Chapter 19 - Wings that Judged all

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 crystalizes as armour for Idol, including a set of talons on his feet, a set of wings on his back, and a hawk-like motif on his helmet. He is now, Kamen Rider Idol Hawk.

Idol just stands there, motionless. Their body burns with a hot-red flame, like in a furnace. The Fallen Bat picks itself up off the ground, dusting itself off of the dirt and ash on its body. The very second that it twitches, Idol's head snaps to glare at it from across the yard.

"So you've achieved a new form in such little time. No matter. It will still prove to be no match for the two of us," Masquerade sprouts out four spider legs from his back. The Fallen Bat however doesn't share their partner's confidence. "Be on your guard. There's no telling what he's now capable of," the Fallen Bat tries to protest, however, it falls on deaf ears. Masquerade charges for Idol.

Raising their head, Idol lifts his arms, throwing them towards the two, and unleashes an overwhelming stream of pure fire. They dodge the attack. It continues until it hits a parked car. The flames easily melt the metal, before igniting the fuel inside of it, exploding.

"Okay, maybe we'll need more help," Masquerade claps their hands. From behind the rock structure comes a small horde of Fallen grunts. Akemi grabs the Grasshopper idol off the ground, and then calls out to Idol, "Jiro!" Her words fall on deaf ears as he doesn't reply. Only stands there, motionless after the attack. The horde of Fallen start to surround Idol. Akemi uses the cannon to shoot a few of them down.

Before they could dog pile Idol, he erupts into a pillar of flames, destroying the closest Fallen. As ash falls around them, Idol cracks their neck as wings pierce out his back, "Sorry for the delay. I needed to check something." A fallen tries to tackle him. With a quick reflex of his arms, Idol punches the Fallen in the chest. Cracks form through the body before exploding in red light.

"Now to be the hero," Idol leaps off the ground. Their wings spread wide as they hover off the dirt, and begin to fly. "No you don't!" The Fallen Bat spreads their wings and tries to intercept them. The Fallen Bat gets between Idol and his friends. "You should have stayed on the ground," with a clap of their hands, Idol creates a whip of pure fire. They crack it, firing several shards of flames at the Bat. They try to dodge, but two shards pierce their wings, bringing them back down to the ground.

With their wings, Idol cuts the rope and grabs Iro and Pic. He slowly descends onto the ground with his friends. They land beside Akemi as she continues to hold off the horde. "Do you think you can manage with them?" Akemi flashes the grasshopper idol and attaches it to the cannon. A green light emits from the end. Using it as a guide, Akemi aims at one of the Fallen. Pulling the trigger, the cannon launches a large grasshopper at the Fallen. Upon contact, it bounces from their body, and into another. Like a giant pinball, the grasshopper clashes into one Fallen after another. Akemi turns to Idol and co with a smile, "I think so."

"Don't think this changes anything. There's still more of us than you," Masquerade's voice sounds like it's breaking, a combination of frustration, anger, and fear. Idol gestures to them to come closer, taunting them with their fingers. The Fallen Bat gets back on their feet, and rushes past Masquerade, blaring their fangs. Idol grapples with the Bat, taking their fight to the sky. Before Masquerade could join what's left of the horde to fight Akemi, a single chain appears before him, the end stabbing into the ground. The chain is pulling something towards them. Masquerade turns to see Kamen Rider Fang appear before them, clenching their saber as they slash across their body. "I like the other guy better. He doesn't sound like a whiny brat," Fang comments, retracting his chain.

The two riders start to fight, being newer to the fight, Fang is able to parry every swing of Masquerade's talons with their saber with each. "What's the matter brat? That all you got?" Masquerade keeps swinging, but Fang is untouchable, their movements are more polished, and graceful. With a single swing from the saber, Fang cuts the talons off their wrists before kicking them away.

Idol and the Bat continue their fight in the sky. The Fallen Bat is slow and barely able to keep themself in the air because of their injury. Idol is fast, using their wings like blades to slice through the Bat's body with each tackle and thrust. The weaker they get, the lower the Bat comes to the ground.

The two brother riders engage their finishers with the drivers. Idol and Fang glow with a burning red and blue light respectively. Idol soars at the Bat, their body turning into a red hot hawk that tackles the Bat. The Bat's body explodes. An orb of blacklight drifts away from the body but goes unnoticed by everyone. At the same time, Fang rushes at Masquerade, followed by three blue wolves. The wolves strike Masquerade in various ways before Fang cuts through them with a rider kick. Masquerade explodes. The orb of light falls to the smoke pile where Masquerade once stood. Aaron walks out of the smoke and grabs the orb. The orb is absorbed into Aaron's chest before they both disappear.

Idol lands on the ground, disengaging the transformation. Pic and Iro run to his side, and Akemi remains by the bike. "Jiro! That was awesome!" Iro is amazed by Jiro's fight earlier, while Pic hugs them. Fang disengages his form too and looks over at the others. Jiro turns around, meeting James's gaze. The two brothers stare at each other. There's an unspoken tension between them. James breaks eye contact first to look over at Akemi. He feels a lump in his pocket, the pager Akemi gave him. He turns back and walks away. Jiro twitches a little bit, thinking of following him, but chooses to stay with his friends.

Akemi walks over to Jiro, putting her hand on his shoulder, "You did good, boy. Your father would be proud." Jiro looks back at his aunt, and gives her a smile, nodding his head, "Yeah." She pats his shoulder again, "Come on, let's get out of this heat. It's like an oven out here."

Hanging from an iron rod in the ground, resting in the shadows is a small bat. The bat watches everyone leave, being able to see everyone in the yard, James included. "It seems it was too early to trust Aaron with such an important job. Still, this does prove potential in my experiment." Jack's voice is heard from the bat. "The next time the riders meet Masquerade, it will be me."

End of episode 6