Carter, Sakura and a Wish to Walk Again.
"Yo, minna-san!" The bedridden Carter Hughes called as Sakura, Tomoyo as well as their friends Yamazaki, Chiharu, Rika and a girl with medium length brown hair and round rimmed glasses that Carter didn't recognize, shuffled into his hospital room.
"We haven't met. My name is Naoko Yanagisawa." The girl introduced herself.
"Charmed." Carter smiled as he shook the young girl's hand.
"How do you feel, Yu-sensei" Sakura asked.
"Better than those Doctors think." Carter sighed. Carter had recovered fairly quickly from his injuries but because the doctors caught him walking the halls after the battle with Phoenix they immediately forced him back into his hospital bed for further examinations. "Well, they say I'll be out later today, so I can't complain too much." The teens all smiled with relief at the news. "Don't smile just yet, soon as we can get classes started again, I'm gonna be giving out a lot of homework to make up for the days we missed." The kids still grinned but a nervous drop of sweat was plain on all their faces.
"By the way Yu-sensei…" Rika started as she pulled out a stack of envelopes from her bag. "The reason we came here was to deliver these." Carter took the fairly impressive stack of letters curiously. Each letter was sent by a random person many of which Carter recognized as students from his class.
"A lot of students wanted to express their admiration and well wishes to you, Yu-sensei." Tomoyo added, revealing she also had a stack of letters to deliver.
Carter looked over the growing pile of letters that were accumulating on his bed and his eyes softened. "I don't know what to say. You kid's are the best."
"Well, you risked your life two times over to help Yamazaki-kun and Sakura-chan. You're practically a hero to our entire grade." Chiharu popped in.
"Hmph!" The group turned at the scoff to see a girl with reddish brown hair held up in a bun and sitting in a wheel chair outside of the hospital room. She scowled annoyed at the confused teacher. "He does something stupid and barely gets hurt and he becomes a hero? How stupid."
"What's your problem?!" Chiharu demanded, advancing on the rude girl.
"I just think it's unfair that somebody who's not even hurt gets such special treatment. I had no idea that all I had to do was run into a burning building to get people to visit me in the hospital." The girl retorted condescendingly.
"Saki-chan stop that!"
"Rei-senpai!" Sakura called out in recognition.
"Oh! Sakura-chan, Tomoy-chan!" The older girl with short gray hair greeted the two. The girl's name was Rei Tachibana, a high-schooler that Sakura befriended four years ago while she was still collecting the Clow Cards. Since then, Rei had become a star in the local High School's Track team, while still maintaining a good, though rarely frequented, friendship with the two middle-schoolers. The older girl then turned to her apparent acquaintance with a look of disapproval. "Saki-chan, you have no right to talk down to others just because you're upset about your own situation." She chided to the scowling girl.
"Shut up, who asked you!" The girl apparently named Saki snarled before turning her chair around and wheeling angrily away.
"Saki!" Rei called after her friend before stopping short and sighing in defeat. "I'm really sorry about her, I hope she didn't upset you." Rei bowed apologetically to Sakura and her friends and then to Carter, who waved the apology away.
"It was no problem at all. I don't really want to be here either so I can understand her anger that someone in my condition is getting such treatment." Carter assured the girl.
"Rei-senpai, who was that girl?" Sakura asked her senior curiously.
"That girl…" Rei sighed hopelessly. "Her name is Saki Aoyama, she used to be on the track team with me until her injury."
"How badly is she hurt?" Carter asked, his curiosity also peeked.
"It was a year ago, she was in a terrible car accident. Her parents came out mostly unscathed but she came out with both her femurs fractured slightly. She's been in a wheel chair ever since." Rei explained sadly.
"Wait, why is she still in a wheel chair if the fractures were slight?" Carter was no medical specialist but even he had some basic knowledge of how long it took some injuries to heal. "By this point she should at least be using crutches or in rehabilitation."
Rei nodded in agreement. "That's what a lot of the doctors have been saying too but for some reason her condition hasn't improved at all." Rei explained. "She's undergone several treatments but for whatever reason her legs have not healed at all. And the possibility that she may never even stand on her own two feet again is making her turn bitter toward other people."
"I guess I shouldn't have snapped at her like that." Chiharu looked down in remorse. "She's really had it rough."
"I wish we could do something for her." Naoko said which the others whole heartedly agreed. Carter however was deep in thought.
'A hopeless situation like this, may require a magician's touch.'
