Kamen Rider Alchemy

by Layton13

Legacy - Eureka!

Everything was blurry and distorted, he could hear screams out of the field of his vision and the crumbling sounds of a collapsing building. And all he could see were the blurred outlines of all of that, all besides one thing, him! Cerberus! Hulking over him, even bigger than before the monster just stared at him, his glowing eyes piercing through his body, right through his soul, or at least that was how it felt. It burned, but the pained screams he let out were silent, drowned out by the suffering and pain around him he could not see.

Try as he might, his muscles refused to budge even a millimeter, completely petrified by the colossus of stone that was towering over him, the heavy breathing of Cerberus letting his own breath pick up even more. As the monster slowly crouched down to him, his fear turned into utter terror, the face made out of stone and metal with those glowing eyes now not even a few centimeters away from his face. The stone lips of his slowly turned into a vicious grin, the grin of a monster without any sense of mercy. Time had lost all meaning the moment his eyes had crossed eyes with the eyes of the Corrupted, the every glowing yellow light that stared at him was in some way hypnotizing, beautifully and absolutely fucking terrifying.

“This is your reward for interfering with my plans and my men. Everyone who dares to ever lay a hand on them will feel my wrath, and you did exactly that. Serves you right for playing the hero,” the voice of the Corrupted bellowed through his entire body, shaking his very bones to the core. Before he could even come to terms with that, he felt the hands of the Corrupted firmly take hold of his neck, lifting him, rubble that he hadn't noticed before suddenly falling off him, leaving him limply hanging in the hands of the monster like a wet towel.

“The hero of Canterlot City reduced to a weak cowered in my hands. Oh, how easy it would be to just kill you right here, just a firmer grip and your head would just pope of your shoulders like an overripe apple. As easy as pie. It is hilarious, the quippy, boastful hero that has until now always emerged victorious, unable to say anything because of fear. What, no stupid joke? No heroic speech? Just silence? Pathetic, really, but this is who you always were, pathetic. The only reason you ever got this far is because others did the work for you,” the monster continued, playfully shifting his hands around Phoenix neck.

“Tell me, what did you ever do? You would be dead if not for those that came before you. Without them pouring their life and soul into the task you deemed as stupid and idiotic you would have burned to a crisp on your very first day in this city, just like the ones that tried this beforehand. You are nothing more than a glorified leach that is profiteering of the determination and efforts of your ancestors. You just managed to be the lucky one that finally recreated a Disc, not out of your own efforts, but because you just were at the right place at the right time. You live in a city that has become a harvesting ground of magic, a place filled with more of it than your family has ever seen since they left Equestria, so don’t even think about claiming that you still gathered it. Would another one have been in your place they would have succeeded and even outshined you.”

Every word was like a dagger being driven into his heart, not because he was mocked, not because he was undermined, but because it was true, wasn’t it? Why was he even in this position? He had been leaching of the successes and efforts of his ancestors that had dedicated their lives to this task for over six hundred years. He? He was just the one that had managed to live in the most magically filled era of human history. What did he achieve on his own really? As this slowly sunk into his body, he didn’t even notice his glare of utter terror melting away and slowly being replaced with a look of embarrassment and shame.

“And don’t forget the fact that you failed as the guardian of this city. How many innocent lives have been lost because of you? Because you were not strong enough? Because you were to slow? Because you were too stupid? Tell me, how many did you fail? How many died because of you? How many were hurt because of you? How many lost everything because of you?” Another voice called out to him from the shadows to his right, Shadow Gold. His eyes jumped back to life, staring towards the origin of the voice, or he at least tried to, his head still refused to budge even an inch.

“Oh, that look is absolutely delightful. This look of utter terror mixed with fear and a bit of anger, it is perfect for someone like you. You are weak, and that is the truth. If you weren’t, you wouldn’t be here, helpless in Cerberus hands, only awaiting your execution. You are nothing than a make-believe hero, someone that has been given a power beyond their comprehension they could never imagine to control,” the voice continued tauntingly while stepping ever closer.

“That is what you have always been, someone who played the hero just to make himself feel better. To escape your life. It was always about you. You couldn’t live with yourself if you let anyone die if you could have done something about it! You want to be a hero so you could feel good and escape the responsibilities that have been given to you! You wanted to be a hero to get the girl that you don’t deserve! It’s always you, you, you. It doesn’t matter what others have done or if they were responsible for where you are now. It doesn’t matter to you, the only thing that does is you,” Gold hissed the last word into his ear with the glee that was absolutely terrifying to him.

“And now everyone can see that you are nothing more than a fool playing the hero,” a third voice emerged from his left, Platinum Shadow. “You thought that you were more than you were all thanks to them. The people that trusted in you, you saved, you bonded with. It doesn’t matter if you meat them for only a few minutes or if you grew incredibly close to them, they thought you were something they could look up to, a hero. A Kamen Rider, but in the end, you showed them that you are just a failure. You couldn’t protect them and now, where are they now?”

Phoenix just couldn’t say anything at this point, the presence of all three circling around him, slowly suffocating him while leaving this pain in his chest, the feeling that they were right, that everything until now was just a farce.

“You are nothing, and that is the truth. A disappointment like you always have been. You are a disappointment as a guardian and to your family legacy,” Platinum continued coldly.

“You are a disappointment as a hero and have failed this city like you have failed everyone else,” Shadow Gold added form his right, a shadowy finger slowly dragging itself across his cheeks.

“And you failed your friends. They will die, all because of you,” finished Cerberus, his cold, glowing eyes staring right at him.

“There will be no one that is going to miss you, no one,” Platinum said in the same cold tone as before. “No one that is going to be sad about your end, they are going to be happy that they don’t have to deal with you any longer. Don’t you agree?” Platinum continued in the sweetest and innocent voice he had ever heard. “This is all pointless anyway, you will never be anything else than a failure, someone that has lost everything and will keep losing everything.”

