It's a Demon!
One could mistake it for any ordinary, peaceful day in the bustling city of Fillydelphia. The snowflakes silently glided towards the ground while the sound of cars honking below contrasted against them. The city's lights illuminated the cold, windy night like any other, as in the distance, one could hear the sounds of a Hearth's Warming song.
One could…
If one ignored the screams coming from one particular part of town. In front of the large brick city hall, its tower reaching up into the night sky, people were running for their lives, abandoning everything and anything, even their cars. The sound of police sirens soon drowned out the song in the distance, truly turning this into an unforgettable night.
"That's all you got, you damn bird?" It echoed across the intersection in front of city hall, coming from a hulking, obese figure currently laying atop a car's engine hood. Well, slammed into would fit the description more. The figure slowly started to move, dragging itself off the hood, revealing the sizable indent it had left behind.
For anyone who might have looked, the figure became more apparent. It looked like a fat man with a dark blue body and a whitish stripe across its chest, only lightly covered by a light blue, Eastern-style vest. Its face looked almost like a fish with glowing yellow eyes, a row of razor-sharp, long teeth, and a double chin. Two gills were attached to the side of its head, and one antenna stuck out from its forehead, a glowing light attached to it.
The fish clenched its fist, which quickly started to glow, before throwing whatever it had in it into the sky, followed by a deafening explosion that set off every car alarm in a 100-meter range.
The light of the explosion had illuminated a second figure as well. A being clad in what looked similar to a Neighponese shrine maiden uniform with lime green accents and two massive, black wings. One could barely make out its black, scaly skin from the ground, made even more challenging by the long, white, bonelike bird mask on its face, which beak reached down to its chest.
"Your fat should have absorbed the impact, you vile abomination," the flying creature returned in an almost melodic tone. It was almost soothing if it hadn't come from such an unnerving creature.
Raising its hand, it swung it at the fish creature below it, sending several kunai down at it.
With a low gurgle, the fish grabbed the car's hood and ripped it off, using it as a makeshift shield, watching each kunai embedding itself into the metal with a loud thunk.
Not missing a beat, the creature immediately chucked the hood at the flying creature, only for it to dodge out of the way as graceful as it was effortless.
"It must have slipped with all the fat all over your fingers, you pitiful creature," it came back down as the bird rearmed itself with another set of kunai, which quickly started to glow a menacing purple. "Let me help you get rid of it!"
"Oh, I'll show you, you flying rat! If you want to take something, take those!" The deep voice of the fish bellowed back as it unfastened two fishnets filled with glowing yellow orbs from its belt. It started to spin each net around its fists, about to chuck it when the sound of a gun cut through their banter, followed by something metallic dropping to the ground.
With a low gurgle, the creature turned around, glaring directly at a now utterly terrified police officer and several others that had finally arrived. His handgun pointed at the beast that didn't seem any worse for wear, just more furious. The officer stumbled backward, dropping the gun in the process, staring as the creature simply chucked the net of orbs towards him.
What followed could only be described as an inferno, as a series of massive explosions rocked the street, blowing the officer right off his feet. He didn't even notice the purple projectiles raining down from the sky, followed by another set of explosions lighting up the sky above, as if it was the middle of the day.
Once the dust had settled, the previously mostly intact street was a crater. The concrete had been ripped open and shattered, cars were burning wrecks, and everything was demolished. Furthermore, the two perpetrators were nowhere to be seen; instead, the sound of explosions was clearly able to be made out in the distance, at least before the searing pain overwhelmed him and everything went black.
()E+I()
Meanwhile, a figure had overlooked the entire fight hidden behind a marvelous, colored glass window of a stone brick church. His skin was of a lightish yellow complexion, while his well-kept, short hair had a golden color. His white suit looked remarkably expensive, only enforced by the golden threads woven through it as decoration.
He continued staring at the battlefield, even as a frantic-looking woman with light blue skin and dark blue hair rushed through the office door. She took a few seconds to catch her breath, her eyes wandering over the office filled with marble and white furniture. The floor was made out of a warm brown packet with a heavy white marble table in the middle of the room. And behind that table, the man stood.
"Mr. Pearl? Should we send reinforcement? We can't let such an insult to our-" she stuttered out, only to immediately be silenced as the man raised his arm.
"That won't be necessary, Sweet Nectar. She has it under control. Even if, with this commotion in front of our home, it would be wise to keep ourselves covered for at least a while," he calmly returned, eyes not moving away from the window. "And please, call me Radiant. We are family here, after all."
"Ye… Yes, Mr- Radiant," she stammered back, frozen in place, looking confused at Radiant.
"Do not worry, my dear. And please, tell every enlightened to keep a low profile the next few days," he returned, the woman quickly nodding and skittering out of the room.
The moment the heavy wooden doors fell shut once more, a pained sigh escaped Radiant's lips.
"Onyx can't even keep his beasts on the semblance of a leash. This will cause issues. Let's hope the Riders don't get involved, as unlikely it may seem," he muttered, his fist tightening as his expression slightly soured. "Let's hope he can somehow convince his Deadman to remain as quiet as mine…."
Down on the street, nestled between the church and another building to its side, a young man with yellow skin and black hair, dressed in a brown jacket, the hood pulled over his face, was crouching down and holding out a weird piece of machinery. The device beeped as he moved it around.
"Another increase in power, as expected. Entirely in line with my predictions. Which means my little project should have enough juice to be fully operational by now. Just in time. I just need a suitable subject for the final phase…." He muttered, slipping the device into his pockets and picking up a metal suitcase he had cuffed to his left arm.
