Hey, guys!

It's Sentai Red with the newest chapter! Chapter 4 is still in the works, much to my ire, as I wanted to get that chapter halfway done prior to finishing this. I want to keep writing ahead, making minor changes, and publishing future chapters on time, but I have to adapt to my work schedule now. However, chapters will still be coming every Sunday! Whether late or morning Sunday, that's a different story all together.

Anyway, this chapter is quite the doozy.

Enjoy!

Ash stares over the city, in his armored form, fists clenched.

He's been no closer to finding the bastards that changed him. Even though he's been accepting of the power in front of Serena, he still wishes he was never their target. To Serena, even if he's angry, he's accepting of what he can do with it and fight to protect innocent people.

While that's true, he would have done that without being changed into who he is now. It's currently nighttime, yet nothing is ever peaceful in Slateport City. As he watches the city, the nightlife is the main reason for everyone to visit the city in the first place, it's also the city with the highest rates of disappearances in the entire region.

Ash muses that it may be the stupid cult behind this. The 'Devout Evolutionists' as they call themselves were never a threat, a minor blip in the radar. Yet, they were able to attack the Champions League in Kanto, a region that has nothing to do with them, but still went ahead and infiltrated the arena.

They were able to kidnap him.

Despite wanting to work alone, Serena forced herself into this life. As much as he adores and loves her, he also wishes he never revealed himself to her. She was never meant to get involved, but his own emotional attachment to her, plus her own thoughts and feelings for him… it made him accept her into this mission. Now, he worries she's not ready for the fights. He curses the fact he missed her too damn much to not reveal himself. He put himself in that situation and now he has to live with it.

The spider man that he fought a while back ago was a tell-tale sign to Ash that things are going to get worse from here. It just fought, it tried to use strategy, it tried to run. They're adapting to the battles happening and still nothing is going his way! Even with the wins, he's still nowhere close to finding the Evolutionists lair.

He only vaguely remembers it was in a forest, but due to his own stupidity, he couldn't retrace his steps. The last time he did, the lab that he thought he was experimented on, was already dismantled. He knew it may have been one of their labs since there were bodies just rotting away.

There's one thing that constantly stays in his mind, and it was the fact that there was someone there. He couldn't see them, but the two fought that one time; but he was severely outmatched. He had to escape, barely clinging to life. He knew whoever was there, they were aiming to end his life and despite his pride hurting that day, his survival instincts overtook it and made him run as far as he can. Luckily for him, the one he fought never went after him.

It was as if it was a test, a game.

He was no one's plaything.

With a severe glare around, he uses his enhanced eyesight to stake out for any chances of those damn monsters attacking civilians. He's been hearing rumors that since Arachnos died, another spider looking one has appeared; even stronger than Arachnos itself.

Serena has colloquially called it Arachdos.

She even began calling the creatures Evolvers as a result, from what she's heard of the cult. To her credit, Ash did even acknowledge the name and stated it was something the Evolutionists would use; lazily enough.

Right now, as she sleeps, Ash gazes over the city.

He misses his friends, he misses his family, he misses his freedom.

He just misses being himself.

This was a curse.

Even thinking all of this, he still can't even comprehend their reasonings. Why him? Why attack the Champions Conference? What are their goals? Who's even helping them? All these questions and more, Ash cannot answer.

His musings are cut short as he senses something flying towards him. It's coming from behind him! He rolls to the side, the sharp wings scraping him, causing him to grit his teeth. He uses his eyesight to stare at the being in front of him. His eyes widen under the mask.

It's a man with leathery wings, in an armored suit just like his! However, his was a black armored suit, with gray under armor. Yellow outlines all over the edges of the suit; valves popping out of the suit, in motion. The eye lenses, yellow, slanted and protruding out from the mask.

"It's a pleasure to see you again, Ash Ketchum the Kamen Rider."

Epic 3: Kamen Rider Nights?! Who are you?

"Allow me to introduce myself, Ketchum," the armored man greets himself, his modulated voice obscuring his original. He mockingly bows to Ash, "My name is Kamen Rider Nights." He looks over to the young man, still nursing his small scrape and towers over his opponent, smoke pouring out from the valves.

Staring at him, Ash slowly gets up, backing away. His survival instincts are telling him to run! This has happened before, but his pride decides to get the better of him and he stands his ground. Besides, who is this guy? How does he know him? And did he just say it was a 'pleasure to see' him again?!

"Your silence indicates you're monologuing about me, let me jog your memory," he disappears in the smoke. Ash stares around, his instincts in overdrive. Before he knows it, he gets socked in the face, making him stumble backwards. Nights continues the assault.