Phoenix breath grew heavier, the dread that filled his body suddenly skyrocketed, something he hadn’t thought possible anymore. It felt like his hearth was playing drums, so loud was the beat of his heartbeat as he heard the words out of Platinum’s mouth, and worts of all, deep deep down he somewhat believed him. Wouldn’t everything be better without him? Someone more capable than him would receive the Alchemy Driver, someone like his brother and they would surely save Oceane, Shining and Pinecone, there was no doubt about that, something he could never achieve. The city would be in better hands, right?

While these questions were still flying around in his head, he heard Shadow Gold continues: “And you wouldn’t have to worry about anything anymore. No responsibilities, no guilt, and no fighting. Everything would be over in a few small moments, just with puff everything would be finally peaceful.”

Before Phoenix had even a second to think about the words of the voice he could hear Cerberus speak up again. “I’ll just lift that decision from your shoulders, then your small little head doesn’t have to think too much about it, doesn’t that sound good? Just a few more moments and everything will be over,” while he spoke he felt the grip of the Corrupted slowly starting to increase, the air in his lungs was slowly getting less and less and as he tried to draw another breath… nothing. Worst of all he still couldn’t even move a single muscle, everything refused to follow the orders he was giving it. “See, it’s easy,” he continued, the voice only suddenly sounding far more distant and moments later his vision was starting to disappear. Black void filling what had previously been the face of the Corrupted. It didn’t take long till all he could see were the glowing eyes of the Corrupted, like a lighthouse in the night, the last reminder of who was taking his life.

That was when something in him awakened, with the last strength he had, his had finally started to move, grasping the hand of the Corrupted, desperately trying to pry the hands open, his feet starting to struggle. Still, the hands would not budge an inch, Phoenix letting out a loud scream: “Nooooooo!” no idea where he took the air but it was loud enough to drown out the voices around him.

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

With a loud scream, Phoenix eyes shot open, only to be immediately be slammed shut again, thanks to the bright light that shined back at him. He had shot up, his eyes still shut close, and he was screaming until after a few moments he dared to slowly open his eyes again, seeing that he was in a plain white room. His breath was heavy after he had stopped his ear-bursting scream, looking around the room nervously. He was sitting on a bed wearing something that looked like a long white dress with an open backside. The light was cold, and he was alone in the small room, which was empty besides a small desk with chairs, a nightstand and what looked like medical equipment.

Before he could think about where he was, he heard the door slam open and like lightning something shoot towards him. Within the blink of a second Thunder had dashed towards him and grabbed him in an embrace. “Oh, thank goodness you’re awake. You looked so worried and terrified while you slept. Good that you're alright,” Thunder started to blabber out, leaving Phoenix no time to even get one word in. The embassy was welcome, it felt good after all of this right now, well, it did for a moment until he felt the pain in his body, primarily there where Thunder was hugging him.

With a pained grimace, he hissed out: “Ouch, ouch! Thunder, I appreciate this, but could you…”

“Oh, right, sorry.” With that, his younger brother relaced his hold on him, much to Phoenix’s delight, who started to rub his sore places around his arm. “Did you have a bad dream or something?” Phoenix looked at his brother in confusion for a moment. “You know, the screaming?”

Without really thinking about it he slammed his hand against his forehead, only to scream out in pain, “Ow, ow, who, that hurt!” He only now realized that a bandage had been pulled over his forehead. That was however not the only place where he had bandages, they also covered his arms, a bit of his legs and his stomach. “Memo to myself, never do that again.” Thunders small smile quickly shifted back into worry, raising an eyebrow. “Yeah, yeah, I get it, the screaming. Just had a bad dream, that is all.” That was when he froze, something jumped back into his mind. “Ocean? How are Ocean and the rest?” His voice had shifted from annoyance to worry in an instance, and he even tried to jump out of bed, only to wince in pain as he was held down by Thunder.

Thunder managed to restrain the frantic Phoenix who was trying his hardest to jump up from his bed. “Calm down you idiot, you can’t help them like this anyway,” he gritted through his teeth. It took a full minute till Phoenix finally calmed down. “Finally, you can be so fucking stubborn sometimes.”

“So they have been…” He couldn't even finish that sentence before stopping halfway through.

“Yes,” was all Thunder gave in returning a somber voice. What followed was a silence that lasted for a few minutes, neither of the brothers able to say anything in return.

That was until Phoenix broke the silence with a quiet: “Do you think I failed them?”

This took Thunder by surprise, staring at his brother with wide open eyes. “You, failed them? No, why would you?”

“I couldn’t do anything to save them, I just got beaten,” he returned with a low voice, his head having tilted down towards his blanket.

“That has something to do with the dream, right?”

“Yes,” he got in return, so quiet that it was almost impossible to hear.

“Ok, what did you dream about?”

“I… I… I was in the hands of Alkahest and Cerberus, they had me beat, I couldn’t move a muscle. And then they started to bombard me with accusations that I was nothing more than a selfish pretender that played hero and that I’m just a failure that leaches off of other peoples achievements. And worst of all, I don’t know if they were right,” he finished, sounding quite somberly. Thunder stared at his brother in shock for a moment before he started to laugh. “What is so funny about this?”

“Oh, nothing, it’s just good to see that you actually think about stuff like that. It’s refreshing in a way, seeing you actually question your decisions and everything, but in all honesty, I couldn’t imagine a better Alchemy than you. You showed that you care, not just because you are selfish. You protect others and want them to live peacefully. There is nothing selfish about that.”

“There is, I’m just doing it because otherwise, I would feel like shit if I knew I could have done something and ignored it. What is selfless about that?” he shot back with an angry glare.

“If you wouldn’t want to be burdened by that you would have given up the Driver long ago, to someone you would have felt better suited for this. But you didn’t, you didn’t even think about that. And don’t come with the ‘I wanted to be seen as a hero’-thing, you don’t care about that, you never attempted to use that for anything, you would have revealed your identity the moment the MRG was working with you, but you didn’t. You do this because you want to protect people because you are a good man and nothing else,” he continued, patting his brother on the shoulder a few times, Phoenix wincing a little bit in return.