"Let's hope the fish's buddies are suitable…." He continued, pulling out his phone and flipping through the files of several people before stopping at one of a young woman with white skin and a bright pink ponytail. "Let’s start with you, little miss Splash Page!” The man grinned as he started to quickly move through the night, just fast enough to avoid the second wave of cop cars.
()E+I()
BEEP! BEEP BEEP!
It echoed through the small bedroom, almost as loud as an explosion. Or at least that was how it felt to her. With a groan, a white hand awkwardly reached out, blindly fumbling for her phone before finally turning the damned alarm.
With a resigned sigh, she rose from her pillows, revealing the exact same woman, well, besides the fact that she looked far less amused and her hair was an ungodly, unkempt mess.
Pushing herself out of bed, she dragged herself through the tiny room, with just enough space for a dresser and a desk, a desk covered in half-finished sketches, pencils, and many other things. For one moment, her eyes darted over to it, only for a frustrated groan to follow.
She hadn’t been able to finish any piece in the last three weeks, at least any piece not work-related.
Turning her head in visible disgust, she dragged herself to the bathroom, preparing for another day at FEN-X Residential, where your housing dreams are born again.
She shuddered as the slogan once more ran through her head, all thanks to this horrid jingle she had to listen to for what felt like months during her last project. It may have just been two weeks where the thing had occasionally popped up, but it sure had felt like months to her.
Her quiet grumbling was only interrupted as her coffee started to spill out of the thermos.
“Fuck! No! Stop!” She hissed as she pulled up the coffee pot back up, letting some of it drip on her hand. With a pained hiss, she dropped the pot, watching the pot crash to the ground and shatter on the tiled kitchen floor.
“Fuck!” Was all she could press out as she looked down at what remained of her life-giving coffee maker. She repeated that sentiment while cleaning up after herself, ensuring none of the glass remained on the floor. With her luck, she’d just cut herself on it this afternoon when she returned from work.
Work…
“Shit! I’ll miss the subway!” she screamed out, grabbing her thermos, dashing out the door and down the apartment’s stairs, almost running over an older lady who did not hide her annoyance in the slightest.
What was even worse, it didn’t even matter. Even if she had managed to leave on time, the subway was closed! And, of course, only the line she needed! What else? Apparently, it had been damaged in a fight last night. Of bloody course, it had been. Clearly, Fortuna had focused all her efforts on screwing her over this day.
This was gonna be a long one…
()E+I()
“You’re late,” Thorough Sketch muttered, a woman with a light blue complexion and silver hair dressed in a rigid and well-kept business suit, giving her a look that could only be described as a mix of annoyed and just disappointed.
Splash Page hadn’t even managed to take one step through the door as she had greeted her, not seeming too bothered at the fact she was covered in sweat and clearly out of breath as she leaned against the doorframe.
“Sorry… The subway had a monster emergency…” Splash huffed back while pushing herself off the door frame and towards her desk.
“I don’t care! We are massively behind schedule on our work; the deadline is this weekend! We got to work even harder to make it! So, even if the building next to ours gets swarmed by a bunch of monsters, we gotta finish this!” She returned rather agitated, already having turned back to her monitor and, with it, her graphic software.
“Yes, Boss,” Splash returned, trying her damndest to suppress the venom in her voice, walking past her, quietly glaring.
“Bad morning?” A rather timid voice asked one she knew all too well.
Taking a deep breath, her anger slowly dissipated, simply turning into an exhausted expression as she looked over to her coworker and desk neighbor, Swift Pen, a woman with light pink skin and dark purple hair. Her hair was long enough to hide behind if she wanted to, which was quite a lot, while her outfit looked like she was about to bunker down in a log cabin in the arctic. As usual, she was wearing a comfy-looking purple sweater whose collar reached up to her lips.
“What made you guess that?” she simply returned, a bit of her annoyance still present in her voice, even when trying to hide it. Swift just frowned and nodded.
“Your subway was affected then?” Swift continued, continuing her sketch while asking.
“Yup, only one even. My luck, I guess,” she grumbled, staring impatiently at her tablet booting up. She could already feel the cold glare from Sketch on her back.
“That’s kinda unfair,” her neighbor quietly returned. “You think this will happen again?”
“Well, they usually take a bit of time till stuff like this is fixed, so I don’t think I’ll be using it any time soon. Which means I’ll have to wake up even earlier to catch the bus.” Her groan was long and exasperated; as she looked over at the girl with a pained expression, she simply offered an understanding smile.
“Not… Really what I meant. You think the monster attacks will continue?” Swift returned, her voice a bit more nervous.
“Probably, but a Rider or someone else will come along and deal with it. You hear it in the news every day or so now,” she simply shrugged, opening her work file and looking at the half-finished sketch she had been stuck with for two days now after starting from scratch. Her last attempt just had not worked even in the slightest. “So, I give it one or two days more. Tops. Good riddance,” she added with a huff.
“I guess so… Still… Feels weird to have it happen so close to home…”
“Was bound to sooner or later. Just another fact of life at this point,” she absentmindedly returned. “Annoying, in the way, and happens at the worst of times.”
“I guess…” Swift returned, pulling her pen up from her tablet for a moment. “Still… I’m kinda afraid this could turn into something more regular…”
“Eh, doubt it. Canterlot’s the only place that’s apparently stuck with these things. So, I don’t think it’ll happen here. At least, it’s not likely. You’d have to have some serious bad luck for that to come true,” she shrugged, almost dismissively, not noticing Swift’s worried frown.
