The Battle for Canterlot - Towards a Bright Future
The smell of ash and flames lingered in the air as they raced through the city, dodging Remnants and their attacks. Streets they once recognized now filled with rubble, debris, and monsters but nothing else. Occasionally they would see a group of officers trying to push back a few of the Remnants to get people to safety, as futile as it might seem. Still, they had to press onward. There was no point in saving these people if they wasted their time and Platinum succeeded in tearing this world apart then their safety would not last long, even if it hurt like Tartarus to leave them be. Everything inside him screamed to save them, but he knew that he couldn’t right now.
Pacing another stretch of road that was quite familiar was the worst, the place he had called home for so long now, the Magnum Opus. He could see these feral monsters walking through the streets, throwing stuff at everything, moving or otherwise and not even the loved restaurant of his brother had been spared. Windows had been shattered, and several of the tables as well as chairs were laying on the street like discarded trash. The temptation to just unleash all his anger that was slowly growing in him was getting bigger and bigger, but he had to ultimately swallow it, knowing fully well that as long as the world was still there things could be repaired and rebuild. That was the ting, as long as the world was still there.
Lost in his thoughts, he almost overheard Ocean scream something over the chaos in the streets. A loud: “Watch out!” snapped him back to reality just in time to see the razor sharp blade heading right for them. With a swift move, he ducked under the incoming projectile, pushing his bike down with him as the blade soared over him and right through two remnants that had been standing behind him, letting them limply fall to the ground and explode.
Their bikes came to a screeching hold, the Remnants around them just eying them curiously, but strangely not attacking them. Both of them glared up at the sky and directly at a rather familiar metal face.
“Oh, I see you could make it. And I was almost expecting that you finally started to get a brain, but what was I thinking? Heroes, that grow a brain? As if. So, let me guess, you are here to stop Platinum? Of course, you are, but I really don’t get why. Wouldn’t it be good if he disappeared from the face of the earth? I mean, really? What do you have to gain by fighting him? Shouldn’t you be saving people?” Checkbook smugly asked, flying over them in his Corrupted form.
Phoenix was about to shout something back at the monster, but Ocean held up her hand and said with a calm voice: “Don’t, he isn’t worth your time. I’ll take care of this. In a way, I’m responsible for this. Who else should clean up my mother's mess than me? You get Platinum and save the world, I’ll deal with this clown here!” And with that, she jumped off her bike, the Remnants around her eyeing her with their glowing eye.
Phoenix was about to say something, but she just looked back, that look of determination feeling almost scary. With a silent sigh, he let the engine roar again, dust kicking up behind him as he raced forward, crashing through the swarm of Remnants.
Checkbook simply looked down at the speeding of Rider and silently chuckled at him while he pointed his hand at the bikes, a long sharp blade growing out of the palm of his hand. He was about to unleash the spike of death upon the Rider when something shot through the cindering of the street below him, a gunshot. Turning his head around, he glared at Ocean, her Charge Magnum directly pointed at him. “Yeah, no! Not today! It’s finally time to put an end to your schemes!”
As he turned back again, the Rider had already disappeared into the sea of Remnants. With a silent curse, he turned back to his now opponent. “Well, seems I have to deal with you first, but that shouldn’t be much of a problem. I wish you were as smart as your mother, we could have worked so well together, but oh well, you had to play the hero. Fine, I’ll just clean this mess up once and for all!” Checkbook raised his hand once again, releasing the sharp blade that was initially planned for Phoenix on her.
Ocean hadn’t just stood around and done nothing in the meantime and activated her Driver and put in a Charger. As the blade rocketed towards her, she spun the cylinder, letting herself be encased in a bright blue orb.
\ SCANNING CHARGE! /
“Henshin!”
\ 50, 80, 100! THUNDER CHARGE! /
With a loud ringing, like it had slammed into something hard, the blade jumped off from the orb, landing beside her. Charge glared at him, and before he could send another attack at her, she dashed forward, Charge magnum aimed at him.
>-------<A>-------<
Phoenix was tempted to turn around and help Ocean, everything inside him was telling him exactly that, well everything besides his brain. That knew he couldn’t without risking everything he had fought for. With a silent curse, he continued his way through the streets filled with Remnants. He had already passed hundreds of the monsters, the flames and smoke hiding the night sky. It was a miserable image, but still, it wasn’t far anymore.
The school he had passed his first day in town stood in front of him, strangely enough, it still looked completely intact. The Remnants seemed to avoid the building like the plague, and the most likely explanation for that stood right in front of him, Platinum!
The man was standing in front of the big horse statue in the courtyard of the school, the Artifact hovering over the figure while glowing brightly. Platinum just sighed and turned around towards Phoenix who had jumped off his bike. “And here you are. I just knew you would come. Also not surprised that neither the girl nor Checkbook could stop you. You are so damn, stubborn, you know that? Ah, regardless. I offered you so many chances to let me go, but no! The righteous hero just has to play the good guy. I really don’t get you, and I thought you would understand me the best, but instead, you just blabber useless platitudes. You had the chance to walk away from all of this, and instead, you decide to hunt me. Why? I just don’t get it! Why are you here and if you really are such a great hero, why aren’t you protecting the city and instead of harassing me? Is it because of that damned legacy? It is, isn’t it?” Platinum spat towards him, clenching his hand around the Driver in his hand.
“Because of the legacy? Of course not! It’s because I chose to follow this path! You could destroy the world if you don’t stop now! Just give up already! I will never stop getting in your way as long as you are a danger to the world! So please, just this once be the better man!” Phoenix shouted back, trying his best to hide the anger in his voice, giving talking one last chance.
“Then fuck the world! What has it ever done for me? Nothing! So who cares when it dies, I certainly don’t! Serves them all right anyway! They aren’t worth your bloody time and effort, just a bunch of disinterested bastards!” Platinum screamed back at him, his eyes flaming with a mad spark.
With a sigh, Phoenix looked back down at his Driver and Magic Disc before slamming it on his waist with an unwavering determination in his eyes: “Fine! Then I just have to beat you to stop this!”
Following him beat for beat Platinum also slammed the Driver around his waist, both Riders outing in their respective Magic Discs. Both Riders spun their Disc in the Driver and ran towards each other with a loud scream.
\ MAGIC DISC DETECTED! /
\ DETECTING MAGIC DISC! /
“Henshin!”
\ FLAME DISC ACTIVATED! /
\ FLAME DISC READY! /
The black and fiery red whirlwinds illuminated the night even more before both Alchemy and Alkahest burst out of them, rushing towards each other. The sound was deafening, echoing through the entire city as their fists meet, the concrete walkway under their feet starting to crack.
>-------<A>-------<
Emerald didn’t know how to feel, in one way this was the most exhilarating sensation she had ever felt. Nothing compared to this, the power, the energy, the heightened senses, it was breathtaking, she wanted to just run around in this and let loose, but she knew she couldn’t, at least not now, because that was where the rest of her feelings kicked in. Emerald was scared, frightened, and unsure of what to do. She wasn’t trained for this, she had no idea how to use these powers, and yet here she was, fighting against one of the strongest monsters this city had ever faced. Granted, she wasn’t alone, but she felt utterly outmatched by the ferocity and strength of her opponent. And she could only wonder how Timber felt, but all of this was secondary right now because she knew what had to be done.
With that thought in mind, she flew forward, the wings on her back pushing her further even more as she rushes past Adagio, her whip wrapping around the wrist of the Corrupted as she flew by. Adagio was about to throw a punch at Applejack when she suddenly felt her wrist being pulled back. This was all the time Timber needed to dash towards her and together with the farmgirl slammed his fist right into the chest of the Corrupted, knocking her back a few steps.
“Ha, get ya!” AJ screamed out, a smirk on her lips only for that to be whipped away rather quickly as Adagio yanked her arm forward, pulling Emerald with her and throwing the screaming Rider at the two other ones. AJ and Timber were both knocked off their feet as they suddenly felt the weight of Emerald thrown upon them, leaving them in a pile of bodies on the floor.
“Cute attempt, but ultimately worthless,” was all Adagio returned with a disturbing undertone. “But since you try so hard, how about I show you what I can do? You know, would be really lame if I wouldn’t join in, in showing off our powers. And the bonus of seeing your scared little faces will be enough for me to draw this out a little longer,” she called as the crystals that together made up her wings slowly hovered in front of her. When that was done, they quickly started to glow a bright purple until…
Turning the night to day Adagio unleashed an enormous blast of energy, tearing apart the asphalt below her and rocketing towards the pile of bodies that was the girls and Timber. In the last second, something that looked like a purple blur that zoomed right in front of them, but before any of them could make out who or what it was everything was covered in an explosion and the following dust.
“Are you fine dears?” Rarity’s voice asked from within the dust, their vision becoming clearer again, looking at a rather cracked diamond shield that had shielded them from their grouse demise just now. And instead of a typical answer, the sound of Emerald’s driver came back in return.
\ AWAKEN: SPHINX! /
Dashing forward, the Rider crashed through the remains of Rarity’s shield, letting several of the shards scratch across Adagio’s armor as they were thrown in her direction mere moments before Emerald let her claws come down on her. The first strike cleaved across not only several of her crystals, ramming them into the asphalt below, but also across her chest, letting several sparks fly and fall onto her own armor. The Corrupted couldn’t other than taking a step back, followed by the next swipe of the claws, once again swiping several crystals out of the air and slashing across the monster's chest.