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Saki, having stormed away, was now situated at a far window overlooking a recreation area built for patients who were well enough to go outside and enjoy some fresh air. The paralyzed girl spotted a group of children playing soccer in the field nearby, she looked at their smiling energetic faces and a grimace of pain crossed her face. More than anything she wished she could be out there too, to feel the wind hit her face and let her legs carry her as far as they could. But instead she was stuck in this wheel chair unable to stand on her own and the way things were looking, possibly for the rest of her life. A tear was forming in the teenage girl's eye as a feeling of defeat took over.
"Tissue?" Saki turned in shock at the offer, the brown haired man she had been ridiculing earlier was now leaning against the wall opposite her, a white handkerchief in hand.
"What do you want?" She tried to muster up as she quickly wiped the tear from her eye. "I didn't ask for your pity."
"Probably not but it's kind of the gentleman's code to offer solace to crying lady." Carter shrugged, still offering the white cloth.
"I told you I don't need-!" Saki tried to swipe the hanky from the older man's hand only to find a second red cloth attached to it. Carter smiled and began backing up to reveal several more cloths attached to the red one, making a multi colored chain of cloths strung together in one line. Saki couldn't contain herself and started bursting out in uncontrollable giggles.
"Ah, so you can smile." Carter admired as he rolled up his chain of handkerchiefs and stuffed them back into his pocket, save for the white one. "Well how about this?" Carter laid the white cloth in the palm of his hand, then gripped it in his closed fist, stuffing the ends into his fist until Saki could no longer see the cloth at all. Carter then opened his palm to reveal a completely empty hand.
"I know this trick." Saki grinned as she quickly grabbed Carter's hand looking it over for the false cover that hid the cloth inside. "It's gotta be here somewhere." She exclaimed, confused.
"Eh hmm!" Carter coughed, smiling. "Hold out your hand." He commanded. Saki blinked in confusion but did as he told, holding her open hand out curiously. Carter then raised his other hand which was also closed in a fist. His finger's spread apart, revealing the rolled up white cloth unfurling from his hand like a flag and from its folds a tiny branch fell into Saki's hand. The branch was covered in white blossom flowers with magenta florets in their centers. "They're pretty!" Saki smiled holding up the branch to the light and marveling at the flowers' pure white petals.
"They're called Pear Blossoms." Carter explained. "They symbolize hope and healing."
Saki looked at the gift and her face fell slightly. "I'm…sorry… for what I said before." She sniffed. "I just can't stand it!" She clasped the tiny branch close to her chest. "I want to stop coming to this place almost every day. I want to get out of this stupid chair!" She sobbed loudly as the tears began to fall again. "I want…to walk again!" She declared.
Carter handed the sobbing girl an actual tissue this time and waited patiently at her side as she calmed down.
"Arigatou, ouji-san."
'Ouji-san? Come on I'm from the same generation as you.' Carter groaned internally but kept his mouth shut and nodded.
"I guess I need to apologize to Tachibana-san." Saki admitted. "She's the only one from school who still comes to see me."
"I'm sure she understands." Carter assured her. "She told me about your situation, sorry for prying." Carter quickly apologized. "Is it true your legs haven't recovered at all?"
"Emh." Saki nodded. "My parents have tried several procedures and physical therapy methods but nothing ever works."
"Maybe you need to get a new doctor." Carter suggested, suspecting clerical error. But Saki shook her head.
"My doctor, Sendo-sensei, is the best doctor my parents could get for me. We've even had other experienced doctors monitor his procedures and they all say his work is splendid. So it can't be his fault."
"Well I'm glad to hear you say that, Aoyama-san." Carter and Saki both turned to see a tall, greenish-brown haired man in a white doctor's smock walking toward them. He bent down at Saki's feet and lowered his head in guilt. "As a doctor I cannot help but feel useless after all my efforts and your hopes have been in vain."
Saki shook her head rapidly and tried to make the depressed surgeon raise his head. "No, don't say that Sendo-sensei! I haven't given up hope yet and you shouldn't either." Saki consoled the doctor fervently but his head remained lowered for several more moments until he finally raised his face up.
"Thank you, Aoyama-san." His eyes filled with compassion for the kind girl but then he looked to Carter, a slight gleam of suspicion in his eyes. "And you are?"
"Ah, gomen!" Carter bowed in apology. "Just one patient trying to console another." Carter explained. "She seems to be in your capable hands now so I'll take my leave." Carter stuffed his hands into his pockets and turned on his heels to leave.
