Kamen Rider Alchemy

by Layton13

Burden of the Monster - Of Serpents and Birds

“Cute, he actually has friends, and they are even willing to come to die with him. Maybe we get a bonus if we get your Drivers as well,” the earth Corrupted mocked them, new drills already growing back.

“You want our Drivers? Yeah, how about no? I’m rather attached to this thing just so you know,” Alchemy snarked back, holding his weapon ready to attack the moment any of them moved even an inch.

“Take it easy Monster, we’ll deal with them, you should not overexert yourself,” Charge meanwhile spoke to the injured Rider, the three opponents in the corners of her eyes, carefully examining them.

“No… I won’t let you fight without me. This is my responsibility, and I have to uphold it,” he countered, gripping the hilt of his weapon tightly and readying himself for the coming fight. Charge just sighed in frustration, but ultimately relented with a simple nod.

“Alchemy! You take care of the plant one, I’ll deal with the earth one and Monster if you want to help, make sure the skies are clear.” The other two Riders nodded in agreement and then stormed off towards their respective opponents. “Charge up!”

\ 50, 80, 100! FIRE CHARGE! /

As she was running a ball of crimson energy consumed her, letting the drills that were flying towards her explode on impact, however not harming her in the process. As the light had subsided, she rocketed towards the Corrupted thanks to her booster, delivering a punch that sent the monster staggering back. Before it could react, she had already caught up to him, grabbing his shoulders and slamming her knee into his stomach, complete with help from her exhaust pipe, increasing the strength of her attacks tenfold. After the initial impact, the streams of steam suddenly changed direction, pulling her leg back away from him again, only to change directions again and repeat the process, each hit letting the armor of the Corrupted crack more and more.

“Stop it!” The monster yelled, finally managing to push Charge off him with its drills. “You… You little bitch, I’m going to tear you apart, you understand me!?” Without even another moment it rushed towards her, wildly swinging its drills at her, Charge merely jumping over them and taking potshots whenever possible.

Meanwhile, Alchemy was wrestling with the vines of his opponent that were currently pinning him against a tree. “Hey, Bonehead, how about we heat things up a bit? I think you’ll like it.” While he spoke he steadily pushed his hand through the vines and towards his sword. Finally reaching it a quick spin of the handguard was all he needed to let flames erupt from the weapon and by extension through the vines of the Corrupted, letting it scream out in agony. “Huh, to hot for you? Sorry, the weather report said it would only get hotter,” he chuckled and dashed towards his opponent, slicing apart the vines that were coming his way with ease, much to the Corrupted dismay.

With every following swipe of his sword, he cut through more and more of the attacking planes until he finally reached his opponent proper, slashing across the chest of the monster, letting it erupt an ear-bursting scream, the skull moving in creepy ways inside the flower only to snap back at him with a vicious glow in its eyes. “You!” The beast bellowed in a low, unnerving voice. “You will regret this!” And without any form of warning the monster unleashed a new barrage of vines, this time like an explosion all around it, shooting in every direction, letting the vines like tentacles swing around him, one slamming right into Alchemy’s gut and sending him flying again.

The landing was like was to expecting rather ruth and worst of all, his weapon had laned sever meters before him, right in the middle of the storm of trashing vines. “Great,” he sighed and readied himself to rush towards the desired object, ignoring the pain in his stomach.

The first attack that came his way was easy enough to dodge, just jumping over it, only to realize that another one was already following right behind it, around the area where his head was. After a quick movement of his head, that was just barely enough to avoid another hit, he landed with a quick role, only to nearly be swiped off his feet by the next one that had come from behind.

What followed was a mad dash towards the weapon, only interrupted when another vine came close enough to him, which to his annoyance was quite frequent. Still, he could call himself lucky that he managed to dodge every single one that had come his way, even if in some instances it was a rather close call. After this taxing experience, he lunged forward one last time with a role, garbing the sword and slicing apart the vine that was coming directly at him, followed up by a loud screech from the Corrupted.

After a swift motion with his hands, the handguard had again been spun again, and Alchemy screamed: “Flaming Slash!” before unleashing burning wave of energy that turned a few trees around him as well as the vines of the Corrupted into little piles of ash. “Ha, finally. Now,” he looked over to his opponent who was screaming in pain trying to extinguish the flames that had erupted all over his body. “It’s payback time!”

