Kamen Rider Tarock, Re-Dealt – Reading Fifteen: Passage
So far on Kamen Rider Tarock, Re-Dealt…
Delinquent Liss Decker found herself caught between combatants from a strange alternate world called the Sphere, and afterward found herself with the ability to transform into Tarock, a warrior of awesome powers. Tarock's creator, a mystical immortal being called an Arancum, asked Liss to become a champion for his people, who were being plagued by the reappearance of monstrous beings they call the Mythos. Mainly seeing an escape from her oppressive everyday life, Liss agreed.
Expecting mostly battle, Liss was surprised to encounter people who saw her as a powerful ally and savior for fighting the Mythos. She found more than her share of enemies as well, including the people of the city of Mazones, ruled by Arcana who considered Tarock a menace for killing one of their number ages ago. After a shaking experience in Mazones, Liss returned to Earth recover.
With help from her old martial arts instructor she's done just that. But now she's just cornered a strange Mythos, and is about to get an idea of just how high the stakes are in the game she's playing…
The heavy metal chains writhed through the air like snakes. Tarock slashed her sword and cleaved through a mass of them but they seemed to jump right back up and wrap themselves around her, pinning her hands to her chest and the edge of Skycalibur's blade painfully digging into her shoulder. Another swarm of chains wrapped around her legs, and the Mythos kicked her in the chest, knocking Tarock off her feet.
He twirled his staff in his hand effortlessly, the glowing purple jewel seeming to spin on its own against the encroaching darkness. "The lady in charge might not want it getting out, but you've managed to be quite a pain," he said. "She didn't think you'd manage to find all those cards, and that was actually the second very specific servitor you killed…I had such plans for the Scarecrow, and it'll take time to be able to mold something so unique again. But most of all we would've had Mazones if you hadn't been hiding out there. The Empress being gone, someone to handle those black and white idiots, a Revenant right there to shatter the walls and let an army of us inside. The Empress would've had no home to run back to…You were the only thing we hadn't planned on."
"Why the hell are you telling me this?" Tarock asked as she tried to strain against the chains.
"Why the hell shouldn't I?" he replied casually. "You'll be one of us before long. Oh, the boss wants to scare you some more first, but I happen to know there's a seat with your name on it in our officers' club, Liss Decker. You can try to push it away, just like you're pushing on those chains, but-"
"Who's pushing?" Tarock said.
He canted his head, then gripped his staff in both hands. "What?"
A link in the chain in front of Tarock's sword popped open on one side; she'd been sawing through it while he talked. And there was a hard-to-miss stream of blood oozing down her shoulder from where the blade had dug in as she'd cut her way free. Tenacious, he thought, and smiled inside his cowl.
One powerful shove and Tarock was able to crawl out of the stretched chains around her arms, and slashed through the length around her legs in a heartbeat. Then she lunged for the Mythos with Skycalibur's tip aimed at his heart. The air whistled as he blocked her attack on his staff, metal clanging and sparks flying. Tarock attacked again in only a second, swinging Skycalibur at his neck. He blocked it easily again, but then grunted in surprise as Tarock suddenly spun and kicked him on the back of one hand, sending his staff rolling down the asphalt.
Inside his hood, Tarock was sure she could see one side of his mouth turn up in a smirk. "Not bad, little-" he started to say before Tarock's fist crunched into the side of his face. Skycalibur became a streak of light that ripped into his chest, exposing a glowing purple dome and coating the blade in blue Mythos blood.
"Call me 'little girl,' asshole," Tarock said, brandishing Skycalibur. "I dare you."
He smirked again…then reached into thin air and suddenly half his arm disappeared into a circle of light. Another appeared over his staff down the street, and he stepped away, pulling his staff in front of him again. "Burst," a voice from his staff said, then a blast fired from the tip of his staff and landed at Tarock's feet. She cried out as she was hurled off the ground, feeling the heat even through her armor.
When the flames cleared Tarock was nowhere to be seen.
For a second. "Calamity! Aqua Burst!" Crouched on a roof in her yellow Cups armor, she let the massive ball of water fly from her gauntlet. The Mythos didn't move at all, but just before he was hit a bubble formed around him and Tarock's attack shattered, doing no damage.
"I think we've spent enough time playing around, Tarock," he said, and his staff intoned, "Mob." Suddenly something split off from his body and morphed into another caped Mythos just like him. Then another Mythos juts like the other one. And another, and another…until there were ten.
As one they flew up and surrounded the building where Tarock crouched. "Burst," whispered the first. Energy beams shot at her, and she was sure they'd level the entire block, and her with it.
"Dire Fate! Blizzard Gatling!" her Fate Driver said, and she felt all her strength gathering in her gauntlet for this form's most powerful attack. She spun in a circle and an ongoing barrage of foot-long ice spears from the fingers of her Sea Hand. As they pierced through the bodies of the Mythos they exploded into blue smoke until only one was left, and disappeared before reforming back on the street.
