his gaze. “Ok, listen. I’m just gonna say, I’m awful at this, so don’t expect any miracles like you did with me. But I know you, and I know what bothered you so much.”
“Oh, so hard to figure out,” she scoffed only for her to stop and weakly add: “I’m sorry, that was uncalled for. But it should be fairly obvious why I’m a bit on edge here. I don’t want to lose Ivory.”
“Yeah, I get that, but that is not the reason you act the way you do.” That let ocean look up from the floor again and towards her boyfriend. “At least not completely. There is more to it, I know that.”
“No, there isn’t,” she defensively returned, crossing her arms in front of her chest.
“Yes, there is. You dealt with kidnapping way better before. You always remained cool and collected. You were my rock in the surf, my guiding light when I was drifting up into stupidity. You always had a cool head, but that is gone. You are far too good to be thrown off by something as simple as a kidnapping. I’m sure this isn’t the first time one of your men was kidnaped, right?”
Ocean just nodded silently in return. “Isn’t the first time. It happened two times before. The first was a standard procedure, could find the culprit rather fast, and it all ended in a happy ending all things considered. The second one, not so much. We just couldn’t find any clues to the kidnapper's whereabouts anywhere. He knew about us, and he had planned this for months. And he was damn well prepared. He was a conspiracy theorist, completely insane actually. He thought the government was hiding something from the public and there was a shadow government that was actually running the show.”
“But, there were things you are hiding from the public. Magic is the one I know about at least,” Phoenix returned with a raised eyebrow.
“Well, he got one, I give him that. He found out about the MRG and some of our secrets, and that just drove him further. He thought by kidnapping one of us he could figure out more, expose us for who we are. I’m still not entirely sure how he wanted to do that, and as far as I remember it involved a small website, some pictures and a tape from the kidnaped agent where he would confess to all we had been doing. I have no idea how he thought that would be enough, but he thought so at least. After two weeks we finally found him with a bit of digging. We cornered him in a small house in the woods, but he didn't want to let our men go,” she stopped before swallowing.
“And what happened after that?” He looked rather worried back at her.
“Well, we had to storm the house and what we found inside was awful. We had cornered him in the cellar, where he had helped our man. He was there, shivering in fear, screaming something about lizard people, shadow governments, men in black and goodness knows what, and worst of all holding a gun to the head of our agent. I was under the orders of a senior agent that was experienced in this kind of things. I was behind tow other agents, and our leader was discussing with the lunatic. It seemed he was about to calm him down, as everything went south in an instant. Apparently, he didn’t like what our superior had said and was about to shoot our agent in the head, we reacted quickly firing before he could pull the trigger, or at least that was what we tried at least. We hit him before he could pull it, but he still managed to afterward. He wasn’t aiming at the head anymore, his hand had slacked down from the gunfire, but he still hit him, right in the spinal cord,” he voice was shivering in a mixture of rage and sadness.
“He was out for a full month, and when he woke up, he couldn’t move his body, not even a finger. He was completely disabled from the neck down. He had to drop out of the MRG, and I couldn’t do anything about it. I won’t let anything like that happen to Ivory, not if I have any chance to stop it,” she returned, now sounding like she was about to burst out there and start hunting for Alkahest again.
“I’m sorry for that, I truly am, but I don’t think that is all of it. You were determined to find him ever since he disappeared, sometimes even neglecting others to do so. I get why, but ever since you came back from Manehattan, you are even more into it. You can’t slow down, stop for a second or anything like that. And all this has lead us here. So, now I ask you, did something happen in Manehattan?” He looked at her with pleading eyes, she scowled and returned her gaze towards the ground.
“Nothing happened in Manhattan,” she almost whispered.
“I don’t believe you. If there weren’t anything in Manhattan, then you wouldn’t act like this. I know you well enough to see that. You can always tell me everything, I will always listen if that is what you need. I’m your friend Ocean, and I don’t want to see you this way. Just talk to me,” he looked at her, small tears forming in his eyes before he added with a whisper: “Please.”
