Author: Samuel Vinton

Kamen Rider Vortex Kamen Rider Vortex Chapters

Chapter 50

“HOW DO THEY KEEP FINDING MY FOUNDATION ELEMENTS?!” roared Lord Vortech as he smacked the Stunticons and Snatcher around. “Every time I send you fools to retrieve one, they’re right behind you!”

“Don’t blame us!” protested Lex. “They obviously have some sort of technology to find them!”

“Oh, but I AM blaming you!” snarled Vortech. “I picked you nitwits because you were the most powerful in your universes! You still allow those idiots to challenge you and defeat you!”

“Not true!” argued Motormaster. I rolled my eyes.

“This whole thing went down with Hiro’s death,” I sighed.

“You think me unaware of that, Ambassador Hell?!” roared Vortech. “That’s why Igura’s out there! But an edge cannot come quickly enough!” He looked among us. “I have to find out how they’ve been doing it, find out where they’re hiding!” His eyes stopped on the image of a Foundation Element as he got an idea. He started laughing. “And I think I know exactly how to do so!”

We returned to Vorton and presented the token. “Nice job, everybody! Good on the new guys too! Congratulations! And, just think, years ago, that adventure would have cost you one whole quarter!”

“Hey, uh, mind if we stay a bit?” asked Sonic.

“It-a looks like you-a need some help,” observed Mario.

“I can help as well!” called Peach.

“Sounds reasonable!” I mused. “Well, Gamer Riders? Shinnosuke-san?”

“I’m afraid we have to go,” replied Emu. “Poppy has a job as a nurse when she’s not guiding us Gamer Riders and I’m a doctor.”

“I just got hired as head of Genm Corp.’s design department for their games,” answered Parado.

“And I’m a police officer,” remarked Shinnosuke. “We all have jobs that demand our attention.”

“Then, farewell, and I hope to see you in the final battle against Vortech,” I declared. X-PO opened a portal for them and they headed back home.

“Hey, do these mean anything to you?” asked Sonic. “I was collecting them in Defender before that alien trapped me in there.” More studs, whoopee.

“How many?” I asked Vortoranii.

“We’re at 2,697,000 studs now,” she counted.

“Any extradimensional excursions that went on during our hunt for the Foundation Element?” I asked.

“No,” sighed Richard happily. “It’s been pretty quiet.” That was when the alarm sounded.

“PO-Lambda has been detected!” reported X-PO.

“WHAT?!” I yelped. “Why did we detect him again?! He should have left Vorton!”

“All indications are that the intruder never left,” replied X-PO.

“That doesn’t make sense, why would he stay?” muttered Emily.

“We have an opportunity to ask,” I replied. “Emily, Richard, Mr. and Mrs. Saunders, X-PO, you’re with me. Livia, show our new arrivals around. X-PO, where’s PO-Lambda?”

“Still on the Executor,” reported X-PO. “Kämpfer, Vader, Death, and Apocalypse are searching the ship right now. The lockdown’s still out of commission. We can beam up with the teleporter.”

“Good idea,” I remarked. “Henshin!” I transformed back into Royal. “We need as much power in reserve as we can get.”

“You know, you CAN call us by name,” replied Mrs. Saunders

“Discussion for another time, Mama,” answered Emily. “Henshin!” She became Touché again.

“Henshin!” announced Richard as he turned into Guard. “Mom, Dad, might want to get a firearm. I’m not sold on the stormtroopers’ shooting.”

“Neither am I,” commented Mr. Saun…Fred. “I’m gonna find out why they’re so crappy at it after this is done.” They grabbed rifles and we headed to the teleporter. We beamed to Vader’s location.

“Ah, I see X-PO’s responded to the alarm,” mused Kämpfer. “Good. The intruder is in the repair bay for the droids on this ship.”

“Lead on,” I directed. The ship lurched again! “What’s going on?!” I demanded. Kämpfer took out his tablet and got the sit-rep.

“The ship is accelerating!” he reported. “The intruder has limited control!”

“I thought our technical teams installed the new safeguards,” snarled Vader.

“We did!” protested Kämpfer. “And triple encrypted them! There is no way the intruder should be able to get into the ship’s systems!”

“Well, it’s clearly possible, because he did it!” snapped Apocalypse.

“That’s irrelevant,” I argued. “What’s our heading?”

“Working on it!” assured Kämpfer. “Ah! Got it! …What?”

“What is it?” I asked.

“We’re just going faster,” reported Kämpfer. “Our orbit is still around Vorton.” I was confused as everyone else.

“We…aren’t leaving?” I asked.

“If I were the toaster-possessing ghost,” replied X-PO, “I would bring the guns around and start shooting stuff!”

“Even then, that’s a waste of power,” commented Fred. “With the shields raised, a Star Destroyer could steamroll through anything in its path and not even scratch the paintjob.”

“Kämpfer, Apocalypse, get to Engineering and see if you can slow us down,” I directed.

“Ja!” confirmed Kämpfer.

“On it!” obliged Apocalypse.

“And if there’s a radiation leak, don’t be a hero!” I called as they headed off.

“Very little risk of that, I can assure you!” replied Kämpfer. They were out of sight.

“Your Majesty,” muttered Guard, “there’s something rotten here, but I can’t put my finger on it!”

“We’ll get our answers from the intruder,” I affirmed. We made it to the Droid Repair bay. “On my signal,” I directed. “Three! Two! One! NOW!” We charged in, making a lot of noise and seeing an Astromech Droid stab PO-Lambda with something. It started screaming and shaking! It then rose up and started putting off a bright light! It then changed into a profile of a human skeleton, then the skeleton went from human to humanoid tiger and back to human again, all while muscle flowed back onto the bones. Organs came back and filled the empty spaces. Skin was restored! Hair grew back! The figure faced us and spoke.

“Sā, Rogue Driver!” it called in a man’s voice. A red vortex opened. A device like my belt flew into the man’s hands. Reality hit me.

“No!” I breathed. “That’s not possible!”

“Oh, but it is!” chuckled the Rogue Driver. “Took you long enough to come back. Let’s get you decent.”

“I agree,” said the man. He then put the Rogue Driver to his waist and it made a belt strap wrap around. Pistols then appeared, one on each side of his waist. Blue pants then flowed over his legs as black boots appeared on his feet. A green shirt materialized on his upper torso and a brown trench coat appeared to cover his body. He unbuttoned the coat and put his hand to the air. A short, flat topped, brown hat appeared and he put it on. “Genomorphic upgrade to host body, successful,” reported a man I hated. “Resurrection, complete!” Death took a sand timer out from her robes. There were Japanese characters on it. 足立ヒロ. They translated to Adachi Hiro, my biological father. The sand was all in the upper bulb. Kamen Rider Rogue was back.

“Guys,” gulped Fred. “The man, he looks like…!”

“He is!” I snarled.

“I am!” replied Hiro.

“How?!” hissed Death. “You blew up in Chima!”

“Only thanks to that twit that ruined everything!” snarled Hiro as he pointed at me. “But, if you must know, I took a page out of someone’s book and turned my soul into living data!”

“Lord Vyce did that to face Linkara!” remembered Guard.

“That tin-plated dictator was nothing,” dismissed Hiro. “While most of my organic material and cybernetics were nothing but ash after I detonated myself, I flew around the multiverse, looking for a way to get a new body! I briefly returned to my home universe and scoured an old base for answers. I had to possess the dead body of a Combatman and go through the files.

“The data I came across showed how to turn a soul into data, so I made the ultimate sacrifice and did so. The data also said that there were ways to make a new body. Project: Ghost Body was where Shocker stored the genetic information and needed cybernetics to make a new body so they could use monsters over and over. I took that data and made numerous attempts to get to Foundation Prime, but I was met with a problem. Vortech was the one who sent me and retrieved me. I didn’t know Foundation Prime’s coordinates. So, I found an old PO robot and possessed it while the events of Touché’s excursion into Jurassic World went on.

“I tried recruiting Heather, but she stupidly brushed me aside. I overheard you wanting to find her, no doubt to get information, so I removed her. I then went to the Ghostbusters’ universe and followed you but altered my exit so I wouldn’t be caught immediately. However, you used the PKE meter to find me, and here we are. Your Dalek is dead and I live.”

“Forgive us if we don’t throw a party,” muttered X-PO.

“Ah, X-PO,” observed Hiro. “You were the one who found Foundation Prime, you will get me back there.”

“I hate to be the bearer of GOOD news,” snarked X-PO, “but Vortech deleted that when you guys fired me!”

“Nonsense!” dismissed Hiro.

“It’s true! That’s another reason why we’ve been getting the Foundation Elements!” insisted X-PO.

“You seriously don’t remember the coordinates of YOUR discovery?!” hissed Hiro, his smirk fading. “Never mind, this vessel will do nicely.”

“If you think I’m going to let you take this ship,” declared Linda, “I have a couple of laser bullets willing to disagree with you!”

“And I’M willing to order Vorton’s destruction!” I snarled. “When it goes, so do our Foundation Elements!”

“You’d never dare!” challenged Hiro.

“Dai Super Charge,” I announced. I then concentrated on portals throughout Vorton and brought everyone on board.

“OI! What’s going on?” called Joshua.

“X-PO,” I ordered, “activate the secondary a.i.”

“On it,” confirmed X-PO. It took a few seconds.

“Secondary a.i online,” intoned a voice.

“Secondary a.i., this is Queen Megumi Hishikawa,” I answered. “Activate Vorton Destruction sequence. Destruct sequence 1, code 1, 1-A.”

“First destruct sequence code recognized,” reported the a.i.

“Guard,” I directed.

“Secondary a.i., this is Sir Richard Saunders,” answered Guard. “Activate Vorton Destruction sequence. Destruct sequence 2, code 1, 1-A, 2-B.”

“Second destruct sequence code recognized,” reported the a.i.

“X-PO,” I commanded.

“You gave X-PO that kind of power!?” snarled Hiro.

“Secondary a.i., this is the Experimental Portal Operator,” called X-PO. “Activate Vorton Destruction sequence. Destruct sequence 3, code 1, 1-B, 2-B, 3.”

“Destruct sequence ready,” reported the a.i. “Set time and initiate final code to begin countdown.”

“Set Vorton Destruction,” I ordered. “Command code 0-0-0-Destruct-0 30 minutes.”

“Destruct sequence completed and engaged,” called the a.i. “Vorton will detonate in 30 minutes.”

“X-PO, Priority Vortech alpha! Abort Vorton Destruct sequence!” demanded Hiro. X-PO’s eye flashed red. “WHAT?! But, that only happens when the code’s been deleted! And it was tied into the coordinates of………you told the truth! Vortech really DID wipe the coordinates from your memory!”

“Took you long enough to realize that,” snarked X-PO.

“You can try whatever trick you may have previously installed in X-PO,” I hissed, “but, when he was tossed aside and I proved myself, he chose ME to lead him! I’m the one in control here! So, I suggest you…!” I didn’t get far as Hiro fired! He then drew his i.d tag.

“Henshin! Dai Super Charge!” he announced. He went straight to Kamen Rider Rift and proceeded to barrel through us and enter the corridors.

“After him!” I shouted. We took off and ran after him as he headed to the bridge. He managed to lock us out.

“Engineering to Megumi, what’s going on?” asked Kämpfer.

“Hiro’s back,” I replied. “Vorton’s gonna blow in…25 minutes now. We’re locked out of the bridge. Can you get us in?”

“2 minutes to let me do so,” called Kämpfer. The ship’s comms activated.

“Relinquish control of the ship to me, or I gas you all, pick up the Foundation Elements, and let Vorton explode,” shouted Rift.

“…1 minute, then,” remarked Kämpfer.

“Good work,” I called to Kämpfer. “As for you, Rift, I recommend you back off!”

“I have no reason to,” dismissed Rift. “Not when Foundation Prime needs to be raised.”

“I like how you have new ears,” I commented, “and yet, you’re still hard of hearing! There’s no way for us to get from here to Foundation Prime, much less contact it!”

“I have traveled throughout the multiverse and have seen universes of pure majesty!” declared Rift. “I have seen ancient mindless evils that fill in the cracks and eat dimensions just for a snack! I have heard tales of an Outer God made of pure glitchy data that was convinced to commit suicide by a fat, screechy comic book nerd! Contacting Foundation Prime for help is ‘small potatoes’, I believe the expression is. You are but a flea that I can brush aside!”

“There are reasons for us not finding Foundation Prime, much less talking to it!” I insisted.

“A fabrication by the original Vortonians, at best,” snarled Hiro, “a ruse by you, at worst. Either way is irrelevant.” At that point, the bridge opened and we crept in. Hiro was still working at a console. I then converted my sword to gun mode and leveled it at Rift. I almost pulled the trigger, but Rift brought out his weapon in bazooka mode and fired! “Did you really think I would fall for that?” he quizzed.

“Vorton Destruction sequence aborted,” reported the secondary a.i. No!

“You think you can beat ME?!” roared Rift as he fired. “I am Adachi Hiro, the vanquisher of Death herself! My life shall continue until the multiverse is all one! You are but the footnote in the pages of my glory! And when they build statues of me, trampling over you, you shall be remembered as…”

“Excuse me,” interrupted a soft, woman’s voice.

“WHAT?!” roared Rift as he faced a woman with bronze hair, a bronze dress with 13 panels of four spheres, a sleeveless top, a choker with two rings, a hairband with a light on each end, a blue dot in the center of her forehead, and silver gauntlets with a plunger resting on the right forearm and a Dalek gun resting on the left forearm.

“That’s my friend you just insulted,” said the woman. She then used the plunger to grab Rift’s chest and toss him over her head. Death was confused.

“I want the life-timer of the woman in front of me,” she whispered as her eyes glowed. A sand-timer came into her hands and she looked at the name. Her eyes went wide. “Impossible!” she whispered.

“What? What is it?!” I asked. Death turned to the woman.

“You squishy, green maniac!” she whispered with a grin.

“Who are you talking about?!” I demanded.

“RUSTY!” cheered Death. “He’s…she’s alive!” She pointed to the woman. I gave the woman a look. On closer inspection, her dress DID look like a Dalek.

“Well?” asked the woman. “Aren’t you going to say thank you?” She held a hand to her ear.

“Well, Rusty,” I mused, not believing her, “I suppose that 2,000,000 stud reward you gave us will have to go back so you can spend it wisely.”

“What are you talking about?” asked the woman. “I gave you 220,000 studs. This was before Vortoranii became your belt’s a.i and it made the total, at the time, 600,000. I was there when you were crowned Queen and functioned as a member of your Tech support staff.” I don’t believe it! It really is…!

“RUSTY!” I cheered as I ran forward. I hugged him…her and laughed in joy. “But…how…we fired your body into a star! How are you…?”

“The Dalek?!” roared Rift. “IMPOSSIBLE!”

“You know what, you can explain later,” I said to Rusty.

“Of course,” agreed Rusty. “Now, as for you, for causing a radiation leak, as I would have put it earlier, EXTERMINATE!” She fired from her blaster and Rift glowed teal with his skeleton showing. He screamed but didn’t crumple to the floor. Instead, he swatted the beam aside. Odd, given that it was light and radiation. Rift panted.

“That…hurt!” he gasped. “Did you really think I wouldn’t be altered to prevent death by a Dalek blaster? I was surrounded by xenophobic maniacs when we recruited Davros and those tanks!”

“Huh,” I muttered. “Swing and a miss, Rusty.”

“In all honesty, I should have figured that,” replied Rusty. Rift then fired on us and escaped the bridge.

“He’s going for the hangar!” yelped Death.

“I’ll cut him off!” called Rusty.

“No!” I countered. “Does your plunger still work as a computer interface?”

“Manipulator arm,” corrected Rusty. “And, yes, it does.”

“Talk to the ship’s computers and slow down our orbit,” I directed. “I’ll face Rift.” I charged off before anyone could stop me. I saw Rift walking the corridor and looking out the window. He got visibly angry. I peeked out my window and could see our orbit slowing down. Thank you, Rusty. I then aimed my weapon at Rift’s window, waited, and fired! The window shattered as the air was being sucked out into space. I grabbed an overhead support and Rift grabbed my leg!

“Activating emergency bulkheads!” called X-PO’s voice over the comms.

“Belay that!” I ordered

“What?!” yelped X-PO.

“I have business that requires an open window!” I replied. I felt Rift climbing up my leg. At that point, I raised my other foot and slammed it onto Rift’s head. “I! HAVE HAD! ENOUGH OF YOU!” I said as I kicked. One final kick was enough to send Rift flying through the window and into space. His suit should give him enough air for five hours, more than enough to make a rift for himself. He flew past Vorton. “Okay, X-PO, you can close the bulkheads!” I called. An emergency blast door slid over the window, stabilizing everything. I let go of the overhead support and let myself tumble to the floor. I then cancelled my transformation. “…Wheeeee…” I sighed.

Emily had just checked us all over after that hair-raising escapade. We gathered in the Gateway room after our check-up. “Well, all in all, that could have gone worse,” I mused.

“COULD HAVE GONE WORSE?!” protested Mr. Babineaux. “The creature that kidnapped us came back to life and nearly made you destroy our base of operations! The rest of us were surprised to be evacuated that quickly! I’m still trying to process the information!!”

“Papa,” calmed Emmanuel. “Perhaps this event happened for the best. We have an old friend back, Hiro’s been defeated as usual, and the Executor is back in control.”

“There IS an explanation waiting,” I recalled. “Rusty, how DID you come back? We fired your body into a star, per your last wish.”

“That’s where things got tricky, even for me,” answered Rusty. “After you fired me into a star, my shell’s computers switched on. I was surprised but decided to take advantage of the situation. You do recall that Azmuth was studying my shell?”

“I remember,” I muttered. “I argued with him a lot about it. Eventually, I caved.”

“Good thing you did,” replied Rusty. “When Ben confronted Azmuth about it, I beamed into the Omnitrix and collected and copied various genetic samples, combining them into one. I then beamed myself and the samples to the Codon Stream on Primus. My new body then rose out of the stream and started testing out the limits. By all appearances, I was human, but I noticed holes on my forearms. I then realized those were for armaments, specifically, mine. I had to get back, so I waited for a ship. Azmuth then arrived on a ship with a female Chimera Sui Generis named Myaxx. I snuck aboard the ship and waited for take-off. It took a few days, but I was taken to Galvan Mark II. Azmuth was creating his own Gateway. It didn’t have the proper codes to connect to Vorton, but I still remembered them. I generated my own portal to the closet here as I was still nude. I then found clothes that would emulate my shell. Once I was dressed, I returned to the upper levels and found my shell in its glass case. I took the armaments and then teleported to the Executor’s bridge.”

“And then you gave your dramatic reveal,” I chuckled. A couple of tears came down. “It’s good to see you again!” I gave him…her…I gave Rusty a hug. Rusty reciprocated.

“I guess, the question is, what pronouns are we using?” asked Elphaba.

“Yeah, that leads to another question,” muttered Tanisha. “Why a female body?”

“I just thought it looked cool,” replied Rusty. “So, female pronouns are preferred.” I then broke off the hug.

“Still, it’s good to have you back!” I cheered.

“Good to BE back,” replied Rusty. Lukas then entered, looking pale and weak.

“WHOA!” yelped Emily as she led him to a bench. “Dude, are you okay?!”

“Nein,” muttered Lukas, shakily, “nein, I’m NOT okay. I…er…I recently undid Hiro’s control over the Executor.”

“Do I even WANT to know how he got control?” I asked.

“Well, to answer that,” replied Lukas, “he connected like an Astromech. He then copied over code and altered a few things. All in all, not that different from when Tech Support takes over your computer.”

“So, why are you so spooked?” asked Emmanuel.

“Because, in going through the code,” clarified Lukas, “in getting it back to the settings before he got in and updating the security software, I discovered something. He copied something over.”

“What did he copy?” I asked, fearing the worst.

“He copied…Vorton’s coordinates,” gulped Lukas.

“WHAT?!” shouted Batman.

“He’s got our location locked in the Rogue Driver,” confirmed Lukas.

“Wha…when did he do that?!” I asked.

“I’m not sure,” replied Lukas. “My best theory, given what went on, it was as he accelerated the Executor’s orbit. He used it as a false trail to distract whoever would be on to him. …Even then, the whole plan was, er, half-assed, I believe the expression is.” I ran my hands down my face.

“We’re in a precarious state, everyone,” I muttered.

Tags darth vader, grim news, hiro adachi, kamen rider, lord vortech, resurrection, rusty the dalek, standoff, star destroyer, the doctor

Kamen Rider Vortex Kamen Rider Vortex Chapters

Chapter 49

The portal opened in the sky and we landed with a thud! Ex-Aid landed on his head. “Itai!” (Ow!) he winced as picked himself up and massaged his head. We examined our surroundings.

“A race track?” muttered Wyldstyle. Three race cars zoomed by.

“Goodness!” called Gandalf. “They’re even faster than Wargs!”

“Move!” shouted Batman as the cars came around for another lap. He shoved us out of the way while he got ready to jump on the car being driven by the thief. The thief got out of the way as the flag indicated the end of the race.

“Players must beat record lap to win Gold Token,” said an announcer. One of the cars separated it’s rear and folded it down. The sides split away and let hands pop loose. The front flipped up and rotated to become a backpack and allowed a blue head with a purple helmet to pop out. This was Drag-Strip of the Stunticons, and he was mad!

“HOW CAN A FLESHLING BEAT ME?!” he shouted. The last car opened. It was done up in a European driver’s style with the driver on the right side of the car. The driver was a guy in a red suit done up like a race car and he had a tire going from the left shoulder to the right side. His helmet was like a Kamen Rider. The passenger was a pink-haired woman in a yellow outfit and skirt with pixels, buttons, and yellow petticoats. She wore a headpiece on the right side of her head that looked like a green speaker with a yellow pixel note with a green outline on it. She was arguing with the mystery Kamen Rider, er, Driver.

“Drive-san!” called Sengoku.

“Poppy!” cried Ex-Aid. The two people stopped arguing. The woman, Poppy, ran up to Ex-Aid and hugged him. The Kamen Driver, Drive, looked at Sengoku.

“Who are you?” he asked.

“I’m Hishikawa Hiroki,” introduced Sengoku as he used the Japanese name order, “Kamen Rider Sengoku! I can’t believe I’m talking to Tomari Shinnosuke, Kamen Rider Drive!”

“Kamen Rider?” I asked.

“What?” quizzed Drive.

“You have a car,” I observed.

“Well, you ride cars,” argued Drive.

“Yeah, but I just saw you come out of the driver’s seat,” I reminded.

“And being a stupid driver at that!” snapped Poppy. Drive turned on her.

“You were being a backseat driver!” argued Drive.

“I was in the passenger’s seat!” snarled Poppy.

“You still gave advice that I didn’t ask for!” shouted Drive.

“This is why I don’t drive, usually,” said Sonic to Mario.

“I can-a understand,” assured Mario.

“There’s only one problem here,” snarled Drag-Strip, “and it’s you fleshlings! I can’t win with you idiots harassing me!”

“We’re trying to win here!” roared Drive.

“I’M the only winner here!” argued Drag-Strip. “That walking fashion disaster said that this was a racing game called Super Sprint and racing is my thing! Now, step aside and let me win!”

“Might I interject?” asked Clash as she cancelled her transformation. Everyone turned to her.

“WHAT NOW?!” roared Drag-Strip. “What does a fish-lady know about this?!”

“Mermaid,” corrected Livia. Before Drag-Strip shrugged her off, Livia continued. “Look, our team needs that token the thief has. You guys want to beat his best time, if not win. I’m an expert at this game and I did some real racing.” That statement surprised me. “I’ve got an idea, but it needs teamwork and, Signore…er…”

“Drag-Strip,” introduced the Stunticon.

“Signore Drag-Strip, I’m gonna need to take the wheel as you seem to have forgotten some of the most important aspects of racing,” continued Livia.

“What are you talking about?!” snarled Drag-Strip. “I’m the fastest racer around!”

“What about split second decisions?” asked Livia. “What about maneuverability? What about knowing when to slam the brakes on? These are important too.” Drag-Strip’s visor flickered.

“What do you mean know when to slam the brakes on?!” he yelped. “It’s a race! You can’t put them on!”

“Let me take the wheel and I’ll show you what I mean,” offered Livia. “Besides, I can help you win. When you do, you don’t even need to give me credit.” Drag-Strip considered her words, then sighed and transformed.

“You better not screw me up!” he threatened. Livia took her hair flower and veil off, entered Drag-Strip, and set them on Drag-Strip’s floor as she buckled up.

“I’m surprised Decepticons have seat belts,” I mused.

“They’re useful for keeping prisoners,” chuckled Drag-Strip darkly.

“Charming,” snarked Livia. Drag-Strip was at the start line.

“Poppy, do you mind staying in the stands with us?” I asked.

“Why?!” wailed Poppy.

“You’re not an expert at racing games,” replied Para-DX. “Drive doesn’t need another annoyance.” Poppy gasped. She then looked down.

“…Pupepopasulk!” she mumbled.

“Parado!” protested Ex-Aid. He then went to Poppy. “Poppy, we can cheer them on together. It will help them win. Want to help?” Poppy looked up, then smiled.

“Right!” she declared. She then went to the stands with us as we cancelled our transformations aside from Drive as he moved his car to the start. The thief did so as well. The racers were ready.

“Not all players are ready,” called the announcer. Just then, I noticed Batman talking to Hiroki and Hiroki put the Batmobile at the start. Batman got in.

“Let’s drive,” he rasped.

This is it! I can’t wait! My ride grumbled. “I hate this. I hate this! I hate THIS! I HATE THIS!”

“Silenzio!” (Be quiet) I hissed. “We’ll take first place.” I released the brake a bit, causing Drag-Strip to move forward a centimeter. The thief flinched. Drive gave the hand motion that he was watching me. Batman did nothing.

“3! 2! 1! GO!” called the announcer. I hit the gas, then braked to turn right via drifting. The straightaway had a puddle near the end, so I drifted right again near the edge, making a complete 180 on the turn and went up the next straightaway, then drifted left 45 degrees. I then drifted right after the straightaway and gunned Drag-Strip’s engine, then drifted right again and crossed the finish first. This went on for the next two laps. Soon, we finished in 1st! The thief, 3rd place, slammed his hand on the wheel, Drive was in second and handled his place more gracefully, and Batman was dead last. The Dark Knight brooded about it.