“Mhm…” She simply replied, returning to her work. After almost a minute of, what at least to her felt like awkward silence, she added a shaky: “Mind if I pay… for your lunch… today? So the day… is not an entire wash?”
“Sure,” she simply returned, already focused on her work again. “I could use the extra money… My coffee pot broke today. Stupid fucking thing…”
“Oh… That’s… I’m sorry…”
“Yeah, sucks. Stupid traitor! You were supposed to make my day easier, not harder,” she encountered with a huff, her pen slipping a bit, forcing her to erase a bit of her progress again, much to her annoyance.
“Well, if you do not like traitors, don’t become one for the team,” a stern voice huffed from behind her.
“Yes, boss. I’ll focus,” Splash sighed as she refocused her efforts on her work.
“That counts for you as well, Swift. You have your break to talk.”
“I… I… I’m sorry!” She stammered back, her head slumped down, making her hair fall over her face, not that one would have to see her expression to know what it was. “Won’t happen again!” Within a second, she had turned away from Sketch and scribbled away at her pad.
As Sketch had already turned around and was out of earshot, Splash allowed herself a quiet and livid: “Bitch!”
()E+I()
A few hours later, most of her annoyance had once more turned into pure and simple exhaustion, like honestly, every day. She stared down at her plate of what they claimed to be a steak and some mashed potatoes but actually looked more like a burned shoe sole and undefinable mush. At least today, she didn’t have to pay for it herself.
“You don’t… Want it?” Swift carefully asked, looking over at her, lightly staring at the plate as well.
“Nah, I’m eating, don’t worry. Just… Trying to stomach the look of it…” she mumbled back, starting to cut into the piece of meat and taking a good chunk out of it. The first bite was always the hardest; it was like someone drained all the water in her mouth with a sponge or something, so dry was the flesh, or at least, it felt like it. The second one was better but far from what she would even call ok, but it was the only cheap and close-by food source, so she had to make due.
“Thanks,” she encountered after swallowing a full cup of coffee. Thank Fortuna that it was still warm. Knowing her luck, she had already expected it to be as cold as ice coffee, but at least this little pleasure hadn’t been ripped from her yet. What it’d look like tomorrow was another thing entirely.
“It’s… It’s nothing. Just wanted to make your day a bit better,” Swift simply returned, taking a bite from her salad. “Things haven’t really gone your way recently, have they?”
“Scratch the recently, and you’re dead on the money,” She groaned before taking another bite of the chewy steak. “It’s like someone cursed me! Things seem to slow down for a bit? Bam! Things go wrong! I fucking hate it! You can set your watch to it, I tell you!”
“That is… I mean…”
“Yeah, it sucks! I know… But it’s a sad fact of life at this point. Things just never go right for me,” she continued ranting between her bites, her anger slowly starting to die down a bit into a resigned sigh.
“I… Yeah, I’m sorry to hear that. I… if I can do anything for-“ Swift carefully tried to return.
“No, no, it’s fine. I don’t need to annoy you with this shit. Today was just… a bit of a culmination of all this stuff, and I needed to let it out. I’ll manage; I always manage well enough,” she returned dismissively, though Swift could still clearly make out the exhaustion in her voice.
“Why don’t you take a week off? You sound like you need it… Just some you time?”
“Oh, fuck, I’d love that. But sadly… I already planned out all the vacation days I got this year. Only got like five days left. Two of them are for Hearthswarming with the family. Which… I’ll honestly need a vacation double the length of right after if I’m honest,” she groaned, leaning her head back, staring at the ceiling tiles with an exasperated expression.
“I can already hear my aunt saying, ‘Look at your brother; he’s so successful. All those followers he has and all the charity events he has attended this year!’” Splash mockingly continued, adding a played gagging motion to it.
“Right… Your brother was ‘Love_X_Self’, right?”
“Yup… He’s Fillydelphia’s favorite ‘Good Vibes’ coach,” she groaned. “Don’t get me wrong, he’s fine and means well, but… Man, does it get on my nerves.” She groaned even louder, resting her head on the table.
“So, typical sibling behavior?” She quietly returned but couldn’t hide the light playfulness in her voice.
“You know it as well, eh?” Splash chuckled, probably for the first time today.
Swift simply nodded in return. “My sister is a… writer,” she continued before suddenly stuttering, her face getting a bit red. Splash raised an eyebrow at that before Swift Pen almost frantically continued. “S… So… What about… The other three days?”
“Wha… Oh… Right! There is a small, local art festival about 2 hours out of the city and I was gonna attend! Lots of regional artists are gonna be there, hold panels about technique and show off some of their newer stuff! From paintings to video editing and modeling! I already cleared it off that I’ll not be here these days, and everything is set! My legs will kill me, as will my wallet, but… A girl gotta treat herself to something nice once in a while, right?” She excitedly blurted out, her exhaustion almost disappearing instantly, and even taking another bite of the steak without twisting her face into a grimace.
“Oh… I heard of it…” Swift nodded. “Had thought of going there myself, but… I don’t have a car…”
“Oh, neither have I. I just noticed that in one of the art ‘Beeper’ groups I frequented, some people also wanted to go and were organizing a carshare. So, I just asked, and as long as I pay a bit of the fuel, I’m golden,” she added with a shrug.
“You know, I kinda missed your little nerdy outbursts,” a new voice added from her left. It was rough and one dripping with confidence, ill-placed as it may have sounded.
