Kamen Rider Alchemy

by Layton13

Change - Cornering a Beast

It was a rainy day in Canterlot City, clouds covered the sky, and constant downpour had soaked him to his very core. Thank goodness the station at least had a roof, so they wouldn’t get any wetter. Still, it didn’t really matter much. The last four days had been awful. It all started with an innocent date, one that actually seemed to be perfect, well until it ended. The night turned into a nightmare afterward. Betrayal, fighting, death and worst of all, a kidnapping. Had he known what would have happened he would have never asked for it, but that didn’t matter right now.

After the disaster at the MRG where Ocean had confronted her mother and subsequently killed her after she attacked her as a Rider, everyone had thought this had been enough for one night. It would be hard to overcome, but ultimately, they had the evidence for her crimes, and he was sure with enough time Ocean would be back to normal. Sadly fate had other things in mind for them. The person that had terrorized the city for so long and always had just slipped out of their hands had finally made his move, Alkahest. Shining had called Onyx that the dark Rider was attacking them at this moment and had kidnaped Ivory. That had been enough for Ocean to get back up and rush to the help of her friend, even if she was in no condition to fight, neither physically, nor mentally.

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

They were not even one block away from the lab now, both Riders already armored up and as fast as possible. They couldn’t have been here sooner, it was just impossible. They could hear the sirens from here, loud and bursting and all came from one point, the new lab of the MRG. Roadblocks had been quickly building up to protect any onlookers that were stupid enough to get too close to the building. Still, a few had managed to slip through, taking pictures of the firetrucks and police cars that were rushing to the screen.

What showed itself to them after they finally had arrived was shocking, to say the least. Over thirty police cars had circled around the entrance of the building with firetrucks all around them, trying to fight against the flames that were quickly spreading towards the nearby buildings. The front door had been ripped from its hinges and carelessly thrown towards the street, scorch marks covering almost every inch of them.

Phoenix was in a state of shock as he saw the destruction the dark Rider had brought, it took him almost five seconds until he noticed that ocean had already dismounted her bike the moment it had stopped and had dashed towards the entrance. She didn’t even look for even a second before running towards the entrance, weapon drawn and ready for everything.

The moment Phoenix managed to shake off this feeling he was after her, but as he passed the still smoking remains of the doors he stopped once again. The interior of the place looked even worse, random parts of the building were covered in countless couch marks like they were from a blade. Blodsplatteres had been sprayed all over, some forming long drawn out trailers, apparently from people that had dragged themselves over the floor, but nobody, at least at first glance. That quickly changed however as he saw two firefighters carrying a man with a large chest wound out of the building. As he looked further into the corridors, he could see more body, some already unconscious, some others still crying for help. It was terrifying what Alkahest had caused here, all the people he had hurt and undoubtedly killed.

Around them lay several guns, some shattered, some still intact, but all abandoned. Slowly he continued his advance, passing burning corridors and collapsed rooms by the dozen. Stopping at a few opportunities to get some people out of the rubble or in the hands of the helpers. Meanwhile, Ocean had disappeared completely from his view, probably already deeper in the building. With a silent sigh, he marched onward, carefully looking around every corner, expecting the man in his dark armor around every single one of them.

He wasn’t really sure how he should feel when he didn’t find him around any of them. Should he feel happy to not face him again, undoubtedly alone or should he be angry that he couldn’t find the bastard that had done this? Both sides were fighting in the back of his head, and it was getting quite distracting until he heard a loud shout: “Alchemy! Get over here!” It was Ocean, and she wasn’t even too far off. Throwing caution to the wind he rushed towards the source of her voice, the damage to the building only growing in intensity as he moved further and further.

Holes had been punched into the walls, leading to rooms, or more precisely what was left of them. Some had completely collapsed while others were filled with sparkling, broken equipment. Build by the MRG in a few weeks and housing some of their best had been reduced to a crumbling ruin. Alkahest had truly left his mark on this place.

When he finally reached her she was standing in front of Ivory lab, the door was still shut tightly, and she had her Charge Magnum pointed at the door. “Finally, took you long enough,” she hissed, looking at him through her visor.

