Kamen Rider Becomes a Villain in Pretty Cure

"Come out already~ If you don't show yourself with the will to fight, I'm going to start wrecking things!"

Of course, he was only saying that. He would not actually do it for the time being—not because he did not dare, but because there was no need. Based on his usual experience, all he had to do was go this far and wait a little—

"Wait!"

A pink rainbow kick descended from the sky and struck a Genit in the head. Sparks flashed from the robot's instantly severed neck, and its one-eyed head—still connected to a spine-like frame and bright red cables—flew away in a shower of sparks.

After rolling across the ground several times, the mechanical head was pinned beneath Ash's raised foot. The malfunction caused by being severed from its body extinguished the flickering light from its single eye.

The red coolant splattered across the ground made Hana's expression grow even uglier. Together with the robot body still twitching on the floor, it looked just like a real murder scene.

"Well, speak of the devil." Seeing the newcomer, Ash's lips curled into the simple, honest smile of an angler watching a big fish take the bait.

See? It was that simple. Sometimes, doing anything extra only caused unnecessary complications.

"!"

The moment the beautiful pink woman landed, the surrounding Genits all raised their guns, encircling Cure Yell in the middle.

"You really came." Ash smiled and glanced toward the streak of yellow hair behind a distant corner, pretending to greet her casually.

"Time Fire! What are you even doing? Everyone is scared right now! Why—why would you do something like this?!"

Even if she had a vague answer in her heart, Hana naturally did not want to think the worst of him.

"You're asking why? Obviously, it was to see you!"

Before Cure Yell could recover from being stunned speechless by his abrupt remark, Ash added, "And then to duel with you!"

When we first met, you were practically half-dead, so that meant nothing to me. How could I possibly miss the chance to personally experience how strong you could become when performing at your best?

"This kind of fight has no meaning at all!"

Nono Hana was too shocked for words. She had never imagined that, just to draw her out, he would unleash these disposable soldiers from a cartoon and let them destroy the streets at will, threatening people's safety.

But it was really happening right in front of her, and the culprit behind it all was this guy who called himself "Time Fire"! In that case, then...

Wasn't this the same as becoming a Doomsday Monster that acted solely on the will of darkness? But you were supposed to be human!

"No meaning? You say it's meaningless?"

Relaxing his upper body against a shop's display window, Ash watched the customers fleeing in panic because of his appearance from the corner of his eye. Enjoying this little side show, he smiled.

"Isn't it? I don't know much about Fire, but!" Hana swept out an arm, gesturing at the people fleeing behind her because of Ash's recklessness. "Only Doomsday Monsters that randomly destroy the world because of Rampage Energy are our enemies! Fire fought them too, didn't he? Wasn't he a hero?"

"What meaning is there in us fighting here when we have the same enemy?!"

"A hero... you said hero?" Pointing at himself in apparent surprise, Ash shook his head, then laughed exaggeratedly. "Hahahahaha—no, I can't become a hero. Because I see myself as the villain of heroes!"

Enjoying Nono Hana's dumbfounded expression, the man continued spouting nonsense. "Just think of it as our boring little fated connection. I saved you before, then ended up turning against you. It would be stranger if there were no bond between us, wouldn't it?"

"If, if you really want an answer."

"Then think of this as a fight to confirm the meaning of battle—or to experience the meaninglessness of battle."

What was that? That was just an unbelievable way of glorifying the evil act of "fighting" itself to rationalize his own desires!

"If you like fighting so much, go fight yourself!" The considerable goodwill Hana had built up because he had saved her life had steadily dropped with Time Fire's words and actions. What he had done today, especially, was enough to make even normally gentle and cheerful Hana angry.

"Aren't there tons of fighting games on computers and game consoles? If you like it, go fight people there! Wouldn't everyone be happier that way?"

What "fighting to confirm the meaning of battle," what "fighting to experience the meaninglessness of battle"—Hana was no longer the middle schooler she had been when she first became a Pretty Cure. She did not understand a single word of his nonsense, and she had no intention of believing it!

