Chapter 22: Crackling Rage! Reborn!
"Shocker!" I yell as my body flies at him.
My mind is racing as I try everything I can to hit him. He took her away from me! I'll destroy, you won't get away. I spin both sides of my belt as he transforms.
Lightning never strikes twice. I'm your bolt of hope! Reborn!
A bolt strikes down on both of us. My suit changed into its light blue form, crackling with electricity. There's a spot on his mane where fire doesn't appear. How's that feel? I'm not done yet.
"There's that fire I was looking for. Now then, show me what makes you the hero!" He yells out.
Shut up. Just stop talking already. I rush at him, but he moves around everything. Even with his large build in that form, he's still able to move around me like nothing.
"Stop moving!" I say out loud, not realizing how angry I'm getting.
He slams me in the stomach with one of his claws, not enough force to knock me away but enough to get the wind out of me. "This is disappointing. I thought that might finally put you on my level, but it seems I was wrong."
I don't give him a response as I attack, no strategy or plan to my movements, just pure anger fueling my swings as he moves around them. Fine then, let's try something new. I spin the left side of my belt.
Chain Lightning! Rider Chop!
Electricity courses through my left arm. I dash around Shocker, chopping into his carapace as I dash past him. My arm cuts through it like butter. Now to finish this. I swerve around him, jumping from point to point, trying to confuse him, before dashing at him with a jab to his head.
"This is what I wanted to see! Alas…" his claw completely blocked the attack, "you still aren't good enough. Power can only take you so far." He raises his other claw and smashes me into the ground, my suit crumbling away.
"Chase!" Both Agent Hammer and Braid yell out.
"Agent Hammer, is it?" Shocker turns to look at him as he de-transforms. "You can keep Ms. Braid. She is of no use to me anymore, now that I have my finest work again."
I try to stand up, "bring her back." stumbling my way over to him before falling down.
"Next time we meet, I do hope you've calmed down. That way, I'll have an opponent worth fighting." He walks away, Agent Hammer and Braid helping me up.
"Why aren't you stopping him?" I say, as my voice quivers.
"And do what? There's nothing to gain by attacking him now. It's a lose-lose situation." He says.
"We could've stopped him! Don't you understand how many people he's hurt? It was my job to beat him, and now all we're doing is watching as he leaves." I scream, my eyes shoot to Braid like daggers. "And now you're on my side?" The anger and frustration in my voice continue building. Braid doesn't respond, she just continues to help me walk in silence.
"Chase, what's the point in fighting if it just ends with you being unable to protect and save those people? We can still stop him, but if you had kept fighting, he would've killed you." Agent Hammer says.
"None of that matters. How can I be a hero in the first place if everyone in front of me continues to get hurt? Sophie, Otto, and even Alicia, it's my fault that they got hurt. All because I couldn't take him down soon enough." I force myself out of their hands, holding myself up. "I'll be fine on my own. Shocker will show back up soon enough."
The only way I can save everyone is by beating him. If I can't eliminate Shocker, then everyone will be okay.
Agent Hammer doesn't stop me. "If that's your plan, I hope for the best. But remember the reason you became a hero in the first place: the people matter more than this fight. Even if we can't win now, don't lose sight of what matters."
I open my mouth to talk before giving up and walking away. What matters is getting rid of them. That way, they can't hurt anyone. Even if I have to be the one in danger. After getting on the Cyclone, I ride to Alicia's house and open the door without knocking.
"Chase?" Alex sees the look of anger and sadness on my face. "What happened? Where's…" The implication sets in.
"Why'd you let her go? This is why I said she should stay back because I couldn't do anything!" My breathing grows heavier as I talk. "She shouldn't have been there, and now because of me, Alicia's…" I pause, avoiding the word monster. "changed."
There's a look of shock on his face. "Changed? But she shouldn't have…" It's almost like this isn't new information to him, "we'll figure this out, all we need to do is find out where she went and-"
I cut him off. "No! I'm done with you keeping stuff from me. What is it you weren't telling me and Alicia? He had a voice recording, where he said her name, so what do you know?"
Alex looks defeated. "So I really couldn't prevent it?" He takes a seat. "Fine, there's no point in not telling you now. Are you sure you don't want to do this later? You look…bad."
"I'm fine." I take a seat. "When did it happen? He didn't give her a disc, she just transformed into one." Balling my hands into fists, trying to keep myself composed.
He sighs. "It was before you two got into high school, your last year of middle school."
So when she was acting weird, I could've stopped them. There must've been something I could've done. All I could do was think about how weird she was acting. Why didn't I do anything?
I interrupted him, "But if he was doing experiments on you, how did she still come to school? That doesn't make sense."