Before the Corrupted could even realize what Alchemy had just said it was already being assaulted by a barge of slashes all over its body, every single one burning worse than the last. “Ha, like that Bonehead? Don’t think so!” Alchemy screamed over its screams like it was nothing.

While this had been happening Monster had been dealing with his own opponent. The first reaction from the Corrupted had been to just ascend into the air, and soar through the forest away from the fight only to quickly return, aiming right for Charge. This plan, however, was not to be accomplished as Monster’s wipe tightened itself around its feet again, stopping the Corrupted only meters away from its target and dragging him back into the air and right into the next tree unable to do anything at all.

As the Corrupted tumbled towards the ground again, accompanied by the remains of the tree, Monster was meanwhile hovering in the air, breathing heavily. “Damn, I can’t stop now.” With a final deep breath, he lunged himself towards the beast, about to rike with the wipe as a storm of feathers flew his way, hitting him all over his body, letting sparks rain down towards the ground.

He landed rather ungracefully next to the Corrupted who had managed to stand up again, slowly dragging itself towards the Rider, weakly cackling to himself: “Well, well, seems someone got in over their head, but don’t worry I’ll make sure this is over soon. You really should have just given us your Driver, would have made this so much easier for all of us.”

While the Corrupted spoke Monster was slowly rose up from the ground, his legs shaking heavily as he tried to remain on his foot, much to the delight of his opponent. “Screw you. I can’t and will never stop to protect this land and my legacy. A pathetic lowlife like you could never win against me! Not in a thousand years. I can’t die here and never can Monster!” Mustering all his remaining strength together he charged towards the Corrupted, surprising it with his speed and thirsty as he pummeled the beast to the ground and began to pummel it into submission like a savage animal.

Unable to respond the Corrupted could only look as fist after fist came down on his face, slamming into his beak, each strike hurting more and more, the pain stinging again and again through his face and ultimately through its body. After what felt like the dozens punch the best finally seemed to slow down, that was all the Corrupted needed as he managed to free one of his wings and swing it into the direction of the Rider, letting some of the fathers from the wing rocket towards him. Monster didn’t even realize what had happened until he lay several meters away from the beast, clutching his side in agony.

“See, you can’t win. Try as you might, you will never beat Tartarus, and even if you somehow survive this, we will just come back, again and again until we got what we want. We never fail, we always win in the, like everyone will end up in Tartarus one day!” Still, the Corrupted hadn’t escaped this fight unscathed, it was slowly tumbling from side to side, trying to remain standing, eyes locked on Monster who was growling at the beast before him, anger slowly washing away the pain all over his body.

His vision was getting fuzzy, but one spot remained clear as day, the Corrupted. It was all Monster had to see, gripping his wipe tightly he again swung it in the direction of the Corrupted, taking him off guard with his tenacity and unwillingness to surrender and slashed him across the chest, hitting his wing in the process. He didn’t even register the ear-bursting scream that came from his opponent, so much rage was filling his mind, the only thing that mattered was to win, win, win! The next strike soon followed.

As all three Corrupted were in a bad situation, desperation spreading through there ranks as suddenly something came crashing down from the sky. A glowing orb of red energy that quickly spread apart and surrounded the Riders and their opponents. Seconds later Remnants emerged from the ground, clad in their armor and with crimson skin they rushed towards the Riders, knocking Monster away from his opponent while Alchemy and Charge managed to dodge their attacks. The Corrupted immediately seized their chance and started to retreat, Charge’s opponent returning underground, the Corrupted that had fought with Monster ascended back into the sky, well at least as best as he could with his injured wing and the last one simply did run for it.

Alchemy was the first to regain his composure and charged towards his fleeing opponent, only to be blocked by the Remnants as they swung their fist in his direction. He stumbled out of the way in the last second, the glowing eyes of the monsters following him the entire time. “Oh, come on! Why do you guys have to appear now of all times? Seriously, you always come at the worst time,” he growled back at them agitation in his voice.