"Arigatou…" Saki called out before pausing, not catching the strange man's name."
"Just call me Yu-sensei since I'm a teacher at a neighboring school." Carter called back. "And as a teacher, these are my instructions:" He held up three fingers. "Lots of R&R, follow your physical therapy to the letter and listen to your doctor." Carter then held up two more fingers. "And I have two more instructions, but these are not as a teacher." He turned back to her smiling. "As the magician who protects the smiles of others; I want you to hold fast to your dream and always hold onto hope."
Saki giggled, stilling clasping the Pear Blossom tight. "Arigato, hen na mahousukai-sensei!" (If my Japanese is right, translates to: strange magician-sensei.)
Carter tripped slightly but regained his balance before he could fall over. He waved back to the teen and continued on his way, muttering about kids and their lack of respect for elders. The doctor, Sendo, only looked back and forth between the two in confusion.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"Ah, free at last!" Carter sighed in relief. The doctors gave him a clean bill of health and with a warning to not stress his body too much they sent him off. After they had left with the others, Sakura and Tomoyo promised they would be back later to see him home so they could get together for a tea party afterwards. Carter would be glad for the company after being stuck in a hospital room for several days, however, a tea party just wasn't complete without sweets.
"Time for a cake run." Carter chirped gleefully as he ducked behind the blind side of the hospital building and activated his WizarDriver.
Connect, please!
"Miss me Winger?" Carter revved the engine for his beloved motorcycle and pulled on his full face helmet, happy for the familiar rumble of an engine. "Ikou." Carter mounted the Machine Winger and sped off, hitting the streets and heading straight for his favorite pastry shop.
"Woo hoo! The rider called out in joy as he subconsciously popped a wheelie, he had been cooped up in that hospital room for so long that even something as mundane as riding his bike felt like a whole new experience to him. Right now he was as high as a kite and nothing could bring him down to Earth.
Screeeech!
His exhilaration based high died immediately as he had to slam on the breaks as another mundane activity had suddenly popped up, and one that he was not happy to relive.
"You're becoming a thorn in my side." The Phantom growled as it hefted its broad axe onto its shoulders. The Phantom was certainly bulky, its torso was twice as wide as normal man's and it was all thick muscle. Its arms also shared the muscle as he was able to heft up such a large weapon with just one arm. His body was covered in a light green hair that covered thick leathery skin. His face was apelike with a pig-like snout that was also lined with hair that ended in a messy beard hanging from his chin. "Now I'm gonna put you out of my misery."
"So much for not straining myself." Carter griped before he passed his red flame ring over his buckle's scanner.
Flame, please! Hi-hi! Hi-hi-hi!
Connect, please!
Carter's red magic circle passed over his body, covering him in magic flames that reformed into his ruby red armor. Winger's engine roared as Wizard pressed forward, his Sword-gun in hand.
"What?! You're the Ring bearing magician?!" The Phantom gasped as the armored Rider drove by him, his blade swiping to the side and the beast man only raising his axe up to block.
"Surprised?" Wizard asked as he slid to a halt and turned his bike around for another pass.
"Damn! Guess I'll need to accelerate my plans." The Phantom snarled before he gripped his axe with both hands and glared at the advancing magician. "But first, I need to put you in a wheel chair as well!"
"Just try!" Carter snapped back as he switched his weapon to gun mode and let loose a spray of automatic fire on the bulky kaijin. The Phantom held his axe up vertically, deflecting the silver bullets with the flat side of his axe. He grinned and placed a hand to the ground.
"What the-?!" Carter called out in shock as his bike's wheels began swerving across the ground. He suddenly realized that it wasn't his bike that was at fault, it was the street, a deep groove had been instantly cut through the asphalt and it was sending his tires skidding out from under his bike and causing him to crash to the ground. "Damn!" Carter groaned as he picked himself up from his landing spot, his back completely exposed.
"Now I've got you." The phantom declared as his gnarled claws reached for the unsuspecting Wizard.
Slash!
"Gahh!" The hairy kaijin was sent skidding back as the blade of a needle thin blade rammed into his thick muscled chest.
"Seems you still have much to learn, Wizard."
"Empousa!" Carter called in half shock, half joy.
"What the hell are you doing, bitch?!" The Phantom snarled as he held a hand to his bruised chest.
"I'm not about to let your cowardly tactics be the end for my prey, Bugbear." Empousa declared as she ran a hand over the flat side of her weapon. "Return to your business and begone!" She commanded, a threatening edge in her voice.
