[guncannon109]

Episode 18: Y, the Girl Named Snowstorm

It was a calm and cold night as a strange wind blew over Ardent City.

The roar of an engine filled the air as a man ran down an alleyway. He stopped and leaned over a trashcan to catch his breath before the glare of headlights blinded him as a deep green dirt bike style motorcycle turned the corner and roars down the alleyway. Cole breaks on a hard turn to the left right in front of the man and shuts off the engine.

“You've been stirring up a lot of trouble tonight. Andrew Dekerman,” Cole said dismounting from his bike, “Or should I say... Scam.”

“Come on man, give me a break here,” The man pleaded, “Just let me go, you'll never have to see me again, promise!”

“You've been on a country wide scamming spree for the past month and a half,” Cole stated as he pulled out his smasher from his shoulder armour, “Promising people to make their dreams come true only to leave them crushed. Tell me, did you give those people a break?”

“Fine then, take me in,” Scam said raising his arm in the air, “But I won't make it easy for you!” He shouted as he whipped out a green gaia memory and jammed it into a barcode on the palm of his hand.

“SCAM!” The memory shouted as he transformed into a pale white creature covered in black spots with several spikes of the same color jutting out of his body

“Try this on for size!” He shouted at Cole as he conjured a barrage of gunmetal black slivers with a deep violet aura around and hurled them towards the rider who stood in front of him.

“Damn,” Cole whispered as he evaded the slivers and whacked a few with his hammer. Cole looked down the alley to find that Scam had run off, “Why do they always run?” Cole hit a button on the side of his helmet, “Tara, target is on the run down Burrow Drive.”

“Roger, we're on it,” Tara said through the other end of the radio.

“Alright, I'll be coming around. Rock out,” Cole said getting back on his bike and driving down the road in pursuit of the Dopant.

Scam turned around a sharp corner, hope over a tall fence and dashed out the back of the alleyway and onto the street on the other side. He managed to get a few feet out of the alley before a gust of wind rushed towards him knocking him to the ground.

“I swear, out of all the dopants we’ve encounter you’re the worst,” A voice called out as a pair white boots came into Scam’s eyesight. He looked up to see Tara in her Gale form standing above looking down at him, “You could’ve at least taken the finisher like a man,” she shook her head and sighed, “but alas you chose the cowards way out.”

Scam coughed a bit before looking over to Tara, “You guys have been on my back for far too long,” he rose back to his feet and formed more of the same slivers he hurled at Cole moments ago, “I’m ending this chase right now!”

Scam hurled the slivers at Tara as the yellow rider evaded the slivers in way that made appear as she was dancing around each and every one of them each movement flowing into the next with style and grace.

“This is getting a bit tiring so I think we should wrap this up now,” She said twirled around in a full circle once until she faced Scam on the other side of her. She reached for the flail on the back of her belt and swung it at the dopant, wrapping Scam tightly in the chain bringing him to the ground once again.

“Damn bitch, you’ll pay for this!” Scam shouted.

“Yeah… hate to break it to you but,” She said said pulling out her slicer and removing her memory from her driver, “Your rampage, ends here pal.”

Tara placed her Gale memory into the hilt of her slicer, “Gale! Maximum Drive!” The memory shouted as a charge up sound erupted from her slicer.

“Gale Tornado!” Tara shouted as she threw her slicer at Scam causing him to explode on impact.

As the smoke cleared, Andrew fell down hard on the ground along with the fragments of what was his gaia memory as Cole ran out of the alleyway and noticed the aftermath of the quarrel between Gale and Scam. Tara forced Andrew’s hands behind his back and bound him with a pair of cuffs before pulling him to his feet and looking over to Cole.

Tara smirked under her mask, “Situation cleared.”

Cole sighed, then proceeded to remove his gaia memory from his driver and revert back to his civilian form, “Must you always show off so much?” he said with a slight laugh.

“We got the guy didn’t we?” Tara asked. “Let’s just call up the boys and let’em know that we took him down alright.”

“I guess that’s true. Speaking of...” Cole walked towards Andrew and knelt down in front of him. “Scam, does the name ‘Derek Maverick’ ring any bells?”

“Never heard of him,” Andrew returned.

“Then how about ‘Fury’?” Cole asked again.

