The Web of Stories
Even Lacey, Death, War, Pestilence, and Famine do the occasional mermaid pin-up. They rather like acting sexy when they get the chance. If the site for the photo-shoot is in an actual clam underwater, such as the one they’re in right now, so much the better.
I had busied myself with a machine designed to help bring the ghost to a better plane of existence. “Okay,” I muttered. “Todo lo que necesito hacer es conectar esto y estaremos bien.” (All I need to do is connect this and we’ll be good.)
“Señor Ortiz?” asked a voice. I whirled around to see Lacey looking at what I was doing. “Are you trying to contact your dad?” she asked.
“No,” I replied.
“Good, best to avoid him,” advised Lacey. “You know full well he’s not to be trusted. The dead outside of this school rarely are.”
“The mortal realm’s no better,” I grunted.
“Yes, I spoke with Mickey a while ago,” murmured Lacey. “He told me about your feelings concerning the F.N.S and your desire to leave us.”
“I just…I can’t stand the F.N.S right now!” I answered. “I joined you to get away from all the lies I was told back home, but I’ve been lied to again by people I’ve only known for two years! It’s like…it’s like I’m fighting a one-man war against lying! Can you even fathom what that feels like?!”
“Completely, believe it or not,” replied Lacey. That caught me off guard.
“Perdon?” I asked.
“I fully relate to your feelings,” elaborated Lacey, “but I don’t agree with your methods.”
“…How can you relate?!” I protested.
“Alesandro, do you know why I became a Horseman of the Apocalypse?” quizzed Lacey.
“You were chosen to help Megumi fight Vortech,” I answered, not seeing how it correlated to what the conversation was about.
“That was the impetus,” answered Lacey, “but, truth be told, I was gonna join After Academy anyways. I came from Universe T-H-3-5-1-M-P-5-0-N-5.”
“The Simpsons?” I asked. “You were a resident of Springfield?”
“Yep, and had an abusive father,” confirmed Lacey. “I hated how chaotic that place was and felt like I was alone in trying to corral the chaos. Death offered to return me back to my universe with a fresh perspective and a better chance of controlling the chaos. I stayed because I found something that I never had in Springfield, a family with the other Horsemen. Now, here I am, part of After Academy’s faculty and being a part of a family with the F.N.S. Now, it IS, at times, dysfunctional; it most certainly is NOT perfect, but the F.N.S and the Horsemen became my family. I certainly hope they’ve become yours.”
“Didn’t War initially join Vortech’s cause at the start of the Vortech Wars?” I asked.
“Yes, but the Four Horsemen have LONG worked through that,” replied Lacey, “because that’s what family does.”
“If they’re meant to BE family,” I grumbled. “Sometimes the family is so toxic that you need to get away from them.”
“Also true, as we can both attest to our blood family,” conceded Lacey. “Now, the question becomes, has this family become that toxic to you?” I stopped working, then set down my tools and sat on the ground.
“I don’t know,” I sighed.
“Well, is there a reason that you’re staying with us?” asked Lacey.
“I was contacted by a ghost a while ago,” I explained. “He’s in an eternal nightmare and I want to help him get out of it.” I then pondered the idea. “You know, now that I think about it,” I mused, “wouldn’t someone who regrets his actions think that he DESERVES punishment?”
“As a matter of fact, yes,” replied Lacey. “Charles Dickens got that kind of ghost right. They’re tormented by their own regret and can only blame themselves since they never regretted their actions when they were alive. Jacob Marley DOES regret his actions and accepted there’s nothing he can do except blame himself since it’s too late for him.”
“This ghost I met didn’t have that kind of thinking,” I revealed. “Megumi DOES regret what she did and made no attempt to stop me from leaving. Something doesn’t add up here.” Just then, the ghost shimmered into view.
“Help me! Please!” wailed the ghost, Carl.
“…Why?” I asked.
“There is goodness in you!” pleaded Carl. “Help me! Let me start again!”
