Kamen Rider Hazbin
A Hellish Tokusatsu Adventure
By catsamurai16
Chapter 01
"Absolute power corrupts absolutely. It seems so at times. Powerful people have come and gone for thousands of years. Some used their power for good and others for evil. There are stories that tell of the rise and fall of these people, their actions, those who benefit, and those who lose everything. This is one of those stories. This is the story of a man's quest to gain power to do good, only for him to fall from grace. This is the story of-"
Anthony Ragnotti closed the audio book app on his phone. He was so fuckin' bored. He took out his airpods and put them back in their case. He put the case and his phone back into his backpack. The blonde young man pulled his white hoodie over his head, stuffed his hands in its pockets, and leaned back in his seat. The bus ride had been long, but they were getting close to the city limits. The twenty-something year old looked out the window and watched the scenery go by. They had entered the suburbs about twenty-five minutes ago. They passed by neighborhood after neighborhood of boring looking houses filled with boring families that were leading boring lives. Anthony couldn't stand boredom. For years, his life was anything but boring. His life was once filled with sex, drugs, and stardom. But then, the world ended. Now he was on his way to some shitty halfway house in the worst city on Earth. Its real name was Parliament City. But everyone called it by a different name. Anthony lowered his sunglasses and looked around the bus. Most of the bus was empty save for a few people. He wondered if anyone else was heading to this Happy Hotel or whatever the fuck it was called.
"We're coming to our last stop before the city, folks" the bus driver said, "Anyone not going better get off now."
Most of the passengers started to get ready to get off. Anthony leaned forward to see who all was staying. It seemed that everyone was leaving except one girl with long pink hair. He couldn't see what she was wearing, but her hair was done up in a high ponytail with her bangs hanging a little over her eyes. He could see she was wearing sunglasses. She was also watching to see who was leaving. She noticed Anthony watching her.
She said, "Hey. You heading for that weird ass hotel thing too?"
Anthony nodded.
"Yeah. I thought so," she said, "I'm going for 'anger management.' What about you?"
"Probation and drug rehab," Anthony said.
"No shit? What'd you do, get into a fight with your dealer?" she asked.
Anthony leaned back against the wall and turned away from her. He didn't feel like talking. Then, he noticed her get up and move closer to him. She was wearing a blue jean jacket with matching shorts. She had on black leggings under the shorts with red lace up boots. She wore a white t-shirt that exposed her midsection, showing off a pierced belly button. Anthony pushed his sunglasses back up as she sat in the seat in front of him. She smiled at him.
"So, what were you doing when the Demons came?" she asked.
Anthony scowled. Why the fuck would she ask that?
He said "I was minding my own business."
"Aw, come on. Don't be like that. I mean it was everybody on the planet's worst day. I figure it's a good place to start," she said, "We don't know how long we'll be here, but I'd like to go in with at least one friend. My name's Sherry. What's yours?"
He turned to the window and said, "Anthony."
Sherry smiled, "Nice to meet you, Tony."
"My names not fuckin' Tony!" he shouted, "It's Anthony! I fuckin' hate being called 'Tony!'"
She moved back a bit, "Well, sorry. How was I supposed-"
He snapped, "You weren't supposed to do anything except leave me alone. And I don't want friends or anything. I just wanna get this shit over with and go back to my life."
Sherry frowned and moved back to her seat. Anthony watched her go. He sighed and looked out the window. The truth was he did want a friend. But he wanted one of his friends. That great bunch of guys and gals he worked with back then. Well, most were great… Okay, most of them were down right fuckers, but at least they treated him better than his family. He brushed his fingers over his eye. His blind eye, thanks to his old man. Anthony sighed and leaned back. He didn't like thinking of his Father. Fuck, he really needed a smoke. Anthony looked up as the bus started driving again. He looked around and saw he was alone with Sherry. She was leaning against the wall of the bus, watching out the front. Anthony sighed. He was starting to feel bad about yelling at her. Yeah, he was always touchy about his name, but it was more than that. Maybe he wouldn't have been on edge if she hadn't asked about… that day. That horrible day seven years ago when Demons began appearing all over the world.
