ORBS CHAPTER 2: A Collaboration by Kamen Rider Chrome and Ten-Faced Paladin
"You know, I'm so glad that's over," said Satoshi, relieved.
"And so am I," said Gnol. Satoshi merely blinked at the sudden closeness of the voice before looking down to see not his usual arm where it should be, but Gnol covering it!
"Wargh!" Satoshi cried as he stared at the demonic arm which had replaced his own. "Get off me!" He tried to shake Gnol loose. "Get off! Get off!"
"Sorry, my boy, but I've never let go of my property and I'm not going to start now!" Gnol argued. "Besides, you owe me!"
"I owe you nothing!" Satoshi shot back.
"If it weren't for me, you'd still be in a coma like those other invalids!"
"You never wanted me to wake up in the first place! You were trying to possess me!"
"That's not the point!"
The Hinamizawa Gaming Club stared at the scene with looks of bewilderment. It was like something out of an anime, watching someone yelling at what seemed to be their own arm while trying to shake it off. Even more bizarre was the fact that the arm was talking back, trying to justify its reason for being there.
"OK, this has got to be the weirdest thing I've ever seen," said Keiichi.
"Really? So the monster that tried to kill us wasn't the weirdest thing?" Mion questioned, a deadpan look on her face.
"It comes close."
"Get off Satoshi-kun!" Shion yelled, grabbing onto Gnol.
"Get off my Nii-nii!" Satoko added just as furiously as she grabbed hold along with Shion. The two girls tugged on Gnol, trying to pry him off their favorite boy. Satoshi was pulling in the opposite direction. However, Gnol was a stubborn one and just wouldn't budge.
"Everyone," Rika began, but no one seemed to hear her. "Hello?" She called again and was likewise ignored once again. "HEY!" she yelled at the top of her lungs. Everyone froze in their current positions, either trying to pry Gnol off Satoshi or watching the weird game of tug-o-war, only moving their heads to look at Rika. "Thank you, nipah!" She spoke, "I think we have to clean the place up."
The classroom was a mess and there was also the gaping hole in the wall, not to mention that coins that were littering the schoolyard after the monster's destruction. Despite all odds, it seemed like no one really noticed that the monster had busted through the wall and went on a rampage. Then again, Hinamizawa, despite its small population did have a lot of space between some of the buildings and/or residences. It was likely that it really had gone unnoticed.
"Well, the desks can be put back where they are," said Mion, scratching her head. "But I don't know about the wall…"
"Forget about that!" Gnol ordered. "Collect the coins and give them to me!"
Everyone gave the demonic arm odd looks. "Why?" Mion asked. What was so special about the coins, except that they had come out of the monster Satoshi had destroyed?
"It's because those coins are its power source," Hanyuu answered. "Isn't that right, Darkloid General Gnol Gnauh?"
Inside the Onifaguchi swamp, Uryies, Okkyab, and Ubneg were seated in what amounted to a clearing. All of them were silent and staring in the direction which would eventually lead them to the local school for Hinamizawa. They had all felt Ukazus' Darkghoul appear and begin its mission, but they had likewise felt the power of Orbs before it destroyed said Darkghoul. When the energy of their servant winked out, the three Darkloids let out their small sighs of disappointment.
"Looks like Ukazus' Darkghoul was just destroyed," said Uyries. "What a pity. All those Yin coins have gone to waste."
"Yes, and all because of Orbs," said Okkayb.
"Indeed," agreed Ubneg. "A new Orbs has been born in this era. We must tread carefully, my brethren."
"I doubt Ukazus will listen," said Okkayb.
The gang was seated around a desk with the coins all stacked up before them in the centre. Gnol was also the centre of attention. Unfortunately, he wasn't going to let go of Satoshi's arm so the unfortunate boy was in by association, the centre of attention. Shion and Satoko would have liked nothing more than to pry Gnol off of the boy they both loved and stick him back in a cage, but the scaled arm was stuck as if he really belonged there.
"Okay, so I think I can speak for everyone when I say this," Mion spoke seriously, as her role as club president and class rep…before she immediately went into 'full rage mode' screaming quite loudly. "JUST WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT THING?"
"You don't have to be so loud," Gnol grumbled, tapping his fingers on the desk Satoshi was sitting at. "It's what we call a Darkghoul. They're servants myself and my fellow Generals can create to fulfill tasks that we otherwise would not do ourselves."
"Make them?" asked Keiichi. "Just how do you make something like that?"
"That's the easy part," Gnol answered amusedly. He pointed over to the pile of black coins which the kids had collected. "We just need a single Yin coin and a human who has a lot of sin inside of them. Inserting the coin into the human creates a Darkling."
"Darkling?" asked Rena.
"The first stage of life for Darkghouls," Gnol explained. "They look like shambling corpses. Once they're formed, they devour the things which the person they came from sinned for, growing stronger. Once they eat enough they go into a chrysalis stage before emerging as a complete Darkghoul."
Mion frowned as she heard the explanation. At first she was drawn into the creepy explanation as much as the others were, but then she was hit with a revelation, making her gasp out loud. "Wait a minute! That Darkghoul must have came from Oni-baba! One of you jerks used her to make that thing!"
"If it's made from her sin then I'm surprised it wasn't bigger," Shion huffed, crossing her arms.
