Eiji closed the newspaper he was holding and tucked it away in a dark brown satchel, he spoke in Japanese, "She's come such a long way, ne Ankh?" A blood red inhuman arm with green feathers in various patches floated out of the same satchel and spoke back in the language, "Wasn't that her, just now?" The man looked to where a black clawed finger was pointing at a group of children playing, "Ehh, how can you tell?" The arm, Ankh, scoffed, "I may not have the rest of my body, let alone my eyes, but even I can feel the powerful energy radiating from inside her. Pay attention, idiot!"
Eiji rose his hands in defense, "Hey, hey, I'm not the crazy lab experiment here!" Ankh punched him in the head out of annoyance, "Focus! The Greed are gone, but with those . . . things crawling through Tokyo we need find the next Rider! We didn't come here to vacation." "Say . . . do you think that it might be that girl?",Eiji asked. Ankh 'shook' to say no, "She's got a lot of power, but I'm sensing that it's not something compatible with a driver."
A little boy with dirty blonde hair dropped his silver toy truck near the bench Eiji was sitting on. Unknowingly, Ankh swooped down to pick up the truck and handed it to the little boy. "Thank you Mr. Arm thingy, look mommy, look at the arm!", the boy said while pointing Ankh out to his mother. Out of sheer fright, his mother shrieked at the sight of a floating arm, grabbed her son's hand and swatting it with her handbag, sending Ankh flying, "I'm gonna' call the police!" Ankh grabbed the collar of Eiji's chocolate brown poncho, lifting him up and dragging him away, "You're going to call the cops on an arm?! Stupid woman! Time to run, Eiji!" With Ankh zooming down the road alongside Eiji, "Why are humans so feeble, I just don't get it . . .", he complained. "You can't just come out whenever, you scare people!",Eiji scolded. Silence passed, as he caught his breath.
"So . . . . is that a no go for here too?",Eiji asked. Ankh 'nodded', "Yeah, I can't really feel anything here. Let's go home." The arm neatly settled back in the satchel, and Eiji walked to the hotel to pack up and once again start the search for a new Kamen Rider.
Tokyo, Minato District, Random Back Alley, 2:30 am
Akira dragged her half conscious body along the brick wall slick with the rain that poured in sheets. To make matters worse, her luggage seemed to getting heavier with every step and the rain blurred her vision. With a final heave, she gripped the wall and swung herself around the corner onto an empty street. At least, what she thought was an empty street.
"RAAAAAHHHHHHHHH! DIE AND BECOME ONE WITH ME!", bellowed a voice in pure frustration and rage, belonging to an undefined mass of nothingness, and well, everything-ness. Twenty red eyes radiated a malicious light from an undefinable shape of black and gray smoke. Although the shape appeared undefinable, there was what seemed to be heavily muscled clawed appendages sticking out from the mass with onyx bull horns curving out of the top. From within the smoke, stars of sickeningly beautiful galaxies twinkled, as if the universe was trapped within the raging beast.
"You couldn't even pry it from my crumbling body.", a hero-like voice replied. Standing directly across the monstrosity a few metres away, a man covered in head to toe in gleaming dark silver armor lifted a broadsword decorated with a single white stone, engraved into it was the image of a phoenix. The helmet completely covered his face, the 'mask' was a steel plates cut to have vent slits. With a bloody thirsty snarl, the opposing beast lunged at the nameless soldier, but his sword was ready. With a twinge of regret, the knight asked, "Please . . . don't make me do this. . . " Overcome with an unreasonable rage and greed, the monster was not fazed. Just as he raised his sword, the sight of a bright red long coat stumbled in front of him.
Curiously, the white stone set into the sword faintly pulsed, stirring.
In his surprise, all he dropped his sword to dive at the seemingly distraught figure and tackled him as he monstrous opponent charged passed - not without striking a blow to the knight's side. "Wha'-oof! What the-", Akira groaned when a sudden blob of metal had knocked the wind out of her. She had been worse for wear, but her vision was beginning to give out and her legs had finally given into cold, burning exhaustion. The figure above looked away from her and to his right, she didn't know if she was hallucinating, but she thought she saw a masked knight. Heh,he kinda' looks like a . . . Kamen Rider? At the sound of an unnatural roar, he, as that was what she assumed, struggled to get up again, only to fall over again before her in pain. With every earth-shattering pitfall, Akira slowly pulled herself up into a sitting position.