“What kind of crazy turning was that?!” asked Drag-Strip.

“Drifting,” I explained. “I intentionally oversteered, making you lose traction in your rear wheels, but still maintained control over you. That’s what I meant when I said to know when to slam on the brakes.” Drag-Strip hmmed to himself.

“We went through four tracks with the thief,” he revealed. “A couple more times, then I’ll see how well I drift on the track after that.

“Another track?!” protested Batman as the track changed. “Give me a break here!” I took the wheel again and we waited for the countdown. This one had a lot more turns.

“3! 2! 1! GO!” called the announcer. We took off. I limited my drifting as there were too many turns, but we got 1st again as we dodged puddles and oil patches. We waited for the track to change again. It was short with shortcuts and a wiggly path. I got my hands off the wheel as I leaned back.

“Aren’t you gonna drive?” asked Drag-Strip.

“Call this a mid-term test,” I replied. “I want to see how you drive with a passenger.”

“…All right,” he muttered. The race began again, and we took off. On the first lap, Drag-Strip didn’t use the shortcuts. “That was more trouble than it was worth,” he explained. He took them on the second lap and finished in first without shortcuts. The track changed and I got out. I put my hair flower and veil back on.

“Now, it’s all you,” I called. “Good luck.” Drag-Strip was ready.

“We’ve got to win that token soon,” muttered Hiroki.

“Hush,” I hissed. “Drag-Strip’s got it.”

“3! 2! 1! GO!” called the announcer. The track had an over pass after a turn. Drag-Strip went with normal steering while Batman and the thief tried to drift. That’s a mistake. Drive was right on Drag-Strip’s bumper. Drag-Strip kept his head and drifted right to avoid a puddle. He dodged a tornado as Drive spun out. He went under the overpass and turned onto the parallel track. He then turned left and went down another parallel to the finish line. This went on until the end of the race.

We cheered Drag-Strip’s victory. “WOO!” cheered Wyldstyle. “Nice driving!”

“Those other cars didn’t stand a chance!” called Batman.

“Shall we claim our prize, teach?” asked Drag-Strip to Livia.

“Now THAT’S how you win,” replied Livia. We headed to the winner’s circle when Wyldstyle noticed something.

“Why isn’t the thief’s car here?” she asked.

“Sore loser,” I guessed.

“Are you sure?” asked Hiroki as he pointed somewhere. “Look over there.”

“It’s the thief!” called Sonic as the thief rounded a bend.

“What is he doing?!” yelped Gandalf. He was driving right for us! He drove up the Batmobile and jumped out of the car, grabbing the token!

“NO!” called Mario as a portal opened behind the thief. Batman fired his grapple gun, but it came up short as the thief went through the portal!

“Oh, COME ON!” snarled Batman. We all went into the portal and ended up on some sort of black background as if there was no up. We were still 2-D and surrounded by enemies.

“Oh brother, we’re in Robotron: 2084,” gulped Livia. “A 2-D shoot ‘em up where the player must fight robots that rebelled against humanity.

“So, what do we do?” asked Gandalf.

“This!” hissed Batman as he got ready. We got ready to fight. “I’m tired of chasing! No more Mister Nice Bat!” declared the Dark Knight. We fought off the hordes and got ready for the next wave. The enemies then included one we saw before.

“Cybermen active!” called the enemies.

“Cybermen?!” yelped Hiroki.

“Bad guys?” guessed Emu.

“Yes, now fight!” I replied. We took care of that wave.

“If this is a game,” mused Parado, “it seems like something is going wrong.” The third wave had more enemies, Lex-bots, Orcs, …Winkies?!

“Wait a minute!!” I yelped. “I don’t understand! We freed you guys!”

“You robbed us of our power!” roared a Winkie as his halberd swung at me. I decked him and he faded into pixels. The last wave had the thief! We all made our assault and he fell in half while dropping the token. Suddenly, I felt myself balloon outward. I looked myself…SWEET 3-D BODY, HOW I MISSED YOU! We were all 3-D again and I could see that Emu, Parado, and Poppy were of Japanese descent. I picked myself up and headed for the token, when a large purple hand swiped it up. I looked up to see Drag-Strip smirking.

“Er, what are you doing?” I asked. “We won the games and can share the trophy!”

“I suppose I must thank you, fleshlings,” chuckled Drag-Strip as I heard large footsteps. That’s when more Transformers stomped into view. One of them looked like a grey Optimus with a square-like helmet. The second was a red bot with a purple visor and face guard in a dour expression. He looked like he transformed into a sports car and was busy polishing himself. The third was white and blue with a panicked expression on his orange face. The fourth was black and had a crazed expression. “There you are!” said Drag-Strip. He went from last to first. “Wildrider! Breakdown! Dead End! And, last, but not least, Motormaster! I finally figured it out!”

“What?” snarled Motormaster.

“What Menasor’s problem is,” explained Drag-Strip. “We aren’t utilizing our strengths when we form him. Motormaster obviously has superior strength, so needs to be Menasor’s torso. Wildrider can hit fast and Menasor is right-handed. Dead End can defend well and Menasor uses his left hand to defend himself. Breakdown can catch up to me in terms of speed and is an excellent left kicker, perfect for Menasor. I can provide the speed needed to run as Menasor’s right leg.”

“You think this combo will work?” snarled Motormaster.

“Beyond the shadow of a doubt,” assured Drag-Strip.

“Then, let’s try it,” growled Motormaster. “Stunticons, form Menasor as Drag-Strip suggested.” They transformed into vehicle mode, then feet sprouted from Drag-Strip and Breakdown’s rears as they stood on those feet. Motormaster lowered his rear wheels and split them to form legs. His cab split and formed sockets. Wildrider and Dead End split down the separation between front and back seats and extended to become joints as hands came out of their rears. They flew up and joined in the order Drag-Strip suggested and a large head with a helmet sporting two black horns came up. The gestalt slammed its fists together and roared to the heavens. It then stood still, then started laughing.

“Well,” boomed the gestalt, “what do you know? There IS a benefit in teamwork.”

“Oh no,” I sighed. “You got complete mental control, don’t you, Menasor!?” I said. The gestalt robot grinned.

“The first Decepticon Combiner to achieve total mental synchronization!” he boasted. He turned to Livia. “I must thank you,” he laughed. “If it weren’t for you, my individual components would never have made it as far as they did! And, with the Foundation Element here in our grasp…”

“I should have known you were working for Vortech!” I shouted. “It’s so old, cliché even!”

“This is not a play,” interjected Menasor, “but, you could say it’s the final curtain for you!”

“CURTAIN!!” I howled in laughter. Menasor didn’t take too kindly to that.

“Stop laughing!” he roared. “Don’t you realize your lives are in my servos?!”

“SERVOS!!” I howled again.

“Megumi, I think he wants to kill us!” gulped Poppy.

“But, of all the villains I had to face,” I got out, “it had to be someone with clichés out the wazoo!”

“That’s it!” roared Menasor as he tossed a human-sized hand held device to the thief. The thief grabbed it and held it. It looked like it had a screen in the center, two barrels near a red A button and a chainsaw near a purple B button. The thief pressed the A button and evil music played.

“Baiyō!” (Cultivate!) announced the thief as he put the device on a handle on his right arm.

“INFECTION!” growled the device as he and his legs merged back together with his torso and became a more monstrous version of himself. “Let’s Game! Bad Game! Dead Game! WHAT’S YOUR NAME?! The Bugster!”

“The thief’s a Bugster?!” yelped Hiroki.

“Snatcher,” introduced the thief. “Level 3.”

“I am Menasor, the king of the road!” boomed Menasor.

“Well, if it’s catchphrases, let us get ready,” I declared. Parado and Emu got out their Gashats. Poppy got out a teal version of the device Snatcher used and put it on a buckle on her waist.

“Gachān!” said the device. Poppy then got out a pink Gashat and pressed the button.

“Toki Meki Crisis!” (Heart Beat Crisis) it announced in Poppy’s voice. That sounded like a dating sim.

“MIGHTY ACTION X!” called Emu’s Gashat.

“PERFECT PUZZLE! What’s the next stage?” announced Parado’s Gashat. Shinnosuke turned the ignition key on his speedometer style belt.

“Start your engine!” cheered the belt. Shinnosuke then inserted a small car with its rear undercarriage pointing up.

“Rider…” began Hongo.

“HENSHIN!” we called. I.d tags went in, Gashats were inserted, and Shinnosuke’s small car was pushed like a lever.

“GASHATTO!” announced the Gamer Driver before it was opened. “GACHĀN! LEVEL UP! Mighty Jump! Mighty Kick! Mighty! MIGHTY ACTION X!”

“Dual up!” called Parado’s Gashat as it formed the suit. “Get the glory in the chain! PERFECT PUZZLE!”

“Gashatto!” cheered Poppy’s Gashat as she put it into the device at an angle. She then pressed a button above the B button.

“Buggle up!” declared the device. The Gashat spoke again.

“Dreaming Girl! (Wow!) Koi no Simulation! Otome wa itsumo Toki Meki Crisis! (Wow!)” (Dreaming girl! (Wow!) It’s a simulation of love! A girl’s heart is always a Heart Beat Crisis! (Wow!)) sang the Gashat as a suit formed. Poppy’s suit looked more like her normal appearance, but a heart replaced the speaker headpiece and she had blue eyes.

“DRIVE! TYPE: SPEED!” announced Drive’s Belt. A suit appeared out of thin air for Shinnosuke and formed while the tire slammed itself onto him.

“Kamen Rider Clash!” began Clash. “A duel with me shall end in your defeat!”

“Kamen Rider Sengoku! You shall get a taste of Feudal Japan!”

“Kamen Rider Royal! Evil will ultimately bow to me!”

“It’s-a me! Mario! How-a high can you-a jump? I can-a go higher!”

“I’m Sonic! Sonic the Hedgehog! Gotta go fast to beat me!”

“I’m Peach! I shall clear this battlefield!”

“Kamen Rider Para-DX! Fate is like a puzzle!”

“Kamen Rider Ex-Aid! No Continue de clear shite yaru ze!” (I’ll clear this with No Continues!)

“Kamen Rider Poppy! I shall guide you to defeat!”

“Kamen Rider Drive! Let me take you for a ride!”

“I am Gandalf the Grey! Prepare to see some fireworks!”

“I’m Wyldstyle! Time to think outside the box!”

“I’m Batman! The Dark Knight rises!”

“I am the start of a group of warriors! I am Kamen Rider!”

“No, you’re dead!” roared Menasor. He swung a fist down, but we got out of the way.

“What a lunatic!” I sighed. “Gamer Riders, take care of the Bugster! We’ll handle Menasor!”

“Got it!” called Ex-Aid. He then drew out another Gashat and blew into it like you would with an NES cartridge. He then pressed the activation button.

“GEKITOTSU ROBOTS!” (Clash Robots) it announced. The title screen showed up and a little robot came out. Ex-Aid closed his Gamer Driver.

“Gachon!” called the belt. Ex-Aid then put the new Gashat into a slot on his original Gashat’s left. “GASHATTO!” Ex-Aid then swung his fist in a circle.

“Dai, Dai, DAI HENSHIN!” he cheered as he opened the Driver.

“GACHĀN! LEVEL UP!” announced the Driver. “Mighty Jump! Mighty Kick! Mighty! MIGHTY ACTION X!” The little robot then became new armor and gave Ex-Aid a large metal left fist. “A Gacha! Buttobase! Totsugeki! Gekitotsu Punch! Gekitotsu Robots!” (Punch it out! Duke it out! Impact Punch! Clash Robots!) Ex-Aid went on the offensive, but Snatcher dodged repeatedly.

“You can’t catch me!” he boasted. “I’m too fast for you!”

“Where are the Energy Items when you need them?!” moaned Ex-Aid.

“Found them!” called Poppy. The Energy Items were discs with different symbols on them. Ex-Aid took one with a running figure.

“SPEED UP!” announced a voice. Ex-Aid then started running at top speed and punched out Snatcher. He then took out the Gekitotsu Robots Gashat.

“GASHUN!” called the belt. Ex-Aid then put the Gashat into a slot on his left hip. “GASHATTO! KIMEWAZA!” (Finishing Move) There was a power-up noise loop as Ex-Aid pressed a button on the slot holder. “GEKITOTSU CRITICAL STRIKE!” Ex-Aid’s fist rocketed towards Snatcher and it hit him, then Ex-Aid slammed his regular fist into the robot fist. Snatcher sparked before exploding and fading into pixels. The Gamer Riders then joined us as we fought Menasor. Good thing too, we weren’t making a dent in him! Drive was knocked aside and landed near me.

“We gotta finish him quickly!” he called. “Or else, we’re gonna run out of gas!”

“I’m trying to come up with something!” I shouted. Sengoku then landed near us.

“Well, come up with something quicker!” he snapped. Peach was smacked out of the sky as she floated towards Menasor.

“That thing is resisting our Smash moves!” called Sonic. “We gotta try something!”

“Come on!” I snarled to myself. “What’s that creature running on?! Super Energon?!”

“What’s normal Energon?” asked Drive.

“The fuel for the Transformers,” I replied. “That’s what their civil war is all about.” I then realized something. “Some processes drain their internal Energon reserves at a quicker pace than usual, like combining.” Then, inspiration hit me, and a new attack beamed into my head.

“Are your brain cells in top gear?” asked Drive.

“Oh, they are!” I called. “Dai Super Charge!” I changed into my final form and gave everyone the excess energy I put out.

“What’s going on?” asked Batman.

“Everyone, get ready to jump high into the air!” I directed. I was met with confusion. “JUST DO IT!” I shouted. We all crouched low.

“Why are we doing this?” asked Clash.

“Menasor’s combined form is taxing on the internal fuel reserves on his individual components,” I explained. “A concentrated attack will make him fall apart.”

“THAT IS…NOT TRUE!” roared Menasor.

“True enough to make you splutter like that!” declared Peach.

“JUMP!” I shouted. We then jumped straight up. “Now, KICK!” I directed. We went in for a flying kick! “RIDER VORTEX BUDDY KICK!” I announced as we hit Menasor. He sparked at his joints and fell apart into his individual Stunticons. They were panting at the loss of Energon.

“We gotta get out of here!” shrieked Breakdown. “They’re gonna kill us!”

“It would be a good idea to get out of here,” sighed Dead End. “What was the point of coming here anyways?”

“For once, I agree with you two,” rumbled Motormaster. “Stunticons, retreat!” They transformed, summoned a portal, and went through. The token, on the other hand, fell out of Drag-Strip. We heard victory music again as the thief returned in his bisected state.

“GAME CLEAR!” announced a voice. I then heard varying “GASHUN’s” all around as the Gamer Riders powered down.

“Nice Drive!” praised Drive’s belt as Drive took his car out of his brace and cancelled his transformation.

“That was a rush!” called Sengoku as he, Clash, and Ichigō cancelled their transformations. I stayed in my transformed state as Batman inched towards the token, glancing around to check for any interruptions. He snatched it up, then got ready for battle again, swinging his batarang around. All that went by was a pixelated tumbleweed.

“All right, let’s get out of this digital nightmare!” hissed Batman.

“I must admit,” mused Gandalf, “I quite liked that one with all the magical monsters. It reminded me of home.” I opened a rift for us and we all headed into it to go back to Vorton.

Tags batman, gandalf, kamen rider, kamen rider drive, kamen rider ex-aid, kamen rider ichigo, megumi hishikawa, retro video games, stunticons, wyldstyle

Kamen Rider Vortex Kamen Rider Vortex Chapters

Chapter 48

We gathered in the Gateway room. X-PO was doing his Rider chance, but I could tell he wasn’t into it, despite the music going on. “And today’s riders are…” X-PO began. The hands spun and landed on… “Hiroki!”

“All right!” said Hiroki.

“…and Livia!” announced X-PO.

“Yes!” called Livia. They took their places.

“Away we go!” I declared. “For Rusty!”

“FOR RUSTY!” everyone said. We charged into the portal and traveled to a lunar landscape with a base and…what the? The whole place was pixilated! We were in 8-bit! Gandalf’s mouth moved, but random noise came out. A text box appeared beneath him.

“What is this place?” read the text box. Wyldstyle tried to speak but was met with the same noise. Another text box appeared.

“And what happened to your voice?” read the new text box. I made the same noise as I moved my mouth and another text box appeared.

“Er, guys,” it read, “I think the noise is us speaking and the text boxes are translating for us.”

“What kind of place would do this?” read a text box for Hiroki’s noise.

“I don’t know,” replied Batman’s text box.

“DUCK!” called Wyldstyle. A green saucer nearly swiped us! Something shot it and Gandalf cast a shield to defend us from the…pixels. A pair of green tripods with yellow centers and eyes flew above us, but something shot them. Once the shooting stopped, Gandalf lowered his shield. Wyldstyle picked up one of the pixels from the saucer.

“This doesn’t make any sense,” I muttered. “It’s almost like…like we’re in a video game.” The pixel faded.

“…That is the single most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard,” rasped Batman. Wyldstyle then felt a buzz in her pocket. She pulled out her scanner and used it on a bronze pixel floating above the base that hadn’t faded.

“I’ll tell you what I DO know, though,” she called. “THAT’S the Foundation Element!” Another saucer grabbed it.

“So, how do we get it?” asked Batman.

“Well,” muttered Hiroki, “if this IS a video game, then we play!”

“I know what game we’re in!!” cheered Livia. “This is Defender! It’s a horizontally scrolling shoot ‘em up where you control a fighter ship and defend this world from waves of invading aliens while saving astronauts!” We then heard a banging on the door from the base behind us. We turned to see a young man in a doctor’s uniform banging on the door. He had some fancy stethoscope hanging from his neck. Hiroki’s eyes went wide.

“Hōjō Emu!” he yelped.

“Let me guess, another Rider?” I asked.

“He’s the title Rider of Kamen Rider Ex-Aid!” explained Hiroki. “We gotta get him out!”

“There’s a vent here,” observed Hongo. “Scale Keystone, activate! Lessen Scale of Hiroki!” Hiroki crawled into the vent and ended up on the other side. “Normalize Scale of Hiroki!” said Hongo. Hiroki pressed a button and released himself and Emu.

“Thank you, everyone!” called Emu’s text box. “I was busy with hospital work one minute, then a blue hole opened beneath me and I was trapped here! Thank goodness I still have my Gamer Driver.”

“We need to help other people to get that pixel down,” I told Emu. “Will you help?”

“Of course!” replied Emu. We headed to the right and found some poor guy surrounded by fire.

“Elemental Keystone, activate!” announced Gandalf. “Element of water, Hongo!” Hongo was surrounded in a blue aura and doused the fire. The person was…oh, good grief! It was a fat, short guy with a black moustache and red clothing with blue overalls! His hat was red and had a white circle with a red ‘M’ on the front. Emu goggled.

“Jumpman?!” he called. “I think there’s a Gashat based on the original game he was in!”

“Jumpman?” asked the man we rescued. “Haven’t-a been called-a that in a while.” Livia twitched.

“I forgot how cringy your accent is!” she gulped.

“I’ll-a have you know I’m a real Italian!” snapped the man. Livia and the man argued in agitated Italian.

“If you please!” I protested.

“You said you weren’t called Jumpman in a while,” interjected Batman. “What’s your name?” We all goggled at Batman.

“You never played the Super Mario series when you were a kid?” I yelped.

“Oh, yeah,” remembered Emu. “You changed your name a while ago. Mario, is it?”

“It’s-a me, Mario!” said Nintendo’s mascot.

“What are you doing in Defender?” asked Hiroki.

“I-a don’t know,” muttered Mario. “One minute, I was-a having a picnic with-a Peach. Then, we get-a sucked in here!”

“Peach is here too?!” I called.

“Is this-a Bowser’s plan?” asked Mario.

“No, someone above him,” I answered.

“Not another god-a-like being!” moaned Mario.

“HEY!” shouted a voice. It was coming from another base. “Get away from me!” said another video game mascot. It was a blue creature with red sneakers, white gloves, green, connected eyes, and a black nose.

“SONIC!” called Mario. “Hold on! I’ll-a save you!”

“Allow me!” offered Gandalf. He used his magic to make the attacking creature explode. The pixels vanished.

“Hey, thanks!” called Sonic the Hedgehog.

“Sonic, what are you-a doing here?!” asked Mario.

“Mario! Hey, buddy!” greeted Sonic. “I was just stomping Eggman, as usual, and then a portal opened beneath me. I don’t know what Egg-breath’s up to, but…”

“This isn’t Eggman’s doing,” I answered.

“Help me!” called another voice. It was a petite woman’s voice.

“Isn’t that Peach’s voice?” asked Sonic.

“There she is!” answered Mario as he pointed to the voice’s source. A blonde woman in a pink dress was trapped by machinery.

“Mario!” called the woman. “Help me!”

“I-a got you!” replied Mario as he leapt onto the machine. The attack didn’t do much good.

“Let me do it!” called Emu. “I’ll change Princess Peach’s fate with my own hands!” He then brought out a pink trinket, a Gashat, like Dr. Kagami used. He pressed the activation button.

“MIGHTY ACTION X!” shouted the Gashat. The game’s start screen appeared as blocks looking like chocolate squares came in.

“Henshin!” announced Emu as he put the Gashat into the Gamer Driver.

“GASHATTO!” called the Driver. “Let’s game! Meccha Game! Mucha Game! What’s your name?! I’m a Kamen Rider!” Emu became Ex-Aid and…BWA HA HA HA! Irina was right! Level 1 Gamer Riders look absurd. While Brave had a knight’s theme going, Ex-Aid had spiky, pink hair and a clear visor! Ex-Aid jumped up on the blocks and then on the machine but met with the same results as Mario.

“Okay,” he muttered, “that might have been a bout of clinical insanity.”

“I’ve got an idea,” I called. “Locate Keystone, activate! Initiate Rift detection!” I found it a few feet from the machine. “Identify source of rift!” The information beamed into my head. “Locate help from 8-4-C-K-T-0-T-H-3-F-U-T-U-R-3!” Just then, the DeLorean flew through the rift!

“Great Scott!” shouted the driver. The Time Machine smashed through the machine and freed Peach. It then vanished.

“I thought…the Flux…” I muttered.

“The one Vortech has was from the Time Train, remember?” reminded Hiroki.

“Oh, right, right,” I said.

“Thank you!” said Peach.

“HELP!” yelled a man. An alien was carrying him. He had wavy hair, pixel style pants, and a jacket.

“PARADO!” called Ex-Aid. “Dai Henshin!” He then opened his Gamer Driver.

“GACHĀN! LEVEL UP!” announced the belt. He jumped into the air, kicked, then his armor flew off and his level 1 head became a backpack. “Mighty jump! Mighty kick! Mighty! MIGHTY ACTION X!” Wow, his suit was pink! He still had the health bar on his chest as he leapt up to get Parado. The alien kept him out of reach. I then saw a seedling.

“Gandalf!” I called.

“Elemental Keystone, activate!” announced Gandalf. “Element of earth, Emu!”

“Ex-Aid!” corrected Ex-Aid. He was surrounded in a green aura. “What am I supposed to do with this?!”

“Point your hands at the seedling!” I instructed. Ex-Aid did so. He made a giant hand grow and flick the alien away. It dropped Parado as Ex-Aid caught him. Parado looked up. He then gave an impish grin.

“My hero!” he joked. He then kissed Ex-Aid.

“Oh, YUCK!” protested Ex-Aid as he dropped Parado. “Must you?!”

“Well, must you drop me, Emu?” laughed Parado as he picked himself up. He then saw us. “Who are you?”

“Your enemies, that’s who!” declared Hiroki. “Henshin!” He then rushed at Parado, who dodged and gave another grin.

“My turn,” he chuckled. He drew out what looked like two Gashats pressed together with a yellow dial on the front and different labels for games on them. He turned the dial to the left so one label was down.

“PERFECT PUZZLE!” announced the strange Gashat. It then gave weird techno music as it looped on “What’s the next stage?”

“Henshin!” called Parado. He pressed a button on the Gashat.

“Dual up!” it announced. An image of a suit popped up. The suit was pixelated black and white. The armor had a gold chest piece with puzzle pieces in the center, blue shoulder pads, and a blue helmet with a gold turtleneck attachment around the neck. “Get the glory in the chain! PERFECT PUZZLE!” The image went over Parado and he was IN the suit. He put the Gashat into a holder on his right hip.

“Kamen Rider Para-DX,” (pronounced like paradox) introduced Parado. “Level 50!” He then charged at Sengoku. Sengoku raised his katana and swung but missed. “Missed me!” taunted Para-DX.

“I won’t this time, Bugster!” declared Sengoku.

“Yameru!” (Stop!) called Ex-Aid. He then summoned a large hammer with an A and B button.

“GASHACON BREAKER!” announced the weapon. Ex-Aid pressed the B button. “Ja Kīn!” (sound effect for sword being drawn) called the weapon as a pink sword blade folded out and stopped Sengoku’s katana.

“Ex-Aid, the Americans have a saying for people like you,” hissed Sengoku. “Want to know what it is?”

“What is it?” asked Ex-Aid.

“ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR GOURD?!” shouted Sengoku. “That’s Para-DX! A Bugster! Your enemy!”

“Not anymore!” argued Ex-Aid. Sengoku’s sword stopped moving against Ex-Aid’s.

“What?” asked Sengoku.

“We beat Kamen Rider Cronus,” explained Ex-Aid as he relaxed his weapon. “Parado started to regret causing humans to suffer game disease and so joined CR. For a while, after we made a Gamedeus vaccine, he used it on himself as well as Poppy. Together, we beat Cronus! There’s still a need for us, but the game disease outbreak is taken care of.” Sengoku’s eyes went wide.

“Are you telling me…” he gulped.

“Yep, there’s a new Rider carrying on the fight,” confirmed Ex-Aid. “I think he’s called Build.” Sengoku twitched.