"Why her though?" asked Keiichi. "I mean, the Sonozaki estate is crawling with guards. Why not make a Darkghoul from someone that no one would cares to listen to?"
"Wait…Sonozaki?" Gnol gasped, pointing himself at Mion and Shion. "You two are blood relations to Sonozaki, one of the samurai who defeated me and the others?"
"So what if we are?" asked Mion with a frown.
"Oh do I know how to pick a host," Gnol grumbled, tapping the desk again. "My host hangs out with the heirs of Sonozaki and Furude. Just wonderful. I'm surprised that more Darkghouls haven't showed up yet."
"So one of the generals made that Darkghoul from Oryo-san simply because she was a Sonozaki?" Rena asked.
"Yes," Gnol sighed. "It was probably Ukazus who did it. Sonozaki was the one who personally kicked his ass during that final fight. That Darkghoul was a bird-type too so that all but confirms that it was him who made it."
"Man, our ancestor was pretty cool," Shion giggled slightly.
"I wouldn't be too proud," Gnol growled. "Ukazus is as petty as they come. He'll be making it a personal point to cause as much pain and suffering for the Sonozaki Clan as he possibly can. It was practically all he could talk about while we were still conscious after our sealing."
"Au! This is bad!" Hanyuu gulped.
"Gets worse for you two," Gnol continued, pointing at Rika and Hanyuu. "Since you two are of the Furude Clan, Uyries is going to be wanting to have…words with you. Furude was the one who beat him and he's probably going to want a rematch."
"AU!" Hanyuu trembled.
"Jeez," Keiichi muttered. "Are any of those guys going to be after Chief Kimiyoshi?"
"Ummm, probably Ubneg," Gnol answered. "He never told us just how he lost, but since Okkayb and myself were defeated by all three of them while Ukazus and Uyries were both defeated by one of them, I think Kimiyoshi was the one who took him down."
"There's a cheery thought," Satoshi groaned. Shaking his head, he looked at his new arm. "So just what is the deal with these Yin Coins anyway? Why'd the Darkghoul explode into them when I beat it and just why do you want them so badly?"
"Yin Coins are solid sin given form!" Gnol cried. "As Darkghouls eat more and more objects associated to the sin they are born from, their bodies produce more and more coins and thus become bigger and stronger. Those coins can also be used to create even more Darkghouls to make even more coins! More importantly, I'm going to need a lot of Yin coins in order to get my body back!"
"Then you're not getting these!" Mion cried, pulling the desk which had the coins on in away from Satoshi and Gnol.
"Hey!"
"Four of you psychos running around is bad enough!" Mion snapped. "We're not letting all five of you make a comeback!"
"Human," scoffed Gnol, "Do you really believe I want anything to do with them after they just abandoned me like that? I don't think so!"
"Abandoned you?" Keiichi asked.
"Why, yes," Gnol affirmed. "While we all woke up from our forced slumber at the same time, those four were able to create complete physical bodies, but ended up taking almost every damn Yin Coin in that crypt to do it! I, unfortunately, am stuck looking like this because there were so few of them left! Did they bother to wait or look for me? No! I'm on no one's side but myself and I won't be left in the dust by them!"
"Guess you don't like them," Shion stated.
"Never did." Gnol pointed at Hanyuu. "However, I must know how this girl knows about Orbs."
"Oh, you mean this?" asked Hanyuu, holding up the orb-mounted device that would be hence forth known as the Orbs Driver.
"Yeah," said Shion. "How did that thing let Satoshi transform?"
"Well, it was made with very ancient magic," Hanyuu explained. "Nobody's sure where it came from but it was able to harness the power of these sacred orbs in order to create a powerful warrior…"
"Dubbed as 'Orbs'," Rika concluded.
"Yes," Gnol grumbled. "It was because Sonozaki, Furude and Kimiyoshi found a brave young man to become Orbs and he was the reason for our ultimate defeat."
"However," Hanyuu continued, "The Darkloid Generals could only be weakened. Therefore, the original Orbs sealed them away with the help of the three founders. There the Darkloid Generals have slept, until now."
"Yes, two greedy humans came to steal from the Furude Shrine," said Gnol, recalling how he'd been unsealed. "One of them bled on the chain."
"The blood of the sinful will set them free," Hanyuu quoted. "That was why nobody was to know of it after the Darkloid Generals were sealed under the Saiguden."
"OK, that aside, I got some questions for him," Shion said gesturing towards Gnol with her thumb.
"Me?" Gnol responded.
"Why did you choose Satoshi-kun to be your host?" Shion asked Gnol.
"Well, to be honest he wasn't my first choice," answered Gnol honestly, "But from the selection given to me, he was the best choice."
"What selection?" Rena asked.
"Under that building…it's called a clinic, right? Well, under that clinic this boy here wasn't the only one fast asleep," Gnol said as he pointed at Satoshi.
"I have a name, you know," Satoshi grumbled. "It's Satoshi. Satoshi Houjou."
"Right, Satoshi," said Gnol.
"You know," Mion realized, "We never really introduced ourselves, did we?"
"Why should we bother?" Shion asked. "He's a demon!"
"It's fine by me," said Gnol. "I don't need to know your names. You humans are all alike to me."
That just spurned Mion on. "I'm Mion Sonozaki, this is my twin sister Shion, over there is Keiichi Maebara, and that's Rena Ryuugu. This little girl here is Satoko, the little sister of Satoshi who you're hogging, and finally we have Hanyuu and Rika Furude." She had done the introduction fast, pointing to each and every one of them.
