Episode 08: "A New Sheriff In Town" (FINALLY! Longest episode yet, 23 pages. @_@) Kissing his finger tips, he placed them against photo, in front of Yuki's, beautiful, warm, smile. Then taking the ring with the string through it, he placed it over his head and around his neck, then tucked it into his shirt. Somehow, somewhere, deep down inside, it felt as though she was with him in spirit. Maybe it was just his imagination, but, he didn't stop himself from holding onto that little bit of a possibility. Desmond wouldn't deny that he needed it some days that's for sure. Probably could of used it during the bridge incident that he caused... might of made him stay instead of running off...
After a moment he refocused on the photo and gazed into the eyes of his late wife one more time, and then marched over to the couch, slinging the duffel bag over his right shoulder, grabbed the helmet and held it against his hip, pressed there by his left arm. The keys were the last to be grabbed and then he went briskly over to the front door, unlocking it quickly and headed out into the hall, locking the door behind him after turning off the lights.
~*~
Briskly making his way to the underground parking lot, Desmond walked through the rows of vehicles, from residents of the building, or the other apartments around it and across the street. Until he found a large, black, Honda motorcycle. Specifically a VT750C Phantom. Hooking the handlebar through the open visor of his black, SHOEI helmet, he mounted the bike, dug out his keys from his pants pocket and slid them into the keyhole near the speedometer. Turning it the red, ignition light came on, but before he started it up he strapped on the gloves, but then stopped before sliding on his helmet. Desmond had the funny feeling that he was being watched, and gave the place a look around from where he sat. Leaning through cracks between vehicles, to see if he could tell if anyone was peering at him. After a bit he didn't find or see anyone and assumed he was indeed, alone, though the feeling wasn't shaken from him. All it did do was hurry him up a bit, strapping the helmet on fast, he then pulled the strap of the duffel bag over his helmet to come cross his other shoulder, to lay across his body. Hitting the ignition button, the bike roared to life and gave the throttle a few turns before shutting the visor down with a clack that echoed throughout the parking area. Till revving hte bike yet again and that took over the acoustics in the lot.
Giving one more look around, Desmond launched out of his parking space between a white, Toyota Corola and some red, jeep. Roaring out of the lot completely soon after, once he was sure no one was coming down the street.
Though further back in the parking lot, hidden in the shadows of a burnt out light, a lean figure, dressed in a grey, fleece, zipped up jacket, and black pants, with a matching helmet with dark visor, sat on a grey, silver and black, crotch rocket. Lying in wait as it were, watching curiously as Desmond left in quite the hurry. The figure suddenly ignited the engine of the ninja-styled, sports bike, lightning up the singular, pentagon-shaped, headlamp, just under a small, blood red, triangular visor. Kicking up the stand he then turned to look to the right, and saw B-Girl step out into the shadows.
“Do I have to?†she asked in a pout face, and in a whiny voice that matched it. Rubbing away fake tears from her eyes, with the silver-chrome, CD player-like buckle in her right hand.
The figure on the bike simply nodded and said, “I don't like it anymore then you do... Might be a mistake, but we won't know until it's too late. Just like everything else in life...â€
“I guess...,†replied B-Girl, holding out the Disc Driver in front of her in both hands, pushing the corner of her mouth off to the side, as if puzzled and frustrated at the same time. A second later she heard the figure rev up the motorcycle, and watched as he charged on out of the parking space and saw the light-grey, spider on the back of the helmet.
Storming out of the parking lot, the figure headed in the direction of Desmond, popping a wheelie in the process on the way down the street, till he finally disappeared into the night.
B-Girl's pout of confusion slowly became a grin, then opened up into a smile as she waved and said, in a happy tone, “Good luck.â€
~*~
Kamen Rider: KENKAGE
Written By:
Robert J. Wong.
Opening:
“JUST ONE LIFE†-Spyair.
~*~
Episode 08: “A New Sheriff In Town.†The roaring engine of Desmond's large, black, Honda Phantom motorcycle, filled the night air as it charged through the brightly lit, neon and LCD screen filled city. Behind the clear visor of the black, SHOEI helmet, he scanned his surroundings as cars passed by him, but he wanted to keep any eye out, just in case he spotted the Melody Beast before it took him by surprise again. Unfortunately he wasn't sure if he'd succeed... but if he was going to die, he intended to make sure it went with him. One way... or another.
Behind him a few meters back, rode the biker in a thin, grey, jacket, with a red spider on the back of the dark helmet. The black visor continued to hide his face from view, so even if Desmond noticed him, he wouldn't be able to discern his identity. Nor would he allow him too if he tried to find out forcefully; cop or not, that fight would only end one way. Not in death though, but the Spider Rider had no intention of losing. Switching off the headlight, he continued his pursuit, though allowed himself to pull up a bit more. Thankfully the HUD inside his helmet allowed for night vision, so even if he didn't have any lights on the crotch rocket he road, which was the disguise for his robotic, arachnid companion; he'd still be able to see in the dark.
Then several mechanical noises came from the grey, jacketed, Rider's bike, grabbing his attention. As he glanced down he asked aloud, “Where?†Though the roaring engines of both vehicles drowned out both his voice and vehicle's sounds, so Desmond wasn't able to hear either of them. What happened next kind of made him wish he had.
Suddenly an explosion erupted to the detective's left, another soon blasted on his right, sending heated pebbles of pavement in his face. He thanked his lucky stars for the reinforced helmet though, as the rocks did nothing but bounce off it and scattered about. A burst of sparks spray from the side of his bike as another round ricocheted off the gas tank, followed by another and another. Eventually the bullets struck him in the leg, causing the Japanese-American Rider to wince in pain, though he gritted his teeth and was just glad it didn't go through the kevlar plates he had on under the pants. Soon more explosive impacts followed, though behind him and striking into the side of the buildings he raced by, revving his bike up to go faster.
Quickly, avoiding a few stray rounds, the Spider Rider still in civilian form, roared into an alleyway as Desmond charged into another up ahead a ways. The Zebra Melody Beast landed where they once were in the street, turning as a car skidded to a stop and the drive attempted to drive the opposite way. Slightly peering at the roaring car as it escaped, the Zebra then marched on towards the alley that the riding detective went into.
Unfortunately, a brick wall blocked off Desmond's escape as he skidded the tires and turned the bike around to face the opposing monster who slowly approached him from the open, one-way exit. It was certainly fine with him to play a game of chicken. Quickly reaching into the open bag behind him, he removed the sub-machine gun, and cocked the slide, aiming it with one hand, he turned the throttle, revving up the engine. Roaring louder and louder as he prepared to left go of the clutch.
The Zebra continued to saunter slowly, and confidently approach him, shrugging its shoulders as it grunted and huffed along, keeping the long, black striped, white barrel gun arm, trained upon the rider detective.
Feeling as if his heart had leaped into his throat, Desmond attempted to keep the beats under control. Though the pain in his leg wasn't make that easy, and the painkillers he took earlier only did so much, just hoped that it didn't break anything this time. Maybe a couple of large bruises were all there was, though the leaking he felt going down his leg made his eyes widen in shock for a moment. It was certainly from the higher wound in his thigh, but he quickly focused upon the creature, and roared the bike forward, firing the MP5 sub-machine gun. Bullets struck and covered the Zebra in mini-explosions, causing it to back off a bit. The rapid-fire, Desmond assumed was what aided in the effectiveness this time around. But just as he attempted to slip on by, the monster stuck out its gun-arm and clothes-lined the detective off of his ride, stopping him on the spot with his bag of weapons; while the bike continue on down the alley a ways, before toppling over. Skidding across the pavement, sparks covered the fallen side as it slowly came to a stop, leaving the broken off side-mirror a few feet behind it.
Smashing hard onto the ground, Desmond quickly forced himself to re-aim up at the Zebra Melody Beast's face, and pummelled it back with a burst of explosive rounds. Catching the fiend off guard, the Japanese-American detective then rolled in the opposite direction. After he got to one knee, he fired the rest of the clip into the Beast, forcing it into the light, stone wall, forcing the monster into a small crater. Quickly he reloaded the weapon after tossing a smoke grenade from his jacket pocket, hoping to blind the Zebra for a brief moment while regrouping. It seemed to work as it tried to fire, and only struck the wall in front of it. From the looks of things, Desmond figured it was stuck in the wall, which might give him the edge, or chance he needed to end this thing.
