Here's the third episode. Go to Fanfiction.net to read it if you'd like. Just type in either my name or the title in a search engine. Anyway, hope you like it.
....
From the couch she rested on, Karin could only watch in horror as the parking garage, inside of it being both the Krimival and the blonde man from before, started to crumble. Whatever damage the monster had done to its lower levels was finally taking its toll. Over half of the structure collapsed, throwing up a massive cloud of dust and debris that covered most of the intersection and completely blocked the view of the helicopter's camera.
"Ladies and gentlemen, the Krimival has done it – it has destroyed the parking garage!" the reporter yelled, a hint of despair in their voice. "I repeat, the Krimival has managed to destroy the parking garage, and it is likely that it will move on to – wait, what's that light? Is there something else in there!?" The camera began to zoom in on one spot of the dust cloud, where a surprisingly intense light was piercing the veil of debris. "Something is shining inside of the cloud, but what could it be?"
The light suddenly seemed to flare up, glowing brighter and giving it a more human-shape, and suddenly something flew out of the cloud, through the air and across the street until it struck a billboard on a building. The camera zoomed in on it just as it began to fall back down to the street, and Karin's breath hitched as she saw that it was the Krimival, the same ram-like monster. The camera continued to follow it until it crashed into the street below, its impact leaving a small crater in the concrete. It stayed still for few seconds before jumping back to its feet and unleashing a horrifying roar, dispelling the dust cloud and even causing the helicopter to begin moving erratically.
"I-I don't believe it! Is someone – Someone is actually fighting the Krimival!" the reporter announced excitedly. "Could this be the hero that we have been hearing about day and night? Is Sin here?" The camera shifted back to the destroyed parking garage, and Karin's eyes widened in shock. "Huh? W-Wait a second, that isn't Sin. T-that is not Deviant Rider Sin! Who is this mysterious figure!?"
"He's got to be one of the others," Karin muttered as she watched the new Deviant Rider slowly walk from the rubble. Unlike Naoki's armor, his was much flashier looking, made of entirely of what looked like gold. As she watched, however, she realized that even though she was just looking at him through a TV screen, the light that his armor gave off was enough to make her eyes hurt. Still, the opportunity to watch someone else like Naoki fight off a Krimival was too great, and despite her aching eyes, she found herself practically glued to her seat and she continued to watch the live broadcast.
...
Jin simply sidestepped as the Ram Krimival charged towards him, shaking his head in disappointment. "Please tell me this isn't all you can do," Jin yawned, actually bringing an armored hand to where his mouth would be. "I know you can hardly see me after my glory blinded you, but could you at least do more than swing your arms like a fool, screaming about how you'll destroy me?"
"Shut the hell up!" the Ram Krimival roared. It let out an earth-shaking roar before charging towards the source of Jin's voice. Letting out a disappointed sigh, the golden Deviant Rider stepped out of the way once again and allowed the charging beast to run headlong into the ruins of the parking garage, slamming into a wall and causing an avalanche of concrete to fall onto its head. He laughed at the beast as it pulled itself from the rubble, a face-splitting grin on his face beneath the helmet. "Coward!" the Ram Krimival roared, charging towards the laughter and swinging its massive hooves. Every strike went wide, however, and only hit the air around its opponent. "Why don't you fight me fairly!?"
"Fairly?" Jin scoffed. "Why should I? I'm a much greater being than you could ever hope to be," he answered, casually dodging another blind attack before countering with a swift kick to its ribs. As the monster stumbled back, he shook his head. "Why should I lessen my brilliance just so I can fight you equally? You're acting really ungrateful, honestly, because you're the first step on the road to me achieving my full glory. Consider it an honor that you'll be mentioned in my legend!" Jin snickered as he jumped backwards, avoiding the Krimival's hooves as they smashed into the ground where he'd been only moments ago.
Realizing that, once again, its tormenter had avoided its powerful swings, the monster let out a bellow of anger. "I'll make you shut the hell up, you pest! No more holding back – I'll go all-out on you!" it roared, the volume and power behind it strong enough to shatter the glass of nearby buildings and cars.
Jin tilted his head, intrigued as black mist began to seep out of the Krimival's fur. The mist began to spread out, away from the body of the beast, and began to change into a thin, blackish fog that rapidly enveloped the entire block. Jin clicked his tongue in annoyance when he saw how much his light had dimmed. The Krimival, however, laughed as black mist covered its eyeballs, revealing them to be restored when the mist vanished only seconds later.
