Wolf Knight Rides Again!

The roar of a motorcycle was music to Hideo’s ears.

For the first time in years, the Wolf Blazer weaved around cars and trucks, soaring through the air off a tow truck and flipping in the air before skidding to a halt next to Hideo, Fuku, and Kuma-chan.

“Alright, finally back in action!” exclaimed the bike before sounding disappointed. “Oh, the bear’s here too?”

Kuma-chan flung around his tiny limbs. “I’ll have you know I’ve been a vital part of this!”

Hideo could still see the van carrying Kumiko and Haruna, trying to bash its way past the other cars. There was time enough. His hands reached down to the waistband of his pants, striking across the front in a ‘X’ pattern.

An old chain wove across Hideo’s hips, solidifying into a belt with a flash of light. Between Hideo’s hands was a silver circle buckle, with an image of a crescent moon set inside.

Slowly, he raised the hands in front of him, rising further and further until they formed that ‘X’ above his head. Hideo could feel the adrenaline, the energy, the magic coursing through him, as he said the magic word:

“HENSHIN!”

The ‘X’ was broken, Hideo swinging his arms out to his side at the shoulder level. The moon on his belt glowed as if the crescent moon had suddenly become full.

And then the belt chanted, as if responding to Hideo’s command. [MOON MADNESS! THE HUNT IS ON!]

The moon’s light in the buckle spread across Hideo’s body, shattering once he was completely covered. Instead of Hideo, something else had taken his place.

Wolf Knight resembled how he did from his portrayal on the TV show. A humanoid figure in a black suit armored with blue pieces on the back of the hands and the boots. There was also blue armor on the chest with silver lined on its edge, matching the color of the knee caps, elbows, and around the base of the neck.

He flexed his fingers, revealing a hint of claw on the end of each. It was almost intoxicating. But Wolf had to keep his priorities straight.

Getting onto the seat of the Wolf Blazer, he gestured to the back of the bike to Fuku. “Get on.”

Fuku grimaced, sliding on behind Wolf Knight.

Wolf’s hand cranked the throttle, the two men flying on the back of a hellion towards their charges.

The van was busting a path through Tokyo traffic, forcing cars to move or be moved out of its way. The Wolf Blazer ducked and weaved through its wake as it erased the van’s head start.

“Take over,” Wolf called out to Fuku.

Wolf rose from the bike seat, slowly stepping onto the front of the Wolf Blazer as Fuku slowly scooted forward to take his place. Fuku didn’t look happy to be driving.

They just needed to get a bit closer….

-----

Miho couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Time stood still as she tried to process what Chika had said.

“Zetsuboru,” Miho gently told Chika, “is dead.”

Chika shook her head. “It didn’t die.”

“We beat it,” stressed Miho. “Sayuri told me you’d been on the road to recovery.”

But that was the line Chika was toeing. “You did beat it. You did not kill it. Have you forgotten how yokai work?”

Miho hadn’t. She’d fought many kinds of creature as Sweet Bear, with most of them being kaijin – humanoids with supernatural ability. The nature of those kaijin would vary greatly, from creatures of myth to mad science experiments to those warped by the influence of a yokai.

Yokai were more like demons. They were beings born from the impurities of acts that harmed others or from intense negative emotion. Left unchecked, they could draw magical power not just from their origins but others around them.

“We did everything we needed to,” Miho recounted. “We hired priests, they performed a ceremony, you said it yourself. You haven’t been hearing Zetsuboru since then.”

Chika hesitated. She looked at the others in the circle, something caught in her throat. “I, I think it latched onto my daughter. I thought for years that she resented me for my role in what happened those years ago. Maybe that was part of it. Maybe that’s why she was an appealing target for that thing.”

Miho was ready to continue saying that was impossible. It had to be.

But a feeling began to gnaw at her as she looked around the room. The kaijin, the victims, their years of struggle. The Kaijin Support Group had only so much in funds and people who could help. How many people suffered for each that they helped? Twenty? Fifty? One hundred? How many had society left to fend for themselves?

A cold chill came over Miho. If Zetsuboru had survived, if it was still feeding off the pain and suffering of others…

She looked at those whom Sayuri had helped, that she had spent every last yen to make it so. How much despair had Zetsuboru been feeding on all these years?

----

Kumiko was jostled around the back of the van as it raced through downtown.

Haruna was panicking next to her, on the verge of tears while Aoji kept shouting at her to shut up and used something blue and sticky to tie their hands and feet to whatever parts of the car he could find. Up front Kumiko could see what Jade Chrysanthemum goons were left looking at each other like something terrible was happening.

They began shouting when something hard landed on the roof, and even more when that something began tearing through it and landing inside.

Kumiko saw it but she couldn’t believe it. The figure that was dropping into the van was…!

“Wolf Knight,” she whispered in awe.

Wolf immediately threw a punch at Aoji, knocking him back before kicking the doors off the back of the van. They went flying past the Wolf Blazer, where a man she recognized from Haruna’s group was riding on the back and waving.

Wolf Knight turned to the two girls. “Don’t worry. I’m going to get you to safety. Who’s going first?”

Kumiko had stars in her eyes as she numbly pointed to a still-panicked Haruna. He was real. It was all real. One of her biggest heroes was standing there, pulling the blue taffy-like bindings taut and breaking them with a flick of a claw! This was just like the television show!

Wolf helped Haruna grab Fuku’s hand and watched her slowly get onto the Wolf Blazer’s seat before he turned to Kumiko and held out his hand. “Your turn. I can’t leave you behind.”

Kumiko was about to reach out her hand when she saw something blue start to stretch towards Wolf’s neck. “Look out!”

That blue something wrapped itself tight around Wolf and pulled hard, knocking him off balance. In the blink of an eye, both Wolf and Aoji went flying out the back of the van and rolled onto the road behind them.

Kumiko tried to move after them, but that blue taffy was keeping her stuck to the seat.

She should be terrified that her rescuer had knocked away. But all that filled her soul was hope. There was a hero out there who knew she was in need, and his name was – !

----

Wolf Knight came to a stop, throwing Aoji off of him as the delinquent vanished in a flash of light. In his place was a kaijin made of blue taffy, two yellowed eyes staring at him and speaking with teeth of cartoonish proportion.

“I don’t know who you think you are, old man.” One of the kaijin’s arms stretched out without warning, wrapping around Wolf Knight and flinging him into every object it could. “But a new Japan requires old solutions, and it sure as shit doesn’t need people like you!”

Wolf Knight crashed into a car, a streetlamp, and a manhole cover before he saw a familiar bike soaring through the air – and its rider holding out a wand, a beam of ice spraying out from it.

The ice poured over part of the kaijin’s outstretched arm, which the Wolf Blazer then crashed through. The arm was shattered into pieces, the kaijin crying in pain as Wolf Knight landed on his feet.

[LUPUS LAUNCH]

Wolf Knight immediately jumped high into the air, flipping forward before flying towards the taffy kaijin with an outstretched side kick!

“BEASTO! KIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICK!”

Black lightning coursed around Wolf Knight’s foot when it slammed into Aoji, Wolf skidding to a halt two meters away after crashing into the taffy kaijin.

“Ngh!” Aoji fell to his knees. “You can’t stop the future!” His word echoed as he disappeared in a series of explosions, blue taffy going in every direction.

As the adrenaline wore off, the cold truth of what had happened sank in for Wolf Knight. He fell to his knees. There was no thrill of victory, only the pain of what was no longer there.

In his despair, he howled like a beast to the sky.