“Oh, zip it, Spray Can! Even I can have something to be excited about,” Splash Page simply returned with a huff, taking another bite of her steak before almost choking on it.
“Spray Can!?” She burst out in between her coughing and looked o her side where a young man with yellow skin and short, bright blue hair with pink stripes was sitting. He wore a ragged-looking grey jacket stained with splashes of, what she assumed, were spray can paints as well as a spry can logo on a white shirt he wore underneath. “What the fuck are you doing here!?”
“Splash… Who is this?” Swift asked, having shuffled lightly behind her, trying to hide as much as possible from the strange man sitting next to them.
“Someone who shouldn’t be here! How did you get past the receptionist?” Splash returned, her voice low and almost growling while her hands had tightened into fists, lightly shaking.
“I may have… Slipped past her when she was talking to the postman, but that’s beside the point,” he replied with a smile, but not without a lightly unsure undertone. “Anyway, that's no way to talk to an old friend, right?” Spray continued his trademark grin on his lips, which did not seem to calm Splash in any way.
Without another word, she grabbed him by his collar and pulled him up as well, dragging and shoving the man out of the cafeteria and into one of the closeby hallways, away from prying eyes. Splash seemingly didn’t care much about the weird looks that the entire room was giving her, but Swift did all the more. Like daggers, they bored into her skin, coming from all angles as she just sat there, her head shrinking back into her body. That was until she just couldn’t take it anymore and awkwardly rushed after them, each murmur making her blush all the harder until she was out of earshot, and even then, she could swear that she could still hear their voices somewhere in the background.
“Woah! Careful, the jacket ain’t that sturdy at this point,” Spray huffed, dusting it off again after he had been shoved deeper into the hallway by a very displeased-looking Splash.
“Explain!” She simply returned, her voice teetering on the edge of shouting.
“Hey, can’t I say hi to a friend because of old times sake?” He returned with an awkward smile on his lips.
“Friend!?” She spat back at him, taking another step towards the man who stepped back, his hands raised. “Do friends sell each other out to the cops!? Do they just throw you to the wolves and hide to save their own ass!? And I didn’t say a word because that was what I thought friends would do!”
“I never sold you out, Splash! Trust me! I…” He stuttered, his cheery demeanor crumbling entirely at this point, replaced by a far more worried one.
“I don’t fucking care if you didn’t do it yourself! You just let me take the fall anyway! You fucking used me as a scapegoat! Just because you didn’t wanna face the consequences as well!” She hissed back, her expression one of pure venom, making Swift Pen shrink back once more, letting out a quiet ‘Eye’.
Spray looked at her, swallowing hard before letting his shoulders fall down and returning, almost defeated sounding: “I’m sorry…”
Splash was about to burst into another tirade as her rant just jammed in her throat, simply replaced by a: “What…?”
Raising his head slowly, he looked up at her, uncertainty clearly visible in his eyes. “I’m sorry… I should… I should have talked to you back then… Just asked you what you wanted… Instead… I just broke off contact to try and get as much distance between me and this whole thing… It was cowardly of me… I even told Colour Contrast to do the same in fear it’d lead back to me in some way….” He managed to press out before adding a simple: “Thank you… For not saying anything….”
Splash was just standing there, her mouth still open from the tirade she had prepared just for the day she’d met one of them again. The rant she had gone over in her head a hundred times till now for sure, but it had just been flushed from her memory. She couldn’t even remember the first word.
She probably would have just stood there if it wasn’t for Swift Pen shyly asking: “What… What happened?”
“I… I was a tagger back in the day,” she returned, sounding distant in a way and looking at Spray Can like a dear in the headlights. “We… Used to spraypaint our art at buildings we liked… Not asking anyone. Probably for close to a year… Everything went fine, till… Someone ratted us out… I… was the only one arrested… And they canceled my scholarship to the Fillydelphia Institute of Art and Design… That’s how I ended up here….”
“I… I didn’t…” Swift stuttered, looking stunned between Splash and Spray, unable to properly put together a sentence.
“Yeah, obviously. Never wanted to tell you,” Splash returned, her voice starting to regain a certain level of confidence as she continued. “So… You came here to apologize? Is that it?”
“I… Kinda…” He muttered in return, awkwardly running his hand through his hair. “I… I was actually here to ask you for help….”
Splash’s expression quickly hardened again, and Swift could have sworn she heared a light sigh. “Of course… You never just come to apologize, only when it’s necessary for you. Always the same with you. Fine, I accept your apology, but I don’t want anything to do with you anymore. I won’t call security, so scram! See as a last token of my gratitude for old times sakes,” she huffed and turned around on the spot. Her expression was stone cold, but there was a hint of disappointment in her eyes.
“Wait! Please… At least hear me out… It’s… It’s about Colour…” Spray burst out, taking a step towards her, his forehead covered in wrinkles.
Splash sighed audibly before stopping in her path and simply stating: “Fine. What is it,” without turning around.
“I… Ever since back then, he cut himself off from me… I don’t really blame him, but… He started clubbing and eventually settled on a club named ‘Cataclysm Paradise’. At first, he just was getting a bit more assertive and confident. It was actually nice to see. Ever since back then, he retreated even more into himself, but… One day he just flipped. He was aggressive and confrontational… It… as just not like him. At first, I just assumed it was some kind of phase, but… as time went on, he became more and more aggressive and even got into fights,” he continued, a genuine worry in his voice.
“That… does sound weird, but I don’t really get what that has to do with me,” Splash nodded along, lightly biting her lip.