"I won't forget this." The Phantom Bugbear promised hatefully. "Soon as I finish off my Gate I'm going to make you pay." With that, the Phantom ducked into a nearby alley and faded into the shadows.
"Hold it!" Carter demanded, not wanting to let a Phantom go if it already had a Gate. The cold feel of steel resting on his shoulder stopped him in his tracks.
"Stay for a moment." Empousa more commanded than asked.
"Any other time I would have been happy to ablige, Empousa-chan." Carter brushed her blade aside. "But the Gate will always take priority."
Empousa was silent for a moment, looking over her rival with her expressionless doll like face. "Very well." She sighed before sheathing her blade in a burst of magenta fire. "Another time then." She turned on her heels to leave when Wizard caught her shoulder to stop her.
"Wait, please tell me whatever it is you know about that Phantom." Carter pleaded. "Who is his target?"
Empousa looked back at him over her shoulder, though her face had no eyes he guessed she was looking at him crossly. "A sudden and bold request from your enemy?" The female Phantom stated. "An eccentric I may be but I still reside within the Phantom camp. Are you asking me to outright betray my brethren? Or will you force me to?" A hint of expectation was in the woman's voice as she stated that last question.
Carter removed his hand from her shoulder but did not lower his gaze from hers. He knew what she was getting at. Even if she acted alone and even sometimes against individuals of her kind she was cautious enough to know that open treason would bring the wrath of the entire horde down on her. As she said, any information he wanted out of her would have to be taken by force. However…
Wizard shook his head in apology. "I understand your terms but I have neither the time nor the mana to waste on a fruitless brawl with you." If he hadn't known any better he could have sworn he saw her slouch in disappointment slightly. "Good day." He bowed and turned his back on her, a feeling of disappointment welling up in his heart as well.
"Decomposition."
"Hmm?" Carter turned at his rival's sudden comment but she had disappeared once again, leaving him all alone and confused. 'Decomposition?' He swore that was what she had said. As he pondered his rival's antics his foot caught on the upraised asphalt and he fell unceremoniously to the ground.
"Son of a-!" Carter began when his eyes fell on the broken street he had fallen on. Long lines of shattered asphalt ran across the previous battle field. The Phantom, Bugbear's power must have caused this. He had somehow caused deep fissures to break out over the road and that was what caused him to wipeout. Now that his mind was on the subject, he was wondering how the beast had caused this in the first place. He didn't feel any tremors, so it couldn't have caused a controlled Earthquake. And now that he was taking a closer look the destruction didn't stop at just running fissures up and down the road, potholes had formed as well. Tremors didn't cause that. In fact, the only way potholes formed were after the road had been constantly worn and torn after a long time, in other words…
"Decomposition!" Wizard called out in understanding. Bugbear's power was to cause surfaces to instantly decompose without years to wear them down. Empousa had divulged the identity of Bugbear's unique ability. And that wasn't the only thing she revealed to him. If Bugbear's powers could cause his Machine Winger to wipe out like that, who's to say he couldn't do the same to a car. And an even more disturbing thought came to his mind. Asphalt wasn't the only material that cracked when it decomposed.
"Saki-chan!" Carter quickly went to his bike to prop it back onto its wheels. He quickly gunned the engine and sped off down the road, back to the hospital he had just gotten away from.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Back at the hospital
Once doctor Sendo had finished her examination, Saki met up with Rei to apologize for her prior behavior which her fellow track member happily accepted, even volunteering to escort the wheelchair bound girl home. Rei leisurely pushed the chair across the hospital parking lot toward her car with Saki happily clasping a small water filled vial that held the branch of Pear Blossoms within it.
"You'll have to introduce me to those friends of yours." Saki suggested. "I need to apologize to them too."
"Hai!" Rei agreed happily, glad that her classmate was finely acting like herself again.
"A moment you two!" Rei stopped in her tracks and turned Saki around to see a middle aged man with receding brown hair and wearing a doctor's smock marched toward the two teen girls. "Aoyama-san." The man greeted.
"Shimazu-sensei!" Saki recognized. The man smiled and crouched at the girl's feet.
"Sorry for stopping you so suddenly, but I felt that I needed to give your legs a cursory examination, if only to look over Sendo-kun's work for any mistakes." The older doctor explained.
"Oh, you don't need to!" Saki suggested hastily. "Sendo-sensei always does his job wonderfully and tries his best!"