"Dire Fate! Depth Pressure Kick!" said the Fate Driver. Tarock's body ached as her energy was drawn on to power a second Dire Fate in a row, but this obviously wasn't an enemy she could afford to go easy on. She jumped high, the incredible pressure of water on the ocean floor collecting in Tarock as she made a jump kick at the Mythos. She was a second away from connecting when his staff spoke another word.
"Grav."
Suddenly Tarock was slammed stomach-down on the street, feeling as if a thirty-ton weight was on her back. The Mythos strolled in front of Tarock, then sank to one knee. "Tell me, Tarock," he asked, "why are you so bent on fighting us, even after I offer you my hand in friendship? What have the Arcana promised you?"
"I don't care about them. I'm going to prove I'm strong enough," Tarock grunted, and after a second of looking her in the yellow lenses, the Mythos clutched his staff and the pressure pushing down on her increased.
The most arrogant laugh Tarock had ever heard rang out from under the Mythos's hood. He threw his arms wide and spun in place a few times, letting it echo off the houses around them. Then he turned to look down at Tarock again, not bothering to sink to her eye level again.
"That is the most pathetically vague explanation I've ever heard for that kind of stubbornness, and I've heard more of those than you've had hot meals, little girl!" he laughed again. "But despite what I'm sure you think, I'm not here to kill you. I meant I everything I said. When you've decided you want to be on the winning side, call for me, the Warlock. Until then…"
The pressure on Tarock's back vanished just before the Mythos himself did in a flash of purple power. Angry and exhausted Tarock pulled herself to her feet. Her armor faded, but the Warlock's words to her lingered in her mind.
She didn't notice the small glittering shape overhead flitting away with the battle concluded.
When Liss got back to the dojo, Sensei was still waiting on the roof where he'd been when she'd gone jumping off to chase a monster. He looked at her, seeming to be trying to betray nothing but Liss was sure he was trying to spot any new injuries.
"Get what you were after?" he asked.
"No," Liss said. "He got away. He was a really tough one. And that's why we have to stop with this intro stuff. Now."
"Oh?"
"Yeah," Liss said, and looked him straight in the eye, a determination there he hadn't seen in anyone in a long time. "I need to be stronger. I need to be able to take pain better, and for longer. And I need to start the real stuff tonight."
He looked at her, then looked away, crossing his arms over his chest. "If that's what you need, then I'll give it to you, Liss. But that's the thing, I'll give it to you. I can't be responsible if you're too sore to go chasing monsters after we're done.
"I've survived some pretty intense things already," Liss said.
"Okay," he nodded. Then suddenly he threw a hard spin-kick at her side.
It hurt blocking that.
Over the dry plains flew a transparent moth with impossible speed for such a creature. It slowed as it approached a few low hills, then disappeared right through the side of one of them into a small cave. Inside the two occupants stopped their conversation as it entered.
"Ah!" said Jack, the wandering Arcanum, and held out his hand for the moth to land on. "Seen something interesting, have you, my little beauty? Let's have a look at what it was." The moth flattened out into a white card with a picture of a moth on it, then from the card jumped an image of Tarock fighting the Warlock Mythos, and holding her own until he'd used his gravity power to pin her to the ground.
"Seems we accepted a tenacious champion indeed," said Jack as Tarock cut herself free from her chains even though she cut into herself to do it.
As the recording ended Jack glanced over at the transparent face of his old friend, what remained of the wizard called Master Shardak. "Did you see what I saw?" Jack asked.
Shardak nodded, and narrowed his weary eyes. "That Mythos has an external power source. A very familiar one," he said as he remembered the day he'd been reduced to this incorporeal essence with only a shadow of his former powers. As he was able to gather himself and keep from fading completely into nothingness, the dark-haired beauty he'd trusted, even let himself begin to love, flew away cackling with that purple stone in her hand. The essence of what he'd been, and the power that had been his to wield…
"Seems we may have underestimated Morgan," Jack said quietly. "If they've managed to figure out how to use that, even in such a limited capacity."
Shardak nodded again, and sighed. "Even without finesse there's plenty of power to be tapped there. I should know…Liss may be in more danger than even she's equipped to handle."
"She may not be the only one," Jack said in almost a whisper.
"Oh?" Shardak asked, even though he had a fair guess at what his old friend would say.
"If they can harness the power of one Arcanum, why stop there?" Jack asked. "Maybe that's why they've been focusing their efforts on the capitals, herding people there…those are the most fortified spots, of course, but they're also the easiest place to find Arcana. And if the Mythos aren't interested in just the Sphere, think of how much more dangerous that would make them to Liss's world if they had even more power. Liss and Ben would be overwhelmed. Quickly."
"There's a much closer side to the matter, isn't there?" Shardak pointed out.
"If I'm right the Mythos are going to be trying to harvest Arcana," Jack nodded. "We may be looking upon the end of an era, old friend."
"And in a way, isn't that what we wanted?" Shardak asked.
"Did we want it like this?" Jack asked back.