It had started like any other day. But then a bright flash of light shot across the sky, all around the planet. No one knew where it came from. All anybody knew was that it brought them in its wake. Horrible monsters of all shapes and sizes, destroying everything in their path. Within hours, entire cities around the world were destroyed. Armies were overwhelmed. It looked like Armageddon was coming true. And then, just as quickly as they appeared, the Demons vanished. So the world began to rebuild, hoping that the Demons would never return. But they did. They never appeared in such large numbers again, though. Only smaller groups started forming here and there. People tried to fight them again, but the Demons wiped them out. Then, someone made something that could fight them. Although that turned into another problem. A problem that started and ended where Anthony was being dropped off.
"Okay. Everybody out for Pentagram City," the bus driver said.
Anthony looked up. The bus had stopped in front of a bus stop. He could see several people waiting to get on. Someone was pulling Anthony's bags out of the bus's storage space. He and Sherry quickly got out and saw the guy putting their stuff in the back of a black van.
"Hey, fuckface! What are you doing with my stuff?!" Sherry yelled.
The guy turned around. He was wearing a red jacket. He was tall, skinny, and looked about Anthony's age. His shoulder length black hair was slick back with gel.
"My name iss Presston. It'ss my job to drive you both to the hotel. I assssume you're both going?" he said with a slight lisp.
Sherry stifled a laugh. Preston glared at her.
He asked, "Iss there ssomething funny, madam?"
Sherry shook her head no as she held her hand over her mouth. Anthony rolled his eyes and walked over to the van. He checked his bags to make sure everything was there. He looked at Preston.
"How did you know we're heading to the hotel?" he asked.
Preston shrugged, "That'ss what everyone iss coming for thesse dayss. I jusst picked up ssome more of our employeess earlier today. That and we were expecting you both. Remember, both of you are here on court order. You're Anthony Ragnotti, correct?"
Anthony nodded. Preston turned to Sherry who was still trying not to out loud. The young man scowled and crossed his arms.
"And the lady with the inssenssitive ssencce of humor must be Ssherry Wesst," he said.
Sherry couldn't take it anymore. She burst out laughing, holding her sides as she doubled over. Preston rolled his eyes in annoyance. Then he saw Anthony was starting to laugh a little. When Anthony saw Preston was glaring at him, he couched to stop himself and got into the van. Preston turned to Sherry. She was still laughing, almost rolling on the ground.
"Well, get in, damn it!" Preston yelled and got into the drivers seat. Sherry wiped away her tears of laughter and got in beside Anthony.
The three drove in silence for a while until they pulled up to a large building. It looked like an old high rise apartment building that was newly renovated. There was a large banner above the doors with golden letters that read, "Welcome to the Happy Hotel." Or at least it did. Someone had crossed out the word happy and written Hazbin in black paint.
"The fuck?" Anthony asked himself.
Sherry got out and went to get her bag. Anthony followed behind. As soon as they had their stuff, Preston drove off as quickly as he could. Anthony turned to Sherry.
"I think you pissed him off too," he said.
Sherry didn't say anything. She lifted her bags and started walking. Anthony pulled his bag over his shoulder and walked to catch up. They noticed that the ground was littered with garbage. Anthony was just about to open the door when it suddenly flew open. In the doorway stood a young blonde haired woman. She was about their age with her long hair going down her back in a low ponytail. She wore a red suit that looked like a concierge's clothes and had a large smile on her face. She squealed, ran up to Anthony, and hugged him.
"Welcome to the Happy Hotel!" she said excitedly, "I'm so glad you're here!"
She turned to Sherry and hugged her too. A Hispanic woman came from inside, almost like she was running to catch up to the first woman. Her hair was brown and was far longer than the first girl's. It was almost reaching past her knees, flapping like wings behind her as she ran to the other girl. She had her bangs styled to cover her left eye. She was wearing a simple red blouse and black shirt that reached down past her hips, showing off her long gray stockings and white shoes.
The second girl grabbed the first and said, "¡Maldita sea, Charlie! You can't run off like that."