Ocean couldn't other than to look at him, her expression becoming desperate, small tears as forming in her eyes. “I… I…” her voice shivered, the tears slowly starting to flow, first one, then two and soon they were just flowing down her face. “The funeral…” She finally managed to stammer. “I thought that I could finally get to grips with everything that had happened. I didn’t want to be there at all at first, though I could use my time better, but as time passed, I wanted to be there more and more until I couldn’t wait for it. Maybe I could finally leave it behind and concentrate fully on the task at hand. I thought some of my relatives would offer me their condolences, but…” Her voice started to shiver again, the tears flowing faster and faster. “They… They didn’t even offer me anything. They avoided me, just spoke very little to me and… and just shoot me these looks of total disgust and contempt.”
“That… That is awful. Why didn’t you say anything?” Phoenix returned with shook in his eyes.
“I… It wasn’t important. We have so much more to do. Figure out where Ivory and Alkahest are, stop the odd monster from rampaging through the city and… and find the remaining traitors in the MRG. I didn’t want to bother you with stuff like that. It just felt wrong,” she returned weakly, unable to look into his eyes.
“Don’t say that. I can always make room for you, we are friends after all,” he returned with a smile. “But, wasn’t your sister at the funeral. I’,m sure she was at least supportive?” He tried to cheer her up, patting her on the shoulder. As she didn’t return an answer and started to sob louder Phonix’s smile vanished in an instant. “Oh, no.”
“She… She didn’t want to talk to me. Siad that she didnÄt know how to feel about all of this. She had tears in her eyes, and worst of all, she couldn’t even look me into the eyes. She said we could talk when she came to the city, but now, she needed time for herself,” Ocean continued to sob.
Phoenix had started to cliche into a fist and with a loud curse, he slammed his fist against the wall. “That can’t be true right? This little…” His anger had quickly overtaken his previously gentle face. “Sibling are supposed to hold together through thick and thin. When she gets here I’ll have some words with her,” he growled.
“Don’t… I’m sure she didn’t mean it that way. She just needs time to come to terms with what I have done…” Ocean continued, letting her head hang in shame. “I…” Tears started to flow even faster now, she finally breaking out into complete sobbing.
“Ocean, just let it out, you’ll feel better afterward, trust me,” he returned. In an instant Ocean cuddled up to him, her face resting on his shoulders as tears started to soak his shirt. “That’s right, just let it out,” he continued, closing his arms around her and gently patting her on the back.
“Phoenix,” she stammered out between the sobbing.
“Yes?”
“Am… am I a… a monster?” She looked up to him, her eyes already red from the tears and with the most desperate expression he had ever seen.
“No, no you are not a monster. Why would you even think that?”
“Because… Because I… I killed my own mother. How could I not be a monster,” she again burst out into even louder sobs.
“You are not a monster. The fact that you feel bad for what you did shows that already. You did what you thought had to be done. You couldn’t have known if it was the right decision, you will never know. But I know that you tried everything you could and I trust you. You would never murder your mother in cold blood. You are the most gentle and kind person I know, if you thought you had to do it, I trust in you,” he returned with a sober voice.
“But… But I…” She tried to argue.
“No, but’s. I said I trust you and that is the end of that. I know that because I see in you what you once saw in me. A good hearth, the stuff what it takes to be a hero. And just like you who put her faith in me, I’ll put my faith in you. You are a good person Ocean, no one can ever take that away from you. You are a hero, no matter what you might have done, I know that you always strife for another way, and don’t take the easy way. There was just no other way that time. You can’t just push away that moment. It will always be a part of who you are, but I know who you are and that person is great and a shining start I can look up to. You are a Kamen Rider, and you damn well deserve that title” Ocean nodded with a loud sniffle.