Filled with newfound confidence Monster tried to bring down both claws at once, but to her surprise, both hands of Adagio shot up, closing shut around her arms and holding her in place. Then she felt the pain, the sensation of razor-sharp blades slicing through the back of her armor, skin, and flesh like a knife through butter. Within seconds her world had changed from hopeful to one filled with pain and suffering. She didn’t even notice her own screaming and how she was thrown to the side like an uninteresting toy by a child.
“AJ, throw me!” Timber said with a low voice, his voice uneven and filled with anger. The girl simply nodded, grabbed his arm, spun him around a few times, and catapulting him directly at Adagio who simply pulled her crystals in front of her, blood still dripping off of them. The punch rocked the entire street as Timber pushed back against the makeshift shield, both combatants not winning any ground, only for another sound to interrupt their struggle.
\ AWAKEN: RIVERSERPENT! /
From behind something blue jumped up from some rubble, it had a helmet shaped like a serpent with fins and a mustache and rammed a spear in the form of a snake into the back of the Corrupted. With an annoyed grunt, Adagio slightly turned her head, glaring into the crimson eyes of Monster. “I just sliced you open with my crystals, how are you back?” But instead of an answer, she instead felt the push from her front. She had totally forgotten about the Rider in front of her, and that came back immediately to bit her.
With her distracted Timber finally had the chance to push through the makeshift shield of his opponent, breaking it apart and scattering the crystals across the ground, pushing her against the spear. That was finally enough to puncture her armor, the spear finally digging into her flesh. The pained scream of the Siren echoing off the side of the lab.
Sadly, this little victory was rather shortlived as the light in her eyes suddenly glowed even bright, pushing the two Riders back through seemingly no doing of her own. Timber was thrown off and was about to crash into the next wall when suddenly he disappeared mere moment before he would have found himself again in the rubble.
Instead, he suddenly stood behind the Corrupted and right next to Rainbow Dash. “Heh, seems like saving the asses of Rider’s is getting a bit of a hobby for me,” she said with her usual arrogance as she smiled at him with a big dumb grin.
“You never change, do you?” Timber simply returned with a chuckle before adding a simple: “Thanks.”
“Don’t sweat it. Thank me by beating that rejected pop idol over there,” she returned while pointing at Adagio.
“Sure,” he simply chuckled back, both dashing towards the Corrupted.
In the meantime, Monster had also been thrown back, but instead of one of the Rainbooms coming to her help, she used her own weapon to regain her footing, raming the tip of the spear into the ground and using it like a pole dancer, spinning around it right back towards the Corrupted.
To her delight, the Corrupted wasn’t at all expecting her to attack again and was taken a bit off guard, being knocked forward by her feet, stumbling right towards Gaia and Rainbow.
While Timber slammed his fist once again into the stomach of the beast, Rainbow was coming around her opponent striking her at every opportunity, like an angry wasp, knocking around Adagio quite a bit. That was until a familiar sound caught her attention.
\ AWAKEN: THUNDERBIRD! /
Almost like out of nowhere, Emerald rushed in from behind, ramming her rapier right where she had stabbed Adagio with her spear before. The fact that she was stumbling backward only helped push the thing deeper into her skin. The scream of pain was exactly what she wanted to hear. Both Rainbow and emerald proceded to race across her at superspeed, taking chances whenever possible and being as annoying as possible, just like a fly that just doesn’t know when it was enough. And during all of that Timber continued to pummel her into submission.
Or at least that was their plan, but sadly, plans are always perfect in one's mind, but applied to reality they can quickly crumble. And so did this one. Just as Gaia tried to deliver the next punch, something flickered in the corner of his eyes. Just as he looked towards it for one second, everything turned sideways.
The crystal he had seen shot up to him, shooting through his shoulder pad and partially through his skin, knocking the young Rider back. But this gem wasn’t the only one that was let loose on them, every single other one shot up from the ground, formed a circle around her and were rocketed outwards, soaring over his head.
“Down!” Was all he heard, the voice unmistakably Sunset. The silence that had to be a good sign, right? At least no one was injured, so it had to be good. As he was somewhat lost in his own thoughts, holding his shoulder he looked up again, and to his shock the gems came back, forming a circle around her, now hovering right over him.
In an instant, his worry turned into straight-up panic, desperately trying to crawl away, all while the gems above him angled themselves and-
BOOM!
Instead of the sharp pain of several small crystals embedding themselves into his skin, the sound of an explosion was instead what followed before he was picked up by Rainbow again and put on his feet next to Emerald. What he saw in front of him was in equal parts weird and impressive. Pinkie was throwing rock after rock at the Corrupted, every single one exploding, forcing the monster back with every attack.
“Take that, you big meany! Feel the power of the rocks! Maud taught me well!” She screamed out, all while continuing his bombardment. He was about to ask something before he remembered the first rule in dealing with Pinkie Pie, ‘it’s Pinkie Pie, don’t question it.’
While he had been staring in awe at what was transpiring in front of him, Emerald had changed her Medal once again and was just slamming the Driver shut once again.
\ AWAKEN: DRAGON! /
Now clad in her red armor and with her ax she simply nodded to Gaia who looked at her confused for a moment from beyond his mask before nodding as well, both Riders running forward. Monster used her wings to get back up in the air and rocket back down towards her, while Gaia simply ran like Tartarus was on his heels. Adagio was far to occupied with Pinkie Pie to notice them, or at least she should have been. The moment they brought down the ax and swung their fists, a sinister chuckle was all they could hear. Moments later both their attacks were stopped dead in their tracks by the damn gems.
“Enough!” Adagio shouted, glaring specifically at Pinkie. For a moment, the world seemed to stand. Still, no one dared to move even a muscle. Then everything just happened so fast, the crystals came back to life, zooming across the battlefield, slashing across the girls and Riders, knocking all of the back in an explosion of sparks. “I’ve had my fun, and you did fine, but here it ends! Time to see the despair in your eyes!” She chuckled, ready to use her gems once again.
\ AWAKEN: CHANGELING! /
Out of nowhere, an etherial changeling appeared, knocking back Adagio and letting the crystals fall limply to the ground. “We are just really getting started!” Emerald huffed out, crawling back up from the rubble, quickly followed by Timber and the rest of the girls.
The ear bursting scream of the Corrupted didn’t even deter them as Adagio jumped back up, reassembling her wings and hovering over the ground. “You will regret this! The time for games is over!”
>-------<A>-------<
One after the other a row of blades slammed into the asphalt behind her, where she had stood just moments ago. Whatever she did next, one thing was clear, stopping to run would be a death arena. Mid-sprint, she turned around, jumped off the ground, directly towards one of the burning cars and aimed. The shoots echoed through the streets, foiling the air with even more dread as Checkbook unleashed another barrage of blades at her, most missing, but one slicing across her leg. It cut right through the armor and drew blood.
Her landing was far rougher than expected. Without the use of her leg, she landed shoulder first behind the car. Her leg hurt like Tartarus, but she had no time to dwell on that. Slowing down meant death and Checkbook would leave her no openings. Gritting her teeth, she rolled under the car, the blades slamming right there in the ground where she had laid before. What followed were six shots that hit dead center, right on his head, with one actually managing to strike an eye. With a loud wail, the Corrupted trembled in the air, holding his eyes in pain. Perfect, that was precisely what she needed.
Dashing forward from beneath the car raced directly towards the next wall, reloading her revolver while doing so. The lightning-fast blur of a Rider jumped up, landing on the wall and immediately jumped off it again heading right for her opponent, still holding his hands in front of his eyes. A surprised yelp accompanied her arm, suddenly garbing onto the monster from behind. Checkbook started to wildly swing around the air like a wild bull at the rodeo, but Ocean held onto him for dear life.
The frantic swaying across the sky was quickly cut short as Charge jammed her Charge Magnum right into a small little opening between the helmet and the rest of the armor. Every single one of the six shots let electricity run through his body, accompanied by a bloodcurdling scream. After the gun clicked empty Checkbook quickly lost altitude, crashing right through the outer walls of the Magnum Opus and into Thunders living room.
The silence that had lasted for a few seconds suddenly ended with the sound of a metal claw scraped across the floor, Checkbook raising from the debris with two glaring red eyes. But to his surprise he wasn’t the first one, Ocean had already stood back up, her gun aimed at the Corrupted. Before he could even react, his eyes were once again hit by the Rider.
“Charge up!”
\ 50, 80, 100! WATER CHARGE! /
Within seconds the entire room was filled in a thick mist, making it impossible to see farther than your own hand. The only thing one could see in the foggy room were the glowing red eyes of Checkbook as he frantically spun around, expecting the Rider to jump him any moment now. But nothing, just silence, the only sounds were the destruction in the distance, but inside the room? Not even a mouse was moving, just silence. And worst of all, it seemed like his eyes were playing tricks on him, every time he thought he saw something in the mist, it turned out to be nothing more than furniture.