“I usually wouldn’t bother you with this, but… Last night… I saw him speaking with a girl… More arguing, actually. I couldn’t other than listen in. The two got angrier and angrier until….” Spray took a deep breath, almost as if to brace himself for what he was about to say next. “Until she turned into a bird monster… The same monster that rampaged through the city last night… I… I ran after that,” he finished, his voice shaking.
“Colour got involved with this mess last night? Is he ok?” She returned, her voice a bit shaky.
“Ye… Yeah… I… I talked to him a bit today, but… He just told me to get lost if I knew what was good for me… I… I know you don’t wanna see me, but… I’m worried for him, ok? Please!” He said, taking another step towards her, his eyes filled with desperation. “I… Just for him, ok? After this, you’ll never have to see me ever again, ok? I…” Taking another deep breath, he added: “I’ll even go to the police if you want me to… Tell them it was me responsible back then, and I blackmailed you or something….”
Splash just looked at him for a moment before her fist tightened, expression once more hardening: “You really think it’d be so easy!? Just tell them, ‘Ups it was me’? No! That won’t get me the scholarship back, and even if they believe you, they still got enough evidence to keep my record! The only thing you fucking archive is to make your life worse!” She returned angrily. “But fine… I’ll talk to him once. Not for you, but for Colour! After that, you leave me alone! And you buy me a coffee pot!”
Spray Can just stared at her, almost bewildered. “Co… Coffee pot?” He simply managed to stammer out.
“Yeah, got a problem with that?” He simply shook his head. “Good, meet me after work. Don’t be late! Because right now, I’m already two minutes over my break time, and my boss will have me for that,” she sighed, turning on the spot and rushing off, leaving a slightly confused Swift Pen and Spray Can behind; the former didn’t take long to process the last part of her sentence and hurried after them.
“That… that actually worked….” Spray simply muttered.
()E+I()
A few hours later, the sun was already setting on the snowy city at this point, Splash Page stepped out of the building, secretly kind of cursing herself to even agree to this, but a bit of herself was pushing her forward regardless.
And just as expected, Paint Can was waiting for her outside the building, checking his phone nervously. “Oh, finally! I was worried you’d ditched me and snuck out of the backdoor,” he sighed in relief as he saw her.
“Unlike you, others have to work. And I had to tell of Swift, or she would have tagged along. Didn't want to involve her in this shit,” she huffed back before continuing: “And I keep to my word,” she continued with a light glare. “So, where you think Colour is? I want this to be over as fast as possible.”
“Right… Right… He generally hangs out in an old skatepark before heading to the club nowadays. It’s kinda his tagging ground now. Smaller stuff, but he has improved his craft as well. We should manage to get there before he heads off because getting to him in the club would probably be next to impossible,” Spray returned, showing her a map on his phone.
“Not too far away… We can be there on the bus in about twenty minutes… You pay,” she added matter-of-factly, already on the move, or would have been if a man in a brown jacket, a few black hairs standing out from under it, and a suitcase shackled to his arm.
“What do you want?” Splash groaned, already expecting the worst.
“Oh, I’m here to make you an offer of great importance,” he simply returned, smiling.
“Yeah, sorry, not sorry, I don’t have time for this. I already had my share of bullshit for the day, and I don’t need more right now,” she simply returned dismissively as she continued walking.
“Wait, wait, this is quite impor-“
“I said I wasn’t buying anything. Now scram!” She simply rebuked, her voice straining not to start getting loud at this point.
“Uhm, Splash…” Spray tried to say, only for Splash to interrupt him once again.
“We are moving!” She once more stated, making it clear there was not going to be any discussion over this subject.
Looking back between the man and her, he sighed and rushed after her.
Meanwhile, the man in the jacket simply shook his head. “What kind of buddies do you have, fish? So impatient,” he chuckled to himself. “Oh well, they’ll come around soon enough if that is where they are going. I hope they do; it would be a waste otherwise.” He shrugged and started to move as well, slipping into an alleyway.
“Who was that anyway?” Spry said, already a good way further.
“He… he was the one who tipped me off where Colour was….” Spray returned, a bit out of breath.
“Wait, what? And you tell me that now!?” She snapped back, a look of exasperation on her face.
“You… Didn’t let… Me, remember?” He returned, still trying to catch his breath.
“Right… Whatever,” she continued, waving her hand dismissively. “We’ll manage this on our own. So, get moving!” She shook her head and continued her rush towards the nearest bus stop. She was determined to finish this as fast as possible; a damn bus would certainly not stop her!
()E+I()
As they entered the old skatepark, the sun had been reduced to a few beams of light, barely visible behind the city's skyline. The gate was unlocked, a ripped-apart chain laying not too far away from it, not that anyone had cared.
Stepping into the open area, boxed in by large walls, they saw the old concrete pool that skaters used for their tricks filled with old junk and leaves, absolutely in no condition to be used. A few tents were strewn across the ground, wholly abandoned, many of them definitely on the newer side. A few homeless people had most likely made this their new home and then abandoned it. It was strange that they had been left behind like this; that’d only happen if there was no other option.
But the thing that caught Splash Page’s attention the most were the walls. They had been covered in artwork after artwork, each getting better than the last. She took a step closer to one of them, running her hand over the paint with a slight feeling of familiarity.
“You weren’t lying when you said he got better. Those are really good compared to his older stuff,” she muttered, looking up at a demonic-looking fish swallowing a church.
“Oh, thank you! I definitely needed the praise of a marketing paint monkey,” a familiar voice cut through the usual city noise of honking cars, revving engines, and pigeon cries.