However, as annoying as they were they were no match against Alchemy’s weapon, every strike pushing them further back. One after the other fell, some sliced through their helmets, others merely stabbed, and others cut in half. “You like this?” He mockingly asked them, grinning under his helmet as his annoyance was washed away. “Oh, right, you’re not the talkative type,” Alchemy sighed in return and continued his barrage of attacks on them.

Charge had meanwhile taken out her Stun Batons and was carefully striking down Remnant after Remnant, crushing skulls, breaking legs and all around making them regret ever coming here. That was until she caught something in the corner of her eyes, Monster being swarmed by a group of the Monsters and unable to fend them off. “Damnit,” she hissed and looked over to her other partner. “Alchemy, take care of mine for me, I have to help Monster!” Without even waiting for an answer she rushed over to the battered and beaten Rider.

One of the monsters was about to slam its fist into his helmet as Charge tackled the Remnant of him and with one quick stab of her baton silenced the beast for good. Before the others could even react to the new opponent Charge had already continued her attack, stabbing and breaking away the monsters. After a good minute she the threat had been dealt with, Monster laying on the ground breathing heavily and quick. No sign of the Corrupted could be seen.

“Thanks,” Pinecone muttered, his armor falling off him into shards that quickly vanished into thin air. To her utter surprise Pinecone started to stand up again and was about to stagger away, clutching his side in anguish.

“Pinecone, what are you doing?” She gasped out in shock, staring at the injured man, having already disabled her armor. “You are injured, you can’t just walk that off. I’m gonna take you to the hospital!”

“I can’t, I have to make sure they don’t desecrate the shrine, it’s not that bad anyway, just a scratch,” as he said that his legs started to give in and he sunk towards the ground, a pained groan escaping his lungs.

“Pinecone!” Both Phoenix and Ocean cried out at once and rushed over to him. But as they were trying to help him up again, he shoved them away and marched onward.

“Let me alone. I got this,” he hissed back, his expression a pained grimace.

“Pinecone!” A new voice cried out through the forest, coming from the house. Emerald was running towards them in a wild dash, her face was covered in fear and worry. She nearly knocked Pinecone of his feet as she finally reached him. “Are you ok? Oh, by Gaia, what are you doing?”

“I’m ok, don’t worry. I’m just doing my job, something that would be much easier if everyone would not stop me every few meters!” Pine sounded extremely annoyed, with a bit of pain in his voice, as he worked himself loose from her grip and continued his walk towards the woods, as best as he could.

“Pinecone! These people are here to help you, you can just go to the hospital, and they will take care of everything, please, you’re hurt, you’re just going to get yourself killed,” she begged her brother, grabbing hold of his arm again, a tear rolling down her cheek.

With a forceful pull, he managed to free himself from her grasp, a pained groan escaping his lips as he did so. “I can’t. This is my duty, not theirs. I have to do this, no one else. It has always been and will always be my burden to carry and no one else, I won't let that happen!”

Emerald was about to go after him again only to stop dead in her tracks and stare towards the ground, all the frustration and anger from before boiling towards the surface again. “Then go if you have to! Kill yourself for all I care!” She shouted towards him, more and more tears falling down towards the ground and then suddenly ran back towards the house and slamming the door shut behind her.

As Phoenix and Ocean looked back towards Pinecone, he had already continued his path deeper into the forest, his hand leaning against a tree, dragging himself further. Phoenix looked over to his partner with an asking look. “Phoenix, try to cheer Emerald up, I’ll make sure that Pinecone doesn’t kill himself. Got it?” Phoenix nodded in return and quickly run towards the house and knock on the door while Ocean jogged behind Pinecone.

Inside Emerald was sitting on the kitchen table, tears already covering the whole table as a soft knock could be heard on the door. No response, she continued to cry, not even looking up from the table as tear after tear came falling down. Another knock, this time a bit more forceful, she gave a passing glance to the door only to turn her head back towards the table and ignore it.

Then a there was a third knock, followed by Phoenix screaming: “Emerald, open up! Please!” With a heavy sigh, she stood up from the table and dragged herself over towards the door. As Phoenix was about to knock again, he hit the air as Emerald opened the door revealing her tear soaked face and a desperate look in her eyes. His words were stuck in his throat, unable to speak. He just stared at her, tying multiple time to say something, only to stop again and continue his wordless staring.