“You riders and your demand for names,” Andrew laughed, “So you’re looking for Fury is that it? Yeah I’ve heard of him, but I’ve never met in person... nor do I know anyone that has and lived.”

“Well would you know anyway of tracking him down?” Cole demanded.

“Were you born yesterday or something?” Andrew laughed, “META and their commanders are always shrouded in mystery. Some people don’t even believe that they exist.” He said pulling out a small pill from his back pocket.

“Wait, what the hell are you doing?” Cole demanded while Andrew slipped it the pill into his mouth.

He laughed, “You know nothing of hell,” He whispered biting down on the pill , “See you there… Kamen Rider.” He said with a smirk before a white foam filled his mouth and he fell as limp as a bone in Cole’s grasp.

“Damn it!” Cole shouted throwing Andrew’s lifeless body to the ground.

“Hey,” Tara said as she placed her hand on Cole’s shoulder, “Take it easy… You think Alex would like to see you like this?”

“True,” Cole sighed. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his cellphone before hitting a few numbers and placing it up to his ear. “Sampson,” he said after a few rings, “We secured the target but… he didn’t make it… Uh huh… alright, we’ll do that.”

“What’s the word from the boss?” Tara asked as Cole slipped his phone back into his pocket.

“Wait for support to get here,” Cole said sitting down on the side of the road, “They’ll handle the rest from there.”

“Always going by the book,” Tara sighed as she removed her memory from her driver and reverted back to her civilian form before sitting down beside Cole, “Though I guess it’s one of your better traits I guess.”

Cole’s eye twitched, “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means you don’t know how to take a compliment,” Tara said with a smirk, “Big guy.”
“That reminds me,” Cole said turning back to Tara, “Why did you bring up Alex a moment ago?”

“No reason, just thinking about him is all.” Tara proclaimed, “You think he’ll be alright?”

Cole sighed, “I hope so.”

{Insert Opening Theme - Extreme Dream}

Alex sat at the very back of his third period math class in the desk furthest away from the window with all of his focus on the notebook and textbook in front of him, paying no attention to what was going on around him. Though there really wasn’t much to pay attention to, as the rest of the class was just as inactive as he was. The class and the rest of the school for that matter wasn’t very energetic as of late, and it was noticeable to everyone… especially Alex.

After a while the sound of footsteps began to approach him, though he did not seem to notice them. In a few short moments, something tapped him on the shoulder but he didn’t react to it. It tapped his shoulder once again, but again nothing.

“Hey, I’m trying to talk to you!” A voice shouted as Alex was turned around by force to see Cole standing in front of him.

“Oh…” Alex said in a low voice. He turned back to his work, “Hi Cole… what’s going on?”

“I’m checking to see if you’re okay,” Cole stated.

“Of course I am… I’ve never been better,” Alex said keeping his eyes fixed on the work in front of him, “Was there anything else you needed?”

“Don’t lie to me,” Cole said placing his hand down on Alex’s desk, Alex slowly balling his hands into fists. “I know that you’re shaken up by what happened, but could you at le-”

“Could I at least what Cole? Alex shouted back turning to look Cole dead in the eye, “If you have some magical button that will fix everything and make it so that the whole thing never happened then I’d love to hear it!” He looked around to see that the entire class including Ms Foster was staring directly at them. Alex turned back to his work, “Just… leave me alone will you.”

Cole sighed, “Fine, I’ll talk to you later then.” He said before turning away from Alex and walking back over to his desk.

Alex watched in the corner of his eye as Cole sat back down at his desk by the window on the other side of the room. Before too long, Alex’s eye drifted over to the two empty desks behind Cole. He gulped, then turned his eyes back to his work.

After a long bit of awkward silence, there came a knock at the door. Ms Foster slowly walked over to the door and pulled it open.

“Oh, hello,” She said as the person at the door handed her a note. She read of what was on the note, “Oh… I see, alright then. Come right in.”

Ms Foster walked back into the room as a girl about Alex’s age with navy blue hair and cold teal eyes followed her. The girl wore a pale purple and grey sweater over top of a long sleeved purple shirt and black shorts, along with white flat shoes and violet knee high socks.

“Ehem,” Ms Foster said getting the attention of the class sans Alex, “Class, allow me to introduce to you Sayuri Fobiki-”

“Shiore,” The navy haired girl said quietly.