"Fog? Is that really the best you can do? Just how is that supposed to stop me?" He began to laugh, though the Krimival simply stayed in place and stared at him, fury building up inside of it. "Such a useless power for a Krimival! You're an embarrassment to all of them! Why, I might as well just kill you now to put you out of your misery!"
He began to walk towards the monster, only for the road to suddenly give out underneath his feet. He cried out in surprise as he fell forwards, and when he looked back he saw his foot had been trapped in a hole. "That wasn't there before!" Growling in annoyance, he tugged on his trapped appendage when a low chuckle made him stop.
"You should really watch where you're going when it's foggy outside." The golden Deviant Rider had just enough time to look up at the sight of the Ram Krimival's hoof falling towards him. The club-like hoof slammed into his body with enough force to crack the concrete below him. "Especially when it's my fog!" It struck him again, grinning savagely when he let out a cry of pain. "Everything my fog touches starts to weaken. Buildings, roads, bridges – it softens all of it up! Makes it easier for me to destroy! But if I really focus, I can make something crumble without even having to touch it!" it explained as it struck the Deviant Rider with both hooves.
...
Karin winced as she saw the golden Deviant Rider get struck again and again by the Ram Krimival. He'd surprised her by how easily he had been able to simply avoid the attacks of the monster, only attacking it once or twice. It seemed as though he'd been trying to show off, but she couldn't quite understand why. Maybe it was to show to all Krimivals that they weren't as strong as they believed they were? Maybe he was just overly confident?
Whatever the case, it was clear that he was now paying the price, as he was struck down again and again. The only sound that could be heard came from the blades of the helicopters, with a cry of pain from the Rider occasionally being picked up by the camera crew. The reporter had long since fell silent, likely out of disbelief. It wasn't hard to understand why; just yesterday a Deviant Rider had been able to defeat a Krimival with ease, but now, here was a Krimival literally beating a Deviant Rider into the ground.
"Naoki," she whispered, silently praying that, somehow, someway, he'd arrive to stop this. It was almost too hard to watch.
...
Jin was actually surprised by just how much each of the Ram Krimival's strikes actually hurt. Somehow – maybe due to its fog – his armor wasn't absorbing as much of the damage as it should. The defensive powers of his Satan Suit should have kept the damage inflicted on him to a minimum, but now its defenses were being bypassed and every strike felt like it was hitting his own body instead of his armor, and even though his body had been strengthened to withstand Krimival attacks, there was only so much punishment that it could take.
It took all of his willpower not to start laughing then and there.
How much more perfect could the situation be? There he was, the new Rider, coming fresh off the heels of Sin's debut in order to stop the threat of a rampaging Krimival, only to be savagely beaten by the monster he'd tried to stop! He hadn't counted on the Krimival's power to be what it had been, but that only added to appearances. All he needed to do now was to wait for the proper moment to turn the tables and destroy the monster. Then, he'd be the hero who had struggled, body and soul, to defeat the monster that terrorized Shibuya, adored by the masses for his selfless sacrifice. His victory speech was already prepared in his head, made specifically to lessen what Naoki had done by making his win over the Ram Krimival all the more impressive. The people would look away from Sin, and see him as the hero.
Beneath the helmet, Jin Shimaki smiled at the thought of having his spotlight back.
"Hey, get off of him!"
Jin's smile dropped as the sound of a familiar voice rang out, somehow audible over the noise of a motorcycle.
"What the hell?" The Ram Krimival stopped its assault just in time to see a motorcycle wheel fly straight into its face. The monster fell back as the motorcycle itself kept going, driving straight over its body, leaving a solid black line from the tires. "What just hit me?" it groaned, more confused than injured from the shock of having been run over by a motorcycle.
Naoki, clad fully in his emerald Sin Suit, began to spin his motorcycle around in a circle, the powerful exhaust pipes somehow managing to blow away the black fog the Krimival had created. When he had finished, he hopped off of his motorcycle and walked towards the Ram Krimival, throwing a few jabs its way. The monster itself was still getting to its feet, still surprised that a bike had managed to knock it over.
"Deviant Rider Sin has arrived in Shibuya!" he announced while pointing his fist to the sky. As the Ram Krimival finally made it back to its feet, he punched towards it. "Now, start begging for mercy, Krimival!"