"Hmph, well he's still young, he's bound to make a few mistakes." Shimazu stated and then gestured to Saki that he needed to look at her legs. Saki seemed unsure at first but relented with a nod. Shimazu nodded back and lifted up her leg laterally by her shin, applying small amounts of pressure to the joints and muscles of her thigh and lower leg.
"Ittai!" Saki suddenly cried out, grasping her thigh in sheer pain as the doctor pressed down.
"Saki-chan!" Rei exclaimed in shock going to her friend's side.
"You see." Shimazu stated satisfied. "Genius he may be called but even he isn't beyond fouling up a rudimentary examination."
"Shimazu!" The older doctor and Rei turned at the call of outrage as the green haired doctor marched toward his colleague. "Step away from Aoyama-san!" He demanded.
"Hah! Your immaturity is showing, Sendo." Shimazu tucked his hands into his pockets with an arrogant grin spread across his face. "You cannot bare criticism and so you lash out. You need to understand that this girl requires care from a doctor with actual experience. Your…once in a century talent will not save every patient you have in your care. You can't even help one little girl stand on her own two feet." Sendo grimaced under the older man's scrutiny and was about to retort when…
"You're wrong!" Saki spoke through baited breath. Her whole leg felt like it was on fire and she was fighting to speak through the pain. "Sendo-san tries his best no matter what. He gets upset when he fails but that's only because… he cares about his patients and can't stand letting them down. He has more than just rare talent, he has the heart of a true and kind doctor!"
"Bah! A stupid child like you knows nothing, it is impossible to heal everyone, if it were possible there would be no need for doctors." Shimazu snarled, prompting Rei to step between him and Saki.
"What kind of doctor are you!?" Rei demanded, disgusted by the man's lack of empathy.
"He's a disgrace to the posittion." Sendo explained pulling a file from his smock and throwing it on the ground at Shimazu's feet. "Those are Aoyama-san's latest X-rays!" He explained. "You had me fooled good, Shimazu. I don't know how you did it without us knowing but you've somehow been re-breaking her injured bones." Sendo accused while Saki and Rei looked on in shock. Shimazu though remained stoically silent. "But you made one crucial mistake. Your "unsetting" of her bones showed subtle differences through every one of her X-rays, I was so shocked by her lack of recovery that I hadn't paid attention to those subtle differences. But now the truth is out, you won't be extorting her parents for money any longer." Sendo assumed greed had been the older physician's motives, the unknowing man had no Earthly idea that his assumption couldn't be any farther from the truth. Shimazu suddenly leaned forward, his head in his hands as he started to giggle uncontrollably.
"Heeeeeeheeheehee. Is that what you think this is about?!" The mad doctor howled as he looked back up to his shocked colleague. Sendo could barely recognize the older man anymore, his face was distorted in a wide, mad grin and his eyes had become a sickly yellow hue with red pupils. "You think you have everything all figured out." Purple vapor seaped from the monstrous man's pores as his body began to grow bulkier and become covered in light green fur.
"Kyaaaaahhhhh!" A massive, furred hand suddenly shot from the mist and grasped Saki's chair by the wheel, lifting it high above the monster's head and causing the paralyzed girl to fall from her seat with a thud!
"It was never about this brat!" Bugbear revealed as he tossed Saki's wheel chair to the side where it shattered to bits against the ground. "She was just unlucky enough to be your patient, and now she has only one more use to me." A massive twin headed axe appeared in the Phantom's hands as he glared down at the terrified girl. "Too bad for you really, Aoyama-san. I created that accident and recommended Sendo to your parents as a scheme to make him fall to despair. Now I can only get his Phantom by making him watch you die. Had things worked out your legs would have healed in no time."
Saki's mind was a hurricane of emotions at this moment. As she thought back she recalled briefly spying a large bulky figure watching from the shadows of a nearby alley after her family's accident. Then she recalled each time her family's trusted physician examined her legs after a procedure, now she realized it was only this…monster making her injuries last even longer. And now, he was trying to hurt Sendo by using her.
"I won't let you!" Her hand quickly gripped a mound of dirt nearby and she tossed it with all her might, covering his face and eyes. The beast snarled in shock as he tried to clean his eyes. Saki took this chance to turn over onto her stomach and began crawling away from the blinded Phantom toward her friend and doctor. "Minna, get away!" She called desperately.