He kicks Ash hard in the chest, making Ash jump back. Ash lunges back at Nights, but Nights keeps deflecting or disappearing every attempt of attack Ash throws at him.

Trying to roundhouse kick where Nights was turned out to be futile as Nights himself disappears back into the smoke and slashes Ash at the back with his sword, making Ash scream in pain. Ignoring the pain for now was his only option. He then flings himself, throwing a punch… to hit nothing.

All he gets is a sinister chuckle, Ash just freezes. He looks around desperately.

Ash tries to rush through the smoke, but the smoke thickens around him, even seeping through his mask. He begins to cough harshly. He tries to fan out the smoke, but it keeps thickening and increases in in volume. He tries to swing his arms, desperately wanting to hit something.

All he can hear though are just the sinister laughs from Nights.

He hears something behind him, so he tries to swing his fist behind. He immediately feels his fist be blocked, before getting vaulted over and slammed into the ground, making him cough blood in his helmet. He tries to get up, but he just begins to crawl away.

He has to escape…

He has to run…

He needs to live…

Nights then reappears in front of Ash, grabbing him by neck and forcing him against the edge of the building they're at. Ash grabs onto Nights arms tightly, squeezing them with every inch of strength he has while ignoring the searing pain on his back.

"Do you remember me, Ketchum? The one that made you run for your life so many nights ago?"

Struggling to speak, Ash grunts in acknowledgement, making Nights chuckle, "Good." He then pushes Ash off the edge of the building, Ash unable to flail his arms as he falls to his impending death. "Do survive this one. I still want to see you at your strongest, boy, so don't disappoint me. The next time we meet, I will kill you."

This was it… he was going to die – No! No… he can still make it out of this!

Quickly regaining his senses, Ash uses the power of the bird Evolver and tries to slow his fall. Due to him using it a moment later than what he could have salvaged, he ended up losing control of his descent and crashed into someone's bags of garbage laying out. Because of the damage sustained to him, he dematerializes to his normal outfit, with him all scuffed and bleeding.

He pants, eyes wrought with fear, as he scrambles out of the garbage, landing front facing to the pavement. In his fear, he starts to gag, before ultimately wretches all over the floor. He coughs, continuing to vomit.

As he attempts to calm himself down, he looks around, hoping for a way to escape.

As the morning sun rises, Serena herself begins to awaken. She stretches, sighing with content; what a great night's rest! As she reacquaints herself with the world of the living, she realizes it's awfully quiet in here. She notices that the light snores she's used to hearing from Ash is absent. "Huh?" she looks around, trying to take a glimpse of where Ash may be. "Ash?" she calls out, maybe thinking he's in the bathroom. She taps on the door, but no response.

'He might be outside, probably eating or something,' she chuckles in amusement. She exits her hotel room and begins trekking down the elevator to the main lobby. When she exits out the elevator, her interest piques as there are people outside all huddled together.

"Hm? What's going on there?"

She tries to see over the people, but since she's not as tall as most of the other adults huddled together, she attempts to weasel her way in.

Her eyes widen when she does weasel her way through, "Oh my God, Ash!" she rudely pushes people, but she doesn't care. Right now, there's her crush just laying on the floor, unconscious! There are people trying to call the ambulance for him, but she rushes to him, laying his head on her knees, "Oh my God, what happened to you?!"

She begins to look around, people all ganging up on her asking her questions about him, but she just yells for them to be quiet. Here, Ash is all scuffed up, bleeding from his arm, neck wounds, and massive bruises all over him.

What's worse is that she notices the huge gash on his back as well! What the Hell happened to him?!

Eventually, the police would arrive along with the ambulance, having people make way for them.

"Ma'am, you have to step away from the victim, we're needing to take him to the hospital," one of the officers states, trying to push her away, but she stands her grounds with a glare at the officer.

"You'll do such thing! He's my best friend and he's out here bleeding! I need to know what the hell happened to him! I'm not leaving his side, you hear me?" She yells to the officer, who seems nonplussed about it. He eventually calls over his other colleagues as they try to get her away. "No, stop it!" she tries to wiggle herself out of their grips, having her be moved away from Ash, "Let me go! Ash needs me!" She was ready to get herself in trouble, but luckily a medic intervenes.

"Ma'am, we need you to come with us. You said you're his friend, right? Well, we need to be provided with some information and if you can help us out with that, then I'm sure the officers here can let you go." The medic literally saved her butt, making her grateful. She responds that she can, hence the medic telling the officers to let her go.

When the officers eventually comply, she just shrugs off their grips, a haughty harrumph coming out of Serena. If they act like brutes, then it's no wonder no one trusts the police. At least in Kalos, the police tend to have more tact than just rudely grabbing someone.