"There are things immortality makes you forget," Shardak said, thoughtfully lacing his transparent hands together. "Everything has to end. But perhaps we speak too quickly. It's entirely likely they attack the largest cities because those are where the people have gone after the distant settlements were destroyed."
A wan smile formed on Jack's face and he straightened his cap, then picked up his stick. "Can we really afford to think that's the case, Shardak?"
"No," Shardak said, almost whispering. "We can't. We've got to assume if they're going to strike it's going to be soon, while the powers of the Sphere are still divided. The search for the 'lost soul' would bring us all together again."
"Indeed." Jack tucked away the first card then produced another from his bag. A small push of his energy and the card turned into another crystalline moth. "Fly, little one," said Jack. "Keep an eye on Liss. She'll be needing all the help she can get, but if I know her she'll have a hard time asking for it. And I suppose I'd better go warn the others, even Maeve if she'll listen."
"Tread carefully," said Shardak. "If a purge is coming…"
Jack walked out of the cave, but as soon as he was outside he sped into the distance. Then Shardak turned to the stone table before him, focused his power and continued to shape another object from a jagged Ora Stone.
The abandoned parking lot beyond the old chain link fence was still empty. Sue Gand found herself a shady spot a respectful distance away, then pulled her laptop out of her bag to add a few thoughts to the report she was here to prepare. It had been a while since she'd had enough for the last one.
Tarock, as the local hero's called, continues to confound. Those aware of her background as a juvenile delinquent prior to gaining her powers would expect her to set herself up as a tyrant meting out punishment to everyone who'd made her life difficult before. Instead she seems to prefer to remain in the shadows until needed, when she or her new partner emerges and fights back against the strange invaders, the "Mythos" with superhuman power.
The effect their presence has had on this decaying town since I've arrived is nothing short of miraculous. Local businesses are starting to reopen, beautifying projects are springing up, and people seem to feel safer walking the streets, even if monsters are showing up now and then with nefarious intent. Someone fighting for them has revitalized the area in a way I would've called fanciful if I hadn't been around to see it for myself.
Yet…I confess that personally I remain uneasy because of Tarock's secretive nature. Her old martial arts instructor is trying to portray her as someone who finds this town worth fighting for to improve morale in the kids in his current class. It's certainly true that I've only encountered Tarock fighting in defiance of Mythos creatures, but I've seen her all the same. She's canny, and might only be waiting until she feels she's evaluated the other powers involved in this struggle enough to pick a stance of her own.
Last night's attack, where she fought what appeared to be some kind of wizard-monster, was particularly worrying. He was able to go toe-to-toe with Tarock, and before he left her behind I'm sure I heard him say something about "when she was ready to be on the winning side." I'm afraid of what that could mean.
Myself, I want to believe the best. Having seen a few of the things she has for myself, I believe she's capable of becoming a caring protector if she can see the incentive for herself. From a few of the stories she's passed on to her teacher that I've since convinced him to pass on to me, though, I hear she's also pained by the rejection of someone she considered a close friend. Who knows which way an offer from a powerful presence like the Mythos might push someone who's been through as much rejection as she has? What were the people who prompted her to accept her powers and join their fight thinking pressuring a teenager into a situation like this?
Tarock's instructor is trying to guide her toward becoming a champion of the people. With Mythos creatures seeming to get more numerous and powerful all the time, I doubt it'll be long before we need one. It's worrying to think how much of our future could soon rest on the shoulders of a very conflicted girl.
She looked up as she heard a vehicle coming up, a big white van. A man in a hardhat got out, unlocked the heavy padlock holding a gate in the fence closed. Sue closed her laptop and jogged over to the men, flashing her brightest smile.
Morning came much too early to suit Liss, as the cacophony of hair driers, breakfast preparations and an argument about whether who had done what homework like they claimed intruded into the little backroom she'd been given to stay. Every part of her body felt sore and bruised after all the blows she'd had to fend off last night, it seemed unfair to attack her eardrums at the crack of dawn too.
Still, it was the first time in a while she woke up not remembering any dreams about the White Lady taunting her…
After Sensei's daughters were off to school a few uneventful but busy hours followed breakfast, of sweeping up downstairs and wiping smudges off the front windows. There wouldn't be class that afternoon, but there'd still be private practice for her. Even after she was done with her morning routine, it still hurt if Liss tried to move too suddenly. But hell if she was going to let herself not measure up to that. After her cleaning rounds were done, Liss made up her mind to get out and get some activity before that night's sparring.
As Liss went running, the town seemed more active than she remembered from before her weeks spent recovering from a beating on the Sphere. A couple storefronts she was sure had been empty (because they'd been on her list of hiding places before she'd become Tarock) before had people inside them cleaning up and setting up shelves and buffing the dirt off ancient tile floors. People were out walking around, looking where they were going and not into dark corner where an attacker might be waiting. Some were even jogging too, along with a dog on a leash.
What had gone on while she was healing?