“But what about the fact that I have been leaching off other peoples success. Without the work of the previous guardians I would have been dead, I would be nothing without them. I just lucked out that I live in the time where magic is running rampant. How can I see any of what I did as my achievements,” he tried to return, sounding more and more desperate.

“Bullshit! Sure, they laid the path to your own achievements, but they are still yours. We all somewhat leach of the success of the people that came before us, but they entrusted their work to us so we may continue it. But you still are the one who will forge your own path. Everything you do you do yourself, it doesn’t matter what came before, they are your achievements. Don’t let anyone tell you they are not.”

“But-“ He didn’t come any further until Thunder interrupted him again.

“No buts! You can be proud of what you achieved, and no one can ever take that away from you. Within nearly three months you managed to complete all five Magic Disc our family has been trying to recreate for hundreds of years, and you know why? Because you had the guts to go out there and fight for the people of this city. Sure, the guardians before you poured their all into this and without them you wouldn’t stand here, but it was you who finished it. You found friends that value you for who you are and who have become better people because of you, by Tartarus, one of them even became your girlfriend. And most importantly of all, you discovered something that our family has been searching for since the times of Fools Gold, and that is something you did on your own in your own way. Trust me, there wouldn’t have been a better Alchemy and Kamen Rider even if you wanted to,” he finished with the most serious and confident smile Phoenix had ever seen oh his brother. “And even if you failed, it doesn’t matter if you just keep moving forward and fix that mistake, right?”

“I… I… Thank you! Thank you so much!” Without even a second thought wasted on the pain, Phoenix lunged forward and hugged his brother, the pain surging through his body, but he just couldn’t let go.

“Wow, wow, slow down there. You don’t need to get hurt more than you already are. But I’m glad that you are ok. Trust me, you will win next time, I just know it. You managed to get out of every bad situation until now somehow, you’ll do it again,” Phoenix just nodded in return and released Thunder from his hug. Not even a second later however he was about to jump back up again, only to be pinned to the bed by Thunder again.

“Oh, no. You are not going on the hunt for him right now! You are still way too injured for that, so take it easy, at least until Cerberus pops up again,” now Thunder sounded like a parent that was scolding his child.

“Oh? You don’t even attempt to get me out of harm's way until I’m fully healed,” he jokingly replied, there was however a hint of surprise and confusion in his voice.

“As if that would ever work. I’m glad if I can keep you here until the Corrupted comes back,” he returned while rolling his eyes. “You are just too stubborn for that.”

Phoenix just chuckled sheepishly in return and added a: “Maybe.”

“See, told you so. Now get some sleep so you can actually walk when you leave and not just fall over before the battle even starts,” he chuckled as well.

“Oh, don’t worry about that, believe me.”

“I’ll take your word on that,” Thunder returned before walking over to the door and adding a quiet: “Good luck,” before closing the door behind him.

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

Meanwhile in a dark and dusty warehouse on the outskirts of town two men and a woman were arguing with each other, behind them were two men and a woman tied up and unconcise. “You idiot, why didn’t you take the Driver from Alchemy too?” Fury was screaming at Cerberus who just glared back in return.

“Because I couldn’t risk angering Shadow Gold right now. We don’t know how strong he is and he still holds the plans for the Driver. I can’t risk anything with him, it’s that simple. We can call ourself glad that we could capture the two other Riders,” he returned with his usual rough voice, but there was a hint of nervousness in it.

“Fury, you really should trust him here, Cerberus was always someone that planned ahead. What makes you think he would make a stupid decision now? He isn’t you after all,” Elysium jokingly added, much to Fury’s annoyance.

IN a single moment she spun around and pointed her finger right into Elysium face. “Say this again and this time have the guts to say it to my face,” she growled.

“Oh, if you ask for it? Sure. You make stupid, irrational decisions simply based on your feelings. The only reason you are here is because no one dares to challenge you to a fight for your position,” he coldly returned.

Fury was fuming, she seemingly was about to jump her ally as Cerberus placed a hand on her shoulder, the hotheaded woman relaxing a bit. “Stop this right now! We have no time to fight out personal squabbles, especially with the lives of our men on the line. You two will play nice until this whole crisis is over, understood?” His answer was a bit of incomprehensible mumbling from both sides. “Understood?” he repeated, this time louder.

“Yes,” both of them said almost in unison, neither of them really happy with the outcome.

“Good, now, make sure they are ok. I don’t want them to die, we still need them for our little plan to draw out Alchemy.”

“So, you are going with Gold’s plan?” Elysium poked further, slowly stepping over to the three unconscious bodies, Fury right next to him.

“More or less. We will however not go so far as to kill the officer, there is where I draw the line. The Riders are a fair game the moment we have our bargaining chip. But as long as Gold holds the trump card, we shouldn’t anger or provoke him too much. We also shouldn’t tempt fate with all of this, patience is the key to victory after all,” he continued.

“I’m still not sure why we can't kill them right now and take their Drivers? I mean, they are right here, and if something goes wrong we have two Drivers to offer, far better than Gold has, right?” Fury sighed as she haphazardly looked over Ocean, pinching her to see if she still was alive, to her satisfaction, she was, groaning with every single poke.

“If we kill them now, Shadow will notice what we are doing, and I don’t want them to make their threat real. Without the Alchemy Driver, we are at a disadvantage, it’s that simple. He wants them alive to torture them, fair enough. I don’t care for any of that, but he wants them alive so be it. If she dies now or in a few hours doesn’t matter in the slightest,” he finished looking at his own artifact, carefully eyeing it.

“Ah, why do you always have to be right? This is so annoying,” Fury sighed before poking Ocean one last time simply because she was bored. “This one should hold on till you are done, nothing major I would say.”