That assumption was short lived as the Melody Beast bellowed a huff and shrugged itself out of the stone wall. Small pieces of concrete showered the ground, and what was left in the monster's wake was a small crater in the shape of it. Making Desmond wide-eyed in shock for a brief moment before holding the trigger down, blasting the creature all over. Sparks showered its body, knocking it into a stagger as it backed up down the alleyway. Just as it seemed to be over as the automatic weapon clicked repeatedly for a few seconds, the familiar sound of an empty magazine. The Detective then briskly, stormed through the smoke with the sawed-off, lever-action shotgun in hand, firing a second after coming through the smoke screen. Bellowing the Zebra over as an explosive burst struck its stomach, and it stumbled backwards a couple feet. Desmond continued his assault as he moved forwards, hitting different points on the Zebra's body, but just as that too emptied, he went for a pistol and took a round in the left-shoulder from the staggered animal-monster.
The Japanese-American Detective went spinning backwards at an angle and slammed into the pavement again. Still he managed to draw his weapon and turned back, firing the drawn glock from his right hand. Each round impacting and exploding upon the Zebra's face, with one getting lucky and striking the fiend in the left eye, with huge burst of sparks that continued to spray out as it held the injured area with its normal hand. Staggering to regain its footing, Desmond took this chance to get back over to the bag of weapons laying behind him on the ground, and quickly draw the grenade launcher, the Terminator 2 styled launcher. Opening the grenade box, Desmond loaded a round and quickly fired without so much as aiming. It was more desperation then anything, as he hoped it would finish this bastard off. Or at least, give him a chance to get out of here and regroup again, the former was more along the lines of what he wanted though.
Not waiting for the explosion, be grabbed the bag of ammo and ducked behind a large, city dumpster to take cover. Covering up the sides of his helmet where his ears would be, out of reflex then anything else, just before belly flopping the cold, dark and still damp pavement, Desmond could still hear the loud explosion in the background. Although muffled, it still rung through his body and head. Without a second thought he scrambled back up and prepared another around while peering into the flames of where the creature stood.
Slowly they died down to small flames along the pavement, sending a smoke signal into the dark, night sky. It wouldn't be long before someone else came to see the commotion, or call the cops. Luckily if a civilian came around he could attend to it, being part of the force and all. Though the rest of the force was out looking for him no less, and Desmond needed to avoid them at all cost if he was going to make it out of this alive. Just then he could see the fallen form of the Melody Beast laying upon the ground, unmoving and possibly not even breathing. Desmond held his breath and slowly moved out from behind the dumpster's cover. He kept his distance while still approaching the fiend, the grenade launcher slung over his shoulder, adjacent from the ammo bag, as he pulled out both glocks and trained them upon the fallen form. It appeared blackened upon the chest, but still, that did little to comfort the Japanese-American Detective.
Deep in his chest he could still feel his heart pounding a mile-a-minute, and part of him hoped it wasn't dead yet either, while the other part wished it to be so. The part that didn't however wanted to make it suffer some more before finishing it off. Forcing himself to calm down, he kept on moving, though now walking backwards down the alley, towards his damaged bike as he kept both weapons aimed at the Beast.
Then suddenly the Zebra jerked, hacked and huffed as it came to. Startled, Desmond nearly jumped, but cemented his footing and readjusted his grip upon both pistols. Watching the Zebra roll to its left side and begin to get back up to its hoofed feet, Desmond opened fire. Each round impacted with a minor explosion upon the fiend's striped and armored body, knocking it down again as he took it off guard. Then the familiar clicking of an empty magazine rung from the right pistol, and he holstered it while slinging the grenade launcher into his hand and fired it at the Zebra again, bashing right into the monster's face, striking it right in the damaged eye before dropping to the ground with a clink. As the beast wallowed in pain, holding its only hand over the injured eye that bled green down its torso; Desmond then re-aimed down at the spinning grenade—and fired. Suddenly it went off thanks to the shot from the glock, instead of allowing it to spin seven times before going off by itself, the explosion sent the Zebra farther back, where it slammed onto the pavement and rolled a few feet.
Giving the ragged Detective the time he needed, he holstered the other pistol and slung the launcher over his shoulder again, then dashed to the bike, picked up the hefty machine and quickly mounted it as he started the engine, revving the throttle before racing out of the alley like a bat out of hell. Running on pure adrenaline, all the pain from his wounds and injuries seemed to fade into the background, until the distant whirling of sirens brought him back to reality. Roaring down another roar towards a not so busy street, he then turned down a smaller alley and kept on going, staying closer to the back roads. Not giving a damn about who he would wake up in this slum neighbourhood as he had to get the hell out of there and back to his place to regroup.
“Dammit...,†Desmond chided himself in his mind.
~*~
While the Detective rode out like a bat out of hell, the black body suited, techno-samurai Spider Rider, clad in silver and black accented, grey armour, stood on the edge of the roof top. Spear in hand and the non-bladed end resting upon the concrete where he stood. He continued to watch the escaping biker, before turning smokey-white, compound eyes towards the staggering Zebra. Then his head snapped to the open end of the alley as police cruisers charged down the alleyway. Tires screeching loudly along as they burned tread marks into the damp pavement.
Although as the officers who arrived on the scene go out, the Spider Rider then noticed the Zebra was missing. The only evidence that something happened, was laying upon the ground, or burning away in patches of dieing flame.
Mechanical sounds came from behind the techno-samurai Rider, in the form of question from, but the Rider didn't turn to face where the noises came from. He already knew it was from his motorcycle, although now in its large, mechanical Spider-Form.
“It's gone, both are probably going to regroup,†replied the techno-samurai. Then more mechanical sounds came from the approaching robotic, grey, silver and black, blood-red eyed Spider.
“Hmph, I just wanted to see how the good Detective could handle himself. Sadly I do believe making him one of us is the best course of action. Although...,†he explained then trailed off, though the Robotic Spider added a bit more.
“Yes. Whatever he reasons... we'll have to figure out on our own,†stated the armoured Rider before turning and moving to his large, robotic helper who transformed into his crotch rocket, motorcycle. “We're heading out, the police have the situation in hand.†With that he mounted the bike and locked the retracted Spear onto the back of his belt before gripping both handle bars, as the engine hummed, letting him know it was alive and ready to go. “What's left of it.â€
Revving the engine, the Spider Rider charged forward along the roof top, and leaped the bike into the air as it hit the propelled off the edge; soaring and disappearing down over the edge.
~*~
Late at the labs in the Musicular Organization building, Doctor Imai, clad in his lab coat and dark pants, dark shirt and matching, black shoes, moved silently along the tiled floor. Managing to dampen his footsteps with a sound dampener the R&D department was working on for something. He assumed it was a stealth project, but wasn't completely sure. Still one of the prototypes he managed to sneak for himself worked, and for that he was pleased—in fact grateful.
Although it took him quite a bit of money to get those working the cameras to switch them off, it certainly was well worth it. Getting it back wasn't much of a concern to him though as getting the sample and finishing the final stage of this project, or at least getting even closer to filling the gaps. Reaching a large, metal, security door to his left, Imai took out a small, pen-shaped device and pressed the tiny, silver, dome-shaped button near the tip. Lighting up the cyan LED at the top. Aiming it at the key-card scanner, it quickly turned the red lock light—to green. Next was the Hand-Print scanner, and so he turned the ring around the tip of the pen and switched the cyan light to orange before aiming it at that. It quickly accepted the beam being fed into the sensors, fully unlocking the security door.
Heavily the metal, chrome-coloured door swung outwards, with cool, steam clouds escaping from within the dark, blue room. Almost as though it was lit with a black light really, but not quite. Imai's face soon formed into a grin when no alarms had sounded, and told him that his device certainly worked completely, just like he designed it to. His pride certainly took a boost from it, but the good, thirty-four year old Doctor refocused ont he task at hand, and stepped into the cold room.
~*~
Inside the cold room, Doctor Imai walked up towards a computer station on the far left-hand wall. Illuminated by a few florescent lights just under the cabinets above the monitor and keyboard. Though neither light was very bright, but rather dim, which suited him as it was less time to readjust his eyes as he brought the system online with a few button presses. Grabbing the mouse and shaking it a bit to find the icon as the screen came to life and greeted him with the Musicular logo wallpaper with several icons. He moved the mouse over one marked Projectsâ€, doubled clicked it and opened the folder to reveal several numbered icons. Though the one he wanted was not there, and quickly typed into the keyboard; which soon brought up a hidden screen, with several security checks being hacked through in rapid succession. All the while his fingers flew across the keys, clicking and clacking about in the somewhat, barren cold room.
