Kamen Rider Alchemy

by Layton13

Change - Roar of the Monster

The track through the woods wasn’t really that long, especially since he knew it like his own pocket. Still, that these Corrupted were after him again did get on his nerves. That he needed the help of this idiot, Phoenix did not sit well with him at all. But what could he do, two against one was always hard, but three or four, that was basically suicide. These monsters were getting smarter, baiting him with a single one of them and then jumping him. Calling for help seemed like a complete waste of Phoenix time, and as much as he disliked him, he knew that right now he had bigger fish to fry than a lousy Corrupted. After the ambush however he had to admit that he was grateful for his appearance.

That was what pissed him of the most. He couldn’t even protect one dammed forest from these Corrupted and Charge, and Alchemy were busy protecting an entire city and they seemed to manage just fine. With an annoyed grunt, he kicked over a small stone that tumbled down a small hill. He didn’t really care what happened to it until he heard a loud scream. “Hey, watch out there!”

He turned around and looked down to where the stone had tumbled towards, looking at a man and a woman in their mid-twenties. The woman had light pink skin and light blue hair while the man had an orange complexion with darker orange hair, reminding him quite distinctively of Phoenix.

“You can’t just throw stones around like that! You know how many people could get hurt,” the woman screamed up to him, sounding really angry, but that was not really a surprise.

“I’m sorry,” he shouted back and was about to walk off again as he heard the voice again, not the slightest bit less annoyed.

“Excuse me? You throw a rock at us and then just want to walk off? Are you for real?” She shouted back, stomping her foot down for emphasize. “You could at least ask us if we are ok!”

Pinecone sighed silently and returned: “Judging by the way you scream I’m pretty sure you are ok. Can you two leave me alone now?” Before he could wander off, however, he heard her again, this time, he was getting really annoyed.

“What?! Unfriendly idiot! Don’t you know what happens to no-gooders in this forest?” She spat at him with venom in her voice.

“Oh, do tell me, really. I have lived in this forest my whole life and I’m still here, so it can’t be so bad,” he dismissively returned and again tried to walk off, but the woman just didn't know when to stop.

“They get punished by the Knight of Gaia Everfree! He is the guardian of this forest, and he punishes all who mean harm to the ones that travel through this place! So better watch out what you do, or do you want to end up disappearing under mysterious circumstances. I heard this knight is really violent,” she smugly said, glaring at him with a face that screamed victory.

This took him back for a moment, he hadn’t expected to hear that legend from her, a small smile crept across his lips as he heard that the legends of his ancestors were not completely lost to time. “Oh, you believe in the Knights of Gaia Everfree? That is something you rarely hear,” he returned, with a far friendlier attitude.

“Oh, of course. I mean, if Kamen Rider exists, why can’t magical knights exist. You know, maybe the Knight of Gaia is actually a Kamen Rider, just hasn’t shown himself yet,” she smugly continued.

He was about to return something as her companion finally started to speak up: “Honey, I know you don’t like it when people are unfriendly to you, but you don’t have to be so mean. Doesn't you notice he is making fun of you?”

“Pah, as if he could ever say something that would get me mad,” she huffed dismissively. “And even if, he shouldn’t have been so meaning. Are manners that much to ask for these days?”

“No, Honey, but we wanted to look for this shrine, and if we mess around with him any longer we will be soaked in the rain,” he looked down at them, and the drily added: “Or, you know, even more.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” she groaned as she looked at Pinecone in annoyance.

As the man pulled out a wet and already tearing map a gust of wind caught it and ripped it out of his hands, or to be more precise, ripped the map into three separate chunks, two remaining in his hands. The rest of the map was quickly taken away by the wind. Both of them looked dumbfounded after at the remains of what was once their map in his hands.

“I see you have everything under control and since I’m such a thorn in your eyes, I think I should leave,” Pinecone said with a devilish smile on his lips, turned around and started to walk off, or at least so far that they couldn’t see him anymore. He could still hear their bickering or at least hear that they were indeed bickering. He remained just out of sight for a few more moments until he heard the voice of the man again.

“Uhm, sorry to bother you, but you said that you lived in this forest for your entire life?” He called out for him, his voice sounding quite ashamed and insecure.

“Sure did,” he called back.

