Bluefall

Rider's eyes shot open. He threw himself upward in a panic and suddenly shot backward. He wasn't flying, technically, but he was in the air. Well, about 3 inches, at least. He was sitting in what he finally realized was a common office GraviChair. He leaned back a bit too far in his panic, causing the chair beneath him to tilt. His speedy glide turned into a clumsy tumble, and Rider quickly found himself smacking face first into the floor. The floor, he immediately noticed, was just that - A floor, not the street. And it was carpeted, which his cheek was plenty thankful for. 

He pressed his arms up and kicked his knees underneath himself in a swift push up position, and jumped up to his feet. To his surprise, the room wasn't a holding cell. He'd had one too many rude awakenings inside those in the past, so he made it a point to steer clear of the cops once he heard the sirens coming during his bouts with the Farsiders in the past few cycles. This room was a large, extremely bland office board room. A thick sturdy table surrounded by GraviChairs sat in the middle of the room, and large windows lined the wall to his right. Looking out, he could see Earthrise in its entirety, sprawled out across the landscape. The view gave him a much better indication of exactly where he was. Kratonex Tower was by far and away the tallest building in the entire city, and this wasn't the first time he'd been inside one of the penthouse board rooms. For most people, a room and view like this would be considered a once in a lifetime, jaw dropping sight. For Rider, it meant bad news.

He walked up to one of the windows and leaned forward onto it, reaching his other hand up to rub his temple. His head throbbed, a friendly reminder of just how badly he'd been beaten earlier that day. The thought of that made him pause and question himself. Had it even still been that day? How long had he been out? And where was.. His suit! His suit was gone, replaced by a baggy grey sweatsuit. Had the Farsiders really stripped him naked in the middle of the street and taken it? His memory was too fuzzy. Those damn, dirty Farsiders. When he got his hands on them again, he'd be sure to-

"He's up, sir." A voice proclaimed from behind him. Rider turned to find a man in a standard blue and silver Kratonian military uniform holding a walkie-talkie and standing at attention by the door. He assumed that the man was a low ranking officer based on the ribbons sewn into his left lapel. 

"Ohhhhh come on," Rider groaned, rolling his eyes. "You guys really had to call him?" He took a step forward, hand still pressed up against his temple, and sighed. The door opened a moment later, and a tall, regal looking man walked into the room. He also wore a silver and blue military outfit, but the cut of his suit was much sleeker, and his lapel was drastically more decorated than the officers. Rider studied him for a moment, taking note of a small black folder jutting out from underneath the man's underarm. The man dismissed the officer with a stern "Leave us." and made his way to the chair at the head of the table. He sat, slapped the folder down onto the table in front of him, and then waved his hand outward toward the table. "Sit." He ordered, to which rider immediately obeyed.

General Krato-Nex was one of the fiercest men in all of Kratonia. He had served on the frontlines of The Battle of Lunor during The Great Crater War all those years ago, and had worked his way through the military rankings faster than any soldier in Kratonian history. He had watched the rise and fall of The Farside Empire, and was named one of the nine founders of Earthrise after the war had ended. His name was known in every single home on the lunar surface. Some called him a war hero. Some called him a tyrant. Some even called him a God.

Rider called him dad. 

Rider picked up his GraviChair and pushed it back over to the table. He plopped himself back down in it and met his fathers eyes directly. They burned a deep, menacing purple, like two ring shaped galaxies surrounding a pair of hypnotizing, horrifying black holes. Most people feared those eyes, but Rider welcomed them. Hell, for the majority of his life up here in Earthrise, he challenged them. He wasn't afraid of his father, and he knew that deep down, although he would never admit it, his father knew he wasn't afraid. 

"Why is it" The General started, "That whenever we take a step forward, you somehow always find a way to push us three steps back?" 

"One step forward?" Rider pressed, his eyebrows sinking in toward each other. "Did you see the heat those guys were packing? Have you ever seen Farsiders with that kind of fire power? I sure as hell haven't, so I'm not really sure what 'step forward' you're talking abou-" 

"Of course we saw the weapons, Rider!" The General barked, standing up from his seat as he slammed his hand down onto the table. His eyes began to glow subtly, and Rider could feel the energy in the room around him begin to change. His father had always been known to have a slight temper, but if there was anyone who was able to evolve that temper from slight to downright horrible, it was Rider. Rider stared at him and scoffed. He'd seen far worse outbursts from his father throughout the years, and he hadn't been intimidated by one of them since he was a boy. Seeming slightly embarrassed, the General quickly gathered his composure and sat back down. He placed the palm of his hand on top of the black folder he'd brought in with him and slid it across the table to Rider. Rider opened it, and his eyes widened as he began scanning the contents inside. He flipped through a dozen pages, each of them filled with extremely high quality pictures and thoroughly written notes. 