Ms Foster turned to the navy haired girl, “Um… excuse me?”

“It’s pronounced Shiore,” The girl explained, “Shiore Fubuki.”

“O-oh… Sorry about that,” Ms Foster said as her face began to turn a bright shade of red, “Ms Fubuki has just transferred here today however due to how late we are in the semester she won’t officially be enrolled until early September so she’ll just be seeing what the school is like. I know it’s rather sudden, but help her out if she ever gets stuck and needs a little help alright.”

Shiore bowed to the class, “I hope to get along with you all for as long as I am here.”

“Now let’s see…” Ms Foster said looking around the sea of desks in front of her, “Ah, there are two desks open behind Cole. Why not take one of those ones by the window.”

“Okay,” Shiore said as she proceeded down the row to the far left of the room where Alex was sitting not paying much attention to her.

As Shiore passed by Alex she stopped for a moment, she looked over to him in the corner of her eye, then continued walking. She took the long way around the classroom before finally reaching Cole by the window. She paused for a moment before calmly sitting down at the desk furthest away from him.

Once Shiore took her seat, the class fell silent once again. The silence went on for a good half hour until it was eventually broken by the ring of Cole’s cellphone.

He fished it out of his pocket and brought it up to his ear, “Hello?... I see… I’ll be right there.” Cole slipped his phone back into his pocket before getting up from his desk and making his way to the front of the class, Shiore following him with her eyes.

Cole walked up to Ms Foster at her desk at the front of the class.

“Miss,” He said grabbing her attention, “I just remembered, I have a doctor’s appointment in about an hour. So I’ll need to be leaving soon.”

“Do you have a note?” Ms Foster asked.

“Right here,” Cole returned handing her a small slip of paper.

Ms Foster took the note and looked it over before handing it back to Cole, “Alright, everything checks out. You may go now.”

Cole took the note back from her, “Thank you,” He said bowing a bit before walking away from the teacher’s desk.

Cole made his way down the aisle across from the window. He past Alex as Alex looked up to him for a moment the two making eye contact as Cole passed by before he walked out the door at the back of the room.

Shiore looked over to Alex in the corner of her eye. She sighed quietly, “Anata ni... hakken.”

{End of Part A}
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
{Star of Part B}

Cole ran down the second floor hallway until he came to a stairwell behind a pair of large doors. He pushed the doors open and stepped into the stairwell to see Tara leaning against the rail as if she had been waiting there for him to arrive.

Upon noticing Cole, Tara’s usual smirk appeared on her face. “You sure took your sweet time getting here.”

“Sorry about that,” Cole said returning a grin to Tara, “got held up a little bit.”

“and Alex?” Tara asked.

Cole looked down to the ground, “He’s… not coming.”

Tara looked over the edge of the rail, “Still shaken up about what happened with the lizard?”

“You have no idea,” Cole returned. “You think he made the right decision? To quit I mean.”

“That’s something that only Alex can decide,” Tara said she swung over the rail, “But enough about that. You’re here now so let’s get going,” She said before she dropped down the gap in the stairs disappearing from sight.

Cole rolled his eyes, “Always in such a hurry,” he said before running down the stairs after her. “Do you even know where you’re going?”

“Sampson told us the whole shabang!” Tara shouted, “Some cold blooded looking guy downtown, not too far from here by flying!” Tara said jumping off the rail, “Though with your new ride I’m sure you’ll get there right after I do. Though I’ll probably get it all done by the time you do.”

“Don’t you think you’ll be needing help with it?” Cole asked.

Tara turned to face Cole looking him in the eye, “You’re kidding right?” She placed her hand on Cole’s shoulder, “I’m always going to need your help Cole,” she said with her usual smirk, “After all, who else has armor strong enough to take on all the fire?”

Cole sighed, “So in other words… I’m the decoy.”

“You got it,” Tara exclaimed before slapping Cole on both side’s of his face with the palms of her hands. She turned away from Cole on the heel of left foot and proceeded over to the door just behind her leading to outside, “Now, let’s nab this guy like the good old days!”