Spinning around, she looked at a man with light green skin and light purple hair in the form of what looked like a still-growing mohawk. He wore a leather jacket with spikes all over it and a shirt with an anarchy symbol under it.
“The fuck are you wearing? You look ridiculous,” she simply blurted out, staring at him in bewilderment.
“Huh, charming as ever,” he returned with a huff. “I’m just wearing what is me. The real me, the one who’s not held back by you two imbeciles.”
“Well, tell your real self that it has a terrible fashion sense,” she simply returned. “You’re trying too hard.”
“Oh, haha. Why are you here? Not like you give a damn,” he huffed back, walking closer, completely ignoring Spray Can.
“I’m here to tell you to knock it off. Spray over there came crawling on his knees to me at work and begged for forgiveness because of you,” she encountered, crossing her arms.
“I didn’t come crawling in on my knees!” He burst out, only to be immediately silenced by Splash.
“Oh, you definitely did. Because you don’t ask for forgiveness if it isn’t your last option, and don’t pretend it isn’t otherwise,” she finished, moving her focus from the clearly offended man towards Colour. “And you know that as well. So, he clearly still cares about you, and even I can’t say no to this. And given what you are wearing… He probably was right to be worried.”
“Would you stop trying to insult my clothes!” He hissed back.
“Right, sorry. How are you?”
“I’m great, thank for asking,” he sarcastically snapped back. “I finally feel like I’m actually getting somewhere. Not just riding your coattails into mediocrity,” he continued, a smug grin on his lips.
“Not entirely wrong. That’s some really good shit. Give it a bit more, and you’ll get some real respect here. How you manage that? Usually, you don’t know where to start when you tag.”
“I got some reaffirmation,” he returned with an even bigger grin. “People who actually appreciate me. And not just as a tag along.”
“And do they respect you beating up people as well?” She returned, making sure to sound as dry and cold as possible. “I know what you’ve been up to, and… Quite frankly, that’s not you. You couldn’t hurt a fly if you tried. Nothing wrong with being more confident, but there is a limit. Whoever told you this crap, tells they are just… Using you as well,” she continued, her expression softening a bit.
“Oh, because you know everything, right? Fuck off! You don’t know who I was. You just wanted a yes man, someone who’d tell you how great you were. You never really cared; you just wanted to keep me small for your own ego. And now, when I got the chance to surpass you, you fucking think you can do it again! News flash, you can’t! I’ll show this world what I can do! And if I have to beat some shmucks up, so fucking be it!” He growled back, the expression on his face making the hairs on Splash’s neck stand up straight.
“You can’t be serious, Colour! You’d never do that!” Spray Can finally blurted out, rushing up to him and grabbing him by the jacket.
What he didn’t see coming was the right hook that knocked him to the ground and the ensuing kick to the stomach that made him cough up, gasping for air.
“Colour! What the fuck!” Splash screamed out, an expression of utter shock on her face.
“Leave! Now!” He screamed, pulling a weird, blue object out of his jacket. It was hard to properly make out what it was, but it looked vaguely stamp-like. “I’m warning you one more time!”
Splash was about to shout back as a voice in the back of her head told her to rather be quiet. Somehow, she knew he was dead serious.
“As expected from a beast driven by its selfish desires!” A melodic voice echoed through the park. She could have sworn that it came from above, what was even weirder.
As she looked up, she saw the figure of a bird-like person hovering above them. The monster from last night! It was true; Colour had gotten into trouble with her!
“You! I don’t have time… You know what, fine! I’ll rip off your wings, you flying rat!” He screamed back with anger she had never seen from him before. Tightening the grip on the stamp, he pushed a button on top of it, making it call out in a clear, booming voice.
()Anglerfish!()
Colour started to glow in a bright blue, his body starting to shift before the light was extinguished by the power of a force wave emanating from him, almost knocking Splash off her feet and pushing Spray further away from him.
In front of them no longer stood their friend but a fishlike monster. The other one from tonight.
Before either of them could react, the flying monster swung her wing, letting several kunai shot towards him, which exploded on impact, almost hitting Spray. Not that Colour cared; no, he was far more concerned with the fact the bird had hit his paintings.
“How dare you!? These are my masterpieces!” He screamed even more furiously before wildly throwing his glowing balls into the air, which quickly exploded, lighting up the night sky and knocking Splash off her feet, having tried to reach Spray and get him out of here.
With a pained grunt, she pushed herself back up slightly, looking over to Spray Can. He was trying to push himself back up as well, but each time he tried to stand up all the way, he winced and slumped back down. There was no way he’d be getting up without help. With a silent curse, she pushed herself up all the way and was about ready to dash about the skate park turned battlefield when a voice next to her interrupted her.
“Probably not a good idea. You’re gonna get yourself killed like that. You have no chance like you are now,” the man from before said to her, unnervingly nonchalant.
“Wha!?” She simply blurted out. “Got a better idea, asshole!?”
“Since you asked, yes,” he returned matter of factly, putting down the suitcase in his hand; the cuff had already been removed. “This!” He smugly continued, flipping the lid open, revealing a similar object to Colour’s stamp, just in pink with a white bottom, top, and fox on it. Next to it was a strange device made of a flat plate and a rectangular box with a screen on top and on the front. It was as white as the upper and lower parts of the stamp and had several pink highlights.
“What in Tartarus is that?” She simply returned, looking even more confused.
“Your chance,” he simply returned, grabbing both devices and handing them to her.