“That is more like it. And how about you take the rest of the day off. I think you should just let things settle a bit, calm down and come to terms with what happened. I’m sure you are back to normal tomorrow, and I will make sure the rest of your team doesn’t slack off. Don’t want to lose Alkahest do we?” He smirked, about to let go of her.
“Wait!” She quickly shouted, tightening her grip on him.
“What?” He looked quite surprised as she refused to let go of him.
“Can we stay like this for a while longer? It’s really nice actually,” she quietly returned, her cheeks turning crimson as she said that.
“Not the most romantic place, but how could I say no to a cutie like you,” he jokingly replied.
“Oh, shut it and kiss me already you idiot,” she shoots back with a sly smile on her lips.
>--------------<
They had spent at least ten more minutes in the broom closet until one of the other cops had finally come looking for them. He was in for quite the shook as he found the two lovebirds and he probably would be looking awkwardly at them for a week at least. He wanted to ask them what the next orders would be. Ocean didn’t take long to get back into her usual confidant role and gave out orders like nothing ever happened. She sends her team out to look for any signs and rumors about Alkahest, while she sends Phoenix out on his own, all while she would take a rest of the day off. She said something about a bubble bath she had been gotten as a present from her sister on her last birthday and now would be the best time to use it. She finished up with giving them a meeting time for the next day at the MRG, to investigate what Alakhest had been after.
Phoenix followed the orders he had laid out for him to a T, but to his own frustration, his search was rather fruitless, no sign of Alkahest anywhere. It was almost like he had disappeared off the face of the earth. There were however rumors about a monster encased in a rumor that had kidnapped a man near the MRG building. It sounded extremely suspicious, but even that didn’t give off any new leads. The trail of the Corrupted lost itself somewhere in the busy streets of the city.
And so the day came and went without much happening, and the night came and went. The sun had risen and was finally breaking through the clouds that had covered the city the entire week. He had just finished with his breakfast as he heard his phone ringing. With a silent sighed he answered: “Yeah, Phonix here.”
“Phoenix, it’s me!” He heard from the other end of the line.
“Oh, hey Ocean. Feel better?” He returned with, still sounding somewhat sleepy.
“Yeah, yeah, I do, but that doesn’t matter right now, Alkahest is back,” she almost shouted back. Now he actually noticed how distraught she sounded. “I just got a call from one of the security guards at the MRG headquarters. He is back, and he apparently brought company. Meet me there, I’ll call Pinecone,” she continued.
“Got it, I’ll be there as fast a possible.” In an instant his sleepiness had disappeared, jumping from the couch he rushed out of the house and towards his bike, letting the engine spring to live and was off.
>--------------<
Meanwhile, Alkahest was tearing through the security guards of the building, or at least those that were still there. They tried to distract him with their guns, but to their dismay, he wasn’t alone this time. A monster made out of Metal with a large, sharp, blade-like wings was staggering behind him and attacking everyone that came even close to them.
Around the, stood three other monsters. A violet cobra Corrupted in golden armor. His poison green eyes darted across the room as he swung his curved sword at anyone that dared to step too close to him. Next to him stood what could only be described as a harpy. Her long green-blue wings almost reached to the ceiling, and it was a wonder how she had managed to even fit through the remnants of the door. She wore cobalt armor that covered her chest and stomach, as well as a helmet that hides her eyes. Long cyan hair flew out from under it. And last, there was a Corrupted that had the shape of a sabertooth tiger with dark grey fur. His body had been covered by a shady leather armor, and he held two long hunting knives in his hands.
“I hope this does indeed yield the results you promised Gold. You wouldn’t want to disappoint me now, would you?” Checkbook chuckled, as he blocked the bullets of one of the guards, only to flick one of them back at him and knock him out cold.
“Don’t question my methods! I know what I’m doing, you’ll just stop these idiots from interfering. I hope you can actually manage that,” Shadow Gold replied while Alkahest advanced further to the middle of the room.