As he jumped around once again, throwing one of his blades at what turned out to be a chair, splitting it in two. And just a moment later two glowing red eyes emerged from the mist, jumping on his shoulders and raming two batons in his eyes. The scream that followed was awful, every still standing window shattering into a thousand pieces. Checkbook swung his hands like a madman, desperately trying to throw the Rider of him, but Ocean was already off him, landing right in front of the stairs before changing her Charger once again.
“Charge up!”
\ 50, 80, 100! EARTH CHARGE! /
Without even thinking the Corrupted dashed towards the sound, the floor under him straining under the weight of him. With a blind charge, he tackled Ocean to the ground, or at least he would have if there was ground, to begin with. Instead, he fell down the stairs, both of them ending up in a tangled ball of limbs. To Checkbook’s surprise only he was groaning in pain, Ocean was just fine how it seemed, something that as only was reinforced as she was the first one the get out of their entanglement and throw him across the room and into an oven, denting it beyond recognition.
He could just see the glow of the gem on her chest fade before she dashed forward, trying to slam her fist into his chest. To her dismay Checkbook wasn’t so out of it that he could react, instead catching her arm and twisting it back, forcing the Rider in a quite uncomfortable position.
“I give you credit, you really know how to get on my nerves, but this won’t save you in any way shape or form. You are just as stubborn as your mother,” he growled, pulling back his arm to stab her with one of his blades that had grown out of the palm of his hand.
The blade came down, right at her heart, only to break all of a sudden when it hit with full force against the armor, the orb on her chest glowing again. Without missing a beat, Ocean jumped up, spun around her own axes and delivered a dropkick that knocked him through the wall of the kitchen and right onto one of the tables.
“Charge up!”
\ 50, 80, 100! WIND CHARGE! /
Checkbook’s eyes were glowing like never before, almost seeming like there were about to burst out of his helmet. Letting out an angry scream he just unleashed a barrage of his blades at the kitchen only for them to suddenly blow to the wayside, ramming into the walls of the restaurant. But before he had any chance to process any of this, he was also taken by the wind, flinging him across the room and through the doors of the building. His landing was accompanied by an annoyed grunt.
“Charge up!”
\ 50, 80, 100! FIRE CHARGE! /
Like a rocket the Rider burst out from the dust, heading right for the Corrupted who could only throw his hands in front of him and let her slam into them, almost knocking him back. And as if as a statement to this thought, in particular, she followed up her attack with a roundhouse kick, letting him stumble to the side, his side stinging a little where she had hit him. Like a fire that had come alive, she kept on fighting, slamming her fist into his stomach and letting her engine erupt right on his armor, slowly coking him alive, or at least would have if Checkbook hadn't retaliated, slashing across her chest, sparks flying and Charge staggering back.
But she wasn’t done, not by a longshot, pulling out one of her Stun Batons she threw it in the air and with another roundhouse kick assisted with her engines kicked it right at the point where she had heated him right before. Like a hot needle through butter, the baton slammed through the armor and into the unprotected skin beneath.
This was it! He had been humiliated for far too long! Anger surged through his body, swallowing the pain and turning it into new power. With a scream of utter contempt, he dashed forward, much to Charge’s surprise, slashed across her chest two times, the sparks flying like on a sparkler and threw her back into the building. Not missing a beat he dashed after her, accompanied by the sound of her Driver.
“Charge up!”
\ 50, 80, 100! FRIENDSHIP CHARGE! /
>-------<A>-------<
Both Alchemy and Alkahest were throwing punch after punch at each other, both matching the others attack every time, no one able to get a hit in, all while refusing to back down first. Alkahest pulled out for another hit when instead of the Rider matching him beat for beat jumped back. The Dark Rider just chuckled, shook his head and ran straight ahead once again. Alchemy just slammed both of his fists together and dashed forward as well.
Once again, their fists meat, but instead of being equally matched like the countless times before a massive explosion rocked the ground, right where they had clashed. Alkahest was thrown back, crashing through the doors of the school, Alchemy’s hand, however, was left burned from the whole ordeal, the flesh under it burning like it was on fire. Gritting his teeth, he simply ignored the pain of his injured arm that hung limply from his side and dashed after the Rider.
Jumping through the gaping hole in the wall where before had been the doors he pulled back his other arm and brought it down at the still startled Alkahest. He could only pull up his arms to at least partially block the damage, how futile it might be.
The explosion that rippled through the building was strong enough to shatter any sheet of glass in the nearby area and knocked Alkahest back once again, his armor smoldering like someone had kipped out a fire on him. His glowing red eyes, however, were still fixated on Alchemy as he slowly rose up again.
Alchemy had also not escaped the entire ordeal that well, his armor was scorched and cracked to an unnerving degree. His breath was low and more panting than anything else. As he slowly raised his one hand, weakly grasping the Disc on his Driver before ripping it out of it and switching it for another one. That was the moment Alkahest dashed forward, hand on his driver as well.
\ THUNDER DISC ACTIVATED! /
\Thunder Disc Attack Mode! /
\ Thunder Tonfa! /
\ THUNDER DISC READY! /
Within the blink of an eye, both Rider’s had disappeared only for an excessive amount of bullets to hit the lockers around them, shotting through them like butter. But that wasn’t what the two were seeing, they were speeding across the halls of the school like two madmen that were chasing each other. Alkahest was running ahead, pestering him with a barrage of shots that hit everything besides him.
Alchemy, on the other hand, was racing after the Dark Rider, dodging bullets left, right and center and trying his best not to fall victim to his attacks. With every corner, he expected another attack, and most of the time, his instincts didn’t betray him. Instead, he was pretty much always greeted with another barrage of bullets that were flung his way.
After the last burst of bullets, Phoenix could only see how Alkahest dodged into another room, quickly dashing after him, only for his superspeed to wear of the moment he entered the room. Completely caught off guard, he immediately lost his footing, stumbling over his own feet and almost flying into one of the many bookshelves inside what must have been a library.
Even under the broken shelf and dozens of books, he could still hear the delighted laugh of Platinum before that laugh suddenly stopped and instead being replaced with the sounds of a trigger being pulled. That was music in his ears, and within a split second, he dashed forward, tanking the shots that slammed against his armor like cannonballs.
Not even Platinum had expected this, being taken entirely of guard by the sudden rush of his opponent had no chance but to be tackled to the ground, Alchemy rolling on top of him.
What followed was what could only be described as a beatdown, Alchemy slamming his tonfa against Alkahest’s helmet time and time again, ever hit dazing the Rider even more with no chance to retaliate. This must have gone off for at least ten seconds until Platinum finally managed to snap out of and grabbed one of the tonfas, stopping it before Alchemy could slam it down on him once again. The second weapon quickly followed and like a speeding bullet, he snapped forward with his head, giving his opponent a solid headbutt, knocking him off him.
Alchemy stumbled back, but at the same time managed to pull out his Magic Disc and slam another one in right before Alkahest dashed forward and ran right into the whirlwind, being thrown to the side.
\ EARTH DISC ACTIVATED! /
\ Earth Disc Attack Mode! /
\ Boulder Shield! /
Not missing a beat Phoenix immediately threw the shield after him.
\ EARTH DISC READY! /
With the shield bouncing off him like nothing, it flew back, Alkahest holding two small black and orange hammers in his hands that were attached to his armor with chains. Not wasting any second on anything else he slammed his hammers on the ground below him, a shockwave, unlike anything he had experienced until now rummaging through the entire building, parts of the roof falling on top of them, shelf falling over and glass shattering all over the place. It was like a localized earthquake.
And as much as he tried to keep a steady stand, he was still thrown around bobblehead. What was worse was the fact that he could only watch as Alakhest slammed one of the hammers once again on the ground, a massive boulder jumping up and slamming it at the Rider with his other one.
With the massive rock hurtling his way Phoenix pushed all his weight forward, seemingly losing balance and landing with his hands and knees on the floor, the projectile coming closer and closer. But at the last second, the sound of a hand flicking echoed through the room, and just mere moment a seal appeared beneath him, ready to activate only to disappear again. “What?!”
Without his magic, Alchemy could only watch in horror as he was swatted away by the massive rock and thrown right throw several walls and ultimately landing in what must have been the cafeteria. Dust and pieces of the roof had fallen down, crashing several tables like it was nothing beneath them.
It was uncharacteristically silent, no footsteps, no screaming, no nothing, it was early. Alkahest could attack any second from now, and he was a sitting duck all things considered. Then he heard it, the sound of a rattling chain, acting more on instinct than anything else he pulled up his shield, just moments before the weapon crashed against him, letting him stagger backward as the next hammer came hurtling towards him.
Unlike last time he had no chance to block the weapon, letting it hit him square in the chest knocking him back once again, slamming into the cantina of the cafeteria, but not without managing to grab the hammer one time, but without any sort of effect.
But as Alkahest pulled back the hammer once again, he just snapped his finger, a massive rock forming around the weapon. Pushing past the pain in his chest, he threw the shield once again, and this time it did hit its target, smacking him across the jaw and knocking the Dark Rider to the side. Catching the shield as it returned, Phoenix immediately switched to another form once again.