"I don't believe it! It's Sin! Deviant Rider Sin has arrived in Shibuya, just in time to save his comrade! Once again, he has saved the day!" the reporter shouted, sounding completely unprofessional with their level of enthusiasm, but Karin doubted anyone cared at this point. She was on the verge of screaming for joy herself. "Together, the two Deviant Riders should be more than enough to stop the Krimival!"
"Thank God… he made it," Karin said, breathing a sigh of relief. Then it occurred to her that she'd just seen Naoki arrive in Shibuya on a motorcycle that she'd never seen in her life. She knew that he'd left on a pathetic little bicycle, but now he was riding on the most impressive motorcycle that she had ever seen. Unless he stole that motorcycle – which, when she considered Naoki's personality, didn't seem likely – he had somehow managed to leave on a bicycle and arrive in Shibuya riding a motorcycle, but then… How was that possible?
Feeling a dizzy spell coming on, Karin placed a head to her forehead. "I think my fever's worse than I thought…"
The Ram Krimival backed away nervously, looking between the fallen Deviant Rider and the new arrival. It recognized Sin from the news reports, remembered how he had so easily beaten a fellow Krimival, like he hadn't even been trying, and it honestly felt nervous about standing in front of two people who could potentially destroy it. Looking back at the golden Deviant Rider made it feel at least a little bit calmer, seeing as he was still lying on the ground.
Turning to face Naoki, it grinned. "It's about time. I've been waiting to meet you, Deviant Rider Sin," it chuckled as it took a step towards Naoki. "You know, I saw what you did to the Vine Krimival. I saw it quite a few times – stupid news stations won't stop playing the footage over and over again. Do you have any idea how it feels to see another Krimival get taken down by a lowly human?"
"I'm guessing not very good," Naoki replied with a shrug, "seeing as how you're making such a big mess just to get me to show up. Really, you're acting like a child; throwing a tantrum all because his team's losing. Don't get mad just because someone better came along and beat you."
The Ram Krimival let out a low growl and stamped one of its feet at Naoki's insult. "Listen here, Sin. You fought a new-born yesterday," it informed Naoki. "It had barely been alive for a few days when you fought it and that Krimival couldn't use all of its powers yet. Don't get confident just because you managed to beat up a child!" It bared its teeth in what some people might consider a smirk. "If I had been your opponent yesterday, then the results would have been very different."
"I doubt that," Naoki replied. "I still would have beaten you into the ground."
The Ram Krimival growled deeply, baring all of its fangs as it stared the Rider down. "You little idiot! Don't you understand how strong a full-grown Krimival is!?" it bellowed. "The strongest of steels crumble before us! The strongest weapons you humans have feel like pinpricks against our skin! You all die in droves while nothing can stop us! We're superior to humans in every single way! Krimivals are the top of the food chain, and it's going to stay that way!"
Naoki lightly tapped his fists together a few times as he looked at the ground. "Top of the food chain, huh? So, does that mean we're just supposed to let you do what you want?"
"Yes! Krimivals are greater than humans have ever been!" the Krimival repeated, a hint of annoyance in its tone. "All humans are supposed to let us do what we want."
Naoki's fists began to clench tighter and he could feel himself beginning to shake. "Does that mean that you can all kill without consequences?" he gritted out, his voice barely hiding how angered he was.
"Do you blink twice when you step on an insect?" the Ram Krimival shot back. "It's the same with us Krimivals: you're like insects to us, so why should we care if we kill somebody? Why should I care if some people die when I destroy something?" It gestured to the destroyed intersection around them. "I should be allowed to destroy as much as I want, no matter how many of you humans die. Why? Because you all need to know your place in this world!"
Naoki nodded slowly, looking around at the rubble at his feet. His eyes landed on a long piece of rebar wedged between blocks of stone, and he knelt down. Grabbing it, he swung it around a few times, getting a feel for the length and weight of the rod of steel. "Well… Guess what?" he asked in a low, dangerous tone. "It won't be like that anymore!" he shouted, swinging the rebar and pointing it at the monster. "From now on, you Krimivals will answer for your crimes!"
The Krimival let out another earth-shaking roar, but Naoki didn't even move an inch. "Try it, human! I'll crush you into the dust just like I did your friend!"
