Kamen Rider Hime Vol. 11

Hijiri Household, Bridge City, 20 years ago...

A woman with purple hair sits on her roof in the middle of a rainstorm. Byakuren Hijiri, member of the Bridge City council and single mother, takes a deep breath as she practices focusing with her mind, using meditation to remove the feeling of the rain from her skin. She chants gently as she expands her consciousness or something people do while meditating. Nearby, a young girl in a raincoat watches, waiting. After a few minutes, the girls walks over and opens an umbrella over Byakuren, surprising her out of her trance.

"Parsee, what are you doing up here? It's cold," she says, looking at raincoat girl.

"You'll catch cold if you sit in the rain, Mommy," young Parsee protests. "That's what you tell me when I put my coat on."

"This is different, sweetie. I'm training my mind to ignore the touch of the rain, to calm my thoughts."

"But you noticed as soon as I held the umbrella up."

Byakuren smiles and nods. "You're right. Mommy needs more practice. Later though; would it be smarter if we went in and had some chocolate milk?"

Young Parsee's eyes light up as she practically drags her mother inside for a glass of her favorite treat.

Hijiri Household, Bridge City, 17 years ago...

Byakuren and Parsee are busy in their dojo practicing martial arts. Byakuren slowly goes through her routine so her daughter can follow. The elder keeps up an encouraging rapport even as some of the moves are too difficult for a young girl to pull off. The training continues for another half hour until the door opens, admitting one of Byakuren's aides.

"Ma'am, a call from city hall. The mayor wants to convene a special session of the council tonight to vote on the highway expansion."

Byakuren sighs and begins toweling off. "Damn. It's not the mayor calling for this, it's Satori. Nobody else would insist on relocating so many people just to expand a few blocks of road. Tell them I'll be there, of course."

Parsee grabs her mother's gi and tugs on it. "You'll be back tonight, right, Mommy?"

Byakuren smiles and tussles Parsee's hair. "It'll only be a couple of hours. Keep practicing, because I AM going to test you tonight."

"Can I listen to my music too?"

Byakuren nods. "You can, and if you need anything, just ask Puddington."

Parsee cheers and hugs her mother's legs before turning on some cheerful music to continue her punch and kick routine. Byakuren sighs happily before ordering someone to warm up her motorcycle while she gets changed.

Hijiri Household, Bridge City, 13 years ago...

Byakuren sighs as she returns home. What a day...nothing but trying to keep the council focuses on working for the benefit on the city, trying to keep taxes from being cut in the wrong places, and another attempt by Satori to get her to advocate an expansion for the nuclear power plant. The thing produced enough power as is; why did it need to be bigger?

For now though, she had to prepare for tomorrow. She thought she'd gotten the agriculture debate settled ages ago, but someone read a stupid magazine and wanted to reopen the subject immediately. She begins walking to her office when she hears music. Parsee was training again, going through her routines again and again.

Byakuren heads downstairs and watches her daughter, drenched in sweat, go through the motions of attack again and again before turning off the music.

"How was work, Mom?" Parsee asks, chugging down some water.

"Bah...more of the usual," Byakuren says. "Every time I get them straightened up, they get bent out of shape again."

Parsee shrugs and sits down. "We're still going Riding tomorrow though, right?"

Riding. Capital R Riding. Byakuren bites her lip, remembering that she promised to finally start showing Parsee some of the family secrets, like the Henshin Device and her Ride Machine. Her daughter knew she was Kamen Rider, but Byakuren was careful never to actually transform near home for fear of drawing attention.

She nods. "Yes, we're still going riding. There's a special session of the council tomorrow, but I'll tell Ichirin to take my place."

Parsee whoops and cheers. "Finally! You're finally going to teach me the awesome stuff!"

Mother and daughter share a laugh before training together.

Downtown Bridge City, 8 years ago...