"I'm sorry, Vaggie. But it was really important to me to greet them," Charlie said.
"I know, but just dial it back a bit, okay?" Vaggie said.
After a second, Charlie calmed down.
"You're right," Charlie said and took a deep breath.
She turned to Anthony and Sherry and started talking in a more calm, professional tone.
She said, "Hello there. Welcome to the Happy Hotel. I'm Charlotte Magne and this is my assistant, Vagatha Polilla."
"Vagatha?" Sherry and Anthony asked together.
Vaggie scowled and closed her arms, "It's a family name. Back off."
Charlie said, "Uh, well, anyway, I guess you're Anthony Ragnotti and Sherry West. Did you both enjoy the trip?"
Anthony shrugged while Sherry let out an unenthusiastic, "Uh-huh."
Charlie chuckled nervously and said, "Well, let's take a quick tour."
Charlie and Vaggie turned and started walking inside. Sherry roughly pushed past Anthony, who stumbled back a bit. Anthony groaned and threw his bag over his shoulder. He followed the others as they went inside. The hotel lobby looked like her average one. Most of the furniture was arranged so that everyone could in groups of ten. There was no one behind the front desk. Charlie moved to the center of the room and outstretched her hands.
"This is our hotel lobby," she said brightly, "It also serves as the common area. We'll start each day by meeting here."
"Don't you have other floors for that?" Sherry asked.
Vaggie step forward, "Actually, most of the higher floors are off limits. Your rooms will be on the second floor."
"So, why the fuck would you use such a large building?" Anthony asked, "You can't be expecting this many customers."
Vaggie said, "We're not. The rest of the hotel is dedicated to different types of therapy. Physical therapy, mental health care, and other stuff neither of you need. So, you will only be allowed to go to the second floor and not any higher."
Anthony and Sherry exchanged a "you buy this bullshit" look. Before either of them could argue, two red things started zipping downstairs and ran around the room. Vaggie looked annoyed, but Charlie was nervous.
"Oh no! Razzle, Dazzle, how did you two get out?" she asked.
"Not again," Vaggie groaned as she rubbed her temples.
"What the fuck are these things?!" Anthony shouted as one climbed up his back.
Sherry reached over and grabbed it. It was a ferret with its fur partially dyed red. It scrambled out of Sherry's hands and started running circles around her.
"Oh dear. Razzle, Dazzle, get back here!" a posh sounding voice shouted out.
The ferrets stopped and ran towards Charlie, scurrying up her back and onto her shoulders. A young man who was a touch shorter than Anthony came into the room. He had brown hair with large glasses. He was wearing a set of black slacks with suspenders and a white shirt.
Vaggie grumbled in Spanish for a moment before saying, "Al, you told us wouldn't work on that thing anymore. You know it upsets Charlie's ferrets."
Al walked into the room and stood next to Vaggie.
"I'm very sorry. I'm almost done with it. I just want to help," he said, sheepishly.
Charlie stepped forward, "It's fine, Al. Just let us know next time so we can be ready."
She turned to everyone and said, "Anthony, Sherry, I'd like you to meet Alastor. He's another resident of the hotel. He's also a little bit of a tinkerer."
Sherry asked, "Really? What do you 'tinker' on?"
Alastor said, "Anything I can get my hands on usually. I could show you some time if you like."
"No thanks," Sherry said quickly, turning away from him.
Alastor looked dejected and stepped back. Charlie smiled and walked over to them, holding her two ferrets in her hands.
"Well, anyway, I would like you both to meet my pets. This is Razzle and this is Dazzle," she said, beaming.
The two red dyed ferrets squealed happily at Sherry and Anthony
"Would you like to pet them?" Charlie asked.
Sherry stepped forward and raised her hand and brushed Dazzle's head. She chuckled as the little creature chirped happily. Razzle started squeaking at her. Sherry laughed and started petting him too.
"They're kind of cute, I guess," Sherry said, "I never had any pets growing up."
"You're welcome to play with them whenever you like. They love running around, obviously, but we try to keep them out of everyone's way." Charlie said.
She turned to Anthony and asked, "What about you, Anthony? Would you like to pet them?"