“………KAMEN RIDER EX-AID’S OVER AND I MISSED IT?! NNNOOOOOO!” Sengoku screamed a scream only fans could reach.

“So, you’re our friend?” I asked Para-DX.

“If you want to call us that,” he said as he cancelled his transformation. Ex-Aid and Sengoku did the same.

“Why don’t we start over?” I suggested. “I’m Queen Megumi Hishikawa of the Vortex Riders. The one who tried to carve out Parado’s flesh is my brother, Prince Hiroki, a major Kamen Rider fanboy.”

“Hello,” he mumbled.

“This is Lady Livia Acqua, a fan of retro games like this one,” I continued.

“Hello!” she said pleasantly.

“This is Batman, the World’s Greatest Detective,” I went on.

“Hi,” grunted Batman.

“This is Gandalf of the Istari,” I introduced.

“Greetings!” called Gandalf.

“This is Wyldstyle, the Master Builder,” I went on.

“Hi!” greeted Wyldstyle.

“This is Sonic the Hedgehog, Sega’s mascot,” I continued.

“Yo! What’s up!” called Sonic.

“This is Mario, Nintendo’s Mascot,” I went on.

“It’s-a me! Mario!” cheered Mario

“This is Princess Peach of the Mushroom Kingdom,” I continued.

“Good day!” called Peach.

“And, this is Takeshi Hongo, the first Kamen Rider,” I finished.

“Hello, young Emu,” greeted Hongo.

“I’m Hōjō Emu, Kamen Rider Ex-Aid and Genius Gamer M,” introduced Emu.

“And I’m Parado, the one that helps Emu as Genius Gamer M,” continued Parado. All of a sudden, we heard victory music!

“GAME CLEAR!” announced a voice. We then looked up to see an image of a number 5 covered by a checkmark! But, the saucer still had the pixel!

“I’m done playing!” snapped Batman as he got a batarang ready. He then tossed it at the saucer, a mistake, in hindsight. The saucer fired on us as Gandalf cast a shield. It kept hammering us with laser fire!

“I…can’t…keep this…up!” strained Gandalf. All of a sudden, a rocket came by and fired on the saucer.

“That’s the rocket the player controls!” called Livia.

“We really ARE in Defender!” cheered Ex-Aid.

“You’ve played this game?” I asked.

“I’ve played a lot of games,” replied Ex-Aid. The rocket then turned the saucer into pixels. The bronze pixel floated down.

“Game over,” rasped Batman. We went to get the pixel, but a portal opened and deposited a person in blue thief robes.

“Who’s that?” asked Gandalf. The person then took the pixel and laughed!

“HEY!” shouted Wyldstyle. We followed him into another portal. We ended up in a labyrinth with items littering the place. Our sprites looked like 16-bit ones.

“This is new,” mused Peach. She then saw someone! The thief!

“You there! Stop, thief!” called Gandalf. The thief just laughed.

“You can’t catch me!” boasted the thief. He ran off!

“You wanna bet?!” snapped Batman.

“Friends can join in any time!” called a voice. Livia’s eyes went wide.

“We’re in Gauntlet!” she realized. “No wonder the thief looked so familiar! I thought he only stole potions.”

“Gauntlet?” asked Emu. “The hack-and-slash fantasy game? I never got the chance to play it!”

“Well, now we’re in it,” mused Sonic.

“Let’s-a go!” called Mario.

“Mario! Hold on!” warned Livia. Mario stopped and turned. “Gauntlet has enemies out the wazoo. We need to be ready.” Hongo then got into his pose as we got our i.d tags out.

“Rider…” began Hongo. I then heard “MIGHTY ACTION X!” and “PERFECT PUZZLE! What’s the next stage?”

“HENSHIN!” we all called.

“GASHATTO!” announced Emu’s Gashat. He then opened the Gamer Driver. “GACHĀN! LEVEL UP! Mighty jump! Mighty kick! Mighty! MIGHTY ACTION X!”

“Dual up!” called Parado’s Gashat. “Get the glory in the chain! PERFECT PUZZLE!” We got ready for a fight and charged. I heard spin dashes and saw Sonic running circles around the enemies.

“Hey! HEY! Slow it down-a, Sonic!” protested Mario.

“No way, squeaky!” joked Sonic. “This is how the professionals do it!”

“SQUEAKY?!” snapped Mario as he jumped on a goblin and got a key. “It’s-a my trademark voice! Something you don’t have, given that your-a voice actors changed over the years! That’s-a why I’m always the one saving Peach!”

“It’s also the reason why you don’t talk in any of your games!” argued Sonic.

“Hm, pretty strong words, coming from-a the pincushion with a psycho fangirl and the angriest fanbase!” mused Mario.

“Well, it beats being a falsetto squawking midget!” laughed Sonic.

“OH YEAH?!” snapped Mario as he grabbed Sonic and headbutted him.

“Dude, Smash moves?! Really?!” protested Sonic.

“Can we do this later?!” snapped Ex-Aid as he smacked enemies aside. We made it to the exit, but a portal opened and we were in another labyrinth. We fought our way through it and collected keys. Gandalf found an exit sign. I then got an idea.

“Guys, we can use this to get to the thief!” I called. We used the exit, went through another labyrinth and used that exit to arrive near the thief! He took off, but we cornered him. Then…another rift opened beneath us. …This is gonna take some getting used to.

Tags batman, gandalf, kamen rider, kamen rider ex-aid, kamen rider ichigo, mario, megumi hishikawa, retro video games, sonic, wyldstyle

Kamen Rider Vortex Kamen Rider Vortex Chapters

Chapter 47

I made my displeasure clear to Zod. I slammed him to the ground, threw him into the wall, and tossed him across the room. “YOU UTTER FAILURE!” I roared. “I thought having a Kryptonian would give me an edge, but you’re an utter failure! You allowed mere humans to best you! And you didn’t raise a finger to take the Foundation Element from Batman!”

“My Lord, this is but a temporary setback!” yelped Zod.

“That put us back by two years!” I roared. “Luthor! Continue punishing him, I grow fatigued.” Lex Luthor put on a pair of gloves with Kryptonite knuckles and dished out more pain onto Zod. I headed to my quarters and heard somebody being strangled. I put my ear to the door and heard Igura.

“You promised me that the Foundation Element would confirm the lead you had obtained and that it would be an easy heist, and what is the result?!” she snarled. “A lost Foundation Element! A lead lost! A Tarlaxian freed! And Megumi stronger and with more allies!”

“One thing…” choked out her hapless victim, Metalran, if my guess on the voice is right, “…you fail to realize…is that…!”

“ENOUGH PRATTLE!” screeched Igura as I heard her toss Metalran into a wall. “If I am to find Hiro’s soul, it will have to be through other means! I must deal with this matter myself!” She exited the room and ran into me. “Lord Vortech!” she gasped. “I didn’t…how much have you heard?”

“Enough,” I replied. “So, it was Metalran that gave you the tip that Hiro’s soul was back in your universe.”

“Even if that were true,” she muttered, “the trail is cold. If he was there, he’s long gone. I must continue the search through other means. Excuse me.” She left to search again.

“Good luck,” I bid.

“Another Foundation Element!” cheered X-PO as we returned. “Nice work! You guys have exceeded my expectations!”

“Yeah, that’s kind of my thing,” rasped Batman.

“I can’t believe you guys entered the Ghostbusters universe!” muttered Mr. Saunders. “The GOOD one!”

“For the last time, the 2016 one wasn’t bad!” protested Mrs. Saunders.

“Not this again!” wailed Emily.

“Let’s not do that garbage, okay?” pleaded Richard. “That’s as stupid as the Star Wars vs. Star Trek debate.”

“So, what do you want to do next?” asked X-PO. “Maybe kick back? Have a cappuccino? See what’s on the DVR?”

“What we want to do next,” interjected Gandalf, “is rescue our compatriots and save the entire multiverse!”

“Wow, this guy’s more literal than I am,” muttered X-PO, “and I’m a robot! Okay, the next Foundation Element is located within a trans-reality pocket dimension.”

“What does that mean?” asked Batman. Chell then signed what X-PO meant.

“It means,” translated Tanisha, “it will be…weird.”

“Sure,” murmured Wyldstyle. “That’ll make a change. You see who I’ve been hanging out with? Weird’s not a problem for me.”

“You want weird?” countered Elphaba. “You should see Mr. Saunders’ nonsense!”

“It’s not nonsense!” protested Mr. Saunders. “Wait here, I need to show you guys something!” He disappeared.

“Mama, should I be frightened?” asked Emily.

“This IS your father we’re talking about,” gulped Mrs. Saunders. We waited a good ten minutes before Mr. Saunders came back. Oh, lord, I wish he didn’t! He was wearing a full-face mask with red compound eyes and wings behind them. The outfit consisted of his old army gear and an absurd American Flag design on the belt buckle!

“I am…KAMEN RIDER FRED! I have new socks!” announced Mr. Saunders. Cue the crickets. “Uh…guys?”

“What the hell are you dressed up as?!” yelped Richard.

“I’m Kamen Rider Fred!” replied Mr. Saunders.

“…I think I forgot to…brain…without a…something!” stammered Turretorg.

“My life is NOT gonna burn bright,” moaned Takeru. “It’s gonna fizzle out with a whimper of pain from what I’m seeing right now.”

“My eyes!” wailed Hongo.

“Daddy,” cried Emily, “you make me want to punch a bunny!”

“Not mine!” I protested.

“But, with my new powers of American Awesomeness,” continued Mr. Saunders, “I will fight crime, protect the innocent, work for world peace, and…!”

“FRED, YOU TAKE THAT STUPID COSTUME OFF RIGHT NOW,” roared Mrs. Saunders, “OR, I SWEAR TO GOD, I WILL TASE YOU IN YOUR JUNK!”

“Oh, come on!” protested Mr. Saunders. “I have a mask and belt and everything!”

“CHANGE! NOW!” everyone roared. Mr. Saunders slumped and walked off in a somber tone.

“Now that THAT’S burned into my skull,” I muttered. “Takeru, I believe this is goodbye.”

“Bye, everyone!” bid Takeru. “Oh, before I forget, do you guys know these?” “These” were studs.

“That’s 150,000,” counted Vortoranii. “2,154,000 studs in total.” Emily then slapped her forehead.

“I forgot to add our 358,000 studs from our excursion to Jurassic World!” she wailed.

“Come on!” I cried.

“Sorry!” replied Emily.

“Now we’re at 2,512,000 studs!” muttered Vortoranii. “This is absurd!”

“Are studs valuable?” asked Takeru.

“They were when the Vortonians existed,” replied X-PO. “I would stick to your currency though. Studs probably aren’t legal tender in your universe. Speaking of, your ride’s here.” A rift opened for him.

“Goodbye!” called Takeru. He went through. Hiroki then released his breath.

“Something you want to share with us?” I asked.

“I didn’t want to say this in front of Takeru,” explained Hiroki, “but I didn’t like the TV show based on his adventures.”

“Why?” I asked.

“Because there was so much wasted potential!” ranted Hiroki. “On top of that, Takeru’s allies were trying too hard to be funny! I just…felt disappointed. He’s the second Rider that disappointed me.”

“Who’s the first?” asked Okaa-san.

“With all due respect, ZX (pronounce Zecross),” answered Hiroki. “Again, they didn’t expand on the story enough! The whole movie he starred in could have easily been an entire TV series!”

“I suppose so,” conceded Okaa-san.

“So, how does a PKE meter work?” I asked, changing the subject.

“When it’s on,” explains Richard as he turned it on, “these arms rise up and start flashing to indicate that there’s some form of psychokinetic activity. It functions as a ghost radar. Once it finds something, it beeps at a certain pace until it finds or loses something. If it loses something, the arms go lower, the flashing slows down, and the beeping goes at a slower rate. Gaining something is indicated by the opposite actions.” Then, it happened. The arms raised and started flashing.

“…Seriously?!” gulped Wyldstyle.

“Suits on,” I recommended.

“Rider…” began Hongo.

“Henshin!” we announced.

“I heard a Henshin!” called Mr. Saunders as he came back in his usual clothes. He saw us. “What’s going on?”

“We’ve got a ghost, Daddy,” said Touché. Mr. Saunders then dropped the lovable idiot act and assumed his army colonel persona.

“What’s our move here?” he requested.

“We find this thing,” I replied. “Richard, take point.”

“On it,” he confirmed. He led us around the room and stopped when the arms went higher and flashed more rapidly at the West Door. He scanned down the hall both ways. We followed him to his right. We went down it until we stopped at an armory.

“Better have those that can use weapons to grab them,” suggested Arch.

“Agreed,” I replied. “Those that can fight, grab a weapon.” The fighters did so as we left. The PKE meter went nuts as we faced the end of the hall. There was a transmat at the other end and the robot that killed Heather was at the other end, fiddling with it. The fighters then returned. “Stay close!” I whispered. “No one move yet!” The robot carried out its work. It then put down the tools it was using and hovered back a bit to admire its handiwork. “ATTACK!” I ordered. The robot turned and saw us. It pulled a gun on us and fired. We fired back. “Try not to damage its head!” I called.

“What about it damaging ours?!” protested Mr. Babineaux. The robot then engaged the transmat and vanished in blue light.

“Kämpfer!” I ordered. “Find out where he went!”

“Hey, what’s going on down there?” asked Max’s voice over the comms. “Something beamed onto the Executor and…” static then drowned out Max’s transmission.

“Max?” I tried. “Mr. Tennyson!”

“That robot must have severed communications somehow,” guessed Sengoku.

“Maybe with Team 10,” I argued, “but Vader’s up there as well.” I opened a communications channel with Vader. “Lord Vader, have you gotten eyes on a stowaway on your ship?” I was greeted with static. “Vader? Darth Vader! ANAKIN!”

“Er, doesn’t go by that name,” reminded Claw.

“What’s going on here?” asked an old voice. We all tried to locate the voice’s source. “Down here!” it called. I looked down to see some sort of tiny, grey, humanoid, frog-like creature with big eyes and dressed in green robes. It had some sort of grey extensions on its head and liver spots.

“Azmuth!” called Touché.

“You know him?” I asked.

“He’s the guy who created the Omnitrix,” answered Guard. “Also, the smartest being, in his words, in three (possibly five) galaxies.”

“Even people from other universes can remember it?” croaked Azmuth. “Why can’t Ben?”

“What are you doing here on Vorton?” I asked. “How did you get here?”

“Some lady calling herself a doctor dragged me into her impossible box and brought me here,” replied Azmuth. “She said she knew why I lost contact with my Omnitrix and where my Ultimatrix rig vanished.”

“THE Doctor,” I corrected. “She’s THE Doctor, a Gallifreyan, a Time-Lord, er, Lady, er…whatever.”

“In any case, she’s onboard a warship called the Executor,” continued Azmuth. “Trying to take care of the communications breakdown, no doubt.”

“We need to get up there!” I declared. “There’s a killer robot on the loose!”

“So, get us up there!” insisted Climb. I was confused by her question, then remembered.

“Dai Super Charge!” I announced. My armor bulked, then the bulk flew off as I made a rift beneath us. We ended up on the Executor’s bridge, with Vader trying to speak to the Doctor. She was wearing a lighter coat and pants with suspenders over a black shirt with a rainbow across her front. She was using her tool-kit as well as a new Sonic Screwdriver at some sort of console.

“Madam, it would be wise to…!” protested Vader.

“I’ll take it from here, Lord Vader,” I announced. Vader and the Doctor looked up to see me.

“How did you get on board?” asked the Doctor.

“Easy when you’re Vortex,” I replied. “Did you find any intruder?”

“Yes, that robot from Jurassic World,” answered the Doctor. “The one you talked about.”

“So, he DID end up here,” I mused. “He’s making our newest Foundation Element go haywire.” Guard held up the PKE meter. It was beeping again, but steadily.

“That way,” remarked Guard.

“Lead on,” I directed. Vader, some stormtroopers, and the Doctor joined us. We headed down the corridors for a bit until the blast doors closed.

“Open the blast doors! OPEN THE BLAST DOORS!” ordered a Stormtrooper as a trio of them tried to get the door open.

“Er, guys,” called Ben’s voice over the comms, “what’s going on?”

“Ghost possessing a robot,” I replied. “Can Gwen find out where it’s going?”

“Sadly, no,” answered Gwen. “If it’s a ghost, there’s no mana to track.”

“It’s possessing a robot?” asked Max. “We should be able to track via the electric charge it uses to move. Ben, can you use Grey Matter to find him?”

“Easy enough for the little guy with the mega brain,” boasted Ben. I heard a sound that indicated the Omnitrix was changing Ben. “UPGRADE!” shouted Ben’s normal voice in a robotic undertone. “Oh, COME ON!”

“Ben, what did I say about banging on my Omnitrix?” snapped Azmuth.

“Azmuth?!” called Upgrade. “I didn’t push down on the core THAT hard! Anyways, I can work with this. There’s a computer terminal here.” Ben went silent for a while, then spoke again. “He’s trying to gain access to Engineering,” reported Upgrade. “Uh oh, he found me! He’s…typing a message. He can’t speak, so he wants me to read his message aloud. He can hear us.”

“Let’s hear it,” I directed.

“And, I quote, ‘Relinquish access to Engineering or I detonate this ship like an atom bomb!’” relayed Upgrade.

“I don’t respond well to threats,” hissed Vader.

“‘Your intimidation factor does not work on me, Sith Lord,’” replied Upgrade. “Er…that’s the…”

“I know who spoke, thank you,” dismissed Vader. “Intruder, I can cause undue pain to your body from here. Cease your operations at once.”

“‘Considering that I currently have the body of PO-Lambda 2279,’” relayed Upgrade, “‘I see no reason to be afraid.’”

“‘PO-Lambda?’” I asked. X-PO then came in.

“I heard the whole thing on the way here,” he answered. “So, the ghost has PO-Lambda?”

“What does the name mean?” I asked.

“Well, what do the letters in my name stand for?” asked X-PO.

“Experimental Portal Opera…that thing’s another you?!” I realized.

“A Lambda class Portal Operator Robot,” confirmed X-PO. “A more advanced version of me. 2278 was the last of the class sold before Vorton went the way it is. 2279 was finished in terms of physical build, but never got on the shelves because the A.I wasn’t ready yet.”

“You say that as if your type of robot was meant to be sold as if it were a TV set,” I mused.

“No, sold like TV antennas,” corrected X-PO. “The Gateways were the TV sets. The Vortonians simply viewed other universes for entertainment and only interfered when authorized to do so.”

“But, an entire species…” I muttered.

“It’s more like a contract between PO Robot and Owner,” replied X-PO. “We PO Robots have to go through an extensive interview process as well as our potential owners. There has to be compatibility between the two, otherwise, there’s no real respect.”

“So, it’s not slavery to you?” I quizzed.

“Not really,” replied X-PO. “I mean, yes, there ARE wackos who would use a PO Robot for evil gains, Vortech is a prime example, but, for the most part, we’re good judges of character.”

“I see,” I muttered.

“You’re not worried about abusing my abilities, are you?” asked X-PO.

“…That worry extends to everyone,” I murmured. Everyone stared.

“I will admit,” answered Claw, “I did NOT expect that from calm, collected Megumi Hishikawa.”

“Sorry,” I replied, “it’s just that I know what being taken advantage of looks like and I worry about that. I’m the daughter of a creature that did that.”

“Now, stop that!” snapped Okaa-san. “I don’t want to hear you use that kind of talk. You are NOT that monster.”

“Okaa-san’s right,” agreed Sengoku. “If you did take advantage of anyone, the F.N.S wouldn’t be here.”

“You helped us when we needed it,” reminded Guard. “That’s why we said you should be Queen. We know, deep down, you’ll be there for us. And, rest assured, we’ll be there for you.”

“I don’t normally make friends,” rasped Batman, “but the F.N.S has helped me in more ways than you could imagine.”

“This whole adventure, hell-raising though it is,” assured Ichigō, “is exciting. I wouldn’t get anywhere without you.”

“Thanks, everyone,” I answered, smiling under my helmet. Then, the ship lurched! “Ben, what on Earth was that?!” I called.

“The intruder went past the firewalls I set up!” answered Upgrade. The blast doors then opened to reveal Team 10. There was a black computer terminal with green circuit lines and the Omnitrix symbol.

“Can you get the Doctor, Rusty, and Kämpfer to engineering?” I asked. “They may need to fix whatever damage the intruder caused.” A mound of the colors that currently make up the terminal with a green circle rose up. The circle acted as the eye.

“It’s gonna be tricky, but I can manage,” replied Upgrade. “Rusty’s on the other end of the ship.”

“Rusty, this is Megumi,” I called over the Comms.

“Awaiting commands!” reported Rusty.

“Ben’s going to open a path to Engineering for you,” I explained. “Kämpfer and the Doctor will meet you there. You need to fix whatever damage the intruder caused.”

“I obey!” obliged Rusty.

“Let me go with them,” suggested Azmuth. “They need a genius.”

“Sure, like they need you going on about how you’re the smartest being in 12 galaxies,” snapped Upgrade as the eye changed shape to show irritation.

“Three, arguably five, galaxies,” corrected Touché. “Why is that so difficult for you to remember?!”

“Whatever,” dismissed Upgrade.

“Besides, the more geniuses, the merrier,” I continued. “Be careful, Azmuth.”

“Of course,” assured Azmuth. The Doctor let Azmuth onto her shoulder and she and Kämpfer took off.

“Vader, Brigadier, Guard, Ben, with me. We’re gonna try and regain control of the ship from the bridge,” I directed.

“Not a good idea,” countered Upgrade as the black and green circuit color melted off, formed a puddle, and then a figure rose from the puddle made of the stuff, but had a green front with green underarms and black circuit lines. This was Upgrade in his original Galvanic Mechamorph state. The Omnitrix symbol was on his chest. “The intruder is on his way to the bridge,” reported Upgrade. “He’ll try and stop us.”

“Then you and Vader keep him off of me and Guard’s back,” I replied.

“He’s not on the main bridge,” reported Vader. “I can sense him going to the backup bridge. We need to get down there quickly.”

“I may have a way,” answered Upgrade. He slapped the Omnitrix symbol and changed shape in a green light. He looked like a stereotypical ghost with one eye on a track and chains on his neck and arms. “GHOSTFREAK!” he announced in a harsh whisper. “I was hoping for Big Chill, but this will do. Which deck?”

“Deck 2, 10 floors below,” answered Vader. Ghostfreak then got me, Vader, and Guard close together and phased us all through the floor. We went down 10 levels before arriving at the backup bridge.

“Okay, that was weird!” I shuddered The intruder then arrived and Ghostfreak and Vader started fighting it. The intruder pulled out his gun and fired while Vader tried to crush its armor with the Force. It didn’t go well as the intruder wiggled out of his grasp and fired on Vader’s control panel. He started having trouble breathing. I went to fix it while Ghostfreak charged at the intruder, intending to knock the ghost in the machine out. The intruder wasn’t having it as he dodged Ghostfreak numerous times.

“All right, this song and dance is making me very angry!” hissed Ghostfreak. “It just makes want to unleash my ever-growing…” he slapped the Omnitrix symbol as he changed into “rrrrrRRRAAAATTHHH!” he said. The robot then shot Rath’s wrestling shorts. They burned up as Rath ran around, slapping on the fire. It died and revealed his crotch. It was covered in fur, but Rath seemed to get madder. “You…you burned up my pants!” He then roared and slammed the robot onto the floor and punched it a lot. “LET ME TELL YA SOMETHIN’, GHOST POSSESSING A ROBOT! YOU CAN BURN ME! YOU CAN BURN MY HOUSE! YOU CAN BURN THE THINGS I STAND FOR! YOU CAN EVEN BURN MY FEELINGS, IF I HAD ANY! BUT NO ONE, AND I MEAN NO ONE, BURNS AN APPOPLEXIAN OF HIS HIGHLY ADVANCED SENSE OF SHAME!” He was about to slam both fists down when the intruder caught them and tossed him aside. “KARATE’S GOOD!” roared Rath. “RATH’S GONNA CALL YOU KARATE-BOT, KARATE BOT!” The ship lurched again and Rath crashed onto the intruder.

“Backup bridge to engineering, what’s going on?!” I called.

“There’s a radiation leak!” replied the Doctor’s voice. “One of the engine batteries ruptured! It’s contained, but we can’t get in to plug up the leak!”

“Vader, how bad is the radiation in the batteries?” I asked.

“It’s enough to kill anyone, even beings like me, in 10 minutes,” explained Vader.

“Oh boy,” I sighed. “Try to find another way to plug up the leak and filter out the radiation, Doctor. I’m still locked on trying to get the ship under control.”

“On it!” called the Doctor.

“Sir, now really,” snarled the Brigadier to the intruder. “Can’t we just get connected?” He extended a probe and jammed it into the PO Robot’s head. The intruder didn’t like that, so he sent electricity down the probe and shocked the Brigadier.

“Alistair!” I called.

“I’m fine,” assured the Brigadier, “though, I think my systems are damaged. We need more power, like, more power than Rath has!” Rath got an idea.

“LET ME TELL YA SOMETHIN’ SIR BRIGADIER ALISTAIR GORDON LETHBRIDGE-STEWART, FOUNDING CYBERMAN OF THE UNITED NEBULAR INTELLIGENCE TASK-FORCE, THAT’S A GREAT IDEA! THERE’S A TIME TO GO HERO, AND THERE’S A TIME TO GO ULTIMATE!” Rath turned the Ultimatrix rig key and slapped the Omnitrix symbol down. He got bigger, his fur went a darker shade of orange, he gained claws on each finger and another claw on each wrist, and his mane looked a lot like Wolverine from Marvel Comics. He had a vest that looked like it had green cat’s eyes and new pants. “ULTIMATE RATH!” he roared. He then looked himself over. “Cool! Wait, I’m keeping a level head? That’s all I ask for when I turn into Rath!”

“I guess Evolved Appoplexians get a cooler head in millions of years of worse case scenarios,” I mused.