“You’re chained for a reason,” I continued. “If you REALLY regret your actions, you wouldn’t try to escape or shift the blame to…”
“Okay, you know what,” grumbled Carl, standing upright despite being chained, “I saw this coming.” He pulled back the hood to reveal a monstrous head. It had two long tendrils coming from the back of the head and a single eye.
“CAAN!” screamed Lacey.
“Give me access to After Academy’s library,” demanded Caan.
“I read about you!” I snapped. “Why should we obey a Dalek like you?!”
“You have no choice in the matter!” snarled Caan as he equipped his Dal Driver.
“DAL DRIVER!” it screamed. He then took out the Pure Dalek can and turned the dome before inserting it into the belt. “PURE DALEK!” it shouted. He then turned the crank and the piping formed the sides of his suit. “ARE YOU READY?!” asked the Dal Driver.
“Henshin!” called Caan. The piping then slammed the sides of his suit onto him.
“THE UNSTOPPABLE KILLER!” announced the belt. “PURE DALEK! EXTERMINATE!” Caan was now Kamen Rider Dal.
“Henshin!” shouted Lacey as she spun the dial. She became Kamen Rider Apocalypse and clashed with Caan. “Go get help!” she shouted.
“But…!” I stammered.
“NOW!” demanded Apocalypse. I took off and ran through the campus streets to find help. Her fellow Horsemen then saw me.
“Alesandro! Stop!” called Death. “What’s going on?!”
“Lacey’s fighting Caan outside the campus!” I explained. “She needs help!”
“A villain with future vision attacks us! Sure! Why not!” snarled Pestilence.
“Anyone got any ideas?” asked Famine with her mouth full.
“…I’ve got a trick in mind,” chuckled War.
War approached the battlefield with a confident grin on her face. “Mr. Caan, I don’t believe we’ve had the pleasure of meeting face to face,” she called, distracting him long enough for Apocalypse to strike him and join War. Dal recovered and drew himself up to his full height.
“You are War!” he observed. “The multiverse has changed if you engage in mortal affairs!”
“Tends to happen,” remarked War. “Tell me, what was your position before your little club?”
“Before the Cult of Skaro,” replied Dal, “I was the Attack Squad Leader of the Thirteenth Assault Group! Many worlds fell under Dalek control thanks to my efforts!”
“Yeah, evil hasn’t changed,” grumbled War. “Comes with the territory. You always rely on permanence to get you through the day. Good, on the other hand, ALWAYS changes. We’ve got new ways of dealing with people like you.”
“There ARE no people like me!” argued Dal. “Not yet!”
“There’s ALWAYS gonna be someone like you,” replied War. “…Wait, not yet?”
“You will never know!” snapped Dal.
“You’re right, I foresee your defeat coming,” chuckled War. “Kamen Rider Dal, you will be haunted by three spirits! Expect them…right now! Henshin!” She transformed and her fellow Horsemen, also in Rider form, joined her in attacking him while I got to work on the machine. Death called it clever, I call it narrowly avoiding disaster. Caan couldn’t fully manifest in this universe unless he was invited in some way. Because I didn’t fully follow through on bringing him into this universe, he was stuck in a transitional state. He’s immune to conventional attacks, but, then again, the Apocalypse Riders are anything BUT conventional. Their attacks managed to do him some damage.
“Guys, it’s time!” I called when I finished.
“Do it!” ordered War. I pressed the button and Dal was sent away from After Academy. “You’re NOT getting a refund on your application!” laughed War as all Riders powered down. Dal was struggling under the machine’s power and turned to me.
“I now…understand…what it means…to live!” he begged me. “Have…PITY!”
“Pity?” I replied, giving my best Dalek impression. “I have no understanding of the word! It is not registered in my vocabulary bank!” I then dropped the act. “For your sake, look to see me no more.” One final button and Kamen Rider Dal vanished, never to terrify After Academy.
“I have to apologize again, for all this,” offered Alesandro.
“No, no, no,” I replied after hearing all of it. “You were doing what you thought was right, obeying your conscience. I didn’t have that kind of courage. If you’ll let me, though, I’d like to work towards proving that I CAN do so.”
