Sunday, April 16, 2017

Kamen Rider Hime Vol. 9

As heartwarming as Satori and Okuu's reunion is, it has left Kamen Rider Pluto - revealed to be Orin, Satori's other daughter - powerless. It falls once more to Kamen Rider Hime alone to defend Bridge City against enemies. The next week after the plan to turn Okuu into the new Wrath failed, monster attacks intensified, sometimes with two Sins appearing in one day. Abruptly though, the monster attacks completely cease. After several monster-free days, Parsee finally gets more than four hours of sleep.

Kamen Rider Hime, now using Kamen Rider Pluto's motorcycle, patrols the city for danger and, when things are peaceful, places with "Help Wanted" signs in the window. Only the usual rabble like the Kappa Mob and the Shine Maidens were still appearing. Hime shakes her head and shrugs before heading to see Satori for some insight.

Back at the castle of the Sins, now shown to be their old academy of Pandora, the Queen is busy debriefing Sloth and Lust for failing to capture her new Wrath. A debriefing that involves lightning and shrieking. Gluttony and Pride wait outside, listening to the combination lecture/torture continue until, finally, the Queen stops and shouts for Gluttony to enter the chamber and Pride to drag the crispy-but-alive Sloth and Lust out of her sight.

With a loud sigh, Pride complies. Gluttony steps forward and kneels. The Queen paces back and forth, raving about how many resources have gone to waste because of the two failures she just had ejected. Gluttony nods at the right places until she stops. She announces that at least one Sin hadn't failed her, precious Gluttony who discovered a new Envy. She also decides that it was Kamen Rider's fault for foiling her plan to obtain a new Wrath, so she would need to die too at some point.

She tasks Gluttony with both of these tasks and orders him to get started. Gluttony bows and leaves.

The Queen calls in another knight, 15 feet tall and armored head-to-toe in ornate gold, and states she wants him, Greed, to follow Gluttony and make sure he fulfills his mission. She has been getting a strange feeling from him and wants his loyalty assured. Greed nods and vanishes into thin air.

Back in Bridge City, Gluttony resumes being Xavier and gets out a cell phone to call Parsee to arrange a day. After a short conversation that leaves him a bit flushed, he heads off to find potential candidates to turn into Sin beasts. That evening, he and Parsee have dinner at a small Chinese place.

Day 2: Kamen Rider Hime fights a ninja that uses kitchen utensils for weapons. That night, Xavier and Parsee visit a Teppan grill.

Day 3: Kamen Rider Hime fight a huge plate that splits into several "Side Dishes". A few hours and some makeup to cover her bruises, Parsee meets Xavier for dinner and a show. She doesn't completely conceal a black eye though and Xavier grows concerned.

Day 4: Kamen Rider Hime and Crabmelt, Gluttony's large crab made of slime, get a rematch that almost results in a draw, but Hime manages to lure Crabmelt into a construction site to contaminate the monster with bag of cement, making the monster solid enough to be destroyed with a Stars Above Kick. Parsee cancels dinner that night to get her foot fixed by Satori. Xavier, dejected, begins planning an even better monster.

Day 5: No monster appears as Gluttony is busy preparing two excellent monsters to finish the Rider off for good, but cheers up when Parsee is able to meet him for pizza. The dinner goes well, with copious amount of smalltalk, until the pizza is actually brought out and a towering golden hulk enters the pizzeria.

Greed accuses Gluttony of not taking his mission seriously as he draws a sword. Parsee looks at Xavier in disbelief. She doesn't sit still though, running for the back door on her injured foot as Greed cleaves the table in half. He shoots the shocked Xavier a look of disdain before also heading out the back. Fortunately, Parsee doesn't need her foot too much to climb up a fire escape and heads for the roof. Greed grabs the fire escape at the bottom and pulls it down just a moment after Parsee reaches the roof.

Parsee limps towards the other side, somewhat content that she's escaping until Greed leaps up and onto the roof in a single bound and takes a swing that, were he not intent on her capture, would've taken her head off. Instead, she is sent rolling across the roof, but lands on her feet. She transforms into Kamen Rider Hime and throws an energy ball.

The resulting battle is not exactly one sided, but Kamen Rider Hime can barely go toe-to-toe with an Original Sin even when she can put her best foot forward. Fighting with an injured foot toes the line a bit too much and she gets a kick to the teeth. Greed is about to lift the beaten Rider when Gluttony, back in his armor, intercedes. The two Sins stare at each other for a tense moment before Gluttony bows and says credit for the capture belong to Greed, offering to carry the prize so that Greed need not sully his hands.

For a moment, Greed could almost be Pride and accepts, opening a portal back to Pandora. Kamen Rider Hime looks up at Gluttony. The next panel dramatically styles the shot as Xavier holding a battered, wounded, still-defiant Parsee, glaring at him with the intensity as she says but a single word.

"Why?"

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