It didn't take him long to get to what he wanted and swiftly accessed it, bringing up another screen as it said “Lock Released. Container Open.â€
Imai then glanced over towards the back wall, covered in chrome doors, each one holding a specimen that he had known about and more then likely worked with. But what he really wanted wasn't visible to human eyes, not until a bright, point of white light started to sketch out a large, rectangular, trimmed shape around a section of chrome. Large enough to hold a body, it slowly pushed out of the wall, until stopped a couple of feet from it. Cold, steam that would normally come from dry ice, drifted out and spilled over the top of the drawer-like slab.
Cautiously, the thirty-four year old, Doctor approached the open containment unit, and peered into it as the cool, mist started to clear and dissipate. Imai's eyes widened and a smile formed upon his lips as he was greeted by a purple, black and grey, monstrous-humanoid form; with six muscular and stripped arms, and six, black, round, compound, lifeless eyes that stared upward. Unmoving. A large gash through its chest became visible as smoke cleared. Although it wasn't the only wound on it, as there seemed to be a surgical-type incision upon the side of its head. Imai guessed it was from their early experiments.
“Fukujima...,†muttered Imai under his breath, furrowing his brow and subtly shook his head. “What were you trying to accomplish...?â€
After a moment, the thirty-four year old, Doctor took a syringe from his pocket, plus a petri dish, and a small scalpel. Reaching in, and holding his breath, Doctor Imai cut some tissue and put it into the dish, before closing it up and tossing the used blade into a sharpy box on the left side of the wall. Pocketing the dish, he took up the syringe, pulled off the gap and stabbed into the creature's head before pulling back on the plunger, filling the barrel with a green liquid, filled with a kind of brain matter.
As he watched the syringe fill up slowly, the smile upon his face widened along with the shining, gleeful look in his eyes.
~*~
Climbing in through the window of his apartment's, dark bedroom, Desmond dropped the bag of weapons onto the floor first; before he followed, landing with a loud thud, flat on his back. The painkillers had finally worn off, the injuries he sustained throughout the night took their toll. From the broken ribs to the rounds that hit him in the leg, and the belly-flop upon the pavement. Everything hurt.
Unfortunately he had to stash the motorcycle farther away from the apartment building. He couldn't worry about them finding it though as he knew it wasn't that well hidden, but there was no trace to locate him at least. That's what mattered to Desmond right now, that and still being alive to try for round three... and that one he vowed to come out on top... or go down swinging.
Laying there, his black, shaggy hair, splayed over the floor a bit, the goatee-d, twenty-seven year old, Japanese-American could barely hold his eyes open any longer. Slowly they drifted shut and he dozed off into a deep sleep, his body finally giving into the rest he sorely needed.
~*~
As the sun came up over the horizon from the west, lighting up Zenmujiku City for the start of a brand new day. The Sky-Screen flew overhead through the cloudless, deep, blue sky with the daily report from B-Girl who zoomed in onto the screen from the right-hand side. Waving with both hands frantically, she was all smiles and in the cheeriest of moods as she addressed the people who were getting up, or already out and about, or possibly coming home from a night at the bars, drunk off their asses.
“Hello, everybody! B-Girl here, and today is a new day!†boomed the cheerful voice of the teal-haired spokeswoman for the Musicular Organization. Clad in her usual white, latex, mini-dress and thigh-high, five inch heeled, royal blue boots which matched her mid-arm length gloves. She gestured them about while continuing her morning report. Even though the news was rather bleak, she remained in a joyful mood and bright smile. Showing off her pretty, light-blue coloured lips, while her slightly darker shade of eyeshadow made her eyes pop on the giant, rectangular, high-def screen.
“Last night we had another Melody Beast incident! This time at the Zenmujiku General Hospital!†she clamoured while holding her gloved hands up cutely to her face, feigning a scared look, when clearly behind those almost innocent, dark green eyes, showed nothing. “And a patient from the hospital is missing! Are the Melody Beasts capturing citizens?! Or did he get eaten?!†She kept her hands, with her fingers curled a bit, up in front of her mouth, as she feigned a look of terror in her eyes. But after a moment she returned her hands to her hips and smiled yet again. Wagging a finger as she leaned forward at an angle cutely while continuing, “Remember! When you hear the Melody, run as fast as you can to the nearest safe zones...!â€
Standing back up she kept one hand upon her hip, knuckles pressed against it this time, though not really clenching her hand into a fist. The other she held up and waved her fingers up and down, smiling cutely to everyone as she ended her morning report. “Stay safe and Bye-bye!â€
With that the image of her faded and the blue circle with green vines, and black musical notes that formed the words, “Musicular Organizationâ€, filled the screen in her place.
~*~
Shizuka slowly came to after feeling the beginning rays of the morning sun pierce through the cracks in the blinds. Striking her eyes, though closed, caused her to squint as they brightened under her eyelids a little too much for her liking. Groaning quietly in frustration she rolled over onto her stomach under the big, brown blanket, pulling it over her and curled up. While trying to get back to sleep the memories of last night re-emerged through her mind, causing her to toss and turn. They weren't the only things bringing her two as the voice of B-Girl boomed through the large window behind the head of the bed, that was open just a smidge; but just enough for those loud speakers to pierce.
With a moan she pushed the covers off of her head and slowly heaved herself up to a sitting position, although slouched over and looking dead tired. She was indeed not a morning person in any sense of the word. Least not till the second or third cup of coffee.
“Coffee would be nice right about now...,†she murmured groggily and flumped back down, her head caving in the soft pillow around her head.
After she kind of came to again she realized she wasn't in her own bed, or apartment for that matter. Took her a few moments to remember that she never did go home as Kuro insisted she stayed the night, to protect her just in case. Still, Shizuka found herself alone in the room after subconsciously stroking the back of her hand against the empty, left side of the bed. Until she reminded herself about telling Kuro that she'd sleep alone, and part of regretted saying that. Especially after he practically broke down in front of her. Yet it was him who didn't put up an argument about sleeping alone, as he told her before that he'd take the couch when she went to go sleep finally.
Rolling onto her left side, her gazed shifted to the left, but Shizuka wasn't really looking at anything as she played scenario of what could of been in her mind. Just that it made the aching pain within her chest that much more agonizing; and eventually forced herself to push those feelings back into a deep corner of her mind. Then tossed the blanket off and stat up on the outside of the bed, dumping her face into the palms of her hands. Brushing back the sides of her long, auburn hair behind her ears.
Eventually she got up and started search for her own clothes on the floor, after looking at the baggy, grey, t-shirt she had pulled out of Kuro's messy, unorganized dresser. Honestly she had to shake her head at that. 'So typical', she thought to herself.
~*~
A few moments later, the bedroom door was pulled in and Shizuka, now dressed in her black top with graffiti upon the front, and jeans. Her shoulder-length, auburn hair tied back in a ponytail, she slowly glanced around while adjusting her long sleeves to go over her hands; keeping them warm as she found it a little chilly. Then her eyes found Kuro sitting upon his futon couch, still fully dressed, though his dark brown hair was a little messy from the pillow she assumed. He stared at the white, bandage wrapped around his injured, right hand, still balled up into a fist, though not clenched tightly.
Shizuka couldn't help but sigh under her breath, though it was loud enough to get his attention as Kuro's sorrowful expression changed to a more alert one as he gazed up at her for a moment. Then returned to his hand.
“Still hurts?†she asked, genuinely concerned, though she hid it well from her voice. Although the concern wasn't just for his injured hand, since last night he shared with her about what happened to his Older sister. Although Shizuka was unsure if she should bring that back up.
“It's more numb then painful right now,†he replied, and returned his gaze up at her, forcing a normal expression and a bit of a grin, contrary to how he actually felt. “I'll be okay.†'On both counts' he thought to himself, not wanting a repeat of last night. Now was not the time to bring that back up, nor could he recall why he had to spill his guts to her. Kuro just chalked it up to something he had to do, to get it off his chest..., but regretted punching the wall. More so cause of the repair cost, then his injured knuckles. The painkillers were helping no less, well it wasn't exactly painkillers, just some over the counter drug like asprin.
“Good, good...,†she returned with a nod as he eyes lowered to the floor, and she placed her hands behind her back, sticking he fingers into her back pockets of her jeans. “I'm not much of a cook, but I know a place near here. Makes a pretty mean breakfast.†Shizuka said, offering her own smile, and hoping he'd take her up on it.
“Would love some breakfast, but I'll have to eat and run though...,†explained Kuro, digging out and holding up his cell in his uninjured hand. “Igawa-san called. Wants me to hurry on over to help him get ready to open for the lunch rush, and deliveries.â€
“Oh, well that's fine...,†she replied, a little too sombrely she thought. Then turning to face the front door, took few steps, and then spun on her heel towards him again; lightly brushing a few loose strands of hair behind her right ear, she smiled and added, “How ab out a reign check?â€
With a smile and a nod, Kuro then stood up and tucked his phone into his pocket as he answered, “Sure. But if you still want breakfast, I can drop you off, just need directions.â€
“Mmh,†replied Shizuka with a nod and a wide smile. Least she wouldn't have to stay inside all day, and she'd get some food into her, as her stomach was already rumbling. Though quietly.