“Well, can’t exactly leave the F.N.S on that note, can I?” chuckled Alesandro. “The F.N.S IS a better family than my blood relatives. We all had a flub or two in our lives. The best we can do is pick ourselves up and get back into the fight.”
“Truer words have never been spoken,” I agreed. Just then, the comms chimed. I pressed the accept button. “Moshi moshi!” I called.
“Megumi, mind having everyone gather in the Gateway Room?” requested Richard. “We found something that will make some heads roll.”
“Sure thing,” I replied. I then switched to general broadcast. “Minna, report to the Gateway Room. Richard’s team found something.” We all gathered in the Gateway Room and Technarain, Sludgiona, Batman, Pup-X5, Lukas, and Richard looked pretty mad. “What happened?” I asked.
“We finally figured out what caused the results to go the way they did,” explained Richard. “Someone tampered with the results, someone with more access to the results than any of us who voted. So, the question becomes, X-PO, why? Why did you do it?” …X-PO?
“How is this POSSIBLE?!” I roared. “All five Sources within our grasp, and yet none have been retrieved! I am only inundated with excuses, even from my own wife!” I pointed to Igura after she returned from 5-U-P-3-R-M-4-R-1-0. She snarled at the accusation, but I didn’t pay attention. I turned to our newest addition. “Well, Cyber-Leader Gi? What’s YOUR excuse?!”
“It is illogical for me to give one,” replied Cyber-Leader Gi. “I had underestimated the power they had and it cost me my victory. The fault is mine.”
“Yes, I do believe it is!” I confirmed.
“However, there IS a way to fix this for all of us,” supplied Cyber-Leader Gi.
“Explain! Quickly!” I ordered.
“We still have a fix on four of the Sources’ respective energy signatures,” explained Cyber-Leader Gi. “The reason it is not all five is because, according to what the Joker discovered on the Tarlaxian scout ship’s flight recorder, the Source of Starvation is in Tarlax 14’s vault. However, the other four are all in one place. Logically, it would be the Vortex Riders main base of operations.”
“And since they originally scrambled Vorton’s new coordinates, they may have used it again for some sense of familiarity,” I deduced. “But it won’t matter if we use the Sources as a beacon to guide us there. Muster the fleet. Cyber-Leader Gi, do we have the coordinates of the Sources current position?”
“We do,” confirmed Cyber-Leader Gi. “The probes we have sent to observe the universe have identified the universe as V-0-R-T-0-N.”
“Feed them to all ships,” I ordered. “We leave at once.”
I looked at the various trophies the Doctor left behind on Vorton for me to examine. I snorted at a few. The only trophy I could respect wasn’t even evidence of the Doctor’s victory. That victory belonged to the Vortex Riders. It was an empty, open Dalek casing. The Doctor’s trophies just laid there near the casing. “Look at all this,” I muttered to myself. “Relics and artefacts that I should feel some connection to. I don’t, though. It’s all just junk to me.” I picked up a tribophysical waveform macro-kinetic extrapolator and just sat with it in my hands. “Michael says it doesn’t matter who I am, as long as I live my own life.” I snorted again. “My own life. A life with no memory of who I am. No real history. Wearing someone else’s face! I don’t even like this face, even though it’s considered attractive by human standards! If the Emperor Dalek was lying, and I AM a clone of Rose Tyler, then I’m just a copy. A duplicate. Something that was mass-produced like…like…” My rant faltered as I examined the gunstick’s socket on the Dalek casing. “I remember…not being able to…shoot myself? ……NO!” I threw the extrapolator at the glass case the casing sat in and it shattered. “It’s just some stray thoughts coming to the surface! Thoughts that aren’t mine! They can’t be!” I could only laugh hopelessly. “I can’t trust who I am! I can’t trust ANYTHING about me! If I wanted to, I could just walk around pretending to be Rose Tyler, because all I am is a copy! A copy that can only see the impurity of…! Impurity of…” More memories came to the surface, the glorious saucers hanging over every world across time and space, the Emperor commanding us all, leveling… “…I remember now!” I couldn’t believe it! A smile crossed my face! “I REMEMBER NOW!” I ran my hands across my face…face…hands…arms…legs…two eyes…no! “I remember…I REMEMBER!” NO! NO! NO! I AM CONTAMINATED!