The monster lifted both of its massive arms and black mist started to rise from under its white fur. Naoki placed his hand on the emblem of his SIN Driver, ready to fight. He was just about to press it when…
"DON'T YOU DARE IGNORE ME!"
An explosion of light erupted from behind the Krimival, the light so intense that the Krimival's back began to smoke as its fur caught fire and its skin began to blister. It screamed and stumbled forwards, giving Naoki a better look at the figure who was producing the blinding light. It was hard to look directly at Jin, even as the light dimmed down slightly, and the sheer heat he was creating was enough to affect Naoki even with his suit's protection.
Jin raised his hand, trembling in anger, and pointed at the Krimival, palm facing outwards. The light his suit generated seemed to flow into the palm of his hand, wrapping around itself until it formed a small sphere of light that resembled a tiny sun in both appearance and heat. The Krimival itself turned around, breathing heavily, and looked towards the golden Rider.
"I should be the one everyone's looking at. I'm the radiant star of this show," he whispered, raising the tiny sun until it was aimed directly at the Krimival's chest. "But no… Somebody's always getting in my way!"
It happened so fast that the Krimival didn't even have time to cry out. The tiny sun shot from Jin's hand, turning into a thin laser that pierced the monster's chest. The beam burst out from the Krimival's back, nearly skewering Naoki had the young man not moved out of the way the moment he realized what Jin was doing. Even so the laser continued onwards, burning through whatever was in its path until it finally fizzled out.
The Ram Krimival simply stood in place, in shock over the fact that something had just pierced through its chest.
The golden Rider lowered his arm and walked past the stunned Krimival, not even giving it a glance, and advanced on Sin. "This Krimival is mine to kill, you peasant," Jin spat, pointing at Naoki. "How dare you even consider fighting it!"
"Hey, I was just trying to help out," Naoki replied, throwing the rebar to the side. "You looked like you needed help, so I-"
"I didn't ask for your help! Everything was going according to plan until you showed up!" Jin's armor began to glow again, as if reacting to his anger. "Now, because of you, everything I had planned is now ruined, you worthless idiot!"
"Well, if you want, I'll say I'm sorry." Naoki looked away from the raging Jin, rubbing the back of his head. His eyes landed on the Krimival, which was starting to move again despite the smoking hole in its chest. "Hey, you'd better hurry up and finish off that Krimival before it starts fighting again."
Jin shook his head. "There's no point," he sighed. "It's already going to die…"
"D-die!?" The Krimival's attention immediately shifted to Jin the moment he'd said it was going to die. "W-what the hell are you talking about!? I'm still breathing, aren't I? So what if I have a little hole in my chest, I can still fight!" it said through clenched teeth, pain lacing its words. "I-I'll crush you and Sin both, and restore the Krimival name…" It took a step towards the two...
There was a loud crack as its foot struck the ground. Looking down, the Krimival's eyes widened as it saw red cracks starting to form on its body. It watched in horror as even more cracks began to appear, slowly spreading across its massive frame. Looking up, the Ram Krimival shook its head in disbelief. "There's no way… You couldn't have…" When the golden Deviant Rider just shrugged and folded his arms, the monster felt pure fear for the first time in a long time.
"Y-you bastard! Y-you cracked… my c-core…"
Naoki looked between the Krimival and Jin in confusion, until the proverbial light bulb went off in his head. "Oh yeah! I forgot about you Krimivals having those cores!" he said, pointing at the shaking Ram Krimival. "Yeah, that's why you can shrug off any damage; as long as that core of yours isn't damaged, pretty much nothing can kill you."
"And now that I cracked it, you're living on borrowed time. Be a good boy and stand still, so we can end this quickly," Jin added in a mocking tone.
Bellowing in rage, the beast charged Jin, but the young man simply jumped out of the way. Unexpectedly, it didn't stop running, and instead continued on in an attempt to escape the two Riders. Naoki and Jin both spared a quick look at the other before giving chase, watching as the monster's massive body disappeared in a burst of black smoke and leaving in it's place a young man wearing a hoodie, the true human appearance of the Ram Krimival.
The young man dashed into a nearby hotel, throwing whatever he could to the ground to keep the two Riders away from him. He broke into the lobby first, vast and empty after the people had evacuated from his attack. Seeing an open elevator, he dashed in and hit the button for the top floor.