Emerald turned around and returned to her chair, resuming her previous position, leaving Phoenix just standing there, staring at her, unable to say anything. It took him a few more moments to finally walk into the house, slowly closing the door behind himself. The silence was painful, only interrupted by Emerald's heartbreaking sobs. As he walked up to the table the unpleasantness only increased with every second, slowly pulled out the other chair and sit down next to her.

“Why?” Emerald suddenly sobbed after a good minute of further silence. “Why does he do this? This stupid dumb legacy is not worth his life, why can’t he see that?”

“You ask me that? You know I’m on your side. I think he is stupid for going out there and risking his life for a dumb legacy, but he is an adult, I can’t tell him what to do. If it is what he wants to do and he decided that himself, who am I to tell him what to do. Not that I will stop saying he is wrong, but the choice is his to make, isn’t it,” he somberly replied, sounding equal amounts frustrated and accepting.

“But… But what if he dies? What will I do? Does he expect me to play the guardian?” Emerald whispered back, her sobbing only increasing in volume.

“I’m sorry, I can’t tell you that. I don’t know him very well, I don’t even know Ocean all that well, to be honest,” he weakly replied, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. “But, I know a thing about siblings, and I’m sure he doesn’t want to do that. If he is anything like my brother, he is probably doing this to keep you as far away from this insanity as he can and probably everyone else as well. Either that, or he is completely obsessed with his duty, but I think it’s the first one, at least that is what I’m hoping.”

This seemed to calm her down a bid, her sobbing slowing down to a soft whimper. “Really?” Emerald almost whispered.

“Really! Siblings look out for each other, they are family, and you will always make sure that your family is safe, as much as you pretend to hate them, there is always that special bond that can never be undone, only damaged. Friends come and go, but family, family is eternal.” While he spoke, his gaze had wandered into nothingness. He quickly snapped out of it however with a slight chuckle. “Sorry, I sometimes get a bit sappy,” he smirked back at her.

She returned the chuckle, looking up again and straight into his eyes. Her own were bloodshot from all the tears, and she still was sobbing a little bit, but the smile on her face let him ignore everything else. “Oh, don’t feel bad about that, I kinda like it. Makes you seem like a hero out of a comic book, with all the campy and cheesiness.”

As an answer, Emerald received laughter from Phoenix. “Yeah, you are kinda right, but hey, it’s just way to much fun to not do it, isn’t it?” She nodded in return. “See, that’s more like it.”

She giggled as a response only to turn more somber after a while. “Uhm, I- I wanted to ask you something,” she weakly continued.

He looked at her, somewhat worried but continued: “Sure, what is it?”

“If- if he really dies, what should I do?” She looked desperate at him, Phoenix unable to say anything. “Come on, please, tell me what I should do if he really leaves me alone.” She was on the verge of tears again, pleading for an answer from him.

“He isn’t going to die. Ocean and I will not let that happen, trust me. But, if you really want to know, I’ll tell you. Move forward towards the future. If you don’t do that, nothing will ever change, and it’s going to happen again and again. Only those that move forward towards a brighter future can actually shape it.” She nodded weakly in return, the ghost of a smile appearing on her lips. “But trust me, if he dies I’m dragging him back from Tartarus myself so you can scream at him!” That got a slight chuckle out of Emerald.

>-------<A>-------<

Pinecone had meanwhile stumbled further through the forest, getting further away from the house with every step.

“Where are you going?” No response, he just continued. “Pinecone, please, just tell me where we are going.” While he did not give her an answer she did notice a cave with a wooden wall in front of them, one Pinecone was walking directly towards. “Is this your shrine?”

“It’s not my shrine, it belongs to Gaia Everfree, I’m just it’s guardian, that is all,” he replied, his voice a mixture of pain and annoyance. “And you are staying outside.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“What I mean with that? I thought you were the smart one. You are staying outside, I’m going in alone!”

“What?! You’re hurt, I can’t let you alone,” she returned, shock and anger mixing in her voice.

“I never ask you to play babysitter. Don’t worry, I won't just fall over and die in there. If you really want to look out for me, do it from out here.” Without waiting any longer he entered the door and left Ocean behind, wrinkles appearing on her face as she stared at the door.