Kamen Rider Hime groans as she sits up. Too much time spent working on the city council, not enough time training herself or Parsee to continue being the Rider. Now she might not ever get the chance to finish what she started. She gets to her feet and watches the towering purple-skinned dinosaur man stomp towards her. It bellows in a strange tongue, waving its meaty fists angrily. A strange blue sphere hovered nearby but did little else. Hime gets to her feet and begins to strategize: frontal attack was no good, its hide was too strong, and it was surprisingly difficult to trick. The only soft spots the monster seemed to have were in its mouth and its eyes.

Kamen Rider Hime rolls to the side as the dinosaur man throws a car where she'd been standing, but she's hit when another car is thrown at her. She throws a pair of energy blasts that stagger the dinosaur man back long enough for her to mount her Ride Machine. She weaves back and forth as she is bombarded with concrete chunks and debris, but she continues gaining speed until...

"Highway Turbo Air Turn!"

Her Ride Machine, Palanquin Cycle, glows with energy as it crashes head-first into the dinosaur man. To the Rider's surprise though, the purple monster is able to withstand the attack, though he is slowly pushed back and his stomach begins to smolder. Two meaty fists smash the bike from both sides, crumpling the front end of the bike as Kamen Rider Hime takes the opportunity to deliver crushing punches to his face, snapping off some teeth but doing little actual damage.

Undeterred, Kamen Rider Hime jumps back and begins charging up another attack.

"Heaven Sign: Brilliance of Mahava-!"

She is interrupted as she is lifted into the air by the purple monster and has her midsection bitten down on. Strangely, despite being in great pain, she seems pleased to be in this position.

"Brilliance of Mahavairocana!"

Kamen Rider Hime's body glows like a miniature sun as she finishes her spell. The monster tries to drop her, but it is too late as massive beams of light erupt from the Rider's body...and right into his soft mouth. He howls in pain and fury as Hime wraps her arms around his jaws, forcing him to literally eat death as beam after beam fries his vulnerable mouth and up into his brain.

The beast manages one last strange utterance before dying: "Vacio..."

Kamen Rider Hime manages to get back on her bike and drive home.

The moment she arrived home, Byakuren announced her intention to step down from the city council. She managed to cover up her injuries as being caught up in the fight between the creature the news called Pteron and Kamen Rider. She spends a week recovering, hiring the best physicians to treat her wounds. Her training sessions with Parsee intensify, becoming more about being Kamen Rider than just focusing on martial arts. Philosophy, tactics, creating spell cards and a Ride Machine...Byakuren holds nothing back and Parsee passes every test.

Hijiri Household, Bridge City, 6 years ago...

Byakuren smiles as she takes a handful of painkillers, grateful for the privacy as she watches a news report about Kamen Rider Hime fighting a local gang of thugs. Her heart swells with pride as the Rider rescues several hostages and drives off before she can give an interviews.

The former Kamen Rider Hime begins making her way downstairs to pour two glasses of chocolate milk. However much some things changed, there would always be something that stayed the same and Parsee would no doubt want to chat all night about how her first mission went...

Hijiri Household, Bridge City, 5 years ago...

Parsee dries her eyes for the hundredth time since the funeral. Byakuren had looked peaceful as they sealed her coffin and lowered it into the ground. Having long been a popular and respected city council member, her colleagues insisted on paying the expenses and hosting a grand event. It hadn't mattered to Parsee, who still felt numb.

She looks at some papers labeled "autopsy" and mutters that she finally understands why her mother had insisted on intensifying her training. Pteron had left deep, lasting wounds despite the Rider's armor. Byakuren had seen the best surgeons in the city; it had been a matter of when, not if. Parsee cries as she remembers how Byakuren had insisted on the training, clearly wanting to spend her last years with her daughter to prepare her to be the best Kamen Rider she could be.

And that was the legacy Parsee chooses to honor: defending the city as Kamen Rider, not trying to take up her mother's other kind of civil service. That night, she takes her mother's things to the basement - including Palanquin Cycle, which Parsee has replaced with her own Envy Driver.

Parsee changes her name the next day to distance herself from Byakuren's council dealings. Parsee Hijiri is gone; Parsee Mizuhashi is here.

Satori Tower, Bridge City, present day...

Parsee awakens.