Moments later, the two Riders appeared in the same lobby, looking around for him frantically. Naoki saw the young man just as the elevator doors began to close. "There!" he shouted, running towards the elevator. Frightened, the young man pressed his body against the far wall of the elevator, but just before Naoki could reach him, the doors closed.
"Damn it!" Naoki shouted, punching the elevator doors. They caved under the force of his punch, but at the moment he didn't seem to care. "I can't believe it. The Krimival got away…"
"It doesn't matter," Jin told the young man, calmly striding towards him. "Like I said, since my light cracked its core, it won't last long. In fact, I'd say it has only a few minutes to live." He chuckled softly as he looked up, following the path of the elevator. "He might die before he even gets out of there. Wouldn't that be pathetic…"
Naoki sighed, still upset that the Krimival had gotten away, and removed his Envy Driver from his waist. Jin did the same, removing the Pride Driver from his head and separating the pieces of the crown. Their armors both melted back into liquid, mixing together on the floor in a pool of green, gold, and black before disappearing completely. Looking at his comrade, Naoki smiled. "We did good out there, didn't we?" He held his hand out for Jin to shake. "I know you wanted to handle it yourself, but I didn't know you were already here. If I did, I wouldn't have been in such a rush to-"
Jin's fist collided with Naoki's face, interrupting whatever the young man had to say. Naoki fell onto his back, clutching at his bleeding nose. He looked up just in time to see Jin slam his foot down into his side, the blonde man glaring down at him angrily.
"We had an agreement, Naoki!" the young man screamed, continuing to stomp down on Naoki's side. "I was supposed to be the first to defeat a Krimival, not you! We agreed that at the end of the week, I would be the one everyone was talking about! You broke our agreement, Naoki, and now everyone's worshipping you instead of me!"
Naoki rolled out of the way of Jin's next stomp, making the man smash his foot into the floor instead. He jumped back to his feet and backpedaled, putting distance between himself and the angry Jin. The two glared at each other, Jin's fists clenched tightly while Naoki pinched his bloody nose.
"I know, and I'm sorry," Naoki told Jin. "I know we had an agreement, Jin. No one else cared about who went first, so we all decided to let you be the first to fight a Krimival. None of us were going to try and take that from you." Letting go of his nose, Naoki wiped some of the blood from his face with the sleeve of his jacket. "But what was I supposed to do!? Let a Krimival rampage through the streets and kill everyone? You know I can't do that!"
"I don't care! You shouldn't have done anything, peasant!"
Naoki took a step back, shocked by his ally's reply. He looked down at the ground and tightened his grip on his Envy Driver as he spoke. "You really don't care how many people die, so long as you get your attention?"
"Not in the slightest."
Naoki's head shot up, showing Jin his changed expression. He wasn't the happy-go-lucky idiot that the Deviant Riders were used to seeing, not anymore at least. Now, that goofy look on his face had been replaced by a look of pure malice, with eyes that practically burned with hatred. It was something that always shocked Jin, ever since the first time he'd seen this happen. How could some fool who constantly spouted such idiotic ideals such as saving Japan from the Krimivals be able to have this much darkness inside of him? And yet, this Naoki didn't scare Jin in the slightest. It was startling to see the change, but whenever Naoki changed like this, Jin couldn't help but feel a bit of excitement.
This Naoki was much, much more interesting than the normal Naoki.
"Your name is fitting. Satan, a once-beautiful angel cast from Heaven and turned into a hideous creature," Naoki told Jin, his voice not showing any hint of emotion. "His pride was his downfall, and yours will cause you nothing but pain."
Jin sneered at Naoki's words. "You don't think I've heard worse? I'll spell it out for, just so it's clear. I'll let the whole city burn if it'll get me the spotlight!"
Naoki's eyes narrowed as he lowered the Envy Driver to his waist. "There's no point in apologizing," he said as he pressed the belt buckle against his waist, forming the emerald-green belt around him.
"Oh, wanting to fight, are we?" Jin cackled and shook his head. "No matter how much you beg, I won't forgive you for taking my spotlight, Naoki," he said, holding the pieces of the Pride Driver in his hands.
"I meant there's no point in you apologizing..."
Both men activated their SIN Drivers, Naoki by slapping the emblem on his and Jin by slamming the halves of the crown together. They both knew that words weren't going to be enough to stop a fight from breaking out. Both SIN Drivers announced their activations together.