Just then the twenty-five year old's expression changed, he looked concerned as his gazed lowered. Deep down he was, wondering how he'd protect her while being away at work. It was a cause for concern, and there wasn't a Safety Zone in the apartment, though telling her to stick close to one was all he could think of. It upset the young man greatly as his furrowed brow evidently showed.
“What's wrong?†asked Shizuka, curious to what was troubling him now. They did agree on a reign check after all, was it that big of a deal that he couldn't skip work, even though a part of her wanted him to call in sick.
“I can't protect you while I'm out working..., least, not well...,†he admitted, the regret and fear in his voice coming through loud and clear. “Might want to stick close to the Safe Zones, or... stick with me all day. Or do you have to work?â€
“I...,†she began, then trailed off as she turned towards the front door and walked a few more steps, then turned back to Kuro, “Have the day off. And I don't mind spending the day with you.†Then Shizuka quickly corrected, “--I mean, so you can.... You know, ...protect me from a Beast attack. -Not implying anything else, alright?â€
“Yeah, I know what you meant,†Kuro replyed grabbing his keys from the coffee table in front of him, and then started stuffing his feet into his sneakers that he hadn't untied, but slipped off on the floor. 'Too bad...,' Kuro thought to himself, as his gaze, which faced away from her, showed disappointment, but he quickly pushed that emotion away when facing her again. “I'll get you a spare helmet, then we can go.â€
“OK,†she replied, moving over towards the doorway as Kuro went into his bedroom. Shizuka then finally allowed her own disappointed expression show as she chided herself for saying those things. It wasn't what she really wanted to say, and it in fact confused her to no end why she even said it. Or fought these feelings that she had welling up in her. In fact Shizuka was more then happy to spend the day with Kuro, but couldn't bring herself to let him no. Was she scared? She wondered to herself, and as Kuro came out of his room, she turned back to see him holding up a helmet as he approached.
“OK, let's go get you some food,†Kuro said, grinning subtly.
“Sure. I'm starving,†said Shizuka with a bit of a smirk.
~*~
The smell of the fresh water filled the noses of two Joggers, a man in a woman, wearing sweat shirts and pants, with water bottles attached to their belts. Early in the morning was always the better time for a job, walk or run, and the beach was clear this morning, being chilly as the first signs of fall started to set in. Both of the joggers kept up pretty well with each other, although breathing heavily as they've been going at it for quite some time before reaching the sandy area. Although the male jogger, clad in grey sweats, and obviously showing more signs of fatigue as he had a little more weight to him, started to slow up. Hunched over he attempted to catch his breath, and wiped away the streaming drops of swet from his face and neck, with the towel he had stuffed into his collar.
The woman, who appeared to be about the same age, early thirties, with her hair tied up into a bun, continued moving in one spot. Even as she turned around to face her jogging partner, smirking and laughing at his predicament. “Come on! We're almost done, halfway there already!†she called out to him, shaking her head.
He just waved her on to continue and yelled back in gasps, “You go on ahead! I'll... I'll catch up!â€
“No you don't, we're doing this together, now come on! One-two! One-two! Pick it up!†called out the woman, jogging on the spot in her black sweats. Waiting a minute longer, she shook her head as she didn't see him continuing and so continued her jog onward.
Continuing to catch his breath, the stocky, male jogger turned to look up at the rising sun, still wiping up the excess sweat from his brow and neck. Certainly looked like the start of a good day to him, even though he really hated these morning jogs, but it was benefiting his health, from what his doctor, his friend up ahead told him, and what he kept on telling himself. Regardless of him also saying to himself that it was killing, or least his legs.
Eventually turning to continue his jog a soothing melody began to play in his ears, and just as he was about to run off as terror washed over his face; a clawed, army-green foot struck like a blur across the chubby man's face. It sent him flying into the water with a loud splash, which caught the attention of the dark haired, woman jogger. When she spun around, her eyes darted around until her gaze saw the body of her partner floating along lifeless along the cold, rapid, moving waves. Her eyes widened as panic and fear for him welled up within her. Then she dashed towards him as it slowly pulled him out with the tide.
Even as she ran into the rapid water, splashing it about, the coldness of it was the last thing on her mind while she trudged her way to her friend. Quickly pulling at him, afraid that maybe he had suffered a heart attack. Then something caught her attention and froze, slowly standing straight as her eyes went wider. She literally could feel her heart slowing down as fear took hold of it, almost stopping it as the Melody became louder and louder in her ears. Eventually it was all the woman jogger could hear and that was went two, plated, army-green, clawed feet landed upon her shoulders. Quickly they squeezed either side of her head tightly and spun like a blur before leaping away.
She stood there, motionless, breathless, still looking straight ahead, even after her head was spun three-hundred and sixty degrees. Then a moment later, the woman flopped into the water face-first, dead...
Some distance away, the orange and red, clothed, army-green, bi-pedal Locust stood with its arms crossed in front of its chest. It stared at the two floating bodies while they went along with the tide as it pulled out further into the ocean waters. The creature had a glint of pride in its lime coloured and glowing eyes.
~*~
After deciding to go through the drive-thru, Kuro and Shizuka rode along on the Disc Hopper, in it's civilian disguised mode. They went through a rather quiet neighbourhood, least it was quiet in the morning, although some kids were out, heading along with friends, going to school no doubt. Going along towards the the train tracks that led to the road towards the inner city, they came across the street that ran along side the docks, and that was when Shizuka began to hear the Melody in her ears, even over the rumbling engine.
Kuro felt the rapid taping of Shizuika's fingers upon his shoulder and looked back at her. It was then, from the corner o his eye, he saw Shizuka's eyes, filled with fear and dread; it took him a moment to realize why. Though he assumed it was what he was fearing, the message on the small screen on his bike confirmed, after grabbing his attention with a few mild, mechanical sounds.
“Melody Beast...,†he muttered to himself. Then he darted his eyes around, hoping to catch it before it go within range. So far he saw nothing, but that didn't mean a damn thing, and quickly revved the bike to go faster.
Shizuka then felt a presence and quickly turned to look in the direction from where it was coming from. Her eyes went wide as the Locust Melody Beast, clad in the red-orange clothes, wrapped around its wrists, ankles, around its lower region and wrapped like a scarf around its neck, coming fight for her. Its right, clawed, shell-plated foot extended outward as it approached her head. Shizuka flinched and curled in tight, bracing for impact. Kuro finally noticed too, but it appeared too late to do anything about it, until the blue, robotic, Stag-Beetle came out of nowhere and struck the enemy down as it cut across its path.
As it struck, sparks spray out from where the robot helper's sharp, silver-lined, blue pincers connected, slashing across the Monster's shin. The Locust fell hard on the pavement, withering and seething in a mix of pain and rage while holding its injured shin, which bleed a green liquid from a deep wound. Again it had failed to end the life of its target and this added insult to injury. Still the creature managed to rise up, though obvious in pain, grimacing with every step it took.
Kuro quickly spun the bike to a halt, skidding the tires a bit and thanking his lucky stars for not tipping them over. The robotic, silver and blue, Stag-Beetle hovered over them, and Kuro looked up to see it there, then glared over to the injured Assassin as it limped towards them. He watched as it gestured to Kuro, holding its right arm out and giving him a thumbs down, before waving for him to follow and leaped into the air.
“Shizuka, stay here,†he told her, looking in her direction before cocking his head over to the Stag-Beetle, “You stay with her.â€
The robot helper simply nodded the front of its self, as if acknowledging him, followed by some noicses.
“What are you gonna do?†Shizuka questioned as she hopped over the back and removed her helmet.
Pulling the green palm-sized, disc with a silvery grasshopper, circuitry design around it, he stared down at it for a moment while the belt formed around him; eventually lifting his gaze to Shizuka's.
She could see the seriousness and anger in his eyes, and almost took a step back, but caught herself, understanding at least part of what he was going to do and why. Still, feeling responsible for setting him, though really encouraging him on this path, she grabbed his arm before he could race off. “Why?â€
“Why what?†he asked back, looking into her eyes and seeing the worry and guilt within them. Kuro stared back puzzled, though his brow still furrowed, and his mind fixed on defeating that Locust.
“Why do this? I know one took your parents away and led to your sister's suicide, but why keep on doing this?†she questioned, almost shouting at him.