“The same with these two, both aren’t in any danger. If we are lucky, they will actually be awake during the whole show.” Cerberus just threw him a look that let him quickly add: “If that is what you want at least.”

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

The night had come and gone like nothing, and the room was still bathed in darkness. As much as he knew he had to rest and sleep a bit something just kept nagging on Phoenix that refused to let him sleep. He had tried and tried again, but every time he closed his eyes the memories just rushed back into his head, stopping him from even getting a minute of his precious sleep.

So he lay awake, the entire night, the constant thoughts about his friends clouding his mind and letting his anxiety slowly return. As good as a job Thunder had done, there was still the question of how? How would he even win this? He had no second chances on this one, no do-overs, just one ty and if he didn’t win this time, everything would go to shit. The entire night he tried to come up with some plan, anything, but there was just nothing.

“Ah, I’m not good at making plans, that is Ocean’s job,” he finally sighed in frustration, letting his fist come down on the soft matrice. “Why am I stuck with this? The universe must really hate me sometimes,” he continued in annoyance. Letting himself fall back onto the pillow he let out a tiered: “Ah, I’m just gonna wing it, or at least I have to. Oh, this going to be such a disaster.”

“Well, you finally see it for yourself then,” he heard from the entrance of the room, he hadn’t even noticed that someone had slipped into the room. In an instant, his head shot around to see who the intruder was.

To his dismay, the voice had already sounded familiar, and now with the face to the voice, he definitely recognized it, Sulfur. “Oh, great, it’s you. What do you want, gloat?” He returned in complete contempt.

“No, not really. I’m here to tell you that you now see what happens when you involve yourself in things that shouldn’t matter to you,” he returned, in his usual grumpy voice.

“Ah, yeah, gathering magic was never my job,” Phoenix returned sarcastically, letting his eyes roll in annoyance.

“Oh, that was your job, but not playing hero. You see what happened, you let people die and your friends captured. There is something to do for everyone in this world, your job was to gather magic to create a Philosopher Stone. But did you do? Play the hero and get yourself into something you were neither prepared for nor meant to do. There is a purpose for everyone, and you would be far happier if you just accepted that and not try to reject it,” Sulfur continued, looking surprisingly sad, not gloating or angry, just disappointed.

“Bullshit, how am I supposed to know about this supposed job I have to do? From you? You aren’t all-knowing, you are just an old man, nothing more. If there is really something like that then the only way you’ll learn about it is trying stuff out, something you never let me do!” He hissed back, throwing an angry glare right at his grandfather.

“I know what our and your job is. You know it, I drilled it into your head for over twenty years, and you still refuse to acknowledge it!” Sulfur just shook his head, much to Phonix annoyance.

“No!” He sternly returned, glaring at Sulfur.

“No? What do you mean with no? It’s your responsibility, you have to come back home and complete the Philosopher Stone, you can leave all of this behind, it’s not your responsibility. We aren’t even really from this world, to begin with, we don’t have to-“ He didn’t come a word further as he was interrupted by a loud Phoenix.

“Enough! I have been trying to be patient with you or at least hope that you would eventually get tired of this, but no! You just pushed it too far. You always push the responsibility away from you. It’s never your fault, always someone else. You aren’t at fault for forcing me to become the guardian, it’s the fault of tradition! It’s not your fault when we leave everyone here to suffer, it’s not our world, and it was never our job, to begin with! And worst of all, it’s not your fault dad is dead, it was Shadow Gold and his family! It never could have been you, and your obsession with this bullshit, no it was all the fault of someone else. You never accept your own fault and responsibility for someone that claims to know mine perfectly well!” Phoenix finally had enough and unloaded everything he had on the old man, years of frustration and anger were released in a few moments, every word seething with anger and hatred, his glare matching his words perfectly.

“What?! It wasn’t my fault, these bastard planed this, I couldn’t have known,” he tried to deny, to himself or Phoenix, however, wasn’t even entirely sure to himself.

“And here we go again, you shove the responsibility off to someone else, never even think that something could be your fault after all. You are pathetic, as much as I fuck up and fail, I at least admit to it and want to better myself, but you? You just keep on going, never even thinking about what you did wrong, you disgust me,” he spat out.

“How dare yo-“ At this moment the doors to the room were pushed open once again, and Thunder and another police officer stormed inside.

“Phoenix, Cerberus is back, and he wants to see you.”

Phoenix jumped up in an instant, ignoring the pain throughout his body only to yell back: “Where? Get me my stuff, I’m on my way!” Without even waiting for an answer he dragged himself over to where his jacket, clothes and with it his Driver were.

“He is at the City Hall, and he brought Ocean, Shining and Pinecone,” Thunder returned like am MG. “He also said you should come as a civilian,” he added, his voice weak and uneven.

“This bastard, well ok, if he wants it that way there isn’t much I can do,” Phoenix cursed under his breath, throwing on his clothes haphazardly before storming towards the door.

“Where are you thinking you are going? This has nothing to do wit-“

“Shut up! This is the last time I’m going to say this. I’m going to make my own decisions, and this is my path, and I will see it through till the end. This was my decision to do this in the first place, and I will take care of the responsibilities. And this is final! If I’m… When I’m back I don’t want to see your face here ever again, you got that? I’ll be right back Thunder,” Phoenix barked over his shoulder, not even giving the old geezer a look before storming out of the room with a pained grimace.

“This idiot, when will he get that this is not his responsibility, he will just get himself killed,” Sulfur muttered under his breath, receiving an angry look from both Thunder and the officer that had witnessed the whole thing.

“He chose to make it his responsibility because he is a good man. And if you can’t accept that, then he is right. So piss off,” Thunder spat out before also leaving the room, Sulfur only able to stare back at the door in shock. Without him even realizing his hand wandered to his pocket and what was inside it before he snapped out of it.