"ARE YOU JEALOUS!?"
"ARE YOU VAIN!?"
Naoki raised his fist towards the ceiling while Jin swung his hands back, ready to throw the Pride Driver into the air. They stared at each other, waiting for the first move to be made.
"Henshin!" they yelled at the same time, Naoki bringing his hand down while Jin threw his arms upwards.
Before either could activate their transformations, however, a hail of bullets struck at their feet, surprising both of them and throwing off their concentration. Naoki missed the Envy Driver completely while Jin had to keep from dropping the Pride Driver in surprise. Both Riders looked towards the entrance of the hotel, where a young woman stood, one hand on her hip and the other holding a smoking revolver. She wore denim hot-pants that showed off her long legs and a black blouse with the sleeves rolled up that showed a generous amount of cleavage. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail, but her most striking feature – besides the smoking gun she held – was the large butterfly tattoo on her neck that actually drew more attention than her large chest.
Sora Haraki shook her head and pointed the still-smoking barrel of the revolver, her Sloth Driver, at the two young men.
"All right, you stupid fuckers, tell me which one of you is responsible for making Mr. Tanaka call me," she demanded, her language a sharp contrast to her rather beautiful appearance. Her pretty face twisted into an angry scowl when neither Jin nor Naoki answered her question. "I asked you a question, damn it!" she screamed before pulling the trigger on her gun, sending four bullets towards the two. They danced out of the way as they struck the ground at their feet.
"Is that really necessary?" Jin growled as she took out a speedloader from her pocket and flicked the cylinder of the Sloth Driver open. With a quick and well-practiced motion, she dumped the spent cases and immediately replaced them with eight new rounds. Snapping the cylinder shut, she looked up at the two young men.
"Yes, it was, because you dumbasses won't listen otherwise!" Raising the revolver at the two again, she took in a deep breath. "Now look! Mr. Tanaka wants to have a talk!" she yelled. "I don't know why, or with who, but if I had to guess, it would be your stupid ass, Naoki. That stupid face was all over the news yesterday and today." Naoki held up a finger to correct her, but Sora interrupted him by firing a shot next to his head. He quickly dropped the finger as she approached. "I can tell you were grinning like an idiot under that helmet, weren't you?" she growled, pressing the barrel of the Sloth Driver under his chin. There was a murderous look in her eyes and Naoki was genuinely worried she might carry through. "It's because of you Mr. Tanaka is sending us out early."
Naoki blinked in surprise at the young woman's words. "Wait, what did you say? He's sending us out early?"
Sora sighed and removed the barrel from his chin. "Yeah, all because of you. He's just eating up the good publicity you earned him yesterday," she told the two. "People are showing so much support for the Deviant Rider program, he's saying he's a shoo-in to be the next Prime Minister. I swear, if you two had just…" She let out an angry growl and shot at Naoki's foot again, making him jump back. "I could have kept partying if you two just got along and didn't do stupid ****! I met this handsome guy who paid for all my drinks, and he was rich too! We could've had something between us!" Sora yelled, shifting between pointing at Naoki and Jin's heads. "But no! Mr. Tanaka knew you two were going to start fighting the moment you saw each other! He called me because I was closest to Shibuya! I'm supposed to make you two get along!" She took in a deep breath…
"SO GET ALONG! BECAUSE I HAVE A GUN AND YOU DON'T!"
Each word was punctuated with a bullet shot at their feet, making Naoki and Jin both dance to avoid the results of her anger. When the revolver finally clicked empty, Sora let out a groan of annoyance before looking at them with eyes overflowing with murderous intent. In response, Naoki quickly ran over to Jin and wrapped his arm around the man's neck, earning an equally murderous glare from the young man.
"Hey, no need to worry Sora! The two of us are going to get along like best friends now, so you don't have to worry," he said, laughing nervously. "So, why don't you go back and keep on partying? If you go now, you might still be able to make things work with that handsome guy of yours."
"Tch!" Sora grunted, snapping her head to the side. "It wouldn't work out anyway…"
"Why not?"
"The guy was apparently some kind of gun enthusiast, so when he saw my SIN Driver, he asked me to show it to him," she told them. "The damn idiot got a little bit pissy when it went off and shot him in the foot, and started screaming about how he'd sue me and crap. I got sick of it and shot him in the other foot, but then the bouncer made me mad and I shot him in the foot…" She sighed and shook her head. "Long story short, I'm banned from that club. Which sucks, because it was a pretty cool place."