"It's a pleasure to meet you," said Gnol in a surprisingly polite fashion. "So, is it alright if I took a few…"
"No!" they all answered.
"Hmph!" Gnol scoffed. "I wasn't going to take all of those coins. Just a few."
"How can we even trust you?" Shion questioned.
"It's not a matter of trust here, Shion Sonozaki," Gnol retorted. "What matters is that you need me."
"Need you?" Shion wasn't at all convinced.
"How else are you going to find another Darkling or Darkghoul?" Gnol questioned. "I can detect them, you see, and lead you to them. However, my services don't come for free. All I ask in return is a few Yin Coins to complete my body."
"And then what?" Mion asked seriously. Here before them was a demon. Despite only manifesting as an arm, he wasn't someone they could trust. He was just selfish.
"Who knows? What is that human expression? Ah, yes. 'We'll cross that bridge when we get to it'."
It was finally decided that the Yin Coins they had attained would be kept in a box by Hanyuu and Rika. Demon-warding paper talismans were put all over the box to prevent Gnol from getting to the coins, much to the demonic arm's annoyance.
Satoshi's situation would be a little difficult to explain. Dr. Irie had been holding Satoshi against his will in the basement of his clinic. However, considering the circumstances, it did seem justified. The police would have a lot of questions. Hopefully, Shion and Mion would be able to help with their influence. No doubt once Dr. Irie learned that Satoshi was awake again, he would freak out and try to start a manhunt.
The Gang was also worried because of Gnol's obviously demonic appearance. Satoshi now had a demonic arm in place of his normal one. Gnol, however, explained that he could hide his presence much like the way Hanyuu hid her horns. As far as everyone out of their group was concerned, Gnol was just a normal arm.
Satoshi had questions about what his friends had been up to during the year he'd gone missing. He'd been worried about Satoko since following the Dam Wars, the Houjou Family had been ostracized and treated badly by the villagers for supporting the Dam Project. Fortunately, that was no longer the case. After the Gang had prevented Takano's attempt at killing all the villagers, they were hailed as heroes. Satoko even received recognition and praise for her involvement with the elaborate traps used on the Yamainu that worked for Takano.
Satoshi was just proud of them and finally he was able to give Satoko the teddy bear he'd bought for her before he went missing.
Shion even confessed to visiting him and reading to him all the time. She wasn't sure about confessing her feelings to him yet.
Concerning Satoshi's sleeping situation, he would sleep at Rika's house with Satoko and Hanyuu. He knew well why Satoko wouldn't want to go back to their old house. Too many bad memories. Still, they would have to face them one day.
"Man, what a day…" Keiichi yawned as he sat on his couch. His parents were out of town again. He was used to it, already. Of course, these days he was just tired from having to deal with the extra stress having Gnol and his Darkloid buddies popping up did. Still, he could deal with it all so long as he kept getting some measure of relaxation out of it.
He was of course looking forward towards tomorrow which was the Gang's trip to the Okinomiya swimming pool. He salivated just thinking about it. He just couldn't wait to see the girls in bathing suits. "Oh…Mion, Shion and Rena…" His grin grew perverse. "The pool. Such a wonderful place where half-naked beauties can prance around without shame." He hugged himself and squirmed in place, doing kissing noises.
"You really seem to like that sort of thing huh?" a voice growled. Keiichi's eyes widened and he spun around.
"Who's there!"
The answer came when hundreds of black metal coins began sliding underneath the front door. To Keiichi's growing horror, the coins began piling on top of one another, creating the shape of a humanoid figure. At first the Magician of Words dearly hoped that it was Gnol playing a trick on him after somehow getting his hands on some Yin Coins. However, that hope died a swift and painful death when in a flash of white, the coins turned into the form of a tiger-like monster.
"Oh crap!" Keiichi gulped.
Lashing forth, Okkayb grabbed Keiichi by the shoulder, lifting him off of the floor. The young man then felt like the Tiger Darkloid was staring right through him, as if looking for something…and found it. "Your sin will do nicely," he said as he ran a finger down the centre of Keiichi's forehead, creating what appeared to be a coin slot. He then slipped a coin into the slot and Keiichi stiffened as a void sensation appeared in his back. Shivering as he felt something crawl out, he glanced over his shoulder to see a Darkling stumbling up to its feet.
"Enjoy," Okkayb snorted, dropping Keiichi to the floor unceremoniously. Turning away, he transformed into Yin Coins again which slipped under the front door again and vanished. Keiichi just gaped at the sight before he heard the Darkling stumbling up the stairs. Getting up, he began to chase after it. Half driven by curiosity, he watched it make its way towards his room before kicking the door open and shambling inside. Once inside, the Darkling dropped to its knees before reaching under Keiichi's bed and began scooping out his rather sizable collection of porn.
"Hey!" Keiichi cried, starting to run at the Darkling so to protect his secret stash.
"…ecchi," the Darkling muttered, staring at the magazines emotionlessly before to Keiichi's horror, it began to devour the magazines by the handful, both swallowing them whole or taking them in bites.
Keiichi wailed, "No!" He grabbed his baseball bat and brought it up to hit the Darkling over the head but the creature was able to dodge with the last of Keiichi's magazines before devouring them as well. "Those were limited editions, damn you!"