“Because...,†he began, and what she just said was indeed partially the reason, though it was not the only reason. “I need to.â€
“But why not just run away?†she spat out and quickly continued before he could respond, “We could get to safe zone! You don't have to get involved in this anymore!â€
Kuro paused for a moment as her suggestion ran through his mind, but this Melody Beast was after her. That much was obvious as he failed to destroy it the last time and it tried to kill her for the second time. If it wasn't now that he stopped this thing, then it might succeed on its next attempt, and Kuro was tired of people dying around him; senselessly and needlessly. Flipping up the visor, Kuro then told her what he was intending to do, “I'm stopping that Monster now. I'll be back.â€
He flipped the visor down abruptly and opened the buckle, placed the disc in and closed it before charging off down the way they came. Roaring the engine as he popped into a wheelie then slammed the tire back down, picking up more speed.
Leaving her behind with the Stag-Beetle robot helper, hovering above her as it scouted the area, she quickly ran a few feet and stopped when she realized it was no use trying to catch up to him on foot. Frustrated and worried, she bellowed over as she shouted after him, “KURO-SAN...!!!â€
~*~
Littered along the floor, were bandages stained with blood, along with a pair of roughed up, beige pants with two holes on the side of the left leg, around the knee and thigh area. After that drops of dried blood reached all the way to the bathroom, which had the door wide open, light still on and packets of bandages lying torn open on the floor and sink. Towards the sofa, a white shirt laid next to the resting Desmond, covered in a blanket and his leather jacket over his head. A half eaten store bought dinner on the coffee table/ safe, unheated.
Eventually Desmond tossed his jacket off over the back of the couch, peered around the darkened apartment, though some light was coming through when his eyes adjusted enough he could see somewhat of where he was. His memories of the night before kicking in and filling the blanks though. Slowly sitting up, he noticed the blinds open on one window, which had a mild, chilly breeze flowing through. Keeping the blanket around him, he moved over and shut it hard. Then turning back towards the rest of the place, he noticed the damaged clothes and stains of blood along the hardwood floors. With a heavy sigh, he shook his head and decided to just leave it for now. So far, Desmond was lucky to be still alive for another shot at taking down that damn monster. The pain in his leg was faint, but still there, and it had been quite some time since taking the another dose of painkillers. He just knew getting addicted to them wouldn't help his situation either, and foregone anymore. Instead, the Japanese-American Detective chose to use that pain as motivation, and the more you work it out, the more it'll lessen. At least that was what he was hoping fore, though burning the wounds shut probably wasn't the best idea, but it worked in a pinch. The bandages would hold up at least.
Desmond gazed to his left at the cork-board and started to formulate another plan, taking in a deep breath as the pieces came together on what he'd do next. Though it was sound, it was risky... but if he wasn't going to take risks.. he wouldn't of chosen to become an officer of the law. Sadly the law was little interested in the dealings of the Melody Beasts. As they had no physical way to stop them and even his own efforts were showing they were right, it was still something Desmond wouldn't accept. In fact he felt the supposed keepers of piece and justice in this city were cowards for not even trying.
After getting dressed in a dark red shirt, black jeans and the leather jacket, the twenty-seven year old reloaded the glocks, and grabbed the stuffed, duffel bag before as he headed through the door.
~*~
Hopping like crazy, even with the injured shin, the Locust Beast made its way, bouncing off of crates, barrels, and cargo containers as it went along the dock. Finally it stopped and managed to hide as it ripped off the long, stands of fabric that made the red and orange scarf, and quickly tied off the bleeding wound. It was already healing from what it was able to make of it, wiping away some of the green liquid that oozed out. Making clicking noises, the Locust Beast rose up slowly and glared around the docks, awaiting the arrival of its enemy.
Suddenly the roaring sound of an engine was coming up behind the creature, fast, and as it looked behind itself, the front tire of the enduro motorcycle struck the Locust dead-on in the face. The Melody Beast hit the deck hard, planting the side of it's scale-armoured, beady-eyed face that had been hit, smack dab right on the pavement.
The motorcycle continued to sail over and through the gap of the towered, stacks of crates. Landing with a squealing of the back tire, the vehicle turned to the left and skidded to a stop, dropping his right foot down, covering in the green, silver-circuitry-etched, armour plates that made up the full boot that cut about half way up just below the back of his knee, that showed the black, leather-material of the body suit.
As the Locust pushed itself up with its hands, the monster turned to look in the direction of the rumbling engine, revealing the injured side of its face, drift with trails of smoke from the impact point. Clicking menacingly, the Locust forced itself back up to its feet and glared its beady, glowing, lime eyes right at the red, metallic-compound ones of the green-silver, techno-armoured, ninja-Grasshopper.
“Found you...,†said Kenkage through the filtered helmet-speaker as he dismounted from the bike, now in its Disc Hopper formation.
He never took his eyes off the creature, and Kuro didn't dare turn his back just in case it tried for a sneak attack. Cautiously, but briskly the Armoured Grasshopper walked towards his enemy, clenching his green, armoured plated, gloved fists. Then switched to a defensive fighting stance as the Locust leaped for him, with Kenkage only managing to dodge the sailing, push-kick by an inch. A few seconds longer and it probably wouldn't of killed him, but it definitely would of hurt.
Once the monster landed, it flung a backhand with its left, the Grasshopper caught it with a outside block with his forearm, pushing it aside with his right palm. Moving in he attempted a right, sidekick and the Beast simply tapped it down with its hand, but Kuro, clad in his armoured quickly spun around to the left and landed a solid elbow strike into the attacking creature's chest, stunning it for only but a moment. It was all the Rider needed and went in for a right cross, then a left hook, followed my more hard punches that landed on the Locust's chest, forcing it to stagger. Until it jump and spun its right heel around, knocking Kuro off balance. But the Grasshopper came back around with a double-jump, wheel-kick, missing the Locust as it jumped into a over-head somersault.
Kuro followed it with his gaze and as he turned to try and attack, it shot out a lighting-fast, back-kick into the armoured chest of Kenkage, causing a burst of spraying sparks. Forced to roll and tumble backwards near the bike before managing to get to a knee; Kenkage held a hand on his chest, with his right resting upon the propped up right knee. He winced at the sharp pain from that kick that throbbed upon his chest as light, smouldering trails of smoke emanated from it due to the burst of sparks. Heaving slightly, Kuro wasn't exactly out of breath, but more so got it knocked out of him from that lucky hit, but still he regained his footing and rose up. Then grabbed for the green, black handled, Ninja sword upon his back, unsheathing it from the black scabbard, and revealing the chrome-silver, curved, blade of the “Inagomaruâ€.
The Locust Melody Beast tilted its head from side-to-side, giving the sword wielding Rider a curious expression.
Kenkage gripped the weapon's handle with both hands, clenching onto tightly as he aimed the razor-sharp tip right at his enemy.
At that moment the Locust took up a kind of “Bruce Lee†fighting style posture, hopping up and down, with it's hands open loosely, before gesturing with its left which was held out. Then whipped its thumb over top of where its nose would have been, if it had one.
The armoured, Grasshopper Rider quickly obliged, bringing his sword over to the left of him, the sharpened edge still facing his adversary before rushing into a charge. The Melody Beast simply hopped there, awaiting the attack.
Kenkage closed the distance with a jump and shouted while raising the blade into a horizontal position over his, silver antenna's, “I'm taking a slice out of you!†He slashed downward at an angle, turning slightly with the movement of his blade as the Locust attempted to side-step, and came down upon the Melody Beast!
~*~
Reaching high in the cloudless, blue sky, the afternoon sun beat down upon everywhere void of shade, including a small graveyard where Detective Desmond Yamato stood in the very middle. Amongst him were about twelve rows of grave stones, not all of which had been well kept, though some did have flowers placed against the fronts. Sadly the twisting feeling in his gut was not from the plan, but what he had done earlier. He continued to tell himself it was a a good plan, and it would give him some viable cover. Least that was his hope, though he had no allusions that this was the final stand for him, and how the setting was quite fitting.
As the sound of the sickly soothing, eerie melody played into his ears, it was followed by the crunchy of hooves trotting the gravel laid path that led into the graveyard. Remaining calm, the young Detective glanced at his surroundings: Thick, dark green brush, and trees lined the outer sides, with the only clearing in front or behind the rowed field of tombstones. A narrow space between death or retreat, and Desmond had already decided that retreat wasn't the option he was going to pick this time. Clenching his fists, he slowly turned to face the approaching Zebra Monster with the long, white and black striped, gun-arm. Glaring right at it with the look of determination in his eye, which barely hid the feeling of inevitable defeat that he felt. Although he quickly pushed it aside into the depths of his mind, it was still there, a constant reminder that there was no guarantee he'd make out of here.