“Well, I thought throwing caution to the wind will only get me killed here, so I actually was careful. Oh, and I helped a few of the injured, I think you don’t want them to die, right?”

He sighed in annoyance but ultimately just shook her head. “Whatever, you are here now, and that is all that counts. Now, get ready to take apart everything that is inside there.” With that he burst through the door with her shoulder, soundly knocking the door off its hinges.

What they saw when she pointed her gun around wildly to find Alkahest was in her opinion rather disappointing and frustrating, nothing. Well, nothing wasn’t really right either. The room had been leveled, Ivory’sequipment had been completely trashed, his monitors and machines had been burned to a crisp and some even cut in half. It looked like a tornado had rampaged through the lab.

Well, that was until one piece of the equipment fell over, Ocean immediately pointing her gun in the direction, getting a loud scream in return, followed by a loud thud. From behind one of the computers Shining came crawling out, his face covered in a makeshift mask as well as a lot of ash.

“Shining, thank goodness you are ok. You are ok, right?” Phoenix sighed in relive, walking over to his friend and helping the frightened man up.

“More or less. A bit bruised, but that is to be expected when a rider backhands you,” he chuckled before holding his side in pain and almost sinking back to his knees if Phoenix hadn’t held him.

“Where is Ivory?” Ocean instead said, looking around the room frantically for any sign of her friend.

“Alkahest, he took him. Knocked me out of the way, knocked Ivory out and just left. Well, he wanted to leave, but some of the guards and scientist had grabbed some of the artifacts and tried to stop him. He just walked through them, almost like their attacks couldn’t hurt him in any way. It didn’t even slow him down for five minutes, he just slaughtered them. I think some of them escaped, but the rest…” He swallowed hard, trying to finish his sentence, but ultimately just couldn’t.

“Dammit, we weren’t fast enough. Phoenix, get ready, we are going to hunt this bastard!” Ocean cursed, already back at the door and was about to leave.

“No!” Phoenix simply returned.

“What? Are you insane? He is going to escape with Ivory. Who knows what he is going to do to him! I know you don’t like him that much, but you can’t let this happen to him,” she shouted back, slamming her fist against the wall, it quickly crumbling under the force.

“Shining called us twenty minutes ago; do you really think we are going to find him?” Ocean remained silent, tightening the grip of her hand. “Right now we have to help here. The helpers won’t get everyone in time and even if they could, the chance that something happens is just too big. Right now we have to save the people here, not hunt for the chance of saving Ivory,” he returned with determination in his voice.

Ocean remained silent, trying to speak up several times until she finally said: “I… I just can’t lose him as well. I can’t let that happen, I have to save him!” She turned, anger, frustration, and fear mixing in her voice.

“I know, but right now I can’t let these people here get hurt. If you go after Alkahest now, you will just run around the city like a madwoman, and you won’t find him, all while people here will suffer. I know you well enough that you would hate yourself for that later,” Phoenix paused, Ocean now sating at the floor with her head hanging low. “But I promise you, we will find him. I’m not letting a friend alone.” Ocean slowly nodded. “Good, now, let’s get to work.”

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

Later that night when they had managed to save every last civilian from the building they took one last look at the disaster that had occurred there. Over twenty people dead, at least three times that much injured or in critical condition and all that was done by one man, Alkahest. The hatred and anger in both of them were at a boiling point, and so it was no wonder that the two searched the city for any sign of him for hours, to their dismay however without any luck.

There was the one time he had been supposedly seen circling the MRG building, but when they arrived, he had already disappeared again. The next day was spent almost identically, all while the news of what had happened in the Canterlot City headquarters of the MRG spread like wildfire. Onyx had been wrapped up in a meeting with the remaining heads of the organization since midnight. While the head of the Manehattan branch, Fancy Pants, had backed him up, the heads of the two other departments were not so quick to believe everything Onyx told them, even with sufficient evidence. They believed it to be a ploy to wrestle the control over the MRG out from Monochromes hands and right into his own. Seaddle, one Blueblood, and Whinneapolis, a man named Neighsay, demanded that Ocean would be questioned under all of the eyes of the remaining heads and stripped of her Driver.