The entire folder was dedicated to the four Farsiders he had just gone up against. 

"What is this?" Rider asked quietly, the realization now starting to sink in.

"Like I told you." His father started. "Of course we knew about the weapons. We've been tracking this group of Crater Traders for over half a cycle now, Rider." 

Rider sat there, feeling like a fool. He'd always known about his father's Farsider Prevention Task Force, but always thought they seemed a bit incompetent. They never seemed to be making an actual difference. For every small group of Farsiders they would catch and throw in jail, three more groups would replace them. It was an endless cycle of crime. That was why Rider did what he did. But looking through the folder, a terrible question began to burn inside of him. 

Had he been wrong about his father this whole time? 

The thought of it sounded so ridiculous to him, it infuriated him. He knew his father didn't agree with what he was doing - He'd made that very clear by throwing him in jail several times - But weren't they doing the same thing? His father worked inside the confines of the law to prevent Farsiders from wreaking havoc on the city. If his father was going to follow a set of strict codes and regulations, only for those regulations to work about fifty percent of the time, then Rider was going to do the opposite. If his father's buckets couldn't seem to put out the fire, then Rider would use a hose. 

But apparently, Rider's hose had a kink in it. 

"Those weapons are military grade." Rider spat, frustratedly. "There's no way they would have been able to steal them without it being on every newscast in the city. Somebody must have-" He cut off, the realization slapping in the face like a glowing red Morningstar. 

"You let them steal them." He said. 

"Not exactly," The General replied. He eyed Rider, who sat with his chin leaning on one hand, his other placed on his temple. The group of Farsiders had done a good job of making sure he wouldn't forget their encounter any time soon. 

"You gave them the weapons!?" Rider accused, jumping up from his seat. His arms dropped down to his sides and he balled his fists. 

"Sold them to them" His father said blankly, remaining in his seat. "There are levels to this, Rider. It's far more than just leaping down from radio towers and beating up a bunch of low-level cronees. A plan was set in motion long ago. A plan that you have now drastically altered the course of." 

"You sold them? Isn't that against the law? How does that even work? I can't believe this. You're just as bad as them! You can't seriously-"

"I am the law, Rider!" The General shouted, standing up to meet Rider on his own level. He sighed, placing both hands on the table and bowing his head. "Why must you make this so difficult?"

"I'm making this difficult?" Rider spat. "You're the one selling Kratoblades and Crater Canons to criminals! How am I the bad guy here!?" 

The General shook his head and didn't respond. 

"I could have helped." Rider said. "You know what I do. Why.. Why didn't you ask me to help? Why didn't you-"

"Because this is what happens when you try to 'help', Rider!" His father exploded, slamming his fists on the table. "Time after time I've had to throw you in a cell, hoping, praying you would get the message. That you would come to your senses and stop this childish nonsense. But time after time I've been disappointed. Time after time, you have made a mockery of me and my team, of everything I have worked for. No more! I won't stand for it any longer!" 

The General stared at Rider for a moment before taking a deep breath and walking toward the door. Rider sighed, pressing both hands against his head and continuing to massage his temples. 

"Your suit has been confiscated and is now the property of The Earthrise Defense Force." The General said firmly. Rider's mouth opened to interject, but his father beat him to it. "We're going after them at Bluefall. We know where they flew off to, and we've already set a plan in motion to take them down." He said, turning the doorknob and opening the door. 

"I'm warning you, Rider." The General said, his tone strong and direct. "I'm only telling you this because I want you to know I'm watching you. Stay away from this. This is your last chance. Get in my way again, and I'll make sure you don't step foot on my streets for a long, long time." 

The General left, closing the door behind him. 

Rider sighed. The conversation left him even more exhausted that he'd felt upon waking up. He folded his arms on the table and buried his face in them. Damn Farsiders. He thought. He wanted to close his eyes and fall asleep, letting it all fall into the back of his mind, but he couldn't. The ache in his forearm wouldn't let him. The throbbing of his head wouldn't let him. 

The threats of his father wouldn't let him. 

Bluefall, huh? He smirked. 

With more to prove than ever, Rider sat up, gathered the papers from the folder together again, and began to read. 

* * *

A Gravity Storm had been forecasted to hit mid Bluefall, which Rider found curious. His father was planning to go after the criminals mid storm? He didn't see how that could possibly give his father's task force the upper edge, but what did it really matter to him? He'd flown through gravity storms before, and now that he was finally redressed in a fresh, fully functional suit, he could easily control his own gravity. 