---

Alex made his way to his fourth period science class. He walked up to the door of the classroom and grabbed the handle, he gulped and then pushed it open. He looked around the classroom which was rather empty considering that class hadn’t started yet. He looked down to the ground then sighed before slowly walking over to his desk at the far side of the room.

He dropped his bag on the ground and then sat down in the chair at his desk as the bell rang signaling the start of class.

“So what was your friend up to last period?” A voice called out to him.

“GAH!” Alex shouted nearly jumping out of his seat as he turned to see Shiore sitting in the chair beside him looking over handouts from her other classes. “Hey... Shiore, right?”

Shiore pulled her attention away from the paper in front of her and stared blankly into space for a moment, then responded, “That is my name.”

“Okay, just checking…,” Alex returned, “My name is Alex by the way… Darwin, Alex Darwin,”

“Pleasure” Shiore said quietly turning away from Alex as several students flooded into the room.

“So, if you don’t mind me asking…” Alex began, trying to jump start a conversation, “what exactly is with you transferring this late into the semester anyway?”

“Reasons,” Shiore said, keeping herself turned away from Alex.

“Okay… what kind of reasons?” Alex asked

Shiore sighed, “Why do you want to know?”

“Hm? Oh… no real reason I guess,” Alex proclaimed, “I guess I was just curious is all… I mean it is a little odd for someone to transfer to another school before just as the school year is ending.”

“There’s a lot of odd things in this world,” Shiore said keep her eyes on the handouts in front of her, “Some of which is best left untouched.”

“I guess,” Alex returned as Shiore tore out a page from her notebook and started scribbling something down onto it, “but even so, no one transfers schools this late unless there was some big reason as to wh-”

At that moment Shiore grabbed all of her stuff, got up from her chair and slapped the slip of paper onto the desk before walking out the door and slamming it behind her. Alex looked down to the note Shiore left, but all that all that was written on it were five characters that Alex did not recognize, “尻込みする”

Alex scratched his head, “Uh… what?” A few quiet murmurs filled the room as Alex turned around to see various people in the class giving him snide looks with a bit of snickering, “Fine!” He shouted as he turned away from the class, “and good riddance too!”

---

Downtown, Cole rode his bike up to a construction site located in Ardent City’s financial district. He hopped off his bike as Tara touched down beside him glider in hand. The site had been abandoned for sometime now, except for a line of police officers that stood guard at the site making sure that no one gets in or out.

“See anything?” Tara asked as her glider shifted back into Kree before shifting again into her driver and wrapping around Tara’s wrist.

“Not yet,” Cole returned as he walked up to the site attempting to make his way in, “We’re going to need to get a closer look.”

“Excuse me sir,” an officer said placing his arm in front of Cole, “This site is off limits, no one is allowed in or o-” Before the officer could finish speaking, Cole held a silver badge up to the officer’s face, “Oh… you two are freelance agents from Sampson?” He said awkwardly stepping aside and lifting a bit of yellow tape up, “My mistake, go right in.”

“Thank you,” Cole said as he ducked under the tape and stepped into the site. Tara shortly following after, sticking her tongue out to the officer as she walked by him.

The officer blinked for a moment, then shook his head, “Kids today.”

Cole and Tara pulled out their respective gaia memories and hit the buttons on just below their respective labels, “Rock! Gale!”

“Henshin!” The two of them called out as they placed each of their memories into the slots on their drivers and switched them into their activation positions.

“Rock! Gale!” Their drivers shouted, Tara being swarmed by a tornado which formed her armor as rocks came up from the ground around Cole before latching on to him becoming his.

“Keep your guard up,” Cole instructed pulling out his smasher.

“I’ll be careful,” Tara said with a slight laugh in her voice. She unclipped her flail from the back of her belt, “No need to worry about little old me.”

“Alright then,” Cole returned, “spread out.”

“I’d rather fan out,” Tara retorted.

“Not the time Tara,” Cole sighed.

“Party pooper,” Tara pouted.

“Tell you what,” Cole turned to Tara, “If you behave we’ll go to that cafe you like so much.”

Tara gasped, “For real!”

“For real.” Cole nodded, “But only after we’re finished here.”

“EEEEEE! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!” Tara shouted in glee before taking off in a random direction down the construction site, “Meet back here when we find the guy!”