After all, wasn't it simply sophistry?!

"Sorry, but I don't like relying on keyboards, mice, buttons, and switches to decide victory or defeat."

And besides... it had to be you! Cure Yell, you were the one I "liked," the one I valued! If my "dance partner" was not you, it would not do!

"Once you've tasted a fight with the presence of a real human being, this feeling, this exhilaration... it's impossible to stop!"

The silver holster at his waist flashed. Like an old Western gunslinger drawing at high noon, he pulled out his weapon and aimed it at Cure Yell's forehead. In Hana's eyes, as though time had slowed countless times over, he pulled the trigger of the DV Defender.

Pretty Cure's Jealousy

At that moment, it was as though the heroine of a movie had fallen into danger, and the entire world slowed to a halt before her eyes in order to emphasize the emergency brake at the last possible instant. Everything entered a state of bullet time.

The mouths of the fleeing people slowly opening, even their tongues and throats; the one-eyed mechanical soldiers' optical cameras focusing and zooming in on her as they prepared to raise their strange weapons; the serious reflection of herself on Time Fire's black visor, illuminated by the beam's light!

And that light that could hurt her—even the crimson energy beam erupting from deep within the gun barrel—I could see it all clearly!

I can see it! I can see the enemy's attack too!

Faster than her rapidly spinning brain and firing nerves was Cure Yell's instinctive reaction, honed through actual combat!

The scorching beam grazed Cure Yell's raised calf. Just before the heat of its mere proximity could scorch her beautiful skin into a twisted shape, a steady stream of light burst from within the girl. That faint yet incomparably dazzling light neutralized all impact and heat, and their violent collision sparked brilliantly across her body as she bent backward like a bow.

This was the source of a Pretty Cure's power: Tomorrow Energy. It was proof that Nono Hana was different from ordinary people, the "savior" that had allowed her to defeat enemies and escape death countless times, and also the culprit that forced her to bear responsibility and endlessly sink into the abyssal vortex.

At this moment, the Tomorrow Energy on her body overflowed with a brilliance and intensity greater than at any time in the past several years.

"Bang!"

When she landed, Cure Yell crouched low beside a small, red-hot crater. Hot smoke continuously rose from its depths, surrounded by scattered pits filled with carbonized debris.

Ash had drawn and fired in 0.3 seconds, but the Pretty Cure before him moved no slower than he did. Before he could pull the trigger, she had already shifted her position. As she repeatedly flipped backward, the crimson beams arrived a beat too late, striking the ground beside where she had stood a second earlier.

"You said you can't stop?!" Hana slowly rose to her feet, clenching her fists as her teeth ground together louder and louder.

She felt real anger. Everyone was already struggling just to live peaceful lives in the face of the Doomsday Monster incidents caused by Rampage Energy. No one looked forward to fighting.

Yet this guy spoke so lightly of it, caused trouble for everyone, and acted as though every precious little piece of their daily lives was just a game, as though nothing anyone cared about was a big deal to him.

But what angered her even more was the jealousy that suddenly rose in her chest—a feeling she herself could not explain, brought about by Time Fire's words and expression right now.

Neither Nono Hana nor Cure Yell actually liked fighting people in any form, much less battle. Yet this person before her kept talking about the joy of combat and was immersed in it.

Why... why had I been risking my life in battle all this time? Even if I could offer up my life to protect everyone, it didn't mean I willingly wanted to keep walking the edge between life and death!

The greater the ability, the greater the responsibility. I know, I know that! But I have family too, and friends! Dad, Mom, Kotori, all my friends... if one day I never came back, what kind of expressions would they have? Just thinking about it feels like my heart is being torn apart!

Even though I've been fighting this desperately, torturing myself like some kind of criminal!

Countless times, I wished I did not have these powers. I wished I were an ordinary person who did not have to fight. I often had thoughts of giving up like that, but you... you suddenly appeared and told everyone that fighting people was fun, that you could even enjoy it!

Why could you look so happy while saying such provocative things to me?!