"Run… Run and hide like the child you really are."

"The next time we meet… I'll kill you."

"You're never safe… I'll always be watching you."

Ash wakes up with a jolt. Those voices! His heart rate picks up, he pants as cold sweat drips from his brow. He sits up right, trying to regain control over his emotions. Where was he? What happened to him? Oh wait, he remembers… With a deep inhale, he exhales a stuttering breath. Fear courses through his veins. For him, this is new.

The image of Kamen Rider Nights… he's too powerful… his image is just burnt into Ash's retinas, unable to fully leave. To Ash, this is one Hell of a nightmare.

"The next time we meet… I will kill you."

He looks around slowly, seeing nothing but sterile walls, and just bland décor, and an IV stuck to him. He groans, he was at the hospital. Oh how he hated hospitals!

"Ah, you're awake," his doctor walks in, an old, bald man with a white beard being the most descriptive aspect of the man, and begins tapping his tablet, typing away something on the screen, "My name is Dr. Lambert, and honestly, you're in quite the rough shape." Ash just stares at him to continue. "You see, you had a gash on your back, but luckily it was very shallow, so you wouldn't have to worry about having anything beyond minor stitches. Though, with that being said, you almost died from suffocation, but that's not else; you had given us quite the scare with internal bleeding. It amazes me you even survived. We were worried you weren't going to make it."

Ash frowns, this isn't the first time he's heard that, but he refuses to comment on it. He just sighs, "Yeah…" his voice gravelly.

"Do you know who did it?" Dr. Lambert inquires.

Shaking his head, Ash lies to the doctor, "No, I don't, it was the middle of the night and I got jumped."

Dr. Lambert types away on his tablet, "And did you not fight back? Did you not have any Pokémon?" Ash resists the urge to snap at the doctor, knowing that these questions are probably being sent to the police. Great. He didn't need to have the police looking for him and trying to find the people behind it… or rather, the person behind it. They'll mess up his plans.

"No, I mean… I did fight back, but as you can see," he gestures a wave to indicate his appearance, "I got my ass handed to me," he deadpans, "and no, I don't have Pokémon. If I did, I wouldn't be here, now would I?"

Dr. Lambert doesn't take offense to the snappy retort and simply nods, "No, of course not. Well, for now, you're going to stay here as we do some tests on you to see how you're feeling. Based on what we know so far, you may end up staying for a couple of nights. A week at the most." Ash bit the urge to groan, this was not what he was hoping for.

He ultimately just gives the doctor a silent nod, which lets the doctor leave.

'Dammit…' he curses in his mind.

"Oh, and there's someone who wants to see you, your girlfriend I believe," he winks, leaving the door ajar. Ash just shakes his head and lays back down in thought over what happened last night.

'I couldn't even fight him. He just… kept disappearing in the smoke… This was worse than last time… At least then I was able to fight him,' he winces, trying hard not to remember the fight that happened. 'Kamen Rider Nights… who the Hell are you?'

'His name is cool, though…' he scoffs at his own cheerful attempt.

He hears a wrapping on the door, which makes him look over to see it's Serena, staring at him with a look of relief, "Oh good, you're awake…" She enters the room, holding a basket of food in her hands. She sits down on a chair, putting the basket down on the ground, her hands on her lap, clenched, "Who did this to you, Ash?"

He keeps looking at her, his response is just silence. He looks away, facing the window.

"Ash?"

She prods once more, holding his hand gently, but he pulls away. She doesn't seem surprised, but the action still hurts her, "Ash…"

"No. Don't pity me, Serena," he turns to her, his frustration slipping out, "I don't need that right now. I just don't." He looks back out the window.

"Was it another Evolver?"

He lets out a sigh, "No. No… Well, I don't know, maybe? He clearly works for the Evolutionists, but he wasn't a monster like those things we fought… more like… something like me." He clenches his fists angrily, "He kicked my ass pretty damn good, too."

'Another… Kamen Rider?!' Serena thinks to herself, shocked. There was another person like Ash running around… but working with the cult? And he was strong enough to beat Ash? That's insane! "Are you… are you sure?"

He scoffs, "Well, he did call himself a Kamen Rider… Kamen Rider Nights is his name…"

A tense silence occurs between the two, one figuring out why there's an evil Kamen Rider and the other thinking about her safety, even if it means pushing her away. 'It must be done,' Ash thinks, a frown forming on his face. "Serena…" Ash begins. Serena looks up to him as he gives her a cold stare, "Your training is over. Go home and forget about me."