>-------<A>-------<

“And then the book fell on his head. Oh, he was fuming, and it was all his fault,” Emerald said, laughing the entire time. It had been a while since Pinecone and Ocean had stumbled towards the deeper parts of the forest.

“Oh, that is good. Come one tell me another-“ Pheonix replied, snickering the entire time, only to suddenly stop and stare towards the window.

“What? Did I say something wrong?” She asked, staring at him like he was out of his mind. He just held his finger to his mouth and signaled her to be quiet. As she turned around, she could see three figures walking towards the house, a strange metal briefcase in one of their hands.

“Emerald,” Phoenix handed her his phone and carefully stood up from his chair, sneaking towards the door. “Call Ocean and hide in your room. I have the feeling someone hadn’t had enough of a beating for today. And make sure you don’t come out till I’ll tell you.” With these words, he put on his Driver and pulled out one of his Discs. “Oh, and tell Pinecone I’m sorry for this,” he sheepishly added as he put on his disc and started spinning it, running towards the door.

\ MAGIC DISC DETECTED! /

“Henshin!”

\ WATER DISC ACTIVATED! /

The water around him followed him as he burst through the door, unhinging it in the process, coming to a close right before the three individuals. A woman with white skin and orange hair in an elegant flowing dress, a man with yellow skin and purple hair that ended in spikes and punk look and a man with a light blue complexion as well as dark blue hair dressed in a purple business suit.

“Ah, Alchemy. I see you are still here. Couldn’t get enough of us? Look, we are only here for the Monster Driver, not for you and your partner. Just give us the Driver, and we will leave,” the man in the business suit said, the grip on the suitcase only increasing.

“So, let me guess, you are Bonehead, Featherbrain, and Drilface? Yeah, while I dislike that grump, not going to give you that, but I have a different offer for you, give me your artifacts, and I will let you leave,” he encountered, eyeing the three carefully.

The man in the suit sighed in frustration, a bright light emerging from his neck, the same thing was happening with his two compatriots. Alchemy immediately rushed towards them and removed his Disc from his Driver again.

\ Water Disc Attack Mode! /

\ Wave Trident! /

The man with the suit turned into the bird-like Corrupted, number Twenty-three, the woman, had turned into the plant-based Corrupted number Twenty-one, and the last one turned into Twenty-two, the earth Corrupted. During the chaos of their transformation, Twenty-three had let the suitcase fall towards the ground and with a swift motion of his wings let it shatter into a thousand pieces, immediately five orbs of energy emerged from the remains of the suitcase and scattered across the surrounding area.

What rose from the spots was something quite familiar to Alchemy, Remnants, lots of them, in red, green, orange, light and dark blue, one for every element he currently possessed had gathered around them, around fifty of them. One of them right in front of Alchemy, blocking his attack with his weapon, absorbing the blunt force of the attack, letting the actual target, Twenty-two escape unscathed.

“Oh, you have got to be shitting me,” he sighed as he looked upon the army before him.

“Want to surrender now and give us the Monster Driver?” Twenty-three asked again, his voice drenched in arrogance as he looked upon the Rider, surrounded by enemies.

“Are you kidding me? I can fight through an army of you? That sounds like a dream, Featherbrain,” he laughed back at them, only to quietly add: “Ocean, I hope you get here fast because this is quickly turning into the worst kind of day.”

>-------<A>-------<

Inside the shrine, Pinecone was dragging himself through the cave the shrine was made out of. Everything was lit by old oil lamps he had ignited this morning, like every morning. The ground was covered in a carpet of tree branches that were bound together with rope, and the walls were lined with banners of Gaia Everfree, guiding people through the forest. The sound of dripping water was ever pressed in the background.

It had felt like forever, but he had finally reached the end of the cave. A large wall ornament had been carved into the stone at the end, encased by wood and cloth, it depicted Gaia Everfree in all her glory sitting in her beloved forest, around her were five small round holes in the ornament, surrounding her in a pentagon. Three of them were empty, but two were still filled with coin-like objects, one was light blue while the other was a darker shade of blue. He kneeled before the ornament and started to speak to himself: “Oh, mighty Gaia Everfree, guardian of this forest and everyone that travels through it. I ask for your blessing and help in this coming conflict. Please, allow me to take the remaining medals so I may fulfill my duty as guardian in your place.”