That was right. Even if she did not want to admit it, honestly speaking—

I really was, to some extent, truly jealous of him. Jealous of, and disgusted by, Mr. Time Fire, who was enjoying himself right now!

"I've been fighting desperately to protect everyone! What do you think battle is? Are you playing with lives?!"

The light of Tomorrow Energy shone ever more brightly, gradually gathering into the winged sword in her outstretched hand. As more light poured into it without end, the divine weapon that had accompanied her for eight years—the Melody Holy Sword—bloomed with an increasingly intense radiance.

For everyone's peace... no, even if it were only for myself, if he did not intend to back down... then right here, I will!

Just like countless times before, when I split mountain-sized Doomsday Monsters in two—I'll defeat you!

"Yes, that anger!" Rather than getting angry at being scolded, Ash laughed. "It's that righteous conviction that I like. Keep that beauty!"

At this point, Ash had not noticed the jealousy within her. He merely thought she was angry at his recklessness.

Ash stared intently at the increasingly powerful sword intent in her hand. He felt that strength, that danger, and the bloody stench hidden within her seemingly beautiful, petite body—a stench that had crawled out from countless mountains of corpses and seas of blood, born from malice!

He felt it. He felt the resolve and power in that sword that could bring him down!

A trace of trembling fear leaked out from the deepest part of his heart. Then, that feeling of licking blood from the blade filled him with an unprecedented thrill, a shuddering excitement far surpassing anything mere material pleasure could offer!

That bloody scent, together with her incomparably beautiful appearance and incomparably beautiful heart, served as the "main course" that made even his cock rise!

Ha, that was how it should be! If it wasn't like this, it wouldn't be interesting!

"You're dissatisfied? That's only natural, but in the end, those are merely your own principles. What you think has nothing to do with me."

"You only need to fight me... no, duel me!"

The silver metal mouth on his crimson helmet wore a calm smile, but beneath the mask, Ash's face was twisted into a savage grin.

"You people...!"

Ash said such things partly to provoke her, and partly because he had long been deeply trapped in the all-too-familiar cycle of death. Perhaps a reckless way of dying suited his way of survival better!

"Well, naturally, I won't blame you, just like all the other heroes who said that to me." Ash loosened his grip on the gun and let it hang from his hand, then shrugged. "After all, I have quite a few prior offenses."

"What did you say?!"

In the span of a breath, the sword of light came crashing down upon him.

Fight Without Words!

Ash had estimated her as highly as possible in his mind, but when she truly charged before him, he suddenly realized that he had still underestimated her.

"!"

There was none of the restraint she had shown when they fought before. It was a woman's anger, and to some extent, confidence in Time Fire's strength. Their very first exchange was terrifying: the sword light swung by Tomorrow Energy swept toward the red warrior before her, nearly severing the time and space occupied by the battle suit around his body and the body inside it alike!

Bring it on! he cried inwardly. As a weapon designed to deal with future time criminals, Time Fire's combat suit contained a device capable of increasing its wearer's personal time flow. It began operating at high speed, instantly accelerating him to a level that could keep up with Clock Up. His entire upper body became a blur as he immediately bent backward ninety degrees in an enormous bridge, like he was about to eat grilled meat and throwing knives.

Following the path of his extreme acceleration, the nearly solid crimson afterimage left before him was cleanly cut in two by Cure Yell's holy sword without hesitation!

But it was not only an afterimage that would be cut in two. The four Genit mechanical soldiers behind Ash had just raised their weapons when the spreading sword light flashed past them.

The Genits froze in place. Their bodies crackled with unstable electrical currents, then, after a strange breeze swept past, they were all severed at the waist. Their upper halves fell to the ground, knocking down their lower halves as well. Electronic and mechanical components stained with bright red coolant continuously spilled from the cleanly severed "wounds," tilting out with gravity. These components had been made so lifelike that even after scattering across the ground, they kept writhing and twitching from residual energy, trying to continue attacking the target marked as an enemy.

"..."

She raised her round-toed shoe and stomped on the severed hand that was still crawling toward her with its fingers pointed at her. When the hand beneath her foot finally stopped twitching with electricity, Hana's expression twisted slightly.

