Pride and Accomplishment (Part 3)
Thirty Minutes Earlier...
Ben, Johnny, Ruby and Yukari stood outside the entrance to the dungeon. "Are you sure this is where they are?" Ruby asked. Yukari nodded as she looked at the worn down entrance that had bricks falling off the side. Ben took a look around and felt something was wrong. His spider sense was blaring, but he couldn't pinpoint where the danger was. Of course it's possible the danger was anything inside the building. Really there was too many variables for him to be certain, all he could do is just be on his guard.
"Hey," he said to Johnny, "I've got this feeling that there will be trouble almost immediately once we enter the dungeon. If you're gonna like...you know, melt your skin off like the end of Raider's just let me know." The group walked down into the first floor and Johnny tapped Ben's shoulder.
"You should go." he said with a serious expression. Ben could already see the skin flaking of Johnny's body. Without saying a word Ben quickly grabbed the two girls and went deeper down into the dungeon. "Come on out, ugly." Johnny said as the kids were out of sight, "Come on. Show me what your made of!" his voice began to change and through Zarathos, the spirit that bonded with his body, and because of that he began to speak The All Tongue. The All Tongue is spoken by deities and most demons and allows whomever they are speaking to to understand what they say. The same is also true for whatever language someone speaks to these All Tongue users, they hear it in whatever way they wish to perceive it. Because Johnny is the person Zarathos had been bonded too, whatever he hears is translated to english in his mind.
Johnny heard clacking against the ground, as if large hooves were stomping along the ground. From out of the shadows the Minotaur that Kurumu and Mizore had defeated earlier was back on his feet, "Hahahahaha!" he laughed, "So...you're a Ghost Rider? A human? How pathetic. To think the bossman was scared of a runt like you." the Minotaur reached down and picked a chainsaw that he acquired from a tool closet. He snorted out his nose and Johnny, halfway through his transformation, could see the smile on the creature's face as he revved up the chainsaw. "I'm gonna slice you up into bits!" the Minotaur yelled with a hearty laugh.
The air seemed to thin as Johnny's transformation into the Rider completed. The heat from his flames intensified and seemed to suck out whatever oxygen was in the dungeon. He looked up with an expression that looked like anger and reached towards his hip to grab his chain which was coiled up like it was Indy's whip. When he grabbed the chain it caught fire and grew a blade at one end and an end loaded weight at the other. The Minotaur laughed as he approached with the chainsaw in hand, "You think you'll hurt me with a chain? You must be dumber than you look human!" the Rider did the skeleton equivalent of a smirk and began to spin his chain to load up his attack, but when he sent his arm forward the chain hit the ceiling and killed his attack. "Ha Ha Ha Ha! I can't believe you thought that your stupid attack would work! Look around you! There isn't enough room for your long range tactics! You'll have to fight me up close." the Minotaur smiled as he now rushed forward with the chainsaw.
The Minotaur tried to cut down the Rider, but rolled out of the way to avoid the creature. "This is annoying." the Rider mumbled. Reaching into his hip he pulled out his double barreled shotgun. As the creature got ready to slash down the Rider quickly lifted up his gun and blasted its chest. The creature staggered giving the Rider chance to throw a punch. The Minotaur growled in annoyance and dashed forward. The Rider wrapped his chain around his arm and lifted it up to block the chainsaw. Sparks flew as metal clashed with metal. The Minotaur tried its best to out-strength the Rider, but he proved to be sturdier than he let on. The Rider fired at the Minotaur's torso to make it stagger again. The Rider, seeing an opening, rolled between the Minotaur's legs and then wrapped his chain around its neck. The Minotaur struggled to break free which only helped the Rider. Focusing his energy, the Rider super-heated the chain and pulled back. The Minotaur screamed in pain as the chain slowly melted through his neck, never bleeding out as the heat cauterized the flesh as it moved. Finally, once he hit the spinal cord, the Rider gave one final yank of his chain and fully decapitated the creature, its body collapsing almost immediately.
The Rider hummed as he looked at his chain, he then looked at the chainsaw on the ground. Wrapping his chain around his torso the Rider picked up the chainsaw. Channeling his hellish energy the chainsaw began to transform, the metal bending to form a new design and the handle extending more. The Rider looked at his new close range weapon and nodded approvingly as he revved its engine a few times. "Groovy."