\ WATER DISC ACTIVATED! /
\ Water Disc Attack Mode! /
\ Wave Trident! /
Running straight ahead, he jammed the spear behind him and immediately flicked with his fingers, letting a wave of water sprout out of the ground, surfing in the direction of his opponent. He held his trident ready for the next attack, or move of Alkahest, one that he wouldn’t have to wait for too long.
\ WATER DISC READY! /
It didn’t even take two seconds for two harpoons to suddenly burst through one of the nearby walls, missing him by mere inches and impaling themselves in the lockers behind him. There was no time to react as the water he had used to traverse the are suddenly stopped working and slumped to the ground like regular water, not that he hadn’t expected this after the last time he had used his powers, landing more or less on his two feets, minus a bit of a stumble.
His eyes were locked on the wall he had seen the harpoons be launched off of, tightening the grip on his trident, ready for the next attack. And just like clockwork, he hadn’t had to wait any longer when once again the harpoons rammed through the wall, six all at once and hurtled towards him with unnerving speed. Reacting quickly he started to spin around his weapon in front of him, the spears bouncing of his weapon, well all but on that slammed right into his shoulder, pinning him against the next best wall.
The bloodcurdling scream of Phoenix could be heard through the whole building, and they still couldn’t convey the absolute feeling of agony that surged from his shoulder throughout his entire body, making everything just blurs into the background. After a few seconds that felt like an agonizing eternity, his mind finally grasped back onto some kind of clear though: ‘Get! It! Off!’ Without wasting any more precious moments thinking about it any longer he slammed his fist right on the rod of the harpoon, snapping it cleanly in two. Accompanied by even louder screams, he pushed himself off the wall, leaving behind the snapped of, bloody stump of the harpoon. Phoenix could feel his concern dwindling, the pain overwhelming him completely, weakly reaching for his belt before he would lose this fight and with it probably everything.
\ WIND DISC ACTIVATED! /
\ Wind Disc Attack Mode! /
\ Hurrican Bow! /
Letting out a loud gasp for air he could feel the pain subsiding, his vision returning as he panted on the ground. But there was no rest for the wicked after all as he pushed himself back up. Even with the energy, he had already gotten back through the Disc, he was slowly getting exhausted. The only hope was that he wasn’t the only one. And still, he had no idea where Alkahest was, but that could be changed he thought as he spun the Disc on his weapon once again.
“Arrow Storm!”
He once again pulled back the bowstring and let the energy arrow sore towards the sky, or in this case, the roof of the school, forming into the seal way above the building and letting rain death and destruction in the form of dozens upon dozens of arrows rain down on them. With the rain of arrows coming down around him, decimating the roof, even more, he listened carefully.
\ WIND DISC READY! /
There it was, precisely what he had waited for, pulling back his bowstring again and waited. He hadn't had to wait long as the rain of arrows suddenly stopped, a smirk crossing his lips under his helmet. Then he let go, the bolt crashing through the next wall disappearing in a mist of dust and debris. What followed was a scream filled with agony, much to Phoenix’s delight. But that small victory was only shortlived as the sound of loud thunder echoed through the school. He had to hurry, they were running out of time.
>-------<A>-------<
Monster was meanwhile busy keeping Adagio occupied, the Corrupted having grown more and more frustrated with every strike they were able to land. Gaia and the Rainbooms were dealing with her on the ground, utilizing more or less hit and run tactics, but without any meaningful progress, all while she was continuously ramming her horn in the Corrupted by flying into her.
The powers of her Changeling forms were overwhelming, never had she felt so powerful before. The temptation to just cut loose and let her inner monster out was tempting, oh so tempting. She could feel her anger and adrenaline spike with every time she hit the beast, a rush of excitement rolling over, begging the young Rider to just let go and pummel that bitch into submission. It was a strange mix of liberating and scary at the same time.
She was, however, knocked out of her thoughts as one of the wing-crystals of Adagio was flung her way, the Rider during the attack in the last second before returning her gaze to the battlefield beneath her. She was so sunken into her own thoughts that she hadn't even noticed how beat up everyone looked. If they didn’t beat her soon…
No! She couldn’t think like that, not right now! And to make everything even worse all of a sudden at least a dozen Remnant’s stormed the battlefield. She was about to swoop down and attack one of them when she noticed it, they ignored everyone and were heading straight for Adagio. Even she was taken aback by that, and before she could even make any attempt to act, she was dogpiled by all of them.
“Your chance Emerald!” Echoed it through the street as Sunset stepped back into view, a massive grin on her face. Monster just stared at her, but snapped back rather quickly, activating her finisher.
\ ROAR: CHANGELING! /
Changing her direction once again, she rocketed towards the pile of Remnants and Corrupted, her horns being enveloped by bigger etherial projections until she finally hit her target.
The entire street was covered in a massive explosion, consuming everything with Emerald coming to a screeching halt behind it. The moment she wanted to look back at her handiwork, however, she felt it, the sensation of something grinding through her armor, slowly digging into her flesh.
Stepping out from the dust was Adagio, not really worse for wear, the wing-crystals flying back to her after they were done shredding through Emerald’s armor, leaving her behind on the ground, panting for breath. This fight was anything but over.
>-------<A>-------<
The hulking body of the Corrupted slammed into the ground next to her, his arm blade he had grown embedding itself in the ground like butter. Not missing a beat he slashed through the concrete, swinging his blade at her. Ocean meanwhile was entirely on the defensive, only able to dodge every swing, but unable to attack on her own.
She had to do something, or this would eventually turn sour for her. That was the moment she spotted the car with its wide-open doors. Perfect. Picking up her pace, she dashed forward, blades flying after her, slowly catching up to. There was only one way out…
With a loud scream, she jumped forward, right through the passenger door of the car, blades right behind her, all while unloading her weapon like a madwoman, shooting right through the open car. The moment the blades rammed into the car, she could see it starting to move, thrown aside with her inside.
She could only barely make out her shoots as they suddenly curved in the air and headed straight for her target. The air was rocketed by a loud explosion and a bright purple light as well as the grunts of Checkbook.
This was it, that was the only chance she would get. Now or never. Not wasting any more time she spun the cylinder on her Driver before jumping out of the overturning car.
\ Maximum Charge! /
Her weapon was aimed right at the Corrupted as she unleashed her wrath on the Corrupted. A bright purple beam of energy was let loose from her threat enveloping the street in another explosion. After she had landed again, she let out a silent sigh before pulling out her Prism Charger. And like on cue Checkbook stepped out of the dust and smoke, his armor sporting a few dents.
>-------<A>-------<
Once again their weapons clashed, Alkahest blocking Alchemy’s sword strike with his spear before slamming his shield into the side of the Rider. Stumbling back Alkahest tried to follow up only for Phoenix to block the attack with his shield and return the favor by stabbing at the Dark rider with his sword, Platinum barely flinching.
After another second they once again dashed at each other, crashing against each other with their shields, both of them knocked back and right through the next wall. Alchemy was the first to stand back up, his body ached all over, and exhaustion was really starting to take its toll on the Rider, but he forced all these thoughts aside, as long as there was any fight left in him this wasn’t over. Pointing his weapon forward, the entire building was filled with the sound of stone cracking and metal bending.
Platinum meanwhile had stood back up again a well, hearing the strange sounds all around him. Then he noticed it, the small droplets of dust from the ceiling, quickly turning bigger and more frequent. But before the realization could set in it happened, the ceiling caved in, no, even more, it particularly shot at the Dark Rider, burying him under tons of debris and rubble.
Alchemy meanwhile was running head first towards his opponent, the building collapsing around him as he spun the Disc on his weapon again. “Eternal Bond!”
Holding out the bright glowing weapon he let it come down on the pile of rubble he had buried Alkahest under, the blade moving with frightening speed, only for the glow to suddenly disappear and the sword just embedding itself in the rubble. Not even a second later the pile of debris exploded, Alkahest jumping out of it and right at Alchemy, stabbing the spear right into his armor. Only the attempt to jump away from the attack prevented the spear from impaling him right then and there, but he still didn’t escape unscathed as he was thrown back and directly out of the ruins of the school, landing once again in the courtyard.
The pain was surging through his body from the spot where Alkahest had stabbed him, a bit of blood dripping from the new wound. Trying to stand up again was a futile endeavor, his limbs just giving in every time he tried to stand back up, the steps of Alkahest coming ever closer.
About to scream out in frustration, something else happened, a loud roaring rolled through the city before it happened. The sky broke, shattering in several places, the night sky with its stars replaced by something else. A city, surrounded by a desert. One could look up at the night sky, into a crack and right down at a desert town.
Then it happened again, roaring thunder followed by the sky breaking apart, this time revealing another city, next to a mountain range and a desert. Then another city almost identical to Canterlot City, another one with a strange red and white tower in a bay and so many more. The sky was filled with cities upon cities, and there was no sign that this would slow down at all.
Phoenix stared in horror at what was transpiring in front of him, and he was just lying here? No! This was not how this would end! Letting out a primal scream, he pushed past his aching muscles and back onto his feet before pulling out a certain Magic Disc.
\ WIZARD DISC ACTIVATED! /
The Rider now clad in the form created from his fellow Rider’s powers dashed forward, pulling out a version of Wizard’s sword out of nowhere and quickly shoot at Alkahest who was far too shocked to react. Each bullet hit its target, letting him stagger back. This was enough time for him to close the distance between them, slashing across the chest of his opponent until he regained his composure and started to block the incoming attacks.