I could not have asked for smoother sailing. We were approaching Foundation Prime and Megumi was nowhere in sight. I toured the Dominus, looking at each bulkhead, each door, each tiny rivet that propelled me to victory. It was a leisurely tour, no need to rush victory. A couple of Engineers saluted me as I passed. I returned the salute and they returned to the minor maintenance needed to make the ship more efficient. A Combatman approached me.
“YEE! YEE!” (We’re approaching the coordinates. All Sources have unlocked the way for us.) he reported.
“Splendid,” I praised. “I shall be on the bridge to witness our victory. Once we enter, begin a sweep for the Foundation Element pedestal. It should be intact.”
“YEE!” (Yes, Great Leader!) replied the Combatman. I strolled to the bridge as he hurried off to relay my instructions. When I arrived, the bridge crew was hard at work.
“Time to Universal Entrance?” I asked.
“Universal Entrance will occur in 20 rels!” reported the Dalek Operator at the helm.
“One minute,” translated Igura.
“Excellent,” I chuckled. Who needs Foundation Elements? The Sources will provide me the Foundation of All Universes far better than random trinkets.
“10 rels!” barked the Dalek Operator.
“30 seconds!” giggled Igura.
“Ah, I can just smell victory in our hands!” I sighed. “I tell you now, my sweet eagle, we shall…”
“Alert! Alert! Enemy fleet detected!” called out the Dalek Strategist. “Flagship has been identified as FNSS-01, Virginia!”
“WHAT?!” I shouted. The enemy fleet was projected onto the main viewscreen.
“A ground force is guarding the Foundation Element pedestal!” called Metalran. “It’s the Vortex Riders!”
“How did they get ahead of us?!” shouted Igura.
“Save the speculations for later!” I ordered. “Raise shields and charge weapons!”
“Er, guys!” I gulped as I saw the enemy charging their weapons.
“We see them!” replied Scorpainia on her ship. “All ships, engage the enemy!” Our fleet unleashed a volley of laser and torpedo fire. I looked at everyone on the ground with me.
“Minna-san,” I began, “if, by some random chance, we don’t get out of this alive…”
“Then we still make sure we continue the fight!” insisted Emily. I smiled.
“Hongo-san, if you please,” I directed. Hongo struck his pose.
“Rider…” he began.
“HENSHIN!” we all announced. The Chronicle Drivers of our new members went through their jingles.
“Open! Turn! Imagine! The Hammer of Slam!”
“Open! Turn! Imagine! The Roller of Turf!”
“Open! Turn! Imagine! The Crossbow of Striker!”
“Open! Turn! Imagine! The Keyblade of Lux!”
“Open! Turn! Imagine! The Shield of Highland!”
“Open! Turn! Imagine! The Scepter of Crown!”
“Open! Turn! Imagine! The Rifle of Range!”
“Open! Turn! Imagine! The Wrench of Construct!”
“Open! Turn! Imagine! The Spear of Lance!”
“Open! Turn! Imagine! The Staff of Crescent!”
“The enemy ground forces have changed into their Rider Personas!” reported Tac Ops.
“Then prepare our own,” I ordered. “All Riders, we’re going in!” Cyber-Leader Gi dialed in the first three prime numbers on her phone and held it to her ear, I drew my guns, Gorshagh grabbed the Kiri Zecter, and Igura struck her pose.
“Nova…” she began.
“Henshin!” we announced.
“Henshin!” repeated the Kiri Zecter.
“Adaptus: online,” reported Cyber-Leader Gi’s phone as she turned it into her buckle. We all became our Kamen Rider personas.
“All ground forces ready!” reported Tac Ops.