Anthony looked at the two ferrets. He started to raise his hand but then he pulled back.
He said, "No, thank you."
"Oh. Did you never have any pets either?" Charlie asked.
Anthony's mind turned to his one friend he missed more than anyone. He smiled a little as he remembered his dear pet. He quickly tucked away those thoughts and turned away from Charlie.
"It doesn't really matter now," he said.
Charlie was about to ask more when Vaggie came up behind her and put her hand on her shoulder.
"Maybe we should table all of our discussions until after we show them their rooms. Then we can keep talking over dinner," Vaggie said.
Charlie looked embarrassed for a second and said, "You're right, Vaggie. Alastor, can you take Razzle and Dazzle back to my room?"
Alastor nodded, took the two ferrets away, and walked back up the stairs. Charlie turned to Anthony and Sherry.
"So, let's go and I'll show you your rooms," Charlie said.
Both Charlie and Vaggie turned to walk them up the stairs. Anthony grabbed his bag and followed them. Sherry looked around the lobby for a second before going upstairs. She felt something was off about this place. She just wished she knew what.
—
Meanwhile, the city was locking itself away for the night. Night time had always been a dangerous time in Parliament City, but now with the threat of Demons made it much worse. Reinforced doors and windows lined each house and business. No one left their homes unless they had to. Demon attacks were few, but frequent enough that kept people on their guard. One such attack was happening on the outskirts of the City. The young man had left his home earlier that day to get something to eat. Now he was the prey. The Demons had chased him halfway through the city. Instead of killing him or even attacking him directly, they were toying with him. He knew it was only a matter of time before one of them pounced. He was nearing one of the old abandoned factories on the outskirts of the city. He knew that they had been built like fortresses. He could protect himself there. He dove to the ground as a blast of energy hit over his head. He quickly got up and kept running. He reached the broken down factory and tried to find a door. He turned around and saw several Demons closing in on him. He ran around the building and saw one of the sliding doors was slightly open. He got down and tried to pull it up, but it was stuck. Another energy blast nearly hit him. He gave up trying to open the door and crawled underneath. The floor was dirty with garbage but he didn't care. All he wanted was to be safe. As he got inside, he saw a piece of metal was blocking the door from coming down. He pulled it away and the door came crashing down. He Fell back and huddled in the darkness of the room. He tried to stay quiet as best he could, but he could still hear them outside. They were scratching around the building. Then, he heard a sickening laughter behind him. He froze in fear as he realized the sounds of Demons were coming from all around him. A fire erupted from a metal barrel, shining a dim light around the room. He could see dozens of Demons all around him. A tall, thin demon stepped toward him. He barely had time to scream as he felt something being pulled from his body. A stream of red, swirling energy was absorbed by the thin Demon. Then, the boy's body grew thin before falling down and dissolving into nothingness. All that was left was several small orbs of red light. One by one, the smaller Demons grabbed them. Some of them began wrestling each other for the orbs. Suddenly, in the darkness, one of the Demons spoke.
"Not enough. Must have more," it's squeaky voice said.
"Get more! Much more!" another screamed.
A large, fat demon stepped forward and began pounding the ground where the boys body once was.
"Give more! Give more!" it bellowed, angrily.
"That'll be enough of a temper tantrum, thank you," a voice suddenly said.
The Demons all looked around, trying to find the source of the voice. Suddenly, a bright spotlight shined down in the middle of the room. Several of the Demons shrieked at the sudden bright light. In the spotlight stood a man in deep red armor. It was sleek armor with black trim on the side. The man wore a helmet that had two small deer-like horns on it with two red ears sticking up behind them. The vizor was solid black with a monocle on the right side. Underneath was a large, yellow smile that stretched from cheek to cheek. He was holding a cane with a microphone on the head. One of the Demons charged at the man. The vizor on his mask began to glow red and a large black tentacle shot out of the darkness. It impaled the Demon, who screamed in agony before it was absorbed by the tentacle.
"Now, now. Let's have none of that. I'm here to make a deal," the man said.
One of the Demon's spoke, "No deals with intruders."