The Darkling gave Keiichi 'the finger' before it lunged for the window, shattering it. Keiichi's eyes bugged as he collapsed onto his knees. He moaned in despair, "My precious…"
There wasn't even a single picture of boobs left behind…
Meanwhile, Gnol was being a difficult house guest. "I always thought that being from such a prestigious clan would give you a bigger house," he said as he looked about Rika's house.
"We're respected, not rich," Rika answered.
"Still, you really could do more with the place," Gnol stated. He was still attached to Satoshi, not even letting go to sleep much to Satoko's chagrin. She tried at all hours day and night to try and catch Gnol off guard so she could yank him off her brother's arm.
"Sorry for being a bother," Satoshi apologized.
"It's fine, Nii-nii," Satoko smiled. "I'm just happy you're back." She frowned at Gnol. She wasn't happy with the parasitic arm.
"Hanyuu, are you sure Gnol being attached to Satoshi won't hurt him?" Rika asked her ancient friend.
"Not right now, at least," said Hanyuu, "But we better keep our eyes open. We can't let our guard down around him or else he'll steal the coins."
"You're right," Rika agreed. "Or if he decides to steal the orbs."
Hanyuu was still keeping the Orbs Driver. It was the one weapon that could defeat the Darkghouls. They didn't need Gnol taking it away from them. Not that he could. The Orbs Driver would repel him like any other demon. Of course, that was if a regular demon tried to take them. Gnol was attached to a human, sharing the human's energy. If anything else, he may have been able to touch the orbs so long as he didn't exude malicious intent.
That was when the phone rang, snapping the girls from their thoughts.
"Excuse me," said Rika. She picked it up. "Hello?"
The Houjous and Furudes arrived at Keiichi's. The brown-haired boy really looked upset over something, hunched over outside his own house looking like the world had just ended for him. They saw the broken window. From how it looked to them, it seemed like someone had broken in, but from Keiichi's downtrodden voice, something bad must have happened.
"What happened?" Rika asked. Keiichi hadn't given them any details. He just told them to come and bring Satoshi with them.
"I smell a Darkling," said Gnol. "One was here."
"And you couldn't have detected it before because…" Satoshi asked.
"It was probably newly born so it didn't have enough Yin Coins. The only reason I can sense it now is because it came from…him." Gnol pointed at Keiichi. "OK, Keiichi, which one was it?"
"What?" Keiichi asked.
"Which general came and made a Darkling out of you? What did he look like?"
"It happened so fast!" Keiichi answered. "He just showed up and put a coin in me and then that thing came out and started eating my-" He stopped abruptly.
"Your what?" Satoko asked.
Keiichi grabbed Satoshi and then whispered into his ear. Satoshi's eyes widened as his cheeks turned red. "Oh," Satoshi realized. "I see." Keiichi released him. "I guess that's why you're upset."
"Hm, the Darkling ate something associated to a sin you may have," Gnol concluded. "It must've eaten enough and now it's making a cocoon somewhere. Damn. I can't track it when it's inert in a cocoon."
"How long until it matures?" Rika asked.
"A few hours to a whole day," answered Gnol. "It's different for each of them."
"Keiichi-san, I suggest you get that window of yours fixed," said Satoshi, "Or at least covered up."
"You're right," Keiichi said, scratching his head. "Looks like I'm gonna miss tomorrow's trip to the pool." His parents were not going to be happy with the damage, but if he was lucky he might be able to pass it off as an attempted burglary or something.
The Darkling shambled across the Hinamizawa countryside, looking for more things it could use to feed itself and gain full maturity. The magazines it had swallowed were an excellent start, but in truth it would take much more before it could be satisfied. Sheer fortune and its instinctive knowledge about the area, as outdated as it was, helped it stay hidden from the locals as it continued its search.
Stumbling through some underbrush, the Darkling came out into a well-cared for property. With the eternal instinct to feed, it just shambled its way across the lawn towards the rather expansive house.
Akane Sonozaki hummed a soft tune to herself as she carried a basket of laundry away from the clothesline to put away. Of course, she had servants and such to do such things for her, being part of a rich family, but Akane sometimes like to do things for herself and she found it oddly relaxing at times.
Since her mother had to be admitted to the clinic for some kind of assault mixed with shock, Akane was getting worried about her mother. The old lady kept talking about demons that attacked her and ate the family antiques which were scattered through the mansion. Frankly, Akane thought that a burglar dressed in some kind of elaborate costume somehow managed to break in and made off with them, giving her mother a horrible fright in the process. Although why she was so convinced the thief was really a demon was beyond Akane.
Since her return, Oryo rarely left her office or the record rooms for anything. She was constantly searching through the clan archives, looking for mention of demons and such. Naturally in Hinamizawa, there was a lot of demon material to go through. Although, Oryo seemed to be looking for something specific, but what it was Akane didn't know.
It all just served to make the greenette woman fear that her mother was beginning to contract the Hinamizawa Syndrome. Actions like hers were not that of someone who had a stable state of mind.
"Mother…" she sighed to herself.
As the woman went into her room to put away her clothing, she heard shuffling in her room. It couldn't be her husband. He was out of town on business. Her eyes narrowed as she reached into her kimono sleeve for a dagger. As the wife of a yakuza leader, she was well-armed just in case she was threatened. Could the burglar have returned?