“Sure, whatever. Still would have preferred it if you would have just take the thugs from Tartarus and not dragged me into it as well, but oh well, if it has to happen,” Check returned, waving around with a finger, pointing at another persistent guardsman, the cobra Corrupted quickly obliging.
The guard froze in place as he saw the Corrupted storm towards him, dodging the shots of his allies and raised his sword to let it fall down on him. Letting out a loud scream he tried to cover his face with his hands as he heard two loud shoots, followed by a loud screech from the cobra. As he opened his eyes again, he saw the Corrupted laying on the floor, hissing in agony as he held the side of his head and not too far away stood a woman in blue armor and a revolver pointed towards the Corrupted.
“Are you ok?” The guard nodded weakly. “Good, now get your friends and leave. This is a bit out of your pay grade,” she chuckled before unloading two more rounds on the Corrupted who had just about now started to get back up again. To his dismay, the shoots were perfectly placed and knocked him down again with a loud groan. The guard nodded again and rushed off towards the exit, followed by the rest.
“So, we meat again agent Skies. What a pleasure to see you again, I hope you had a good time ruining my business,” the Corrupted growled.
“You again. You worked with my mother if I remember correctly. Beating you would be quite the feat and definitely would help to get to the bottom of all of this,” she hissed back, pointing her gun at him.
“Tsk, of course, you would think that. And that is why I brought company, I think you might know them, they were bodyguards of your mother. I think you meet,” he pointed at the three Corrupted that were eying her cautiously. “With you killing my business associate and their boss they had nowhere to go, well besides one place.” He chuckled lightly as he looked around the room spreading his arms like he was presenting something, all while Alkahest pulled out the blank Magic Disc and was about to let it absorb the leftover magic as he heard another gunshot and the Disc flew out of his hands. Alkahest was about to curse as the small device was quickly snatched out of the air and handed back to him by Checkbook. “Carefully, don’t want to lose this,” he slyly returned, Alkahest only grumbling and snatching the Disc back again from him.
“Men? Show me that you are loyal to Tartarus and keep her busy. I don’t want something like this to happen again, or you will regret it,” he added with a sinister tone. The three Corrupted turned around to face Charge and stormed towards her.
The first one to reach her was the cobra, trying to slash her with his sword. Dodging his attack she quickly unloaded her last round into his neck, letting him stagger forward and land face first on the ground. The second Corrupted quickly dashed forward, trying to swipe at her with his knives, Charge pulling the two Stun Batton from her belt and blocking the first attack and dodged the second swipe, circling him and delivering a painful smack to his face, even knocking out a teeth. As the Corrupted staggered forward, he was hit in the back of the head with her other one, stumbling towards his friend and collapsing on top of him.
That was when she felt a sudden push, and before she could even turn around, she felt her feet being lifted off the ground and sailing toward the next wall. With a loud grunt, she was forced against the wall, now finally seeing her opponent. The harpy had ascended into the air and was currently unleashing an ungodly gust of wind in her direction. She felt the wall behind her slowly cracking as she desperately tried to get her arm pointed towards the Corrupted, in a desperate attempt to shoot her.
The Corrupted started to smirk, and Alkahest had reached the place he wanted to be. He held the blank Disc out into the air as suddenly purple energy started to appear out of nowhere, slowly flowing into the Disc that was drinking it up like a hungry vampire. But all of a sudden the energy just stopped. “Dammit, why?” He cursed, all while Checkbook just tilted his head in amusement and annoyance at the same time.
“Idiot, there is more and don’t take to long,” Shadow growled, Alkahest in return huffed something incomprehensible, but quickly ran off deeper into the building.
“You got this, right?” He glanced over to the two groaning Corrupted as they started to stand up again and the third one that was still keeping Charge at bay. “Good, I don’t want any more failures and trust me, you don’t want to know what Tartarus or the Circle do to failures,” he added in a low voice, the three Corrupted quickly nodding.