"Simple. He'd let us go about our day so we wouldn't draw suspicion. They forced us to stay at some base, but I don't remember where it was. Even then, he's definitely relocated since then." He notices my hands. "none of this is your fault, remember that. You couldn't have done anything to help."
There must've been something I could've done. I never tried asking her what was wrong. Stupid Chase. She was your best friend, and you just ignored her. I can make up for it. Now that I have this power, I can make everything better.
"No one ever tried telling people about Shocker? There must've been someone who did that."
"Before you saw me transform, if someone told you that there was an organization creating monsters to produce the strongest warrior. Would you have believed them? We couldn't bring any proof with us, so all we could do was hope that one day we could leave."
"But there could've been something. There must've been a way to help." Tears in my eyes.
He gets up and puts a hand on my shoulder. "The past is the past, but now we can fight back. Even if we couldn't do something before, now we can. You should rest. I'll tell you more later." I didn't notice before, but he's shaking. He's holding back, just like me.
I walk to the door. "Fine. If you see anything, tell me right away. Got it?"
He smirks. It feels like when Alicia smiles to make me happier. "Of course, you'll be the first person I tell."
After leaving through the door, I hop on the Cyclone and sit there for a moment. He's right, now I can do something. I have the strength to beat Shocker, something that no one else has. Next time, I'll win. Whatever it takes. I put on my helmet and ride back to my house.
The TV is playing as I enter. "What's it doing? Will she have to fight that thing?" My mom says.
There are recordings of Alicia flying around on TV. It doesn't seem to be attacking anything, though. It's hard to even look at. She shouldn't be put through this. She doesn't deserve any of this. My parents see me as I walk in.
They notice me limping right away. "sweetie, what happened?" Dad asks.
"I'm fine, just need to get some rest. Nothing that won't go away with a good nap." Trying to face away from the TV.
"Are you sure? I can go grab something to help. It's no trouble. Especially if you need to fight that monster on the news later." He says.
Something snaps in me when he calls Alicia that, even though I know neither of them could understand. "She's not a monster!" I yell, shocking the both of them. It takes me a moment to realize what had happened. "I didn't mean to yell, s-sorry." Going to my room as fast as possible, I slam the door behind me and slam down on my bed.
Why'd you do that? He would know, they couldn't have known. All they want to do is help and you yell at them. I wait, expecting one of them to come into my room. But nothing happens. I chose to give me some space. He didn't deserve to be yelled at? Why can't I just make the right choice for once? It's not that hard, just do it. I shut my eyes, trying to sleep, hoping that those thoughts will go away.
Why does she look so sad? Did I do something? There's a younger version of Alicia in front of me. Her typical smile is completely gone, and her eyes are puffy. Should I ask her? What if she doesn't want to talk about it? That's probably it. I bet she'll be back to normal in no time. My mind comes back to me. It feels like someone else's thoughts were in my head. I see Alicia in front of me. She really does look horrible. What am I doing? I need to talk to her. Maybe then I can help. But my body and mouth refuse to move, simply looking at her instead.
"Why didn't I listen to you?" Her appearance is changing. She's older now, back to how she looks today, but she looks just as bad, maybe even worse. She has a white dress on, her long blond hair looks singed at the ends, there are tears in her eyes.
"Wait! I can still help, it's alright. So what if you didn't listen? We can still fix this." There's a desperate look on my face.
Please come back. I can do this without you. Who will I talk to? Who will always be there when I want to cry? It was always you, so please, don't leave.
"You were right, Chase. It was too much. I thought I'd be safe with you around, but that was a lie. In the end, I got hurt just like you said." There are fires dancing around her now.
"I'm sorry. It was my fault. You don't have to blame yourself, that's what I'm here for. Any mistake you make, I can fix, so don't worry. Just come here." I reach my arm out, but it feels like she gets further away.
The flames grow bigger as Alicia hesitates to reach her arm out. "But I'll get in your way. I could hurt you. There's no telling what could happen."
"That doesn't matter! Just take my hand. We'll figure out, I promise. I'll help you, just like I'll help everyone else. Just give me another chance."
We stretch our arms out, trying to reach each other as the sound of fire gets louder and louder. Before her hands can touch, the fires surround her. No. Why is this happening? What did I do wrong? The fire fades, but the ladybug monster isn't there. Instead, as the fire disappears, Shocker is now in front of me. You. He says nothing, simply giving me a maniacal smirk. That's right, you're the problem. Nothing else matters now. Instead of putting my belt on, it simply manifests around me. All I can do is take you down. I'll be the hero and destroy you once and for all. I pose as his body morphs. The projection of the Kamen Rider from the past appears in front of me. But instead of posing, it just looks back at me. Is this really the right choice? Before the fight can start, I wake up in my bed.