Rei and Sendo looked to each other for a moment a similar thought passed between them. Sendo quickly dashed to the crawling girl's side and to her surprise, scooped her up into his arms and carried her away, all the while Rei swiftly climbed into her car, gunned the engine and expertly pulled around toward Sendo and Saki, gesturing for them to get in. Sendo had just set Saki down into the car when he heard a loud howl of wind to which he instinctively ducked as a twin headed axe sailed by him, end over end.
"You're not going anywhere, Sendo!" Bugbear growled angrily, having cleaned one of his eyes enough to spot the trio escaping.
"Wrong again!"
Bind, please!
Metallic chains suddenly sprouted from red portals forming on the ground around Bugbear, wrapping about the bulky Phantom and holding him in place. Kamen Rider Wizard stepped forward, his ringed hand still at his buckle to make sure his foe wouldn't escape a second time.
"I got this handled, go!" Wizard ordered to which Rei nodded and floored the gas pedal to send her car careening out of the hospital parking lot.
"You, damnit!" Bugbear snarled as he struggled against his bindings.
"You won't be tormenting Saki-chan any longer." Carter assured as he armed himself with his Sword-gun in sword mode and slipped his Flame ring across the scanner of his weapon.
Flame, Slash Strike! Hi-hi-hi! Hi-hi-hi!
"Haaaaaaaa!" Carter called as his sword's blade was engulfed in flames. He slashed out horizontally sending a crescent shaped projectile flying at the trapped Bugbear.
Boom!
A smoke cloud rose up from where Carter's attack impacted, covering the spot where Bugbear was seemingly destroyed. "Fui-eh!" Carter's eyes widened as a new, larger shape suddenly rose up within the cloud of debris.
"Like it?" Bugbear asked snidely as he stepped out from behind his 20 foot tall bodyguard. It looked like one of the Ghoul familiars that Carter faced in the past except 3 times larger, made of jet black stone instead of the usual dull gray and the normally stubby horns were now long and dark red. "A gift from our master, we call them Titans."
"Ahhh bugger!" Carter cursed as the colossal Ghoul stamped toward him threateningly. "How is this fair!?" He cried out as he had to dive away before the massive creature's foot squashed him flat.
"Wizard!" Carter looked skyward as a yellow blur dived toward him, scooping him off the ground and lifting him into the air and away from the stomping Titan.
"Yu-kun daijobu?" Sakura, dressed in her full Piffle costume once more, asked concerned as she flew through the air on her own wings.
"Ah." Carter reassured her. "Thanks for the save Kero-kun." The fully transformed Keroberus grinned at the armored magician whose coat tails was gripped between his teeth. The angel Yue flanked his comrade and mistress.
"We can't allow that monster to rampage past here. We need to bring it down now." Yue suggested earnestly to his comrades.
"I'm used to fighting larger foes, but I usually have Dragon backing me up." Carter stated, wracking his brain for a solution. He could only summon Dragon within the confines of another person's underworld, the beast's power and air superiority has saved him on more than one occasion. Kero certainly had the air superiority down but not quite the power they might need.
"Wait…I think I have an idea! Kero put me down!" Carter ordered to which the Clow guardian seemed unsure but complied, trusting the magicians judgment. Wizard lighted softly onto the ground and immediately passed his Connect ring over the scanner of his buckle.
Connect, please!
"You're gonna try that again?!" Bugbear cackled hysterically as Wizard summoned his Machine Winger to his side. "Have you already forgotten what happened last time?" Bugbear accentuated his point by immediately smashing his hand against the ground, instantly degrading the thick rock and creating wide, deep fissures across the asphalt. Now, even if the Kamen Rider could out maneuver the Titan with his motorcycle, the results will end up the same as they did on the street from before.
Wizard said nothing and slipped another ring onto his finger, this one had a blue face on it.
Unicorn, please!
The blue plastic model set appeared at Wizard's call and reconfigured into the neighing blue PlaMonster. "Ready Uni?" Wizard asked to which his loyal familiar whinnied in affirmation. Carter nodded and passed his Flame Dragon ring over the scanner of the WizarDriver.
Flame, Dragon! Bou, bou! Bou-bou-bou!
A blazing red magic circle appeared at Wizard's back as a flaming projection of Dragon passed over him and Unicorn, bathing them in crimson fire. The flames flew away at a wave of Wizard's hand revealing the Kamen Rider in his full red Dragon Style armor. But that wasn't all, a drastic change had occurred for Unicorn as well. The once tiny enough to fit in the palm of a hand familiar was now the size of a massive Draft Horse. His toy like appearance had changed becoming more complex like that of an automaton. His plastic body was now covered in bluish silver steel and his large blade-like horn shone with a steel sheen.