Rider hovered above the city like a lonesome star. Most people chose to wait out gravity storms indoors, so the streets below him were dull and quiet. Gravity regulators were an absolute necessity to anyone and everyone living on Kratonia, but that didn't mean all of them were strong enough to help a person withstand a gravity storm. Even the political elites with access to military grade regulators chose to remain indoors. Rider, however, had always loved them. Hovering aimlessly, he remembered back to his younger years, filled with days of chasing storms with friends, riding the surges up and down the city. They would race each other, starting at the northernmost point of the city and working their way south, seeing who could maneuver themselves best across the Earthscrapers. He remembered all the times he nearly knocked himself out by slamming into the sides of buildings or construction cranes. He remembered the pride he felt after winning the races and claiming his friend's gravity regulator cores as a prize. He remembered the sound of-

Sirens.

Rider's focus snapped back to reality as the sounds of the sirens wailed through his helmet and into his ears. He remained floating in place while he zoomed his sights downward and began scanning the city. The purple and white strobe of the Earthrise Defense Force GraviTruck lights caught his eye almost immediately, and he focused in on them. 

Three trucks, each of them easily 30 yards long and 15 feet high, sped through the streets in a sharp pyramid formation. All three were identical, save for the truck at the front of the formation that had a gunner on top. Several feet in front of them, a bright orange orb shot down the street. Rider smirked, but remained hovering. He planned to approach the situation much differently this time - He would wait until his father's task force inevitably failed, and then he would swoop in to save the day. He would make those dirty Farsiders pay for what they'd done to him earlier that day. He would prove to his father, once and for all, that his methods were superior, and that he was far more equipped to deal with Farsider raids than a bunch of military funded cops. 

Watching from above, Rider took a moment to go through the list of mental notes he'd made after reading the folder his father had luckily left him with. He was now able to identify all four members of the group, and had even found a few things out about each individual member. 

The leader of the group, whom Rider had referred to as Diamond Face, was actually named Kord. He had served several cycles locked away, imprisoned down deep in The Swallow, and had actually managed to escape all on his own, killing two prison guards in the process. The Earthrise Defense Force had dispatched a team to the Farside to hunt him down, but Kord had killed four out of the six of them when they raided his hideout. 

His father had decided to abandon the mission and let the man walk free after that, fearing the monstrous man would eventually kill the entirety of the EDF. 

Rissa, the sole woman of the group, seemed to be second in command. There hadn't been much information on her other than her status in the groups hierarchy, and one other notable tip -

Kin, the Morningstar wielding man, was her younger brother. He was the one Kord had sent to purchase the weapons from the General's undercover team, and apparently he had specifically chosen the Morningstars for himself, even after being offered a much more powerful pair of Kratonium infused double sided hammers.

Rider wiped his brow at the thought of those when he'd read that in the file earlier that day. 

Tek, the small, scared looking man with the green glowing Boost Boots, was an outlier. Other than his name and basic physical attributes like his height, hair, eye, and skin color, there had been absolutely no information on him. Based on the way he acted, and the way the rest of the group treated him, Rider guessed he was a freeloader who must have been promised a big chunk of K to help with the job. 

Chaos quickly ensued below him as the trucks caught up to the fleeing Farsiders. Another squad of heavily armored vehicles had cut them off in the middle of a large intersection, forcing them to stand their ground. Rider zoomed his sights in a bit further and watched. The group still had their weapons, but the bags Tek had flown off with during their last encounter had disappeared. Where had he put them? He couldn't have gone far if he was able to meet back up with the rest of his group, so the bags were most likely hidden somewhere in the middle of the city. Rider lowered his chin at the thought of that. Other than getting his head kicked in, letting Tek take off with those bags was another significant loss he'd suffered earlier that day. 

Dirty Farsiders.. The familiar thought rolled through his head. Most of the encounters he'd had with Farsiders had been child's play. They were rarely ever armed, and even when they were, the weapons were usually small and insignificant. He could even keep count of how many Farsiders he'd scared off, or just down right knocked out over the past few cycles. None of them stuck with him like this group had. This situation was much different. 

This was personal. 

Although Rider decided to stay far away from the action, the chaos down below had decided to make its way upward toward him. Without warning, several explosions ripped through the streets below, sending shockwaves of orange Flow up into the sky. Rider shot upward, flipping twice as he tried to regain his balance. Once he managed to catch himself, he shot his focus back down towards the streets. 

His jaw dropped at the chaos. 

From where he hovered, the entire downtown portion of the city seemed to be on fire. He could feel the heat rising as the flames crawled up the buildings. Sirens wailed while the sounds of horrified screams seemed to consume the entire lunar surface. Rider cursed to himself. He couldn't just stay back and watch it all unfold. He needed to help.