“Ahm, you wouldn’t know where the Shrine of Gaia Everfree is? Just out of curiosity,” he continued, Pinecone could almost imagine him rubbing his neck awkwardly.

“Yeah, know exactly where it is.”

“So, would you maybe be so kind and guide us there, our map has… well…”

“Not withstood the weather?”

“Exactly,” he returned, the shame clearly audible in his voice, Pinecone shaking his head with a little smile on his lips. With a slight chuckle he turned around and jumped down the small hill he was standing on, sliding down the slope and coming to a halt right in front of them.

“So, you want me to show you where the shrine is? Sure, that can be arranged if you ask nicely,” he smirked sinisterly at the woman.

She in return simply huffed and turned her head away from him while frowning. “Honey, please, you know we don’t have a map anymore, and we left the phones in the hotel, could you please just ask nicely. You don’t have to talk to him after that anymore. Or do you want that we get lost in this forest?”

She continued to growl for a few more seconds before letting out a pained sigh and turned her head around. “Fine, you win. Could you please show us the way to the shrine? So, happy now?” She finished with a huff and crossed her arms again. “Still don’t like you though.”

“Noted,” he dismissively returned. “But if you really ask so nicely how could I say no to this. Just follow me, I’ll lead you to it. Won’t take too long anyway.” With that, he headed off following the path, both of the others looking at each other for a moment until rushing after him.

“Dragon, Dragon Claw,” the man said as he caught up with him, sounding a bit exhausted. Pinecone threw a confused look his way. “Ahm, of course, that’s my name. I’m Dragon Claw, and that lovely lady here is,” he pointed at his apparent girlfriend who had also caught up to them. She, however, did not say anything in return and simply continued to cross her arms and shoot angry looks at him. “Ahm, sorry for my girlfriend. She is really easy to anger and tends to hold grudges,” he whispered into his ear, careful to not let her hear him.

“Lovely,” he returned with a slight chuckle.

“She can be, but she sometimes makes it unnecessary hard for herself. Don’t take it too hard, she had a really bad day. Her name is Aqua Ruby by the way,” he continued as silently as possible, hoping the rain around them would drown out the rest of what he was saying.

“I can hear you by the way Dragon!” Came from his left as Ruby started to scream again: “Seriously, why do you always have to do that? It’s not my problem if they are all so rude,” she continued, throwing a dismissive look towards Pinecone.

“Ahm, sorry Honey, but you can come off as somewhat rude sometimes,” she kept staring daggers at him. “Not that this would be a bad thing, no sir;” he awkwardly added and tried to laugh it off. Pinecone just shook his head and sighed in annoyance.

“By the way, what was your name? I would like to thank you, and I just think it would be weird without knowing your name,” Dragon turned around to him again and awkwardly smiled. “If that is ok for you that is.”

“Pinecone,” he returned coldly as the continued to follow the path further into the forest.

“Ah, Pinecone, what a nice name. So thanks Pinecone, really, we probably would have wandered around this forest forever without finding anything.”

“Next time just bring your phones or a waterproof map. When people get lost here, it sometimes takes days till someone finds them, especially when no one knows you are here and since you said you left stuff at a hotel I assume you are just tourists.”

“Ahm, yeah, exactly. We are on a little vacation. Ruby managed to hit a big scop in her newspaper and now has been promoted because of it. And we are celebrating the occasion with a little sightseeing in this City,” he continued, Pinecone just staring up ahead.

“Well, this is not just a vacation. I heard a lot about these new heroes of the city, the Kamen Riders and am writing an article about them as well. But you wouldn’t care about that right? You are too much of a jerk to care about selfless people like them,” ruby joined in, at first excited to talk about her work only to get more malicious as she tried to take a jab at him.

“Yeah, you are right, I don’t care,” he just returned coldly, Ruby frowning at him with a disappointed look in her eyes.

“Honey, please,” Dragon begged again as they continued their little walk to the shrine.

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

With a loud groan, a man with black hair and burning red skin let himself sink onto a small crate holding his neck in pain. “These damned Riders,” he cursed as he looked around the small warehouse and at three other figures. “Why do they always make it so hard? And why did you call us back anyway?” He shot a glare at another man in a grey suit with red hair and dark grey skin.