The Zebra slowly came to a halt as Desmond drew a pistol, then gave the graves a once over, before glaring with its dark eyes, right back at its prey with a huff. Gesturing with a head movement, for Desmond to attack.
Slowly turning his head slightly to the left, giving the monster a puzzled look, Detective Yamato raised his weapon with one hand, aiming with his right eye down the site—he then pulled the trigger. Flames exited the barrel after kicking back from the recoil, ejecting the spent cartridge, then another and another. Each round exploded on impact, barely stunning the Zebra, but at least it did seem to take it by surprise, until it started to march forward. Desmond watched how it wasn't firing back though, and wondered if it had something to do with the graves? It did seem to glance at them first before wanting him to advance, and now it wasn't returning fire. But the Melody Beast indeed was getting closer to the twenty-seven year old Detective.
Gripping the glock with both hands he aimed right at the black spot on its chest, and fired right at the wound, at least he hoped it was a wound from earlier. When each explosive bullet struck, exploding with a burst of flame and sparks, directly against the black spot, the Zebra bellowed and dropped to a knee, covering it with its other hand. It huffed at him again and took aim with it's gun, though aimed right at his head now, way over top of the graves. Desmond swiftly rolled out of the way as it fired, the shell from the Beast whizzed by, and he could hear it ripping through the air mere inches from him as he barely got out of the way in time.
As he rolled to a knee, the Detective already had his hand in and out of his jacket pocket and clicked the red button on a small, hand-held, device. Smirking as he watched explosives go off around the gun-armed creature of death that was after his life. Taking out chucks of the earth, gravel and some tombstones that all became, hot, shrapnel splashing over the Zebra.
Forced to cover up, the monster rolled out of the way, until it took an explosion right in the face, knocking it over onto its back hard. It shook the dizziness fast and quickly got back up to its hooves, then opened fire, though this time the rounds weren't normal shells! It fired one like a grenade launcher from a machine gun, and it arched up and over the graves, exploding on the spot in front of Desmond who tried to turn and dive for cover. Only to have the explosion send him flying further and knocking over a really old, tombstone. Ripping it out of the ground as he crashed into it, slamming hard onto his stomach again, dropping and losing the glock somewhere else away from him. Once the ringing settled in his ears, and the smoke started to clear, it was replaced with the Melody again, and the sharp pain throughout his body. Forcing himself up a bit, Desmond then suddenly lost his strength and dropped down yet again. That grenade was certainly too close for comfort, and quickly tried attempt number too as he could feel the creature approaching.
Looking back, bruised and injured Detective was indeed right on that, in fact the Zebra was taking its sweet old time moving up the pathway. Gritting teeth, the twenty-seven year old scrambled up to his feet as best as he could and took to flight, diving over another tombstone as he heard another grenade being launched. Just as he made it over another, using it as cover, the explosive shell went off again, tearing a large hole in the earth, obliterating the tombstone into jib rock !
~*~
Spinning on his side through the air, Kenkage sailed along and smashed through stacks of oil barrels, with sparks flying everywhere. As he fell, hitting the pavement hard, another burst of sparks burst forth from the point of impact, then the armoured Grasshopper continued to roll along. Eventually he stopped himself with a punch to the ground, and still gripping the ninja-sword. Kenkage slowly pushed himself up a bit with his fist, then cocked his helmeted head to the left as something caught the corner of his compound, metallic-red eye.
Coming down through the air, the Locust Melody Beast extended its right leg into a push-kick position aimed right at Kuro's head. Quickly the green-armoured and black-suited, Grasshopper launched himself out of the way, just as the creature's foot plummeted into the pavement, making a small crater as bits flew everywhere. Kenkage at the same time spun his body around and jabbed a solid right punch into the monster's neck, knocking into a backwards tumble. Then tripping over the fallen barrels, the creature continued to hold onto its throat, gasping for air though angry clicks, giving Kuro enough time to pull the horizontal grip on the Shuriken launcher upon his right forearm.
Although he felt shaken and he rushed readying the barrage of disc shurikens, unsure if it would work or not, he awaited the Locust to get back up. It didn't take it long either, as it flipped up to its feet, then attempted to jump, by bringing its feet together first—Kuro fired. Each of the three, green, shuriken-discs launched forth once he hit the button in the back. Spinning clockwise through the air, each one struck the creature dead on, stabbing into the Locust's chest and blasting sparks out from the wounds; knocking it down from mid-way into its jump.
It was then Kuro looked down at the hilt of the Inagomaru sword, noticing the back of supposed hand-guard with the tube-like gapped, grip was slid out an inch. He then changed the underhanded grip holding the blade upright and gripped the bar on the back of the black, square-ish, hand-guard, extending it a few more inches. It was then he noticed that it was a kind of tray that could possibly hold discs, like a dvd player or game system. “Hm?†Kuro queried to himself, “Oh!†He then recalled th e disc-holder on the left of his belt, the one with the silver-scarab beetle appearance. “Maybe...â€
Switching the sword to his right hand, he opened up the silver-pod on the left of the belt with his thumb pushing the button down and forward a bit, extending the holder out. Sitting there were four discs, one light blue, one orange, a lime green one and the regular blue, Stag-Beetle disc. At random, Kenkage picked nad drew the orange disc. Holding it up he looked it over noticing the copper colored, circuitry etchings in a fire like design. Placing it into the open tray on the back of the sword's hilt, it seemed to magnetically lock onto the circular indentation. It certainly caught his attention for a second before shutting the tray, which the weapon followed up saying, “Heat Charge!†Then the silvery-chrome blade of the Inagomaru heated up from the base to the sharp point, turning the blade orange in colour with a partially invisible distortion emanating off of it. Like when pavement gets super-heated from the sun.
Holding the sword up as he looked at it, Kuro spoke to himself, “Alright,†then looked over at the staggered Locust as it kicked and thrashed through the fallen, oil drums. “I'm not just gonna take a slice out of you now... I'm gonna burn it out of you!â€
With that Kenkage closed the disc-holder and then spun the sword around while rotating his wrist as he ran at his adversary who manged to leap forward and extended out its right, 'injured' and partially healed leg into another push kick. Just that it tilted its clawed toes for the incoming Rider, until he grabbed the sword with both hands and swung wide from the right, catching the side of the Creature's lower leg. Sparks blasted from the point of impact, followed by a burst of fire as the heated blade, started to burn through and cut into the open wound.
The Locust dropped and rolled along the pavement, clutching at the gaping, scorched cut in its leg, clicking in rage as it shuddered in agony.
Watching, Kenkage smirked under his helmet to himself, and then rushed towards the injured Beast, ready to slash at the creature again. “I'm not letting you after her ever again!â€
At the last second the Locust flipped back up to its feet, halting the Rider for a moment, puzzling him if it was really hurt or not. Then Kuro noticed the fiend was off balance then leaped to close the distance and hacked down its chest, cutting the shell-plate, leaving a scorched, smouldering gash in its wake. Then landed another and another, leaving a similar gash with sparks bursting off, and then Kenkage struck upward from the right hip to the left shoulder of hte Locust. Blasting with sparks, the Monster fell to the ground while clicking angrily in pain. As it rushed to attack Kuro was all ready for it's advance, and struck again, though not with the greatest of skill, but it aided him well enough. Landing a solid stab that pierced into the chest armour of hte Locust, caused a large burst of sparks to spray forth, making the Melody Beast tumble over, and roll a few feet.
“Well this certainly comes in handy,†said Kuro as he eyed up the super-heated sword, and then turned his head in the direction of the injured and staggering Locust. “Now to finish you!â€
Just as Kenkage was about to hit the large, rectangular, grey button on top of his Disc Driver, a low growling caught the Rider's attention. Kuro straightened up and and quickly scouted around for the source of the growling, then turned around, and coming up behind him was another Cheetah Melody Beast. Clad in a brass chest plate, curved at the bottom and with four orbs in a semi-circle on the upper chest. Blue loin clothes covered the lower front, and long, blue strands like scarfs flowed behind it. The bi-pedal Cheetah Beast raised a black hand and pointing a clawed finger right for Kenkage in a threatening manner, then swung the arm out to its right, hand fully open as it called a metal pipe into its grasp. Once it took a hold of it, the metal pipe suddenly morphed into a black, bone-like rod with stone-ish, spear tips on either end. Slowly the creature held it in both clawed hands, readying the weapon to attack as it aimed a tip at the Grasshopper.