Kokoa, Kurumu, and Mizore continued walking through the dungeon. They had gotten into a lower level, thanks to Kurumu leading. However, it also seemed as if they were no closer to Tsukune than they were earlier. "Hey," Mizore started in her cool tone, "It's pretty weird right? I mean, we've been walking for awhile, yet it feels like we're no closer to finding Tsukune."
Kokoa nodded with a smirk plastered across her face, "Speaking of which, haven't we been walking around in circles?" she asked while she glanced at Kurumu several times, "Heh, just as I thought..." Kokoa quickly grabbed Kurumu's arm and began pulling, "Alright, you're incompetent, time for a change of leaders!"
"What are you talking about?" Kurumu argued, "I can find Tsukune just fine!"
"Be quiet, you have no sense of direction." Kurumu added with her cool demeanor. The three girls argued over who should be the leader and whether they were competent or not.
Kurumu finally shook out of both of the girl's and smacked both of them on the head, "Alright stop!" she adjusted her clothes, repositioned her bra, and moved the hair out of her eyes, "I'm the one who got us this far right?" she asked looking at the other two girls, "We may be a little lost but we don't exactly have a map or adequate lighting. Regardless of this we will find Tsukune, I promise if you follow me I will lead you on the path of righteousness! We will become the heroes we sought out to be and we'll get Tsukune for ourselves!" she fist pumped in determination.
"What the fuck are you talking about?" Kokoa asked after about a minute of silence.
Even Mizore cocked an eyebrow, "Haven't you only like...led us down a flight of stairs?" she asked.
Kurumu stomped her foot and gave a pouty face, "Ooooooh, you guys are so mean!"
Suddenly the trio stopped when they heard footsteps approaching them. They stood at the ready for a fight but relaxed a little when they saw Tsukune's frame emerge from the darkness, "Oh, everyone you came all this way to save me?" he asked with a smile as he walked up to the girls. Now, this should go without saying, but this wasn't actually Tsukune. No, this was actually the boss of the 'Phantom Assailants', a monster with a copy ability. Perfect. I've got all three of them right where I want them. he thought with a smile. "Don't worry," he reassured, "I've already defeated all the enemies."
Kokoa stared in astonishment, No way, this guy? she thought, How could a twig like this guy beat all the enemies? "Tsukune!" Kurumu called out with a wide smile. She began to run towards 'Tsukune' with tears of joy flowing from her face, "I'm so glad you're okay!"
'Tsukune' chuckled, "I'm perfectly fine. Why wouldn't I be?" as Kurumu got closer his grin got wider, Yes that's right, he thought, They don't suspect a thing. This will be too easy. Hell, even I'm a little scared of my ability! You pretend to be the person these people have known their whole lives, what if one of my kind decided to be that person for the rest of their life? That's fucked right? What if I did that? What if I became this kid for the rest of my life? the faker then thought of all the money he had back where his partner was holding the students, Haha, oh yeah! I wouldn't be a rich thief if I did! The faker watched as Kurumu came closer, That's right...get closer...closer... Kurumu then dove chest first at 'Tsukune's face and spun him around while she squeezed tightly, TOO CLOSE! TOO CLOSE!
"Oh Tsukune, I was sooooo worried!" Kurumu cried out while she pet 'Tsukune's' head. Woah, woah, WOAH! the faker thought, What is this? This softness? This feeling I've wanted for so long? The blood from his body quickly rushed to his head and practically squirt out his nose as Kurumu removed his face from her chest, "Ehh? Tsukune, are you alright!?" she let go and 'Tsukune' fell backwards onto his back and just lie still in astonishment. Wait a minute...I can't let this get to me. They're just boobs! It's nothing to get worked up about! he thought.
"Tsukune!" a new voice called out, "There you guys are, is everyone okay?" the others looked up to see Yukari, Ruby and Ben catch up with them. Wait there's more of them? The faker looked at Ben and had a gut feeling that he would be trouble. The Faker and Ben met eyes and the Faker thought his disguise had been seen through.
"Oh, hey Tsukune." Ben greeted with a slight smile, "You okay? You look like you've lost a lot of blood." the Faker laughed like he was a fish who was able to take the bait and avoid the hook, No way! I thought for sure he saw something! This is perfect!
"Oh...you know just, um, getting over the shock of beating the assailants." 'Tsukune' said with a nervous laugh.
Ben looked down at the 'Tsukune's wrist, looking for the holy lock, but couldn't. What a fucking idiot. Ben thought with a smirk, He has to know I've seen through his shoddy disguise by now, right? Ben stealthily tapped Yukari's shoulder then he knocked her hat down.