“Beam us down!” I ordered.
“They’re coming your way!” warned Scorpainia.
“Welcome back to Foundation Prime!” I greeted Rogue. “You know, lately, there’s a new Rider from Build’s era with the same name as you. Wouldn’t you say that would cause confusion?”
“Last I checked,” remarked Rogue, “that Kamen Rider is dead.”
“Not what I saw in Build’s show,” chuckled Sengoku. “I think a guy called Killbas restored his memories once the Build Riders came to the main Kamen Rider world.”
“I’ll take care of him later,” dismissed Rogue. “Right now, I have major annoyances to deal with! Kamen Rider Rogue! Stand and deliver!”
“Kamen Rider Adaptus,” announced Cyber-Leader Gi. “Hostile elements will be deleted.”
“Kamen Rider Kiri!” growled Gorshagh. “I shall bring ruin to you!”
“Kamen Rider Talon!” called Igura. “You will pay dearly!”
“If it’s catchphrase time, it’s catchphrase time!” I declared.
“Kamen Rider Outback!” called Joshua. “Better watch your backs, mates!”
“Kamen Rider Claw!” announced Sheela. “My weapons shall turn you into ribbons!”
“Kamen Rider Swing!” cheered Tonje. “I’ll be taking your legs!”
“Kamen Rider Hunt!” declared Tanisha. “I shall always get my prey!”
“Kamen Rider Clash!” proclaimed Livia. “A duel with me shall end in your defeat!”
“Kamen Rider Climb!” cheered Irina. “Mountains are a warrior’s best friend!”
“Kamen Rider Gallop!” declared Mikhail. “My riding skills are unmatched!”
“Kamen Rider Sengoku!” called my brother, Hiroki. “You shall get a taste of Feudal Japan!”
“Kamen Rider Royal!” I announced. “Evil will ultimately bow to me!”
“Kamen Rider Guard!” proclaimed my fiancé, Richard. “None shall harm my friends, family, and lady!”
“Kamen Rider Touché!” cheered Emily, my future sister-in-law. “En Garde, thing of evil!”
“Kamen Rider Zhànshì!” declared Haitao. “Try and stop my quest!”
“Kamen Rider Arch!” called Emmanuel. “My skills outdo Robin Hood!”
“Kamen Rider Kämpfer!” cheered Lukas. “Your defeat will be certain at my hands!”
“Kamen Rider Seeker!” proclaimed Xiomara. “It’s not gold I seek, but your end!”
“Kamen Rider Battle!” announced Michael. “For friends and family, I shall be victorious!”
“Kamen Rider Slam!” shouted Colleen. “I’ll be bringing the pain!”
“Kamen Rider Turf!” called Jason the Inkling. “I shall claim this turf in victory!”
“Kamen Rider Striker!” proclaimed Alesandro. “None shall delay victory!”
“Kamen Rider Lux!” announced Mickey Mouse. “The light of imagination shall show the way!”
“Kamen Rider Highland!” cheered Liam. “It shall be a fine day for winning!”
“Kamen Rider Crown!” declared Princess Peach. “My strength will upend your tyranny!”
“Kamen Rider Range!” called Victor. “I’ve got you right where I want you!”
“Kamen Rider Construct!” declared Dell Conagher. “Let’s do this Texas style!”
“Kamen Rider Lance!” cheered Moon-kyung. “The softest bloom can be the deadliest!”
“Kamen Rider Crescent!” announced Neo Queen Serenity, Usagi Tsukino I. “In the name of the solar system, I will punish you!”
“Kamen Rider Herald P!” called Flora.
“Kamen Rider Herald Y!” proclaimed Brenden.
“Kamen Rider Herald O!” cheered Charline.
“Kamen Rider Herald G!” announced Amelia.
“Kamen Rider Herald B!” shouted Sophie.
“We bring news of your defeat!” they called together.
“Kamen Rider Death!” whispered Death. “You cannot delay your appointment with me!”
“Kamen Rider War!” shouted War. “This battlefield is mine!”