Silence filled the air, only interrupted through the sound of dripping water. After about a minute of silence, he stood up again, bowed before the ornament and removed the two remaining medals. “I’ll make you proud,” he whispered towards the picture and started to return to the exit.

>-------<A>-------<

While Pinecone was praying at the shrine Alchemy was struggling with the plethora of opponents before him. He had managed to take down at least ten Remnants, but sadly the sheer number of enemies was too much, every time he tried to concentrate on a single one of them, another one just jumped in and distracted him.

He was just about to stab his trident into Twenty-two as Twenty-one got ahold of him thanks to her vines and quickly dragged him towards her, much to his displeasure. A swift slam against the ground was followed up by another one against a tree, and then a rock, and she probably would have continued if he hadn’t managed to cut himself loose from his attacker, landing rather painfully on the ground. All over his body were bruises, and he arched oh so badly. The three Corrupted and their Remnants were now closing in on him, ready to finish this as something came in from behind them, Charge. She had boosted through the crowd of Remnants, taking out at least four of them. “Need a bit of help,” she jokingly asked him.

“Oh, you wouldn’t believe how much,” he returned rather exhausted. “These three really don’t know the rules, they are supposed to come back tomorrow, not today.”

She just nodded in return and raced off towards one of the Corrupted, slamming her fist right into his stone armor, sending it flying. She didn’t wast any time and continued her assault, letting fist after fist rain down on the monster, his armor quickly shattering, apparently not fully recovered from their last fight.

In the corner of his eyes, he noticed that another Corrupted was about to act, jumping between Charge and a storm of feathers that was rocketing towards her. With a swift motion of his weapon, he managed to deflect the incoming projectiles, he, however, had not noticed the vines that had come from behind them and quickly wrapped themselves around Alchemy and Charge. Seconds later they were thrown towards the ground, rolling around as they landed, Remnants storming towards them.

However, before they could be swarmed by the hoard of monsters, a wave made out of water washed over them, surprisingly missing them in the process. The Remnants that were caught in the attack were quickly dispatched, crushed by the force of the water. After everything had subsided again, everyone was left speechless, unable to process what had just happened before their eyes.

“You made a grave mistake. You brought the wrath of Gaia Everfree on yourself, and I am the messenger,” Monster voice boomed through the woods, every eye now on him, clad in dark blue armor. His head had the form of a snake with fines on the side and something that kinda looked like a metal mustache under the crimson bug eyes. His shoulder pads had the shape of snake tails, and in his hand, he led a spear, the pointy end of it came out of something that looked like the open mouth of a snake.

Using the surprise of everyone he lunged his spear forward, it sailing through the air and landing firmly in the wing of number Twenty-three. It hadn’t taken him long to rush over to her, grab his weapon and yank it out of her wound by using her as a jump pad. Accompanied by a loud scream he had freed his weapon and was already on the attack, the cry, however, had also another effect, getting everyone out of their state of shock.

“Well, seems he feels better. How about we go after the others? I take Bonehead, and you go after-“ he was about to say only for Charge to finish his sentence.

“Drillface?”

“Yeah, you got it,” he smirked back, and both of them went off, taking care of their respective opponents.

Charge was the first to reach her opponent, evading several of the drills that were coming her way, even if it was just barely. The last one was punched to the side, exploding, and was followed up by another punch directly into the Corrupted armor, letting it crack even further. But before she could continue her assault on him, another drill was thrust forward, burying itself directly where she had been standing a few moments before. She had evaded the attack with a swift jump aided by her boosters and by merely switching the direction they were pointing she slammed down on the poor monster hard. Jumping off from him she spun her cylinder again, the beast slowly returning into a standing position.

\ Maximum Charge! /

The booster all over her body ignited again, and she rocketed towards the Corrupted, punching him into the air and kicked him on his way up. Reduced to his human form Twenty-two landed next to her.