Charge meanwhile was still desperately trying to get her gun pointed at the Corrupted, even if it was a moot point since she had already wasted all her shoots on one of the two Corrupted, but all seemed for not. She couldn’t move a muscle, and the two other Corrupted were quickly closing the distance between them, sick and twisted grins on their faces.
“You will regret what you have done. We could have been at the top were it not for you, but you had to kill Monochrome, did you? Killed your own mother, that is just sick,” the Cobra Corrupted said as he swung his blade in anticipation.
Ocean just stared at him in shock, and anger at the same time. He was right in a way, only a monster would kill their own mother, right? No. No! She was no monster, she had people that believed in her, her decisions. She couldn’t let that get to her, not after yesterday, not when people depended on her. “Screw you!”
That was when she heard the loud roar of two bikes and before anyone could even realize what was happening and where they came from two bikes that looked quite familiar jumped through the destroyed door and rocketed towards the Corrupted, knocking them over as they arrived.
“Hey, Snakey, how about you listen to her. You really don’t want to make her angry. By the way Charge, good counter,” Alchemy jokingly returned as he dismounted his bike and walked next to Charge who had fallen on the ground after the third Corrupted had staggered back out of shock.
“Thanks, guys, appreciate it very much,” she returned with a loud sigh, standing back up and facing the three opponents that were standing in front of them.
“Less talking, more fighting,” Monster just growled back, letting his claws dance in anticipation.
“You have to be a blast at parties,” Alchemy sighed in return.
“I don’t go to parties,” he drily returned.
“Figures.”
Monster just growled back at him in annoyance.
“As fun as it is to see you two bicker, I would suggest we take care of these three there. Alkahest is absorbing magic, and I don’t want to figure out why firsthand,” Charge interrupted them with putting a hand on their shoulders and the stepping in front of them and pulling out a different Charger.
“Fine,” Monster returned, still eyeing Alchemy who just shrugged and pulled out his newest Disc.
“Charge up!”
\ FRIENDSHIP DISC ACTIVATED! /
\ 50, 80, 100! FRIENDSHIP CHARGE! /
\ AWAKEN: CHANGELING! /
The Corrupted slowly backed away as they saw the Riders take their individual forms, but they did not flee. The tension in the air was unbearable, no one moving a muscle, not daring to anger the Riders. That was until Alchemy removed his Disc again and started to turn it into his weapon.
\ Friendship Disc Attack Mode! /
\ Connect Protector! /
“So, let’s bring out the trash. I got dips on Snaky,” with that he rushed forward, leaving Charge and Monster behind him. The two however just looked at each other for a moment and quickly followed their fellow Rider.
Alchemy was the first to reach his opponent, bringing his sword down on him, the Corrupted managed to barely slip his own blade between Alchemy and his head. With a loud groan he was forced back, Alchemy not relenting for even a second as he followed up his attack with another swing, but this time the Corrupted was far better prepared, hitting his attack with all his might, both combatants staggering back a feet thanks to the force. To his surprise, this time the Corrupted had managed to be faster, jumping forward and letting his blade come down on the Rider. What the Corrupted had however not anticipated was the fact that Phoenix had a shield, and with nothing more than a swift motion of his arm he managed to wedge the sword in between the edges of the shield and yank it out of the hands of the Corrupted, sending it sliding across the floor to the other end of the room. He just smirked under his helmet and followed up with a satisfying slash across the chest of the Corrupted, who let out a loud screech.
