Villainous Kamen Rider in Pretty Cure

Sixty-Fifth Chapter Trap!

Although he wanted to enjoy her cute appearance for a bit longer, the most urgent matter was still to figure out why Go-Kaijō had stopped moving.

“[Detection of damage to the joint areas, basic settings error. Continuing operation will worsen the damage situation. Danger, needs repair.]”

“I’m going out.” Inserting the Evil Dragon into his belt, with the standby sound ringing, Ash said towards his back: “I leave this place in your hands; don’t touch anything or get lost.”

“I’ll go buy an orange — fix a robot, stand here without moving until I come back.”

“But, isn’t it in space with no air?!”

Ash did not respond, instead giving her a gesture meaning “watch more Dinosaur Knight,” then walked out without looking back, locking the cockpit door beforehand.

Watching Ash depart, Akane could only lower her raised hand, her mouth opening and closing without any words escaping.

Standing atop Go-Kaijō’s chest, Ash stood on the outside after pushing open the decompression chamber. Overhead, the shadow cast by a giant asteroid, ten kilometers wide, made even the colossal machine seem insignificant in the eyes of an ordinary person.

In the boundless universe, infinite dark expanse filled with stars, this asteroid chose to destroy their only home. How could Ash allow that?

After all, it was a planet he loved.

“Ugh…原本力量减弱后，只差一点就要把它推出去了。” After weakening, I almost pushed it away.”

However, the Pretty Cures were surely fighting to protect their world on Earth. He needed to be a determined Knight too.

Wangjian’s armor maintained a fantastical system and sealed environment, sufficient for extreme conditions.

Treading firmly on the sturdy armor, floating, Ash adjusted his landing to reach the faulty location.

“This is it… hmm?”

Ash finally identified the cause of the machine’s stoppage but felt no joy. The energy core in the chest had been unlocked manually, with a sparking sword inserted, clearly the root cause of the accident.

“Good evening, Mr. Wangjian~”

Despite the lack of air flow in space, Joker’s affected voice echoed from behind.

“Why do you think it’s night time?”

Pulling out the sword in front of him, Ash suddenly burst forth, swinging it backward! The sword however struck nothing, as Joker was not where the voice came from but standing on a fragment of another asteroid, gripping the sword handle.

“Because, if you want Mr. Wangjian, who is at odds with the tragic kingdom, to sleep safely~” Joker’s unnaturally long tongue licked the sword as another fragment drifted before vanishing instantly.

“That necessitates a night darker than darkness itself!”

Suddenly reappearing behind Ash, Joker sneered and thrust his blade towards Ash’s center back!

Ash opened his arms feeling a sharp electric shock. He used his arm to catch the sword piercing under his armpit while his right fist was pinned by Joker’s grip.

“As I said, if you think you can take my life…”

The two blades clashed silently, with intense force pushing both backwards.

“Do your best then!”

“Just right, I’m someone who loves trying~ So Mr. Wangjian, please play with me again!”

A longsword burning with dark aura, and a spear twisting with sorrowful intent. Wangjian and Joker, like pirates jumping board aboard their ships, stepped and dodged on a skull pirate flag logo on Go-Kaijō’s chest, dancing a waltz named death, clashing fiercely.

“Wowah— w-what’s happening!”

Akane, expecting nothing, suddenly saw explosions in the cockpit’s overhead energy lines. Sparks flickered inside, forcing Akane to dodge around the control panels to avoid scalds.

“[Damage worsening]”

Hadn’t Ash gone to fix it? Why is she exploding again? What’s going on outside?!

Amidst dodging, slipping, Akane instinctively reached out to support herself on the panel beside her, inadvertently triggering a monitor switch. The screen displayed the scene centered on Go-Kaijō’s chest.

“Ash-kun!”

Onscreen, Ash, crouching and overwhelmed, blocked the sword, held down by Joker’s relentless pressure.

“I waited for you so long. Don’t tell me you didn’t notice, Mr. Wangjian,” surrounded by fragments, Joker moved freely, disappearing and reappearing unpredictably, making this place his hunting ground, trapping Wangjian immobile due to insufficient cosmic adaptability.

“How are you going to defeat me now you’ve fallen into my trap?”

Last time, an opportunistic strike succeeded. Now facing Joker at full strength, focused Ash finds it difficult to tackle the opponent.

Lifting the dragon’s arm to block the incoming blade, Ash was pushed halfway into the air with fierce sparks, even spinning twice to stabilize himself.

Replacing the last broken wire in the energy core, seeing the green light return, a sigh of relief escaped from Ash.

“Akane, can you hear me?”

Ash’s voice sounded over the cockpit’s intercom.

“I’ve got some – minor issues, so I can’t come back right now. You’ll need to relight the engines!”

“But, I don’t know how!”

Guiding Akane simultaneously, Ash adopted a defensive strategy to counter Joker’s offensive.

But Joker was not so easily fooled, accelerating his angle and narrowing Ash’s escape space.

“I’ll tell you what to do — you ask what happened?”

Rebouncing a sword, Ash hesitated not: “I’m fine, no big deal, just minor issues, no need to worry! But you, don’t get yourself hurt!”

Fooling her!

Seeing the knight struggling on the screen, Akane clenched her fists biting her lips, almost digging her nails into her own flesh from the pain.

“Don’t be afraid.” Unhearing her reply, Ash continued encouraging her, assuming fear caused her silence. “Akane! Only you can do this now!”

“It’s…only me…”

Red blood trickled down Akane’s hand, dripping silver onto the white control console, creating bright red “snowflakes.” Suppressing her fear and pain, ignoring the stinging, Akane concentrated solely on the steering wheel.

There’s still something I…

Can still do!

[English translation completed without further comments as per instructions]