She snuck into her room and nearly dropped her things in shock as she saw what appeared to be a black humanoid and it was eating her unmentionables!
The Darkling rummaged through her underwear drawer with its hand, gathering panties which it promptly devoured. It also grabbed the bras and sucked them up like spaghetti. It licked its lips as it searched for more.
Akane's eyes narrowed, rage now replacing terror. Nobody was to take her precious lingerie! Nobody! Drawing her dagger, she lunged at the demonic creature with a yell.
As Mion was in her room, she heard the yell. Frankly, it was a near impossibility for anyone in the house not to hear it. She got up quickly and ran out of her room to see what was going on, half fearing that someone was trying to hurt her mother. "Mom!" she cried out as she looked into her mother's room and gasped as she saw something completely…horrible.
"KYAA!" Akane shrieked as the Darkling was trying to rip off her kimono in order to get to her underwear. "Mion, help me!" Already her kimono was torn in several places from the Darkling's grasping and despite Akane's struggles, it was succeeding.
Mion reached behind her back for her pocket and took out a tazer which she'd borrowed from her sister. "Hold on, Mom!" With a lunge, Mion jumped at the Darkling and kicked at it, sending it tumbling along the floor. Standing protectively in front of her mother, the green-haired leader of the Hinamizawa Gaming Club glared at the Darkling. With sounds of joints cracking and perhaps the faint noise of colliding coins, the Darkling got back up to its feet. Its sunken eyes narrowed on the younger Sonozaki which glared at it, but rather than trying to fight, it instead turned tail and dashed from the room.
"Get back here!" Mion screamed as she gave chase.
"Mion no!" Akane cried, struggling to get her tattered clothes back together so she could chase her daughter.
At Keiichi's house, trying to clean up the broken glass and the few objects the Darkling had broken in its short rampage, Satoshi suddenly felt a shiver run through his body, coming from the arm Gnol was now covering.
"Hm?" Gnol peered around.
"What is it?" Satoshi asked.
"I smell…Yin Coins," said Gnol. "Come on!" He went ahead towards the source. Unfortunately for Satoshi, he was being dragged along since Gnol was still attached to his body. Due to his strength, Gnol was dragging Satoshi through the air as the boy screamed for him to stop. Hanyuu, Rika and Satoko were forced to give chase.
Mion could only gape when she finally caught up with the Darkling. It actually didn't go terribly far, rather heading straight to her room where it immediately devoured nearly all of her sexy underwear. Not only that, it'd eaten up the bathing suit she was going to wear to the pool the next day.
Slurping up her favorite black lacy bra (which she sometimes fantasized modeling for Keiichi on her raunchier nights) it let out a disgusting belch as it stood up and rubbed its stomach, "I'm…full."
Then, much to Mion's disgust, black sludge spewed from the Darkling's mouth, coating it with a never-ending flow while tendrils attacked to the walls and floor, stabilizing the ever growing mass. It was a quick process, creating a black orb with a pulsing purple centre that gave a silhouette of a rib cage every time it pulsed. In all, Mion was pretty sure if the other Darkloid hadn't attacked the school and she didn't meet Gnol that day, her mind would have been sufficiently blown.
Just what else could happen tonight?
Suddenly, Satoshi burst right through her window. Actually, it was Gnol who'd bust through with Satoshi as his hapless passenger. Both of them hit the floor pretty hard, but it was more Satoshi who felt it if the way his eyes were fogged while Gnol pulled him up was any indication.
"Satoshi-kun?" Mion gaped.
"I am here!" declared Gnol. "Where are my Yin Coins?" He spotted the cocoon. "Oh, there they are."
Rika, Hanyuu and Satoko apologized as they climbed in through the window. "Don't people use doors anymore?" Mion murmured. She was happy, though. "OK, Satoshi-kun! Transform and take this thing out!"
"I wouldn't recommend it," denied Gnol. "It's in cocoon form, so anything we try would be useless. Even if we did destroy it, we wouldn't get many Yin Coins out of it. A mature Darkghoul is much better than a cocooned Darkling."
Mion growled at the Darkloid arm. This thing stormed her house, ate every bit of lingerie she and her mother owned, probably traumatized her mother with images of monster rape, and all he could think about were the stupid Yin Coins that he wanted so badly?
"So, we have to wait until it matures?" Satoshi asked. "How long?
The cocoon suddenly pulsed and started to crack.
"Um…right about now?" Gnol guessed lamely.
"I thought you said it took hours to a day!" Satoko shouted as the cracks on the cocoon spread further over its surface.
"Hey, it's been awhile!"
The cocoon burst forth, sending its shells flying in all directions. Everyone hit the dirt and then gawked as the newly matured Darkghoul.
Emerging from the shattered remains of the cocoon was a new bestial Darkghoul. It stood on two legs which were bipedal, but looked like they belonged on a feline rather than a two-legged creature. It wore leggings of samurai warriors, but they were covered with dark brown fur. Its chest had a tan strip of fabric wrapped around from shoulder to hip while bone-like shoulder pads acted as protection for a pair of furred arms which had black clawed hands and large muscles. Lastly, its head was again a skull-covered helmet with red eyes leering from the sockets. The back of the head was a large tan mane, indicating that of a lion.
"HROOOOAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" the Lion Darkghoul roared, actually causing shockwaves in the room.