“Because I’m actually smart. We almost lost to a single Rider, the weakest one I might add, but you think we can take to of them on, especially if the other one is Alchemy? He managed to beat you, Hard Rock and two others along with his new Forma and you think you could win if he is supported by Monster? Please, get a reality check because this won’t happen,” he said, playing around with a remarkably ruby ring with detailed runes on it.

“Yeah, because you didn’t do anything! We could have beaten Monster, gotten his Driver and be on our mary way if you would have just helped us!” He shot back, his glare only increasing. Hard Rock, a man with dark green hair and a grey-blue skin, joined him while a man with white hair and light blue skin just sighed in annoyance.

“Well, I don’t know if your tiny brain can process that, but we didn’t had the goal of defeating Monster, we wanted to see how he fights. That was all, you just didn’t want to accept that. It’s still beyond me how Monochrome ever hired you. Was it for your muscles or what?” He continued, still playing with his ring like nothing had happened.

“Oh, and you feel so great mister chief of her security, oh wait for ex-chief because the oh so great Monochrome got herself killed, with her superior tech of all thing. I should have never listened to her anyway, it just got me into this mess,” he continued to scream.

“Would you knock it off already,” now he started to scream. “I know we bet on the wrong horse here, but that doesn’t get us out of this situation right now. At least we got these rings, so we are not completely defenseless. Be grateful for that at least. We will get the Riders eventually, but right now we have to focus on getting on the good side of either ‘Tartarus’ or ‘The Circle’ and to be honest I’m more interested in ‘The Circle’ anyway. As much as ‘Tartarus’ would take us with open arms, they are still not better than simple thugs, and with how much the Riders got on their nerves recently I’m not too interested. And that is exactly why we have to be careful. If we screw this up we have no other option but to go with them, so you are going to listen to me.” He nodded slowly at his former superior.

“Good, now that this is cleared I’m going to tell you what you need to do now. We need to split the Riders, and we have to act quick. Charge is out of the city, for now, that means Alchemy and Monster are all alone, and they don’t tend to work together. So if we act fast and take one of them out we might have a shot at taking out the other one as well, and when Charges comes back, we will just crush her.”

“Yeah, sounds good Dull Silver, but how are we going to split them and who to go after first?”

“Simple, we go after Monster first, ‘The Circle’ was already interested in his Driver anyway, that will secure us a position in their organization. You three are going to distract Alchemy while I take care of Monster, he has shown that he is no match against me and since he is the weakest he is the perfect target,” Silver smirked, letting his hand grasp tightly around his ring.

“Wow, wow, wow, us three against Alchemy? The guy who could mop the floor with us when we were four? Are you insane?” Rock started to speak up.

“Oh, you are not supposed to beat him, just distract him, run away, annoy him, just anything really. I don’t care how you pull it off, but he needs to be distracted, so I can deal with Monster. And when I’m done I’m going to save you, so don’t start whining now.”

“I repeat myself, are you insane? He could tear us to pieces in less than five minutes. You really think we could distract him long enough?” Rock repeated, now seeming significantly angrier.

“Ok, how about this. You can try to distract Alchemy and wait for me until I’m done with Monster and have a chance to be saved, or you can go up against me, but trust me, you would wish the Riders had caught you,” he returned with a low voice, staring daggers at the three others. “So, what do you think is better?”

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

“Oh, that is the Shrine of Gaia Everfree?” Ruby squeed out as they had finally reached their destination. Pinecone sighed in relief as the woman finally stopped her bickering and seemed to enjoy the Shrine, which indeed put a smile on his face.

“Thanks, Pinecone, it really means a lot to us, and seeing how happy Ruby is, I’m sure she is grateful to,” Dragon returned, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.

“Yeah, no problem. By the way, since you are here to see the Shrine, are interested in a little tour? It’s not much, but sure to impress,” he returned with a small smile on his lips.

“Wouldn’t be the Shrine warden be a better person for that? Ahm, no offense,” Dragon quickly added.

Pinecone just raised an eyebrow and chuckled as he shook his head. “You know that I’m the warden of the Shrine, right?”

That left Dragon rather speechless as he stared at Pinecone. “Uhm… That makes a lot of sense actually…” He shook his head before continuing: “Anyway, that would be nice. I’m sure even Ruby will have to bury the hatchet with that, maybe.”