Then the clattering of the Locust drew Kenkage's gaze back to it, and he saw the injured and burned, Melody Beast rising up, painfully slow. Still it appeared to be willing to continue fighting as it grabbed a piece of a broken crate. Tearing it off the Locust's grasp turned the jagged, triangular piece of wood into a short-sword with a similar shaped, steel blade, and black, bone-handle.
Finding himself in pickle now as the two Melody Beasts approached from either end of the dock, Kenkage felt panic starting to settle in, but quickly raised up his Inagomaru over his head. Gripping the handle firmly with both hands with it still heated, Kuro kept looking back and forth, keeping his eye on the advancing creatures; hoping—praying, for an inkling of a chance of getting out of this alive.
~*~
The shock-wave of a large, blazing, explosion sends Desmond into the air and rolling forward, slapping the gravel road with his back. Arching up in pain, the shaggy haired, Detective reaches around, holding the back of his left hand against the injured part of his back. But the pain shoots up throughout his body and forces him to fall back down, rolling slightly in agony, his face expressing it fully as it crunched up . Laying there, Desmond gasped for breath until he heard the crunching of gravel under hooves, and looked back to see the Zebra trotting through the dying flames.
With adrenaline still rushing through him, he attempted to get up and moving, but the pain in his back forced him for fall back once more. He needed to rest a bit longer, but sadly he knew the Melody Beast wouldn't give him that time he needed and tried to get up again, only to fail once more. Cringing and groaning in pain, the twenty-seven year old, tried to go for his second glock, but the Zebra grabbed him by the wrist, stopping him and then yanked the injured man up to his feet, eventually raising him off the ground once the Zebra switched from Desmond's wrist to his throat. Choking the life out of him slowly, as it glared into Desmond's angry, fearful eyes.
He didn't give up though, even as he believed this was it, he wasn't about to go out without fighting back, and kept on hitting the creature's arm and stomach with his hands and feet. Although each blow he delivered got weaker and weaker as the oxygen flow to his brain lessened, becoming thinner and his eyes started to drift shut while the light within them began to fade. Although the will to keep alive remained strong, the oxygen deprivation to his brain overtook him. Then suddenly Desmond felt the Zebra let go, throwing him back. Opening his eyes, the young Detective witnessed as time slowed down around him, watching the Monster raise the gun-arm on its left, preparing to end him once and for all.
Suddenly a buzzing sound broke the silence as a mechanical red, silver and black-lined Japanese, Rhinoceros beetle with twin, black-barrels, lined with two copper coloured rings around them; flew passed Desmond's head. It fired the barrels one at a time in rapid succession, sending bolts of red energy at the Zebra Melody Beast, causing explosive displays of sparks to erupt from the creature's chest. Then the Rhinoceros pile-drived into the chest of the Beast, knocking it over!
Desmond slammed to the ground, but this time managed to lean up a bit more, although gritted his teeth in pains till. Until he was suddenly forced to the ground again as a royal blue, gloved hand slammed a silver-chrome, CD-player with speakers, looking buckle onto his stomach. Pinned momentarily, as a black and silver-lined belt wrapped around him and clicked as it connected to the other side of the buckle. Desmond grunted from the hard hit to his already hurt stomach, which now sent pain soaring throughout his body. Though he struggled to look up, what he was gave him a worse feeling then the pain, at least at first as his eyes met the image of B-Girl crouched beside him. Her joyful smirk was obvious fake as the contempt in her eyes betrayed it.
Her expression changed to a serious one. She titled her head and calmly, though rudely explained as she gestured with her finger to the points on specific parts of the Driver, “Put the disc in, then hit that button on the top.†Then she added while giving Desmond a snark-y grin, “Easy enough to remember? Or shall I draw you a diagram?â€
With that she rose to her feet and smirked, then gave him a subtle wave goodbye with her fingers waving up and down. “See ya!†she spoke in her uusual voice, then skipped off behind him.
Desmond tried to follow as he looked back and rolled onto his side, but when he looked back, she was gone without a trace. Exhausted and in pain, the Detective tried to catch his breath and then gazed down upon the silver-chrome belt on his wait. Gripping the right side, tilting up the buckle slightly with a angry shake, he questioned aloud, confused, “What disc?â€
The Rhinoceros Beetle robot flew around the Zebra as it got to one knee and blasted around it, covering the creature in explosive flames and sparks. Then flew back around to Desmond, turning upside down, splitting its back shell and extending a tray holding a red, palm-sized disc with silver, circuitry etchings of the same beetle on it. Whizzing over Desmond's head, it dropped the disc down into his hands. Desmond crouched slightly, unprepared for the drop, and returned his gaze to the flying robot closing back up before returning to attack the Zebra as it fired a shot.
Bewildered, the young Detective looked down at the disc in his hands, rubbing a thumb over the etchings. Curiously he touched the belt's circular gap with the golden, flat-end knob in the center that looked like it could hold the disc. Although unsure as to how to get it in there, when the disc seemed too big for the opening. Thinking fast, he wondered if it opened somehow, and pressed the disc to the center, but nothing happened expect for the clank of the two solid objects connecting. He grimaced in frustration as the Zebra nearly struck the attacking mini-robot, telling him his chance was fading fast.
Desmond then suddenly noticed there were lines that gave the impression that the buckle was in four sections, and grabbed the left side speaker. Holding the other disc in his right hand, Desmond hesitated for a moment, wondering if this would even work, or what the heck it would even do. That ***** trying to help save his life was far from convincing, but given the situation, Desmond found his options limited as running would just prologue the inevitable. Making up his mind right then and there, he pulled hte side of the buckle, releasing the lock and expanding the four sections of the buckle as a voice came from the speakers: “Driver Open!â€
The Zebra landed a lucky shot on the robotic beetle, knocking it into a spiral as it crashed along the gravel some distance further up. Finally able to return its attention to its target, the Melody Beast slowly started to approach again, beginning to re-aim the barrel of the gun-arm as well, huffing almost a kind of odd laugh.
It was now or never and Desmond locked the disc onto the knob, then shut the buckle closed. A vertical red, laser beam appeared in the middle, scanned back and forth across the disc before disappearing, then replied, “Rhinoceros Beetle!†Right after, Desmond pushed the button with his left thumb, and gazed down to see what would happen next.
In mere seconds the Disc spun rapidly, clockwise, shooting red light rays out of the etchings, followed by a materialization effect, as if something was forming and about to pop out.
The Zebra huffed in a angry, though determined tone, then fired in an attempt to take out the human before letting whatever was about to happen, occur.
Just as the explosive shell approached rapidly, a large version of the red and silver disc popped out, spinning, blocking the explosive blast. Desmond reacted as if it was about to hit, until he heard the sound, but felt nothing, and looked as he lowered his arms down. Seeing the larger version of the disc hovering there in mid-air, h e glanced down at the buckle, and saw the disc was still in there, spinning as well. Eventually both stopped , then multiple red beams followed from the knob and struck the larger disc from behind, cutting sections into armour patterns. Soon as it did that, the belt itself shot up and down his body, in a glowing orange, honey-comb pattern, forming a black, leather, body suit over him. Then the large disc opened up the armoured plates on hinges as it flew back and attached over Desmond's suited form. Granting the new Rider a kind of heavy-ish, solider-like, red techno-armour, lined in silver. Especially with the shoulder pads, have a three-panel look to them, with the helmet having a bug-like appearance with twin, compound, metallic-yellow eyes. On either side of the face-plate, two thin, triangular pieces popped out slightly, then the whole bottom row pushed out with the rectangular section in the middle, as it slowly raised up. The side triangles moved in to give the appearance of the beetle's horn, locking it into place not from from the forehead.
Soon after the Disc Driver spoke in a deep, male voice, though similar to Kenkage's buckle as it spoke in sing-song, “Arm of the Law...!â€
“Arm of the law?†Desmond queried quietly to himself, “What is this...?†He looked down at his armoured body and marvelled at the appearance, though it also confused the hell out of him as to what it was exactly. Looked like came out of a video game, at least to him it did. Then Desmond's gaze came over to the left of his belt, where a silver, scarab beetle, like pod was mounted. Absentmindedly he touched it with his left, armour-plated and gloved hand, wondering what it was for. Though something else also caught his eye on the right side, but as he went to check, the loud bang of a round being fired grabbed him back to reality. At the last minute he managed to raise both arms up and the armour to the blast from the explosive round. It barely staggered the red, silver and black, Beetle Rider, and as after lowering his arms, he leaped up and through the air, over the Zebra as he landed a solid heel into the back of the creature's head—stunning it, which made it stagger a few steps.