The buildings started to thin out after about an hour and soon Liss could see the chain link fence surrounding the decrepit old amusement park at the edge of town, Marvel Land. Liss vaguely remembered going there with her family when she was barely three and a half years old. Couldn't remember anything about the rides or the games or the mascots. Just that when she asked her mother if they could go again a few months later, Liss found out they'd gone to Marvel Land's last season. It closed down a few weeks after their visit.
Liss jogged around the edge of the edges of the old park, looking at the empty old buildings, especially the ones with no signs on them anymore and trying to remember what they used to be. But as Liss made a circuit around the old fence she stopped when she noticed a gate had been opened and inside the parking lot was a group of men surveying the area. Nearby them was a white van with a logo of a sun peeking over a mountain range next to lettering that said "SILVER LIGHT CONSTRUCTION: Shaping a brighter tomorrow, today."
Not just surveyors, either. A familiar-looking woman was inside the fence talking to them, but as Liss came jogging into view the woman looked up and spotted her.
It was Sue Gand.
And when she recognized the girl going past, Sue broke away from the men inside the fence and went after her.
Normally Liss probably would've been able to outrun her, even if Sue Gand was better at keeping up than most people she'd met. That day, Liss wasn't up to running her fastest and even though she tried to pick up the pace a minute later Sue was next to her.
"Well, if it isn't the local hero," Sue grinned as she jogged beside Liss. "The one who isn't as chatty."
Liss slowed to a walk. "And if it isn't the reporter who can't tell when she's getting nowhere."
"Hey, I haven't seen you in ages, I thought I'd come over to report," Sue replied. "You're making a lot of people take notice of the monsters you protect this town from. Even Carl Stanford's noticed."
Why did that sound familiar? He was probably some rich guy Liss had heard of before, but never thought much about. What difference did rich people make to her when she lived in a place like this?
The lack of an answer prompted Sue to go on. "He owns the company that's checking out the old amusement park back there. The guys there said he heard about how there's a couple superheroes operating around here, and he's thinking about reopening the park."
"With all the monsters showing up?" an incredulous Liss asked.
"You're forgetting the heroes showing up to save people from the monsters," Sue smiled. "You're part of a proud tradition, Liss! People who've honest-to-God saved the world a bunch of times."
"Don't tell me what to be!" Liss snapped. "That's all I ever heard, how I need to match what somebody else thinks is good if I'm ever going to count for anything!"
"Down, girl," Sue as gently as he could while still standing her ground. "I'm trying to say you're impressing big people with what you're doing, and you're doing a good job as part of a whole legacy of heroes like you. Have you seen what's been happening around here since you and your friend started fighting off monsters? It's like this place is coming back to life."
"It won't stay like that unless somebody's strong enough to beat that Warlock guy," Liss said, giving Sue a knowing look. "And I don't care what rich people think of what I'm doing." Then before Sue could say anything else Liss bolted down the street and darted between a pair of buildings.
Quietly, Sue sighed and put off thoughts of chasing Liss down like she'd managed before. So much more was at stake now, and Sue didn't feel she could take the risk of pushing Liss into something regrettable with another attempt to persuade her. At least she'd said she planned on getting stronger to fight the Warlock, not accept his offer to join forces. That was a good sign.
Wasn't it?
For the next week and a half things settled into a routine. Every night Liss and Sensei would spar. He didn't go easy on her, and some nights it was a job just dragging herself to bed, where she'd be woken much too early by her host's family scrambling to get ready before the school bus rattled by. Most of the day Liss went around town working out, and every other afternoon she was the assistant instructor at Angelo's kung-fu class after school let out. The only change was teaching another class when the weekend rolled around.
Sue had been right about life seeming to return to their town, and as the days got cooler and the leaves of what trees lived there turned orange, Jack o' lanterns appeared in windows and on doorsteps. Cardboard skulls were hung in the windows of the Dragon Academy.
After staggering to bed the night before the last day of the month, Liss fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.
And immediately there was a feeling of numbing cold on her arm, and in her dreams she could see the White Lady standing side by side with the Warlock.
"Tomorrow's a momentous day, isn't it?" the White Lady asked her companion.
"Indeed!" laughed the Warlock from within his cowl. "Not only our inspirations are glorified in one of their only worthwhile celebrations, tomorrow is the day our newest, greatest ally becomes a woman! Truly this is a time for celebration!"
"Go to hell," Liss breathed. The two Mythos leaders laughed and looked about to say something else snide when their images rippled, like a pond when a rock was dropped into it. The image started to come together again into a single figure in a ragged black cloak. They pulled back the hood, and it took Liss a second to recognize Lost. She looked even more haggard and exhausted than the first time they'd met, when Lost had appeared in a drainage canal and created a scorpion monster Liss had just barely been able to defeat.
"Tarock," she said hoarsely, "I need your help."
"What's going on?" Liss asked. The cold on her arm was getting even worse. "This isn't just a dream, is it?"
Lost shook her head sadly. "A part of the darkness entered you. It took me some time to understand who…," Lost shuddered and had to pause for a second before she continued, "who she was talking to instead of me, but I think that's what lets her appear in your mind as you sleep. Like it's letting me appear now. But I don't think I have long. You're going to destroy her, aren't you?"