“I really don’t care, let’s just get this over with.”

“Yeah, right, sorry.”

As they approached Ruby, she was already examining every nook and cranny of the cave that housed the shrine, right now taking a look at the actual shrine and its integrated carving of Gaia Everfree. “So, this is the shrine? All nice and good, especially that carving is great, might actually write something about it if I find the time and convince my boss. But if I want to do that I think I need just that little bit more,” she mumbled to herself as she took pictures of the carving in question.

“Too bad, this is all there is to this shrine. If it’s not enough that is your problem,” Pinecone said in an annoyed tone, Ruby spinning around and staring at him in shock.

“Holly, don’t scare me like this you… you… you mean person,” she grumbled as she was gasping for breath.

“Wow, that one almost hurt. If the next one is two times worse you might hurt my feelings,” he mockingly returned.

“Oh, just shut up already. No one wants to hear you anyway. Especially if you can’t offer anything valuable, as the location of the Mouthe of Gaia or something like that. But who am I talking to anyway, as if a scoundrel like you would ever know where something that obscure is,” she continued to growl, crossing her arms again and returning her gaze to the carvings only to star at them in anger instead.

“Yeah, why would the warden of the Shrine to Gaia Everfree ever know where that place is? That would just be ridiculous.”

“You are… how… that can’t… but how? I thought the wardens of this shrine would be like the Knight of Gaia. Guardians of the people that travel through these woods, people that were actually caring, not something like you. Not mean, unpleasant guys like you,” she stammered looking at him with an expression of confusion and a bit of disgust.

“Well, who brought you here? You think I would have helped you if I really was such a bad person as you claim I am? I just don’t like whiney annoying brats as yourself, that is all. I do my duties without complaining, but that does not mean I have to like you. So, how about I bring you to the Mouthe of Gaia, you finish your article, and after that, I lead you outside my forest, and we never have to see each other ever again,” he finished with his usual stoic demeanor.

“I… I… You… Fine, whatever, let us get this over with,” she hissed back and stormed of grabbing her boyfriend by the arm and dragging him behind her, much to his dismay.

“Well, at least she can see reason. And the sooner they are gone I can have my peace and quiet again,” he sighed before silently adding something else: “And be far safer from the Corrupted.”

Meanwhile Ruby had dragged her boyfriend up and outside the shrine again and right into the pouring rain, all while continuing to complain about Pinecone. That was until she was interrupted in her complaining by the voice of a girl. “Hello there, nice to see visitors on such a stormy day. I hope the shrine was interesting,” Emerald said as she walked up to them in a dark green rain jacket. “However that might be possible,” she whispered to herself.

“Oh, hello, a friendly face, that is a nice change of pace really. Say, do you work here?” She returned with a smile on her face, her anger quickly brushed under the rug.

“Yeah, something like that. I just help my brother run this place. But judging from your expression just now, I assume you already meet him? He can bee a bit of an ass sometimes, but he really is not that bad, usually,” she happily returned, quickly pulling out her phone for a split second to look at the weather.

“Yeah, I assume you mean Pinecone, really unpleasant guy. But you seem nice, can’t really believe you are his sister. You actually have manners,” she returned, this time with a slightly annoyed undertone.

“Yeah, he can be difficult at times, but he is a good guy at heart. Speaking of Tartarus, hey Pinecone, I heard you were rude to our visitors again? How many times have I said to you that you shouldn’t start fights willy nilly with them?” She shouted over to her brother who had just exited the shrine.

With a loud sigh, he returned: “I didn’t start anything, she was just rude. And I just remained calm, not my problem if she feels attacked by that.”

Emerald just sighed and let her head sink into her hands. “I’m so sorry for my brother, like I said, good hard, rough exterior. And he won't bother <you any further, right,” she shoots him an angry look on which he just shrugged.

“So, you don’t want to see the Mouthe? Good with me, means I don’t have to get outside for longer than necessary.”

“Oh, no. That is just what you want from us. No, we will go to the Mouth and if it is the last thing we do and we will do it with you, no complaining, no wiggling out of it, no nothing, got it?” She bellowed back at him, staring him right into his eyes, seemingly not needing to blink.