Not contempt with just letting him do as he pleased Alchemy quickly switched the form of the weapon once again, firing at him before suddenly turning around and shooting into the air. That little stunt left him however open for a counterattack, Alkahest slashing across his back, letting sparks fly and Alchemy stumbles forward. Alkahest was about to follow his attack up when the bullets hit him against every bit of logic.
“Oh, didn’t I tell you, the bullets are target searching. But I think you know now,” Phoenix smirked before turning around and lifting his hand that quickly grew in size until it was bigger than his opponent. With a forceful push, he threw the Dark Rider back into the ruins, ready to charge after him when he heard it.
\ DISSOLVE! /
>-------<A>-------<
Emerald was bearly clinging onto conciseness, the wound in her back stinging worse every second. And yet she did notice what had happened around her, the Rainbooms and Gaia had defended her with all their might, taking several hits from the crazy Corrupted. But then it happened, the deafening thunder and the breaking of the sky. She could barely make out what was going on, but she didn’t really need to know what it was, she knew enough to determine that it was probably nothing good.
As if to confirm her suspicions the thunder once again rocked the city, letting the sky shatter more and more almost in rhythm with the pulsating of her wound. It all melded into one continuous pull that echoed through her body, something primal, natural, instinctual. Almost like it was telling her something, she didn’t even notice her hand slowly reaching for the Chimera Medal until she felt the round object in her hand.
That was when the realization hist her and the fear returned, even worse than the pain. If she activated the Medal now, who knows if she didn’t lose control, become a puppet to her own instincts. The thought alone was paralyzing. But the feeling tried to push her on, letting images of a world slowly falling apart flash in her head. It was apparent what it was trying to tell her if she didn’t act now there would be no world anymore. She knew that, but still, the fear was ever-present, seeping through her body like a snake caressing its poisoned victim.
Thoughts upon thoughts were shouting over each other, the idea of holding onto a single thought was almost impossible. Well, until he came into her mind. Phoenix! There was just one question in her mind right now, what would he do? Did she even have to ask? With a resigned sigh, she slammed the Medal into The Driver and closed it shut around it again.
\ AWAKEN: CHIMERA! /
She could see how the ethereal beasts broke free from the Driver only to crash back into her, with every one of the bringing back some of her power until the manticore returned. The battlefield had fallen silent as she rose from the ground. Her ascend was material, janky and just unnerving until just at the end her head snapped forward, glaring at Adagio with her bright red eyes, letting the Corrupted take a step back.
Before a single thought could even form in her mind, her legs had already moved on their own, her left arm glowing in a bright blue and she sped towards her opponent, jumping at her and knocking her off balance. Before adagio had even hit the ground Emerald already let her fist come down on her, her right leg glowing in a bright red, leaving a sizable dent behind in her helmet. And it was no sign in sight that she would stop any time soon, letting her fist come down time and time again on the Corrupted, leaving no room to retaliate at all. She had never felt so free and right in her entire life.
Well at least that was how it looked, while Monster was delivering a savage beatdown on Adagio she wasn’t just ideally sitting by, no she was slowly moving her wing-crystals in position over Emerald.
“Emerald! Watch out!” Was what finally snapped the Rider out of it and took everyone else by surprise as well since they were more or less still staring in awe at what had happened in front of them. Twilight had been the only one to realize what Adagio was planning.
Without wasting any more time, Emerald growled at the Corrupted and jumped off her, the gems following the direction she was headed and started to glow in bright light. But before they could unleash their devastating blast, the suddenly changed course again, pointing straight down at the Corrupted who noticed far too late what had just happened.
The bright light was accompanied by the loud screams of Adagio as her own attack shredded through her armor, leaving her smoldering body behind on the ground. Her breathing was low, and she seemingly wasn’t able to move anymore. “That is our chance! We have to end this here!” Twilight screamed at everyone only to be interrupted by a low, fuming voice.
“Enough! Enough! I have had it with all of you! You won’t beat me! I will have my revenge!” She shouted out, her screams filled with unbridled fury. Just moments later, her wings started to glow as well as her armor as more and more crystals began to form all over her body, coating her in a new form of armor. It didn’t take long until she had grown to a massive size, at least ten times as big as before, her body had shifted into a hulking behemoth with large crystal hooves, the wings had grown to enormous size, and the horn on her head had grown as well.
“Adagio! Calm down! You don’t know what might happen if you are defeated like this! You could… You could die!” Sunset screamed, or more precise begged the creature, but the only response she got was a loud roar and the Corrupted storming towards her, ready to impale her on her horn.
But before the raging beast could lay its hoves on her, it was thrown to the side, Emerald landing in the place the creature had just stood. Sunset was sure if she could have seen her expression, she would have been terrified, the way alone how she moved and stood was unnerving, like a wild animal, ready to attack at any moment.
“E… Emerald? Everything ok?” Was all she managed to say, staring at the Rider nervously, not entirely sure what to make of all of this.
“Never felt better,” Emerald growled back only to add a far softer: “How are you?”
“Fine,” Sunset simply returned, slowly regaining her composure. “You think we can beat her?”
“Only way is to try, isn’t it? Not like we can let her rampage around town, right?” The Rider smirked in return before dashing off once again, over to Timber.
“Well, she just grew a little. Any ideas? I’m a bit clueless right now,” he asked as the other Rider dashed right next to him.
“Just hit her hard enough!” That was all the answers he got, and before he could even move a muscle, he felt his arm being grabbed and his entire body lifted off the ground. What followed was arguably worse than that as his body was spun around like on a carousel before he was flung at the Corrupted with just enough time to ready himself for a punch.
Kicking up a dust cloud and accompanied by the sound of crystals cracking Gaia slammed right into the side of the Corrupted, knocking her off the ground. However, while it left the Corrupted injured and vulnerable, she wasn’t the only one that was left in a compromised position. Gaia was still feeling dizzy from the whole thing, stumbling around next to the beast, not able to react when she turned around, her horn glowing and pointed directly at him.
When she unleashed her attack, dust and clouds were kicked off as a beam of pure magic was directed at him, ripping apart everything in his path. But through the blinding purple light of the attack, something suddenly appeared in front of him, something with a blue glow to it. Already resigning himself to whatever pain awaited him, he barely managed to raise his hands in front of him, closing his eyes and awaiting the inevitable.
But instead of unimaginable pain, he felt… nothing. The light flashed in front of his closed eyes for a few more seconds before it faded, the young Rider daring to open them after a few more seconds. The street had been torn to shreds, concrete having been ripped off the ground, but it had skipped the area around him, like an island in the ocean. The confusion was running through his mind before his eyes focused on something in front of him. No, someone. Standing before him stood Emerald, her armor charred and burned, cracks covering the integrate designs. But still, she stood firm, her arms crossed in front of her, the claws of her Sphynx form having partially protected her from the Corrupted's wrath.
“Are… Are you ok?” She asked, her voice weak, but he could still hear that tenacity she had shown earlier.
“Ye...Yeah, but… you?” Timber simply returned, staring at her.
“Just a flesh wound!” Emerald grimaced, letting her arms fall to her side. “But right now we have to end this once and for all!” Gaia just nodded, the girls having heard her as well.
The Corrupted was roaring once again at them, ready to attack once again only for a red light to hit him, followed by a purple and cyan only to form into a seven-colored rainbow that formed into what could only be described as a ribbon that wrapped around Adagio who let out screams of anguish as she felt the magical bindings around her. The seven girls were hovering around her, giving it their all to fight against the creature. Monster just nodded to Gaia before opening her Driver and shutting it close again.
\ ROAR: CHIMERA! /
Both Rider ran toward their target before jumping into the air, making a frontflip and straightening out, their foots pointing towards the Corrupted. All six of her beasts emerged from each part of the armor only to gather in her foot, letting it glow in bright white light, all while Gaia’s foot simply started to glow in bright green. Aiming for the place Gaia hat injured the Corrupted before both rocketed towards the Corrupted, smashing into her and dragging her across the ground, her armor slowly being chipped away before both broke through her, letting Adagio exploded behind them.
“You! You… You damn…” Adagio growled at them, still standing, not even noticing that her body started to disappear. “You ruined everything! Everything! I will…” She raised her hand only to see that it was slowly turning into dust. “What? What is happening?” The terror was etched into her face, staring in shock at her hands and then down her entire fading body.
“We tried to warn you...” was all Sunset could return, her voice low as she stared towards the ground, the rest of her friends doing mostly the same, minus Fluttershy crying.
“Help me! Help! Please!” Adagio’s screams echoed through the streets, her body fading more and more, her last scream accompanied by fear and desperation in her eyes and a weak last: “Help…” For a moment, the world went silent only for the sound of the Friendship Disc falling onto the ground where Adagio had just stood, no one daring to say a word.
thump
The sound suddenly interrupting the silence, all eyes immediately snapping back around and at a bloody and beaten body on the ground. “Emerald!”