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

The picture had become quite familiar for the citizens and the police at this point, police cars were barricading off a few streets because of a monster. What was different this time however was the fact that the monster wasn’t alone. A large van had driven towards the stairs of the City Hall and out had come the Corrupted and a few of his men, shoving along three people. After everyone around the City Hall had taken fled in terror, and the police had surrounded them a loud voice echoed through the now empty streets.

“These two,” he pointed at Ocean and Pinecone, both badly beaten and bruised, but still concise. “Are the heroes you have looked up to until now. They are the Kamen Riders that have protected you. But now, look at them, they are beaten and broke, both Charge and Monster. Look at them, look at their faces, look at the face of failure.” Under his breath, he muttered silently: “How I hate this. What a waste of time and I look like an idiot doing this.”

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

“This goes out to the last hero of this city. Alchemy, when you hear this and want to see your friends again, come here. Oh, and you should better come untransformed. You have thirty minutes until things are going to get ugly,” the Corrupted finished.

No one dared to say even a single word, the room had fallen silent the moment the Corrupted had finished his speech. The seven girls couldn’t other than to stare at the screen in shock and confusion, especially Twilight stared at her brother in the hands of the Monster in utter dread

“Uhm, girls, this doesn’t sound good, at all,” Rainbow finally managed to say, the rest of them just nodded silently. “You think he will come?”

“I’m sure he will, but regardless we should probably at least head there, just in case,” Sunset returned, the other five girls, minus Twilight returned a silent nod. “And don’t worry, I’m sure your brother will get out of this.” After that, Twilight nodded as well, a weak smile on her face.

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

“Ten more minutes! If Alchemy doesn’t show up until then…” Cerberus voice bellowed through the streets again, the police officers not really that amused by it. A large crowd had formed around the barricade, gleefully watching what was transpiring as well as several cameramen for different channels.

“Do you think he will show up?” One officer asked his college, sounding a bit nervous.

“Don’t think so. Why would he? He would just lead himself to the slaughter-bench, who in their right mind would do that? Especially if he really would be the last good Kamen Rider in the city. Who would stop Corrupted if he let himself get killed like this? He’ll probably try something more overt I assume,” his college returned.

“Sorry to disappoint, but I’m going for the direct approach,” a voice suddenly said, both officers letting their head swing around in an instant to see a bandaged up man with orange skin and red and orange hair.

“And who are you?” The first cop asked.

“Oh, just someone who needs to be over there,” he pointed towards the Corrupted, much to the shock of the officers.

“We can’t let anyone through there,” they insisted until Phoenix sighed and pulled out something from his pocket that let both of them freeze in place and look at the man in shock.

With the Alchemy Driver in his hand, he asked again: “Can I go through here now?”

“Yes, yes,” they both stammered in return, letting the man through, several other civilians looking after him in a mixture of shock and confusion.

“That… That was… Right?” The second officer asked at a complete loss for words.

“Yeah, that was Alchemy,” the other one returned, just as dumbstruck. Before any of them could even think about what to do next Phoenix had already walked so far past them that he had reached the field of vision of the Corrupted, much to Cerberus delight.

“Hey, Cerberus, I’m here. Untransformed, just like you asked for,” He screamed out to the Corrupted. “So, what do you want?” It didn’t even take a few seconds until every camera was directed at him, his face now visible on every monitor and TV screen in canterlot City and probably the rest of the country.

“Oh, I wanted you to show your face and tell them who you are so I can crush you for all to see!” Cerberus bellowed back. “So come, tell them who you are!”

Phoenix raised an eyebrow but ultimately just shook his head and obliged: “Ok, if you want. I’m willing to kick your ass to next Sunday, and if you want to know who did it, I can help you with that,” he jokingly returned, all while tightening the grip on his Driver as well as pulling out a Magic Disc. “I’m Phoenix Feather, the hero of Canterlot City and the one who is going to beat you, right here and now. But most importantly, I’m Kamen Rider Alchemy!” With that, he let the Drive loop around his waist and put the Disc into it.

\ MAGIC DISC DETECTED! /

“Henshin!”

\ FRIENDSHIP DISC ACTIVATED! /

Under the thunderous applause over everyone that had gathered around the barricade, even if they were a good distance away. Alchemy stormed forward, removing the Disc from his Driver again, activating its weapon form.

\ Friendship Disc Attack Mode! /

\ Connect Protector! /

Cerberus didn’t just stand there either, with a loud battle cry he stormed forward. With a loud clang and a wave of pressure the combatants clashed, even the officers at the barricade could feel the impact of the first blow, several of their hats were quickly lost to the wind. Cerberus had managed to block Alchemy’s first attack with his forearms, just like yesterday.

“Hey, Doggy, I don’t know you so well, but all of this just doesn’t seem like you. You were far more the quiet type the last time, so, what gives?” He asked with gritted teeth, trying not to be pushed back by the Corrupted.

“Hmh, you are not as dumb as you sometimes appear, I give you that. This entire farce was Alkahest’s idea, not mine. But that won’t matter anyway since this will be your last fight,” he growled in return, and with a sudden increase in strength pushed the Rider back, following this up with a slam of his fist to the place Alchemy had just stood a moment before.

Alchemy had managed to evade the follow-up attack just barely, but now it was time to turn the tables on the Corrupted. He couldn’t let an opportunity like this slip by unused so dashed forward while spinning the Disc on his weapon again. “Eternal Bond!” With the energy gathering in his weapon he dashed past the Corrupted, much to Cerberus’s surprise, and with a well-placed slash managed to score a hit on him. However, beyond Cerberus staggering back a bit, it didn't seem to hurt him all that much.

And indeed it didn’t take even a moment until Cerberus attacked again, much to Alchemy’s surprise who could only lift up his shield right before the fist of the Corrupted made contact with his face. Still, the force of the attack was enough to send him flying, the shield being pressed against his helmet. With a loud crash, he landed in one of the parked cars on the sidewalk, his face feeling incredibly sore after the shield had crashed into it, the same thing for his back, but nothing to major, yet.