"…okay, definitely Okkayb's work." Gnol mumbled.
"Hanyuu! Give me the belt!' Satoshi cried to his young friend.
"OK!" Hanyuu took out the Orbs Driver and handed it to Satoshi. Gnol immediately vacated Satoshi's arm and floated a safe distance away from his host. Weakened though he was, he definitely wouldn't be able to take the power of the orbs changing his host while he was attached.
Satoshi put the Orbs Driver on the front of his waist and the belt materialized to strap it on. The Orbs Scanner was attached to the right side of the belt. He gripped it and held it over the three orbs mounted in front of the buckle.
"Henshin!" Satoshi called.
"YUUKI-CHIKARA-CHIE!" the belt announced. Orbs of light spun around Satoshi before colliding with his body, forming the armor of Orbs.
"Now, Satoshi! Go get those coins!" encourage Gnol.
"Take it outside!" Mion ordered.
"Right!" Satoshi saluted as he clenched his fists. With a yell he charged at the Darkghoul and punches it across the face. The Darkghoul stumbled from the hit and growled. Its claws lengthened and it retaliated, striking at Orbs with its claws. Sparks flew as the claws connected to Orbs' armor and the armored warrior grunted with each blow.
The Darkghoul aimed for Orbs' head but he managed to catch the claw. "Take this!" He started to electrocute the Darkghoul and then with a wind-powered punch blasted it out of the room, right out the door.
Mion just grimaced. Her house may not survive this fight.
Using several kicks, Orbs began to direct the Darkghoul towards the nearest exit. Finding one, Orbs leapt and used a front snap kick that sent the Darkghoul hurtling out of the main house with him following close behind.
The group ran after Orbs and the Darkghoul, the humans concerned over him while the demonic arm was more concerned about the coins they would gain from this. He could almost taste them!
Orbs' hands ignited and he then hurled fireballs at the Darkghoul who leapt up to avoid them. It then came down on Orbs, knocking him off his face. Straddling the armored fighter, the Darkghoul started to slash away at him.
"Nii-nii!" Satoko screamed in fright.
"Get…off!" Orbs grunted through his pain, lashing out with his foot. He wasn't able to see what he hit too well, but he sure felt it. The impact brought out a loud scream from the Darkghoul as it stumbled backwards, hunched over and gripping below its waist.
Off to the sides, peeking out from inside the Sonozaki house, the girls all grimaced slightly as they witnessed what Orbs had managed to hit in his blind lunge.
"Ouch," Mion snickered. Despite how serious the situation was, seeing something like that happen out of the blue was always funny.
"I don't even have those right now and even I felt that," Gnol grimaced.
Getting up to his feet, Orbs spotted the Darkghoul still recovering from the blow. Seeing his chance, he began his rush at the beast, intent on taking it down before it could do any more damage. He took hold of the Orbs Scanner and swiped it over the orbs.
"ORBS SCANNING CHARGE!"
Orbs focused the energy of the three orbs into his legs which glowed with power. Bending his legs, he then launched himself into the air. The Darkghoul's eyes widened as it looked at the airborne Orbs.
Three circles of light aligned themselves between Orbs and the Darkghoul. The first circle was green, the second circle was red and the final circle was blue. The circles helped Orbs to lock on to his target. As he descended through the first circle he felt his energy rise, then as he descended through the second circle electricity, fire and wind energy were focused into his outstretched legs. Finally, as he descended through the final circle, the speed of his descent increased as he executed a fierce drop kick straight into the Darkghoul.
The force of the attack sent the Darkghoul flying into the wall where it exploded. Yin Coins burst forth from the explosion, raining down all over the yard.
"Mine!" Gnol cheered greedily as he went for the falling Yin Coins. He caught and swallowed them through his palm. "Mine! My coins!"
"He needs professional help," Satoko quipped.
"Shouldn't we be worried about him filling up?" Rika asked.
The remaining Yin Coins were littered all over the yard. Orbs picked one up. It really amazed him that such a small piece of metal was actually sin given solid form. More than that, it was the source of power for Gnol and his four fellow generals. It just blew his mind how something so small could be so powerful.
His thoughts were suddenly cut off when the coin was yanked from his hand by an invisible force. Likewise, the rest of the coins in the yard were pulled away from the same force and converged at the front gate. When everyone got a look, they saw a figure dressed in black armor, themed very much like a tiger, holding a staff tipped with razors like a tiger's claw. The figure was holding its hand out as the coins piled together into a single ball.
"My thanks," the figure nodded. "You've made harvesting the Yin Coins so much easier." Snickering, the figure spread his arms wide before the ball of yin coins reached his body and were absorbed much like how Gnol did it. The figure let out a blissful sigh and although it was hard to tell, it seemed like his shoulder armor suddenly grew larger while his white stripes got thicker.
"Au…au…au…au…" Hanyuu began to tremble uncontrollably. Even though Rika and Satoko tried to comfort her, her trembling did not cease.
"Hanyuu?" asked Rika in concern. "Hanyuu…?"
"H-h-him…" Hanyuu trembled. "He's one of them! He's one of the four!"
"One of the four?" asked Mion before her eyes widened in shock. "Wait, you mean he's-!"
"OKKAYB!"