Naoki remained silent, instantly regretting his question. He really should have known something like that had happened considering Sora's track record. If he kept his mouth shut, maybe she wouldn't shoot at him anymore.
Jin, however didn't seem to care. "Crazy *****," he spat, throwing Naoki off of his shoulders.
"What the hell did you call me!?"
As Sora began to reload her revolver while Jin kept taunting her, ignoring the stream of threats and expletives coming from her mouth, Naoki sighed and tried to stop Sora from murdering one of their comrades.
It was going to be a while before he got to go home.
...
The young man burst through the roof access door, running across the roof until his body gave out and he tripped over nothing. He landed on his face, but he didn't even notice the pain. He was more concerned with the numerous red cracks that were covering his body. Raising his head, half of his face disappeared in mist to be replaced by the Ram Krimival's face. It too had the same glowing red cracks covering its face.
"What do I do!? What do I do!?" the young man screamed, panicking as the cracks spread even further. He raised his hands to his face and choked back a sob. "You lied to me!" he screamed, pointing a cracked finger at the mist-covered half of his face. "You said I could destroy as much as I want without worrying about anyone! But look at me, just look at me! I'm going to die because of you!"
"Shut the hell up," the Ram Krimival muttered weakly. "I'm in the same boat as you, idiot. If you're going down, so am I."
"But I don't want to die!" The young man let out a terrified scream, tears beginning to run down his cheeks. An idea came to mind, a last ditch effort that he thought might save his life. He hurried to tear off the hoodie and shirt he wore, revealing the cracked skin underneath. He began to dig his fingernails into the left side of his chest, screaming in frustration and ignoring the pain as he tore his fingernails off as he tried to dig into his strengthened skin. "Get out of me! I'm dying because of your core! If I can just remove it-"
"Won't work, kid," a voice familiar to the young man spoke up.
The young man and the Ram Krimival both looked up at the source of the voice, a look of relief coming over the young man's half of their shared face. Standing in front of them was a tall man, a few years older than him, wearing a crisp black suit. He took a pack of cigarettes from one of his pockets and a lighter from the other. He simply looked at the young man as he lit the cigarette, the smoke rising into the air and disappearing after it passed his slick, waist-long black hair.
"Aniki! Please, help me!" the young man cried, grabbing onto the man's pant leg. "You're way stronger than me! I know you can help! My Krimival Core's been damaged, but you can remove it, can't you, Aniki?"
"So pathetic…" the Ram Krimival sighed. "Just die with some dignity."
The man the young man had called Aniki sniffed and kicked the dying young man away, his expression calm as he watched more cracks appear on the surface of the young man's face. "You can't call me Aniki anymore," he told the young man, the cigarette in his mouth moving as he spoke. "You broke our family's rules, meaning you lose our protection. Only newborn Krimivals are allowed to rampage, and even then it's only until one of us calms them down."
"But I had to! Sin was making fun of the Krimivals!" the young man cried, trying to reason with him. "I couldn't think of any way to get his attention but by rampaging! I didn't mean anything by it!"
"Sin was not your responsibility," the man told him. "He would have been dealt with in time. You had no reason to try and take matters into your own hands." Half of the man's face disappeared into a dark mist. Inside, the young man saw a plate of gleaming steel that had both a wide grin and a circle for an eye crudely drawn on it.
"And now you're going to die!" the Steel Krimival cackled. "But you know, I think we should just put them out of their misery, Shou. I know they broke the rules, but it's just so sad to see a fellow Krimival end up like this pathetic mess. Almost makes me want to cry!"
"No point," Shou told the Steel Krimival. "His core is damaged. He'll be dead in a few moments."
"Not if you remove it!" the young man cried. At his words the Steel Krimival burst out in laughter, making him shift his eyes between the monster and the man.
"Oh, this is rich!" it cried. "You actually think you can be saved! Don't you get it by now? Didn't anyone ever tell you?"
The young man's mouth suddenly felt very dry. "T-tell me w-what?" he asked, his voice barely a whisper.