Rider aimed himself downward and slid the dial on his wrist. He turned into a purple blur as he shot down towards the ground, his gauntlets blasting a thick purple plasma. He reached the ground in a matter of seconds and surveyed the area. He'd landed several yards behind the EDF trucks in efforts to keep himself hidden from the eyes of the soldiers, or worse, his father. Flames consumed the buildings around him, and he could feel the temperature rise as the fires increased in size. The gunner on top of the EDF truck began firing, shaking the ground with each Kratonium infused hyperbullet. 

Absolute Chaos. 

Rider crouched down and set his eyes back onto his wrist. He scrolled for several seconds before landing on a function labeled as "GRAVPULSE." He tapped in, and his gauntlets began to vibrate and glow with a thick purple energy. They hummed fiercely, the frequency raising with each passing second. A small loading bar raised swiftly on his wrist screen, which Rider watched in anticipation. Once it reached 100%, the screen shrunk down to its basic interface with the digital dial, but now glowed with a soft purple hue. With his next plan of action set and loaded, Rider slid the digital dial on his wrist to half power, and elevated into the air. 

He floated 20 feet above the ground, which gave him a perfect view of the battle happening in front of him. He could see all four Farsiders, each of them holding their weapons in fierce, strong battle positions. Kord seemed to be using his cannon to create a large shield, made of pure, thick orange Kratonium Flow. Was there anything that weapon couldn't do? Rider frowned. He'd have one shot at taking them down with his Gravpulse. If it didn't work, not only would the Farsiders notice him and come after him, but his father would notice him too. Being attacked by the people who had just kicked him around only a few hours earlier, while also being chased down by the EDF, all while a Gravity Storm made its way over to make the situation already worse than it currently was, did not seem like a fun time. 

He took a breath and let the sounds of battle fuel him. His frown turned upward, and he actually felt a jolt of energy come over him. If he was going to go down, he was at least going to do it his way. 

The fun way.

"Hey!" He shouted, his voice projecting out from the speakers built into the sides of his helmet. "Remember me!?" He waved his hands above his head, trying to get the Farsiders attention. 

Kord noticed him immediately. He yelled something that Rider couldn't hear, and pointed upward at him. The rest of the Farsiders immediately turned their attention toward Rider and snarled. 

Rider smirked. After all he'd been through earlier that day, he finally had the upper hand.

"I gotta hand it to you guys!" He shouted. "You really know how to put on a show!"

Kord dismissed his shield, and threw his arm outward. 

"KILL HIM!" Kord bellowed as the other three Farsiders began to charge forward. 

Rider felt the moment arrive. The perfect moment. The moment to finally hit the criminals with an attack strong enough to knock them down and leave them down. 

"Well, as much as I hate to see the show end, I'll give you guys a nice round of applause! You deserve it!"

Rider threw both of his arms outward and slammed his hands together in a swift, forceful clap. An enormous wave of purple Flow shot out from his hands, sending him soaring backwards. The wave engulfed the entire battlefield in an instant, causing everything in its wake to rise off the ground and shoot backwards just like he had. The group of Farsiders shot upward and back like leaves in a Gravity Storm. The fires engulfing the building were severely diminished. At first glance, Rider's attack seemed to have actually worked. 

But then he caught his balance.

Before his attack, Rider was so focused on the Farsiders in the middle of the chaos, he forgot about one very important thing -

The EDF trucks and soldiers who had surrounded them from behind.

He hovered in place, horrified at what was unfolding in front of him. Several trucks, and what looked like nearly hundreds of EDF soldiers, shot through the sky like ragdolls. They flailed their arms and legs, screaming in terror as they rose higher into the air and farther into the depths of the city. Some of them slammed into buildings, blood splattering on impact, while others began to drop from the sky like individual raindrops. 

"No.. No!" Rider screamed. A wave of panick consumed him. "What did I do! No, this wasn't supposed to.. What do I.. What do I do!?" 

He looked around at the chaos. Screams of terror quickly turned into groans of agony. Voices called from every direction, calling for medical assistance. Rider looked around, unable to move. 

And then - 

A bright, orange orb shot into the sky. 

"NO!" He screamed. "They can't get away!"

He looked down at his wrist and quickly turned the dial to full power. He shot up into the air and set his sights onto the orb. He would follow them to the end of the solar system if he had to. He would catch them. He would stop them. He would-

A thick, heavy wire suddenly wrapped itself around his torso. Thousands of volts of electricity buzzed from the wire, coursing through his body like a never ending streak of lightning. Rider tried to shimmy free from it, but another quickly wrapped itself around his legs. 

And then another. And another. 

Rider plummeted downward and smacked the ground so hard he couldn't even feel the impact. The electricity continued to coarse through his body. He gasped for air, but couldn't find it. 

His vision faded. 

The pinks and blues returned, just like they had arrived earlier that day. And again, much like how his consciousness had ended earlier, the last thing Rider saw before his vision went completely black, was a bright, strong orb of orange soaring upward and away from the city.