Kamen Rider Tarock Chapter Three

Disclaimer: I don't own or make any claim of ownership of the Kamen Rider series. Kamen Rider Tarock and its characters belong to me, and may not be used without express permission. But don't be afraid to ask. I also do not necessarily share the beliefs of any character in my stories, and at least in the case of the ones in this story, do not necessarily endorse anything they do.

I took the Tarock stuff home with me after that. I wasn't really worried that those guys would try anything while I was at home after giving me a brand new card. Maybe they weren't so bad after all.

After I snuck back in and was laying in bed, I looked at the two cards I had, one with a sword and one with a star. How many were there, and what did I have to do to get those guys to cough up the rest?

I probably should've been a little worried about the fact that monsters were real, or that any minute one could suck me into another dimension and maybe kill me before I got a chance to suit up. There'd been two already in one day, after all. Let me just say this: if you ever get a taste of real power the way I did, you can see how soon you stop feeling invincible.

Nobody was around when I got up the next morning and walked to school. I wanted to go even less than I usually did, but I figured it was probably a good idea not to make anybody suspicious if I didn't know I could trust them to keep quiet. Not everybody can be Paige. Or wants to be…

But just because I went, that doesn't mean I was paying attention when I sat down at a desk. I kept looking down at my backpack, with the buckle taking the spot of two textbooks I don't think I'd ever opened on my own anyway. All the strength that had let me slice the Spider Profane to death, it seemed impossible you could make something that could give somebody powers like that. Yeah, it wasn't perfect, the Bat Profane had given me some problems, but I could've taken it out with the red form. Eventually.

Then again, the guy who gave me the card that let me change into the green form had said they'd meet up with me again, after school. Maybe then they'd give me some real answers, like who they were and why they cared about doing something about the Profane. They were kind of rough to be the good guys. But who really is a good guy, anyway?

Most of the teachers had given up trying to get through to most of the kids, and that meant me. And that meant school went by pretty fast if you could find something to keep your mind busy instead of class. I'll be honest with you, somedays that's a problem with me. Obviously, that wasn't one of those days.

Nothing happened for the first couple blocks as I walked away from school. Right before I got to the street with all the fast food places, this guy got out of a beat-up old white car parked a little bit in front of me. I was sort of expecting a shiny black car, so I almost didn't notice it was one of those huge guys from the day before. The one who didn't show up and give me a new card.

"Get in," he growled at me.

I did. Then just in case, I yanked the buckle out of my backpack and put it on before he could stop me, so I could change right away if somebody tried something. If these people thought they were gonna catch me making a mistake, they were gonna have to wait a little longer.

The guy looked at me in the rearview mirror, grunted and started to drive. After a while we pulled up outside a mansion with a high metal fence with pointed tips. The driver led the way to the gate, and it just opened up for him when we got close. The front door opened too, and for like five minutes we walked through so many halls and rooms it wasn't long before I had no idea where we were anymore. I probably could've run, but I had nothing to be afraid of yet.

I still didn't when we finally came to where it was we were going. It was a big empty room, that sort of like the inside of a church except for all the religious imagery being replaced with pictures of stars and cups and swords and things I didn't even recognize. One thing I did recognize was a big circle with a star inside. Kind of like the card that other guy gave me the night before.

A bunch of people in black robes were sitting in a circle in the middle of the room, and they stood up and looked our way when the doors squeaked open. The guy who'd been leading me stayed out in the hall and shut the doors behind me as I went in.

"Brothers, welcome Alicia Decker," one of them said, and I recognized the voice of the one who broke into my apartment and told me the basics. "She happened to be brought along for the ride when Tarock shifted, and was given his buckle when the Spider Profane killed him. Fortunately, she was able to activate it and deal with it herself. However, a second battle last night casts a certain doubt on her fitness to wear that implement."

"Your buddy switched the card on me when I was getting the feel of that bat monster," I said back. "Don't get on my case when you didn't give me a fair shot."

"Perhaps it's not your performance we should be taking into consideration," another one of them said.

"What are you talking about?" I asked. "I killed those monsters. I killed the one who killed the old Tarock."

"You also cut school, hid an item of considerable power from its rightful owners and refused to return it when instructed, and have otherwise shown a strong tendency toward selfishness and irresponsibility," one of them retorted.