Once the techno-soldier Beetle Rider landed, he flicked his wrist and turned about, leaning to the right to avoid the next shot, and moved in to slam a side-kick with his left, knocking the Zebra back a bit. He followed it up with several hard punches after knocking the barrel out of his way, then landed a right upper-cut and another powerful side-kick into the Beast's stomach.
The Melody Monster flew back and rolled along the ground, after slamming down with a loud thud, trailing gravel along with it. Eventually stopping as it dug its hand into the ground, catching itself from going any further.
Desmond flicked his right wrist again, and then took the moment he gave himself to check the right side of the belt, which holstered a pistol of sorts. Curious, he un-holstered it and looked the weapon over, which had a Rhinoceros Beetle appearance mixed with a revolver, with a kind of turbine chamber in the rectangular section that held it. Certainly had a reminiscence to the robot that attacked the creature earlier, even it color. Though the turbine-like chamber had a knob on the back like a belt, as if it could hold discs, and the hammer on the back also caught Desmond's eye. Making him wonder what it could possibly do or the purpose of it. Though it was possible that it opened the chamber maybe? Pressing it down the twin-black and copper-ringed barrels in the front, connected by a single barrel, started spinning clockwise.
“Hmph,†Desmond murmured to himself, raising his eyebrows under his helmet. Then as he clicked the hammer back up, the barrels repositioned back to the horizontal state they started in. “Interesting...â€
The Melody Beast huffed in outrage, slamming its barrel arm against the gravel and quickly charged at the red, Beetle Rider once it made it up to its hooves again. Grunting and practically galloping the Beast readied to fire...
Desmond noticed in time and opened fire as he extended his right arm, shooting sprays of sparks from the barrels, one at a time with every press of the rigger. Sending a unique, red-lined and copper-coloured bullet at the Creature.
As the rounds exploded heavily over the Zebra's chest, it halted its advance abruptly, dazing the Monster before sending it tumbling backwards. But it quickly got to a knee and fired anyways, which Desmond jumped sideways to the right, pulling the hammer on the Kabutorevolver, firing rapidly from the spinning barrels, changing up the firing-pattern that covered the Zebra's body in sparks. Remaining stunned the Zebra didn't see Desmond move up, but as it looked up, he was already there, but before it could shake off the haze, its face met the butt of the pistol! While stunned again the Zebra rolled back and tried to fire, but the Beetle Rider kicked the gun-barrel away and booted the monster back, making it stagger some feet backwards.
Following up with rapid presses of the trigger, the Kabutorevolver unleashed a continuous barrage of spark sprays that sent over multiple, specialized, explosive rounds, rippling the Monster's body fully of explosive blasts of sparks everywhere! Letting up a little, Desmond watched as the Creature tried to fire again, but countered beforehand, shooting right at the barrel and destroying it!
The Zebra yelled out horse noises in agony as it bellowed backwards, holding onto the smouldering remains of the destroy gun-arm. Still it huffed and puffed and hit its own chest with the remaining hand before galloping right at the Rider. Only to be pushed back and tumble hard along the gravel, as several more, circular-patterned rounds exploded into its wounded chest! Smouldering all over, the Melody Beast tried to get up, but dropped down from the pain that surged througout its body. Barely able to catch its own breath now.
Desmond held the weapon up as he retracted his arm, smirking under the helmet. But his sense of victory was short lived, when he wasn't sure how to destroy this thing anymore then he did without the suit. “Now how do I kill this bastard?†questioned the Detective aloud to himself.
At that moment, the sound of the mechanical, Rhinoceros Beetle robot from earlier was heard again. Desmond looked over to his right and watched as the damaged helper flew back up, though a smoke trail emanated from the damaged section, it wasn't on fire anymore and seemed to be slowly repairing. He watched it curiously fly over to him and spoke in a kind of mechanical series of sounds, which none of it he understood.
“Right... might wanna repeat that in Japanese! Or hell, I'll take English!†he shouted at it, then added in a quieter tone, and more so to himself, but not caring if it heard him, “Damn robot...â€
The Japanese Rhinoceros Beetle robot simply shook back and forth as if it fet up with the human as well, then flew up into the air in a hurry.
Watching, Desmond's brow furrowed from within the dark confines of the helmet, bewildered more so now than ever. “What are you up to...?†It wasn't long before he got his answer... The robot beetle dropped down, with the back end heading right at him, though as he leaned back to nearly dodge it, the small robot slowed its decent at the last second, then plopped onto the button, making the Disc Driver's disc spin rapidly. A second later it tilted and fell over tot he left, using its weight to push the buckle to pivot the right side up, before fall off and then flying back up. Giving Desmond a few more mechanical sounds, it then went buzzing off.
“Let's Punch It!†shouted the belt in the same, deeper sounding voice, causing the Rider to glance down at it and witnessing a red, surging energy, arching up from the center of the disc, up his right arm and into the gun which culminated into the tips of the barrels, glowing as orbs or red, vibrant plasma.
While Desmond stared at the now, charged up and glowing weapon, the Zebra Melody Beast finally arose, though wobbly, and still in pain, it then stopped as it too noticed the weapon. The Beetle Rider then turned his gaze back at the Beast, though instead of it running away it charged for him one more time. Desmond wondered if it was trying to end its life, rather then another attempt at killing him? Either way he pulled back the hammer with the bottom edge of his left hand, after spinning it around his right finger, and prepared to fire from his hip as the barrels and turbine began to spin, increasing the plasma orbs slightly.
“Die you son of *****!†yelled the Techno-Solider, Armoured Detective as he finally squeezed the trigger, unleashing the orbs of red, white-cored, plasma, propelled by helix-like, red lasers from each barrel!
Just as the Melody Beast tried to skid to a halt, the plasma orbs combined and struck dead on into the open, scorch wound, exploding and burning a hole right through the Creature's mid-section! Once the blast cleared, Desmond watched the monster stumble backwards, holding its open, bleeding wound, gasping for breath. Until arches of red energy emitted from the wound's smoke, trailed hole and covered the body of the Beast. Suddenly it began to spark all over and wail in agony, thrusting both arms out until the upper-half of the creature exploded! The remaining bottom half fell to the ground and was soon enveloped in flames.
After a moment of holding his breath, Desmond exhaled and relaxed a bit, looking down at the gun before holstering it. Staring at the burning remains of the creature, the Beetle Rider found himself relieved that his incident was over, and satisfied to have finally killed one of these things as he clenched his fist to emphasize how he felt. Then gazed down at his hands after raising them up slightly, before clenching them both into tight fists. Until the sound of clacking was head, as if someone was right behind him, and his helmeted, horned, head titled back up a bit.
~*~
Meanwhile, Shizuka sat upon the side of the road with her knees propped up to her chest, and arms wrapped around her shins as she awaited for Kuro's return. The robotic, blue, Stag-Beetle still flying about, keeping watch of the area. Eventually out of boredom, she picked up the black, SHOEI helmet that she laid beside her, and looked it over. Checking inside she found a white piece of tape that was started to peel. There was something written on it, so she pulled it out to check to see what it could be, and read, “Tsurugi Kaoru.â€
'His sister's helmet', she thought to herself, and felt a little uneasy about that fact, though to trust her with it... it kind of warmed her heart in a sense. Which caused the young, auburn haired woman to crack a bit of a smile. Then she spoke quietly to herself, “I'll watch over him if you want me to. Even if you don't answer me... I will. Even smack him upside the head too when he needs it.â€
With that she allowed a bit of a giggle to escape, until mechanical sounds were heard, but when she looked up, the Stag-Beetle crashed against the pavement, covered in webbing, with a few, small sparks flickering from it. Startled, Shizuka quickly got to her feet while still holding the helmet in her hands. But as the sound of the sickening, soothing, Melody filled her ears, her gaze met the eight, blood red eyes of a tall, black, humanoid female Spider, with six, spider-legs sticking out of its back. It held a large, black, staff with kind of spider-emblem blade at the top. Though the blood red, hourglass symbol in the middle of it matched the one upon her stomach, just above it's brass, armour belt, and the similar armoured breast plate that covered and pushed up, two, ample, mounds.
The Black Widow Melody Beast lightly touched her thin, dark red, necklace which sported, several, human teeth of different types. Making a hideous hissing as it approached the frighned young woman.
Shaking her head and staring at the Black Widow with wide, terrified eyes, she shook her head while uttering, barely audible “No'sâ€. Slowly she stepped backwards, away from the approaching Monster, though suddenly lost her footing and fell to the ground, frozen by the fear welled up inside her.
With a bit of a cackling laughing, the humanoid Spider approached her with an arm extended, and pointing its gangly, sharp-nailed fingers at her...
To Be Continued...
Ending:
“4U†-camino.