Liss weighed her answer for a minute. If the White Lady really was getting into her mind when she was asleep, how did she know this wasn't some kind of trick? How much did Liss really know about the powers all these weird people and monsters had?
But there was something else coming through. An intense feeling of loneliness, layered through with…vulnerability seemed the only appropriate word, that was still all too familiar. Liss had hardened herself against those feelings years ago, but Lost couldn't do that, could she? She heard the White Lady in her head whether she was awake or asleep, and she was probably on the run everyday from any monsters she created whenever she had an attack and vomited up that evil black stuff that Mythos came to life from. What could Lost possibly do to protect herself?
"Yes, I'm going to if I can find her. What about you?" Liss asked. "Where are you?"
Lost's image rippled slightly for a second and she clutched her head in her hands. "Trapped. Close, but closer to…them. Help me, Tarock, please! They're going to-"
Lost faded completely, and Liss concentrated as hard as she could, forcing herself awake before the Mythos bosses could come back and taunt her about her helplessness again.
What had Lost meant by that, "close, but closer to them"? Had the Mythos caught her? Where were they keeping her?
Or did Liss already know the answer to that?
The next day Liss was mildly disturbed to find her routine thrown off when there was no class after school ended for the day. It was then when a wall seemed to come down in her mind, and she noticed all the decorations and kids walking around in costumes. Had she really gotten so focused on bulking up for her fight with the Mythos she'd failed to notice all that? Or was it not wanting to dwell on what else the occasion meant?
The living area was empty when Liss went up to see if she and Sensei would at least spar on the roof. Probably had other plans, given the date, but Liss climbed the stairs to the roof anyway to make sure.
She failed to hold in a groan at what she saw instead.
Behind the door Sensei had set up a barbecue and was busy turning over hamburger patties and steaks as she opened the door. Milling around were his daughters and a couple other girls their age who barely looked up as Liss emerged. The older one, Anissa, was wearing a slutty vampire costume. The younger girl, Virginia, who attended her father's kung-fu class, was dressed up like the princess from the family fantasy movie that had been a big hit a few months ago and Liss hadn't thought once about going to see. It looked out of place on a fourteen-year-old, to say the least.
And on the far corner of the roof, chatting over beers, were Sue Gand and Liss's older sister Paige. She was actually wearing makeup, something Liss didn't think she'd ever seen on her sister. Paige looked up as the door open and smiled wickedly. "Well, if it isn't the birthday girl herself!" she said loud enough to be heard over everyone else's conversations.
"Hey, Liss," said Virginia "Happy birthday." The other girls' greeting was a mass of mumbled "hellos" before they turned back to the conversation they'd been having.
It'd always been like that. Having a birthday that landed right on another day where people celebrated something else, nobody ever got very excited about the first thing. Liss had learned to accept that a long time ago. In fact, after a while it had started feeling uncomfortable when people tried to insist on celebrating her birthday anyway. Handily that had all stopped about when her parents had kicked Paige out of the family…
Liss wandered over to a little table with a cake and other refreshments on it and poured herself a glass of punch. Then she went over to the edge of the roof and had a seat. Paige cast a watchful eye on her younger sister, but Liss didn't try to get anywhere near the beer cooler. In fact Liss just stared off over the horizon, not even paying attention to the groups of excited costumed kids gathering candy door-to-door below.
After a while Paige came over and sat beside Liss herself. "Everything okay, kid?" Paige asked. "Kind of disappointed at the turnout?"
"I haven't cared about this in forever," Liss answered. "Matter of fact, I bet we wouldn't even be having this if somebody hadn't told Sensei about what day this is."
Paige slapped her gently between the shoulders. "Maybe somebody thought you needed a break from saving the world. And did you see the butt on that reporter lady? Mmmm, she fills out those jeans nice…"
"Sounds like I'm not the only one taking a break from real life," Liss muttered, finished her glass in one gulp and got up to refill it, but Paige lightly grabbed Liss by the wrist and sat her back down.
"How's the hero business going?" Paige asked conversationally.
"It's…going," Liss said softly, almost grumbling, then pulling her arm free and looking away. "But that's why I'm here, so Sensei can help me get stronger and deal with anything that comes after me."
Paige leaned across Liss's lap and got another beer out of the cooler next to her, cracked it and took a sip. "Hasn't been all cheering crowds and beautiful girls throwing themselves at you, huh?" she asked, and Liss gave her a weird look. "How about we go for a walk? I don't think anybody'll mind if we keep it short."
Liss said nothing, but followed behind Paige as she went down the stairs, through the living area and out the back door of the building. They attracted a few stray glances from trick-or-treaters until Paige finished her beer and dropped it in a trashcan. "You know," Liss said. "When I crashed at your place after getting my belt, you were all onboard with me doing this. Now you sound like were expecting this to suck for me."
Her older sister's hand clamped on Liss's shoulder, and Paige leaned on her a little to be able to walk straight. "Liss," she said. "You're doing something important, but I don't even like this kind of fantasy thing and even I knew it wasn't going to be all fun and games. But this is the biggest thing you've ever done, Liss. You needed to learn that for yourself, too."