After the evening was already starting to set Onyx finally managed to convince the rest of his colleges that everything he had told them was true. After more and more reports that some of Monochrome’s collect friends and allies had disappeared or gone rogue, it was indeed easier to believe. In the end, they settled on an independent investigation confirming what was already pretty obvious, but that was how it worked when something of this scale happened, especially when they had no chance to cover it up. Still, they demanded that Ocean would be questioned by all four of them to verify her story. Grumblingly he accepted, it was really the best he could hope for. Still, he at least managed to get the date of her hearing very close to the burial of Monochrome in Manehattan. That, however, meant that she would have to leave the city for a few days and he was damnd sure that this would not be so easy.

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

“What!? Are they completely out of your mind? I can’t, I have things to do here! I can’t let him run around while he still has Ivory!” She screamed at Onyx who had already taken on a resigned look on his face. This reaction was really not a surprise.

Onyx knew exactly that this had been coming and together with Phoenix he sighed in exhaustion. “Look, Ocean. We know that you want to fin Alkahest-“

“I need to find him, not want to find him,” she insisted, crossing here armed with a frown of annoyance and defiance on her lips.

“Yeah, you need to find him, but if you really want to actually stand a chance against him, you need the Charge Drier. But if you don’t let them interview you and actually behave they will just confiscate the thing, and you should know better than to anger the MRG. If you cut connections with them, they won’t give a single quiet minute ever again, and that would only hinder you in finding Ivory. I get it, you need to find him, especially after you lost someone close to you, but if you go on like this you will never find him, just list-“

“Oh, yes, just listen. Listen and follow orders so you can turn on me as well. I don’t have time for this. Do you know what he might do to Ivory if we don’t find him, or what he already has done to him? No, and I don’t want too,” her anger and frustration quickly turned into desperation and fear. “I can’t lose someone else; I just have to find him.”

“Ocean, you would say the same thing to me if I was looking for Thunder. I get it, trust me, but right now you need someone that cools you down a bit. You would do the same for me. If you rush this and burn your bridges with the MRG, you would always regret it. And it’s not like there won’t be anyone searching for him in the meantime. Pinecone and I will turn around every little stone in this demanding city if we have to. I want to find Ivory as much as you, but you have more in life than him and if you let that go to waste what good will it do if you find him?” Phoenix desperately pleaded, looking his girlfriend into her eyes with a look that could melt ice.

“Exactly. We will give it our all to find Ivory, and you know that. And if you want that we all can put our best to that as well, you have to do this. Just get them off your back; I don’t think anyone else could be a better Charge. Take two days of, talk with the heads of the MRG and go to the funeral, maybe it will help you on that front as well,” Onyx added in a comforting voice.

Ocean just looked at them for a few moments until her anger, desperation, and frustration slowly melted away and left her with an exhausted and knowing look. “Ok. I try my best so I can be of help for Ivory back her as fast as possible. And I will take part in the funeral. It would just be wrong if I wouldn’t.”

“Thanks, Ocean. I knew you would understand it and I promise you, I will give my best to find him,” Phoenix said before hugging her, a small tear running down Oceans cheeks as she returned his hug.

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

The waiting for the train was dreadful. No one knew what they should say, only standing next to each other without saying a single word. The constant downpour pressed against the thin roof of the station and the cold wind even brought some of the hatted drops right next to them. Phoenix had decided to go with her to the station, mainly to say goodbye, and of course, so she wouldn’t get any funny ideas.

They really hadn’t had a good moment to talk ever since that night, something he had actually looked forward to after the date had ended. But with Ivory’s kidnapping more pressing matters just had been on both of their minds and so their relationship had fallen to the wayside. There were some small hugs and a few smiles, but nothing really beyond that. Ocean was just always so focused on saving her friend, something g he really couldn’t blame her for.