With the Corrupted storming towards him, he hadn’t really any time to wallow in his own self-pity and pain. Instead, he had to just keep fighting. The fist of the Corrupted came down on the car, but Alchemy managed to jump back and levitate over the ground, much to the annoyance of Cerberus. That was however not all, with the flick of a finger four seals appeared around the Corrupted and before he could attempt to get away etherial chains shot out from them, wrapping themselves around Cerberus arms, pinning them down.

This was the moment Alchemy had waited for, he again spun the Disc on his weapon and rocketed towards Cerberus. “Eternal Bond!” The energy filled blade again slashed across the chest of the Corrupted, letting sparks fly as it struck and accompanied by a loud, pained groan from him. He landed behind the Corrupted, spinning the blade again. “Eternal Bond!” With the Corrupted still restrained he had no problem with bringing his weapon down on the creature with the same force as before, letting Cerberus cry out in pain once again.

“The dangerous Doggy chained down. Bad dog, bad dog,” he chuckled as he spun the Disc a third time, ready to attack again, the crowd around them starting to get louder and louder with their cheers. “Eternal Bond!” He dashed forward, ready to strike again as all of a sudden the chains that held the Corrupted shattered into pieces and with the speed that seemed almost unnatural, the Corrupted spun around and grabbed the blad with his hands, stopping it in its tracks almost instantly. The cheers of the crowd falling silent in an instant.

Alchemy was trying his hardest to get his weapon back from the Corrupted, trying to pull it out of his hands, but to no avail, instead, the Corrupted pulled his fist back, something the Rider didn’t even notice and let it rocket towards Alchemy. The punch was devastating, it felt like a cannonball had hit his stomach and just like one he was catapulted back, right into a storefront, the Rider disappearing inside the building.

Cerberus looked after him, letting his knuckles crack on time before storming towards him with incredible speed, the ground under his feet shaking like an earthquake was rampaging through the city. However, before he could reach the Rider, he was stopped dead in his tracks. To his confusion he couldn’t move an inch, none of his muscles budged an inch. At that moment alchemy emerged from the store, holding his hand out, it being enveloped in purple energy.

“Doggy, you used the powers that were bestowed upon you to attack others, kidnap my friends and threatened them. By the magic that was bestowed upon me, I deem you unworthy of your powers and will now take them from you!” While he was speaking, he started to spin the Magic Disc he had reattached to his Driver.

\ Friendship Disc Maximum Power! /

Around the immobilized Corrupted, six seals appeared around him which quickly restrained him even more with the ethereal chains. Alchemy meanwhile had ascended into the air and now was rocketing towards the Corrupted with his foot stretched out for a kick, consumed by a bright purple light.

But then, everything came differently than expected. Just a moment before Alchemy’s foot made contact with the monster it let out a loud roar and with never before seen strength it burst free from its hold. Before he could even process what had happened before him, the Corrupted started the counter-attack, a simple punch. Both the fist of the Corrupted and the foot of Alchemy clashed, and with it, both combatants were consumed in a massive explosion.

To the shock of everyone in the city, however, it was Alchemy who was thrown out of the explosion, landing right next to the barricade, his armor fading away into nothingness. The hero that had just fought to protect all of them, beaten on the ground. Everything was silent while Cerberus slowly walked out of the dust of the explosion and towards Alchemy, no Phoenix Feather.

“Good fight, but just not enough. This is something everyone should know, you don’t mess with Tartarus, or you will regret it. And believe me, you messed with us. I let it slide for far too long, but now, it’s time for you to pay the piper,” the voice of the Corrupted echoed through the street, the only one to even rais his voice. The tension could be cut with a knife. “But I give it to you, you put up an admirable fight.” With that, he raised his hand, the armor on his arm deforming, into what looked like spikes.

While this was happening Phoenix was trying his hardest to push past all the pain that surged through his entire body, but neither his legs nor his arms were able to even lift him off the ground, and continuing to fight was by no means an option. Still, even if he knew this would probably be the end, he just couldn’t stop here, not with all these people still setting their hopes in him, not with the life of his friends on the line, not here, not now. He was so lost in his own thoughts that he didn’t even notice the commotion that was starting to brew not five meters behind him. Several civilians were trying their hardest to press past the officers, apparently trying to get to Phoenix. But he just wasn’t able to notice it.

He also didn’t notice the spiked projectiles that were rocketing towards him. They were unstoppable, just pressing on further and further, right towards Phoenix head. The commotion behind him reached it hight as one person pressed himself past everyone else and dashed forward. Milky white skin built itself up before him, and an ear-bursting scream could be heard echoing through the streets of the city. This was enough for even Phoenix to realize what had happened, someone had caught the stones aimed for Phoenix. The knees of the person fell down, right in front of Phoenix, who could now see how the grey hair of the man limply flailed in the wind, the face hitting the ground not too far away. What he also noticed was a silent clang as something flat and round it the floor, something oddly familiar… A blank Magic Disk.

The blood froze in his veins the moment he realized that it couldn’t be right? But not only Phoenix was shocked by what had happened, but Cerberus also couldn’t do anything else than to stare at the gruesome screen in absolute horror. He hadn't aimed for the man, he hadn’t intended to rob the life of him, why had he done this? This man was not part of his job, not part of the contract, he was off limits to him. The Corrupted slowly staggered back, his arm sinking lower, still in disbelief of what had happened.

The unbearable silence that had followed the cry of the rowed was ripped apart by a loud scream. Phoenix let his voice be heard all over the battlefield, his cries of anger and sadness. This idiot, why did he do this. Right now his pain didn’t matter, nothing mattered. He pushed past everything that mere seconds had shackled him to the ground and crawled over the injured man. “Gramps! Gramps!” He shouted again, grabbing ahold of the motionless body, but nothing. He managed to force himself into an upright position and started to shake Sulfur, but still, nothing, the body remained life lesse. This was it, he just couldn’t hold it anymore: “Ahhhhh!” He let out the most pained scream he had ever unleashed in his life, clutching the dead body of his grandfather, the tears running down his cheeks like waterfalls.

