Chapter 4: To Be Kiva

1 message received.

The beeping of his cellphone awoke Sirius from his sleep. He'd decided to sleep all day after defeating that Fangire downstairs; Karina, meanwhile, was playing somewhere in Katipunan - Friispirit, Skies or wherever. "Wakey wakey wakey wakey!!" screamed Kivat as he saw his master awake, flying frantically all over Sirius as usual. "Weren't you talking about how tired you were?"

"Yeah, but my phone woke me up," Sirius muttered. "Someone texted. Whoever it was, I hope it's important..." And so he checked his inbox; the text turned out to be from Sir Mao. It read:

Hi Sirius, can you meet me at McDo in an hour? There's something I need to tell you. Reply asap. Thanks.

"...Mao, huh?" pondered Kivat, who evidently read the message, not that Sirius minded. "Well, are you meeting him?"

He thought of it for a moment. If it were just to invite him to hang out, the text would've said so. But if Mao summoned him to meet somewhere, it was usually something important, something that warranted a face-to-face meeting. The question was, what...? Whatever the case, Sirius turned to Kivat, and nodded.

"So, how's Kiva treating you?" Mao inquired, by way of greeting, as he sipped his Coke Float.

It was Kivat who answered this question. "Oh, Mao, he's got talent at this! Just yesterday he and Garulu beat that Cockroach Fangire!" He grinned at Sirius, who (somewhat reluctantly) returned it. Mao smiled for a moment before his face resumed its impassive look.

"Yeah..." Mao began. "While we're on the subject, lemme give you a few lessons on the Arms Monsters."

"The what?"

"Arms Monsters. They fuse with your Kiva form to give you form boosts," explained Mao. "Garulu, for instance - you become faster and somewhat stronger, which you witnessed firsthand. Right?" Sirius nodded. "Yep, Kivat's right, you really are a natural," Mao added, and smiled once more. "By the way, they live with me in my house."

He sighed, then continued.

"BUT," said Mao in a suddenly serious tone, "You shouldn't spend too much time using any single Arms Monster. I mean..." he explained, "The more you do that, you'll eventually lose yourself."

"Sirius was stunned at these words. "What do you mean?" he asked. "Lose... myself?"

"Think of it this way, Sirius," continued Mao. "If you spend time with someone, the more likely you'll end up picking up his character traits, and introjecting them, right? Well," he went on, holding the blue whistle-like device, "If, say, you end up using Garulu too much, you end up becoming like a werewolf - violent, uncontrollable, untamed."

Sirius shuddered. "...Alright, sir," he said. "Thanks for the tip, I'll remember that."

Meanwhile, outside, one of the deliverymen mounted his bike as he prepared to make a delivery. Before he could start the engine, though, he was approached by a teenage boy, who smiled. "I can smell it from here... it's delicious," he said, hungrily. "Your... life."

Fangs materialized in midair and stabbed the deliveryman on either side of his neck, leaving him nothing more than a glass corpse. Mao, Kivat and Sirius, who witnessed this, ran out of the store right away to confront the new Fangire. Sirius stretched out his hand, which Kivat bit; the belt melded into existence around his waist. "Henshin!" he shouted.

The night fell as Sirius morphed into Kiva, but the boy looked unimpressed at the sight. Instead he merely assumed his Fangire form: A thin, black stained-glass creature with catlike ears and glowing green eyes.

As Mao watched, Sirius rushed into battle, kicking the Cat Fangire in the stomach; he reeled momentarily at this, but soon retaliated with a sucker punch to Kiva's face. The Cat followed through with a series of punches and kicks to Sirius, who was taken completely by surprise by the flurry of blows being unleashed on him. A kick to the chest sent him flying into the store; screaming, the people ran out of the way.

Sirius looked around at all of them. "You guys might wanna run now, this guy'll suck you all up if you stick around!" He struggled to get up as the Fangire approached him; behind the Fangire, Sirius could see the people escaping. Good...

The Cat looked round as well, and growled angrily. "You'll pay for depriving me of my food!!" he roared as his hands lengthened into claws, with which he hacked, scratched and slashed away at Kiva's chest armor.

He didn't notice that Sirius had managed to put his right foot on his abdomen, and the Wake Up Fuestle into the slot.

"WAKE UP!"

As the armor and chains on his right leg opened again, Sirius managed to literally kick the Fangire through the roof. He then jumped through the hole he made, looking at his opponent who lay on his back on the roof. "Bad kitty doesn't get any food," Sirius taunted the Fangire, who growled his displeasure. "Or milk, for that matter," he added.

Sirius then leapt high into the air; the moon shone down upon him as he aligned with the Fangire to aim his kick.

"DARKNESS MOON BREAK!"

His kick hit the Fangire in the chest; they both crashed back into the restaurant as the impact formed a bat-shaped crater on the floor. And with a final scream, the Cat Fangire shattered as well; its soul flew away, somewhere.

And as Sirius reverted, Mao was clapping his hands.

"Bravo, bravo!"

tbc