Meanwhile, Charge was busy dodging the attacks of the harpy, felling the gust of wind as it rushed past her time and time again. But with every attack the Corrupted unleashed on her she just fought back harder, unloading her weapon on her. While most of the shots missed the agile target, a few did indeed hit the mark, letting her scream out in pain. After the fifth time, this had happened the Corrupted had grown increasingly tired of this and let out a gust of wind that caught everything in its path, not even the furniture was safe from the vicious attack of the monster. Charge tried to escape the blast, but unfortunately, the area affected by it was just too large, and she was swept off her feet and forced against the wall. As the Corrupted stared to laugh so did Charge, much to the concussion of her opponent. That confusion was however quickly washed away by unreasonable pain in the back of the Corrupted. Not even a moment later she felt the pain on another part of her back, then another and another until she just counts and only felt the pain as a large mass on her back. All the shoots Charge had missed until now had all been directed to her back, letting the Corrupted collapse onto the ground.
While Charge and Alchemy were occupied by their own opponents Monster was slashing away at the sabertooth, the beast trying to block his claws with the two weapons in his hand. To the dismay of the Corrupted, the Rider was just faster and stronger, slowly forcing the Corrupted back, not without leaving several wounds all over his body. As the Corrupted staggered back from a particularly devastating blow Monster roared and lashed forward, both claws ready to come down on his opponent. The beast in return not to be outdone roared back in return and lunged forward with its two blades. With a loud pained scream, the Corrupted went down, his weapons slashed into small pieces and collapsed behind the Rider.
“How about we finish this?”
“Sounds good Alchemy, right Monster?” She only got a positive growling in return. With that, all three Riders activated their respective Finishers
\ Friendship Disc Maximum Power! /
\ Maximum Charge! /
\ ROAR: CHANGELING! /
The Corrupted could only stare in horror as one of them was caught in chains coming from six seals around him, another one saw herself the target of a fully powered Rivel and the last one was charged at by a roaring Rider headfirst. Within seconds all three monsters fell to the Riders, the first crushed by Alchemy's kick, the second blasted away by Charge's rival and the last one picked by Monsters etherial horn.
The three had however no time to spare, picked up the rings the Corrupted had let fall and rushed over to where they had seen Alkahest disappear to. They had just crossed the hole Charge, and he had made the other day as someone stepped into their way, Checkbook. “Well, well, well. You managed to beat the brutes? A shame really, they could have been so useful, but oh well. I would warn you about Cerberus, he can be really pissy when you mess with his subordinates, even if they were that only for a short while. You really put a dent into his organization, I don't think you will be left unpunished after this stunt, especially after Sable, right?” He looked over to Charge, who just let her head hang low. “But that is not your biggest problem right now, that would be me,” the Corrupted smugly returned, mockingly bowing before them.
That was the moment Monster had waited for, jumping ahead, trying to slash across the face of the Corrupted. To his utter shock, the Corrupted quickly dodged the attack and in return grabbed ahold of the Rider, slamming him into the ground. With a loud groan Monster was left there, his body imprinted on the floor and unable to move.
His tow allies quickly shook off their shock and dashed towards the opponent, Alchemy trying to strike the beast with his weapon, but the Corrupted merely dodged the attacks, almost like it was child play. This did indeed infuriate the Rider more and more, and as the Corrupted just grabbed his weapon with his fingers, he was far to slow to block the following swipe with his claws. With a loud scream the Rider was thrown aside, and now only Charge remained standing.
She had unleashed several salves on the Corrupted while Alchemy had tried his hardest to beat him. All had just bounced off the armor of the Corrupted like it was nothing. Still, she pushed on, trying to hit a weak spot, just something. That was when she hit the eyes of the Corrupted, with a loud screech she could see the monster stagger backward, clutching his eye while bellowing curses and insults at her. This was the moment she had been waiting for, dashing past the Corrupted she unloaded her weapon on what was in front of her, Alkahest. If she couldn't win this fight, there was still one thing she could do.
The Dark Rider meanwhile had finally finished the absorption of the remaining magic from the day before. The moment he finished the Disc in his hand started to change, taking on the same form the one Alchemy had in his possession. Then it hit him before he had any chance to even revel in his apparent victory he felt the stings of countless energy blasts penetrating his armor and back. Unprepared for this he was thrown across the room and landed roughly against the wall, sliding down on it. On the way down his armor started to shatter revealing a man with grey skin and black hair clad in a black leather jacket.
