Errolas: YO, chapter 10! Nogi-kun, what's with you?
Nogias: Nothing, man, just - ACHOO! - get on with the story…
Errolas: Ok…Welcome to Chapter 10, ALL!
CHAPTER 10: Percussion: The Truth Revealed!
The following week was tough for the members of Dekopin Rocket. Misa Kakizaki, the lead singer, mostly sat around in a daze, as if she couldn't think straight. Even her actions, like accidentally dropping a boiling kettle of water into a pot of soup, threw everyone else off.
Madoka Kugimiya, the band's main guitarist, spent her time in a similar daze, though the most common words out of her mouth were "Shiina-san… metal suit… monster…." As no one else had seen what she'd seen, no one else could make sense of this. Sakurako, the band's drummer, spent her time sitting around, trying to figure out what the connection between Katana and Nogias was, though her efforts usually tired her out and made her have to nap .
At one point she almost announced her conclusion to the class, though in the end she sat down and said, "No, that's not it… that can't be it…." And of course, young Ako did pretty much the same as always: running the middle-school boy's soccer team, fearing blood, worrying about the scar on her back, and simultaneously trying to figure out who Katana really was, based on the fact that his HAIR HAD FALLEN OFF…
Meanwhile, Nogias was busy getting ready for his next week of classes. Having passed the three more "out-there" of the band's four members and getting next to no reply when he greeted them (in fact, Misa almost picked him up and threw him into a tree in her daze), he now knew he had to do something. If he left them the way they were, their grades would suffer, and so would everyone around them.
So, right after their class with Negi the Friday after the concert, Nogias went to the classroom and, opening the door slightly, said, "Excuse me, Negi-sensei, might I have a word with a few of your girls? I need Kugimiya-san, Shiina-san, Kakizaki-san, and Izumi-san, if you could spare them for a few moments?"
"Oh, absolutely, Frazar-sensei… Girls, could you please go with him?" Negi asked, motioning for the girls to go with their combat teacher. As two of the four requested students rose, they went to help out their semi-functioning friends, hoisting them onto a shoulder to help them get to their destination. Once they had gotten to Nogias' outdoor office, he sat the girls down and closed his eyes, sighing deeply. Reaching over, he snapped his fingers, producing a loud, crisp, reverberation sound that brought the two more… non-responsive girls to their senses.
"Ok, girls, the reason I asked you to come here is this. I AM KATANA." A loud ruckus came from all four girls, who jumped up in unison, screaming at the tops of their lungs.
"THEN I WAS RIGHT! MY THEORY WAS RIGHT ON THE MONEY!" Sakurako shouted, slamming her hands down on her teacher's desk. Misa and Madoka tag teamed, running to the other side of the desk and taking turns pulling at Nogias' neck in their particular directions. Nogias was soon foaming at the mouth; doing his best to fend off the two girls that were strangling him, as well as the third punching him in the stomach, yet still failing. The last one, Ako, however, sat perfectly still in her seat, blushing.
"AKO, WOULD YOU GET OVER HERE AND HELP US?" Sakurako shouted, now grabbing Nogias' head and trying to snap it off. His eyes were now almost totally rolled back into his skull. Seeing this, Ako shot from her seats and smacked each of her band mates, then started pulling them off of Nogias.
"AKO, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Madoka shouted, releasing her grip on Nogias' throat when Ako hit her; then noticing Nogias' expression, said, "GIRLS! STOP! WE'RE KILLING HIM!" Even after saying this, Madoka went right back to choking Nogias, only twice as hard.
"EVERYONE, STOP IT RIGHT NOW, OR I'LL DESTROY YOU ALL! LET GO OF NOGIAS-SENSEI, OR ITS GOOD-BYE BAND!" Ako's voice erupted in a super-shrill, high-pitched scream that brought her band mates to a dead halt. All three girls released their death grips on their teacher and returned to their seats. However, before they could sit down, Ako pulled away their chairs and through them outside. Raising her lowered gaze to meet her friend's stares, Ako's dark, malicious expression sent cold chills through her friends' very beings, freezing them solid in fear.
Nogias, now choking down several glasses of water and multiple breaths of air, reached over and grabbed Ako's shoulder, which, for some reason, seemed to settle her down. Soon, her furious, tarrying presence reverted, returning her to her calm, timid self. Nogias motioned for the girls to come closer. As they approached the desk, they were careful to stay on guard in case Ako snapped, as the incident from not even five minutes past was still burning itself into their brains.