>-------<A>-------<
\ 100, 150, 200! OVER CHARGE! /
Charge was zooming across the battlefield, letting her rifle fire at Checkbook at every opportunity, leaving dent after dent in his armor, but that was all, dents. Nothing more substantial, the Corrupted still looked like he was no worse for wear. Hovering over her like there was nothing that could hurt him. She could hear his satisfied canceling as he threw another barrage of blades at her, turning the building behind her into a ruin that collapsed in on itself.
“So, was that all? I’m kinda disappointed. If this was all, you can put out you will never beat me. It seems like your little Ivory couldn’t match the power of a Corrupted. But your technology was never the reason we worked with your mother in the first place,” he said with a condescending undertone.
“Don’t dare to even mention my mother with your filthy mouth, you criminal!” She barked back, letting out another rush of projectiles Checkbook more or less dodged by flying through the hail of projectiles, only a few grazing his armor before he landed in front of Ocean.
“Oh? Hit a sore point there? The shame on the family name? The traitors head of the MRG? The one that betrayed all you stand for? The one you killed in cold blood? You mean her?” The delight he took in tormenting Ocean was disturbing, especially missed in with that underlying glee in his voice.
“Yes, her! But not because of what she did with you, but because of what she did for me and the MRG. She might have had her faults and failures. I’m disgusted with everything she has done, trying to take over the country, but she still told me so much about what it means to be an agent and protector of the people. She might have gone too far, but everything she taught me still holds value, at least for me! And I will use all of this knowledge to protect the world and forge my own legacy! That is something Phoenix taught me! I’ll forge my own path with what have others done before me! And you don’t deserve to talk about her, someone without whom I never would be here!” Ocean returned her voice determined and firm, much to Checkbooks delight. His deafening laughter echoed through the streets like thunder, only dwarfed by the sounds of the sky breaking apart over them.
That was until everything behind the Corrupted was lit in bright light followed by explosions that rocked the entire street, pushing him right towards Ocean who, with a smirk behind her helmet, rushed towards him. Before she was even really off the ground she could feel the yets all over her body to spark to life, and before she could even think about it all of them were firing on all cylinders, pushing her forward, her foot extended towards him. The sound of cracking armor accompanied her foot crashing into him, all while still being pushed forward, leaving him hanging in the air for a few seconds before Ocean finally managed to push through the explosions and sent him flying into the next building.
The sound of the building collapsing over him was soon overshadowed by the screaming of Checkbook: “You think that this was it? That you would have just won? I can’t afford to lose here! And I won’t be beaten by a loose end like you! When all of this is done, I will finally get the promotion I so rightfully deserve!” As he roared, one could see the blinding light shimmering through the debris, a claw bursting through the rubble like it was nothing. Within seconds something monstrous emerged from the ruins of the building. It stood on two hoofed hindlegs, its body was covered in blades, and the two wings had grown immensely in size. Two hulking fists had replaced the slick forms from before, and his head had taken on a far more horse-like shape.
With a loud roar, the Corrupted burst free from the remaining rubble around him and stormed towards her, leaving massive footprints in the asphalt below him, the ground rumbling beneath every step. Ocean stares at the monstrosity that was coming her way for a moment before shaking her head, aiming right at the glowing red eyes of her opponent. She was just about to pull the trigger when blades grow out of Checkbook’s body before the suddenly shoot at her, landing all around her and one even impaling itself deep in her gun.
Being knocked back by the force of the projectile, she crashed into one of the cars parked on the sidewalk. Her entire body was arching, this would probably leave behind a few bruises were her thoughts as she looked down at her rifle. To her horror, she noticed the blade sticking in it, having pierced right through the weapon which now had started to spark and heat up. Without even thinking any longer, she immediately threw the gun directly at Checkbook, the moment the device hit him exploding, not that it left much more than a dent in his armor.
The raging beast stormed forward, charge only barely able to jump out of the way in the last second, her body making this far from easy for her, arching the entire way through. Checkbook absolutely demolished the car like it was nothing as he stomped over it and right into the next building. He was like an avalanche with feet.
Taking a deep breath the Rider dashed forward again, Checkbook turning around once again, his glowing red eyes immediately locking onto the blue blur that was heading his way and with a loud roar brought down his fist. The attack left behind a massive crater, the concrete of the street had been cracked as far as the eye could reach, but what was missing was the Rider under it. Instead, she rocketed up, right towards his chest, the engines on her right arm starting to glow.
Moments later the entire street was covered in mist and only the bright red glow of multiple engines shined through it. She had slammed her fist right into his chest, all of the engines on the arm firing on all cylinders and by extension covering the street in the smoke, accompanied by the agonizing screams of both Ocean and Checkbook.
The pain was almost unbearable, her arm felt like it was being cooked alive, but she wasn’t done yet. No, she had to keep firing, even if the pain was mindnumbing. Not even her sensors were able to give her any kind of picture of the situation, only smoke and the glowing exist of her engines.
That was until something in front of her started to become visible, the glow of melting metal. Things were finally getting to where she wanted them to go, the armor of the Corrupted slowly beginning to groan and bend inwards, accompanied by the screeches of the beast. Just a little longer and she-
Her thoughts were interrupted when something pushed through the smoke, pushing it away only for that thing to hit her, slamming into her left side. It felt like a truck was in the process of hitting her, the pain from her right arm was quickly forced into the background, instead replaced by the feeling of pure agony. She could have sworn that she heard the sound of something cracking, but that was quickly drowned out by the sounds of breaking rocks and concrete as her limp body was slammed into the ground once again.
Ever little bit of her body was hurting, beaten and bruised she laid in the crater she had just been punched into. The thought of just laying down and letting it all end was a tempting one right about now. Just let him finish this already and let the pain end…
No! Gritting her teeth, she slammed her broken fist on the ground, the pain surging through her body, but right now she just didn't care, slowly rising off the ground, ignoring the pain in every bone in her body. Checkbook however also wasn’t just sitting around and doing nothing, no her let out a thunderous roar and stormed forward, the glowing mark on his chest still visible.
“This is where this fight ends, and I’ll make sure to correct the mistakes my mother has made! And I’ll start with you, and I won’t rest until I restored what our family name stood for, no matter the cost!” And with the ground shaking beneath her she once again spun the cylinder on her Driver.
\ Maximum Charge! /
Taking one last, breath, she dashed forward with her superspeed before jumping towards her opponent, the engines on her back springing to life once again and rocketing her towards him, all while the gem on her chest started to glow. With inhuman speed, she crashed into Checkbook, right where she had heated up the armor beforehand. With every passing moment, she pressed against the metal of the armor her screams grew louder and louder, the metal bending and groaning under her until…
With one last scream, she broke through, coming to a screeching halt behind the Corrupted as he exploded, leaving behind Checkbook and the amulet.
“Not bad. Better than expected,” he weakly chuckled, looking down at his own body, already knowing what would follow next.
Ocean turned around, holding her arm as she returned, her voice filled with exhaustion: “You are taking this surprisingly well. No last minute rants? I actually would have expected something like this.”
The fading Checkbook returned, a twisted smile creeping across his lips: “Tsk. Don’t be mistaken, I’m just at ease because I know that your days on this planet are numbered. While I’m disappointed that I can’t deal with you myself, the ‘Circle’ never forgets! Cherish these moments that you still have, because they won’t be disrespected. Remember that.” With that and chilling laughter, he faded from reality, leaving the Rider behind.
Ocean finally felt like she could relax and take a small breather before- That when the pain and everything flooded back into her, letting her sink to the ground with a loud scream. Her body was burning, from her arm to the broken counterpart, her entire body was in agony. “Seems this is the end of the line for me. Now everything is on you Phoenix. I know you won’t disappoint me,” she weakly chuckled, the sky once again rocked with the appearance of yet another city.
>-------<A>-------<
Like a truck, he ramed again into him with his shoulder before letting his axes dance across his body and cut right through his armor before he kicked him away. For the last two minutes, Alkahest had just wailed on him, canceling any attempt he had made to use his magic, and he showed no sign of slowing down. His body was plastered with new wounds and bruises, his opponent once again running straight at him.
Once again, he took a deep breath and ran forward, his gun aimed at his opponent. Alkahest already raised his hand, reading his weapon in his other hand as he dashed at him, like before his gun refused to fire as he pulled the trigger. But in the very last second Alchemy jumped to the side, just barely dodging the swipe of his opponent, taking a role before turning around to face Platinum again. But on a second look, something had changed, the Disc on his Driver had changed.
Under his helmet, Platinum's eye twitched a bit, and with an annoyed growl, he rushed forward, ready to strike him down before he had any chance to turn the tides in this battle, throwing both axes towards him, soaring through the air with inhuman speed. Phoenix, however, was not about to let it end like this, putting his hands on the disc and spun it with a loud roar.
\ HEUREKA! /
The axes slammed against the whirlwind, both being flung to the side, embedding themselves in the ground while Alchemy burst out from the magical energy. Just moments after his helmet had emerged from the whirlwind he already raced over to Alkahest, jumping at him with his fist ready to be bash into his face.
But to his dismay the Dark Rider managed to grab his fist with his own hand, stopping him right in front of him, only able to lightly push him back. Not about to just stop he didn’t even think for a second before slamming his other fist right at him, only for it to be caught just like the first one.