The man shook his head, "Tsk, tsk. Now, I'm usually all for theatrics, but can we talk without the spectacle? Let's just pull ourselves together and talk. And if my services are not needed, then I'll leave."
There was a hushed chatter among the Demons. Finally, the Demons began to shrink and morph into smaller forms. Some of them started blending into one form. Soon, there were only four people standing around. They choose to stay in the darkness of the shadows. One stepped forward towards the man.
"Well, so we've taken off our masks. Your turn," he said.
"Oh Heavens, no. I don't think so," the man said, chuckling.
"If you don't, how are we supposed to trust you?" a woman's voice asked.
"If I thought you were foolish enough to be swayed by my appearance, then I would gladly remove my armor. However, I know none of you are that trusting. I only asked you to lower your Demon forms so we could speak plainly," the man said, giving his cane a quick twirl.
The four looked at eachother. One leaned on a wall and laughed.
"Okay. What's the deal?" he said.
The man said, "What if I could give you something that would give you total control of your powers? No more little bits of energy leaving you to form smaller Demons. You would be able to summon them to do your bidding. Even the ability to absorb far more energy than you could ever need."
Suddenly, four small portals opened up in front of the man. Four steel suitcases rose up from them.
The four looked at eachother. One after another, they stepped forward and took one case. One of them opened it and looked inside. He scoffed.
"How is this thing going to help us control our powers?" he asked.
The man said, "I'm willing to teach you. I only ask for one thing in return."
One of the men in the shadows lit up a cigarette. He took a long drag on it and puffed out a thick cloud of smoke.
"And what's that?" he asked.
A static sound filled the room as the yellow smile on the man's mask began to glow.
"Entertainment," he said, sinisterly.
The woman asked, "And who are we entertaining?"
The man tilted his head for a moment.
He said, "Call me… the Radio Demon."
—
Anthony was tossing and turning in his bed. The room was simple and so was the bed. It was nights like this that he missed those big soft beds that Val gave him. He could sleep for days on those. But he knew it wasn't just the stiff bed that was keeping him up. His mother always told him that his conscience would always trouble him at night. It was childish, but she was right. And he knew what was bothering his conscience. The way he yelled at Sherry. She was just trying to be friendly. She was going about it kinda weird, but still he didn't need to shout at her.
"Aw, hell. Maybe I should apologize," he thought.
He stood up and moved to the door. He made sure he wasn't going to give anyone a free show and left the room. He walked toward Sherry's door and knocked. After a moment, Sherry opened the door. She was wearing a pullover shirt and had a sleep mask covering one of her eyes. She looked at him and leaned onto the doorframe.
"The fuck do you want?" she grunted.
"Uh, look, I'm sorry," he said, " About shouting at you on the bus. It's just… my name reminds me of home and… I don't have a lot of good memories of home."
After a while, Sherry said, "Fuck. Well, I guess I walked into that. I'll accept your apology on one condition."
Anthony raised an eyebrow, "What?"
Sherry said, "I want you to answer my next question honestly."
Anthony shrugged and said, "Sure."
Sherry leaned toward him and whispered, "Are you who I think you are?"
Anthony was stunned. He suddenly laughed. He moved to the wall opposite her and stood against it.
"Why? Are you a hater?" he asked.
Then he slid down the wall, bringing his arms over his head. Then he spread his legs and slowly licked his lips.. He gave Sherry a sultry look.
"Because I can definitely turn you into a lover," he cooed softly.
Sherry laughed and clapped her heads. Anthony nearly fell over laughing.
Sherry said, "I knew it! I knew you were Angel Dust! That was the best line from 'Out of Town Ho!' Shit, man. I gotta say you're looking pretty good for being out of the business."
Anthony stood and said, "Thanks. When looking sexy is all you're good at, to tend to keep it up for as long as you can."
"Yeah. But wait. How long has your eye been like that? In your movies they're both fine," she said.
Anthony moved his hand up to his blinded eye. He forgot he wasn't wearing his contacts.
"Val had me wear contact lenses," he said, "Of course he was such a cheap bastard, he would've used a brown marker if he could."