“What am I going to do with that girl?” Cole asked to himself shaking his head. He turned to the other side of the site and proceeded cautiously down the path before him, “Not like I can blame her though I guess. Can’t imagine anyone wanting to stay in place like this for longer than they would need to.”

As Cole walked down the path through the site, he heard a quiet growl fill the dead air behind him. He turned around and tightened his grip on his hammer.

He walked over in the direction the growl came from. As he stepped forward, his foot slipped out from under him causing him to fall to the ground, “What the...” he said as he felt the ground under him which, to his surprise, turned out to be rather cold and slick, “Ice?”

The growl became louder and now seemed to be emanating from behind Cole. He turned around as he got sight of a white wolf lunging out of the shadows. Cole swung his smasher as the beast grabbed the handle within it’s jaws before pinning Cole to the ground.

“Well then,” Cole said gritting his teeth, “looks like we won’t be here for much longer.” As he spoke, a pale white boot set down on the ground by his shoulder. He looked up to what appeared to be a pale white samurai standing above him, “... or not.”

On the other side of the site, Tara leaned against a steel girder panting heavily. “Alright, that should be head start enough,” Tara said, forcing herself to stand upright. “Now then,” She added, surveying her surroundings, “Where are you my little dopant?”

At that moment, the air became filled with the sound of claws scratching over metal. Tara then quickly turned on her heel to where the scratching was coming from, tightening her grip on the chain of her flail.

Tara saw a small barrel move in the corner of her eye. She turned her foot slightly over to the barrel, “There you are.”

Tara whipped her flail at the barrel knocking it over on it’s side, however, to her surprise nothing was behind it. She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath, after a few moments her right ear twitched slightly. Tara once again whipped her flail over to her right hand side passed a pile of raw construction materials and with a small flick of her wrist it snagged onto something.

She whipped her flail back over to her pulling out a white wolf with an icy coat which fell down hard on the ground in front of her. The wolf squirmed a bit on the ground as it tried to break out of the chains, but soon halted it’s movement.

“A dog?” Tara thought aloud. She walked up to the wolf and knelt down beside it, “Is it possible for a single animal to be the cause of all this?... Of course not, the must be someone or… something that’s commanding it to do so.”

As Tara spoke the wolf began to melt through the chains that restrained it. In a few short moments the beast that attempted to ambush Tara was only a puddle of water. The puddle then moved a few feet away from Tara and reformed back into the wolf. It glared at her for a moment, then ran off in the direction Tara had come from.

“A wolf… made of ice?” Tara thought to herself, she then jumped to her feet, “Oh crap!”

Tara reattached her flail to the back of her belt and took off after the wolf. She ran down the path she came that was now lined with small puddles in the shape of wolf paws,

“Cole, where are you?” She thought as her eyes looked over to the site frantically. “I have to warn him, before it’s to-” Before she could finish her thought, she slammed hard into something which knocked her to the ground. “Ow ow ow,” she said rubbing her forehead, “ what did I hit?” She looked in front of her to she what she ran into, and there, frozen in ice… was Cole.

Before she could even react to the sight in front of her, two wolves with the same likeness to the one she encountered early jumped down from the scaffolding that surrounded them and encircled Tara.

They growled at Tara, scratching their claws against the ground as if they were planning to attack her.

“Calm yourselves,” a voice called out. Tara and the wolves then looked over to the right as a figure in pale white samurai style armor and a belt buckle in the shape of a wolf’s head emerged from the shadow of the scaffolding, “You don’t need to kill the poor things.”

“So you’re their master I take it?” Tara asked.

“Master isn’t the first word I would use,” The samurai returned, “but you’re pretty much correct.” The samurai then raised a katana with a pale blue edge adorned with a violet gemstone at the hilt of the blade up to Tara, “Now Tatsumaki, allow me to ask a question of you… where is Ryuga Hono’s heir?”

“Give me one good reason why Is should answer any of your questions!” Tara demanded.

The samurai looked over to Cole frozen in ice, “Iwa over there doesn’t seem to be looking very good… does he?”

Tara rose to her feet, “What the hell are you even talking about? This is just another attempt to get at Alex isn’t it?”

“Alex?” The samurai asked.

“Well in case you didn’t know he quit so there’s no reason for you to go after him anymore!” Tara shouted pulling out her slicer before hurling it at the samurai, “So back off!”