"Hey! What the hell!?" Yukari asked with a pout. She bent down to pick up her hat, "Just because you and I are friends doesn't mean you can bully me!"
Ben rolled his eyes and whispered in English in hopes that Yukari would pick up on it (Yukari being the editor she usually works with him to translate his English pieces into Japanese). "The...Wrist..." Ben spoke slowly. Yukari looked at him with a confused expression.
"Wrist?" Yukari replied in a very engrish sounding way. Ben then subtlely removed his right Web Shooter to rub his arm and put it back on. Then while glancing at Yukari he adjusted his Web Shooter and tapped it to give Yukari a hint. "Wait..." Yukari looked back to Tsukune and gasped, "Where's your Holy Lock?" she asked. The others looked at Tsukune, Kokoa was confused as she didn't understand what Yukari meant, "Everyone get away from him! That's not Tsukune!"
"What are you talking about, Yukari?" Kurumu asked.
"THE LOCK, YOU COW!" Yukari seethed, "Tsukune still has Moka's vampiric blood flowing in his body, if he were to remove the lock he would turn into a ghoul again, remember? Tsukune can't live without the lock!" the others stood in silence except for Ben who was laughing at Yukari calling Kurumu a cow.
"Hehehe..." Ben finished his laughter as he stared with a cocky grin at the fake, "So...what did happen to Tsukune and Moka. OH and do please answer correctly, otherwise you may regret your entire existence." Ben's smile had quickly turned into a scornful expression that he removed by taking some deep breaths, "Relax, Ben." he mumbled to himself. He then quickly regained his cocky smile.
Kurumu stepped forward with tears starting to well up in her eyes, "Where is he?" she asked, venom seeping out of her voice, "Where's Tsukune you faker!?" The Faker smirked as he pulled out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket. "Stop smiling you prick! Where is Tsukune?! Where are the others?!"
"Ahh," the Faker felt a round his pockets, "Hey guy, you got a light?" he asked Ben. Ben only replied by flipping him off, "Well, your friend...is probably dead." he said matter-of-factly as he put his cigarette back in the pack with an irritated look. "My partner's looking after him, but he's a pretty dangerous guy..." he said as his look changed from Tsukune's face back to his true form, "I mean he's the type to get a kick out of slicing meat with a knife."
"Why can't you villains be like normal people and get a kick out of beating meat instead of cutting it for fun like psychos." Ben interjected, "I mean you guys aren't finding girlfriends either way, so it isn't like anything changes."
The girls laughed at Ben while Kokoa cocked an eyebrow in confusion, "What--? Oh, you're a fucking idiot!" she shouted out with a blush when she realized what he was saying.
The faker was amazed about how calm the teens seemed to be, "Uh...right, but as I was saying...the guy is in charge of killing in our group. He's probably having fun with Tsukune. It's best if you don't see it." The girls were silent but Ben...Ben was laughing, "Hm? What's so funny? Does the thought of your friend dying amuse you?" Ben's laughter got more intense and the girls started to look at him with worried expressions.
"Y-Y-You ah-hahaha-ctually think..that he's dead? HAHA!" Ben laughed, "NEWSFLASH, JACKASS if Moka is with him, not only is Tsukune alive and well, but your friend is bound to have a broken neck!" the Faker grimaced at Ben and began walking towards him, Underestimate me will you? Before he could take more than three steps he had to defend himself against Kurumu who tried to slash him with her nails.
"Woah, hold on!" the Faker said as he narrowly dodged and threw her to the ground. He looked Ben who looked as if he had a disappointed expression, "I see. So that was your plan! Haha, you're pretty smart, brat! Getting me worried just so one of your harem could get the drop on me."
"Harem? Him?" Kokoa asked. The other girls shook their heads in response.
"And you!" the Faker pointed to Kurumu who got off the ground and dusted herself off, "I like you. People who come at me with the intent to kill. It means I can go all out." his hand began to glow and he held it near his face, "If you're going to fight me, come prepared. Because I'm strong." The girls didn't really want to fight, but they knew that it looked like that's how things were going down. "Oh, silly me." he said with a laugh, "I have a light right here!" the man reached into his sock to pull out a lighter and finally lit his cigarette, "Ohhh, that's better. You know, my race is normally one that's unfit for combat. But through time I was able to become a master of the martial arts. I learned how to fight from HUMANS who are weaker than me." he seethed in anger at what he said. He then slowly removed his vest and rolled up his sleeves before taking a long drag of his cigarette, "Karate, boxing, Kung-Fu. I've mastered all the general martial arts. You're the ones who should be prepared if you're going to fight me."