I laughed. "How do I know you guys are the rightful owners? How do I know what you'll do with it if I give it back? You hang out in this big empty house with these weird symbols on the walls…you look more like some kind of stupid cult to me than anybody I ever trusted."

"We," said a third one, "are a concern dedicated to identifying supernatural disturbances and eradicating them before they can become a serious danger. That is why we went to such lengths to obtain the Tarock Buckle in the first place. With the Profane reappearing we can't afford to entrust our defense to some…delinquent who happened to be in the right place at the right time, and had some initial luck."

A fourth one raised his bony hand. "Perhaps, brothers, we're discounting this one too quickly. Because of certain…out-of-date attitudes."

Everyone looked at him. Even me. It occurred to me I might have just met the one who sent someone to give me a new card.

"The threat is the same as it always was," the first one said, sounding kind of pissed. "The steps used to combat it need not be altered."

"You are awfully certain of that in spit of only a handful of appearances, Brother," the one who stood up for me before said.

"Why are you defending this…girl?" the one I'd met the day before asked, sounding like he had to force out the last word. "Besides what we've seen for ourselves, we have very reliable information regarding her character. The buckle must be returned."

"You speak too much, Brother," said another one of the nasty members. "Say nothing we would regret her learning until we've accepted her as a replacement."

They kept arguing, but then I had this weird feeling. Like I was sick, and about to puke. I lost my strength and fell down on my knees, and my face started to sweat.

"What's wrong with her?" one of them asked.

"Something's coming. Something…wrong," I said. I got out the sword card and put it in as fast I could.

It was barely fast enough. The floor in the middle of where they were standing cracked then there was a big hole there. Something snaked out of the hole, something that looked like a scorpion's tail. It jabbed into the nearest person before the rush of power filled my body, then jabbed them again. He gasped, then fell down and didn't move.

As soon as I felt the power finish surrounding me I was running toward the tail and spinning the ball on my belt to call my sword. The tail tried to sting me as I got closer, since everybody else had run to the sides of the room after their buddy got stabbed, but I slashed the tail near where it joined with the stinger. It whipped around and almost got me in the shoulder but I ducked and slashed at it again, trying to get the blade in between the plates of dark purple armor covering the tail. But the sweet spot was too small, and I still wasn't used to fighting with a knife that long. It slid off the tail without doing anything.

At least, without hurting whatever the tail was attached to. The hole exploded with pieces of wood flying everywhere. One of the people gurgled and went down as one of the bigger ones went through his stomach. The monster who'd just jumped out the hole seemed to be floating for a second before it landed in front of me.

It was huge and covered with the same dark purple armor as the tail. All except for its face and the gigantic pincers it had instead of hands. It screeched at me and some kind of green slime dripped out of its mouth right before it tried to grab my arms with its pincers.

I jumped back and spun out of the way of its second pincer, holding sword close to myself so it didn't catch on anything sticking out from the Scorpion Profane. Before it could turn and face me I jumped at it, trying to get the point of my sword into something soft. This time, it worked. Something white and red gushed out of where the blade slipped between the plates. That was about it, though. Scorpion Profane whipped its tail at me, and even though the stinger didn't get me the rest of the tail hit me in the neck and knocked me down. I rolled, keeping the sword close again, until I ran into the wall and stopped.

I thought about switching cards, but there really wasn't enough room to use the other one. Besides, it was another cutting weapon. Who knew if it would get through this thing's armor either? But as I got up, I realized the scorpion wasn't paying attention to me all of a sudden. It ran through the doors I came in, and I mean right through them. A couple pieces of wood bounced off my suit but nobody got impaled this time.

I was already after it, and as I chased that huge thing down one hall after another I started thinking about places where a sword could do enough damage to bring it down. Maybe its face, or where the pincers met the arm. But that was if I could get it to stop, since it seemed like it was there looking for something, and it wasn't a fight with me…

The Scorpion Profane started to break away from me, and I ran as hard as I could, but still it went around a corner before I could catch up. I was going so hard I almost went right past the hall it went down, but I grabbed the wall and stopped myself. I might as well have kept on going. Right in front of the corner where the Scorpion Profane disappeared was another hall going off both ways. I looked down both but I couldn't see it anywhere, couldn't hear it either. It sure was quiet for something so big in such a big hurry.