“Nice!” cheered Ultimate Rath. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to kick a ghost in a robot’s rear!” Ultimate Rath then charged on all fours at the intruder. He leapt onto him and decked him. The intruder’s robot body sparked and went offline. “That was for Rath’s pants!” roared Ultimate Rath. The Omnitrix symbol then started flashing red. “And this is a perfect time to power down,” chuckled Ultimate Rath, “now that the threat is over.” The Omnitrix beeped and then Ultimate Rath shrunk down to Rath, then went back to Ben.

“Just so you know,” I criticized, “we were shaking like Jell-O when you fought as Ultimate Rath.”

“Sorry, I never used Ultimate Rath before,” answered Ben with a sheepish grin. The Comms then beeped.

“Go ahead,” I called.

“The leak has been sealed,” reported the Doctor.

“All right!” I cheered. “How did you guys do it?”

“We didn’t,” answered Azmuth. “Rusty did. Manually. In the infected zone.”

“…But…the radiation…” I stammered.

“Megumi, you need to get to Engineering, NOW!” called Kämpfer. A worst case scenario entered my mind.

“Guys, MOVE!” I shouted. We ran to Engineering. When we entered, there was a transparent wall with us on one side and Rusty on the other. The Brigadier and I rushed to the wall, but Lukas and the Doctor held us back.

“Get out of the way, Doctor!” demanded the Brigadier.

“You can’t go in!” argued the Doctor.

“But, the radiation! He’ll die!” cried the Brigadier.

“Brigadier! Sir! ALISTAIR!” snapped the Doctor. The Brigadier and I stopped struggling. “He’s already too far gone.” They released us, allowing us to walk over to the infected zone. Rusty wasn’t twitching as much. His dome swiveled slowly as the eye was getting dimmer. He then rotated his body slowly.

“Let…me…see…you…” he croaked. “The…real…you…” Rusty’s casing then opened, slowly. His real self was looking a sickly brown as his eye was opened slowly. I cancelled my transformation as the Brigadier opened his helmet. “Do…not…grieve,” said Rusty weakly. “I did…what was…needed.”

“Rusty, there was a plethora of droids!” I cried, tears coming down my face. “They didn’t have organic components!”

“They…did not…have…the needed…skill…” wheezed Rusty. One of his tentacles touched the glass. The Brigadier put his hand up to it. “Alistair…” he continued, “I…hope…this…banishes…any doubt…you held…about…me…”

“Any doubt I had was banished ages ago, old chap,” mumbled the Brigadier. “You’ve become more than a Dalek. You’ve become my friend.” There was a few seconds silence.

“I…am in…pain…” reported. Rusty. I moved to speak, but Rusty cut me off. “This…is fine. …I…will die…so you…may live. …But…before…I die…I’m glad…I met…you…”

“Rusty, we can help!” I wailed.

“No…you…cannot…” countered Rusty. “…I…die…for a good…cause. …The needs…of the many…outweigh…the needs…of the few…as Spock…would…put it. …Good…bye…my friends.” Rusty’s real eye closed, his true limbs drooped as well as his shell’s limbs, and his eyestalk stopped glowing once it went down. Rusty, the friendly Dalek…was dead.

The Brigadier retrieved Rusty’s last wish from a backup computer in his shell. Rusty wanted his real body to be taken out of the shell and fired into a star, to symbolize his rebirth from normal Dalek soldier to our friend. When the radiation levels were acceptable, we got Rusty out and decontaminated his body. We preserved him for a while so we could set up his funeral. It took place in the Gateway room and we all wore dark clothing. Batman had gotten out of his Bat suit and put on normal funeral clothes, putting on the persona of Bruce Wayne. He even dropped the raspy voice he uses as Batman. The Brigadier had his armor painted black. Someone knocked on my door. “Yes?” I asked, a little shaky as Okaa-san laced me up.

“Megumi, dear, it’s time,” whispered Death.

“On my way,” I mumbled. Okaa-san followed me, her hand on my shoulder to reassure me. Soon, we arrived. A track with a little coffin on our end and the controls behind the coffin rested. It was open casket, so we could see Rusty’s real self. Two of his tentacles were resting as a corpse’s hands would, clasped together, and his eye was closed. I took my place at the controls. Okaa-san was behind me as well as Hiroki. Hongo and Wyldstyle were on my left while Bruce and Gandalf were on my right. “Minna-san,” I began, “today, we gather to honor the death of a friend, Rusty the Dalek. Before an encounter with his people’s greatest enemy, the Doctor, Rusty’s ship was attacked and destroyed. He survived, but with damage. That damage allowed him to see a star being born and see what a beautiful thing life is. During an encounter with the Doctor, he joined the humans and made a name for himself. Over time, he became friends with Sir Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart. Then, both he and the newly-christened Brigadier joined us and became our allies, helping us when needed. He gave his life so we may continue the fight against Lord Vortech. I, for one, will fight in his name, as I know you all will. I must say, out of all the souls I met in the multiverse, his was the most…diverse.” I nodded to Mr. Saunders.

“Present…ARMS!” he barked. Everybody raised a weapon in salute. I then pressed a button on the controls and Rusty’s coffin moved. It went slowly to allow us to say goodbye. Soon, it left the rail from Vorton and floated to one of the stars, where his body was consumed to make new fuel for that star. Rusty was returned to cosmic shores.

“I will not say ‘do not weep’,” said Gandalf softly, “for not all tears are an evil.” As we departed, Emily and Okaa-san joined me in my quarters. We sat on my bed. At that point, I let myself cry uncontrollably. I was embraced by Emily and sobbed as she held my trembling frame. Okaa-san held us both. We all wept for Rusty. Emily then saw something and directed me to look on my dresser. Azmuth was standing there.

“I am…sorry you’re going through this,” he whispered. “From what you said, Rusty had evolved beyond the hatred that was bred into his species.” I sniffed before answering.

“Yes,” I mumbled. “Personally, I think he would have been a worthy host of the Omnitrix.”

“Very much so,” agreed Azmuth.

“Azmuth,” called Emily as she dried her eyes, “as long you’re here, I have a question.”

“Go ahead,” replied Azmuth.

“Ben had the Omnitrix taken from him when he was in Jurassic World,” recalled Emily. “After it got itself off the thief, I was its new host for a while. When I had it, I couldn’t access my belt’s powers or suit. Could the Omnitrix have blocked that somehow?”

“I’m not sure,” answered Azmuth. “The Omnitrix never did that before. I’ll look into it when I get back.”

“Okay,” I mumbled. Azmuth departed.

“Do you need anything?” asked Emily.

“I just need to be alone for a bit,” I whimpered.

“Okay,” sighed Emily. She and Okaa-san left as I laid on the bed. For the first time, I felt my own mortality, and the mortality of my friends. I laid still for a while.

“…Rusty,” sang a woman’s voice.

“AUGH!” I screamed in surprise as I tumbled off my bed.

“AUGH!” screamed the woman.

“AUGH!” I screamed as I picked myself up.

“AUGH!” screamed the woman.

“AUGH!” I screamed.

“AUGH!” screamed the woman.

“…AUGH!” I screamed.

“AUGH!” screamed the woman. “WHY ARE WE SCREAMING ‘AUGH’ OVER AND OVER?!”

“DOCTOR, WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!” I shouted.

“Rusty never got a good tribute song!” replied the Doctor.

“Get the hell out of my room and let me grieve in peace!” I snarled, the anger I thought I had gotten over was coming back.

“Rusty needs a song!” protested the Doctor. “He needs to be immortalized somehow!”

“I heard screaming!” whispered a voice. It was Death.

“I was screaming at the Doctor,” I replied. “Doctor, if I let you sing a tribute to Rusty, will you let me be?!”

“Of course,” assured the Doctor. I sat down, and the Doctor sang to the tune of Amazing Grace.

Rusty, Rusty,

How great was he,

That saved people

Like thee?

I never thought,

I would find heart,

But, a heart, I see,

In Rusty!

The Doctor finished. “Wasn’t that lovely?” she asked. I just glared at her. “My work is done.” The Doctor entered the TARDIS and departed.

“I should go, as well,” whispered Death.

“Death, wait,” I called.

“Hm?” hummed Death.

“I know that you and the Apocalypse Riders will see him,” I began, “but, do you think we mortals will see him again?”

“He IS dead,” whispered Death, “and no one can cure it, so…”

“But, is there hope?” I asked.

“There never was,” whispered Death, “just a fool’s hope.”

“…I guess,” I sighed.

“I’ll let you be,” whispered Death. “We shall meet again, before the end.”

“…Bye…” I mumbled. Death left and I got ready for bed. We had already had dinner, so I just brushed my teeth, put on my nightgown, and got into bed. “…Goodbye, Rusty,” I mumbled. “Thank you.”

Tags batman, darth vader, death, funeral, gandalf, kamen rider, kamen rider ichigo, megumi hishikawa, rusty the dalek, the doctor, wyldstyle

Kamen Rider Vortex Kamen Rider Vortex Chapters

Chapter 46

When we entered Ghostbusters HQ, a particularly ugly ghost took out the stairs. “We should try the basement,” figured Gandalf. “That is a potential source of the ghosts.”

“Change that from potential source to actual source,” corrected Emmanuel as ghosts came up from the basement.

“Great, the stairs going down there are blocked,” I hissed.

“Allow me,” called Wyldstyle. She built a laser cutter and cut a hole into the floor. “Away we go!” she cheered. We jumped into the basement and found the containment unit.

“The undead seem to be flowing from this red tomb,” mused Gandalf. “It is ruptured, perhaps it could be sealed.”

“I see a chroma disc,” I called. It was the blue one and an elderly ghost was floating at a bookshelf near the stairs her spectral kin were flying up towards. She had no legs and wore an old librarian’s dress, her hair in a stern bun.

“Her again?” whispered Arch.

“The old Librarian?” asked Seeker.

“Who is it?” I quizzed.

“That’s the first ghost we see in the first movie,” replied Seeker. “This was way before Winston joined.”

“So, what do we do?” I whispered.

“We have to succeed where Peter and the others failed,” answered Arch, “and make contact.”

“You’re right,” muttered Batman. “Someone needs to speak with her.” We then turned to Wyldstyle.

“…NO!” she whispered harshly. “I refuse!”

“But this may get you over your fear!” I countered.

“There’s a realm called the Haunted Forest where I’m from,” argued Wyldstyle. “Whenever I go there, something happens that makes me change my underpants!”

“Well, maybe this is the one that won’t do so,” I guessed. “Go on, maybe you’ll get a new name!” Wyldstyle looked at us, then sighed.

“Just so you know,” she hissed, “if I do have to change my underpants, you owe me fresh ones.” She got up and got to talking distance. “Hello!” she called. “I’m Wyldstyle.” The Librarian didn’t respond. “Where were you from, originally?” The Librarian shushed her! Wyldstyle slowly closed her eyes. “Does…anyone else have a bright idea?” she asked.

“I have one,” whispered Ghost. “Stay close, everyone. This needs timing!” He got low as if he were about to pounce. “Ready? 3! 2! 1! GET HER!”

“NO!” shouted Seeker. Too late. The Librarian morphed into a scary version and roared. We all screamed as she flew around the bookshelf and set it on fire before joining the other ghosts. As we recovered, I started laughing.

“Get her?!” I then snapped as I slammed my fist onto Ghost’s head. “That was your brilliant idea?!”

“Give me a break!” protested Ghost as he massaged his head. “I punched ghosts in my day. I didn’t talk to them!”

“Well, you better put that fire out!” I snapped.

“That was the ghost’s fault!” argued Ghost.

“But YOU provoked her!” I countered.

“I can supply Ghost with the tools needed,” called Gandalf. “Elemental Keystone, activate! Element of water, Ghost!” Ghost was surrounded in a blue aura. He formed a water stream in his hands. While he put out the fire, Ichigō led me to a vent system that I could fix as a giant.

“Scale Keystone, activate!” he announced. “Enlarge scale of Royal!” I then put my right fist into the air while putting my left fist at my hip. I then grew. I patched up the vent. “Lessen scale of Royal!” said Hongo. I shrunk and crawled into the vent. I tried climbing, but to no avail.

“Dang it!” I hissed. “If only I could crawl like Spider-Man!” Then, I realized I was still in my Ghostfreak armor. “…Megumi, you can be an utter idiot sometimes,” I said. I flew to the end of the vent to find a bunch of wires and circuitry. “Well, as long as I have the i.d tag,” I mused. I then activated the icon ring and selected another form.

“Ben 10 Grey Matter Steel!” announced Vortoranii. My suit changed to have a grey helmet and green armor.

“GREY MATTER!!” I shouted. The natural intelligence of the Galvan species then flowed into my head. “So, we just connect this wire here to stabilize the Isolated Ecto-grid, swap out that circuit with this one to bypass the redundant Spectrum Differentializers, and link the new circuit with this wire to expose the Spectragrasmic generators to a small 1.2 ectojam dose of Ectoplasm.” I heard a DING. “And I did whatever I did!” I cheered. I popped out of the vent.

“Normalize scale of Royal,” announced Ichigō. “You just exposed a chroma lock design above the leak. Ghost just put out the fire and Gandalf fixed the yellow chroma disc with a dancing toaster with slime in it.”

“Sounds as weird as what I did in there,” I replied as I swapped out Ben’s i.d tag for my own. “Before you ask, no, I no longer remember what I did, I couldn’t begin to tell you how I did it.”

“All that’s left is the red disc,” mused Ghost.

“I see it in that box,” replied Batman, “but the way to open it is closed.”

“Not while I’m here,” boasted Gandalf. “Elemental Keystone, activate! Element of Earth, Batman!” Batman was surrounded in a green aura and pointed his hand to the ground near the advanced box opener. A large vine then opened the area and we pushed the box into it. The box opened, and the disc came out. Wyldstyle got a good look at the Chroma lock design I revealed to her. Yellow left L shape, red circle, and blue right L shape.

“Chroma Keystone, activate!” announced Wyldstyle. “Chroma lock, reveal!” The lock design appeared on the floor. “Chroma! Red! Ichigō! Chroma! Yellow! Batman! Chroma! Blue! Ghost!” The three people got themselves painted and they jumped into their respective places. The Chroma lock activated tech that activated some sort of vacuum cleaner for ghosts and was preparing a secondary wall.

“That did it!” reported Batman. “The ghosts are clearing out. Whatever this thing is, it certainly is impressive technology.”

“That’s not yours to take,” I teased. “Now, let’s head back upstairs. We need to fix the way to the roof.” We headed upstairs and were greeted to Sludgiona looking around the place. She clapped eyes on us.

“Ah, the killer is here,” she remarked.

“Hiro committed suicide!” I protested. “He went with a rather messy way, instead of seppuku.”

“He’s no samurai,” countered Ichigō. “And I doubt anyone would want to watch or help him die quickly.”

“Fair point,” I conceded. “In any case, our business does not concern you, Sludgiona. Leave in peace.”

“Not a chance!” burbled Sludgiona. She then grabbed me and I felt myself getting weaker and weaker by the second.

“What’s…happening…to…?” I gasped before she flung me aside.

“The sludge that makes up my body drains a person of mana, their life energy,” revealed Sludgiona. “Any hit that is given to me, I simply take a bit of mana to heal myself.” She then started slugging my friends. True to her word, she absorbed some mana from Arch, Xiomara, Ichigō, Batman, Wyldstyle, and Gandalf. She then decked Ghost hard, then knelt down with her hand above his head. “Don’t worry, I promise I will be quick.” She then placed her hand on Ghost’s head, then something crackled and she was flung back from energy discharge. She splattered against the wall and dripped down to the floor. When she reformed, she was confused. “Anti-Mana discharge?” she yelped. “HOW?!” Ghost started chuckling.

“You said that mana is life energy, right?” he asked.

“Yes, and a living being is saturated in the stuff!” answered Sludgiona.

“Not when you have a Ghost Driver on your waist,” remarked Ghost.

“That does not negate the fact that you’re alive!” gurgled Sludgiona. “The only way you could generate a discharge like that is if you have no mana to absorb! That only happens when I touch a ghost!”

“Why do you think I’m called Kamen Rider Ghost?” asked Ghost. “My Ghost Driver allows me to be a ghost, even though I’m alive! When I’m in my Rider form, I have no mana to absorb! And now, I can easily beat you!” Sludgiona’s hand hovered over my head.

“Move one single muscle against me,” she warned, “and I reduce her to a shriveled husk!”

“Not an effective threat,” I remarked as I knocked her aside. I then ran up to Ghost and touched him, gaining his i.d tag. I inserted it and selected his base form.

“Ghost Steel!” announced Vortoranii.

“KAIGAN! ORE!” called the Ghost Driver’s voice. “Let’s go! Kakugo! Go, Go, Go, Ghost! Go! Go! Go! Go!” My armor changed to look like Ghost. Sludgiona scoffed.

“You’re alive!” she bubbled “A simple makeover won’t save you!” She punched but got a discharge. “NOT YOU TOO!” she screamed.

“Now, the REAL test is if my Ectonurite armor will protect me too,” I remarked as I went through the whole sequence of selecting Ghostfreak.

“Ben 10 Ghostfreak Steel!” announced Vortoranii.

“GHOSTFREAK!” I shouted. When I finished, Sludgiona punched me again and got the discharge again. “I knew it!” I cheered. “Say, Sludgiona, have you heard of this saying? ‘Possession is nine tenths of the law!’” I then phased into her body and controlled her movements. “YAHOO!” I said through her mouth. “MEGUMI IS AWESOME!” I then used her arms to slap her face. “Stop hitting yourself! Dude, stop hitting yourself! Why are you hitting yourself?!” I then made her dance. “Loo dee doo, I’m dancing!” I sang. “Because I’m Sludgiona, the mana vampire! Hey, my slave chip is making me work for Lord Vortech! It’s really uncomfortable! Kick it off of me!” Ghost volunteered to do that. He pulled the lever and pushed it.

“DAI KAIGAN!” (Eyes wide open!) announced the Ghost Driver. “ORE OMEGA DRIVE!”

“Inochi, moyasu ze!” (My life is burning bright!) declared Ghost as he leapt into the air with an orange eye glyph behind him. He then stuck his feet out and flew towards Sludgiona. I got out and Ghost kicked the slave chip off. Sludgiona then collapsed into a puddle of sludge after spasming uncontrollably.

“And that, as they say, is that,” I sighed happily.

“MEGUMI, YOU UTTER DUNCE!” roared Vortoranii.

“Excuse me?!” I hissed.

“Destroying her slave chip was the thing the list said NOT to do!!” elaborated Vortoranii.

“What?!” I asked.

“Sludgiona had implanted that chip so she can survive going to other universes,” explained Vortoranii. “She has a rare condition called Acclimation Syndrome. For some reason, some universes are so different in their physical laws that some people may die or be assimilated into that universe. Once you do, it’s a lot harder to get back to your own unless you have some sort of anchor.”

“And that slave chip was her anchor?” I realized.

“Originally, it was a declamation chip, but Vortech heavily modified it,” replied Vortoranii. “It was the only thing keeping her from dying or being trapped in one universe or on Vorton. The physical laws on Vorton are adaptive to each individual life-form, so you CAN’T die or be acclimated. And making an anchor is hard to do, even in your home universe.”

“And, by destroying the chip,” gulped Ghost as he realized our mistake, “we just ensured she can never go home.”

“What have we done?” I murmured. “I gotta do something, apologize or help her!”

“Oh, yeah, I’m SURE she’d accept an apology or help from you!” snarked Vortoranii.

“Well, I have to do something!” I protested. “I…” Ghostbusters HQ’s shaking interrupted my train of thought.

“Table that for later,” suggested Batman. “We need to get to the roof!”

“I better take care of this,” I muttered. “Locate Keystone, activate! Initiate rift detection!” I found it near the stairs. “Identify source of rift!” The info beamed into my head. “Locate help from T-H-3-L-3-G-0-M-0-V-1-3!” I called. Some weird bunk bed style couch came up in place of the stairs.

“Emmet’s Double-Decker Couch?” muttered Wyldstyle. “I didn’t know he kept it.”

“It’s one of his creations,” I recalled.

“Fair point,” conceded Wyldstyle. We got onto the top couch and headed to the top floor, finding another set of stairs leading to the roof. Zod had fixed the ship and it was hovering above the ground. We got into a fighting stance as we saw that a Kamen Rider based on the rhino beetle was on the ground.

“JŌ!” called Ichigō.

“Shigeru Jō?” I asked.

“You know him?” quizzed Ichigō.

“Death talked about him during my reception,” I explained “So, that’s Kamen Rider Stronger.”

“I’m amazed you know him,” rasped a voice. “But, it takes an inferior being to know one.” A humanoid creature came out of the shadows. It had large, metal, red, three-fingered claws and a grey triangular head.

“Metalran!” snarled Vortoranii.

“He’s…not showing up on the list,” I observed.

“He’s a renegade,” replied Vortoranii. “He’s joined Vortech to accelerate his plans to conquer the multiverse.”

“Oh, dear, another evil maniac,” I sighed.

“Evil?” hissed Metalran. “Maniac? No, VISIONARY! I am so much more than the others. I am SUPERIOR! The Tarlaxians are content with a provisionary Empire with a puppet like Scorpainia on the throne. They bow and scrape to lesser beings like you to get new technology and reverse-engineer what they begged like dogs for! But, we DID create the Vortex Driver and its subsequent upgraded versions, my sister, Sludgiona, specifically. Yet, she’s still content with bowing to the puppet, bending and upgrading others technology!” He then grabbed the cannon on Zod’s ship. He started glowing as smaller versions of the cannon sprouted from his forearms and shoulders. “I, on the other hand, do not upgrade other’s technology! It upgrades ME! And I will upgrade myself with my sister’s greatest creation!” He pointed to my belt.

“I can’t begin to tell you how that’s NOT gonna happen!” I declared. “Super Charge!” My armor bulked up and changed color. “Dai Super Charge!” I announced.

“Electro KICK!” called a voice. Stronger then flew in, kicking Metalran and making him dizzy. Metalran shook his head to clear it.

“What the?” he quizzed.

“The heavens call… The earth cries out… The crowds roar… All calling on me to strike back against evil,” announced the attacker. “Now listen up, villains! I am the warrior of justice, Kamen Rider Stronger!” Stronger was ready to fight!

“Kamen Rider Arch!” Arch continued. “My skills outdo Robin Hood!”

“Kamen Rider Seeker! It’s not gold I seek, but your end!”

“Kamen Rider Vortex! Evil will ultimately bow to me!”

“I am Gandalf the Grey! Prepare to see some fireworks!”

“I’m Wyldstyle! Time to think outside the box!”

“I’m Batman! The Dark Knight rises!”

“Kamen Rider Ghost! Inochi, moyasu ze!”

“I am the start of a group of warriors! I am Kamen Rider!”

“An impressive performance,” laughed Zod, “for such insignificant forms of life. However, you find yourselves between me and a glorious new Krypton. So, I’m afraid that your particular species is about to become extinct!”

“An evil Superman, great,” muttered Wyldstyle. “What else could go wrong?”

“Must you?!” I protested.

“His ship has laser cannons,” reminded Batman.

“Yeah, thanks!” snarked Wyldstyle.

“Kneel before Zod!” roared Zod. He then got into his ship and activated the guns.

“Zod’s laser is open to attack while it charges!” called Batman as he pointed out a weak point.

“On it!” I replied. Well, I WAS on it until some sort of sludge hit me from the side and pinned me to the wall. Ghost ran after Metalran and swapped his Eyecon for a yellow one.

“EYE!” announced the Ghost Driver. “Batchiriminā! Batchiriminā!” He pulled the lever and pushed it as a new white parka with yellow trim came out. “KAIGAN! EDISON!” The parka Ghost was wearing vanished while the new parka landed on him and changed the face plate to a yellow lightbulb with twin electric stems. “Ereki! Hirameki! Hatsumei-ō!” (Electricity! Ideas! Invention king!) Ghost then summoned a large sword and took half the blade off, reversed it, tilted the handle down, and put the blade bit back, turning it into a gun. While that was going on, the sludge formed Sludgiona’s head, and a rather angry one at that.

“I can’t go home, thanks to you!” she roared. “I can’t see my queen! My friends! My husband and wife!”

“Sludgiona!” I gulped. “I know about your condition! I made a mistake down there! A ghastly, horrible mistake, because I let my zeal to free your people get to me without considering the consequences. I’m sorry.”

“A bit late for sorry, now!” snarled Sludgiona.

“But, I have various resources to help you!” I assured. “I even have a science team with an intimate understanding of rift creation technology and Tarlaxian biology! Rusty, Emily, Lukas, Sir Alistair, Elphaba, and Chell, they all can help you!”

“A haywire Dalek,” began Metalran as he shoved Ghost aside while releasing his Ghost Driver and tossing a red Eyecon in the air, “a fat rose nerd, a quiet four eyes, a senile fool playing Cyborg soldier, a green-skinned witch, and a mute?!” He was crossing the line, insulting my friends. “Those people couldn’t make water if you stuck them in an over-iced freezer with a blow torch! Look, Dear Sister, we’ve had our differences, but you cured me of MY condition. I’m sure I can cure yours.”

“I can’t promise success, but we can at least get other scientists started on a cure for your condition,” I argued.

“I CAN promise success!” countered Metalran.

“How do I know either of you is actually looking out for me?!” burbled Sludgiona as Batman finally got past the ship and hit its weak spot. I then moved my hand through Sludgiona’s mass and cancelled my transformation. I then took off my belt and showed it to her.

“Take it back,” I offered. “Use your creation to free your people and cure you of your curse.” Sludgiona looked at me, then Metalran, then me, then she released me and got whatever stains were on my dress off. She handed my belt back.

“You can warp to your Vortex form,” she explained. “Just say the code you assigned. You fulfilled the power of the prophecy I was trying to obtain myself. You need it more than I do.” She turned to Metalran. “As I recall, you killed our parents. I see no reason to side with you!” Metalran got angry and made a warped version of the Ghost Driver appear at his waist. He opened it and inserted the Eyecon he was tossing. When he closed it, his belt spoke in a darker tone than Ghost’s.

“EYE! Batchiriminā! Batchiriminā!” He pulled and pushed his lever. “KAIGAN! MUSASHI!”

“Musashi?!” I gulped as I went back into Vortex.