Kurumu seethed in frustration, "Yeah? So what!?" she lunged forward for to swipe. The Faker smirked and was able redirect her attack while quickly spinning to her flank where she was wide open. Oh shit! Kurumu thought, That's kinda like how Ben would avoid an attack.
"Oh, pretty fast." the Faker taunted. "You're probably faster and stronger than me. But...I still have one last trump card." the Faker placed his right hand over Kurumu's face and his left hand over his own. In a flash a bright light the Faker began to transform. "To make up for our lack of fighting skills, my race has the ability to copy others! Whatever I feel like, face, physique, sex or even special abilities! I can copy everything about a person. Therefore if I transform into a race that excels at fighting I can become as strong as we want." as he said this Ben watched as the Faker transformed his entire body to look like that of Kurumu in her transformed state. "I'm a Doppelganger. A sly race that steals and lives the lives of other people."
Hmm. Ben stood back and decided to take an analytical approach for the time being, So he...or even she, who knows how many times he's switched appearances, can copy a monsters appearance and abilities without having to actually see what that monster looks like? This...may work in my advantage, assuming that when he gets the abilities of others he gets all their abilities. "Woah! The Doppelganger looks exactly like Kurumu!" Yukari shouted out in surprise.
"Mm...can this be a thing?" Ben asked, "Maybe it's me being an American, but...the tight button up and skinny jeans look is kinda hot. Wow I'm...kinda surprised. I've never really been turned on by Kurumu before."
"Okay, rude." Kurumu mumbled.
Mizore blinked, "Wait. If he was a man but then turned into a woman is that gay? Progressive? Or is it straight?"
"I think it is best we avoid this subject because no matter what we say will only anger people." Ben said with a straight face and the girls seemed to agree.
The Doppelganger jumped up and down to get used his new body, "WOAH THESE TITS ARE HUGE!" he said as he groped his new chest, "I thought my shoulders felt kinda stiff but this...this is just ridiculous!"
"Hey, stop groping my boobs, Faker!" Kurumu whined. As the Doppelganger kept enjoying himself, Kurumu lashed out, "Alright, your pissing me off!" she shouted out as she slashed at her opponent. However, her attacks were fruitless as the Doppelganger would duck and weave between all of her attacks effortlessly. Dammit, he's too fast! Kurumu thought.
The Doppelganger smirked, "Heheh, have you heard of the old saying: 'He who sees his own doppelganger shall die'? Well, from this day forth. Your life is mine!" he shot his hand forward and likely would have hit Kurumu if Mizore wasn't quick to jump in to knock his arm away.
"Mizore!" Kurumu shouted, thankful the snow woman jumped in to help her.
Mizore slumped her shoulders and massaged her neck. "Hey, just, like, calm down." she said with her cool demeanor, "You're being dragged into your opponent's pace and it's making your attacks sloppy. I should know, Ben does the same thing. We spent half a year training for a reason you know?"
Kurumu gulped, took a deep breath and regained her composure, "Sorry." the two looked at the Doppelganger who seemed to be admiring the 'cold' shoulder be was given by Mizore.
"My my." he said as he blew out smoke, "An ice manipulating monster? I can't wait to make your powers mine!"
Mizore frowned as her and Kurumu stepped forward, "Tch. Whatever, in the end it will be only a forgery." Mizore quickly dashed right and Kurumu left.
"Yeah!" Kurumu continued, "There's no way a phony like you can be stronger than me!" The two girls were at either side of the Doppelganger and shouted in unison, "There's just no way you can win against the two of is!" as the girls were only mere inches away from the Doppelganger he frowned nearly dropping his cigarette.
"...a phony?" he asked. The girls brought down their hands to slash at him, Kurumu with her nail claws and Mizore with her ice claws, but he caught both of their attacks with little effort. "You don't understand..." he tossed their hands away and countered with a double lariat hitting so hard both were knocked to the ground and bleeding. "I've said it before didn't I? I have mastered all the martial arts. I can use all the full potential of this body." he smirked as he looked at the two girls on the ground groaning in pain. Ruby, Yukari and even Kokoa stared in astonishment. He knocked those two down so easily, like he wasn't trying. "Ha! You shouldn't fight me so recklessly. You two should un--UGH!" he was cut off when he received a right hook across his jaw thanks to Ben who now was in costume and putting his mask on. "What the hell?" the Doppelganger held his jaw in pain and spit out some blood himself.