And now they finally had a few minutes to talk, and not one of them actually said anything. They were just staring into the distance, occasionally taking a glance towards the other. The atmosphere was strange and definitely uncomfortable. That was until Phoneix finally gathered his courage and said: “So, how are things going to go from here?”

This shook Ocean out of her silence, somewhat suürised by Phoenix sudden words. “What do you mean? Looking or Ivory? You just have to search without me for a few days, but don’t even think about slaking off. I will know,” she returned with a serious undertone in her voice.

“No, I get that. I was actually talking about our relationship. Ever since that night we really hadn’t time to talk. I know you said we were a couple now, but with all that has happened, I just don’t know if-“ Whatever he wanted to say was quickly forgotten by ocean grabbing his hand and giving him a weak, but honest smile.

“Phoenix, whatever happened that night. The things I did or what Alkahest did, it doesn’t matter when it comes to this. The night will always stay in my memories, the bad as well as the good. You really think I would let you fall because it reminds me of what happened. No, I would never do that. I’m glad that we had a date that night, no matter what else happened. What I said that night still stands, but right now there are just more important things in my… our lives. You know that;” she soberly returned, increasing the pressure on his hand as she continued.

“Thanks, that means a lot to me,” he returned, also increasing his grip on her hand. “I know that we have other things in our life right now, but it’s still good to know that you will be there.” She nodded with a sad smile. “Can you promise me something?”

“What?”

“When you are in Manehattan, can you try to shut off for a day or so. Don’t worry about anything here, I’ll take care of it,” he returned, a determined look on his face.

“I know you will, but I can’t make any promises. But I’ll give it my best shot anyway,” she smiled back as both of them heard the announcement.

“The train to Manehattan will arrive shortly on platform three. Please move behind the wight line and wait for the train to stop. The train to Manehattan will arrive shortly on platform three. Please move behind the white line and wait for the train to stop.”

“Well, that means goodbye for now,” Ocean sighed, taking one last glance towards the city and sighed. “Oh well, I’ll leave everything here in your hands, just don’t screw it up,” she chuckled weakly.

“I and screwing things up? Please, whenever did that happen?” Both sharing a quick laugh. “So, yeah, see ya in three days.” At this moment the train arrived, and with him a bit of rain that silently splashed across their bodies. But that didn’t stop Ocean from stepping in front of Phoenix and kissing him again, he quickly returning her kiss. It was a moment where everything seemed to be alright, no evil Riders, no kidnappings, no death, and destruction, only they for what felt like a short eternity. All the stress of the previous days just melted away.

When they finally broke their kiss up both couldn’t other than to smile at the other one. Still, Ocean had to go, and with a silent sigh she packed her suitcase and rushed towards the train, leaving Phoenix behind on the station. He stared at the train as it left the station, looking after it for almost half a minute until he finally turned around with a sigh.

He was happy that they finally had been able to talk, but at the same time sad that she had to go. He sure as Tartarus wouldn’t want to leave when his best friend had been kidnaped by a madman, but there wasn’t really an option. After he had walked through at least half of the station, he heard his phone ringing. Swiftly pulling the thing out he answered: “Yes, Phoenix feather here.”

“Phoenix, we have a problem. There are four magical energy signals that are heading for Pinecones house,” Shining said from the other end of the line.

Ok, got it. Will be right there,” he sighed and wanted to end the call already only to be stopped by Shining.

“Wait, just a heads-up. Two of the signals are actually very familiar.” This did pique his interest. “They are two of Monochromes bodyguards, the ones you fought five days ago.”

“So the ones that got away? If we capture them, they might actually help us in uncovering what who else was on her side,” he returned quickly.

“Exactly. Onyx said to keep an eye on them. There are still at least five others out there with the rings, and if the two other Corrupted that are with them are really some as well, this brings the number down to three.”

“I’m right on it, just warn Pinecone,” again he was about to cancel the call as Shining again continued.

“The strange thing is, he is already there, but he hasn’t called us or anything.”

“What?” This did indeed surprise him quite a bit. Pinecone wasn’t stupid enough to go up against four Corrupted by himself, right?