"Sugei!" Sakura stared mesmerized as the totally transformed PlaMonster snorted and excitedly pawed the ground with its longer, more powerful legs. Carter suddeny wheeled around his familiar on Winger, leaped up, prompting the motorcycle's wheels to rotate beneath the seat as it landed on Unicorn's back, bringing the wheels down on Unicorns sides to act as flank guards.
"Leave that Titan to me and Uni!" Carter called up to his friends as his mount bounded across the lot, leaping and evading the cracks strewn across the asphalt. "Just don't let that Phantom touch you!" He quickly added over his shoulder.
"You heard him let's go!" Kero grinned as he dive bombed the snarling Phantom.
"Buzzing pest!" Bugbear growled as he swiped at Kero with his axe, missing the great cat by an inch as he whizzed by. Kero, utilizing his air superiority, succeeded in gripping the monster's attention as Yue and Sakura prepared attacks over head.
"Shot! Target that Phantom!" Sakura commanded as an orb of destructive energy formed from the tip of her wand, all the while, Yue built up silvery blue energy between his hands that formed into a single, sharp edged crystal. As one, Sakura and Yue unleashed their two spells as a hail of knife-like crystal's rained down on Bugbear who noticed only in time to cover himself with his axe to keep the crystals from slicing into his face, the rest of him wasn't so lucky as the sharp edged projectiles cut into his sides, arms and legs. He also made the fatal mistake of covering his eyes just as Sakura's explosive magic crashed into the ground at his feet, blasting the Phantom back to painfully land with a thud.
At the same time, Carter and Uni were busy dodging the swiping and kicking limbs of the Titan as they dashed and weaved between it legs in order to disorientate their larger foe. At this point, Carter had copied his Sword-gun and was letting loose twin barrels of silver artillery on the stone creature, but the tiny magic bullets seemed to have no affect against the thick stone hide of the greater Ghoul, so Carter decided to try a new tactic.
"We need to bring this guy to our level." Wizard told his mount which snorted in agreement as he weaved between its legs once more, coming out behind the Titan and immediately skidding to a halt to turn back. Unicorn was suddenly airborne as his powerful legs rocketed him toward the Titan's exposed back.
Crash!
The Titan fell forward as Unicorn's metal plated hooves smashed into its back, sending it falling to its knees. Carter took this opportunity to switch his guns to sword mode and leaped from Uni's back, making a mad dash up the Titan's back. "Take this!" He roared as he leaped forward, twisting his body around as he smashed both his blades across the base of the giant Ghouls neck, gouging out twin lines of black stone. "Gotcha!" Wizard said triumphantly.
The Titan suddenly began to rise back onto it feet, seemingly unaware it just got the top of its spine cut out.
"Why did I think that would work?!" Carter cried as he began to tumble backwards off the Titan's back. Luckily, Unicorn was there to catch his over excitable master as he fell. Wizard managed to right himself in his saddle again as he plucked a ring from the chain on his belt. "New plan." He muttered, slightly embarrassed.
"Kero, Yue! Let's settle this!" Sakura ordered her two guardians as she held up one last card.
"Ehm!" Kero agreed while Yue said nothing but nodded.
"Curse you… witch brat!" Bugbear snarled hatefully as he pulled his axe-hand back past his head and aimed straight for Sakura. "Go to HELL!" He then sent his axe sailing end over end straight for Sakura's neck.
"Fight!" The spirit of the card immediately came at her mistress's call, deflecting the oncoming axe with a swift and powerful back hand to the axe-blade's flat face that redirected its course to crash into the ground away from her mistress. The Fight took the form of a petite pale skinned woman wearing a sky blue leotard with long tail fins, fingerless gloves and thigh length boots. Her silvery hair was cropped and shoulder length put up in twin odangos. The Fight glared at the nervous Phantom and took a fighting stance with her left fist pulled back and her right in front of her with the fingers in karate chop formation. Kero and Yue flanked the Card spirit as smoke began to billow from Kero's jaws and Yue readied an energy arrow for his magically projected bow.
"Grrrrr…Ghouls!" Bugbear decided it was best to cut and run and summoned his supply of familiars to act as his rear guard to keep the Magician and her familiars off his back. Fight would have none of that as she instantly dashed toward the throng of Ghouls, somersaulting over those at the front and landing with her feet balancing on the heads of two of them before taking off after the retreating Phantom, running across the crowd of Ghoul heads like they were stones in a river.