"Full potential? Of a succubus? What, do you have some kind of kinky neck game now?" Ben cracked his knuckles, "Or are you just the best whore on the block? They sound similar, but trust me, one is MUCH more involved. Just ask Stripperella." he rolled his shoulders and got in a ready stance, "Thanks for the combat data ladies, I think I can take it from here. Bring it on, faker." The Doppelganger frowned and advanced forward hoping to incite an attack from Ben, C'mon, the Doppelganger thought, Throw the first punch. Let me counter it. "What's the matter? Mizore give you cold feet?" Ben asked as he now stood in a relaxed stance with his hands on his hips.
"What?" the Doppelganger asked, unsure of what Ben meant.
"Well I mean, you are the one who picked a fight with us and yet you're hanging back like a coward." he laughed, "What's the matter, ain't got the balls to strike first?" Ben looked down and had to stop himself from bursting out into laughter, "Oh, that's right. You don't anymore do you? Hey, what's it like to emasculate yourself?" the Doppelganger growled in frustration, "What's the matter? Scared to fight a kid? Throw a punch! Do it! I bet you won't! C'mon, be a man, pussy!"
"AAAAAAGH!" the anger finally getting to him the Doppelganger lunged forward to throw an attack. Quick succession, an unblockable combo that only true masters of martial arts know! To his utter shock, despite Ben's calm stance he was able to not only redirect the punches the Doppelganger threw, but he was able to counter by placing his right hand on the ground behind him and then contorting his body so that he sent two kicks. The first kick was from his left foot to try and get the Doppelganger to protect his lower half, then he twisted his body so that his right foot came up and connected with the side of the Doppelganger's head. When Ben landed he was in a classic Spider-Man stance with one hand to the ground and the other at the ready. "How?" the Doppelganger asked, "How the hell did you counter that?"
"You think there's only one martial arts master in the world?" Ben scoffed, "Come on man, I know you copied Kurumu but you didn't have to copy her brains too." Ben was now the first to advance, he dash forward acting as if he was going for a superman punch, but instead of punching forward like the Doppelganger anticipated, Ben shot webbing on the ground and yanked himself into a slide so he could go underneath the Doppelganger's legs. Before the Doppelganger could turn to react Ben had used the wall behind the faker to jump over him again before firing a webline to the ceiling and swing kicking the Doppelganger through the wall. A spider monster? the Doppelganger thought, This could be useful.
Ben got closer and when he was within range the faker used his copy powers to copy only Ben's abilities, All according to cake. Ben thought. (Cake means keikaku. Keikaku means plan.) The Doppelganger laughed as he felt his strength increase and he shot his hand forward to shoot a webline, only nothing happened. "What?" the Doppelganger asked, "Why? Where's the webbing?"
"Oh," Ben laughed as he pointed to his Web Shooter, "They're synthetic. Much like your appearance." Ben walked forward with a menacing strut and fully convinced himself he was going to use full force against his opponent, even though it was something he never did. He did this for only one reason.
"AAAAAGH!" the Doppelganger held his head in pain, "What IS this? I don't understand! It's like a knife is slowly inserting itself into the base of my skull!" Yeah! Ben thought with a smile, You've never experienced Spider Sense before, it must hurt like a bitch! As the Doppelganger struggled trying to get used to his new abilities, Ben quickly proceeded to pummel him relentlessly. Punch after punch in quick succession. Ben only stopped when his Spider Sense alerted him to danger, Damn! Ben looked down too late as the Doppelganger's tail wrapped around his leg and threw him into the air, the faker followed it up by kicking Ben back through the hole he caused.
Before Ben could hit the wall back where the others were, he quickly adjusted his body so that he landed on the wall perfectly without slamming into it. His Spider Sense went off again, but this time he was prepared and he adjusted his head so that he didn't get stabbed by the faker. "Damn you!" he spit out, "You think you're so clever! You think this changes anything?!" Ben jumped off the wall and the faker followed, using his wings to gain speed. Ben dove underneath one of the faker's attacks and web his wings together, causing him to fall to the ground. The Doppelganger got off the ground, sweat and blood on his body, "AAAAGH!" he screamed out again, "My head, it hurts iiitt huuuurrts!!" this time it wasn't Ben that attacked him but, surprisingly, Tsukune who had shown up with the vampiric blood flowing.