“What do I do with those?” She once more spat back, her tone growing increasingly agitated, the fight continuing in the corner of her eyes as pieces of concrete and wall flew across the park like they were confetti at a party.
“Put it on your waist,” the man calmly continued.
“Fuck it, sure!” She threw back, the panic clearly noticeable in her voice. Taking a deep breath, she pushed the device against her waist and almost shrieked as what looked like white belt straps shot out from it and around her, fastening the device to her.
()Psyde-Driver!()
“Wha… What was that!?” She couldn’t other than ask, staring at the man, not noticing something materializing next to her.
“It’s a Psyde-Driver, didn’t you listen?” A sly, mocking voice giggled into her ear from the other side. With a loud scream, she spun around, staring at a black figure; her body, covered in what looked like layered skin with white pieces hiding underneath it, was still becoming visible. The figure seemed almost demonic with its twisted face, reminding her of a dragon with long, sharp ears and piercing purple eyes. But the most striking thing was the white fox tail hanging from her back and the pink-tipped end of it.
This time she couldn’t then stumble backward, falling on her butt as she looked at the floating, transparent figure that was grinning down at her. What was even stranger was the fact that she seemed to be connected to her. “Wha… What is it!?”
“Id? She’s calling me an Id. Kind of rude to call me that. That ego you have! But I do kinda like it. Id it is!” The figure chuckled and looked down at her ‘Psyde-Driver’. “Don’t you still have something to do?” It continued to chuckle mockingly.
“Yep, you do! Now, press the button on top of the Vistamp, insert it on top of the belt, scream ‘Henshin!’ and turn the display to the right!” The man added, raising his right hand to his side, imitating flipping the device over, knocking her out of her stupor.
“Henshin? Do I real-“ She tried to argue, already standing back up, but was unceremoniously interrupted.
“Yes! Now do it, or your friend ends as either bird of fish food!”
“Fine!” She huffed, taking one last look at “Id” and the stamp before pressing the button.
()Fox!()
Taking one deep breath, she raised the stamp before slamming it on top of the device, flipping it sidewards, stopping at a nighty degree angle.
"Henshin!"
()Flip Out! F-F-Fox!()
()Draw Up!()
(Sketch-(
)Splash-)
()ing!()
(Paint-(
)Spray-)
()ing!()
()Kamen Rider()
(Ego!(
)Id!)
()Ego Plus Id!()
The Driver started to scream, two voices overlapping each other and fighting for dominance before coming together for the last line. In the meantime, Id had manifested a giant version of the stamp and swirled around her for a bit before slamming it down on top of her, the pink liquid slowly forming something over her body before bursting open, revealing two figures.
One clad in white armor, with a pink chest and highlights, the fox of the stamp embedded onto it. The white split open under her chest, revealing black parts to the suit before returning to the white with pink highlights. Two shoulder pads were attached to her, almost giving her suit the design of a Neighponien shrine maiden. The helmet she now wore was shaped like a white fox mask with pink highlights, a silver half moon on her forehead, and bright blue, elongated eyes.
The other figure looked very similar to Id, just with a white hoodie over her upper body. A white hoody stained and covered in pink ink splashes. Two fox ears from a more traditional white fox mask with pink highlights poked out from under it. She wore short, white cloth sleeves wrapped in pink beads on her ankles. The tail was still sticking out of her but was now accompanied by two stiff pink ribbons with a silver bell attached. She wore the same Driver the other figure wore but flipped to the left instead of right.
“Ahhhhh! So this is what moving actually feels like. Amazing!” Id mused, stretching herself a bit. “And I do like the hoodie. It’s very comfy!”
“W… Wow…” Splash said, looking down at her suited appearance. “This feels amazing. I never felt this… Alive before,” she continued, looking over at Id. “And you are Id, right?”
“No, Kamen Rider Id! You gotta use the full name, Kamen Rider Ego,” Id chuckled back before looking towards the battlefield that had fallen quiet. Their transformation had even managed to stop the two combatants to figure out what exactly was happening.
“Wh… What are you?" The bird monster shouted at her from above, her entire body ready to pounce on her at any moment.
“I have no id-“ Splash was about to return, as Id loudly interrupted her.
“This? This is your biggest nightmare! Didn’t you listen? She is the unbeatable Kamen Rider Ego! And I’m the demonically unmatched Kamen Rider Id! We’re gonna beat you! It’s as simple as that!” Id proclaimed, adding a sly bow to the end of her speech.
“The fuck, Id!? Who let you decide that?” ‘Ego’ grabbed her by the shoulder, pulling her back and looking directly at her mask, her voice a mix of anger and nervousness.
“Hey, you would have just botched our introduction. And really, you wanna beat her up as much as I do. After all, I’m you,” she chuckled, poking Ego’s chest while tilting her head. “Also, dodge!”
And with that, Id jumped backward, landing several meters away, almost at the other end of the park. Ego looked back towards the monster in the meantime, only to see another barrage of kunai raining down, but not on the fish, but on her. Driven by pure instinct, she shoved herself back and completely underestimated her strength, shooting herself into the next wall.
“What the…” She quietly muttered, shaking her head before things started to come together again in her head. “Hey! The fuck bitch! What was that for!?” She screamed up at the bird, her voice clearly betraying her agitation.
“You are a tagger; I heard that from your little talk with the abomination. And a Rider on top. You are an affront to the great order of this world! For that, you shall be punished!” The bird simply stated before descending rapidly! Directly at her!
“What Thesaurus did you eat today?” She shouted back, utterly baffled by her high and mighty tone, before reading herself for another dodge.