“Honey, please, you don’t have to antagonize him so much. We can just come back another day and…”

“No, I’ll do it. No problem. It’s my job after all and if it means to put up with-“ A swift glare from his sister shut him up rather quickly.

“On second thought, I’ll just come with you, keep that guy in check,” Emerald sighed in annoyance and just shook her head.

“I don’t need my little sister babysitting me,” he deadpanned back.

“Ok, sure, believe it. I’ll still come with you no matter what you say. And if I can’t be your babysitter, I’ll just do it for these two, or a bodyguard from you, that works too,” she chuckled, much to the annoyance of her brother.

“Oh, I like you. I have nothing against you coming with us, more knowledgeable forest people are always welcome. And if you can hold your brother in check we will be far happier, right Dragon,” she slyly said, looking her boyfriend right into his eyes with a look that only allowed one answer.

“Of… Of course Honey. The more, the merrier,” he awkwardly returned, avoiding Pinecones looks.

“Than it’s decided. You’ll come with your brother and us. Oh, I’m so happy to finally talk with someone that is not so grumpy like your brother, seriously how do you keep up with him?” She returned overjoyed.

“Meh, you get used to it, somewhat,” she chuckled back.

“Uh, fine. If you want to come along too. But if you do anything stupid, you go back right away. Did I make myself clear Emerald?” He growled at her with a hint of annoyance in his voice.

“Dine with me, I won’t do anything stupid. And a little walk sounds lovely anyway,” she cheerfully returned, but not with a sly smile on her lips.

“Good, then we are going.” With that, the four of the departed deeper into the forest again.

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

Loud screams filled the air as well as sirens of police and fire trucks and all that in the middle of Canterlot City. It had been a peaceful, though rainy, day until now as suddenly three monsters appeared in the middle of the mall. A dragon in golden armor, a monster that seemed to build out of mossy stones and a diamond abomination as fast as lightning. The three had just started to attack the mall, no clear goal seemingly in mind, just pure destruction. It was a miracle no one had been seriously hurt. The police hadn’t taken more than ten minutes to close of the mall, and now were awaiting the arrival of the local heroes.

And that was the moment they could hear the loud roar of an engine as the Rider jumped over them, crashed through the front door and raced further into the building, the sound of the engine echoing through every part of the building. It was even so loud that the three Corrupted turned their heads in the direction of the noise, that however didn’t help them in any way really. The bike came to a screeching halt right before them, and Alchemy jumped from it, not even a meter in front of the diamond Corrupted.

“Hey, Crazy Diamond, you are busy today. The second attack and it’s not even been a day, really I’m impressed. You really want to make this easy for me, do you?” He chuckled as jumped back in the right moment to evade the attack of the Corrupted.

“Shut the fuck up!” He growled back, pulling his ax back out of the floor.

Alchemy just smirked: “Yeah, if that is ever going to happen.” With that, he rushed towards the monsters.

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

“So, this is Gaia’s mouth. Hope it’s as you expected it,” Pinecone said without much fanfare, which quickly got him an elbow into his side by Emerald. “Any questions?” He added with a low growl and a glance at his sister.

They stood inside a large cavern as the exited the small tunnel that had lead them here. The velling towered over them like an ancient dome at least twenty meters above them. Small crystals lined the walls. At the end of the cavern stood another shrine for Gaia Everfree, similar to the one near their house, just this one sported a statue instead of a carving, not in any way less impressive, however. What however was the most eye-catching about the whole cave was the giant hole in the middle of it, leading down towards a black abyss.

“Wow, this place is amazing! Let me take some pictures, this will definitely land in our traveling guide, I can tell you that. I love it,” Ruby gushed, completely ignoring Pinecones rude tone and started to take pictures with her camera. Pinecone chuckled silently to himself, something only Emerald noticed and just shook her head with a sly grin on her face.

“Legend has it that done there lays the tears of Gaia Everfree. She supposedly showed them as a sign of her connection with the people of these woods. Some say that if you look down there long enough, you can actually see them shimmering in the darkness,” Emerald started to tell as Dragon took a look at the empty abyss below them.