“And this Musashi is…?” asked Arch.

“A rōnin that developed a duel-wield sword style,” explained Batman as he hit the weak spot again. “I studied from his works.”

“Rōnin is a samurai with no master,” I elaborated.

“Kettō! Zubatto! Chō kengō!” (Duel! Piercing! Super Swordsman!) sang Metalran’s knock-off Ghost Driver. Two versions of Ghost’s sword appeared in each hand.

“Any idiot who opposes me will be destroyed!” snarled Metalran. He started swinging the swords, albeit, not with the same skill as Miyamoto Musashi. Still, he held his own. Ghost got out of the way and let Sludgiona and I handle him. He held his multipurpose weapon to the Ghost Driver.

“DAI KAIGAN!” (Eyes wide open!) it announced. It then looped on “Gan Gan Minaa!” (Watch out!) He leveled his gun at the weak point. “OMEGA SHOOT!” He pulled the trigger and a large electrical shot hit the ship. It then crashed into a building as Zod flew out.

“My ship!” he roared. “Are you trying to provoke me?!” He surrounded himself with ghosts as he fired his heat vision. Metalran, meanwhile, was pushing me and Sludgiona back.

“He’s really strong!” I gulped.

“He’s not,” countered Sludgiona. “It’s the tech that’s doing that. He can only mimic, no original thoughts in his skull.” I then got an idea.

“Can you distract him for a while?” I asked.

“My pleasure,” obliged Sludgiona. She fired off several balls of her biomass, causing Metalran to swat them away, while I went to Batman and pointed out a grapple hook. Batman nodded as I changed i.d tags.

“Batman Steel!” whispered Vortoranii. We fired our grapple guns and released the Ghostbusters. They tumbled to the roof.

“You okay?” Ray asked Egon.

“I’m all right,” assured Egon. “Are you all right?”

“All right,” replied Peter. “You?”

“I’m all right, you?” gasped Winston. The process went on for a while until I broke it up.

“ALL RIGHT!” I shouted. “We’ve got ghosts surrounding that mook up there!”

“Let me handle him,” called Ghost as he got the Musashi Eyecon back. He went into his Ore form and spoke to Zod. “I am Tenkūji Takeru, Kamen Rider Ghost!” he announced. “I order you to leave this part of reality and return to your own universe, or a nearby one, forthwith, and make an oath never to pester this universe again!” His tone was shaky.

“Nice, Ghost-san,” I muttered. “He’s really shaking now.”

“Are you a god?” asked Zod.

“…Well, no, but…” replied Ghost. Judging by the facepalming of the Ghostbusters, Seeker, and Arch, that was not something to say.

“Then, DIE, as you deserve to!” roared Zod as he fired his laser vision. We were tossed into the air and landed hard on the roof. As we picked ourselves up, Arch grabbed Ghost’s horn.

“Ghost, when someone asks you if you’re a god, you say YES!” snapped Arch.

“Throw it!” called Peter. The Ghostbuster fired on the ghosts and got them away from Zod. Zod punched the roof as he landed.

“Pathetic!” he boasted. “You puny humans cannot hope to stand in my way!” He then flew over a water pipe with a valve!

“Gandalf!” I called.

“The Elemental Keystone WOULD help out here, for sure,” replied Gandalf. “Elemental Keystone, activate! Element of lightning, Vortex!” I was surrounded in a cyan aura and headed to the pipe Zod was hovering over.

“You know, I’m willing to bet that there are certain laws you can’t help BUT to obey,” I quipped as I turned the valve, dousing him in water. “One such law must be the one about electricity!” I zapped the water, thus dousing him in electricity. He got away and recovered.

“Ouch,” he said, mockingly. He then allowed himself a short laugh. “Is that all you have?” He hovered over a gas pipe.

“Well, as Americans put it,” mused Arch, “if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it.” He turned the valve and doused him in gasoline. “Gandalf, fire, if you please.”

“Element of fire, Arch!” announced Gandalf. Arch was surrounded in a red aura and unleashed flames on Zod.

“Fire?” laughed Zod. “You think fire, alone, can harm me?” He tore out the gas pipe and threw it onto the street. He then flew over a dirt patch.

“Okay, that’s MY profession,” called Seeker.

“Element of Earth, Seeker!” announced Gandalf. Seeker was surrounded in a green aura as she made a large Venus Fly Trap grab him.

“What do you think you are doing?!” snarled Zod. We Riders then jumped into the air while Ghost pulled and pushed his lever again.

“DAI KAIGAN! ORE, OMEGA DRIVE” called the belt. He then leapt into the air and kicked with us.

“RIDER KICK!”

“RIDER SEEKER KICK!”

“RIDER ARCH KICK!”

“ELECTRO KICK!” announced Stronger.

“RIDER VORTEX KICK!” We kicked the Fly Trap Zod was trapped in. He was tossed into his ship and surrounded by green crystals.

“Kryptonite,” observed Batman. He then strode to Zod as he lay weakened amongst the Kryptonite. “I’ll take that,” he said as he took the PKE meter. The Ghostbusters then threw their trap and sucked all the ghosts in. Metalran saw the entire thing.

“Blast, another failed excursion,” he hissed. He then sprouted wings and jet engines.

“Metalran, help me!” called Zod.

“You’re on your own,” dismissed Metalran as he opened a rift. He went through as Zod glared at Batman.

“One solitary Foundation Element won’t help you much when Lord Vortech comes for you!” he snarled. “You are as doomed as I.”

“We’ll see,” replied Batman. A rift opened beneath Zod while another one opened behind us.

“Good!” sighed Wyldstyle. “I have had ENOUGH of spooks!”

“They aren’t all bad,” mused Gandalf.

“I have grave doubts,” joked Wyldstyle. Gandalf chuckled.

“Nice one!” he said.

“I may develop those same doubts,” muttered Sludgiona. I remembered that she was trapped in this universe

“I wasn’t lying,” I assured her as we Riders cancelled our transformations. “With the resources we have, we’ll get you back to your people, help you survive the trip, and cure your condition.”

“And we can help as well, with our knowledge of other planes of existence,” supplied Peter. “Besides, we could use someone like you here. You’d like our pet ghost, Slimer.”

“Why would you help me?” asked Sludgiona. “I’ve caused nothing but trouble for you!”

“Because I don’t think of you as an enemy,” I answered. “I think of you as a friend. And, you don’t leave friends hanging, you help them.” I held out my hand for a handshake. She stared at my hand, then glared at me.

“I’m not ready to call you my friend,” she snarled. “I wouldn’t need your help if you didn’t destroy my declamation chip! However, I will need your help.” She then headed to the stairs. “I’ll be downstairs, cleaning up,” she told her current landlords, the Ghostbusters.

“Well, that’s pleasant,” snarked Peter. He then turned to us. “Are you guys also from another universe?” he asked.

“Yes,” I answered. “I’m Megumi Hishikawa, Queen of the Feudal Nerd Society.” Peter and I shook hands. “I apologize for dumping Sludgiona on you guys, but she has no place else to go. If she tried to go home now, she’ll die.”

“We’ll work on her condition here,” replied Egon. “And I’d like to ask some questions of Ghost here.”

“It’s just Takeru,” corrected Takeru. “And I’m afraid I need to get home.”

“As do I,” replied Jō. “Yuriko is worried about me. It’s clear that I’m not suited for this sort of thing.”

“Jō, you’re a Kamen Rider,” reminded Hongo. “As long as you live…”

“It’s that ‘live’ bit that I’m failing at,” interrupted Jō. “See this mark on my brow?” He pointed to a yellow ring on his head. “This is my halo. I’m dead.”

“…Dead?” asked Hongo.

“It was at the hands of a Black Satan remnant,” replied Jō. “They were about to blow up Tokyo. I made the explosive detonate too early and died in the process.”

“…Oh,” sighed Hongo, sadly.

“Don’t worry, I died as I lived, fighting evil wherever it was,” assured Jō. Hongo gave a sad smile.

“That’s the best death a Kamen Rider can ask for,” he remarked. He then embraced Jō. “I will miss you, old friend.”

“And I, you,” replied Jō. Black mist then came out of the shadows as the PKE meter in Batman’s hands spiked rapidly. The mist coalesced into Death. The Ghostbusters readied their packs, but Death raised a hand.

“I’ve never seen her before in Tobin’s Spirit Guide!” yelped Ray.

“This is Death,” answered Emmanuel. “Do not be alarmed, she is a friend.”

“You’re friends with the Grim Reaper?!” gulped Winston.

“And I know a lot about you, especially you, Winston Zeddemore,” whispered Death. “An Air Force Police Captain, before you joined the Ghostbusters.” His colleagues turned to him.

“Why would the Grim Reaper have an interest in you?” asked Egon. Winston sighed.

“I was in Vietnam, early in my career,” he explained. “I only told Janine that steady paycheck bit because I wanted to play it safe. I figured you had other crazies coming in for my position before me, claiming to see ghosts.”

“And you actually saw some when you were deployed?” asked Ray.

“Okay, let’s not go too much into it,” stopped Peter. “We can afford to believe him.”

“Thanks,” appreciated Winston.

“Now, Jō, dear, it’s time to go,” whispered Death.

“See you later,” called Jō to Hongo.

“Farewell, old friend,” replied Hongo. Jō faded with Death into the black mist and vanished.

“We better get going as well,” I sighed. “Farewell! We’ll look you up if we need some ghosts busted! Take care of Sludgiona!”

“See you around!” bid Peter as we went into the portal. “Keep in touch!”

Tags batman, gandalf, general zod, ghostbusters, kamen rider, kamen rider ghost, kamen rider ichigo, kamen rider stronger, megumi hishikawa, wyldstyle

Kamen Rider Vortex Kamen Rider Vortex Chapters

Chapter 45

After the coronation and Death’s recent news about Igura taking a weapon that could wipe us out, I decided it was time to grab another Foundation Element. Everyone gathered in the Gateway room. Batman, Hongo, Gandalf, Wyldstyle, and I took our places while the rest of the Vortex Riders gathered in a circle. The Rider Chance music played, scaring a few of our newcomers. Ben looked disturbed. “I am not sure this is a pleasant thing,” gulped Rook.

“We’re not entirely comfortable with this, either,” replied Lukas.

“And today’s riders are…” announced X-PO as the hands rotated. They stopped on “Xiomara!”

“Yes!” she cheered.

“And Emmanuel!” called X-PO.

“Très bon!” replied Emmanuel. They took their places on the Gateway Platform.

“Good luck!” wished Mr. Babineaux.

“Come back safe, Your Majesty!” called Michael. Everybody made their farewells.

“Everyone,” I said to my team once the farewells were completed, “CHARGE!” We went through the rift and arrived in 80’s era New York. There was chaos going on and strange lights in the sky. See-through people was terrorizing the citizens, in various states of decay.

“HEY!” protested Gandalf as he was slimed and robbed of his hat. “Accursed Pilfering Phantasm!” He zapped the creature, making it drop his hat.

“Ghosts?” asked Batman.

“G-g-ghosts?” stammered Wyldstyle.

“Surely, you’re not scared of a few specters?” chuckled Xiomara.

“I ain’t afraid of no ghosts,” replied Batman.

“The dead don’t rise from their graves without good reason,” mused Hongo. “We should find out what it is.”

“Agreed,” I affirmed.

“They look like they’re coming from over there,” observed Batman. I saw the building Batman was pointing to.

“Xiomara, Emmanuel, does that look familiar?” I asked. I pointed to a light up sign with a ghost trapped in the “NO” symbol. Their faces lit up.

“Ghostbusters HQ!” called Emmanuel.

“Come on!” cried Xiomara. We then heard something in the sky.

“Is that…screaming?” I muttered.

“Up there!” answered Emmanuel as he pointed upwards. “It looks like…A MAN AND AN ICE CREAM TRUCK FALLING OUT OF THE SKY!!”

“LOOK OUT!” warned the man. We got out of the way as the man landed on his back and the Ice Cream truck falling away from him. “My back!” he groaned. We went to help him up. Hongo’s eyes went wide when he saw the man’s face.

“Takeru?!” he yelped.

“You know him?” asked Batman.

“Tenkūji Takeru,” introduced Hongo, “Kamen Rider Ghost. He helped me fight Shocker and Shocker Nova.” Takeru then got over his pain and saw Hongo.

“Hongo-san!” cheered Takeru.

“Good to see you, Takeru!” replied Hongo. “What brings you here?”

“A fight with Igura,” answered Takeru.

“You met her again?!” yelped Hongo.

“This was back home,” elaborated Takeru. “I was enjoying a nice 20th birthday with my friends, and a celebration of coming back to life, when she attacked the temple. She started demanding a Hero Eyecon, but I wasn’t about to surrender them. I fought her off, then she made a blue vortex and threw me in there which got me here. Ever since then, I’ve been fighting these ghosts.”

“I don’t think that’s what she was talking about,” replied Hongo. “She may have been talking about an Eyecon with her lover’s soul, Hiro Adachi.”

“Never heard of him,” remarked Takeru.

“Former Shocker scientist, my biological father,” I explained. “I’m Megumi Hishikawa, Queen of the Feudal Nerd Society. This is Lady Xiomara.”

“Hola!” cheered Xiomara.

“Emmanuel,” I continued.

“Bonjour,” greeted Emmanuel.

“Batman,” I went on.

“And not the Shocker monster,” answered Batman.

“Wyldstyle,” I continued.

“Not a DJ,” clarified Wyldstyle.

“And Gandalf,” I finished.

“Pleasure to meet you,” greeted Gandalf.

“We’re heading to the source of all these ghosts,” I explained. “Want to tag along?”

“Sure!” replied Takeru.

“Let’s go!” I called. We walked a few blocks to see a green blob possess another Ice Cream truck and make it go across purple goo and fly away.

“Okay, there’s no way that goo is safe,” remarked Wyldstyle.

“Agreed,” I muttered. “We need to find a way over.” I then got an idea. “Takeru-san, do you still have ghostly powers?”

“Yes, my belt keeps them. Why?” asked Takeru.

“Because we can fly everybody over the goo,” I replied. I then drew out my i.d tag. “Henshin!” I announced. Takeru was surprised when he saw me suit up.

“A Kamen Rider?!” he yelped.

“Kamen Rider Royal,” I answered. “And I have more surprises. Time to test the new Ben 10 i.d tag.” I drew out said i.d tag and swapped mine with that one. Because of the aliens Ben turns into, the icons circled. “You know, I think we should blend in with the ghostly crowd,” I mused.

“Just pay attention to it,” advised Batman.

“I’ll be fine,” I assured. “Look.” I selected an icon. “Boom, armor based off of Ben’s Ectonurite form.”

“Ben 10 Jetray Steel!” announced Vortoranii.

“What?!” I yelped. The wardrobe closed on me and altered my armor. I gained yellow horns, a red color scheme, and had flight suit wings under my arms. The wardrobe vanished as I felt something seize my vocal cords. “JETRAY!” I called. I then sighed and glared at my belt. “I asked for Ghostfreak, not Jetray!” I complained “Are you seriously gonna act like the Omnitrix?!”

“Hey, you’re the one who turned her head when Batman talked!” snapped Vortoranii. “That’s your fault. Besides, you can fly now, so quit complaining!” I sighed again.

“Emmanuel, get on my back,” I directed. “Xiomara, Gandalf, I’ll have to pick you up by my feet. Hongo, Wyldstyle, Batman, you’re with Takeru.” Emmanuel got on my back and I took off into the air. When I landed on the other side, I heard something say “EYE!” I turned to see a black parka with orange trim and orange eyes dancing around Takeru. He was wearing a belt that looked like an eye covered in slime. It had an orange grip that he could pull and push. The belt was saying “Batchiriminā! Batchiriminā!” (Watch out!) He then made various hand signs before putting his right pointer and middle finger in front of his face.

“Henshin!” he announced. He pulled the handle, the pushed it back in. The eye closed, then opened again.

“KAIGAN! ORE!” (Eyes open! It’s me!) called the belt. A suit similar to those of Tron: Legacy formed as the parka landed on him and made an orange faceplate with black eyes and a single horn. “Let’s go! Kakugo! (Dead Set!) Go, Go, Go GHOST! Go! Go! Go! Go!” continued the belt. Takeru pulled the hood back and allowed Hongo onto his back. He then grabbed Wyldstyle and Batman’s wrists and took off, landing on my side of the goo.

“That’s your persona as Kamen Rider Ghost?” I muttered. “Looks like a Tron suit.”

“Tron?” asked Ghost.

“I’ll explain later,” I replied. We went up a street to see four men in a tricked-out hearse. It had all sorts of gadgetry on the roof and was white with red trim. The men had some sort of technological backpacks with rifles connected by a tube to the backpack. The rifles were spitting out orange streams of light with blue streams of light circling the orange ones. The streams were ensnaring the ghosts. When they did so, they threw out metal boxes and opened them with a foot pedal.

“This concentration of spectral activity is too large for us to handle!” called one of the men, wearing glasses. “We need to return to base and recharge the packs!”

“Egon, I thought you said we’d be dead before the packs run out of juice!” remarked another man, going a little bald.

“Egon’s right!” supplied a portly man. “The PKE is actually messing up the packs’ half-life! We need to head to base so we can deal with the source of these ghosts!”

“Base IS the source of these ghosts!” reminded the final man, a black man with a moustache. “Remember?! Peck shut the containment unit down again!”

“Again?” sighed Emmanuel as we stayed out of sight. The recent ghost the men had snared started dragging them and their hearse along. They followed, screaming.

“…Well, that was weird,” I muttered

“Standard fare for those men,” replied Xiomara.

“Who were they?” I asked.

“The balding one is Peter Venkman, the de facto leader,” explained Emmanuel. “The black man is Winston Zeddemore, the mechanic. The man with the glasses is Egon Spengler, the brains of the group. The portly man is Ray Stanz, the handy man. Together, those men make up the Ghostbusters.”

“And this ‘Peck’ they mentioned?” I ventured

“Walter Peck, an EPA representative that harbors a distaste for the Ghostbusters,” replied Xiomara.

“And what did he shut down?” I asked.

“The containment unit for the ghosts the Ghostbusters catch,” explained Xiomara. We then heard a fire escape ladder come down, thanks to Gandalf.

“I believe a higher vantage point will help us,” remarked Gandalf.

“Good idea,” I said. We headed to the fire escape when some ghosts started causing trouble. They messed with the traffic lights and caused a 20-car pile-up at the intersection.

“Oh, these wicked spirits are fiendish!” hissed Gandalf.

“Get them out of there!” I shouted. We got the people out of the cars and checked them over. Surprisingly, they weren’t hurt.

“Now, how are we gonna get past that?!” asked Ghost as he cancelled his transformation.

“With the Chroma Keystone!” replied Wyldstyle. “Batman, the red disc is above us on the fire escape!”

“Got it!” said Batman. He fired his grapple gun at the ladder above us and yanked hard. It didn’t move. He yanked again, but nothing happened. “Er, Megumi, a little help?” he asked.

“Did he just…?” realized Wyldstyle.

“No!” said Batman, hurriedly.

“Stop the presses, I can see it now!” teased Emmanuel. “A headline in the Gotham Newspaper, ‘Batman Asks for Help!’”

“Quit teasing him!” I giggled as I swapped out the Ben 10 i.d tag for Batman’s.

“Batman Steel!” announced Vortoranii. My suit changed, and I fired a grapple gun. Together, we yanked the ladder down. When we made it to the top, we pushed the disc down. Wyldstyle leapt onto the roof of a nearby diner and got the yellow disc down to the street. All that was left was the blue one. We found it in the trunk of one of the cars in the pile-up.

“My turn!” called Wyldstyle.

“Not yet!” I stopped. “We need the Lock design!” My left arm started buzzing. “And I think I can get us that. Locate Keystone, activate! Initiate Rift detection!” I found the rift opening near a pile of goo. “Identify source of rift!” The info beamed into my head. “That one again?” I muttered. “Oh well. Locate help from W-1-Z-4-R-D-0-F-0-Z!” The Wizard of Oz’s podium appeared on top of the goo.

“Master build senses, tingling!” giggled Wyldstyle.

“Have at it!” I directed. Wyldstyle punched the podium, turning it into Lego bricks, and built a large speaker out of them. The ghosts nearby saw this and possessed it, making it move to the pile-up and turn around to make a Chroma Lock design appear. The left L was green, the circle was blue, and the right L was red.

“Now, my turn,” called Wyldstyle. “Chroma Keystone, activate! Chroma lock, reveal!” The lock design appeared. “Chroma! Red! Takeru! Chroma! Yellow! Emmanuel! Chroma! Blue! Batman!”

“What does she…?” began Takeru before I shoved him into the red paint. “HEY!” he snapped.

“It’ll evaporate soon,” I assured. Emmanuel and Batman went into their respective colors. Batman entered the circle, making blue, before heading to the left L. Emmanuel joined Batman and I led Takeru to the right L. The speaker attracted more ghosts before it started playing a snatch of a song.

Who’re you gonna call?

GHOSTBUSTERS!

The sound blew the pile-up out of the way before the speaker fell apart. We went on our way, avoiding streets with goo blocking the path, and went up one to see the Ghostbusters still being dragged along. The street was blocked by goo at the other end. “Looks like we’re flying,” I mused. I swapped out the current i.d tag for the Ben 10 one again. The alien icons scrolled by. “This time, I want Ghostfreak!” I selected his icon.

“Ben 10 Ghostfreak Steel!” announced Vortoranii.

“Thank you!” I remarked as the wardrobe closed on me. My armor changed into that of a stereotypical ghost with lines all over me. “GHOSTFREAK!” I said. I grabbed Batman, Hongo, and let Wyldstyle onto my back.

“EYE!” called Takeru’s belt. “Batchiriminā! Batchiriminā!”

“Henshin!” announced Takeru. He then pulled and pushed the lever.

“KAIGAN! ORE! Let’s go! Kakugo! Go, Go, Go, Ghost! Go! Go! Go! Go!” continued his belt. Ghost allowed Emmanuel onto his back and grabbed Xiomara and Gandalf. We went over the goo and turned right. We went down some more city blocks and flew over more goo. When we went to another intersection, the Statue of Liberty walked by. The Ghostbusters’ hearse dodged the feet. We followed the hearse to see a rift opening, allowing a dropship in police colors to fly into this universe. A billboard advertising the Ghostbusters fell on one advertising Stay Puft Marshmallows and they tumbled onto the street.

“These specters are truly restless,” muttered Gandalf. “And, rather bothersome!”

“I’ve got an idea,” called Batman. “I need to get onto the roof of that building.”

“I got you!” I replied. I flew Batman up to the rooftop to see a crane over the police dropship.

“Shift Keystone, activate!” announced Batman. “Yellow, on the same rooftop as me! Blue, on the crane! Magenta, above the dropship, same height as the crane arm! Shift! Megumi! Blue!” I arrived on the crane and found the controls. I used them to swing the crane arm over the dropship, under the magenta portal. “Shift! Gandalf! Magenta!” Gandalf appeared on the arm. He made the hook go down and latch onto the dropship. The pilot tried to get away but ended up making the dropship spin around the arm and smash the billboards, allowing us passage. We went to the alleys and arrived at Ghostbusters HQ to see a rift open up near the battered Ghostbusters. A small attack ship came out and a man with military style hair, black clothing, and a full beard flew out of the rift.

“Now, that’s what I call a Phantom Zone,” chuckled the man. He approached Egon, who waved some device over him.

“Ray, this looks extraordinarily bad!” reported Egon.

“The Foundation Element!” cheered the man. “Good!” He swiped the device from Egon’s hands.

“The PKE meter is a Foundation Element?!” gulped Xiomara.

“And PKE means…?” I asked.

“Psychokinetic Energy,” clarified Emmanuel. “The stuff ghosts are made of!”

“Your cooperation is noted,” boomed the man that stole the PKE meter. He then threw the Ghostbusters into his ship.

“Are you sure that’s needed?” burbled a voice. Sludgiona then popped up from the sewers.

“Without the Ghostbusters,” boasted the man, “the pitiful residents of this planet won’t stand a chance! New Krypton will rise from their ashes! All will kneel before Zod!” He flew up to his ship and Sludgiona headed into the Ghostbusters HQ, a firehouse refurbished.

“Krypton?” hissed Batman. “This is the one time I’d be happy to see Superman.”

“What’s General Zod doing, working for Vortech?!” asked Xiomara.

“Not so fast, Zod!” called Batman as he threw a batarang at one of the ship’s wings. It crashed onto the roof of Ghostbusters HQ. “We have to get that Foundation Element before they can escape!” declared Batman.

“Indeed!” replied Gandalf. “Although, I suspect we may encounter some otherworldly resistance!”

“Xiomara, Emmanuel, Hongo, suit up,” I directed. “We’re going in hot!”

“Understood!” replied Emmanuel.

“Rider…” began Hongo.

“Henshin!” called the three. They transformed, and we headed into the lion’s spectral den.

Tags batman, gandalf, general zod, ghostbusters, ghosts, kamen rider, kamen rider ghost, kamen rider ichigo, megumi hishikawa, wyldstyle

Kamen Rider Vortex Kamen Rider Vortex Chapters

Chapter 44

I will freely admit, I was feeling nervous. Okaa-san had completed my dress in about a week. She used white with gold for the outermost skirt. My shoulders and upper arms were exposed while my forearms had sleeves from the elbow to my fingers. The interior of the sleeves and the fluffy material at my elbows were gold. My bodice was white with gold trim on top. The exposed petticoats were white like the train of my dress. This was the first time I wore a dress with a train. I was at my makeup mirror, putting on lipstick. When I finished, I noticed how worried I look, especially without my tiara on. That thing was like a security blanket. I started breathing deeply and unclenched my fingers. “You’ve been through worse, girl,” I whispered to myself. “Besides, your friends believe in you.” I heard a knock. “Come in,” I called. Hiroki poked his head through the door.

“We’re ready,” he reported.