"Oh, god dammit." Ben complained. Again the Doppelganger got up and looked at both Tsukune and Ben. One was standing calm, and the other had a look like he was going to murder him.
"TSUKUNE!" Kurumu shouted, "You have to snap out of it, this isn't like you!"
"This isn't good." Ruby mentioned, "The vampiric blood is running rampant in his body. We have to calm him down so I can seal it back again!"
Kokoa stared in shock, How? He was just a normal guy but now...his aura is that of a vampire!
The Doppelganger scoffed at the sight of Tsukune, "You're tougher than you look." he said as he wiped blood from his lips, "If you're here then Kumocchi must have been defeated. Can't say I'm not surprised."
Tsukune didn't say anything, instead he just looked at Ben, "What?" Ben asked, "You mad because I gut checked you last time you were like this? Look, if you attack that guy the way you are now I'm gonna beat the crap outta you. You tend to lose control when you're like this." Tsukune didn't respond and instead shot forward at the Doppelganger with his fist cocked back for a devastating punch. Ben got ready to stop him but saw he didn't have to when the faker had a way.
"Take this!" the Doppelganger shouted out as he flashed Tsukune his new found tits. Tsukune, still being Tsukune despite losing some of himself, began to bleed out his nose. Ben shot a webline forward and yanked Tsukune back giving Ruby and Yukari tge perfect opportunity to perform a sealing spell to hide the vampiric energy. "HAHA! I knew it, no man can resist the power of boobs!" Ben sighed as he shot a webline at the faker's stomach and pulled him forward, which he comboed into a massive headbutt that caused the monster to stagger. "What the hell? How can you resist these...massive...soft..." the faker damn near lost himself as he massaged his boobs.
"Sorry bud, call me old fashioned but..." Ben sent another massive hook across the faker's face, "I kinda prefer the boobs to be real, you know?" The Doppelganger coughed out blood and tried to assess his situation, Damn, what can I do? he thought, This brat is stronger than he looks and he has some ability that is constantly giving me a splitting headache. Why? How can he deal with such an excruciating pain?
"Hey!" Kokoa shouted, "You're here, and he's here," she pointed to Tsukune, "But where's my sister!"
"Kokoa, calm down." Ben said with a calm voice.
"Fuck you meta! I want my sister back!" she shouted getting in Ben's face the best he could.
"And we won't find her if you are freaking out, relax. We'll find her." Kokoa stepped away from Ben and turned Kou into its mace form and went to attack the Doppelganger, but stopped when Ben got her in a full nelson, "Hey, hey, hey! RELAX! If you want to find your sister you can't go killing the lead!" Ben shouted trying to get some sense into the young vampire. Kokoa jerked her head back quickly to headbutt Ben's nose causing him to drop the girl, she then retaliated by trying to swing the mace at Ben which he ducked under. "Hey, what the hell!? Same team remember?"
"Guys!" Yukari shouted out.
"WHAT!?" both Kokoa and Ben shouted in unison. Yukari pointed to where the Doppelganger was at. WAS. "Nice going, jackass." Kokoa complained, "You let it get away!"
Ben looked on the ground and so the drops of blood that fell from the Doppelganger's face, "Not done yet." he said as he dashed off to follow the blood.
Holy shit, what luck! The Doppelganger thought as he ran through the dungeon. Now's my time to get out of here, screw the kids, screw the team and screw the money! I'm leaving here with my life! As he rounded the corner he collided with Moka. "You're that girl we kidnapped!" he exclaimed. The Doppelganger smiled as a thought came to mind, Oh yeah...I'm not done yet. He went to place his hand on her but was stopped when he felt a rough hand on his wrist. "What?"
"Found you..." The Ghost Rider said, almost with a malicious sounding tone. "I figured I'd find you last. But to think you'd be retreating?" the Rider began to lift the Doppelganger up to eye level, "Now...look into my--AGH!" Thinking quickly, the Doppelganger used his adhesive ability he stole from Ben to grab the Rider's gun with his foot. Then, once he had ahold of it, he let off a shell in the Rider's face, causing the behemoth to drop him.
Thinking quickly, the Doppelganger then placed his hand over Moka and proceeded to transform
Kokoa was the first to round the corner and find the Doppelganger, but as she did a huge explosion of energy occured causing her to fly backward. Thankfully, Ben was nearby to catch her mid blast and bring her back to the ground. Kokoa looked up to see that the Doppelganger had managed to copy Moka's abilities a d transform into her true form, "Big sis, no!" Kokoa shouted.