Idiots. Why did they make the house so confusing? The monster seemed like it knew where it was going, which left me, the only person in the house who could do anything about it, left behind.

But then, I felt sick and a little weak. Like I did right before it came out of the floor. It wasn't as bad this time, but maybe I was distracted by the running feet coming my way. Then I saw it.

Another Scorpion Profane. It was at least a foot taller than the other one, and its armor was dark blue with a yellow face and pincers. Poison actually dripped off this one's stinger and sizzled on the floor.

And hanging off one claw was a black cloth bag.

This one didn't try to get away. This one clicked the other pincer shut and ran right at me, then tried to stab me with its free hand claw. It cut my arm when I spun to get out of the way and stabbed at its side. This one was bigger, and so were the spaces between its armor. My sword sank in and I yanked it as hard as I could toward this new Scorpion Profane's back. It made a mad clicking kind of noise and tried to stab me with its free hand again but I pulled my sword out and somersaulted away.

Instead of coming after me again it shoulder-checked the wall and crashed through it. I ran to the hole he left and saw I was facing the front of the house. The blue Scorpion Profane was running for the front fence, and stopped when the first one, the purple one, ran up to meet it. It had a black bag too.

I jumped out and started running after them but they both hung the bags around their necks then dug into the ground with their pincers. Before I could get close enough they got underground and dug away from the house, leaving a big trail of dirt above ground like in those old Bugs Bunny cartoons.

I ran over to the garage next to the house and sliced through the car door with my sword. I'd been hoping for a car I could borrow to go after them. I almost dropped my sword when I saw what was in there in the first spot instead.

It was a shiny red motorcycle with four symbols along the sides. Two I recognized right away. A sword, and a circled with a star inside. Just like the ones on my cards. The others were a cup, like the ones they used back in medieval times, and something long straight I didn't recognize.

The symbols were new, but the colors, the shape, the way there was a storage bag on the left side but not the right side…it was just like the bike Paige had been building. The one that was going to make her rich.

There was no places to put keys in, but I had a feeling that didn't matter. I just climbed on and gripped the handlebars. Right away the engine started up. I steered for the front gate, did a wheelie and smashed it off the fence. I turned it into the street and gunned the engine to catch up with the Scorpion Profane. They were heading right for a Y-fork, and if I didn't stop them they'd probably dig right underneath the building in the middle and I'd lose them.

It wasn't going to happen. I pushed the release on my buckle with one hand, caught the sword card and switched it with the star one, then spun the ball to call my weapons. I waited til just the right second, then I swung one of my shields toward the dirt trail. It cut into the dirt and the trial kept going, but it was about half as thick as before. As my shield, or whatever I was supposed to call the thing reeled back in one of the scorpions stuck its head out of the ground. I aimed the bike at it to run it over but it ducked underground and started digging again, but off to the right this time.

I looked over at the other dirt trail, already at the junction, then turned and drove after the blue scorpion. It sucked, but there was only one of me. If I didn't hurry I wouldn't kill either one. The scorpion dug through the middle of a big house so I drove around the side and busted through the back fence. I drove over the dirt trail on the other side and just as soon as I was off it the Scorpion Profane jumped out. I drove at it, and it jumped over me and landed on top of a bus going by.

I swung the bike around and chased it, then jumped off the back of a car. I crushed the back window, but landed on the back of the bus and got off to fight the Scorpion Profane as quick as I could. It tried to stab me in my uncovered neck with its tail but I grabbed the tail and jumped over its head. Before it could turn and come at me again I switched cards again and grabbed my sword just as it turned around and went for my neck with one claw.

My sword hit the claw and knocked it away from my neck. Scorpion Profane and I kind of dueled like that for a minute, it tried to cut me with the sharp side of its pincer and I blocked it on the edge of my sword. I circled around it then stabbed at the tail, but Scorpion Profane grabbed my sword with both pincers and yanked it right out of my hands. I dropped down on my back, then pushed up with my feet, sending my body into a half-circle motion. As I did I kicked the monster's wrists and knocked my sword into the air. As soon my feet went all the way over I ducked, jumped and grabbed my sword in the air.

Underneath us I could hear people screaming from all the noise on the roof. The stuff dripping from his stinger melting little holes around us probably didn't help either.

I blocked another stab with my sword and tried to jump and slash the monster's stinger, but it saw what I was doing and grabbed me around the shins with its claws then slammed me down on the bus. I saw stars for a few seconds, and then I saw the stinger coming straight for my head.