“On my way,” I said. Hiroki left the door open. No turning back. Time to be a Queen. I walked slowly, noticing the details of the hallway from my room to the Gateway room. It took a minute to get there. When I did, I saw the aisle I was going to walk down. Death and her team, our families, the F.N.S, X-PO, Turretorg, Discornia, Team 10, the Stormtroopers and Vader, Rusty, the Brigadier, Elphaba, Chell, and Hongo were on either side. Ursula and our Transformer allies had already gone home. Batman, Wyldstyle, and Gandalf were on the Gateway platform. Gandalf was in the center, Batman was on his right, Wyldstyle was on his left. I walked down the aisle and got on the Gateway pad in front of Gandalf. When I stopped, I knelt down. Batman handed Gandalf a simple gold crown with three points on the front and an oval shaped sapphire at the base of each point. Gandalf accepted the crown and first raised it for all to see, then lowered it onto my head.

“Now come the days of the Queen,” called Gandalf. “May they be blessed.” I gave a small smile, then rose and turned to face my friends. I was met with applause and a teary-eyed Okaa-san. As I looked, I realized that they wanted me to assume more power, so I can better help them, and they can better help me. The butterflies in my stomach went down as I motioned for quiet.

“Thank you,” I began. “All of you. In all my years, I never had such valuable friends and family. Without you, I would be a totally different person. I am truly grateful to have you as my friends and family, even those that were once thought of as fiction. So, I say again, thank you, and may our days be blessed.” I was met with applause. “Now then,” I decreed after it had died down, “to the cafeteria? Ready to feast?” I was met with cheers. “Let’s go!” I called. We sojourned to the cafeteria. As we ate and drank, I noticed War get something on her phone. “Everything alright?” I asked in a low voice, not wanting to disturb the party.

“Not really,” grunted War in the same low tone. She called Death over. My brother joined us. “I just got a message saying Jō had entered the campus.”

“Jō?” I asked.

“Shigeru Jō,” whispered Death, “a guest lecturer when we have a history lesson.”

“The name sounds familiar,” muttered Hiroki.

“Hiroki, you, of all people, should know him!” whispered Death. “He’s the 7th Showa Era Rider, the 7th Rider of all Riders, Kamen Rider Stronger!”

“Stronger?! Seriously?!” yelped Hiroki.

“Yes, and it said he just entered After Academy,” grunted War.

“So, another lecture?” I asked.

“Except, he’s been in the campus for a week now,” whispered Death.

“That’s…disturbing,” I muttered.

“Pardon me,” whispered Death. “I must investigate this.”

“See you later, then,” I bid. Death bowed and left.

“If this worries Death, should it worry us?” asked Hiroki.

“I should hope not,” grunted War.

I had arrived back at After Academy. Something was going up my spine and it wasn’t good. I entered the selectively permeable wall and found Jō. He was with his girlfriend, Misaki Yuriko. They both had the halo mark on their brow to show that they were dead. Yuriko noticed that Jō’s eye and hand were ashen gray. Jō was confused about it. He brought it to my attention and fear gripped my heart. I ordered a Lockdown. Nothing was going in or out. “What’s gotten into you?!” asked Jō.

“The only way any dead person’s body parts would go ashen,” I explained, “would be because those parts were stolen from your grave!” Jō and Yuriko then realized the implications. I got my belt on. “Henshin!” I announced.

“Death!” called my belt. My suit formed. Yuriko jumped into the air and landed in a red, black, and yellow suit with a ladybug motif. This was her hero form, Denpa Ningen Tackle (Electro-wave Human, Tackle). Jō took his jacket off to reveal a yellow shirt with a large, black S on the front. He then stuck his right arm to the side and his left arm pointed towards the right. He then rotated his arms so they were sticking out to the left.

“Henshin!” he announced. He then pulled an imaginary rip cord on his left arm with his right. “STRONGER!” His suit appeared in a crackle of electricity. The belt looked like an eight-pointed star. His suit was black with red shoulder pads connecting at the rib cage and sporting a large, black S. He was sporting a white scarf. The whole motif was based off the Rhinoceros beetle. This was Kamen Rider Stronger.

“Is there any artefact that the intruder would want?” asked Tackle.

“There is one,” I whispered. “We’d best check it out.” I led the two heroes to the room where the Foundation Saber was kept. Shocker Nova Combatmen were accompanying Igura. One of them alerted her to our presence. Igura turned to see us. Her left hand looked like it belonged on a man and her eyes were a different color. One was black, the other was brown. What scared me was that her right arm was like a Vortonian’s. I didn’t need to guess the donor.

“Well now, Kamen Rider Stronger!” she chuckled. “Thank you for donating your hand and eye to me. Rest assured; you will not be forgotten when the new multiversal order is here.”

“Back away from that room!” I whispered. “I’m warning you!”

“You’re warning me?” hissed Igura. “No, I’M warning YOU! Don’t interfere. You have no idea what I’m capable of.”

“You have no idea what that blade will do to your psyche!” I whispered. “You’re about to unleash forces you cannot control, nor comprehend! The Foundation Saber’s power will tear you asunder!”

“I AM power!” growled Igura. She turned to her men. “Keep them occupied.” The Combatmen swarmed us, slowing us down sufficiently to allow Igura access. She entered the wall and I went through enough to clear a path. I went through the wall, too late. She had already disabled the security measures and grabbed the sword. She then put it in a metal harness shaped like a blade. After that, the sword started unleashing power, as did Igura. The energies synced with each other, signifying that Igura had mastered the Foundation Saber. “At last, the power of the multiverse belongs to ME!”

“No…” I breathed, my transformation cancelling automatically. I fell to my knees. Igura then put the tip of the blade at my throat.

“I would cleave you in two for taking my Hiro’s soul!” she snarled. She then guided my head upwards with the sword. “But, you didn’t, did you?” I was confused. “I looked through your Ledger of the Dead,” explained Igura. “You keep track of all the souls you’ve claimed. Hiro’s soul is marked with a blue circle instead of a green check mark. You couldn’t find his soul in Chima, could you?”

“…No, I couldn’t,” I admitted. “However, Hiro is dead and will remain so!”

“Time will tell,” laughed Igura. She then grabbed me by the hair and dragged me out of the room. She released me and ordered her men to retreat. Stronger and Tackle looked and saw Igura make a circle with the Foundation Saber, creating a rift. “Farewell,” she bid. She and her Combatmen departed. Stronger and Tackle checked me over.

“This war has just tipped in the enemy’s favor,” I muttered.

“A harness for the blade?” asked Vortech when I returned. “Surely my genetic donation would be sufficient.”

“Vortech, you warned me about the power this thing has,” I replied. “I am not a fool. For all I knew, the sword’s power would still make me lose my mind, even with my new Vortonian arm. Better to play it safe.”

“Fair point,” conceded Vortech. “Now, we should be prepared for Universe G-H-0-5-T-8-U-5-T-3-R-5-1-9-8-4. Zod will be in charge and Sludgiona will take your place.”

“Pardon?” I asked.

“You have bigger priorities, locating Hiro’s soul, for a start,” replied Vortech. “Why settle for just one edge when we have a chance for two?”

“So, you want me to find Hiro and bring him back to us?” I quizzed.

“Correct,” confirmed Vortech. “Do not come back empty-handed again.”

“Understood,” I obliged.

Tags batman, coronation, gandalf, igura, kamen rider, kamen rider ichigo, lord vortech, megumi hishikawa, queen, wyldstyle

Kamen Rider Vortex Kamen Rider Vortex Chapters

Chapter 43

“That was a week ago, Your Highness,” said Emily as she finished. I was reeling from the shock.

“That’s…wow…that’s a lot to take in,” I breathed. I then shook my head and turned to Lacey. “Kamen Rider Apocalypse?” I mused. “Congrats! Now we can beat Vortech together!”

“Can’t wait!” cheered Lacey.

“Question,” interjected Mrs. Acqua. “Why are you still in your school uniform?”

“The staff sometimes wears the student uniform to bring them to their level,” replied Lacey. “I think this is gonna be standard dress for me. I don’t know. Haven’t decided yet.”

“Have you picked a color yet?” I asked.

“I was thinking of using purple,” answered Lacey. “A nice, calming color.”

“Can’t wait to see you in action,” I giggled. I turned to Emily. “So, feasting for a week?”

“Special orders from the Dinobots,” explained Emily, “after taking over management of this establishment.”

“Speaking of, where’s the newly christened Siege?” I asked.

“Over here,” snarled the velociraptor. “Siege, Maximize!” Siege transformed. “Welcome to Jurassic World,” he greeted. “Forgive the lack of staff right now, but there is a human to deal with.”

“Lead me to her,” hissed Mrs. Saunders. “She’s under arrest!”

“HELP!” cried a voice.

“That was her!” called Emily.

“Quick!” I directed. We all ran like Hades down Main Street to see a woman, Heather, by Emily’s description, locked in combat with a robot. The robot seemed to gain the upper hand as it wrapped its pincers around Heather’s throat. Heather tried to get out of the robot’s grip, but to no avail. She was thrown down and I heard snapping. Emily rushed to her and checked her over. She dropped her shoulders and turned to us.

“She’s dead,” she pronounced. I turned to look at the robot. It stayed there, so I examined every detail. It had a single grey antenna, a square head and rectangular body, arms with pincers, and a single yellow eye. It floated like X-PO did and summoned a rift to escape.

“STOP!” I demanded, but it was too late.

“Damnation!” roared Mrs. Saunders. “She had valuable intel on Vortech’s plans!”

“First Hiro, now this!” I hissed.

“What about Hiro?” asked Richard.

“Oh, yeah,” I explained. “After I became Kamen Rider Vortex for the first time, Hiro blew himself up.”

“He’s dead?!” yelped Haitao.

“I’ll explain on the way back,” I promised. “X-PO, we need a rift back!” A rift opened up. “Shall we?” I called. We all entered the rift.

I had managed to secure permission to begin a little expedition from Vortech after my embarrassment in Jurassic World. Ambassador Hell accompanied me. We headed to a universe in Cluster N. The landscape was a barren, dark one with nothing but grey sand. The gravity was 1/6th of what we’re used to. Ambassador Hell looked around and stopped when he saw what was in the sky. “Nice, lush planet, is it not?” I remarked.

“We’re on a planet’s moon?!” he asked. “How are we breathing?!”

“In most versions in this dimensional cluster,” I replied, “the moon has an atmosphere. This specific universe is 5-U-P-3-R-M-4-R-1-0.”

“Is…that a…church?” asked Ambassador Hell.

“A sham wedding was stopped in that church,” I answered.

“Is that a taxi?!” yelped Ambassador Hell.

“And tourists are around,” I mused.

“But…the moon is a barren wasteland, isn’t it?” asked Ambassador Hell.

“Indeed,” I replied, “but, it isn’t this universe that’s our destination.”

“Then, why are we…?” Ambassador Hell’s question was answered as we stopped at a crater. “A gateway?”

“Our very own,” I confirmed. “Salvaged from the wreckage of GLaDOS’ bungling. Come! We’re going to the outskirts of Hell itself!” I activated the Gateway and we entered to arrive at another wasteland with a blood-red sky and air filled with the screams of the damned. Ambassador Hell looked down the crater to see many of the people were once under his command.

“I had underestimated how many of our allies are here,” he hissed. “Curse all Kamen Riders to this very pit!”

“Come,” I called. “Our destination is in sight.” We approached a large building with gargoyles.

“A tomb? Here?” asked Ambassador Hell.

“One said to contain guardians,” I answered. “Come now, Ambassador, you’re not averse to desecration, are you?”

“It’s just that being here evokes powerful memories,” replied Ambassador Hell, “considering the fate of my brother.”

“Ambassador Darkness of the Badan Empire, correct?” I mused. “Then, you shall delight in our purpose here. For our actions here shall ensure that we avenge our fallen comrades.” We entered the tomb and located a coffin

“Don’t touch that!” snapped a voice.

“Says…who are you?!” I asked. The creature was humanoid, was grey-white, had a large tail, black lips, and purple areas on the scalp, shoulders, sternum, and lower legs, which had three toes. He had a halo above his head.

“I am Frieza,” introduced the creature. “At the moment, I’m supposed to guard this tomb. Anything to get away from that absurd tree! Much as I prefer to allow desecration, I’m on assignment to prevent it. So, if you value your lives, back off!”

“Hold that abomination off!” I ordered.

“Hold him off?!” protested Ambassador Hell as he turned into Garagaranda. “I’m the leader of an organization! I don’t hold things off! I squash them!” As he held Frieza off, I opened a coffin and took out my blades. I used a small one to get the eye and used a larger one to get the left hand.

“I have what I need!” I called. “Vortech, Garagaranda and I need a rift home!” Garagaranda shoved Frieza away and we entered the rift.

We had returned to Vorton to cheers. Everyone was back, well, aside from Death. We told everyone the events of what went on in Jurassic world and told them about the robot that killed Heather. I then told everyone what happened in Chima. After the story, I called for silence. “Everyone,” I began, “I’m just reminding those that heard, but the Jurassic team needs to know. There’s been an idea floating around that I should be crowned Queen of the F.N.S.”

“No kidding?!” asked Emily as she wiggled happily in Joshua’s lap.

“No kidding,” I confirmed. “So, I need everyone’s opinion. To save time, I need everyone to speak with their families and we’ll tally family votes. Okaa-san, Hiroki Nee-san, you two will have to debate alone. I’m not voting.”

“We understand,” assured Okaa-san.

“All right, get debating. Let me remind you that a single no vote will defeat the motion,” I declared. “I’ll call you in five minutes.” The F.N.S, our families, Hongo, Batman, Wyldstyle, and Gandalf departed. Ben and his team, Ursula, and the Dinobots were staring at the Star Destroyers hovering above Vorton.

“I swear I saw those before,” mused Ursula as she turned into Vanessa.

“A pleasure to see you,” boomed Vader’s voice.

“YOU AGAIN!!” shouted Vanessa.

“You know him?” I asked.

“We were on the same side for a while during an event called the Balance Wars,” snarled Vanessa. “If memory serves, you and your Emperor nearly killed us all when you fought each other! Loki wasted too much power to get us out of the Death Star Mark III!”

“Perhaps it would be in your best interest to not underestimate the power I wield,” rumbled Vader. “Your magic is nothing compared to the Force.”

“You prattle on and on about that Force nonsense,” hissed Vanessa, “but, in the end, anyone can wield it! It’s nothing special, just a…!” She didn’t get very far as Vader held out his hand and Vanessa started gasping for air.

“I find your lack of faith disturbing,” growled Vader.

“LET HER GO OR OUR ALLIANCE IS OVER!” I thundered.

“As is your will,” complied Vader. He released Vanessa. She coughed and spluttered.

“Vader, it would be in your best interests NOT to choke people that annoy you,” I warned. “You want my help, reign it in! Whatever beef you have with her is irrelevant. Unless Vanessa wishes to stay, I’m sending her home after the vote.”

“I’m not staying a second longer!” snapped Vanessa.

“Truth be told,” rumbled Grimlock, “Dinobots need to go home.”

“I must return as well,” replied Siege.

“I don’t know about you guys,” cheered Ben, “but I’m staying!”

“Not without me, you are not!” protested Rook.

“I’m staying too,” called Gwen.

“I see no reason to not kick butt and take names,” mused Kevin.

“I’m in, too,” declared Max.

“Very well,” I said. I then heard footsteps. “Five minutes, already?” I muttered. “All right, we’ll start with the Saunders.”

“The Saunders say yes!” called Emily.

“Archers?” I asked.

“The Archers say yes,” replied Michael.

“Kuznetsovs?” I quizzed.

“The vote is yes,” answered Irina.

“Akintolas?” I queried.

“We say yes!” cheered Mr. Akintola.

“Ackermanns?” I gulped.

“The vote is yes,” reported Mrs. Ackermann.

“Babineauxs?” I mumbled.

“Oui, you should be Queen!” called Emmanuel.

“Haugens?” I asked, hoping for a “no” vote.

“You will make a fine Queen. The vote is yes,” replied Tonje.

“Elizondos?” I said weakly.

“Of course, we say yes!” cheered Mr. Elizondo.

“Acquas?” I quizzed.

“Sì!” called Livia.

“Williams?” I mumbled.

“God save Queen Megumi!” praised Mr. Williams.

“Kumars?” I mumbled.

“Yes, of course!” replied Sheela.

“Lins?” I quizzed.

“We say yes,” said Mrs. Lin.

“Okay, my family has the final say,” I said, really hoping for a “no” from them.

“And we say yes!” cheered Okaa-san. “You shall make a fine Queen!”

“It’s…decided…then,” I whispered, feeling the weight of the crown, even though I was still wearing my tiara.

“I’ll make you a new dress!” cheered Okaa-san.

“Okay,” I mumbled, nervously.

“No worries, Megumi,” assured Richard. “You’ve led us this far and haven’t let us down. I feel confident in following you.”

“Thank you,” I sighed. “I just worry about that kind of power going to my head.”

“Just remember your friends,” reminded Okaa-san. I smiled.

“Friends do keep one grounded, don’t they?” I mused. I was feeling a little more confident about being Queen. “When my new dress is finished, we will hold a coronation.” I decreed.

“God save the Queen!” cheered Michael.

“God save the Queen!” called everyone.

When we returned, Vortech met us as he held a female version of his right arm. “And, what do you intend to do?” he asked.

“The hand and eye I had obtained from Hell are merely tools to allow me into After Academy,” I explained. “The arm I requested should serve as a buffer for the power that resides in the school. Power that I intend to use!” We stopped at the Medical Ward with the Rani by the surgery table. “So, you CAN do it?” I asked her.

“I mean, yes, I CAN do it,” she replied, “if you’re certain that’s what you want?”

“Like nothing I’ve ever desired!” I declared, making it clear that there is no going back.

“Then, prepare for…” said the Rani.

“No anesthetic!” I demanded as I laid down. “I want to bear witness as you upgrade my limbs and eye!”

“Coming up,” complied the Rani. She got to work on my right arm first. The pain was excruciating, but I managed.

Tags batman, gandalf, igura, kamen rider, kamen rider ichigo, lacey, megumi hishikawa, surgery, wyldstyle

Kamen Rider Vortex Kamen Rider Vortex Chapters

Chapter 42

After Megumi called us, it took a full four weeks to get my plan into action, on account of getting us to work together. Did I mention how dim the Dinobots can be? In any event, I got us into different teams. Dinobot and the Dinobots were in position. “All right,” I whispered. “On my signal. Wait. Wait! NOW!” The dinosaur based bots charged through the wall and started creating havoc.

“MAXIMIZE!” announced Dinobot as he leapt into the air. He landed on Starscream and started slashing with his sword.

“Argh! You again?!” screeched Starscream. He tried to shake Dinobot off, but to no avail.

“I shall enjoy ripping that mutant spark of yours out of your spark chamber!” snarled Dinobot. While that was going on, the Dinobots were tearing into the Combatmen. This was the first time they were told to squish humans. Vilgax showed up.

“What is going on?!” he roared.

“Lacey! Now!” I shouted. Lacey and her classmates and teachers surrounded Vilgax. He started laughing.

“Pitiful fools!” he said. “What can YOU hope to accomplish?”

“Henshin!” announced Lacey and her associates. They entered their suits. Death had a navy undersuit with black armor, a skeletal motif, a black cowl, and scythe blades on the forearms. Pestilence had green armor with jagged teeth and some sort of barrel on the legs. Famine’s armor was yellow with a hinged jaw. Lacey’s armor looked like a mix with Famine’s helmet with a brown hat, War’s left leg, Pestilence’s right leg, and Death’s arms. Her classmates wore the same armor of black coloration, a featureless helmet, and carried a short sword. They managed to keep Vilgax busy.

“That’s our cue!” I called. We made our way to the genetics lab to find Ben and his friends tied up, unconscious. “Okay, let’s go!” I declared.

“No touchy!” drawled a voice. It was Heather, in all her pig-tailed, torn, denim shorts, sunflower yellow blouse wearing “glory”, accompanied by Megatron. Ursula was NOT kidding when she said he was an unholy fusion of flesh and steel. He was in T-Rex mode, complete with wires and circuits woven into the purple scales, a Techno-organic Evil Barney.

“Megatron?” I asked. “What did you do to yourself?”

“Even organics find my current shape appalling,” muttered Megatron. “Since Primal threw us into the techno-organic core of Cybertron…”

“You’re to blame as well!” snapped Richard.

“It was Optimus’ folly, and his alone!” growled Megatron. “And now, the flesh I abhor keeps me alive! I can never obtain the purity I deserve, nor can I spread that purity through the universe! I have become a walking contradiction!”

“What you’ve become is a common low-life! Same level as her!” I roared as I pointed to Heather. “You! Hillbilly Heather! Start talking!”

“It’s…just…Heather!” hissed Heather. “After your mother got me put away for years by calling my crusade of racial purity ‘unholy’, I thought up exotic ways to get out! Yet, the guards wouldn’t let me resume my crusade! For a while, I was content to rot, until a rift opened for little ol’ me. The thought of escaping was stampeding through my mind and I jumped at the opportunity. I ended up in Lord Vortech’s realm with an offer to make a pure universe. Given that I needed purity, how could I refuse? I was sent to obtain something called a Foundation Element and ended up in Plumber HQ. The scanner I was given was going crazy when I faced Ben Darling here, so I decided to get the watch from him. As you can see, I had the tech to do so and now have it on my person.” She held up the Omnitrix, a square watch face and simple band. “Now, let’s see, something that will let me control my anger,” muttered Heather as she brought up a holographic selection ring. She stopped on one and slid back the faceplate to reveal a cylinder with the Omnitrix symbol on top. “Ice Moth seems like a good one,” mused Heather. She pressed the core down and morphed into a blue, humanoid, moth-like alien. “Ice Moth!” she whispered.

“You mean Big Chill!” I called.

“Like I said, my Omnitrix, my naming rights,” hissed Heather.

“We need to get that off her!” declared Richard.

“Ready!” I called. We got our i.d tags out.

“Henshin!” we announced. As we transformed, Megatron got between us and Heather.

“No, not this time!” roared Megatron. “I will NOT be denied perfection!”

“I hate to be the bearer of bad news for you,” I replied, “but that’s the ultimate evolution for Transformers.”

“Nonsense!” roared Megatron.

“It’s true! I looked it up!” I insisted.

“I believe the popular phrase flying around is ‘check your facts’,” growled Megatron.

“We’re not worried about you,” boasted Clash. “I heard a thing or two about bots like you from Guard here. You need to find your balance between beast and machine to assume your bipedal robot mode.”

“And you hate your current organic half outright,” I continued. “So, I don’t see you transforming any time soon.”

“Oh, but, you see, I CAN transform, yeeesss!” countered Megatron. “I’ve found my balance. My organic half loathes me and wants me out of beast mode. My technological half sees no reason to argue. And, because of nostalgia, I feel the need to use my old activation code. Megatron, TERRORIZE!” Glowing rings of light then appeared around his neck, beast mode shoulders and hips, and tail. They traveled down the ligaments to change the form. The beast head shrunk to become a head we were familiar with, the arms grew and gained extra fingers on the hands, thumbs too, and the feet became more humanoid…as humanoid as dino feet could get. He retrieved a sword from his subspace with the guard looking like a T-Rex head spitting the sword out. “Time to be turned to ash, organics, yeeesss!” declared Megatron.

“En Garde,” I challenged. I turned to the team. “Get the Omnitrix off Heather!”

“Will do!” replied Richard. Megatron guffawed.

“Sending your flunkies away to fight me alone?” he laughed as the team attacked Heather as best they could, given that her current form, a Necrofriggian, can exhale ice generating gas and can turn intangible, allowing her to turn an object she phased through into ice if she so desired. “How gutless!” continued Megatron.

“How is taking care of you gutless?” I asked.

“Because suicide is the coward’s way out!” roared Megatron. That struck a nerve with me.

“Don’t talk to me about a coward’s way out,” I hissed. “I nearly went down that path!” Megatron and I clashed. I decided to whack one of his nerves. “Be honest, who’s the bigger threat in your eyes?”

“I am, of course!” boasted Megatron. I knew it! I started laughing. “What are you laughing at?! Unicron take you, why are you laughing?!”

“Of all the egos I met, you just topped Miss Purity over there,” I laughed. “I’m taking care of a minor annoyance while my team takes care of a big threat.”

“…What?” hissed Megatron.

“Do you honestly believe YOU’RE a major threat?” I asked. I shoved Megatron away. “Vilgax, he’s deadlier than you. One of my allies, Ursula, she’s deadlier than you. Hell, even Starscream’s deadlier than you! You simply want to turn organic life into ash, replace it with machine life, and remove individuality, neat-o. What happens after that?”

“I will replace individuality with a single, elegant machine,” declared Megatron. “The future will have one single guiding intelligence!”

“After that, what will that intelligence, that is YOU, do?” I asked.

“I will rule my universe! I shall become the very definition of perfection!” boomed Megatron.

“Okay, after that?” I quizzed.

“I…don’t understand…” faltered Megatron.

“What will you do to pass the time?” I elaborated. “Will you create new life? Not likely since it’s different from you and will most likely be destroyed. You won’t just be a superior being in the universe, you will be the only being in the universe. Who can you talk to? Not your drones since they’re just extensions of your will. So, again, I ask you, what will you do when you’ve achieved your goals?” At this point, Megatron dropped his blade. He started clutching his head as if my question were giving him a headache.

“Techno…technological purity is…is…important…!” he got out.

“Yes,” I replied, “but why do you WANT that goal?” I cancelled my transformation as I heard Heather say, in a burbly voice, “MUCK!”

“GOOP, YOU MEAN!” roared Guard. Megatron didn’t hear. He was too busy trying to explain himself.

“Everything should…and must…be metal!” he strained.