The Ram Krimival sighed. "Once you become a Krimival, our core replaces your heart," it told him, its voice weakening and growing fainter every second. "And with time, it grows to replace all of your internal organs. It's the only thing that keeps you alive after it's been implanted, and when it's damaged like this…" The Ram Krimival's eye suddenly widened, then it disappeared from the mist entirely. The mist itself fell off of the man's face, and he just stared at where it had been.
Despair and fear washed over him in waves as he watched the last few pieces of skin on his body become covered in red cracks. The light that poured out of them began to glow in intensity, though Shou didn't take his eyes off of the young man, his expression unchanging, while the young man grabbed his head and screamed at the sky. Fire blasted out of his eyes, mouth, and nose as the red light became blindingly bright.
"I DON'T WANT TO DIE!"
His last screams were cut off as he exploded into fire and ash. Shou simply removed the cigarette from his mouth as the fireball washed over him. A second later, however, the fire and ash all began to form a small cyclone, funneling into the man's open mouth. The man held the mixture in his mouth for a few moments before opening his mouth just a crack, letting out a small flame.
"Maybe we should be taking the Deviant Riders more seriously," he whispered. "The Ram Krimival was fully-grown, with the power to weaken any structure so long as it wasn't organic. He could easily level an entire city with that power, but for him to be beaten so easily…"
"Who the hell cares?" the Steel Krimival scoffed. "Sure, his power sounds impressive on paper, but all he could really use it for is making things easier to destroy. Sounds more like he just didn't want to do the hard work and used his power to soften everything up," the monster cackled. "If anything, this is a good thing! Sin and those Deviant Riders might get cocky now, meaning someone who knows what they're doing can pick them off easily!"
"Perhaps," Shou admitted while taking out another cigarette. "But from what I saw in his fight with the Vine Krimival, Sin is close to our own level of power. That other Deviant Rider also seems like he could be troublesome." Sighing, Shou opened his mouth and dumped the lit cigarette inside. He chomped down on it and began chewing, letting the taste of the burning ash and smoke roll over his tongue as he stared off into the distance, thinking of his next move. The Steel Krimival vanished, leaving him alone with his thoughts.
"Perhaps I should ask the boss to let me nip this in the bud before it gets out of hand…"
...
"I'm sure he won't mind if I use a few of his things," Karin muttered to herself as she poured laundry detergent into the washer along with her clothes.
Once the news broadcast had ended with a shot of Naoki and that other Deviant Rider chasing after the fleeing Ram Krimival, Karin had decided to take a look around Naoki's apartment when she had smelt herself. Apparently, she had been sweating more than she thought, and her clothes showed that. Luckily, she found that Naoki had a washer and a dryer, located right next to his bathroom. Finding a clean towel, she had stripped down and wrapped it around her before throwing her clothes into the washer and letting it do its job. Now, she planned to get a quick shower in his bathroom.
Then she walked in, and nearly broke down in tears.
He had a western-style bathroom, with an actual bathtub being what stole her breath away from her. It was the kind of bathtub that she wished she could fit into her tiny bathroom, but it couldn't even fit a shower, forcing her to use a bathhouse down the road from her apartment to get clean. This, however, was made for someone's comfort, with jets that would wash away a day's worth of stress. She could barely contain her excitement as she filled up the tub, and she nearly cried when she got in. The warm water did agitate her injuries a bit, but she didn't care! This was heavenly to her, and right at that moment, she knew what she would be doing.
She was going to lay in that tub the whole day.
A phone call, however, pulled her away from her dreams of relaxation. It might be important, and considering Naoki was letting her stay at his place while she recovered, she could at least take a message for him. She got out of the tub and quickly wrapped a towel around her before hurrying out, leaving a trail of water behind her as she ran out of the bathroom and over to the kitchen counter where the phone lay. Picking it up, she held it to her ear.
"I'm sorry, but the owner is currently out," Karin told the person on the other end. "I can take a message for him, if you'd like."
"This is a message for you," a garbled voice from the other end said, making Karin jump in surprise. "Stay away from Naoki Akuzaki…"
Before she could ask any questions, the caller hung up. Karin simply stared at the phone, wondering who had called her and what they'd meant.
"Stay away from Naoki?" she whispered, still staring at the phone.
NEXT TIME ON KAMEN RIDER SIN!
"Isamu? What are you doing here?"
"They hear a woman singing and can't help but walk towards it..."
"ARE YOU PERVERTED!?"
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