After all, the Doomsday Monsters she had always fought were indeed incredibly powerful, but most of them looked like oversized stuffed dolls or sacks—like children's shapeless nightmares. They did not usually have any unbearable appearance. Compared with the Genit grunts Ash had sent out... even the originally hideous faces of the Doomsday Monsters seemed rather friendly now.

Seriously, if they were just grunts, couldn't they have been made a little cuter, like in cartoons?!

The nausea rising in her heart intensified her dissatisfaction. Her movements became faster and heavier, and the next sword strike smashed viciously into the ground, piercing the spot where Time Fire had stood a second ago. Ash's windlike retreat barely avoided it.

"What's wrong? Angry?"

"Of course not!"

The twisted jealousy in her heart had not faded. Her clenched left fist shot backward without even looking, the smooth back of her hand smashing heavily into the head monitor of another Genit attempting to ambush her. As its movement halted after its companion's head was destroyed, the last remaining Genit mechanical soldier raised its gun-blade weapon and swung toward her neck!

"Hah—"

After a momentary blurred frame that even the Genit's internal high-performance computer could not capture, Cure Yell and the Genit were standing back-to-back. Realizing its situation, the machine did not hesitate to follow its tactical guidance from its internal AI. It spun around at high speed, raised its weapon, and prepared to teach the Pretty Cure who had exposed her back to it a lesson!

"Crack, crack—"

However, as its mechanical arm rose to its peak, its shoulder emitted the sound of overstressed metal fatigue along with a cloud of smoke. Its core processor received red error messages from diagnostic signals across its body, but even so, it chose to forcibly execute the mission written into its program. Ignoring the diagnostic response, it brought its weapon down. Then, when the now-powerless weapon struck Cure Yell's still flawless back and left only a smear of black engine oil, the faint recoil transmitted through it shook the machine into a pile of mechanical parts.

"Ahh~" Seeing the Genit mechanical soldier army he had pulled out of his inventory get wiped out completely, Ash shook his head somewhat helplessly.

One had its head kicked off at the start, four more were instantly killed by one sword strike, another had its head smashed when she seemingly grew eyes in the back of her head, and now even the last one was gone. In total, aside from who knew how much trash talk, the entire process had not taken more than ten seconds.

You were grunts that had taken the heads of Super Sentai members, "formidable" grunts like the Raiko Trooper that killed Shinji in TV Ryuki. How did you all die so fast?

Honestly, I wanted to keep a few around to help me out. But it couldn't be helped... Cure Yell seemed to have been provoked by me today, after all. As sacrifices to fill the void of her anger, rest easy and become mechanical Buddhas.

"Alright, now it's just the two of us." Facing Cure Yell as she slowly turned toward him, Ash opened his arms to display his broad chest, then shamelessly continued talking about himself.

"Now then, let our passionate duel begin, Cure Yell~"

"..."

Hana did not speak. She merely took her stance and silently pointed the sharp edge of her sword at his forehead.

You're next!

Ash heard those unspoken words from her.

"I accept your invitation, lady." The red warrior bent slightly at the waist and courteously gave her a bow.

DV Conversion, Guardian Sword.

With a flick of his right hand, the DV Defender transformed from a gun into a sword. Ash raised the long blade with both hands until it reached his forehead. The dinosaur teeth on the guard, glowing faintly, rose with it. His arms curved all the way to either side of his helmet near his ears, forming a rather strange stance.

"Let's dance!"

Thus, the two swords in this world crossed once more.

The sparks shooting from their collision did not last long. Having fought once before, both sides knew that continuing to wrestle would only go on forever, so Hana was the first to swiftly change moves. Her blade slid along his sword toward him, only to be caught by the dinosaur teeth on the guard. At the same time, his sword rested against her neck.

But that was not Hana's killing move. Closing the distance quickly was her goal. In the shadow where Ash could not see, her fist, brimming with anger, shot toward the underside of his helmet with a flash and a whistle through the air.