"Ah shit, now I have to jump all the way down to Plan M." Ben groaned.
"Ha ha." the faker laughed and slowly began to sound more crazy as he laughed harder and harder, "Oh my god! What luck! A vampire, I found myself a vampire! A creature that can stand toe-to-toe with even the likes of the Ghost Rider!" he shouted as he pointed to the Rider who's flame had nearly died out.
"Damn." Mizore muttered, "It's bad enough when he copied Kurumu but now Moka?"
"Ben...will you be okay?" Kurumu asked.
Ben removed his mask and looked back with a smirk, "I've dealt with clones before. I know the real thing." Okay Ben, he thought trying to calm his nerves, You've done this before. It'll be like that time you got roped into helping Kaine and Blade take down a clone of Dracula over break.
The Doppelganger smirked, "Well, I have no use for her anymore...die." He lifted his hand as if he was going to jab through Moka's throat.
Damn! Ben thought as he shot himself forward with his webs. Kokoa too shot forward ready to strike the monster down, "Hell no! If you think I'll let you hurt my sister, then you've got another thing coming!" the Doppelganger smirked as he let Moka go and was quick to block Kokoa's attack and the cobra strike her across the room. Ben however, proved to be more difficult. The faker went for a jab but Ben easily would duck and weave between each attack.
"How can you move around my strikes so easily?" the Doppelganger asked in frustration, "I'm faster, stronger and more experienced than you! So how can you move around each of my strikes like you have some sort of precognition?" the faker tried to get Ben to be on guard as he sent a quick kick to Ben's side breaking his already broken ribs...again, then the faker went for a reverse lariat. Ben then did the unexpected by performing the splits and sending a full forced punch to the Doppelganger's gut.
Kokoa, who could only look on in astonishment. A fake yes, but that fake still copied all of the abilities of her sister, and Ben landed a devastating counter that Kokoa had never seen the people she's fought use before, "T-That's rad."
The Doppelganger stumbled backwards slightly and held his hand against his mouth to stop the vomit from going everywhere. Kurumu and Mizore just looked on, both shaking slightly, "How disappointing." they both heard the voice of Inner Moka. Kurumu went to turn her head but she felt herself stop, "Don't worry about that. Look at yourselves. You spend all this time building up your power to defeat me and then what? You get your ass handed to you by a faker and let the human do all the work." Mizore grunted in annoyance, but it was from her own frustration. Moka was right, they were being cowards. "But there is still a chance. Show that fake what your made of!"
"Hey girls," Ben called out as he slowly got to a knee, "I could really use some help!" the faker, being more than one hundred-percent done with Ben's shit picked up the Rider's shotgun that had one physical shot left. He pointed it at Ben and smirked, "LIKE NOW!" Ben quickly reached to his belt and tossed a small 3 ounce glass flask at the Doppelganger as he fired, the flask was struck by one of the BBs which exploded the contents all over the fake. Genuine Holy Water. Ben then turned his body and covered his head as he took the brunt of the rest of the spread, "AAAAAAAGH! FUCK!"
"Now!" Kurumu shouted and both her and Mizore darted forward. The fake lifted the gun again, but realized it was empty when he heard a click.
"You're pretty stupid, huh?" Mizore taunted, "Did you really think we'd miss this opportunity? We prepared this attack for the Inner Moka and now we can (kinda) use it."
"Anti-Inner Moka Technique: Black and White No. 9!" the two girls shouted in unison and blasted the faker backwards. "Ben!" the girls cried out as they rushed over to him. He was kicking his leg in pain, "What happened? Are you okay?"
"Every fucking time!" Ben yelled out, "I always get shot in the ass! Hit me in the fucking head, at least end my suffering you asshole!" the girls chuckled as they helped him on his feet, as well as Ruby, Yukari and a now conscious Tsukune.
"You're good right?" he asked.
"I'd be better if you had any sense when you transform." Ben chuckled. Suddenly his Spider Sense went off and he turned to see a very bloody Doppelganger staring him down.
"I...have taken the powers of the mighty vampire!" he shouted out, "How can someone like you, someone who has a splitting headache as an ability possibly beat me?"
Ben chuckled as he stepped forward, "That ability...is called Spider Sense. Consider it a type of precognition." he explained while tapping his head, "It alerts me to danger. Like how the Ghost Rider has gotten up behind you." the faker looked behind him to see the Rider had indeed gotten to his feet and he had pulled out the chainsaw. A worried expression formed on the Doppelganger's face as Ben began to laugh hysterically, "Looks like you have a choice. Either you move back and die, or you move forward and...maybe...escape. Either way, you're getting your ass kicked!"