Liss almost dropped her. This coming out of the mouth of her older sister, someone among the people who could be counted on one hand that she felt genuine respect for. And Liss had hung around Paige enough times to know she wasn't sloshed enough to be saying anything she wouldn't still say if she was sober. "You knew that and you were totally okay with letting me go out and get my ass beat on?" she demanded.
"Liss," Paige said, holding up a hand for quiet. "I agree that if you can do this, you can do anything, and even if you don't care I think you're doing a lot of good with the monster killing and everything. But you wouldn't have listened to me if I tried to tell you this then, and you know it. You were still too busy thinking about fighting back against everybody, cuz you had something that made you invincible. You had to find out for yourself that you weren't, or you might've gone ahead and done something really stupid and somebody else around here who'd made you mad once would've paid the price. If you saw how hard it was and stuck with it, you could accomplish something great. But trying to talk you out of it…I was afraid you'd get mad enough to take your magic belt and go attack somebody."
After a second Paige managed to straighten herself out and adopt a reasonable facsimile of an unaffected walk. Liss followed a ways behind her. That hadn't been the nicest thing Paige had ever said to her, but it was one of the most honest. When Paige had said she supported Liss being Tarock because it was something that made her happy, Liss had been handed a humbling defeat already, but she'd just gotten a new card and a new form that was even more powerful than her first one. She was feeling invincible after that, even against the Arcanum who'd beaten her before. If she hadn't been leaving for the Sphere immediately, knowing where to look for yet another card, maybe Liss would've stuck around and smashed up somebody's house to ask if they still thought she'd never measure up. It was true. Liss Decker hadn't been a very nice person then.
But going to the Sphere right after that, meeting people who were actually eager to put themselves under her protection, it'd struck an unexpected chord with Liss. And then meeting a girl who was just hoping for someone to help break the malaise of living in constant fear of attack...how much had going through that changed her? Liss hadn't even cared about settling the score with Thena or Ven and Donis after the fighting broke out in Mazones. Just getting away, finding a safe place to collect herself after Rexi'd refused to have anything more to do with her.
"How'd you know I wouldn't just get my stupid ass killed, then?" Liss asked.
Paige smiled an uneven smile at her little sister and gave her a rub across the scalp with her knuckles. "You weren't gonna die. You're a little punk, but you ain't stupid," Paige said. Then suddenly she ran her fingers through Liss's hair. "Oh, you're growing this out, huh? Hmmm…looks nice, but you should brush it too."
"Ack!" Liss pulled away and gave her sister a light shove. "What's with you tonight?" she demanded.
"I hardly recognized you when you showed up. You're growing up, Liss," Paige answered. "I think your plan's working"
"And what's that got to do with my hair? It got longer when I was stuck on the Sphere after having the crap kicked out of me."
"You've had plenty of time to cut it back where it was before," Paige smirked. "Feeling different? Wanting to try something different?"
"Shut up," Liss groaned. Even one of the only people she could stand gave her shit. Then again, maybe she shouldn't think that so terrible…
Their conversation was interrupted as something strange entered the street about a block down. It was a man on a black horse, holding a glowing jack o' lantern in one hand, and the collar of his flapping black cloak completely empty. The horse trotted down the street, and trick-or-treaters stopped and stared at him, pointing and laughing at the amazing costume he had on. Liss grimaced as she felt her arm suddenly turn icy cold.
Then without warning he raised the pumpkin high over his shoulders, and hurled it at a group of them. They screamed and ran, but the pumpkin exploded and the last girl in the group, too slow to get away, was hurled to the sidewalk with her costume on fire.
"Damn it!" Liss screamed, and Paige looked over at her only to see no-one there. Liss dashed across the street, whipping her duster off and using it to beat out the flames on the girl's back. She looked up at the man on horseback, unsure where to look with his absence of a head. He raised a ghostly white hand and pointed at her.
"Tarock," he said, the voice a wheeze, and seeming to come from nowhere at all. He held his other hand high and another jack o' lantern appeared in it, and he wasted no time in throwing it at Liss and the girl at her feet.
The girl screamed, almost drowning out the voice of the Fate Driver. "Wands Suit!" In a blaze of blue Liss Decker became Tarock once again, in the blue armor of her swift Wands Form. Its namesake was in her hand in a flash and she used it to swat back the incoming jack o' lantern. The headless Mythos produced another and threw it to meet his own returned projectile, which both exploded in a sheet of fire. Tarock lifted her Pyre Brand to attack, and the Mythos responded by leaning back hard in the saddle and making his horse rear up before turning and galloping down the street away from her.
"Time to go to work," Tarock said. "Mag Step." She turned into a formless blue blur and disappeared up the street. Away from the Mythos. Paige looked after her in disbelief for a second, that she would run away from a hostile monster. But before Paige could blink a bigger, darker blue blur shot down the street past her, leaving a trail of flame on the asphalt. For just a second before it was out of sight, Paige could see it solidify into Tarock riding an armored motorcycle.