“Cute story, but probably nothing more than a fairytale, but who knows, with magic everything is possible, right Monster?” A voice cut through the warm atmosphere of the caver, everyone spinning around in an instant. Before they stood a man with grey suit, red hair and dark grey skin who was leaning against the wall of the cave. “What? Surprised to see me? Well, let’s be fair, I never announced myself, but this place was just so fascinating.”

“What do you want? And most importantly, who are you?” Pinecone returned in a low voice, eyeing the man carefully.

“Oh, well, you certainly don’t play around. And I thought we could have a nice conversation before we start, but it seems our information was right, you are not really one for drawn-out conversations, a shame really, but oh well. So I can assume that you wouldn’t be so nice and hand over your Driver?” The man casually asked, stepping closer to the group, everyone besides Pinecone stepping back. “Oh, I don’t bit,” he chuckled, but there was an air of malevolence in his voice.

“Leave, now!” He growled at the man, staring him right into the eyes.

“Of course, what was I expecting? Oh well, will at least be fun.” With that a blinding red light enveloped him, Pinecone jumping back a few meters and screaming towards the rest of the group.

“Run!”

While he did that he pulled out something from his pocket, the aforementioned Driver and slapped it around his waist, letting it loop into place. Placing the Meadel into it after he had opened the device he quickly closed it again.

\ UNLEASH THE MONSTER! /

“Henshin!”

\ AWAKEN: MANTICORE! /

The ghostly manticore flew out of the Driver and quickly consumed him only to reveal his Rider form. Without even a second waisted he rushed towards the Corrupted that had also formed and swung his weapon at him.

“Kamen… Kamen Rider,” was all Ruby managed to stutter as she finally realized what was going on in front of her. “he is a Kamen Rider… how… I… That can’t…”

“Yeah, yeah, Kamen Rider, all nice and fine, but right now, I’m just a tad bit more concerned with getting out of here, so move it, lady, I don’t want to end as monster prey,” Emerald hushed her along, pushing her towards the exit.

Meanwhile Monster had let his wipe slash across the Corrupted's chest. However, the attack didn’t really do anything beyond letting a few sparks fly of off him. With an annoyed growl, he pulled the whip back and tried again, this time slashing across his face, but again, nothing. With a loud roar he charged forward, and as he was right in front of him, he let his whip loose once more, however, this time the Corrupted reacted, grabbing the weapon with one of his hands effortlessly. With a swift kick he sends Monster flying backward, and with a swift tug on the weapon he pulled the Rider, that was still holding onto his whip, back to him and right into his fist.

The Rider sailed backward and landed roughly in front of the tourists and his sister who all jumped back a few steps. “What a nice weapon, really. It’s sharp, it’s flexible, and I’m sure it hurts like Tartarus, well against other Corrupted,” the monster chuckled as he examined the weapon he had just stolen from Monster.

Monster slowly crawled back to his feet glaring daggers at the Corrupted under his mask, and with a low growl he hissed towards the beast: “Give that back or I will rip it from your cold, dead hands!” Roaring in anger, he rushed towards the Corrupted who just chuckled and let the whip loose against its rightful owner. However, instead of hitting him, the Corrupted was quite surprised as Monster dodged to the side, right into the enormous hole in the middle of the cavern, his wing opening just a split second afterward. With the element of surprise on his side, it was easy for him to close the gap between him and his opponent and start to attack the Corrupted. A slash across the chest was his first strike followed by another one across the chest as well and another one aimed at the face.

But before the last attack could connect his hand was grabbed by the Corrupted, he looking at him through his gemstone eyes of his, almost mockingly before he threw the Rider into the next wall right beside him. “Clever, clever I must say, but clever won’t save you here. Face it, I’m just on a completely different level than you. So, just give up, and we can save ourselves a lot of unnecessary pain and violence, how about it,” he said in a sweet voice offering his hand to the Rider.

“You remind me of Alchemy,” Monster said with a little chuckle.

“Oh, do I? Well, I’m honored,” he returned in the most grateful voice he could muster.

At this moment Monster lunged forward slashing the Corrupted across the face, letting him stagger back a few feet. “I hate him,” Monster growled while in a hunched position, staring at his opponent.

Silver sighed before stretching himself and touching his face to see how severe the damage was to his ‘face’ before relaxing again. “You know, you are really starting to get on my nerves. Uncultured, unfriendly and this almost animalistic fighting style, all really annoying I must say. And that after I was so friendly to you, but that is the loot of the ones fighting with compassion.”