The Doppelganger stared at Ben as his cocky smile grew only wider, practically inviting the faker for a fight, "You bastard..." the Doppelganger mumbled, "I'll wipe that smug ass look from your face!!!"
"Heh," Ben chuckled, "You chose...poorly." as the Doppelganger was almost right in front of Ben, he quickly rotated his torso and leaned back so that he leaned slightly to the right of his original position, he then pointed forward with his right hand as a smirk formed on his face. As Ben did that, just to his left, in his orginal position, came the leg of the true Inner Moka who shot a kick forward and knocked the faker through a wall near the Rider. The teens could breathe a sigh of relief as all the assailants had been defeated. All that could be heard was the last blood curdling screams of the faker as the Rider took care of him behind a wall.
"Hey, did we just witness a guy get murdered?" Kokoa asked, "And was that a Ghost Rider!? And how did a meta take on a vampire, albeit a fake one!?!" her questions weren't answered.
"Woo! Yeah, teamwork." Ben celebrated with a grunt of pain, "Oh, I love tag team attacks, they always have cool names and devastating damage and shit." he held his side and breathed slowly as the pain of the broken ribs, bullet wounds and everything else began to seep in more as his adrenaline died down.
"What do you call that one?" Moka asked with a cocked eyebrow, "Lean lazily to the right and ket the vampire handle it."
"Of course not...that's too long." Ben chuckled, "No, obviously that attack is called: Star Platinum...Blond."
Moka blinked in confusion, "What?"
"Oh...Oh dude." Tsukune groaned, "That's. baaaaaad."
"Fuck you guys, I'm funny!" Ben retorted.
After a long trek back, the teens were able to get the rest of the missing teens and have the rest just outside the dungeon where Ruby said she'd watch over them until the Enforcers arrived. The Ghost Rider, began to walk towards the exit. "Hey! Hold up!" Ben called out as he approached the demon hunter.
"How the hell can a human be so calm against such a...frightening creature?" Kokoa asked.
Moka only smirked, "He's not an ordinary human."
Ben limped along as he followed the Rider to the entrance. "What do you want?" he asked, "I'm keeping my promise. I won't stay longer than I need to. I trust Strange will take care of things if this place gets out of hand."
"No...it isn't that." Ben said as he rubbed his neck nervously, "It's just...recently my brother died and I-"
"You want to know if I've seen him." the Rider finished.
"Well...can you?"
"No."
"What?" Ben stopped as they nearly reached the exit tunnel, "Why?"
"Your brother died in a different universe. Hell isn't one place that spans every universe, if it was I'd see millions of you." the Rider explained, "Think of hell as...one of these tunnels. It's more like a large gate that can link areas between this realm and a different universe. However, you can't just go through willy nilly. You have to have certain credentials. So if, IF, your brother died and IF he went to hell then he would be transferred to our hell. You understand?"
"So...he's alive?" Ben asked more hopeful than he had been in awhile, "Because Madame Web has been really vague about--" Ben stopped when he realized the Rider had something else to say.
"Or he's in that world's afterlife." he patted Ben on the shoulder causing the human to grunt in pain. Running his hand along Ben's torso he was able to start to heal all his injuries, "You take a lot of damage...for a human. I suppose that if you can take this much, your brother has a greater chance than most." he nodded when Ben's wounds healed and whistled for his bike which came roaring out of the bushes, "Till we meet again." the Rider said as he got on his bike, "Keep those vampires on a tight leash." and just like that he left through the tunnel in a burst of flames.
"That was kinda messed up of him to say." Ben said as he turned around to walk back to his dorm. "C'mon guys, let's head back." he called out, startling his friends who were hiding behind a bush. "Damn, that hellfire really did the trick. I may actually be over 100%."
Moka and Kokoa's eyes widened when they heard that not-so-off comment and both had the same thought, I can fight him tomorrow.
To be continued...
A/N: And there you have it! Another chapter out. Next chapter will be a little different, you'll have to see what I mean when it comes out. I don't really have much to say so just like, be safe out there. I know it's a crazy time so it's important to make sure you are doing your best to not only keep yourself, but the others around you safe. Remember to favorite, follow and leave them sweet juicy reviews.
Oh, and play Final Fantasy 7 Remake if you can. It kicks ass.
Later!