He let the dead body down, carefully letting him rest on the ground. All the pain just didn’t matter anymore, he couldn’t even feel it, just pure anger. He picked up one of the Magic Disc that had fallen on the ground. With shaking feet, he staggered around for a bit until he found his footing. Glaring towards the Corrupted responsible as he placed one of his own Discs into the Driver.

\ MAGIC DISC DETECTED! /

“I might have hated him to a certain extent for what he did to me,” Phoenix started, his voice booming over everyone else all while placing another Disc on the Driver.

\ MAGIC DISC DETECTED! /

“We never have seen eye to eye and always were at each others growth,” he continued, his voice seething with rage, placing another Disc into the Driver.

\ MAGIC DISC DETECTED! /

“I might have told him to disappear and never come back!”

\ MAGIC DISC DETECTED! /

“But that doesn’t mean I still loved him in a way. He raised me, he was struck, but he still loved me. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have taken this bullet for me!” Cerberus was still frozen when Phoenix placed the next Disc into the Driver.

\ MAGIC DISC DETECTED! /

“He prepared me for this moment, all of what he did! He shaped me, and I wouldn’t be standing here without him!” Phoenix's voice grew louder and louder, slowly letting the anger fade away and be replaced with determination.

\ MAGIC DISC DETECTED! /

“I wouldn’t be standing here without everyone that came before me. I realize this now and that after I have rejected them for far too long. But I will not let myself be caged in by their old traditions and rules. I respect what they did, but I will walk my own path, I will learn from their mistakes and live a better life. A life as a Kamen Rider! This will be the legacy that I will entrust to the ones that come after me. I will continue walking forward towards a bright future! Henshin!” With the last word seemingly echoing through the entire city, he spun the Discs.

Like always a whirlwind appeared around Phoenix, but not just one out of water, fire or wind, but all of them, all six. The energy quickly tried to consume each other, turning the whirlwind into a black mass that was impossible to see through. Everyone held their breath as their hero disappeared into the darkness. Then they heard a scream, a scream that sounded like the flesh was carved of someone's bone, slowly and with a rusty knife. The screams only got louder as dark blue lightning erupted from the whirlwind. That was until the screams suddenly stopped, from one moment to the next, only seconds later the lightning changed color to gold and just a few moments later the whirlwind changed into white. With a gentle gust, the energy around Phoenix disappeared, revealing him to be completely unscathed, his previous injuries having completely disappeared. In front of him hovered the blank Disc, just now it had golden markings all over it, while the other six Disc levitated to their holders on the Driver. Filled with newfound determination, he grabbed ahold of the levitating Disc before him and placed it into his Driver.

\ PHILOSOPHER STONE DETECTED! /

“Henshin!”

\ EUREKA! /

A white whirlwind developed the Rider, golden feathers weaved into it. It didn’t take long till the Rider was again released from the heavenly energy. He wore a new armor, all in ebony white embedded with golden ornaments, the ones on his chest now formed an angular infinity symbol. His shoulder spots had taken on the form of a single gold feather with a long flowing white cape with golden edges. His horns had also been transformed into golden feathers, and two sky blue eyes stared right ahead at Cerberus.

That was the time the Corrupted regained his composure, shaking his head and starting to storm towards Alchemy. New form or not, in his condition he wouldn’t stand a chance against him. But instead of Alchemy also running up to him, he just remained there, not moving an inch. When Cerberus had reached his inhuman speed, he was just a second away from Alchemy, but in the blink of an eye, the Rider had disappeared. The next thing he knew was an unimaginable pain in his stomach and himself staggering back a few meters only to bump into something. Turning his head while clenching his stomach he looked into the blue eyes of Alchemy. Before he even knew what hit him, he had already been catapulted into a nearby storefront.

Around him were rows upon rows of books, several of the shelves crushed by his sudden intrusion. With a loud groan, he managed to get back on his feet, staggering back towards the window he had crashed through. He could feel both attack Alchemy had managed to hit on him, they hurt like balefire. To his dismay alchemy was already waiting for him on the other side of the window, his cold blue eyes staring at him.

Cerberus had enough if the Rider wanted to make this difficult so be it. With a loud scream filled with anger, he let his fists rocket towards the Rider, who just effortlessly managed to dodge the attacks only to hit them as they passed by him, both of his fists crashing into the concrete behind him, exploding into a large fireball. But the Rider didn’t slow down the dashed straight for Cerberus who tried to throw a punch with his new fists, only for Alchemy to duck under it and punch him into the stomach instead. But not to be outdone Cerberus pressed on, letting his fist aim right for his head, but again Alchemy was just faster and countered with his own fist to his head. This was enough to force Cerberus backward.

As the Corrupted was staggering backward and holding his head in disorientation, the Rider dashed past him and with a swift kick send the monster flying through the destroyed window and onto the street. He was at his end, with heavy breathing he forced himself up one last time, Alchemy calmly walking towards him. “Give up, you can’t win this,” the Rider said calmly, holding a hand out towards him.

For a moment, it sounded tempting, just giving up now. Stopping, letting others deal with everything. But no, he just couldn’t, he had to protect his people, just like Alchemy had to protect the people of his city. “Sorry, I think you know damn well that giving up just isn’t something both of us do,” he chuckled back and let out a roar of pure anger, concentrating his remaining strength into one last punch. Alchemy just chuckled weakly and nodded, also pulling his strength together into a punch. Both combatants were enveloped into a bright light, making it impossible for anyone to see how the fight had ended.

As the light slowly faded away, it revealed a battered and bruised grey man with black hair sitting on the ground a necklace in the shape of a three-headed dog before him. The man was kneeling, staring at it. “I… I lost. But, how could I… I can’t lose…” he muttered, continuing to stare blankly at the magical artifact.