The samurai vanished without a trace as Tara’s slicer whipped through the air and into the scaffolding behind where the samurai once stood. Tara looked around panting rapidly in search of the samurai. Tara then felt a sudden pinch in the side of her neck which caused her to fall to the ground.

“Sorry Tatsumaki, it’s nothing personal,” the samurai said as it reappeared above her. “I’m on a mission and I cannot allow you, Iwa or anyone else to get in my way.”

Tara tried to get up, but quickly discovered that she was unable to.

“Don’t bother trying to move. I stuck a pressure point in your neck, you’re not going anywhere for awhile,” The samurai stated, “I’m only after Hono, once I take care of him I’ll be out of your hair… Thank you for your assistance in tracking him down.”

As the samurai finished speaking, it vanished from sight taking the two wolves along with it. Once it left, the ice that engulfed Cole faded away. Once freed from the ice, Cole’s smasher hit the ground as if Cole had been in the process of swinging it over his head with both hands before he had been frozen.

Cole panted heavily for a moment before he noticed Tara on the ground behind him.

“Tara! Are you alright?” He shouted as he rushed over to her. He took hold of Tara’s arm and yanked her gaia memory from her driver as her armor dissolved into a golden whirlwind.

Tara took a deep breath before looking up to Cole, “Call Alex! We need to warn him!”

---

At the school, the final bell rang signaling the end of the day. Alex quickly backed up his things and made his way to the door. As he exited the classroom, he finished out his cell phone and flipped it open.

“No bars and low battery… might want to save that just in case,” Alex said to himself before shutting off his phone and putting it back into his pocket.

“Oh Alex!” The teacher called out.

“Yeah!” Alex shouted back.

“If you’re going by the office, would you mind taking the attendance down for me?” The teacher asked.

“Sure thing,” Alex returned stepping back into the classroom.

---

Back at the construction site, Cole dialed Alex’s number as quickly as he could.

He pressed his phone up to his ear as his foot tapped rapidly, “Come on man, pick up.”

The phone rang once before flipping to an automated message, “Hey hey, Maddy here! Sorry, but Alex can’t talk right now. Please leave a message and he’ll call you back as soon as he can!”

“Damn it!” Cole shouted as he slammed his fist against a wall of concrete beside him.

“Maybe his phone died or something,” Tara suggested.

“I don’t see how that changes anything,” Cole returned, “No matter how we rationalize it he’s still in trouble.”

“Well, why don’t we just head back to the school and see if we can beat that guy there?” Tara asked. “I think I can move now… so we should be good.”

“You sure about that?” Cole asked back.

“Yeah,” Tara said as she attempted to pull herself to her feet, “I think I can manage.”

“Easy there,” Cole said grabbing on to Tara and helping her up, “don’t want to rush things now.”

Tara grinned, “Thanks Cole.”

“I appreciate the gesture,” Cole said, “But you should wait to thank me until after we put that samurai in his place.”

---

Alex walked out the front entrance of the main school building and slowly made his way down the hill to the street below.

As he walked down the hill he looked up to the sky. He sighed, “I hope Cole and Tara are alright without me.”

As he put his left foot down onto the ground, he felt it slip out from under him causing him to fall onto his back.

“OW! Not fun!” he exclaimed in pain as he felt the ground under him which, to his surprise, turned out to be rather cold and slick, “What the…” He looked under his hand to see a puddle of frozen water below it, “Ice? In the middle of June?”

“How does it feel, now that the tables are turned?” A voice called out.

Alex turned around to see a familiar face covered in navy blue hair standing behind him, “Oh… Shiore. Thank god it’s just you.”

“I wouldn’t be saying that if I were you,” Shiore said as she reached into her pocket and pulled out a blue gaia memory marked with a Y made of ice.

Alex’s eyes widened, “Shiore… you’re a dopant?”

“Worse,” Shiore returned as she unzipped her sweater revealing a driver with a buckle that resembled the head of a wolf.

“For the honor of my clan, your end shall be now,” Shiore proclaimed before hitting the button below the label of her gaia memory.

“Yuki!” Her memory shouted.

Shiore took in a deep breath, then exhaled, “Henshin.”

To Be Continued

{Insert Ending Theme - I’ll Believe}