"Now, girls, like I said, I am Katana, the lead singer of NovaStar. I know Shiina-san and Izumi-san have been wrestling with that mental debate for some time, but I also know that there are other questions to be answered. So, feel free to ask me anything." Madoka shot forward and started to speak before being cut off at the pass when Nogias continued, "that is, anything that DOESN'T involve sexuality or what kind of women I like, or anything related to love and romance. Any other question is perfectly fine." Madoka sighed. Her attempt at trying to hook up with a possible celebrity had just crashed, burned, and floated off like smoke in the wind.
"Um, excuse me, sensei?" Sakurako said, scooting forward, "What exactly happened at the concert? I mean, I have an extremely faint memory of being shot, then feeling something enter my … secret parts before I lost consciousness… But, suddenly, I was awake and in my room, with you in my mind, telling me to sit back and enjoy the show… Then that boy came in and died…" Sakurako began to tear up, finally releasing a set of small liquid streams from her eyes.
"Actually," Madoka piped up, "I'd like to ask about that too! When those two Goth guys grabbed me, they turned into monsters and … Sakurako, you got some… strange crystal and… transformed… What happened there? What was that?"
"Well, actually," Nogias said, his eyes growing dark, serious and sinister, "I can tell you all about that point. The truth is that all four of you REALLY WERE KILLED." All four girls jumped up and screamed.
"IS THIS HEAVEN, THEN? CAUSE IF IT IS, I'VE BEEN SCREWED!" Madoka shouted, slamming her hands on the desk. All of her friends looked terrified.
"No, this isn't heaven. Honestly, if this were heaven, why would heaven look like a place you don't want to be in?" Nogias said smartly, and all four girls understood what he was talking about. The only reason they went to school was to be together and practice their work. Only Ako was really concerned with her schoolwork, the other three really couldn't care less.
"The truth is that I'm an orphan who spent four years of his life taking crash courses in Martial arts. At one point, I took a year-long crash course on the ways of the ninja, which is how I came across the ability to enter your mind, Shiina-san. In addition, that metal-body transformation you saw Shiina-san use, Kugimiya-san, was another technique I developed. I had sensed those monsters you saw in the dressing rooms, and am at present the only one capable of using the technique that beats them. Upon learning of your deaths, I called in a friend of mine to deduce who the culprits were, then used another skill of mine that allows me to use the innate powers of chaos itself to send myself back in time. Once there, I spied out the situation from behind the lockers with alternate bodies I created for this job, and made sure you lived. However, when I entered Shiina-san's mind and learned that the creatures were there, I had to do anything I could to save you. So, it was time for a transformation, and now, Shiina-san, it's time you learned to assume that same power. By the act of my using it while controlling your mind, you now innately know how to do it, too. You may not remember how now, but if you're ever in trouble, it will return to you. You have become a being that is like the TV hero Kamen Rider, but not quite. You are, like me, a Para-Rider. The name of your form has been determined, the name you choose to adorn it with is up to you," Nogias said, taking the span of about fifteen minutes to complete his speech. All the girls looked at him, dumbfounded. Sakurako finally nodded and left silently, understanding what she was been asked to do. No one moved as she left, but a massive uproar began once she was far out of earshot.
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? WHAT THE HELL IS A PARA-RIDER? IS THIS LIKE THE PARODY RANGERS CARTOONS ON ? ANSWER ME DAMN YOU!" Kugimiya shouted, reaching for Nogias' neck again, only to have Ako, in a second darkened presence, catch her hand.
"Stand away, Madoka-chan. RIGHT NOW." Ako said, with her voice full of evil and malice. As Madoka backed up and shoved her hands in her shirt pockets, fiddling with nothing at all to occupy herself.
~MEANWHILE….~
Sakurako walked down the path toward her dorm, almost in a daze. The information she'd just been given had shocked her to her core, but she understood it all. She knew of the existence of Magic, she just didn't know what to make of this. How could a non-magical human using some sort magic power to turn into a robot-like warrior who fights monsters? It seemed more like a TV show than reality to her. Then again, he had mentioned something about training for a year under a ninja sensei, so… maybe he was taught by that famous TV ninja NA—TO? No, that couldn't be it… As lost in her thoughts as she was, it was unnatural for her to be able to feel the presence of some unknown man approaching her from behind. In one quick motion, she'd shot back into him, flinging him over her back and into a pole across the street. The man stood up and smiled. For a moment, Sakurako received a MASSIVE, splitting headache, before realizing what it was: It was a warning of the monster within the man she'd just flung…
~BACK WITH NOGIAS~
"As I said, in order to save you girls from those monsters, which I'm not going to talk about," Nogias said, once again placing a hand on Ako's shoulder to calm her, "I had to pull a transformation in Shiina-san' body. The form that was made was unexpected, as was the fact that it worked at all. However, I expect that by the next time she's attacked…"
~BACK WITH SAKURAKO~
Sakurako smiled a small, painful smile as she looked up at the sky.