The audience turned to see Gnol rising into the air, his fist clenched tightly in rage as he spied the Darkloid General who had just snagged away the plethora of Yin Coins which he had been looking forward to taking for himself. "Okkayb, you bastard! I'm going to kill you!"
"Hmmm?" Okkayb blinked before raising an eyebrow at the arm. "Gnol? Is that you? My word, you've really let yourself go."
"No thanks to you and the others!" Gnol snapped, approaching the tiger demon. "You took almost every Yin Coin I had and then you had the audacity to leave me there!"
"Well the rest of us were a little short on our own coins," Okkayb shrugged. "It's not our fault you were slowest to wake up to protect your own stash. I'm surprised you had enough left to make your current body."
Gnol ordered Orbs, "Oi, Satoshi! Get him!"
"Huh?" Orbs looked at Gnol.
"So, Satoshi, is it?" Okkayb spoke in faint interest as he looked at Orbs. "So, this is the new wielder of Orbs' power." He snorted. "Not very impressive."
"Don't underestimate him, Okkayb! This boy will beat you and I'll be feasting on your Yin and Yang Coins!"
"So, you've resorted to teaming up with humans then?" Okkayb asked. "Oh, how far have you fallen, my brother?"
"Consider this payback for leaving me!" Gnol pushed Orbs forward. "Go on!" he encouraged Orbs.
"Fine then," said Okkayb as he gripped his combat staff in both hands. "It's been a long time since I've had a good fight. I need the exercise." He then lunged at Orbs with blinding speed, striking the armored warrior with the clawed tip of his staff. There was an explosion of sparks as Orbs was sent flying by the attack. He went tumbling and rolled to a stop on his back, groaning in pain. "That's it? What a pity." He looked about and spotted Mion. "You…a Sonozaki!" He spotted Hanyuu and Rika, "And two Furudes as well!" He grinned. "This must be my lucky night. Now I get to kill the descendants of those pathetic humans who imprisoned us!" He went straight for Hanyuu first. However, an invisible force prevented Okkayb from reaching his target and sent him staggering back. "So, you have a few tricks up your sleeves."
Hanyuu's eyes were glowing red as she glared at Okkayb. He could feel her aura and Gnol could feel it too. "So, she isn't a mere mortal," murmured Gnol. He'd wondered about how Hanyuu knew so much, and those horns were definitely not fake. She wasn't human, to be exact. She just looked like one.
"Demon, you will not spill human blood tonight," said Hanyuu boldly.
"So, you think your power can stop me?" scoffed Okkayb. He didn't notice Orbs rising to his feet. "Let's see you block this!" He pointed at Hanyuu with his index finger and a ball of darkness formed at the tip of his claw. Hanyuu stood her ground. "Now, behold the power I po-ARGH!"
Orbs had just used a vacuum blade he'd created using his wind-based powers granted by the Orb of Power. It'd sliced through the air and cut into Okkayb's side. His energy attack had fired prematurely, rocketing into the sky as a single beam. The Darkloid grasped at his back, revealing a large glowing gash which stretched across its entire surface. Rather than blood falling from the wound though, more Yin Coins came out instead, piling at Okkayb's feet as the wound slowly began to close. "Damn…" he growled.
Gnol wagged a finger mockingly, "That's what you get for being such an arrogant bastard!"
"I didn't think that would actually work," Orbs panted, standing unsteadily after being struck earlier. Were it not for the armor, he was pretty sure he'd get cut up something fierce, if not chopped in two. As it was, he felt like it even if the armor did manage to keep him in one piece.
"It seems…that I have not given you enough credit," Okkayb panted as the last of his wound healed over. Gripping his staff, he stood tall. "It seems I owe you an apology for that insult. Only your predecessor was able to wound me such as you have. To do so when you've only had the power for such a short time speaks volumes about your potential."
"Uh…thanks?" Orbs blinked on confusion.
"That being said," Okkayb continued, his voice turning to a growl. "That potential is a possible threat against us. Before, killing you was going to be simple sport. Now though, it is my mission!" Raising his staff, he unleashed a slash which launched three white blades of energy which cut through the air towards Orbs with nothing but lethal intent.
"Satoshi-kun!" Mion cried.
"Nii-nii!" Satoko screamed.
"AUUUUUU!" Hanyuu cried out.
"Satoshi!" Rika gasped.
Orbs grunted as he watched the attacks come against him. Still, he didn't run. Instead, he started running at the glowing blades. Normally anyone with a lick of sense would have tried to get out of the way, but he had an idea which he had seen work dozens of times on different television shows. Since he had this armor boosting all of his abilities, he was pretty sure that it could work for him too. Keywords being 'pretty sure'.
Dashing at the blades, he took a leap, and dove at them. To the shock of everyone, Orbs managed to squeeze through a gap between two of the blades before rolling onto the ground, keeping up with his momentum. The smoking lines on his back and front indicated just how close a cut the movement had been.
Okkayb's eyes narrowed in anger as he reared back for another swing. Dodging was what he expected and his fighting style demanded that. He had to recover from the attack and fast! Bringing the staff back, the blades began to hum with white energy as a new attack was being prepared.
However, that was when Orbs was suddenly in his face, his feet swirling with wind energy. In that heartbeat of a moment, Orbs had put the wind into his legs rather than his arms which allowed him to cover the distance between himself and Okkayb in the time it took for the Darkloid to bring his weapon back for another strike. Orbs capitalized that advantage and brought back his arm with fire burning around it while Okkayb attempted to make his swing.