Even the roar of rain could not drown out the disturbingly human-like laugh, Akira was almost afraid to look up at the source. Almost.
Gritting her teeth, she stared into the red orbs of the horrendous creature. What appeared to be chuckles rumbled through its very being. She continued to stare, her mind unable to register, when the beast raised an appendage to clasp around the metal man's throat. For some reason, this entire scene just felt wrong somehow, she felt a pain in her chest looking at the appendage tightening, making the poor man writhe even more. Akira looked around for something she could use, when her eyes fell upon the gleam of a broadsword with a glowing white stone inlaid in the hilt.
It felt like it was calling to her.
Her legs would be of no use now, so with her remaining strength crawled on the slippery ground until she could barely touch the object. The second her fingers brushed the stone, the soft glow turned to a violent burn, then the light jumped from it into the girl's arm in the form of electric bolts. Confused, she looked back at the what could not longer been seen as fight, but murder. Shaking from the cold, she raised her arm, "O-Oi! Stop it, RIGHT NOW!" The monstrosity lifted his head from his current victim to look at this idiotic human, Well, if she wants to die . . .
Wisps of white danced at Akira's fingers, shooting forth like waves of fire that bit into the hide of the beast, sending him reeling metres backward. The attack proved fatal, as the monster reared its head and shrieked, staggering back as it melded into the shadows. And then it was gone, as it was never there.
Akira sank back into a sit with relief, although not entirely sure what had happened, though she tried to understand. Her thoughts were interrupted by the fits of coughing coming from the man initially tackled her. Carefully, she crawled over to him, but the cautiousness evaporated at the sight of his wounds.
Red blossomed from gashes and dents in the armor and streamed down his armor, his breathing was shallow and he could only feebly move his head, "You . . . you're here." He sounded relieved, but from the looks of it, Akira could tell he was dying. Out of pity or maybe a sense of debt, she pulled her legs in and rested the man's head on her lap. He continued unevenly, "This is . . . the way to go, a . . . soldier dying in . . . the warmth of a woman, but you look terrible . . . . are you alright?" Akira chuckled, then winced at injuries she sustained herself, "You're bleeding. I respect that kind of strength." Cracks appeared on the silver armour, and the metal broke apart and disappeared, revealing a man in a strange beige tunic with green trim and baggy dark brown pants, leather brown boots worn-out, but the colour of blood seeping through his clothes overpowered all those colours. Blood matted his queer dark green hair, despite his eyes being warm and friendly, familiar, even. Getting a better look at this strange girl, his eyes widened as if there had been some recognition, though his face contorted in pain again, then . . . pure relief.
He looked down at his feet, This really is it . . . Starting at his toes, a stone plague creeping up his body, already the bottom half of his body turned to stone. Akira was alarmed, "Oi! What's happening to to you? This isn't possible, we need to get help!" His arms and chest solidified. The man gave a weak smile, " You are so kind, I'm glad . . ." "Just hold on, don't give up just yet, dammit." The neck was covered, but stone kept creeping up his prominent jaw line, He was a handsome in his youth, she could help but observing, he smiled with all the warmth he could muster. He closed his eyes, "Take care of him, will you?" Just as he said his final words, his lips moved as if he was saying something else, but even straining her head would render her unable to it over the rainy downpour. He body, now full stone, began to crumble away like dust.
Until the end, his lips were quirked up in a smile, at last, at peace.
With nothing more than dust in her hands, Akira clenched her fists, "What was-ARGH! AH!" A pain shot up her back, spreading a burning sensation, that, in her current state, was unbearable. Her arched and all her muscles tensed, she felt like she was being burned alive in the rain. The pain kept increasing. Her body gave into exhaustion and black flooded her vision.
Releasing the remaining dust, this 22-year-old woman passed out in the middle of the street.
Unbeknownst to Akira Takumo, it would be the final words of a dying man that would forever change her life.