With a slight chuckle, Alkahest pulled the Rider off the ground before he threw him over his shoulder and right at the field. Phoenix felt the pain surge through his body as he bounced off the earth and immediately was greeted by a swift kick to his side. Everything just spun around him until the wall of the school, or at least what was still left of it stopped him, only to collapse in on him.
“You know, I’m actually kinda disappointed in you. I always thought you would understand me. That would get what I went through and why I’m doing what I’m doing now. There is just no other way!” Platinum began to talk, almost in a regretful tone as he walked over to where Alchemy had been buried, picking up one of his axes on the way. Standing over the rubble, he had buried his opponent under he took one last look at it before raising his weapon.
Like an explosion, Alchemy shot out from the debris, cementing his fist in the stomach of Alkahest, knocking him back in return. “No other way? Understanding you? What are you talking about? I’m not like you. There is no reason you could present to me that would make me agree with all of this! There is always an away!” Phoenix barked back, anger overflowing his voice before he ran towards Platinum once again.
Platinum, on the other hand, had managed to ram his fingers into the ground, slowing his flight down significantly and regaining his footing, now looking at the approaching Alchemy. “Oh, but we are!” Both their fists slammed against each other, creating a shockwave that rocked the very ground they were standing on. “We are very much alike. Men thrust into a role they never wanted in the first place. A legacy that was never one they were invested in, nothing more than pawns for someone else! I just had it worse. You could ignore it, I couldn’t. I just want to finally be free of all of this, why can’t you understand that?” He bellowed at him before throwing the next punch.
Alchemy returned just as fast, both their fists heading right for the others head, both hitting at the exact same time, only one difference, Alchemy’s fist exploded, leaving Alkahest’s helmet far more cracked than his opponents. “Oh? Why couldn’t you ignore it and I could? Tell me, I would love to hear! What was the reason you were willing to murder so many people?”
Phoenix furious screaming echoed through Platinum’s head, letting his expression change from pain to rage as he slammed his foot down once again and let his fist fly towards Alchemy’s chest with superhuman speed. “Oh? You want to know why? Fine! I’ll tell you!” Phoenix visibly jerked back as the fist embedded self his stomach, knocking the air clean out of him. “Because of that fucking amulet I wore! It’s an ancient family heirloom given to the next servant of Shadow Gold! This was a ‘present’ from my mother when she was at death's door, forcing me into his servitude! He could hurt me, let unimaginable pain surge through my body to the point where it could have killed me. I couldn’t take it off! What else was I supposed to do! I had no choice!” Platinum said, the hate and anger seething through every bit of his voice as he kicked Alchemy in the side, the Rider letting out a pained gasp for air.
With Alchemy stumbling back Alkahest could only look at him with disgust and disappointment. All this time he thought maybe he would understand, he would get it, but if he refused, he could end this cursed family feud here, once and for all.
“Bullshit!”
That was all Phoenix hissed out, letting Platinum halt in his tracks and stare at him in surprise and anger. “What?”
“You heard me! This is fucking bullshit! You had a choice. The moment you were free of the amulet, you had the chance to set things right! To actually fight back, take your life in your own hands! But you didn’t. Why?” Alchemy growled back, raising his head and glaring at him with his cracked, judging blue eyes.
With a loud roar, Platinum lunged forward, letting his fist crash into Alchemy’s helmet, making him stagger backward once again. “Because there was no chance in Tartarus that you would have won against him! I won’t throw my only shot at freedom away like that! This was the most secure way of doing this!”
He was about to follow the attack up once more with a punch to his face when Alchemy suddenly dashed forward, dodging his fist and slamming his own fist right into his stomach. Platinum letting out a pained whimper. “And here we are again with your bullshit. You are just scared and selfish! Because this way would have actually involved risk, and you just can’t do that!” Quickly pulling back his fist only to punch him once again, this time delivering a devastating uppercut that sent him flying.
“You are just a coward! You can’t fathom why we are doing what we are doing, even if the odds are insurmountable. Because for you, everything just revolves around yourself, the thought of caring for others is foreign to you! You disgust me when you try to rationalize your actions and beg for validation from me! You’re pathetic!” He spat out, glaring at the Dark Rider who just glared at him.
“Even if you would have succeeded and escaped all of this, you know what? You would have fallen into the same pitfalls time and time again because you are only out for yourself. You don’t care about others, and in the end, people would have started to come after you simply because you refuse to change. You might think this family feud is pointless, and I agree, but the thing is, you are just like Shadow Gold! You can’t let the past be, you can’t accept what has happened and grow from that! You are stuck in it and in your ways, and they will always cause you the same problems, time and time again!”
Platinum just stared at him, unable to move even a single muscle. That was when a primal scream swelled up in him before it burst out screaming at Alchemy before the Dark rider dashed forward.
“What? No witty response? No justification? Seems like I just hit the nail on the head, didn’t I?” Phoenix chuckled before he as well ran towards his opponent, his leg starting to glow in a white. Just before he jumped towards Alkahest and stretched his leg out towards him, a loud flick echoed over the battlefield.
Alkahest meanwhile had raised his hand and was about to open it only for it to refuse his commands. A cold shock went through his body as he tried again… nothing. That was when he saw what had happened to his hands, they were frozen. Before he could even do anything else, he felt the cold touch on his chest, mixed with the force of a stampeding buffalo as he was thrown back and landed against the statue. Within moments the ice on his hands and chest expanded, covering his entire body and shackling him to the statue.
“Oh? Surprised where the seals came from?” Phoenix chuckled. “And how I knew this would stop you? Simple observation. I might be an idiot, but I’m not blind. I thought you more than enough to notice that whenever you open your hands, you can cancel out our magic. So, I thought, maybe if I prevent you from using your hands I could stop your magic canceling ability. And it seems like it worked. All I had to do was place two ice seals on the inside of your hands with my first two punches, wait for the right opportunity and voila, I stopped you from turning off my magic!”
“So, this is it. Do you know why you lost? Because you are still stuck in the past, unable to move on and fix what holds you back. You could have turned this all around and helped us save our friends together, but you are selfish and a coward. You fucked up, royally! But compared to you, I know how much I fucked up and actively strive to improve myself. That is what it means to be a Kamen Rider. That is why I will keep on moving towards a bright future!” With a silent sigh, he spun the Disc on his Driver a and regretfully added: “Platinum, you used the powers that were bestowed upon you to kill, hurt and almost destroy the world. By the magic that was bestowed upon me, I deem you unworthy of your powers and will now take them from you!”
\ Philosopher Stone Maximum Power! /
Running forward, his leg being coated in the radiant energy he jumped up, his wings extending from his back and carrying him up into the air before he rocketed down, the whirlwind of gold lines forming around his leg. He came down on Alkahest like a rocket, breaking the ice around him in an instant, as well as the statue behind him, coating the entire area in bright white light.
>-------<A>-------<
He felt exhausted, his body was feeling like it was completely drained of all of its energy. All his wounds and bruises finally started to show their actual intensity as they hurt all across his body. He was contempt to just lay there, that was until he heard the sound of footsteps, not just a pair, but a few instead. He finally forced his eyes to open, slow as it might have been.
He found himself again in a small alleyway boxed in by brick buildings. But the most striking thing was the… stuff in front of him. They were clad in black chitin armor, dark blue wings on their back and strange faces with a single horn as well as cold green-blue eyes. But worst of all was the clicking, the everpresent clicking these things were giving off. A few of them had long double-bladed spearlike weapons in their hands as they slowly approached him.
In an instant, his fragile calm was shattered, and he was thrown back into the fight. But instead of jumping up and striking the strange creatures down his body refused to move, instead only crying out in even more pain, all while these monsters were coming closer and closer.
Just when one of them was about to pull back his weapon and try to stab Alchemy with it when something echoed through the alley:
[SP-SP-SPEED!]
Just as the bug creatures turned around, a green explosion filled the end of the alley, quickly followed by another explosion as well as four more bugs being thrown over him, revealing his savior, a girl dressed in what looked like red spandex. Her suit was separated into red shoes followed by black sections of her legs and red ones that started in the middle of her thighs and ended around her waist, caped of by a silver belt with a star-shaped belt buckle. What followed was a black part of the suit that reached just above her breast with the rest of her torso being red as well as red gloves. The same star-shaped emblem could be seen on her belt had been placed on her chest. On her arm, one could see a grey and gold device. Her red and black helmet having a star-shaped visor and in her hand was a black blade with red handle in the shape of the star.
“Don’t fear, Shadow Force Red of the Power Rangers is here!” The girl yelled, Phoenix just looking at her in absolute confusion. “I’m here to sa-“ That was as far as she got before her voice suddenly stopped midsentence. “OH MY GOD! You are Alchemy! What are you doing here? I thought you had left the city a while back? Oh, this is so awesome, I get to save the hero of Canterlot! Do you believe that?”
Phoenix just stared at her before just letting out a defeated sigh and pointing at the monsters behind him. “Oh, right! I’ll be right on that!” She returned enthusiastically before pulling what looked like a coin out of her sword and replacing it with another one from a small box on her belt.
[ST-ST-STREGTH!]