CRUNCH!
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
The girls shrieked in fright, fearing Orbs was the one who got struck since all they could see was Okkayb's back and a part of Orbs' head. At first, nothing changed beyond hearing the scream, but after that they noticed that it was not the scream of their friend that was echoing from the Sonozaki grounds…
It was Okkayb!
"AHHHHHH! AHHHH! AAAAAHHHHHHH!" the Tiger Darkloid General bellowed, beginning to thrash on the spot as if he were being burned or electrocuted. Continuing to thrash, his back then lit up with a red light before it burst with a bunch of Yin Coins flying in all directions with Orbs arm sticking out, his fist clenched around something shining with bright white light.
"That's my boy! Ah ha ha ha ha ha!" Gnol cheered, dancing in the air as best an arm could.
Orbs withdrew his clenched fist and opened up his palm to reveal a coin which was colored white.
"You…Damn you!" Okkayb snarled. He was losing Yin Coins from the hole in his body and he'd also lost a vital piece of his body. Trying to fight in his injured state was suicide. "I'LL GET YOU FOR THIS!" he swore as his body broke down into multiple Yin Coins before darting into the sky.
"He got away…" Orbs said, relieved.
Gnol was happy. Okkayb had gotten his just desserts and lost a lot of his own Yin Coins. He gazed at the loot greedily. Oh, he couldn't wait to devour them!
But first, Orbs collapsed onto his hands and knees, panting. The girls rushed to his side, checking to see how he was doing. He reached down to his waist and removed the Orbs Driver, undoing the transformation.
Satoko was on him in a flash, hugging him tightly despite the groan of pain such a hug made. Her eyes were sparkling in admiration at her big brother who managed to chase off one of the demons whom the founders of Hinamizawa took down centuries ago. You couldn't get much of a cooler big brother than that!
As Satoko continued to hug her brother, Rika, Hanyuu, Gnol, and Mion managed to catch up to their exhausted friend.
"That…was…scary," Satoshi admitted.
"Hm, it's odd that he would retreat like that," spoke Gnol. "He's usually the last one to leave the battle field."
"Well, he did lose a lot of his coins," Hanyuu remarked. She gazed down at the coin in Satoshi's palm. Unlike the Yin Coins they were used to seeing, the one trapped in the palm of their friend's hand was pure white with a tiger design carved onto both sides.
"Well I'll be!" laughed Gnol. "You snagged one of his Yang Coins! No wonder he ran! You might as well have ripped a piece of his soul out. Color me impressed boy!"
"A Yang Coin?" asked Rika.
"Yes," Gnol answered. "You see, where the Yin Coins are how me make our bodies and those of our minions, it's the Yang Coins where we hold all of the power we use to make us so strong in the first place. Darkghouls don't have them so that's why they aren't as strong as us Darkloids. They're practically hollow inside compared to us."
"So…I stole a bit of that tiger guy's power?" asked Satoshi.
"A bit?" laughed Gnol. "Satoshi, you just took one tenth of his power away! That's a lot considering how strong we are at our prime!"
"Sugoi!" Satoko was astounded.
"So, you lack most of your own Yang Coins then?" Rika concluded.
"I can only guess that they went missing after we got sealed," said Gnol.
"So, what do we do with it?" Satoshi asked.
"You can give it to me," the reptilian arm suggested.
"Fat chance!" Mion snapped. "Man, is all you think about those stupid coins of yours?"
"Oi! You would too if you were reduced to my state of being!" Gnol retorted. Huffing in annoyance while mentally grumbling about ungrateful brats, he turned to Satoshi. "Well Satoshi, let's collect these Yin Coins and head back to the Furude place."
"You're not attaching to my Nii-nii again!" Satoko huffed, instantly planting herself between Gnol and her big brother.
"Not this again…" the golden black arm sighed. "As if you could stop me, little girl!" He flew straight for Satoshi anyway. However, Satoko pulled a tennis racket out of nowhere and whacked Gnol with it. Screaming loudly from being hit, Gnol flew through the air straight towards Mion.
CRASH!
"Itai…" Mion picked herself up. She rubbed her head. "Why does my arm feel funny?" She raised her right arm and her eyes widened. "EH!" The others gawked as well. Gnol was now attached to Mion and had taken the place of her right arm.
"Well…this is awkward," said Gnol.
"YA THINK?" Mion snapped, completely unsure how to deal with the situation and so went with the usual course of dealing with the demonic arm by getting angry at it.
"…M…Mion?"
The group of school kids and the demonic arm went silent when they heard the timid and fearful voice call for Mion. Turning to see who had said it, they felt their faces pale when they saw none other than Akane Sonozaki standing at the side door of the house, clutching her torn kimono so to keep it from falling apart on her. However, for all propriety she was trying to keep, she was trembling like a leaf with her hair in a mess and her face amazingly pale. Her eyes were riveted on the group, specifically on Gnol who was attached to Mion's arm and the Orbs Driver in Satoshi's hand.
"M-Mom?" Mion squeaked.
"Oh boy," Satoshi groaned.
A/N: Well, another chapter of Satoshi as the newest Kamen Rider on the block. We learn more about the Darkloids and their minions while at the same time wacky hijinks ensues under the guise of evil growing stronger. How will Mion deal with being Gnol's partner?