“Alkahest!” she heard from behind, and in the blink of an eye, she was flung aside and into the next wall. “You, you will pay for this!” Checkbook growled, preparing to strike her down as he heard a loud voice call out for him, letting his claw stope just inches above her.
“No, that won't be necessary!” The voice that had spoken before bellowed.
“But-”
“No, she can still be useful in getting my revenge, so leave her be!” Checkbook muttered something incomprehensible but did follow the order, returning to Alkahest.
“Who… Who are you?” Was all she could manage to say.
“Oh, right, we haven't introduced ourself yet. My name is Shadow Gold, maybe you heard about me already?” The voice returned with a gleeful smugness. Charge just stared back in silence. “Ah, you did, good. And this useless Rider here is Platinum Shadow, my loyal servant.”
“What? How can you-” A loud scream interrupted the man as he tried to speak up.
“You only speak when you are told to! How many times do I need to say that?” The voice bellowed back over the screams of Platinum. “And what does it matter anyway. You already sowed them your face, they will know your name anyway. See it as a punishment. And with the Disc that won't matter anyway, so be silent!” Platinum quickly nodded, the pain finally subsiding. “Good. Enjoy the last few days of peace in your life, soon you will only know despair.” With that Checkbook grabbed Platinum and with another wave of his hands let the windows to the outside shatter, flying off with the Dark Rider.
>--------------<
The doors slowly opened with a loud screech as Ocean silently sneaked into the room. Several bandages had been plaster across her body, and she looked like she had received a beating with an iron bat. Still, all of that was to no concern to her, she had a meeting that she couldn't let go to waste. She stepped closer to the bed in the brightly lit room. Inside she could see a man with cascade arm who was connected to several tubes.
"You look awful," came from the man with a weak chuckle.
"You are one to talk," she jokingly returned, only to quickly stop in the middle of her own chuckle. "I'm so sorry," she quickly added, her voice filled with shame and embarrassment.
"Ah, don't beat yourself up over it. It turned out fine, didn't it?" Shining dismissively returned.
"But what if it hadn't? I lost track of what mattered, all for my own stupid feelings. I placed hunting for my friend over protecting the people of the city, and in return you," she angrily returned, small tears starting to form in her eyes. "I failed you, this is all my fault!"
"That is enough Ocean." She looked up to him, a stern expression on his face. "You might have made a mistake, but you stood up again, noticed it and will try to correct it. That is all that matters. You can't change the past, you only can change the future. So quit moping and keep moving forward!" The determined look on his face let Ocean step back in surprise.
"I... I... You are right, just like Phoenix... Come to think of it, that does sound exactly like him. Shining?" She looked suspiciously over to the injured officer, who tried to hide an embarrassed smile.
"Well, to be honest, he told me that you would probably come to me and want to talk about it. He said he had talked it through with you already and you would only need words of encouragement," he sheepishly returned, unable to look into Ocean's eyes. "He said he just wanted you back, the way you were before this happened. He missed his rock in the surf."
"This little," she smirked. "I give him that, he knows what to say to people to get them back up. Still, I'll go to have a few words with him. Then he will see the old me in action," she jokingly added. "By the way, thanks, this means a lot to me."
"Thanks, but still, I truly mean what I said. I couldn't think of a better superior than you. When push comes to shove, you will always be there for the people around you, I just know that" Shining returned, a genuine smile on his lips. "On another note, don't worry about Cadance, she will calm down eventually. Just give her some time, she can be rather angry when someone hurts me."
Ocean looked at him with a look of worry and said: "Well, thanks for the warning, I think I'll apologize to her in person or something like that. Wouldn't want to get on her bad side, or at least even more."
"Yeah," he returned, mirroring her worry to a certain extent.
"So, then I leave you to your recovery. Looking forward to working with you again. See ya."
"See ya."