"Sounds like Val was a real douchebag," she said.
He said, "He was, but that's pre 'end of the world' problems."
"Heh. Y'know, 'Full Ass-ault' was one of my favorites," she said.
Anthony groaned, "Oh, God, you watched the shit? I thought nobody liked that one. What did you like about it?"
"Are you kidding me? Those fight scenes were great! The way you took out those guys was incredible! How long did it take you to train for that?" she asked.
"Eh, not too long. It was less fighting and more dancing. And I've been dancing for a long time," he said.
Sherry turned and walked into her room. Anthony followed her inside. Her room was as empty as his.
She flopped on her bed and said, "Honestly, I figured you'd be heading out to what's left of L.A. to try and get into Hollywood."
"I did," Anthony said, "And even with as little of it left, Hollywood doesn't want an ex-pornstar."
"Aw, fuck 'em if them can't see talent," Sherry said, giving Anthony a friendly punch in his arm, "You were pretty awesome, sex scene or not."
Anthony asked, "You think so?"
"Hell, yeah," Sherry said.
Anthony smiled. He was often told how sexy he was on set. He wasn't used to getting compliments about his acting. It was nice. He shrugged and sat next to her on the bed.
He said, "So, what about you? What were you doing before… you know?"
Sherry chuckled, "Eh, this and that."
"Hey, come on," Anthony said, "I was open about being a porn star, you can be open about what you used to do."
"I already knew you were a porn star," Sherry said.
"Nevertheless," he said, with a smile.
Sherry smiled back and said, "I just don't want you to judge me."
"Again, porn star," Anthony said, pointing to himself, "Come on, please."
Sherry looked away and sighed.
"Well, okay," she said, "Just try not to freak out."
"Sure," he said.
"Did you ever hear about Cherry Bomb? Y'know, the vigilante?" she asked.
"Hell, yeah!" he said, "Cherry Bomb was awesome! When she blew up that rich fuck's limo was great."
"So, you were a fan?" she asked, smiling a little.
"Yeah. I watched all her videos. Even the early ones where she didn't have her voice changed. I guess she did that so the cops wouldn't find her," he said.
"That and I thought it sounded better," she said.
Anthony's eyes went wide, "Wait. You worked with Cherry Bomb?"
Sherry smiled and lifted up her bangs and took off the sleep mask, showing him her eyes. Or rather one of her eyes. She had one brown eye on the left and a scar over where her other eye was. It looked like a burn scar over where her right eye would be. Anthony's jaw dropped. He knew that scar well.
"No… no way," he said, smiling wide.
"Way. Very way," Sherry said.
Anthony laughed hard, "Son of a bitch! You're Cherri Bomb!"
Sherry laughed, "Yep, the one and only."
Anthony laughed and nearly tumbled off the bed.
"You mean, the cops finally caught the Cherri Bomb?" he asked.
Sherry shook her head, "Nope. They caught Sherry West. When the cop busted me, I was smashing some asshat's car windows for being double parked."
Meanwhile, outside the room stood Charlie. She had left her room to check on her two newest tenants. She smiled as she heard Sherry and Anthony laughing together. They were bonding already! True, the whole ex-porn star, ex-vigilante thing was a little jarring, but it was still progress. She slowly walked away so she didn't disturb them. She walked back up to the third floor. She walked down the hallway to a door and knocked on it.
Alastor's voice came from inside, saying, "Come in."
Charlie opened the door and walked inside Alastor's workshop. She saw he was sitting at his work desk. Preston was close by, clicking away on a laptop. He looked up and smiled at her. She gave him a quick wave and walked over to Alastor as he turned to face her.
"Good evening, Al. How's it going?"she asked.
"Much better. This model is the most stable we've found. Preston was working the figures and they seem pretty stable. I think it's ready to be tested," he said.
Charlie said, "I know you're eager to see if it works, but we can't yet. We should find more before we let someone test it out."
They both looked on his desk. On the desk was a small grey mechanical looking device. It had a large button on top with a switch on its side.
Charlie said, "If things are going to get as bad as we think they are, we'll need as many as we can get."
End of Chapter 01.