Monster groaned in annoyance: “Oh, would you stop blabbering and fight already.”

“That is exactly what I mean,” Silver sighed letting his hand cover his ‘face’ and just shook his head in annoyance. While the Corrupted was busy with this Monster quickly switched out his Medal and replaced it with a red one.

\ AWAKEN: DRAGON! /

The Corrupted looked back at him in an instance, barely seeing the ghostly dragon consuming him only to reveal his Dragon Form, complete with an ax in hand. To his dismay, the whip had disappeared the Moment Monster had changed his Medal. “Oh no, an ax, whatever should I do?” He jokingly muttered, eyeing the Rider curiously.

With newfound strength Monster rushed towards his opponent, weapon crashing down onto him, letting sparks fly as the Corrupted staggered backward. With another loud scream he continued his assault, but to his shock Silver quickly pulled up his arm and blocked the attack with ease. Without even a second in between this he had already punched Monster in the chest, who let out a loud groan as he staggered back. He didn’t even have any chance to catch himself as the foot of the Corrupted already send him flying towards the opposite side of the cavern, crashing into the wall with a loud smash.

“Huh, and I thought that you would actually be a bit of a challenge, but really, what was I expecting, even that fool Phoenix could beat you.” A loud roar could be heard from the rocks that had fallen on top of Monster and not a second later he burst out from under them, however before he could even attempt anything he was bombarded by small red gems that let him crash against the wall again.

“Ah, that’s right, just stay there, will be far easier. Now that you are dealt with, I’m going to have to clean this up, and that means…” He turned towards the three others, all looking at him with terrified expressions. “Oh, don’t be afraid, it won’t take long. And I am really sorry that I had to drag you into this, really, but I can’t get you talking about this. So, who do we start with? Oh, maybe you, you really got on my nerves as I followed you. Could you be any more ungrateful?” He pointed at Ruby who froze completely as she saw the finger directed at her. After that everything happened just to fast to register, the gems flew towards her almost in slow motion, slowly etching ever closer to her, bit by bit until they were only a meter away from her. That was when something red jumped in front of her, and the next thing she knew was the fact that she could hear loud screams that cried out in agony.

In front of her stood Monster, shielding her from the attack. The Rider stood on shaky legs, and it looked like he was about to fall over. “Why?” Was all she managed to stammer.

“Because I’m the guardian of the forest… like you said, the Knight of Gaia Everfree.” That was when he screamed out in pain again, sparks erupting from his back. His stand finally broke, and his legs gave in, sliding towards the ground he could see the three of them passing him by and soon the ground. Not soon after he could feel the raged ground, he was bumping off of as he tumbled down the Mouthe of Gaia. Within seconds he was nowhere to be seen.

“Pinecone… Pinecone!” He could hear Emerald voice in the distance, followed by the two others, all crying out for him. He, however, could not move an inch. He played there battered and broken, his armor shattered. His eyelids started to grow tired, and he was sure he was about to pass out as he saw something in the corner of his eyes, a purple shimmer. Against all rational he clambered onto consciousness and dragged himself over to where he had seen the glimmer, he himself didn’t even know why he did that, but he couldn’t stop now, he just couldn’t, that was all that went through his head. Every little centimeter he dragged himself along the pain in his body only increased, knawing at him like a hungry dog, but he pushed on, he just had to.

With one last desperate attempt, he blindly thrust his hand in the direction he had seen the light, not expecting anything really, but his hand did grab something, something small, round and oddly familiar. Almost in an instant, the pain eased as he touched the strange thing… no, the medal. He knew what this was, a medal, but where did it come from? Didn’t matter right now, he felt his strength returning, and with a determined growl, he pushed the new medal into his Driver and activated his transformation.

\ UNLEASH THE MONSTER! /

“Henshin!”

\ AWAKEN: CHANGELING! /

A beast emerged from the Driver, just as ethereal as the others just in a light purple, it had four hoves and two horns that looked like the ones of a beetle and a sharp horn in the middle. It didn’t take long till the beast consumed him a hole and revealed his new armor. A dark purple armor covered his body, his undersuit had taken on a lighter purple. His shoulders now and the form of two beetle horns and one horn on his head in bright purple. Two green eyes illuminated the darkness. He, however, had no time to marvel about his newfound power as he heard a loud scream. Almost instantly he jumped up, two mothlike wings emerging from his back and he rocketed towards the cavern.