“It’s over, don’t make this embarrassing for any of us. Just give up, and I will take care of Alkahest,” Alchemy soberly returned, kneeling down beside him.

“No… No! I can’t lose here, I just can’t. I will protect them, all of them!” With that he again let his hand shoot out towards the necklace, grabbing it firmly in his hands, Alchemy to supposed to react in time. A bright light enveloped Cerberus, letting Alchemy jump back several meters. Before him stood a hulking monstrosity, even bigger than Cerberus normal monster form. This thing was at least five times larger than Alchemy. His entire body had been covered in sharp stones that erupted from his previous body, large claws of metal now adored his hands and the worst and most disturbing part was the three heads, all of them alive and barking at the Rider with murderous intent.

As fast as lightning the Corrupted let his paws crash down on Alchemy who evaded the attack just barely. “Are you insane? You don’t even know what knocking you out of this a second time could cause. You could die for all I know,” he shouted towards Cerberus, but he was already too far gone, just swiping at the Rider again, who jumped over his paw and landed on it.

With a loud roar the beast tried to attack him again, the Rider however just running further up the arm of the Corrupted, the paw just hurting him instead of Alchemy. Reaching the shoulder, he could already feel that the Corrupted was really not pleased with his advances on him and started to jump around wildly, trying to shake him off, the ground under them shaking like by an earthquake. Street posts and other small things were already beginning to fall over, he had to finish this quick.

With a well-timed jump, he managed to land on the back of the Corrupted. The beast was bucking around like a wild mule and he just barely managed to grab ahold of one of the spikes on his back. With that much halt, he was finally able to spin his Philosopher Stone.

\ Philosopher Stone Maximum Power! /

The energy was again gathering in his leg, and with so much force that he pushed the Corrupted onto his stomach as he jumped up in the air only to stop suddenly. From his back extended six golden wings and with incredible speed he rocketed towards the Corrupted. Around his leg, golden lines began to form and seemed to create a whirlwind of light that exploded the moment he hit the monster. In the blink of an eye, the Rider had drilled through the monster and was scratching to a halt in front of the Monster, a massive explosion consuming the crime boss behind him.

A loud cheer went through the crowd as they saw their hero victorious, the giant Corrupted had vanished and in his place stood Cerberus again. Alchemy, however, was not one of the cheering ones, he stared at Cerberus with a sad expression on his face, only hidden by his helmet.

“You should be happy,” a weak voice called out to him, Cerberus. His body was slowly starting to fall apart and was dissolving into magic. “You avenged your grandfather and killed his murder.”

“And why should I be happy about that? Does it bring him back? No. I hated him in life, but I’m also not glad that he is dead. This is just pointless. Revenge is pointless, just like hate. I thought beating you up would make me feel better, but it didn’t it just made me feel hollow. And now that you are dying I just feel even worse,” he returned soberly. “What would I even do at this point if I wanted to continue my revenge for the small hope of it paying off in the end? Attack Tartarus, hut them down and let my anger out on them, but I’m just going to create more hate, and I’m sure won’t feel better afterward, so no, I don’t feel good.” Cerberus just chuckled back, slowly fading away into nothingness, the necklace falling to the ground next to him. Alchemy looked at the piece of jewelry for one moment before pulling the disc from his Driver.

The goons that had helped them just moments before had tried to run for it, but with the police surrounding them that didn’t pan out as they had planned and within less than a minute all of them were handcuffed and lead off, Ocean and Pinecone already in the care of the officers.

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

In the late evening, Phoenix was finally allowed to visit Ocean in the hospital. Somewhat funny actually, he had laid in the bed this morning, and now he was standing here, completely healed, and his girlfriend was in it instead.

“Seems you won,” she chuckled weakly before holding her sides.

“Something like that,” he weakly returned.

“Yeah, something like that,” he returned with a silent voice, looking towards the ground.

“I’m sorry, I know how it feels, believe me. It’s hard to lose someone, even if you had your problems with them. Don’t make the same mistake I did, just let it out,” she smiled back, managing to get in a sitting position and not a second too late as Pheonix garbed ahold of her and pushed her into a hug. She could feel the warm tears running down his face and into her hospital gown as she patted him on the back.

“He… He’s gone Ocean… gone,” he started to sob, burying his face in her shoulder. “This damn idiot!”

“Shh, everything is going to be fine, just let everything out, just like this.”

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

While Phoenix was sobbing his eyes out on the shoulders of his girlfriend somewhere else in the city someone else was preparing something else for the Riders. In a dimly lit room, only illuminated by candles Platinum Shadow was carrying an unconfessed Ivory. He looked awful, his glasses were missing, and his lab coat was covered in mud and torn to pieces. But what was the most puzzling was the fact that he had an Alchemy Driver strapped to his waist.

Platinum let his victim down, right in the middle of the room and in the center of a large rune circle with candles at five corners of it, forming a star. But before he left the circle, he took off the necklace he had worn beforehand, the moment it left his neck a sigh of reliving could be heard echoing through the room. Carefully he pulled the necklace over Ivory's neck and with a sickly twisted grin he pulled out something familiar, a Philosopher Stone and placed it into the Driver. Like pulled by invisible strings Ivory’s body started to levitate until he was hovering right in front of him. Admiring his work for a moment, he stared at the new driver and Magic Disc. He had pulled so much time and sweat into this, and now it was finally the time, a time he had waited for since he was a child. He grabbed the disc on Ivory’s Driver and gave it a good spin and within moments he was covered in a bright, white light, Platinum dashing out of the circle before a loud boom could be heard, one that could be heard several blocks away, one that brought down the roof of the small warehouse he had stood in.

Author's Note:

So yeah, this was the Final Form chapter. I can't believe I really got here, and with it to the last third of the story. I'm really glad that people actually stuck around for this moment. Thank you all so much for that.

And like always, I like to hear your opinions on the chapter.

Comments

[VictoryGreymon X]

I'm impressed!

[Layton13]

9413223
Thank you very much.