“I don’t know,” he returned.

“Anyway, I’ll be right on that.” With that he ran out of the building and onto his bike, driving off towards the forest.

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

Meanwhile, Pinecone was just evading a large steaming rock from one of the Corrupted, it landing behind him and knocking over several trees. With his super speed, the Rider in his Thunderbird form rushed towards the monster only to be blocked by a humanoid monster covered in bright blue gems. The gems formed what looked like armor, underneath the Corrupted was composed of what looked like ordinary rocks. In his hand, he held two axes, one of which was currently blocking Monster's rapier.

The Rider, however, didn’t take long to jump back and rush off into another direction, straight towards the dragon Corrupted from five days ago. What he could however not see was the gem Corrupted charging after him at the same speed. The two darted through the trees, not slowing down for a second, Monster flying past the Corrupted, but not without at least slashing him across his shoulder, right between armor and helmet.

The moment he tried to turn around, however, was when the Corrupted had managed to catch up to him, jumping up and slashing him across with his gem axes, letting the Rider crash towards the ground with a loud grunt. The glowing eyes of the beast stared at him for a moment before it rushed towards him again, slamming his axes down on him.

Thankfully Monster managed to wedge his rapier between the incoming attack and his body. Still, the strength of the attack almost was too much, knocking the air out of his lungs and almost breaking through his defenses. While Monster was struggling with his opponent, another Corrupted approached them, the dragon, all while rubbing the part of him that had been struck by the Rider.

With one Corrupted on him and another one closing in on him there, the situation looked dire. He had to do something and that fast. Tilting his sword slightly he let the ax of the Corrupted slide down it and with a quick kick pushed the beast of him, rolling to his feet and facing the growling monster.

Not even a second later the Corrupted and Rider rushed towards each other, Monster jumping over him in the last second and striking his rapier right there where he hit him before. With a loud roar, the Corrupted staggered forward, and unceremoniously landed face first on the ground. Monster, however, had no time to relax since the gem Corrupted was already next to him and slamming his weapon down on the Rider. As he tried to evade it, the ax was quickly redirected into his direction, gazing him and leaving a trail of sparks behind.

Staggering back the Corrupted advanced again, letting his weapon come down on him, time and time again, the Rider being pushed back more and more while blocking the incoming attacks. This was really getting tiresome, every time he finally got a hit in on any of the three monsters another one just jumped out of the woodwork. The only way he had until now been able to keep up with them was through the use of his Thunderbird form, and even that didn’t seem to yield any results.

And to make matters even worse the moss Corrupted jumped at him from behind, knocking the Rider in the back and pushing him right into the next attack from the gem Corrupted, his armor giving off a stream of sparks as the weapon cut down on it. With a loud scream, he tried to stagger backward, emphasis on tried since the second monster grabbed him by the shoulders and keeping him pinned down.

Still occupied with the pain that was surging through his body and the Corrupted holding him he was unable to block or even anticipate the next attack from the Corrupted as it slashed across his armor, again and again, culminating in a loud pained scream. Monster’s legs giving up from under him. Still, this was not enough for the Corrupted as it held him just as tightly as before. “You are pathetic, really. You think you could win against three of us? With the other Riders, maybe, but alone? That you didn’t call for backup was a big mistake, but oh well, not really our problem. Without you Alchemy and that damned Charge will be far easier to take down,” the Corrupted gloated, twirling his ax around playfully and stepping around of him for a few moments. “Well, this has at least been somewhat fun, got my mind of at least, but this is where we have to part ways!” Holding the ax high above his head he was about to strike down on the defenseless Rider as something managed to knock the weapon right out of his hands.

“Hey Crazy Diamond, how about you just stop that and give up, or you will end up like your three friends. And with that I mean beaten and bruised as well as in prison,” Alchemy said, aiming at the two Corrupted with his bow all while casually sitting on his bike about fifty meters away.

Diamond growled a curse and spat out: “Dammit, why do you Riders always appear at the most inconvenient of times? Is that something that comes naturally to you or what?”