The Ghouls could only pointlessly grasp after her all the while turning their attention away from the Card Mistress and her two guardians who were all ready to level the crowd of stone monsters.
"Windy! Firey!" Sakura tossed the two elemental cards into the air as the sprite and sylph rose up from their cards to stand at the sides of the guardians they were aligned under, Firey for Kero, Windy for Yue. The two clow guardians readied their attacks as a ribbon of fire surrounded Keroberos and the gust summoned by the Windy surrounded Yue's arrow. As one the two guardians unleashed their ultimate attacks as Kero unleashed a fire storm of intensely hot flame against the unaware Ghouls, it was intensified further as Yue loosed his wind encompassed arrow that encouraged the flames to burn ever higher. The Ghouls were instantly reduced to charcoal just as Fight cleared the last Ghoul and caught up with Bugbear who squealed in shock.
"Get away from me!" Bugbear shrieked in terror, he suddenly turned on the oncoming fighter and reached forward with his toxic claw going straight for the Card Spirit's head. But on pure battle honed instinct, Fight flipped up, landing on Bugbears outstretched arm in a hand stand before twisting her body around to nail the side of his head with a quick round house kick. The Phantom realed back stunned but the Fight pressed on, slamming her fist in rapid succession into the wounded beast's abdomen.
"Orarararararararararara! ORA!" Petite fighter finished up with a powerful uppercut to the Phantom's jaw that sent him tumbling backwards through the air. The Fight gave one final sigh of exertion and pulled both her arms back toward her sides before returning to her card form.
Bugbear finally hit the ground, landing in a pile of what he assumed was rubble.
"Back already?" The Phantom's eyes widened when it realized it wasn't lying in a random pile of rock. It was sitting in the remains of its Titan Familiar which had been reduced to chunks by the Wizard's last attack. The Kamen Rider had used his Drill ring to turn the Sword like horn of his mount into a spinning drill bit that literally ripped chunks away from the Titan before the whole thing had just crumbled from the massive holes gouged through its body. Now the menacing armored magician was moving on him.
"You did good today Uni, head on back to the others." Carter commanded as he dismounted his familiar, the massive blue steed whinnied in compliance and in a flash of blue light, it had returned to its initial toy-like state before flying off on its own to return home, leaving the Machine Winger behind as well.
"Now as for you…"
Cho-ine, Special! Saikooooo!
Carter summoned the DragoSkull to his chest as a blazing torrent of Dragon's fire built within the jaws of the white dragon head. "Do you have any idea of the pain you put that girl through?" Carter demanded to the nervously scrambling kaijin. "Do you have any idea how badly she wanted to walk again!?" The flames grew to their apex and exploded out, consuming the Phantom Bugbear and causing him to howl in pain and terror before he exploded in defeat. The flames died down as Wizard reverted to his normal Flame style form.
"Fui." Carter sighed and turned his back on where his foe had perished. 'That may have been the first time in a long while that I actually wanted to take one of these things out because they pissed me off.' He thought, slightly disappointed with himself. "So uncivilized." He stated as he came up to his gathered friends.
"Hoe?" Sakura asked not understanding as Carter had said it in English. The Wizard chuckled before ruffling the girl's hair.
"Don't worry about it. Let's go before we draw a crowd."
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Ugh! I am literally disgusted with myself! I said that this Fic was on hold just to reassure you guys that I hadn't completely abandoned this story. I have unfortunately fallen into my bad habit of procrastination. I could make the excuse that School was running me ragged but I had chances! I had chances and didn't take them! I have been coming back to this one chapter for over a month now. I would commit seppuku but that would just be the cowards way out!
Eh hmm! We now that that's over…so yeah you guys must have noticed the big changes I made to certain aspects of both series. I'll just throw this out for the more obvious ones, my fic and these seemed like actual things they could have done in the Wizard story but just didn't, probably not in the way I did them but still. As for the Fight. I know some of you will say "That's not the Fights powers. It's supposed to give the user awesome Kung fu skills." Listen can you honestly picture cute, petite and moderately pacifistic Sakura landing some kind of 100-hit combo on a Phantom? Plus they never had Sakura use the card in the anime so it's kind of hard to reinforce.
So Anyway, Summer's coming for me soon and I hope to get back into the swing of things once classes are over. Till then!
I do not own everything I don't own.