"You were right, sensei. I don remember how to do it now. And I think I have my name ready," She said, the mystical crystal forming automatically in her hand. Now, instead of when Nogias had done it for her, she reacted in baser instinct, snapping the crystal onto the base of a cross-strap that had appeared around her torso.
"I hope you're ready for the true me, monster man. Because, once I HENSHIN," she said, activating the mystic energies within her crystal and setting off the pink-coloured armour that covered her body, head-to-foot, "You won't ever want to deal with me again"
"Oh yes? And just who are you anyway? Where did you obtain the power to sense my aura and assume Lord's Form?" the monster said, the face of the man it controlled now reappearing on the monster's kneecap.
"I am simply a young girl going to school here at Mahora; A young girl who goes by the name of Amane Okae. However, you only need to know the name of this body I'm using. I will not call this Lord's Form. I am Amane Okae, Kamen Rider Antenna!" Sakurako smiled wide with pride as her helmet closed around her head, and she shot at the monster, pulling her twin sabers from the antenna attachments on her helmet.
Slashing away, she shouted, "I AM KAMEN RIDER ANTENNA! FEEL MY WRATH, MONSTEROUS BEAST, AND REMEMBER THE NAME OF THE ONE WHO WILL FELL YOU!" The monster could only stagger, as each slash left its body weaker and weaker.
~BACK WITH NOGIAS~
"…She'll be more than ready to step up and take her newly gained power to a whole new level," Nogias said, smiling wide as Madoka and Misa shrugged and left. Ako moved for the door as well, but Nogias grabbed her hand.
~BACK WITH SAKURAKO~
Reeling back, the monster collapsed to one knee. Sakurako, sliding her sabres through the crystal, charged the beast and jumped, where she performed a twisted X-slash through its body. As she landed, she tossed her sabres into the air, where they returned to the attachments on her helmet.
Snapping her fingers, she said, "You've just felt the fiery powers of Antenna's wrath. Hope you never have to feel it again. I announce this technique to be: Pyro's Art of Flaming Sword: Devil Twist Clash!" The monster groaned, and then screamed in pain as it exploded violently in a burst of reddish-blue smoke. With no trace left of the beast, Sakurako pulled the crystal off her chest armour, returning to her human body. With an expression of confidence and pride, she smiled to the sky.
"Sensei, I swear on these blades and this crystal, I WILL HELP YOU IMOLATE ALL THESE VILE CREATURES! SO ANNOUNCES KAMEN RIDER ANTENNA!" she shouted, thrusting a fist into the sky.
~BACK WITH NOGIAS~
"Excuse me, Ako-san? Would you stay here for a time? There's something else I need to discuss with you. It pertains to the way you've been... uh, 'snapping' within the last hour," Nogias said, an air of urgency in his voice.
With an expression of fright, Ako looked at him and simply stuttered, "w-wh-What?"
THE STORY IS OVER. FOR NOW…
Nogias: - ACHOO! -… Good one, man…
Errolas: Thanks. So, where were we?
Nogias: Go ahead without me…
Errolas: Alright since we had a special feature this time around, I'll be doing a revised Antenna thing.
Sakurako Shiina AKA Amane Okae: Kamen Rider Antenna
Form Style: Fire Ant, pink/white color scheme and segmented lenses with ant feelers coming from the lenses
Punch Power: roughly 6 tons, 8 tons when using a fire-based attack
Kick power: roughly 8 tons, 14 tons when using a fire-based attack
Weapon: Antenna Sabres (the feelers on her lenses detach, becoming notched paired blades.) Her armour is strong enough to shatter steel, and her blades sharp enough to rend titanium.
Finisher: Pyro's Art of Flaming Sword: Devil Twist Clash (Charging her sabres with power from her crystal, she charges her weakened enemy and leaps, twisting in mid-air to perform a twirling "X-Slash" through the enemy's body, all the while imbuing her blades with ultra-white-hot fire which aides the ensuing explosion when she snaps her fingers.)
Nogias: - ACHOO! – Man, you did great on that one, dude!
Errolas: Thanks, Nogi-Kun. And to the rest of you, THANK YOU FOR VIEWING! R&R, CONSTRUCTIVE FLAMES ARE WELCOME! CHAPTER 11 SOON TO COME! Hopefully Nogi-kun will be feeling better by then!
