Chapter 18 - Wings that judged all part 3
After what feels like miles of Running, Jiro arrives at the entrance of a quarrel. He holds himself against the metal rods in the entrance to catch his breath. Sweat drips down his face and onto the floor like rain. He grabs the bottom of his shirt and pulls it towards his brow, hunching over to get closer to the cloth. He dabs his face with the bottom before catching his second wind. He continues to sprint down the path, coming down the hill into the yard. He rushes passed discarded high visibility vests, and hard hats on the ground as his trainers kick rocks with every mild leap.
He arrives in the yard to be met by no one. The only other thing in the yard beside him and the dug-up rocks is a large mobile crane. He looks around, pacing his moments as he struggles to see his friends or the Fallen Bat. Jiro tries to call out, "Iro! Pic!" Their voices in unison cry out in return, "Jiro!" He looks up towards the crane. Hanging from the wire wrapped around the wrench were Iro and Pic. Hanging from the top was the Fallen Bat. "Iro! Pic!" Jiro reaches behind him and pulls out the Shinaito driver. "I'd be careful if I were you," an unfamiliar voice calls out to Jiro.
Aaron steps out from behind the crane and stares down Jiro, "You make one round move, and your friends will be taking a rather bad fall." Jiro looks that this stranger to him, "And who are you supposed to be?" he asks, his voice a mix of exhaustion and frustration. "That's right, this is our first meeting. You've met my brother a few times," Aaron replies. Jiro looks confused, "Brother? As in.." Aaron nods, "That's right. Kane is my brother. Call me Aaron. Although today," Aaron pulls out his own Shinaito driver, "I'll go by a different name." Aaron slaps the driver onto his waist, attaching it to him as the belt appears. He pulls out his spider idol, and presses it into the middle, "Spider!" As the music starts to play, he presses down one of the triggers, activating the belt, "Henshin!" The black undersuit appears around Aaron's body as a large spider burst out of the idol. It starts to wrap its talons around Aaron, webs wrap around their body. The spider crystalizes as armour around Aaron, giving him the Masquerade suit, only with a spider motif. "Today, call me Kamen Rider Masquerade."
Jiro stares him down with rage in his eyes, "I don't care what your name is," Jiro's calm demeanor is replaced with one of anger and violence as he attaches the driver, "To save my friends, I will do whatever it takes!" He pushes his idol into the driver, "Lion!" Jiro starts to run towards them, pushing the trigger down, "Henshin!" In a bright flash, the Idol suit appears around Jiro. His claws extended, he is prepared for a fight.
Idol swings their arm, claws extended to try and catch Masquerade. They throw their body back, dodging the swings completely. Idol tries again with their other arm, but Masquerade ducks, the attack going over their head and missing again. Idol's movements are reckless and lack any focus behind each swing. "I thought you would have more to offer seeing how much of a beating you gave my brother," he mocks, "But I guess you're just second.." Masquerade is cut off as one of Idol's claws slashes at his torso, catching sparks. Despite being filled with their rage, Idol is still in good enough condition to fight. "You talk too much," Idol begins to slash away at Masquerade, every swing catches them, making more sparks fly.
Masquerade falls to the ground. He throws his hands up, "Wait! Please stop! I'm sorry!" Masquerade rapid apology and begging does nothing to dissuade the angered Idol. "Not on your life." Watching from above, the Fallen Bat drops down from the crane, making it shake a little. Pic and Iro scream in fear as the rope tied around them shakes. Idol looks up in their direction, only to be tackled by the Bat. With their wings spread, the Fallen Bat kicks Idol, knocking him on the ground. The Bat hovers over the two riders as Masquerade gets back on their feet, "I'm going to pretend you were stalling him so I could attack, and not pleading like a coward, boy." Masquerade just dusts themself off, "I wanted to give you an opening, nothing else," Masquerade cracks their neck as talons grow out of their back like blades, "Now onto the fight."
Idol gets back up and rushes for Masquerade. They use the talons to guard themself against the swings. As Masquerade holds them up by the claws before using the talons on their wrists to attack Idol's stomach. Idol lets out a groan of pain as the dark rider slashes him across the middle, making sparks. Idol stumbles back, nearly losing their balance. "My turn," the Fallen Bat spreads their wings and lets out a supersonic wave that strikes Idol directly. The ground around him shakes and cracks as the force knocks him back, onto the ground.
Idol lands on his front and struggles to get back up. As he pushes himself back onto his feet, only barely allowing him to near, he reaches for an attachment on his belt. Idol pulls out the grasshopper idol. "I need to get them to safety. Only the grasshopper has the reach to retrieve them." Before Idol could reach for his driver, the grasshopper idol is thrown out of his hand by a ball of thick web. Idol turns back to Masquerade and the Bat. "Wouldn't it have been better to take the idol from him?" The Fallen Bat asks the rider. "Yes, but I'm still learning my powers." Shaking their head, the Bat watches as Idol tries to retrieve the grasshopper, "I don't think so." With only one wing, they release another sonic wave. It smacks him away from the idol, knocking him down on the ground again.
Idol stares down the two in front of him and then looks back up at his friends in peril. Idol tries to reach out to them, extending his hand although in vain. Masquerade uses both hands to shoot a layer of web around his arms, keeping them at his sides. "So that's how you do it," they say to themself. Masquerade looks up at their hostages, "Alright, they've served their purpose as bait. Cut them down." The Fallen Bat takes off towards the two. Idol screams out in fear, "No!"
The Fallen Bat goes to cut the wire but is stopped halfway by what looks like a bird made of pure flame. The Fallen Bat narrowly avoids the attack, by the bird's wing scrapes the Bat, knocking it back down to the ground. "What was that?" Masquerade asks, their voice starting to break from panic. From around the corner on the Sunlight Striker is Akemi, holding Idol's cannon. "Auntie!" Idol calls out, their voice equal parts confused and excited by their aunt's presence. Without wasting any more time, she pulls out an idol from the cannon, a hot red one. "Idol, use this!" She tosses it towards him. "Don't you dare!" Masquerade shoots their web again, aiming for the idol. As the web wraps around the idol, however, it begins to melt on contact, "What?"
Idol catches the red idol with his hands, despite barely being able to move his arms. Idol takes a moment to notice the motif of the idol, "A bird?" He looks at it closely, "A hawk!" He pushes down the trigger to release the lion idol and places it on the belt. With the red idol, he connects it to the driver, "Hawk!" the belt calls out. "Dai Henshin!" Pushing down the trigger on the right, the lion armour cracks and breaks before a red hawk emerges from the driver. The burning light surrounding it hovers around the yard before descending onto Idol. Flames melt the web around him as the hawk crystalises as armour for Idol, including a set of talons on his feet, a set of wings on his back, and a hawk-like motif to his helmet. He is now, Kamen Rider Idol Hawk.
To be continued!