There was a tiny space between the armor and the actual stinger. I had one shot, and I lay there letting it think I was still out from that last hit before I swung the sword as hard as I could. The sword dinged at the very edge of the armor covering the tail and my stomach bunched up. But before I got a face full of acid, my sword sliced through Scorpion Profane's tail. The stinger fell and rolled off the edge of the bus. While it was still clicking from the pain I turned my sword around and stabbed it as deep in the face as I could. It jerked around but after a second the end of the blade stuck out through its back.

It jerked a few more times, then stopped moving. I yanked my sword back out, grabbed the bag hanging around its head, then kicked the body off the side of the bus.

That probably would've been a lot easier if I knew how to do the sword's special attack. I'd have to find the guy who gave me my second card and ask him about that.

There was a bump that almost knocked me off the roof and I looked over the side to see what happened. The front of the bus had gone over the curb and the door opened and people started coming out, screaming and running away from it as fast as they could. That proved it was a good fight. I jumped down off the back, and not far away I could see the monster's body turning into smoke already.

Before I went and got my bike, I opened the bag. Hey, if I was going to be in charge of this, I wanted to know what was going on. And it still didn't seem like the Brothers were going to tell me anything.

Inside the bag was a blue crystal, almost a foot long. It looked like it was worth a lot, sure, but if Profane just wanted jewels, why would they attack the place where the Brothers hung out? There had to be something special about it, and probably something special about whatever the other Scorpion Profane got away with too.

I got the bike and started it up then drove. I had no idea where I was going, but not back to the house yet. Look, I'm not a kleptomaniac or anything, I was just being smart. Nobody there could protect these things from monsters, obviously, and the way the Profane found them they probably knew exactly where to look before they showed up.

I was almost at the bridge over the river when the street exploded right in front of me. I felt that nausea for just a second before the bike got pushed up and tossed me off. I held onto the bag as hard as I could, but before I could get up something stabbed me in the arm and it went numb. It was the other Scorpion Profane, it had to be.

And it just poisoned me.

The monster smacked me into the rail by the edge with its claw. For a second I felt like an idiot. I just killed one Scorpion Profane. The bigger one. The one with acid in his stinger instead of poison. I won a fight with him on top of a bus. I got back what he was trying to steal.

Then his brother just appears out of nowhere, no dirt trail or anything to warn me, and gets me before I even realize he's there. I was supposed to be in control. I was supposed to be with it. And now I was probably going to die.

Scorpion Profane walked over to where I was, getting weaker every second. But not too far away I could hear something. A motorcycle. Not even mine, another one. I turned my head and could see a guy riding at us. He did something to his belt, and then he changed…

Things flashed and then the guy was still riding at us, but he had on a suit like mine. Black with little bits of white, mostly on his mask, and the number "21" on his chest. He jumped off his bike and kicked the monster, then before he landed he grabbed the bag around his neck with his foot and flipped it backward then caught it with his hand.

21 did some kind of karate pose. Scorpion Profane rushed him and brought back its tail to sting. He somersaulted out of the way just before it went through 21's head. Scorpion Profane clicked and turned to attack him again, but he took a running jump and did a jump-kick at the monster's shoulder.

"Jak Kick!" he yelled. His foot glowed and it cut through the monster's arm and cracked the armor on its side. Scorpion Profane clicked angrily and tried to stab 21 with its stinger, but he grabbed the tail and jammed it into the ground instead. Scorpion Profane pulled on its tail, but it was stuck in the street at least for the second.

The numbness from the poison in my system was starting to get weaker, and I spun the ball in the belt buckle to call my sword. I stumbled over to them, but I didn't get there before 21 made his next move. He did something to his belt, right when Scorpion Profane yanked its tail out of the ground.

"Black-OUT!" 21 yelled. His whole body looked like it was on fire, but the fire was black like his suit. It was hard to tell where he ended and the fire started. Then he jumped at Scorpion Profane, and turned into a black and red blur. He flew more than he ran at the monster, and cut it right in half. It turned to smoke and blew away before the pieces even hit the ground.

The numbness was pretty out of my system by then, but I was too late to do anything so a hell of a lot of difference it made. 21 looked up at me, then held out his hand.

"Give me the bag," he said.