It took only seconds for Tarock to catch up with the fleeing Mythos on Shift Runner. She pulled up alongside him as he started to veer toward the sidewalk and a huddle of panicked kids. Tarock came between them and pulled back on the handlebars and lifted her bike's front wheel just off the ground, then leaned and slammed it into the horse's side. Blue slime shot from the wound and the horse whickered loudly in pain but it moved back toward the middle of the street like Tarock had hoped.
Out of nowhere the Mythos swiped at her head with a cavalry saber, but Tarock blocked the swing on the haft of her Pyre Brand and twisted her wrist suddenly, knocking the sword from the Mythos's hand. Before he could retaliate Tarock put on a burst of speed away from him then whipped around to face him at the next corner. From somewhere he'd produced a musket rifle with a gleaming bayonet as long as her forearm. He took aim and fired a flaming bullet the size of cannonball from it at her and Shift Runner's tires smoked as Tarock sped away from where she'd been before it could hit her.
The heat of the blast she could still feel through her suit made it clear this wasn't a fight she could afford to let draw itself out. As she raced forward she leveled the Pyre Brand and the Fate Driver said, "Calamity! Dragon's Maw!" Fire lanced from the tip at the Mythos, but the black stallion jumped suddenly, right over Tarock's head, and kicked with its hind legs sending her tumbling off her motorcycle.
She scraped herself off the street in time to see the Mythos wheel around and come galloping at her again. He aimed his musket and launched another fiery shot at Tarock, but it passed through her in a puff of smoke before exploding against the ground another twenty feet away. It'd been nothing but one of the decoys she could create in Wands Form, and the real Tarock jumped up and landed her hardest kick on the headless rider's chest. He jerked back, but instead of falling off like Tarock had hoped he jabbed with his bayonet at her side. Tarock leaned to dodge it and her skin crawled under her suit as she noticed the rider's legs were melded to his horse's flanks…
He stabbed at Tarock's hip and reflexively she jumped off the horse, so high she passed the roofs of the buildings around them. As she reached the top of her jump she seemed to float above the scene of the street and the black horseman for a second, waiting for her to return to the ground so he could destroy her, and was amazed by how serene everything seemed in that instant, before gravity snatched her and pulled her earthward again. She could already see him pointing his weapon up at her, and got ready to fire back.
Wait. Fire back? Like the Wands Form's element? Had she just made a pun? Was she actually turning into a cheesy superhero?
"Dire Fate! Flames of Wrath!" said the Fate Driver.
Right. Finishing the fight. She could feel her power gathering in her wand and spun her body before releasing a fireball toward the Mythos. He fired his musket at her but his shot was engulfed by hers, which barreled into him and knocked him, horse and all, to the ground.
She spun again, releasing an even bigger fireball. It swallowed the Mythos, the horse struggling to get up and escape, when Tarock spun one last time before she landed, unleashing the biggest fireball of all, six feet from end to end, that she sent screaming onto the flaming mass where the Mythos lay. As it hit and exploded from curb to curb, any sight of the Mythos was lost completely. The fire only burned for a few seconds but when it was gone there was no trace of the Mythos left.
Tarock went over to where Shift Runner had stopped to see if it was damaged after the spill it'd taken. As she was bending down she heard someone clapping, and looked up to see a little girl in a purple witch's costume who stopped clapping as Tarock made eye contact with her. But then a young pirate emerged from hiding and started clapping. Then an even younger fairy princess next to him joined in. Within a minute an entire street of relieved trick-or-treaters and chaperones were applauding.
"Hey," said a smiling mother. "What do we call you?"
"Tarock. But I know one lady who isn't gonna be happy about her reputation with you having to ask," she answered.
While the trick-or-treaters cheered her victory, Tarock had a very uncomfortable feeling of being watched.
Eventually Tarock managed to slip away from her admirers and returned to the Dragon Academy. Sensei, Sue and Paige were there, no surprise, and most of the girls who'd been convinced to come were gone. Not young Virginia, who was sitting at the kitchen table fidgeting nervously and only stopped when Liss took her duster off and it was obvious there was no blood on her.
"Sorry to hear about you having to work on your birthday, kid," Sue said.
Liss waved it off. "Fighting monsters is what the powers are for."
"Oh yeah?" Paige said, and met Liss's probing gaze, but betrayed nothing. "But anyway, anybody else think it's about present time?"
"I agree," said a familiar voice, and out of the bathroom stepped none other than Jack, who'd already reached into his bag and produced a box wrapped in some weird green fabric with a gold-colored ribbon tied neatly around it.
"What the hell?" Liss had to ask.
"He didn't just beam into the bathroom, he showed up while you were gone just now," Angelo explained. "Guess even guys who live forever need to do that sometimes."