Her heart drops as she stares at Ash, mouth agape, "You… You can't be serious," she says incredulously, "You can't just expect me to run away because of this guy! That's not fair! I'm trying to help you, Ash!" She retorts, her emotions peaking.

"Well, you're not going to be much help to me with this guy running around!" Ash snaps, "If I'm here fighting and he comes around to pick you off, that'll be blood on my hands, Serena! Your training was meant to protect and defend you, not fight off a damn Kamen Rider! Him popping up changes things here!"

"I'm here to fight with you, I don't want to fight to protect myself, Ash!" she loudly proclaims, anger seeping into her voice. Ash shakes his head at her stubbornness, the one time he can't stand it!

"Be as it may be, I'm not going to have you around, potentially being a liability to me, Serena," he callously barks out, making her freeze. She stares at him, her eyes widen, shaking.

"You-you can't mean that…"

"Yes. You're going to be a liability to me, Serena." He continues.

"But-"

"But nothing, Paschall. You're leaving and that's that!" he yells, as she continues to look at him. After a brief moment of silence, she just sighs. She begins getting up, putting the basket on his lap, and walks away… It was what he wanted.

A doctor immediately rushes in, "Is everything okay in here? I heard yelling." The hateful glare from Ash tells him to just butt out, which the doctor does, apologizing for the intrusion. Ash just looks at where Serena was and then glances back to the basket on his lap. 'This is for the best…'

He notices a note written in the basket and pulls it out, to which it reads:

Dear Ash,

If you're reading this letter, I hope you're sleeping and feeling better. When I found you lying on the ground, nearly at death's door, my heart was ripped apart. Even if we can't be together right now, I still wish for you to get back up and never give up on yourself or me. I want you to get up, shake it off, and scream you will 'never give up until it's over' like you used to teach me back in the day.

Ash, I write this, not out of sadness, but of hope. I want you to see this note and think about the people whose lives you've saved; the people who you met and experienced hardships with. I want you to one day come back to all our lives and give them that moment of happiness you gave to me when I first saw you. I write this out of love for you, but I also write this out of love of you.

You mean so much to me, but you also mean so much to everyone. I want you to wake up and push forward. Don't let your fears, your anxiety, or your pain drive you away from us. We'll always be here for you. I'll never give up until it's over…. And I hope you do the same.

With lots of love,

Serena

Once he finishes reading the note, he begins crumpling it.

One may think that this may be the end, but oh no. Far from it.

Yes… Love hurts and whoever stated it doesn't, never truly felt love in the first place.

For many, love is letting go; love is to give, but never receive; and sometimes love is often unrequited. However, this love was a love between two people who can't be together. Even if there was a chance for them to be together, the way to get there is proving to be the most tumultuous. She always loved him, that is for certain. The love she had for him blossomed and grew over the years, until it was ripped away at the time of his death.

His resurrection brought that love back, tenfold.

No. Hundredfold.

He loves her back, but his own fears and anxiety push her away. She doesn't cry, for she needs to be strong. He yelled, he cut her off, and he forced her to leave, but that doesn't mean she'll end her love there. No. Her love is unconditional, it's not meant to be torn apart, or thrown to the bin. She won't give up on him. She'll show him.

She'll make him smile.

Then she can chew him out for what he's said. Sure, love is unconditional, but even he will face the repercussions of messing with her. He's not getting out of this scot-free.

She walked away, not because she gave up. She walked away to make him not give up.

Serena walks through the streets of Slateport City, her gaze focused. Her hands clenched. She's going to make things right. She's going to do whatever she can to inspire the boy – no, the man – she adores. She's going to bring back a smile on his face and fight back at whatever made him lose that hope in his eyes.

She walks with a mission. She immediately goes to her hotel room, packs her bags, and begins to write another letter in case Ash comes in. She knows it may be a lost cause, but she has a feeling he'll come back here. Some call it foresight; some just call it a woman's intuition. Whatever it is, she knows he'll come back here and read the note.

She can feel him reading the note she wrote in the basket; she can feel it crumpling.

She does not cry.

With a glance of his keys, she decides to put things into motion. She grabs his keys and runs off, her Pokémon readily available for things to come. She grabs hold of the bike as she goes along the parking lot, ignoring the looks from people. It's not often you see a lady drive a motorbike, but she scoffs at the judging eyes.

Women can be bad ass while wearing dresses too, you know.

She starts up the bike and revs it. She puts on her helmet that was gifted to her by Ash, pulls down the visor, and begins to drive off.

And we're done!

And man! The new Kamen Rider finally makes his appearance! This guy is definitely tough, but no worries! Again, I have plans...

Anyway, leave a review and let me know what you think!