“And when you fulfill that purpose,” I said in a louder tone, “what will your purpose be?!” Megatron was twitching as if Energon Field Build-up was relevant to him. “What will be your next achievement when you made the ultimate achievement? Is having a purely technological body just an end? Well, that can’t be right because you had that during the Beast Wars, even before then!” I started circling him. “So, go ahead and make your kingdom of the pure! Let Megatron be everything! The machine, the reality! Become everything there is down to the tiniest atom so that you are, literally, the universe itself! In the end, you will still have the same problem, no challenge! That’s what you fear, change and competition! Evolution and life! And, with no competition, there’s no Heaven to aspire to, nor Hell to avoid! You will live forever, alone as everything, and your universe will be your prison! All experiences will be a part of you, all possibilities considered and completed! Every life-form, molecule, every should and never should, and it will all be done. Everything will be you and everything will be meaningless! My own universe is going through such a crisis right now. The two main powers of my country are afraid of the change that technology brought. They claim that what they do will be for my country’s own good, but, in the end, when we’re all red or blue, elephants or donkeys, Republicans or Democrats, and one side has done away with the other, there will be no challenge, no future to look forward to! Well, as a human, I’ve long accepted the one, single truth of the multiverse, only through chaos can change happen! Only through an ugly thing will beauty flourish! So, when you DO become your universe, when the definition of your universe’s existence equals Megatron, former Predacon Commander and rogue, you will scream your final ‘NO’ and let it vibrate along the totality of your being, when the lie of your ridiculous crusade of purity is laid bare, because there is simply nothing else for you to DO!!”

“Yoooouuu…are coooonnnnnfuuuuussssinnng…mmeee!” strained Megatron as he tried to speak through vocal components that were directing their energies to his brain. “Yooouuu arrree…aaaatttemmmppttiing…aaaa…deccceeeppption!”

“Me?” I hissed as I stopped circling to face him. “Deceive a descendant of the Decepticons? Lie to a guy that may prove as powerful as his namesake? I don’t have the capacity to do so!”

“You…you…IIIII musssst…cooontinnuuuuue!” slurred Megatron. “Aaallll lllliiifffeee…muuustt…bbbbeeee…!”

“Technological in origin with you as the guiding hand!” I interrupted. “Except that there is no point! In the end, you’ll still be there, alone in the darkness of mere being! FOREVER! What it all boils down to is that you’re no more significant that a single atom in your body!”

“SILENCE!!” roared Megatron.

“HEY!” burbled Heather in her Polymorph form. Polymorphs are a unicellular species that can take any shape at will, mainly a humanoid one with two eyes. In Earth’s gravity, they need a special Anti-Gravity projector to maintain their form. Without it, they’re an immobile blob of usually green goo. Zhànshì was holding the deactivated Anti-Gravity Projector belonging to Heather’s Polymorph form. Heather tried to move, but I grabbed the Omnitrix symbol and pulled it off her viscous form. It turned back from a single disc to the watch while the Anti-Gravity Projector vanished as Heather turned back. The instant she did, she leapt on me. “THAT’S MINE!” she shouted as she tried to pry it from my hands.

“Don’t be absurd!” I argued. “You don’t even like other people! That’s another failing of you ‘purists’! You only use others until their usefulness is fulfilled, even your fellow purists! Why do you, of all beings, want to have racial purity?!”

“Because having mutts like you outlive me is an affront to my existence!” roared Heather. “An affront to what God intended!”

“You and I clearly worship a different God,” I hissed. “My God would want diversity in his creations!” I managed to get her off me. “Someone check on Ben!”

“Still out cold!” reported Clash.

“Looks like I’ll have to use it until Ben wakes up!” I declared. I put it on my arm and the band locked itself around my wrist. It automatically adjusted to allow me to use it. Heather punched me in the mouth. I spat out a couple of tooth chips. “You’ll pay for that, literally!” I snarled. “Do you know how expensive dental work is?!” I turned to the Omnitrix and activated the selection ring. “Okay, I need something to give me the edge over her! I need Four Arms! Or Humungousaur! Or NRG!” I was distracted by a flying kick from Heather and selected the alien. I felt another set of arms sprout and another set of eyes open beneath my original ones. My clothes were swapped out for a leotard, Omnitrix must have its clothing function fixed. I then noticed that I felt something from my tail-bone. My jaws then started going outward and I realized I was taking a four-armed simian form, not a four-armed humanoid form. Something took control of my vocal cords as I shouted my new form’s name. “SPIDERMONKEY!” The alien I turned into was called an Arachnichimp, a blue-furred simian species that could spin webs from their tails. The fur on my cheeks looked more like spider mandibles. I sighed. “I asked for a Tetramand, you give me an Arachnichimp,” I moaned at the Omnitrix symbol located below my sternum. “Oh well, I can work with this.” I pointed my tail at Heather and shot a web at her, sticking her to a wall. I then ran up to her and started punching rapidly. I stopped for a second. “Okay, talk. What’s this universe’s Foundation Element and where is it?!”

“Ain’t you gonna read me my rights?!” snarked Heather. I punched her again.

“I’m not a police officer!” I snarled. “Talk!”

“I plead the fifth!” hissed Heather. I punched her again.

“Talk!” I demanded.

“I don’t know on either count!” answered Heather.

“Really?” I asked. “I don’t believe that.”

“It’s the truth!” begged Heather.

“She’s not lying!” called Guard as he and the rest of the team cancelled their transformations. “I’ve used my belt to detect any attempt to lie. She doesn’t know! Now, let her go. She doesn’t deserve death!” I considered for a while, then slapped the Omnitrix symbol, returning to the human body I’m familiar with.

“Then we need to find it before the enemy does!” I declared.

“Can’t the Omnitrix find it?” asked Haitao. “It IS a Foundation Element.”

“How can we know how to use it to find another?” quizzed Livia. I then got an idea.

“Maybe the Omnitrix itself can’t,” I explained, “but one of the aliens can!” I went through the selection ring and selected the alien I wanted. After pushing the core down, I felt my eyes sink in until my vision went black. I knew that this was the alien I wanted. My posture became ape-like in that my hands were supporting the bulk of my new body while my legs redesigned themselves for jumping. Claws came out of my fingers and a harness appeared in place of my usual outfit with the Omnitrix symbol on my belly. Three gills appeared on each side of my neck, allowing me to use heat visioning and echolocation as well as smell. I roared my name, my current form lacking vocal cords, as someone shouted what I tried to say.

“WILDMUTT!” I got an image of Richard with his hands in a bullhorn fashion. We all gave him a look. “Well, Vulpimancers can’t talk!” replied Richard. I shrugged, then sniffed the Omnitrix symbol, Ben’s wrist, and Heather’s wrist to confirm the scent. I had it! Livia stayed behind to get Ben and his team back into working order. I led the rest of us to a building that was too near the Dinobots and made it inside. I sniffed around and stopped by the statue of Dr. John Hammond, the guy who started Jurassic Park. I sniffed the statue and got a match on the cane! I started growling and pointed excitedly at the cane.

“That’s the Foundation Element?!” asked Irina.

“Right under the enemy’s nose the entire time!” cheered Mikhail.

“And we led them right to it,” gulped Michael. I slapped down on the Omnitrix symbol and returned to being Emily Saunders.

“Why do you say that?” I asked.

“Because Vilgax is right here!” replied Michael. Vilgax was at the doorway.

“How?!” I yelped. “I mean, Death and the others…”

“Were nothing!” boasted Vilgax. He flung them into the building, battered, but alive. War snarled.

“Your species is not known for warfare!” she snarled. “You bring shame to them!”

“And yet, I lead them,” chuckled Vilgax.

“Vilgax, back away and surrender!” I roared.

“Wha? And leave the Omnitrix in an ape’s grasp?” snarled Vilgax. “I think not. You ARE right, there is no victory in purity. Megatron and Heather are living proof of that. However, Heather is a bit like the Atasians.”

“Huh?” I asked.

“They once called themselves the Highbreed,” explained Vilgax. “Lately, after Ben Tennyson saved the galaxy from them, they’ve been trying to wean away from that and call themselves by their original names. The work goes slowly, as work like that does.”

“Wait, you said Heather was like the High…Atasians,” I recalled. “How so?”

“She cannot breed,” elaborated Vilgax. “She was born without…ovaries, I believe is the word for the organs I’m thinking of.”

“So, she’s not attacking because she’s the most powerful, she’s attacking because she’s the last of her family!” I realized.

“And you will not live to see her die,” snarled Vilgax as he picked up his sword. I scrolled through the selection ring, not looking, and pressed on the core. My body changed. It felt like my bones were vanishing while muscle was maintaining my form. My nose sunk in as my hair became extensions on my head. My pinkies shrunk into my hands while my toes became two on each foot. My vocal cords were seized again.

“CHIMERA SUI GENERIS!” I announced. I examined myself. “Vilgax’s species?” I muttered. “When did this get added to the Omnitrix?”

“You chose the wrong form!” boasted Vilgax. “My people are not warriors!”

“Your people may not,” I mused, “but it’s not the brain of your people in this thing!” I decked Vilgax right in the schnoz! As he massaged that area, I grabbed one of the tentacles that made up his beard.

“Release me, Vermin!” he roared. Too late. I did to him what the Hulk did to Loki and smashed him to the floor repeatedly. I checked him for life signs when I finished. He was alive, just not in a responsive state.

“Puny warlord,” I rumbled in my best Hulk impression. I then heard something. “Hm? What is that? Screaming?” Ursula landed on me! The Omnitrix timed out, making me shrink down into Emily Saunders again. “GET OFF ME!” I shouted as I shoved her off, taking considerable effort. Her octopus legs make her weigh a ton! “What’s the idea?!” I snapped as Ursula righted herself up.

“While I was getting local allies,” she began when two men flew through the air. They landed near me. “…Those two,” continued Ursula, “were engaged in a fight against someone named Kamen Rider Talon.”

“Not her!” I moaned.

“Emily!” called a voice. I turned to see Livia with Ben and his team fully awake.

“Oh good!” I cheered. “Omnitrix, return to Ben Tennyson.”

“Unable to comply,” replied the Omnitrix with a robotic version of my voice.

“What?!” I yelped. “Hey! Ben!”

“Hey yeah?” asked Ben as he looked around. “Someone call the hero of the universe?”

“Quit patting yourself on the back on that score and help me get your watch off my wrist!” I snapped.

“Okay, okay, I got this,” assured Ben with that stupid cocky grin of his. “Omnitrix, release host and return to Ben Tennyson.”

“User recognized, however, Omnitrix is unable to comply until threat is over,” answered the Omnitrix.

“What?!” snapped Ben. “That’s just stupid!”

“Technical difficulties?” asked a voice. Talon then flew in as the two men she was fighting stirred.

“See, Mr. Grady,” moaned one of the men, wearing heavy body armor and a large stick that sparked, “this is why a stun rod is less effective than the rifle you have!”

“Star-Lord?!” I asked. The second man turned.

“…Nnnnooo…Owen Grady,” replied the man.

“Sorry!” I yelped. “You just look like someone from a…well, this is awkward.”

“Not as awkward as you have made my mission,” hissed Talon as she cancelled her transformation. I noticed something on her left arm.

“New toy?” I quizzed, pointing to the device.

“Something from Galvan Mark II,” explained Igura.

“Swiped from Azmuth’s lab, no doubt,” muttered Max Tennyson. Ben and Gwen’s grandfather.

“Why, yes, I DID swipe it from the Galvan’s First Thinker,” confirmed Igura.

“Well, I don’t see a need to use it when you’re in your suit,” I hissed as I drew my i.d tag. “Speaking of, Henshin!” I inserted the i.d tag, but no circle with my suit’s silhouette came up. After a few seconds, my belt spat out the i.d tag. “What the?” I yelped. “Henshin!” I tried again, but the i.d tag came out quicker. “Henshin!” Same results. “COME! ON! HEN! SHIN!” Not a chance.

“I was right, technical difficulties,” smirked Igura.

“WHAT’S THE MATTER WITH YOU!?” I shouted. Then I resigned myself. “Okay, fine! Have it your way! You want me to use the Omnitrix? You got it!” I selected an alien and slapped on the core. I felt my pinkies shrink into my hands again, but my body mass got thicker as I grew. I felt my skin harden and my teeth get sharper. I felt a tail grow again as my feet became more trunk like. My transformation was complete. “HUMUNGOUSAUR!” I shouted. I looked myself over to see the cavewoman outfit I was wearing. “Okay, truth be told, this is apropos.”

“I can agree with that,” called a voice. I turned to see another female Vaxasaurian grinning. She had the Omnitrix symbol as well as some sort of torso armor surrounding it.

“Who are you?” I asked.

“It’s me, Igura,” said the Vaxasaurian. I blinked, then guessed why she called herself Igura. In all honesty, it was the accent. I never heard a Japanese accent from a Vaxasaurian.

“So, what, that thing you stole from Azmuth is a knock-off Omnitrix?” I asked.

“It’s not a knock-off,” assured Igura. “Want to see it in action?” She turned a grey rectangle below the Omnitrix symbol like a key and the symbol popped up on a cylinder. I realized what the rig was.

“No way!” I breathed. “It’s not possible! Albedo had the only one!”

“Come now, you didn’t think Azmuth wouldn’t complete his own?” asked Igura. “My new toy is synced with the Omnitrix; thus, I turn into an alien whenever you do. But, with this new gadget, not only do I turn into any shape you take, but I can put the DNA through millions of years of worse case scenarios to bring those creatures to their full combative potential.”

“In other words?” asked Kevin, a ruffian teen, hoping he heard wrong.

“She’s got an Ultimatrix,” translated Gwen, Ben’s red-headed cousin. Igura then slapped the Omnitrix symbol down. Four spikes appeared around it and she was bathed in a green light. As it traveled over her current form, the changes were apparent. She grew up to 20 feet. Her skin went green while an Ankylosaur shell appeared on her back. A helmet in the same style appeared on her head. Her chest was plated in dark blue armor and a mace appeared at the tip of her tail. Her knuckles sported silver barrels and her nails extended into claws. She became more buff.

“Oh, great,” muttered Ben. “It’s Humungousaur vs. Ultimate Humungousaur again!”

“What’s going on here?!” snarled a voice I loathed.

“Heather, scram!” I warned as I turned to see her and Megatron. Heather wasn’t listening. She thought shouting at Igura would be a better use of her time.

“You stupid, squinty-eyed dunce!” she roared. “Now, you’ve gone made me mad!” She grabbed Igura’s tail. “You give me that now or I’ll…!”

“Unhand me, you bug-eyed VERMIN!” Igura roared back as she swatted Heather aside. Megatron ducked as Igura sailed into a building, hard. I winced.

“I swear I heard bones break,” I muttered.

“You should be more worried about yours!” snarled Igura. She morphed her right hand into a four-barreled missile launcher.

“Not this time!” I called as I dodged. I weaved between the volley of missiles and kicked her arm upward, towards Starscream. They hit him in his jets. He transformed as he fell.

“MY FEET!” he shrieked. He was plummeting towards the Dinobots! Swoop gave a warning and the Dinobots ran while Starscream hit the pavement of Main Street, squishing several Combatmen. Grimlock caught Dinobot on his back.

“My thanks,” reciprocated Dinobot.

“You tough like us,” mused Grimlock. “Me Grimlock consider you part of team. Mind a name change though? Siege?”

“Siege,” muttered Dinobot, “I quite like the sound of that! Siege, it is!” While that was going on, I managed to score a punch to Igura’s face. While she was disoriented, I knocked her down and started rapidly punching.

“Go to sleep! Go to sleep! Go to sleep! Go to sleep!” I begged the multiverse. All of a sudden, I heard beeping. I looked down to see my Omnitrix symbol flashing red. I resumed the attack for a while until the beeping slowed and the Omnitrix timed out. Igura and I went back to our human forms. I got off of her to see her condition. She wasn’t moving, but she was alive. I then removed the Ultimatrix rig from her arm. “Omnitrix, is the threat over?” I quizzed

“Perceived threat is over,” reported the Omnitrix. It disconnected from me. I sighed in relief.

“Thank goodness,” I sighed. “Ben, I believe these are yours.” I handed over the Omnitrix and Ultimatrix rig to Ben.

“Sweet! I got the Ultimates back!” cheered Ben. He reached for them, but a clawed hand snatched them up. “HEY!” protested Ben. He turned the thief, smirking and chuckling. It was Megatron!

“I must thank you, Emily Saunders, yeeesss!” he called.

“For what?” I asked.

“For clearing out my optics!” explained Megatron. “You are quite right; it was individuality that sparked the Decepticon movement! It was individuality that made me break away from the Tripredacus Council! And it was individuality that allowed me to decode my namesake’s message in the Golden Disc. I was a fool to forget that! You are correct, there IS an advantage in individuality and chaos. However, I submit a question to you.”

“Ask away,” I said, cautiously.

“Can change not be a detriment as well as a valuable ally?” asked Megatron.

“What are you planning?!” hissed Vilgax’s voice. “We had a deal! You don’t need Tennyson’s Omnitrix!”

“True, I don’t,” conceded Megatron. “But, your Bioids do.” An army of humanoid robots with a featureless sphere for a head came up.

“Where did you get them?!” demanded Vilgax.

“I took the liberty of interrogating Psyphon for the blueprints,” elaborated Megatron. “Now, with the evolutionary function established, the Bioids are more powerful than ever before! Want to see?” Megatron selected an alien and the Bioids changed into the same creature. They were bipedal robots, about 17 feet tall, heavily-built, and wore parts of an armored van. The front of the van was their chest while the sides served as arms and the rear served as wheeled feet. The Omnitrix symbol was on their chest, above a human’s sternum.

“GEAR-SHIFT!” shouted the army.

“Come on! No fair using a new form before me!” wailed Ben.

“You scanned a Transformer already?!” I yelped.

“And gave it its current alt-mode,” confirmed Ben. “I scanned old Screamer over there.”

“MY NAME IS STARSCREAM!” shouted Starscream.

“And Ben was not able to use it before Heather took the Omnitrix from him,” continued Rook, a cat-like humanoid.

“Now that I have it,” jeered Megatron, “I can have a drone army as well as a Predacon one!” I blinked. “Come now, the Maximals weren’t the only sparks I robbed! There are techno-organic Predacons running on Cybertron now! And I will command them!” He then turned the key on the Ultimatrix rig and made a new selection ring. He selected the alien and the army changed into techno-organic tigers, in robot mode.

“ULTIMATE GEAR-SHIFT!” announced the army. The Ultimatrix rig and Omnitrix symbol were located on their torsos.

“SLAY THEM ALL!” roared Megatron as he went into beast mode. The rig adapted to his T-Rex arm and the army charged. My belt was working this time, so all of us riders donned our suits. We clashed with the Ultimate Gear-Shift army and nearly tore the park apart. Ben then got an idea. As he dodged the fire coming from all directions, he latched onto Megatron’s beast arm. Megatron tried to get him off. “Release me!” he roared.

“Omnitrix, command function override! Code 10!” ordered Ben.

“Override accepted,” replied the Omnitrix in Ben’s voice. “Voice command activated.”

“What are you doing?!” yelped Megatron.

“Omnitrix, self-destruct in 30 seconds!” commanded Ben “Command Code 0-0-0-Destruct-0!”

“Destruct sequence completed and engaged,” confirmed the Omnitrix. “Detonation in T-Minus…”

“Omnitrix, command function override! Code 10!” boomed Megatron.

“Override accepted,” reported the Omnitrix in Megatron’s voice.

“Omnitrix, abort self-destruct! Code 10!” demanded Megatron.

“Self-destruct sequence aborted,” called the Omnitrix.

“Did you really think I wouldn’t study the Omnitrix’s voice commands?!” snarled Megatron as he went into robot mode. He got Ben off and punched him in the gut. “You are an idiot! I am Megatron, lord of Cybertron! With the Predacons and Bioids at my disposal, I shall succeed where my namesake failed! You are but the footnote in history! And, when they build statues of me triumphing over the Maximals, you will be displayed with all of your…!”

“Current host too volatile,” reported the Omnitrix in Ben’s voice. “Returning to Benjamin Kirby Tennyson.”

“WHAT?!” roared Megatron. The Omnitrix and Ultimatrix rig came off of Megatron and flew to Ben. The whole rig went onto Ben’s arm and the Omnitrix adjusted the wristband to fit Ben.

“Back in business!” cheered Ben as he scrolled through the selection ring and selected an alien. A flash of green later, and Ben was in his Appoplexian form, wearing pants. He shouted the name. “rrrRRAAAAAATTHH!” Male Appoplexians are bulkier in the upper regions than the females.

“Angry enough?” asked Rook, the cat-like humanoid that works as Ben’s Plumber partner.

“Well, he DID have the Omnitrix off for a while and someone was about to abuse it,” I mused. “I’d say Ben’s right in using Rath.”

“You shall pay for this embarrassment!” snarled Megatron.

“LET ME TELL YA SOMETHIN’ MEGATRON, FORMER LORD OF CYBERTRON!” roared Rath. “YOU WANNA MAKE RATH PAY? YOU’LL FIND THAT RATH IS TOO EXPENSIVE TO CASH VICTORY IN ON!!” Megatron laughed.

“Mixing metaphors, are we?” he asked. Rath tackled Megatron and the two clashed. The Bioids were back to their blank state but were still fighting.

“This is absurd!” I hissed. “Lacey, do it!” Apocalypse nodded and floated into the air. “Get to higher ground!” I called.

“COME ON!” protested Rath. “I WAS JUST GETTING WARMED UP!”

“Ben! Now!” snapped Max. Rath grudgingly complied. As we got higher, the clouds got darker. Lightning flashed as Gwen cast a shield over us.

“Here we go!” I yelled. The rain then started hammering the whole island. It was hitting the ground to hard that a flash flood hit the park. The enemy was washed out to the entrance. A rift opened near Igura, Vilgax, Starscream, and Megatron.

“YOU IDIOTS HAVE FAILED ME!” roared Lord Vortech as his hand scooped them up. At that point, Apocalypse called off the storm. She floated down into the water and cancelled her transformation. The water was up to her topmost skirt. The sun peeked through the clouds as we got down. All Riders cancelled our transformations and Rath went back to Ben.

“That was more excitement than any of us bargained for,” sighed Richard as he held Dr. Hammond’s cane.

“I didn’t see Heather in Vortech’s hand,” observed Flora. “Do you think…?” she turned to Death.

“No,” whispered Death. “Her time hasn’t come. Speaking of, I have work to do.” She summoned her scythe and headed to the enemy forces, swinging her weapon and releasing the souls of the dead. “And now, for good news,” whispered Death once she finished. “Lacey, we have something for you, dear.” She handed Lacey a card. “It gives me great pleasure to welcome you as head of the Technology Department and as head of House Apocalypse. You may choose your house’s colors at your leisure.”

“You mean, I passed?!” cheered Lacey. All horsemen nodded. “YAY!” she called. “Kamen Rider Apocalypse is here!”

“Now, all we need is Kamen Rider Vortex,” grunted War.

“Give it a week,” whispered Death. “In the meantime, we need food to celebrate.”

“Good luck with that,” muttered Haitao. “There’s probably nothing to eat but Energon.”

“Not good idea for humans,” rumbled Grimlock.

“Great,” I sighed. “We’ll starve before we get back.”

“You sure?” asked Richard as he held up an apple. He then pointed to a whole trail of apples leading to a building. We followed the apples, collecting them as we went, and saw the biggest storeroom for food ever!

“We could feast for weeks!” I breathed.

“Think we should share with Heather?” asked Richard. I considered. For a moment, I felt pity for her since she was the last of her bloodline. I then shook my head.

“I’m sure her fridge is stocked up,” I replied. “In the meantime, we feast!”

Tags apocalypse horsemen, beast megatron, ben 10, emily saunders, flood, jurassic world, kamen rider, omnitrix, vilgax, water

Kamen Rider Vortex Kamen Rider Vortex Chapters

Chapter 41

We arrived at Jurassic World and I was bouncing up and down like a little girl on Christmas. “Dinosaurs! Dinosaurs! Dinosaurs!” I giggled.

“Take it easy,” calmed Haitao. “You’re gonna gain hyper speed if you keep that up.”

“But…Dinosaurs!” I cheered. “And…park! And…Dinosaurs!”

“You already said ‘Dinosaurs’,” observed Michael.

“Because they’re awesome!” I called. “I wanted to be a paleontologist when I was a little girl!”

“And now, you’re studying current human anatomy,” muttered Mikhail.

“Come on, you can’t tell me you’re not excited to see Jurassic Park?!” I called.

“Jurassic Park, yes,” agreed Richard. “But, Jurassic World?” He pointed to the sign above the gate. It said, “Jurassic World”.

“Oh COME ON!!” I shouted. “One movie was enough!”

“Tell THAT to Hollywood,” muttered Richard. “Oh well, like life, the fandom will find a way.” I resorted to grumbling.

“Oh well, at least it can’t get any…uh oh…” I yelped. “Maybe that phrase doesn’t work in this universe!” Something then flew over the wall, nearly crushing us. We got out of the way, thank goodness. “Then again,” I sighed, “it’s probably a multiversal constant.” The object pushed itself up. It was Grimlock! “Well, I’ll be!” I chuckled.

“Dad’s favorite Transformer!” called Richard. “More so than Optimus!” Grimlock was in his T-Rex mode when he shook off the dirt.

“That not nice!” he shouted over the wall.

“Er, Mr. Grimlock,” I asked. “Who are you fighting?” Grimlock saw us.

“Not more!” he moaned.

“More?” I quizzed. “What’s going on?!”

“Me Grimlock not waste words!” boomed Grimlock.

“Er, I don’t like the sound of that,” gulped Michael. Grimlock transformed, leveling his gun at us! “I don’t like the look of it either!”

“Grimlock, wait!” I pleaded. “We’re not here to hurt you!”

“Funny, me not believe you!” roared Grimlock as he squeezed the trigger.

“Grimlock, stop!” called a voice. “They’re associates of mine!” The voice sounded familiar.

“You serious?!” roared Grimlock as he turned to his left. A brunette woman with wavy hair came up, sporting cold, yet lovely eyes, a pale blue dress with a slightly darker corset, and a golden seashell necklace.

“You again?!” I called.

“Hello, Dr. Saunders, Ms. Kuznetsov,” greeted the woman.

“You know crazy witch lady?” asked Grimlock.

“She was someone that I saved along with Irina,” I explained.

“What are you doing here, Ursula?” asked Irina.