While she had been busy with that, the bugs had stood back up again and were glaring daggers at her before rushing forward, right over Phoenix. Red didn’t waste any time and ran towards them, swinging her sword like a baseball bat she slashed right through the first one and pulled the blade back to swing it at the next creature who had drawn his weapon in front of him to block the attack. However that did not work as Red just slashed through the material, cutting him in half as well. With a loud and energetic scream, she jumped forward and pushed her sword right through the bug and through the one behind him as well.
That was when all four bugs exploded one after another, leaving only him and the girl behind in the alley. Well, that wasn’t entirely true, four other figures now stood at the entrance of the alley, arms crossed and seemingly not amused with them.
Red immediately turned around, waved her sword like a flag and screamed from the bottom of her lungs: “Hey girls! Look who I just saved! Sorry that I didn’t leave anything for you, though!”
“Oh, it’s not so bad,” the green one said with a sweet voice. “Not like we wanted some of the action anyways,” she added far more hostile
“Yeah, that was quite stupid,” the blue one added with a very emotionless voice.
“Exactly! We wanted some fun as well! Letting drones explode is always so damn cool!” The yellow figure shouted, almost bursting Phoenix’s eardrums.
“Typical of you, never leaving us something to do,” pink hissed at her.
“Ok, ok, I’m sorry, but come on, girls! Alchemy and Drone-butt to kick? How could I not? That is totally awesome!” Red returned, almost forgetting to breathe over her fangirling. All while Alchemy was suddenly glowing once again, something the girls didn’t notice over there arguing, all besides Blue who saw him disappear as soon as he had appeared.
“He is gone,” was all Blue said, much to the confusion of the rest of them who just looked at where the Rider had only been seconds ago.
>-------<A>-------<
And before he knew it, he was back in front of the school. The sun was finally starting to come up, bathing the city in its light, it had something calm and soothing to it. The silence around them just added to that. That was when Phoenix snapped back to reality, whatever this was, he had no time to dwell on it. He managed to pull himself up enough that he could see what was around him. The first thing that came into view was the ruins of the school, their fight had definitely left its marks. Then it hit him, the sky, the sky was normal once again, just the red of the morning. And lastly, Platinum, he laid next to him, his Driver having been knocked off him and he had fallen into unconsciousness.
A wave of relief washed over him, he had done it. He had won. The fight was finally over. That feeling of relief and satisfaction was utterly overwhelming, slowly taking over his body, that feeling of pure bliss, so much so that he didn’t even hear the sound of sirens in the background that were coming closer and closer.
>-------<A>-------<
Two months had passed since The Battle for Canterlot. The city had slowly been rebuilding and recovering from the disaster, and much to their relief, not a single Corrupted had shown up at all since then, well not in the city at least. It was almost like things were finally getting back to normal, something that the smell of pizza only confirmed.
Thunder just pulled out the last pizza for a large table, even if he questioned the candy corn on it, he was not above fulfilling the wishes of his customers. Rolling his eyes one last time he pulled the pizza from the oven before pushing open the door and delivering the treat to a table of eight.
As he placed down the plate, the eyes of the seven Rainbooms and Timber were all on him. “And here is your order Pinkie. Hope you… like it,” he awkwardly said.
“Oh, I will Thundy,” the pink girl returned and wasted no time in starting to devour her unique food.
He was about to leave them to their meal when he heard Timber say something: “So, has he already said goodbye to you?”
Thunder’s smile quickly vanished, replaced with a far more somber one. “Yes, he did. I still can’t believe he will be gone once again. It was so much fun to have him around again. But what can you do, right?” He weakly chuckled.
“Oh Darling, don’t take it so hard. You have company after all,” Rarity cheekily returned, looking in the direction of Summer.
Thunder reacted how one would expect, getting red and stammering: “I… I don’t know what you mean!” It didn’t take long for girls to start laughing and after a few seconds even Thunder joined in on their fun.
>-------<A>-------<
The warm breeze blew past her on her daily walk to his grave. It still felt somewhat unreal, but she knew it was. She had long accepted that it was real and not some illusion. Yet, every time she saw it, something pulled her through teaching. With a deep breath, Emerald placed down the flowers next to his grave.
“Hey, Pinecone. It’s me again. You know, I miss you, I really do. But you know that I tell you that every day. But I’m gonna miss you even more soon. I’ll be away for a while. Ocean offered me the chance to train my abilities as a Rider. So, I’ll be gone for two weeks next month. I know you probably wouldn’t approve of this, but I have to do this. This is just who I’m. And how would I ever protect my forest if I didn’t take it seriously,” she chuckled with a weak smile on her lips.
>-------<A>-------<
The sounds of humming filled the air of the lab as Light Bulb was casually typing away at her computer sifting through the last bits of data from the Battle of Canterlot. It was a perfectly normal and peaceful day for her, well that was until someone slammed open the door, more or less storming inside.
She let out a silent sigh before looking up from her monitor and right at Shining Armor who staring at her in complete disbelieve and a piece of paper in his hands. “What is this? I know you know something about this! I just know!” He said, sounding like he had just seen an alien.
“Ah, Local Director, it’s nice to see you. So, the promotion arrived?” She cheekily returned, raveling in the feeling of superiority.
“Local Director? What is that supposed to mean? Is this a practical joke? Because, really, this can’t be real! I have no experience in anything of the sorts!” He snapped back, almost on the verge of panicking.
Light Bulb just shook her head before returning with a soft tone: “Ocean knew you would say that and so you couldn’t refuse actually already left. She said that you are by far the one most experienced with Corrupted, magic and this town. You played a part in many operations previously, far more than some senior agents. And you taking the initiative in the Battle was something she really liked. She thinks you are the best for the job, but she also said if you really don’t want to, she can find someone else.”
Shining just stared at her for a moment before he gave a resigned sigh. “No, it’s ok. If she really thinks I’m the best for the job, then it’s fin. As long as someone can show me the ropes that is. I don’t think I can do this without at least a little bit of help,” he nervously replied.
“Don’t worry, Ocean left me a binder of tips. We two will make this work. And shouldn't be too stressful a position after Alkahest has been incarcerated and the Corrupted have dispersed over the country and aren't all crammed into this city, so don't worry,” she chuckled before looking back up from her monitor again. “But before that, I need to work, so shush!”
Shing just looked at her for a moment before shaking his head and leaving the room again, letting her obsessed with her work once again.
>-------<A>-------<
It was strange, looking down on the city he had called his home for the last couple of months, the city that had changed him so much. Now that it was time to leave it just kinda felt wrong, but also right at the same time.
“You are gonna miss it, won’t you?” Ocean’s soft voice asked from right next to him as she was holding his hand.
“Of course, I will. You as well? I know it was just one of many city's for you, but it definitely has a lot of memories, am I right?” Pheonix returned, not breaking away from his look at the city.
“Just one of many? You’re funny. It’s the city I became a Kamen Rider in, I lost my mother and found you. So really, this place will always be special. Will be weird to leave it behind, but I’ll always keep a piece of it close to me,” she chuckled in return, but he didn’t miss the serious undertone.
“Oh, and that would be?”
“You of course,” she said, blushing lightly and letting her head rest on his shoulder.
“You know you can be really sappy sometimes, right?” He returned while trying to hold back his own chuckle.
“Comes with the job really. And trust me, you had your hand in this as well,” she smirked back, her cheeks getting redder by the second. “Now, want to push the sappiness into next level?”
Phoenix just looked at her, his orange cheeks taking on a far more reddish tone before he smirked: “Oh, you know I want to. And I think I know exactly how to do that.” He turned around, finally letting his eyes stray from the city and right into her eyes. “I love you.”
“I love you too,” she simply returned before they shared one last kiss in front of the city that meant so much for them, the warmth of the sunset, their memories, and the kiss mixed together, creating an unforgettable experience.
After what felt like an eternity, they had to separate again. “Now come, Agent feather, we don’t want to be late, right?”
Phoenix just shook his head in amusement and added: “Oh, don’t worry Agent Skies, we won’t.”
With that, both turned around and mounted their bikes, the roaring of the engine fitting perfectly into the sunset as it echoed through the scenery. With a last nod to the city they finally started letting their bikes drive off towards the sunset, they had a long way in front of them after all, and this was just the beginning.
>-------<A>-------<
Not too far away, an old man dressed in a long blue robe with stars all over it, a beard and what looked like a magicians hat looked after the two Riders riding off into the sunset with a worried expression on his face. “So the Age of Slumber truly ends. Now, the question is, will this new age be an Age of Heroes or an Age of Destruction?”
Thank you all so very, very much for sticking with me for all of this story, it really means a lot to me.
Now, I would love to hear your opinions. What worked, what didn't, and what could I improve in my next story? Please tell me!
And as a small little tease for my next story "Power Rangers Shadow Force" I'll show you the cover made by Malunis :
See you soon!
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So how soon until the next story comes out?
9709950
I'll take one two weeks off of writing and after that, I'm back in the game, so between 2-3 weeks.
10401552
Well, good that I captured that, even if I never worked in a restaurant.
10502021
I couldn't resist
Haha……have you watched Gotchatd yet….
11882759
I'm caught up with it, yes.
Was quite the chuckle when I learned its motive.
Quite enjoying it as well.
And made me realize a few things about things I never really focused on in Alchemy itself.
Who knows~
11883611
I guess Gotchard won’t end well, because I think the protagonist is going to become a hybrid between chemy and human.