Meanwhile silver had toyed with the other three, he just couldn’t help himself, the fear in their eyes was just too precious. Still, Ruby and Dragon both had some of the gems stuck in their body and had started to bleed. Now the three were all hunched back into a corner and shivering before the Corrupted. All until something shoots out from the darkness, grabbed ahold of the beast and yanked him back and threw him towards the exit.

Before any of them could even realize what was going on Monster had already rushed after Silver, tackling him as he was about to get back up again and flying with him through the cave and letting him drop like dead weight outside of the cave.

“Oh, you got a new form? Cute, but nothing that will help you,” he mocked him, dusting the dirt off of him. Not even waiting for him to finish Monster rushed towards the Corrupted, clawing at his chest and actually letting him groan in pain. “What?” But Monster wasn’t done just yet and continued his assault but came face to face with a barrage of Silver gems, but that wasn’t a problem for the Rider as he effortlessly brushed them aside with his bare hands.

Not able to understand what was happening before him and seeing that he was on the losing side of this fight Silver started to summon his gems to try to escape, actually managing to raise them as high as his head only for Monster to flying and smash his shield, grab him and throwing him against the next best rock. Landing a good distance away from him, he opened and closed his Driver again, letting the ghostly beast emerge from it again and land in his helmet.

\ ROAR: CHANGELING! /

Within moments Monster rocketed towards his opponent, the beast that had in his helmet expanded outwards again and let the horns on his head grow in size, at least on a material level and before Silver had any chance to react he was struck by the attack and consumed by a massive explosion.

Landing behind him he grabbed the ruby ring from his unconfessed body and rushed back into the cave. Inside he could see how Emerald was helping Ruby and dragon to limb forward, waving towards him as she saw him. “You are ok?”

“Yeah, I’m fine, but Ruby and Dragon didn’t have so much luck sadly,” She sighed as they could hear a pained grunt from Ruby.

“You… you are a Kamen Rider,” she stammered in between her pained grunts.

“Yeah, I’m, but you should not worry about that right now, we have to get you to a hospital,” he shot back, examining her wounds.

“Thank you… Thank you so much, especially after I was so mean to you. I’m so sorry,” she started to cry, her tears dropping down towards the cold stone floor.

“Yeah, you are sorry. Save it for later, right now we need to determine you, not crying you,” he growled back, Emerald just sighing, but she could prevent a slight smirk to appear on her lips. Ruby just stared at him for a moment before swiping away her teas and nodding with a pained grin. “That’s more like it.”

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

Meanwhile, Alchemy had changed into his newest form and was beating the everloving crap out of his opponents, two having already fallen to his sword. “So, didn’t turn out so well for you Crazy, how about any last words?”

“Where in the name of Tartarus is Sliver!” The Corrupted cursed as he tried to dodge the attack of Alchemy, only the fail miserably and land headfirst in a food stand.

“Ok, as fun as this was Crazy Diamon, I think I’ll just end it. Crazy Diamon, you used the powers that were bestowed upon you to attack others. By the magic that was bestowed upon me, I deem you unworthy of your powers and will now take them from you!” With that, he started to spin his disc again and rushed towards his opponent. “Eternal Bond!” Slashing the Corrupted across the chest, this one was also dealt with, being consumed by an explosion and leaving behind his own ring made out of a rough diamond.

“Well, that was that. I hope the cops can deal with the rest, I still have something to do. I hope that grump is ok though, maybe I’ll look by just in case,” he muttered as he returned to his bike, not without picking up the three rings and off he was.

Out of the shadows stepped Alkahest, eyeing the area carefully. He had not much time, he had to act as fast as possible. He pulled out the blank Magic Disc from under his jacket and pointe it towards the battlefield, and it quickly sucked up all the remaining magical energy from the fight. “Almost done, just one more time.” With that, he ran away as fast as possible, just moments before the first officers arrived at the screen.

“Well, that is interesting. Maybe I might have found a new partner,” the man Ocean had faced that night smirked and turned around, leaving the mall as well.