That was until she heard Id’s voice shouting over to her: “Punch her already!”
As if her brain was running on autopilot, she pulled back her fist, readied herself, and- BAM!
Followed by an ear-piercing screech, the monster was knocked into one of the piles of tents, Ego simply standing there, a bit of smoke emitting from her fist. She couldn’t quite comprehend what had just happened, looking between her fist and the debris the monster had just been shot into.
But before she could make heads or tails of it, the bird burst forth from the tents, her mask cracked straight down the middle, pieces of rock and wood scattering everywhere, only for pink energy bolts to hit her square in the chest. Sparks burst forth from her as more and more of the laser blasts hit her, pushing her slightly back.
“Uhhh, I like this thing,” Id said, holding a paint tube-shaped gun in her hand that looked like it had already been half emptied. “Why don’t you try yours?”
“Mine?”
“Yeah, the two things on your waist! Really, you need to just get into the grove. Might even have some fun,” she encountered, placing a few more shots towards the monster.
Trusting Id’s words, she reached towards her waist and… Indeed, something was attached to it. Two things even. They felt like long drumsticks. Grabbing them, she unbuckled them from her waist holder, pulling forth two paint brush-shaped sticks with pink ink on their tips. “Who designs weapons like this?” She exclaimed, shaking her head for a bit. “Eh, fuck it!” With an exhausted sigh, she dashed forth at her opponent.
With a loud scream, the bird finally managed to escape her shock, shooting another volley of razor-sharp feathers at Id, who easily dodged them, leaving herself wide open for Ego to slam one of the paintbrush batons into her back, an eruption of sparks illuminating the now dark park.
With a pained screech, she spun around, trying to claw at Ego, only for her face to be greeted with a second swing and the other baton. For a moment, everything spun as it slammed into her, the pain like a surging inferno followed by her body crashing into the ground.
Ego, meanwhile, looked in amazement at the weapon's power and the pink trail it had left behind, almost like the stroke of a brush. “Wow… Fuck… This is…”
“Fun? Amazing? Like a dream?” Id whispered into her ear, leaning up from behind her, only for Splash to jump back, glaring at the demonic figure.
“Never! Ever! Do that again!” She huffed back, catching her breath.
“Can’t make promises. Where is the fun in that,” she returned, bobbing her head from one side to the other.
“Careful, or you are next!” Splash hissed back, pointing at Id with one of her batons.
“Woah, woah,” she exclaimed, playfully raising her arms. “I think you are aiming at the wrong target. Might wanna finish this before birdy there takes a flight,” she innocently pointed at the monster that was starting to push herself back up, not without loud and labored heavy breathing.
“I agree with the demon. Take your stamps and put them into the slots on the weapons. That should take care of it,” the strange man added, his expression one of pure excitement. “Now then... I think it’s time for the highlight!” Snapping his hand, he pointed at the monster.
Ego just shook her head, while Id did as told, removing the stamp from her Driver and slotting it in an opening under the gun barrel.
()ColourBurstDuo!()
The weapon exclaimed, starting to glow. Pointing the gun at the monster, she casually pulled the trigger.
()Colour Burst!()
Four pink orbs shot out from the weapon, almost knocking it out of her hand before slamming into the monster's arms and legs, stretching and locking them in place. “Your turn, Kamen Rider, Ego,” she added with a playful undertone.
“Fine,” she huffed, slipping her stamp into a slot at the back of the baton, right below the actual brush part.
()ColourSmashDuo!()
Just like the other weapon, it started to glow. Looking at the now energized weapon, she spun it around her hand once before stepping towards the monster, straining against the hold with all her might.
“Sorry, you lost,” she simply stated, pushing a button on the other side of the stamp on her weapons.
()Colour Smash!()
The first swing slashed across her stomach, leaving a glowing paint stroke behind, a feat she repeated with her other baton, forming an X across her chest, all while the bird was screaming her lungs out.
Steading her footing, she pulled back both batons before slamming them full force right in the middle of the two strokes, causing the monster to violently explode, leaving only Ego standing in the bright explosion.
Out of the smoke, a woman fell. She had pale white skin and light blond hair while wearing a comfy-looking blue jacket. Next to her, another stamp tumbled down, one the strange man immediately scooped up, screaming out loudly: “Yes! Got you, my lovely! That makes two!”
Ego didn’t pay him any mind, looking around for Colour, only to find the park abandoned.
“Where did Colour go?”
“Oh, he left after you punched birdy into the tents,” he muttered absentmindedly, enraptured by the stamp. “You get him next time.”
“Next time? What do you mean nex-“ She was about to burst out into another tirade when her eyes noticed Spray Can, still crumpled up on the floor. “Shit! Spray!”
Without another word, she rushed over to the injured Spray, starting to help him up and deactivating the transformation, the armor slipping off her like liquid.
“By the way, that doesn’t mean you don’t owe me an explanation!” She shouted over her shoulder at the man, who simply nodded.
“Sure, sure, it’s the least I can do. Still, I’d say we get out of dodge. This was bound to attract unwanted attention,” he returned with a big grin. “And your friend might need a doctor. From the looks of it, that was at least a cracked rip,” he added, seemingly nonplussed, much to Splash’s frustration.
“Stop playing with your toys and help me then, you dipshit!”
“Whatever gets you moving,” he simply returned with a shrug, moving to support her in moving him.
And with that, they shuffled out of the park as fast as they could with the injured Spray Can, underlined by delighted giggling seemingly echoing in her head.
After all of this, she definitely needed more than one coffee.