Alchemy chuckled a bit as he dismounted his bike and casually walked in the direction of them, his scarf flowing in the wind. “Well, I consider it a gift, to be honest. But I’m not really in a playful mood today. I would actually like to tie this up in one fight if I’m honest. I’m actually on the search for a friend, and I would love to get back to that, so if you could just give up, that would be wonderful. Or better, if you know where Alkahest might be, just tell me.” His answer came in the form of the third Corrupted lunging at him and trying to rip apart his armor with his claws. Alchemy quickly rolled under the monster and with a clean shot from the bow sent it flying straight upwards, the beast landing a few meters away with a smoking wound in his stomach. “Well, that was not really a surprise. Beating it is then,” he sighed and started to fire at the two remaining Corrupted.

The first one hit the moos Corrupted right in the head, letting him let go of Monster who quickly rammed his rapier into the monster, sadly without much of an effect. The second one hit right next to Diamon, letting him flinch back in annoyance. This, however, did not deter him all that long as he rushed over towards Alchemy, trying to slash the Rider with his weapons. To his annoyance Alchemy managed to dodge out of the way in the last second and send an arrow straight for him, hitting him in the chest as well as sending him flying backward. “Gotcha!”

While Alchemy was dealing with the two Corrupted Monster was still on rather shaky legs, tumbling around while trying to hit his own opponent, something that proved quite hard. Thanks to the injuries he had sustained in the fight until now he had been brought to the point of complete exhaustion, not even able to control his speed anymore. After missing his target again and stumbling forward a few more meters, he finally managed to catch himself and removed the Medal from his Driver and replace it with another one.

\ AWAKEN: DRAGON! /

With the aetherial dragon knocking back the moos Corrupted as it tried to attack him he felt his energy returning. With his own ax in hand, he rushed over to his opponent and started to hack away at him, singing several parts of his body as he knocked it back. With a low growl, he leaped forward, letting his weapon just run rampant on the Corrupted, loud screams of pain coming from him as he tried his hardest to block the incoming attacks, not with much success.

He was about to let his ax crash into his head as something stopped him. He turned around in a split second and stared at who had grabbed his ax at the blade. What stood before him was another Corrupted. His body was made out of what looked like silver and polished red gemstones. The gems formed what could only be described as armor, encased by the sliver-like material. Runes were written all over his body in a language he could not understand. His head was formed out of the silver as well with eyes made out of gemstones, the mouth was only represented through the runes.

With a sigh, he backhanded Monster out of the way with little to no effort, the Rider landing quite unceremoniously in some trees that quickly collapsed onto him. Not even sparing the Rider a second gölance he helped up his comrade who shakingly returned to his feet. He then turned towards Alchemy, stretched out his hand and small gem shards flew towards the Rider, hitting him right in the chest and sending him flying. The two Corrupted quickly looked back to where the attack had come from and was about to attack the Rider as the new Corrupted raised his voice. “Halt! We are retreating! Now!” With that, the earth under each Corrupted burst open, and they were swallowed by red gems that quickly returned underground, leaving the stunned Riders behind.

Alchemy was the first to get out of his stupor and after a bit of cursing before rushing over to Monster who had already managed to stand up and returned back to his civilian form. “Are you ok?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine,” Pinecone growled back before already starting to walk off towards his house.

“Oh, come on, not even a thank you?” Said the now untransformed Rider.

“Thanks, are you happy now?” He roughly returned, turning around for a moment with a weird mixture of gratitude and annoyance on his face.

“Why didn’t you call? Fighting against four of them is just suicidal.”

“The forest is my responsibility. I will come when you ask me to, but don’t expect me to call you.” Phoenix sighed and was about to say something else as Pinecone continued: “Don’t you have something to do anyway? I would get back on that, or your girlfriend will be mad at you.”

This left Phoenix with a loss for words, well or at least five seconds. “You did… But… Thanks. Still, if you need help, you can always ask. Seeya.” With that, he waved goodbye and ran back to his bike. Pinecone meanwhile just sighed as the ghost of a smile crept onto his face that was quickly snuffed out again.