“Vanessa, you mean,” corrected Ursula. “Here’s the thing, I made a deal with Ursula when I was young. I was afflicted with a disease that no one could cure at the time. No one WANTED to, as I didn’t conform to the ideal image a woman was supposed to be at the time, in 1427. So, I met a young girl who was recently banished from her kingdom. She was the first undersea dweller I met, a Cecaelia. She was cast aside because of her natural abilities with magic. I felt a kinship with her and so told her my story. She told me of the conditions of her banishment, being stripped of magic, and so needed someone who was cast out of society to regain her magic. I asked her how the process would be done. She said it needed the two outcasts to meld with each other, body and soul, and she had the means to do so.” She lightly touched on the shell. “With the Gold Nautilus, Ursula and I joined and became one. Two minds, one body that changes, one soul.”

“So, it’s like Split-personality, but the body changes with the personality?” I ventured.

“In a sense, yes,” shrugged Ursu…Vanessa. “Now, Miss Irina, if memory serves, you were about to deck Ursula in the face when Starscream trapped us.”

“That option remains in play,” hissed Irina.

“I would expect nothing less,” chuckled Vanessa with a wicked grin. “But, for now, I have a proposal.” She paused for dramatic effect. “Join me in defeating our shared enemies.”

“You have all sorts of power,” argued Livia. “Why ask for our help?”

“Because the enemies have something I lack that I’m sure you lot have,” replied Vanessa, “knowledge on a device called the Omnimatrix.”

“You mean the Omnitrix?!” I yelped. “Why should we fight Ben?!”

“Ben?” asked Vanessa. “No, a girl called Heather. She managed to extract the Omnitrix from Mr. Tennyson and threw him in an underground genetics lab, along with his grandfather, cousin, police partner, and villain turned friend.”

“Heather?” I quizzed, making sure I heard the name right.

“I don’t know much about her,” replied Vanessa. “In any case, she’s got allies, an unholy melding of flesh and metal, a humanoid squid, a talking jet, and your enemies, Shocker Rift, I believe.”

“Trying to find the Foundation Element, no doubt,” guessed Haitao.

“In any case, our past alliances, villain, hero, Dinobot, Maximal, they no longer matter,” declared Vanessa. “Not while the enemy is in control!” That was when the earth shook in a rhythm, like footsteps.

“Oh, Ursie! Grimmy!” boomed a deep, feminine voice. “Guess who’s the little chickadee who unlocked a Vaxasaurian!”

“Little chickadee?” repeated Richard. “Didn’t…no, she’s in prison, right?”

“You don’t think…” I guessed. That was when a female Vaxasaurian stomped through the trees. Vaxasaurians are a beige, humanoid, dinosaur-like species from the planet Terradino. They have four fingers on each hand with large grey nails, possess dinosaur tails and reach up to twelve feet. Females dress in caveman clothing and wear bones to attract mates. This Vaxasaurian had a black circle between her navel and bust with a green hourglass inside. Her eyes were green as she looked up at Grimlock, who was at least ten feet taller than her.

“Me no afraid of you!” roared Grimlock. “Me still bigger than you!!”

“Really now?” asked the Vaxasaurian in a hillbilly drawl. She then demonstrated a Vaxasaurian’s natural ability to grow up to five times its original height, in this case, sixty feet. She grinned evilly at us.

“…Me need to have Perceptor, Wheeljack, and Ratchet work on me Grimlock’s mouth/brain filter programs,” mumbled Grimlock.

“That won’t save you,” growled the hillbilly Vaxasaurian. “I’ll squash you and then squash that fat, rose obsessed freak! She never removed her impure, fat body from the planet and managed to get me…”

“In prison!” I shouted, realizing who the Vaxasaurian really was. “That’s where xenophobic murderers like you will always rot, Hillbilly Heather!” The Vaxasaurian looked at me and got angry.

“You!” she growled. She slapped down on the hourglass symbol and shrunk, changing shape into a muscular, bipedal, tailless tiger. Her front was white, as well as her muzzle, feet, and hands. She had four fingers on each hand with a large, black claw coming out of the wrist, pointing to the fingers. Her eyebrows were boned and black in the shape of anger. The symbol was still in between her navel and bust and she wore a leotard and black shorts. “rrrrRRRRRAAAAAYYYYYGGGE!” she roared.

“You mean Rath!” I roared back

“LET ME TELL YA SOMETHIN’, EMILY SAUNDERS, THE FATSO WHOSE MOTHER PUT ME IN PRISON!” bellowed Heather, “HEATHER HAS THE OMNITRIX, SO HEATHER NAMES THE ALIENS! AND HEATHER’S NAME FOR THIS FORM IS RAYGE!” She then went on all fours and charged. I dodged and whipped out the i.d tag.

“Henshin!” I announced. My team followed suit.

“HENSHINNING’S GOOD!” roared Heather. “RAYGE CAN HENSHIN ALL DAY!” Vanessa then fired energy blasts at Heather who shrugged it off. “THAT’S ANOTHER MISTAKE, URSULA THE SEA WITCH!” yelled Heather. “WHEN YOU SHOOT RAYGE, IT JUST MAKES RAYGE MAD!!”

“Bad kitty!” shouted a voice. A spear of black mist flew past Heather’s Appoplexian face. Everyone turned to see Death with nine others, just one young man among the other ladies. The young man and five young ladies were in grey sweaters with an ascot, each in a different color, and wore a really large skirt with petticoats reaching to the ankles that matched the colors of their ascots.

“WHO ARE YOU?!” bellowed Heather. “You wanna fight me?! LET’S GO!!”

“Believe me when I say,” grunted the orange skinned, armored woman, “you do not give credit to the Appoplexians. One of my spouses is one and he would call you a disgrace.”

“LET ME TELL YA SOMETHIN’, ORANGE MONGREL!” roared Heather. “RAYGE WILL TEAR YOU AND YOUR HUSBAND APART!!” She charged at the woman, who managed to hold her back with her pinky.

“Pathetic,” grunted the woman. She flicked Heather’s forehead, sending her into the wall of Jurassic World. “You, a weakling that subscribes to racial purity, specifically white purity, dare challenge me? I am War, and it is diversity that makes my troops stronger!” The woman, War, drew a large sword and charged at Heather. Heather started glowing and slammed her claw into the ground, creating a shockwave that knocked War off her feet.

“War, get back!” whispered Death. “She’s carrying the Foundation Element of 8-3-N-1-0!”

“What?!” yelped War.

“The Omnitrix is a Foundation Element?!” I shouted.

“Power of that magnitude was never yours!” snarled War. She charged at Heather while getting a belt out. The buckle looked like a grey sphere with a sword of the same color halfway out. She put the belt on. “HENSHIN!” she bellowed. She slid the sword down so the guard rested on the sphere. Orange light filled the air, then faded as War’s Rider form decked Heather. The entire suit was orange armor with a black undersuit. The helmet was pointed with red eyes and a fearsome fanged teeth decal over where the mouth should be. Swords roughly the length of her lower leg were pointed towards her feet.

“War, NO!” warned the raven-haired girl in white petticoats. Too late. Kamen Rider War kicked but flew through the air as Heather dodged. Heather then grabbed War’s leg and flung her into us.

“All right, that’s it!” I hissed. “I’m declaring this Hillbilly Heather Hunting season!”

“I’M AFRAID IT’S ALREADY FATTY HUNTING SEASON!” roared Heather. She charged at me but missed as I dodged.

“Like I’m afraid of an amateur fighter like you!” I boasted. “It’s Appoplexian Hillbilly Heather hunting season!”

“FATTY SEASON!” roared Heather as she decked me. I recovered.

“Rayge season!” I argued as I kicked her stomach. She recovered.

“FATTY SEASON!” roared Heather. She slammed her fists on my head. I shook my head from the disorientation.

“Rayge Season!” I countered as I tripped her up. Rayge got up again and grabbed me by the throat.

“FATTY SEA…!” began Heather. War then kicked her in the back. I summoned my horse and converted it to flight mode. A plan was in my head. As I was lifting off, Heather recovered. “HEY! LET ME TELL YA SOMTHIN’, EMILY SAUNDERS, THE FATSO WHOSE MOTHER PUT ME IN PRISON! NOBODY GOES UNLESS RAYGE SAYS THEY CAN GO! ‘CAUSE RAYGE GOES BEFORE EVERYBODY! SO, NO GO, YO!” I went higher and Heather grabbed onto my vehicle. “IS THAT ALL YOU GOT?! ‘CAUSE RAYGE’S GOT TONS MORE! IN FACT, I SHOULD GIVE YOU SOME OF MINE, SO IT’LL BE A FAIR FIGHT! AND, AFTER THAT, EVERYTHING I GAVE YOU, I’M GONNA TAKE IT ALL BACK AND MAKE YOU LIKE IT!” I was over Jurassic World and made a nose dive for one of the streets. “CRASHING’S GOOD TOO! RAYGE CAN CRASH ALL DAY!” I did a barrel-roll, insert Star Fox meme here, and managed to get her off. “OH, AND NOW YOU’RE USING GRAVITY?! WELL, GIVE UP GRAVITY! YOU CAN’T BEAT RRRRAAAAYYYGGGE!” She hit the ground, hand first, and her claw was stuck in the pavement. I stuck around long enough to see her trying to pull the claw out. “LET ME TELL YA SOMETHIN’, PAVEMENT OF MAIN STREET! LET GO OF RAYGE’S CLAW!” I rejoined the others.

“It’ll be a while before she gets out somehow,” I figured.

“Then we need to go,” grunted War as she cancelled her transformation.

“We run away?!” wailed Grimlock.

“It’s not running away!” snarled War. “We’re consolidating our resources…further away from the battlefield.”

“My offer still stands,” called Vanessa. It took a few seconds to consider before a flash of green light came from the park.

“She must have transformed,” I guessed. “All right, we’re in, but Death and the others are coming with us.”

“You CAN be counted on to listen to reason,” praised Vanessa. “Grimlock, dear, if you please?” Grimlock called up their home base.

“Grimlock to base, requesting Ground-Bridge,” he demanded. “We have more people.” A swirling green vortex opened.

“Richard, you’re the biggest Transformers nut in our family,” I recalled. I had already admitted I was a fan of the G1 universe to the F.N.S, the original cartoon, the old Marvel comics, and Beast Wars, and it felt like a weight was lifted from my shoulders. “Maybe you spotted a Ground-Bridge in the early cartoon? Because I don’t remember either side having one.”

“No, the Ground-Bridge is a recent invention,” answered Richard. “Debuted in Transformer: Prime. I don’t know how G1 Grimlock got ahold of one.”

“We’ll worry about that later,” whispered Death. “Right now, we need to regroup and introduce ourselves.”

“If you could step this way,” offered Vanessa as she went through the vortex. Grimlock followed, then Death and her team, then I covered the retreat, in case Heather blind-sided us. After I stepped through, I was led to a large, underground bunker. The other Dinobots saw us and started asking questions.

“THAT IS ENOUGH!!” snarled a voice. A brown velociraptor stomped into view. “The absurdity of you Dinobots knows no bounds!” growled the dinosaur.

“Dinobot?” Richard and I both yelped. The velociraptor faced us.

“I take it YOU are from another universe,” guessed Dinobot. “Dinobot, MAXIMIZE!” Dinobot shifted to robot mode, complete with snarling blue face. “So, what brings you here?”

“We’re here to get something called the Foundation Element,” I answered. “An object unique to this universe that keeps it in the multiverse, thus keeping all of space-time in check.”

“I have not seen anyone else in my universe asking for such an object,” answered Dinobot.

“No, but, from what Vanessa’s told us, you’ve seen one in action, the Omnitrix,” I replied. “And it’s in the hands of a psycho that nearly killed me.”

“So, we have a common enemy,” mused Dinobot as he got out of my face. He was easily nine and a half feet. “And these are your friends?”

“Well, seven of them are,” I replied, “but I don’t know the rest.”

“Then, perhaps,” suggested Dinobot, “introductions are in order. I am Dinobot!” Vanessa slid into a large pool of water and turned back into Ursula.

“I am Ursula, and my human form is Vanessa,” she introduced.

“Me, Grimlock.”

“I’m Slag,” called the Triceratops.

“Call me Swoop,” declared a bot with folded Pteranodon wings.

“I’m Snarl,” called a bot with Stegosaurus plates on his back.

“I’m Sludge,” cheered a big-footed bot.

“I’m Emily Saunders, mission leader for my team,” I began.

“I’m Richard, Emily’s brother.”

“I am Haitao Lin.”

“I’m Livia Acqua.”

“Michael Archer, ladies and gentlemen,” Michael bowed.

“Irina Kuznetsov.”

“I’m her brother, Mikhail.”

“I am Death.” Everyone shied away from her. “I’m not here on THAT kind of business. No one’s dying right now.”

“I am War.”

“I’m Pestilence,” wheezed the green skinned woman.

“I’m Famine,” mumbled the bony, yellow haired woman as she stuffed her face.

“I am Lacey Thanatos,” introduced the raven-haired girl. “And, if things go well, Kamen Rider Apocalypse.” She adjusted her hair flower.

“Um…my name…is…Flora Nightly,” whispered a plump girl with white petticoats and ascot. She had blue hair and a pink rose on a green bow on the left side of her hair. It was obvious she was shy.

“I’m Charline Elmira,” cheered a muscular girl with brown, wavy hair and orange petticoats and an ascot.

“Call me Sophie Moore,” called a short girl with hair as white as Tonje’s, a black headband, and dark blue petticoats and ascot.

“I’m Amelia Kendall,” introduced a tall girl with lavender hair, a yellow circle on her forehead, and green petticoats and ascot.

“And I’m Brendan Patterson,” finished the boy. He had black hair, the same yellow forehead circle as Amelia, and yellow petticoats and ascot.

“What brings you here, Death?” asked Livia.

“I’ll let Lacey explain it,” replied Death. Lacey grinned.

“I’m here to take my final test to become Kamen Rider Apocalypse,” she declared. “I had to take written and practical tests from the Four Horsemen, I took the written bit of my final, now I have the practical bit to do.”

“So, you need to destroy a universe?” asked Ursula.

“Hardly,” assured Lacey. “I’m supposed to show how much control I have over my powers.”

“And why are your classmates here?” asked Dinobot.

“After an…incident,” began Brendan, I noticed he was careful with how he phrased it, “the five of us became heralds of the apocalypse.”

“Basically, we warn people their world will end,” explained Amelia.

“And help the Horsemen fight those who want to hurt the multiverse,” said Flora, quietly.

“A little micromanagement,” I mused.

“But, enough about us,” called Lacey. “What brings Dinobot and his namesakes here?”

“Ursula too, for that matter,” I mused. “I thought you would be back in your universe.”

“I didn’t wake up in my universe,” explained Ursula. “I was in Vortech’s grip, a prisoner, away in a dungeon. The Dinobots and Dinobot were there with me. They tried to get me to spill on where my universe’s Foundation Element was.”

“Me too,” supplied Grimlock. “But me didn’t know what Foundation Element even was until Emily explained it.”

“Same with me, but Vortech didn’t believe us,” continued Ursula. “Eventually, we escaped by following Igura here and are trying to get ourselves back.” I started mulling over what Ursula said.

“All right, it seems we can solve all our problems here,” I resolved. “My people have the tech needed to get you guys home and we have a Foundation Element vault. We also have knowledge of our enemies. If you guys help us get the Omnitrix and Ben and his team back, along with this universe’s Foundation Element, we can get you guys home. Deal?”

“Usually, I’M the one who makes deals,” mused Ursula, “but, we’re pressed for time. Deal.”

“Sounds good to me,” whispered Death, “but, do you mind if my team and I joined you on Vorton?”

“Don’t mind at all,” I replied. “I’m sure Megumi would love the help.”

“You have deal with Dinobots,” rumbled Grimlock.

“All right!” I cheered.

“And my services are at your disposal,” answered Dinobot.

“All right, we need to find a way into the park as that’s where the enemy seems to be concentrating itself. Most likely, the Foundation Element is there,” I guessed. “I have some ideas of a plan, but it’ll take timing, cooperation, and it’s extremely dangerous when we carry them out.” The Dinobots started smiling. “Everybody else in?” I asked.

“Let’s do it!” cheered Richard.

“Nothing we can’t handle,” boasted Lacey.

“I shall prove to our enemies what happens when a Sea Witch is trifled with!” snarled Ursula.

“Then let’s get to work,” I declared “First off, we share info. I’ll start with the Omnitrix. As you can tell, the Omnitrix is a device that can turn you into any alien life-form. The life-forms are all arranged in playlists of ten. As of now, the Omnitrix has 1,000,912 aliens. 99 are unlocked, 70 have been named, and the original holder, Ben Tennyson, has transformed into 62. You saw what a Vaxasaurian can do, but you need knowledge on that tiger alien, the Appoplexian. Richard, take over.”

“Appoplexians,” supplied Richard, “are powerful, argumentative, and extremely aggressive. Their brains are hard-wired for anger. They believe any problem can be solved by hitting it. The traditional greeting of an Appoplexian is to engage in a wrestling match to establish who’s dominant.”

“Sound like Me Grimlock’s kind of people!” cheered Grimlock.

“They also have Sludge’s level of dimness,” replied Richard.

“…Would you repeat that?!” snarled Sludge. He was cleaning his gun.

“Of course not, I’m sorry I said it,” said Richard, hurriedly.

“I should hope so,” muttered Sludge.

“The Omnitrix has the ability to scan and analyze new DNA,” warned Richard, “so, Cybertronians should watch themselves.”

“Wait, whoa, whoa, whoa,” I stopped. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Oh, yeah,” realized Richard. He didn’t tell me earlier when I pretended not to like the Transformers. “Cybertronians have something call CNA, Cyber-nucleic acid.”

“…And that’s their genetic code?!” I yelped. “They have base pairs like us that determine traits?!”

“Yeah,” confirmed Richard.

“I confess, I’m amazed you didn’t know,” rasped Dinobot.

“When was this revealed?!” I asked.

“Same series as the Ground-Bridge,” explained Richard.

“Okay, now that THAT bomb’s been dropped,” I muttered. “Time to teach you about the Omnitrix’s current user. Heather is an old bully from way back. She views everyone that isn’t someone like her has impure genetics. She found me as an easy target and made fun of and hit me whenever she got a chance. My parents, friends, brother, and I tried everything, but the school system wouldn’t deliver justice. I was near enough to commit suicide and I was about to write a note when I heard the door open. I deleted the note to see Mom looking frustrated. She’s a member of the Fredericksburg Police and was investigating a crime. Judging by the face, I’d say it wasn’t going well. A string of burglaries and attacks on citizens was rampant all over Fredericksburg. Some victims died while the ones that didn’t were blinded by someone in stealth gear. When she showed me an image, the shape looked familiar. ‘Did you get a DNA match on anyone?’ I asked her.

“‘I tried, but we couldn’t find anyone,’ replied Mom. ‘Why?’

“‘The body type looks a lot like a classmate,’ I answered. ‘We’re doing a DNA swab thing at school tomorrow. Can you guys do anything on them?’

“‘Well, given that the scientists have to give us the data on the DNA,’ replied Mom, ‘we should.’

“‘It may be that I’m wrong, but I think the person you’re after goes to my school,’ I guessed. Mom seemed to consider this. The next day, Heather was surprised to see me. I grinned sweetly as we went to science class. We did the whole cotton swab thing and went on with our lives. Later, at night, the perp came in through my bedroom window. It came up to my desk where ‘I’ sat. The perp then stabbed ‘me’ in the back of my head. The perp then lifted the mask to make her final mistake. It was Heather.

“‘Fatty, you REALLY should have let your depression take over,’ she sighed. ‘It would have made things easy for both of us. You’re dead, so I can explain easily. You come from a long line of mongrels. I, on the other hand, am pure. That’s why my victims are hurt or killed. So many people badger on and on and on about diversity making us stronger when that is a fat lie! Fatter than you were! Diversity just gobbles up pure ideals and tries to mix them! It destroys perfect civilizations!’

“‘It brings new wisdom and new culture!’ I roared, making Heather gasp. ‘It makes a better civilization!’

“‘What in the name of…?’ yelped Heather. ‘How?! I skewered you like a sow from the pen, ready for barbeque!’

“‘You Backwoods Blunder!’ I insulted. ‘We’re not playing chess! We’re playing poker!’ The lights came on to reveal the large doll she thought was me. The police and I came into the room. ‘And I was bluffing!’ I finished.

“‘Heather Richards, you’re under arrest!’ roared an officer.

“‘The newspaper had your disguised image from when you robbed Hyperion Espresso!’ I declared. ‘The body shape looked familiar, but I needed to be sure.’

“‘So, you convinced your mother to get a copy of the results of the DNA swab test!’ hissed Heather.

“‘Ding! Ding! Ding!’ I confirmed. ‘But, the police had no idea you held to out of date ideals like ‘racial purity.’ Honestly, I’m surprised you’re NOT the result of inbreeding.’

“‘I’ll see you in Hell, mongrel!’ promised Heather. ‘I’ll be found innocent!’ The thing is, she was wrong. She was guilty as Hell and sentenced to ten years in prison.” Everybody was wide-eyed when I finished my story.

“I was with my old Robotics club at the time she was arrested!” yelped Richard. “Why didn’t you tell me you were that close to committing suicide?! Or Mom and Dad, for that matter!”

“I asked them not to tell you,” I replied. “And, at the time, I didn’t want you to worry about me. In hindsight, I made a mistake.”

“A big, fat one!” agreed Richard. “Still, now I know what the events were that got Heather locked up. Now, we need to figure out how she got out.”

“Before that,” I switched gears, “Dinobot, Dinobots, do you have any idea about the talking jet?”

“No, but Ursula claims to see it,” replied Dinobot.

“Ursula, can you describe it?” I asked.

“It was white with red and blue and had purple symbols on the wings,” answered Ursula. She made an image of the Decepticon logo. “It spoke in a screechy voice too,” continued Ursula.

“Him again?!” I snapped.

“First, he invades my mind, and now this?!” snarled Irina.

“You know him?” asked Dinobot.

“It’s a he?” quizzed Ursula.

“His name is Starscream,” I replied. “He’s the second-in-command of the Decepticons, Grimlock’s enemies.”

“And enemies of Autobots,” growled Grimlock.

“But, how does Starscream have a body again?!” asked Dinobot.

“For those who don’t know,” supplied Richard, “a recreated form of Megatron vaporized him, but his spark, soul and heart of a Transformer, is a mutant one. It can’t fade away, so he comes off as a ghost.”

“A robot ghost?” muttered Lacey. “Now I’ve heard everything!”

“And there’s a humanoid squid and unholy fusion of flesh and steel,” reported Ursula.

“We can name both of them,” whispered Death. “They were both on watch after the events in their native universes. The squid is one that Ben Tennyson faced numerous times since he was ten years old.”

“Not Vilgax!” I moaned.

“The Ruler of Vilgaxia, himself,” confirmed Death.

“That doesn’t add up,” muttered Richard.

“Why?” asked Michael.

“Vilgax wants the Omnitrix,” I explained, helping Richard. “So, why would he let Heather have it?”

“To fulfill his end of his alliance with the…how did Ursula put it…unholy fusion of flesh and steel,” wheezed Pestilence. “I can put a name to him, for Dinobot flew to Prehistoric Earth on the same ship with him.”

“One of my former Predacon colleagues?” asked Dinobot.

“Much worse,” wheezed Pestilence. “He hates organic life, took a famous Decepticon’s name, and turned into what fans called an evil Barney the Dinosaur.”

“Evil…Barney…no! No, it can’t be!” I gulped.

“Oh, but it is, yeeesss!” wheezed Pestilence.

“Megatron?! Impossible!!” snarled Dinobot.

“Another one?!” wailed Grimlock.

“The way you guys are talking,” I sighed, “it sounds like he became a techno-organic Transformer.”

“He did, and he hates that form,” grunted War.

“I picked up a conversation between him and Vilgax,” called Charline. “It was for a recon assignment for War.”

“She passed with top marks, as usual,” grunted War as she grinned with pride.

“Thank you,” reciprocated Charline. “It was in a universe that was a barren wasteland. Megatron had gotten the Omnitrix first. He transformed in a glowy, purple aura from beast to bot and got the Omnitrix to his left wrist. It expanded to fit around a wrist his size. ‘Yes!’ he cheered. ‘I have control over a Foundation Element! And, with it, I can escape this wretched, misshapen form!’ This Omnitrix is the one that was used in Ben 10: Omniverse, a square watch design with a holographic selection ring. Megatron started scrolling through the aliens and his smile dropped with each passing alien. ‘There’s no Cybertronian form in here!’ he snarled. ‘All the other lists are locked! I’m still stuck in this hideous frame!’

“‘Technical difficulties?’ asked a voice. Vilgax then stomped into view.

“‘Not really,’ dismissed Megatron as he regained his composure. ‘It has come to my attention that Cybertronian genetic material is not in the Omnitrix’s database. I cannot use this wretched form as it’s hardly pure machine. Once I scan a pure Cybertronian, I’m cured.’

“‘Not an easy task,’ mused Vilgax. ‘Admit it, Megatron. We need Heather, we need Shocker Rift and its associates, and, more importantly, we need each other.’

“‘No, I NEED the Omnitrix to cure me of this fleshy form,’ argued Megatron. ‘You, on the other hand, WANT it to defeat this ‘Ben Tennyson’. That’s a bad basis for an alliance.’

“‘I no longer need THE Omnitrix,’ declared Vilgax. ‘Not when one is being made for me. I have enough clout to make one for you with pure Cybertronian CNA.’

“‘And, in exchange?’ asked Megatron.

“‘I require your technology,’ demanded Vilgax. ‘A powerful weapon as the Omnitrix for your most powerful Cybertronian weapon.’ Megatron stared for a while, then started laughing.

“‘That’s it?’ he chuckled. ‘You have gall, Vilgax. I admire gall, yeeesss! We have a bargain!’ At that point, I decided to withdraw and report.” Charline’s news sunk in.

“What’s our move here?” asked Livia. It took a while, but I came up with a plan.

“All right,” I declared, “here’s what we’ll do…”

Tags apocalypse horsemen, beast megatron, ben 10, emily saunders, grimlock, jurassic world, lacey, omnitrix, ursula/vanessa, vilgax