Alchemy had meanwhile held his own against his opponent, slashing away every vine that had come towards him. Still, she was unrelenting, not slowing down for even a second, forcing him further and further away. After one particular dirty attack from behind Alchemy finally had enough, without overthinking it, he charged towards his opponent, slashing through everything in his way and ultimately across the Corrupted’s chest, letting it fall to the ground with a painful screech. “Bonehead, you used the powers that were bestowed upon you to attack others and steal from them. By the magic that was bestowed upon me, I deem you unworthy of your powers and will now take them from you!” His weapon turned back into the Disc, he placed it on the Driver and started to spin it.

\ Water Disc Maximum Power! /

“Tide Breaker!” Like before, a new magic seal appeared behind him and he jumped towards the Corrupted aided by the force of the water. The opponent was quickly dealt with and reduced to her human form again.

The only one left fighting was Monster, who was wailing on number Twenty-three. With a particularly mighty blow, he sent the monster flying. Planting his spear into the earth, he removed the current Medal and replaced it with the electric blue one, closing the Driver again.

\ AWAKEN: THUNDERBIRD! /

His armor was quickly swallowed by an aetherial blue bird, and as the light had dimmed down again, he emerged in light blue armor, helmet shaped like a bird with crimson eyes. His shoulders had the form of wings, and in his hand, he held a rapier with a bird-shaped handguard.

The Corrupted had used this short moment of rest to regain his footing, sadly it wasn't to last. A quick stab with the rapier let him stagger back almost immediately, followed up by another and another one. The last strick was aimed directly at the wings of the creature, slashing them off, the pain let the Corrupted scream out in agony. But instead of continuing his assault he opened and closed the Driver again, making it cry out.

\ ROAR: THUNDERBIRD! /

The aetherial bird emerged again and disappeared inside the rapier. After that Monster ascended into the air and rocketed of far away, surprising the other two Riders and the remaining Corrupted, only to return with inhuman speed, rapid directed at its target. The closer he got he took on the form of an aetherial bird, strongest when he was centimeters away from him. The next thing they knew was that a massive explosion had erupted where the Corrupted had stood and Monster was standing roughly twenty meters away from that point. Like the rest, the last one was defeated and laid unconscious in his human form on the ground.

“Well, thank goodness this is over,” Alchemy sighed as he approached the other two, disabling his transformation in the meantime. “And nice upgrade. Now I’m not the only one with five forms. Hey, Ocean, you have to get that fixed at one point,” he added.

“Well, whose fault is that again?” She jokingly replied, letting Phoenix whistle innocently. “On another note, how do you feel Pinecone? Does it still hurt?” Concern in her voice.

“I’m fine. Nothing a few bandages won’t fix.” He looked over at them, seemingly looking for the right words. “Thank you for your help. And, there is something else as well,” he sighed, looking towards the forest, presumably where Canterlot City was. “I will fight with you.”

Ocean’s and Phoenix’s jaw dropped, they had never expected this, especially after how he had acted beforehand. “Well, thank you very much. I don’t want to sound rude, but where does the sudden change on that front come from?” She looked expectingly at him.

“This was the second time that someone from this ‘Tartarus’ organization has come to us and wanted the Driver. This won’t stop. I have to make sure that it is safe and just sitting around here won't solve that. I will help you two take down Tartarus,” the matter of factly said.

“Well, ok then. We will gladly accept your help. Right, Phoenix?” She looked over to him, with a look that actually scared him.

“Yeah, not exactly why we fight, but if it gets you to fight with us more often, I won’t say no. Glad to have you around,” he smiled back at him.

Before they could continue their conversation Pinecone was tackled from behind. He landed on his butt and was quickly grabbed by a white and green person that pulled him into a bone-crushing hug. “You idiot! Never do this again, I was so worried over you,” Emerald sobbed, tears of joy running down her face.

Pinecone was stunned at first, but that quickly turned into a bright smile as he stroked through her hair. “Don’t worry, I will be safe.” Ocean and Phoenix looked at the odd scene for a moment only to burst into laughter, that was quickly joined by Emerald, Pine just smirked instead.

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

By god is Pinecone stupid! He makes Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash look smart!

[Layton13]

9231494
Yeah, not his brightest hour. But I would call it reckless more than stupid. And yeah, comparing him to AJ and RB with their thickheadedness is quite fitting.