Jack chuckled and nodded at that. "I have a need to be elsewhere soon, but I'm not so poor a guest I'll try to deny the ah…birthday girl's relations from having their gift opened first." That earned him a funny sidelong glance from Paige, but she pressed a large gift box into Liss's hands. There was no ribbon but it had been carefully wrapped in a black paper decorated with pictures of red and yellow muscle cars with exposed engines. Inside was a box, and inside the box was a shiny blue and white Shoei motorcycle helmet.
"I'd feel better with you saving the world if I know you were protecting your head while you were on the Batcycle," said Paige. "And those guys make the best helmets, you know."
From anyone else, a practical and protective birthday present might've annoyed Liss. Sounded like being told she needed to brush her teeth more or wear clear underwear in case she was in an accident. But…she was running headlong into danger most days now. And sometimes she couldn't see it coming.
"Thanks, Paige," Liss said. Paige smiled and ruffled her hair.
"And if I may," Jack said, pressing his package into Liss's hands. She removed the wrappings from it then opened the box. Inside was a large rhomboid-shaped jewel with leather straps on the top, but completely clear. Next to it in the box were two stacks of small cards the same size as the ones she used to change to her different forms. Instead of having pictures of objects, these ones had pictures of a moth and a snake on the front.
"New weapons…?" Liss asked, not wanting to guess too far off with how little she really knew of what Jack and Shardak were capable of.
"In a sense," Jack smiled, and pointed to the jewel. "This is the Royal Core. It can draw out the spirits of the original wielders of your cards' powers, giving you an ally in battle. It requires constant concentration to sustain them, but we had a feeling you might soon be in a situation where it could save your life.
"And it can do more. Touching the Core will summon an ally, but holding your hand onto its surface will trigger a more powerful attack still. It will tax your body, but we believe it will be powerful enough to destroy even a giant Mythos monster with ease."
"A Revenant," Liss said.
"What?"
"A Revenant," Liss explained. "I…heard one of them talking last night. That's what they call the big ones that appear after a regular one dies, apparently," Liss said.
Jack nodded, seeming unsettled by what Liss had told him about, but indicated the other contents of the box with a wave of his hand. "These can be turned into spies to search for anything you need, with only a small transference of energy. We call them Wild Cards, because, you see-"
"Because they're wild animals on cards, got it," Liss said. "But why a moth and a snake? Why not like a wolf and a hawk? Something stronger? Or cooler?"
Jack shrugged, smiling a bit knowingly. "Trying to make these our own, I suppose. You aren't the first Kamen Rider to have such aids. One even had something like that this turned itself into a hamburger." Liss gave him a bizarre look. Jack went on, "Anyway, I must be off. There are many preparations to make. We may be able to cut the Mythos off at the source, if we can only find that 'lost soul'."
"I don't know if I want to be called one of those," Liss said, then murmured, "I have a feeling she might be close."
Every in the room was on her suddenly. "And what gives you that feeling?" Sue was the first to ask.
"I just have it. I think she was asking me to save her," Liss said quietly.
Slowly, Jack nodded. "Then we may be able to end this even sooner than we suspected. I'll see about some help soon. Be brave, Liss," he said. Then the air seemed to stretch for a second, and Jack was gone.
His absence hung in the air for a second before anyone spoke. "Well, aren't you gonna try out your new thing, Liss?" Virginia asked.
Almost tentatively Liss took out her Swords card and loaded it. "Swords Suit!" the Fate Driver announced same as ever, and in a second she'd become Tarock again. She hooked the Royal Core onto her belt then lightly tapped it with her palm. The Fate Driver spoke again: "Coronation! Queen of Swords!"
Virginia yelped in surprise and jumped back as a human shape appeared next to Tarock. It was a woman clad in bright red armor and holding a sword that looked just like Tarock's own. And without a word she went into a battle stance.
Tarock sighed and the woman flickered out of sight. It was going to be a useful new power once she figured it out, she was sure, and she could stand as many of those as she could get with an enemy who wasn't just strong but smart, like the Warlock. But on that night, when she was legally a woman, after her meeting with the Warlock, her dream-meeting with Lost, and her conversations with Sue and Paige…she felt less sure than ever about her part in the epic confrontation going on with her right in the middle.
Next time on Kamen Rider Tarock, Re-Dealt…
Lost: I can feel you coming closer and closer…
(Liss explores underground tunnels in her Swords Form)
Donis: I'm so close…you must fall, Tarock.
(Tarock and the Queen fight against Ven and Donis)
Vaga: They just need me here a little longer, Liss. I'm coming home to help, I swear!
(Vaga desperately fends off a spider-like Mythos)
Liss: We can stop this all at once if we find Lost…but how?
(Lost huddles in a darkened concrete room, then starts to wretch)
Narrator: Your fate is in your hands.
Thanks for reading all the way to the end! I understand this chapter was kind of busy but I've always wanted the story element to run deep.
Seems the Mythos are getting even more formidable with the appearance of the Warlock. Any horror gamers reading might've already picked up on who he is and other ways he might be messing with Tarock and her friends. Luckily she's gotten a new power that might help even the odds if she can master it.
Things are picking up, and I hope you're looking forward to seeing where they go. Happy Halloween!