“Kamen Rider Pestilence!” wheezed Pestilence. “You shall be infected with losing!”
“Kamen Rider Famine!” declared Famine. “I shall starve you of victory!”
“Kamen Rider Apocalypse!” announced Lacey. “Your world shall end!”
“I am Gandalf the Grey!” proclaimed Gandalf. “Prepare to see some fireworks!”
“I’m Wyldstyle!” cheered Wyldstyle. “Time to think outside the box!”
“I’m Batman!” rasped Batman. “The Dark Knight rises!”
“I am the start of a group of warriors!” finished Hongo. “I am Kamen Rider!”
“KILL THEM!” ordered Rogue. Our armies clashed as we struggled to keep the Sources away from the pedestal.
“Alert! Alert!” called Operator 5579898. “Propulsion systems disabled!”
“Main Fusion Cannon power cells now recharging in 7!” counted Drone 7427983. “6! 5! 4!”
“Battle computer suggests immediate withdrawal!” advised Strategist 3345987. Retreat?! From the Tarlaxians?!
“We will not retreat from inferior life-forms!” I, Supreme 0720974, declared. “Daleks conquer and destroy!”
“Daleks conquer and destroy!” repeated all Daleks aboard the Dalek-only saucer, the Jewel of Skaro.
“Fusion Cannon now online!” reported Drone 7427983.
“Open fire!” I ordered. “Immediately! IMMEDIATELY!”
“I obey!” confirmed Drone 7427983. The Fusion Cannon causes the individual atoms of the target to come together before a small particle of anti-matter makes the target detonate in a display that humans would call dazzling. I suppose I would call the destruction of the Tarlaxian ship beautiful as fire burned away that which was impure. While it was by a small fraction, the multiverse THAT now that much cleaner.
“We’ve lost the Armadillorg,” reported my tactical officer, Glaciandro.
“Status of enemy shields?” I asked.
“What enemy shields?” replied Glaciandro, his voice indicating he was ready to avenge those who gave their lives to protect Tarlax and the multiverse, especially since his sister was on that ship.
“Destroy them!” I ordered. He wasted no time in obeying my command. The enemy ship was destroyed, along with its fellow ships in the enemy fleet. They were at 400 when they arrived on Foundation Prime, now that number has been halved! We’ve only lost 100 of our ships and we were going to ensure that their sacrifices were NOT in vain!
“Well, well!” I taunted Rogue as we clashed. “Looks like things are crumbling around you, Oto-san!” (Father)
“I see it differently,” replied Rogue as he converted his guns into shōtō (Japanese short sword) mode.
“Have you gone senile?!” I yelped as I converted my gun to sword mode. “Rogue, your fleet is halved, your ground forces are halted, and your attempt to get to the pedestal is going up in smoke! Surrender while you can!”
“I don’t think so!” replied Rogue. “My fleet will still win the day, your ground forces are only 40 strong while mine are 600 strong, and you idiots didn’t check to see if the Sources have reached the pedestal!” I turned to see if what he was saying was true. …It was! The Sources were aligned with the pedestal! They powered the thing just like the Foundation Elements did and revealed a newly constructed green square! The Foundation of All Universes was back! “Perfect!!” cheered Rogue. “Bring the Apocalypse Riders to their respective sources!” The Combatmen then managed to wrangle the Apocalypse Riders and get them to their respective Sources. …Well…three out of five were successful. “Wait, what are you two doing?” asked Rogue.
“YEE!” (Putting the Apocalypse Riders at their respective Sources.) replied a Combatman.
“No, you’re not! Death is supposed to be at the blue one, not the purple one!” answered Rogue.
“YEE!” (They’re both blue!) argued the Combatman.
“…Can you two not see red?” asked Rogue. The Combatmen looked sheepish. “Look, just switch them, okay?”
“YEE!” (I told you we needed those optic upgrades!) snapped the other Combatman as they obeyed.
“YEE!” (Shut up.) grumbled the first Combatman. I struggled in trying to get the Combatmen holding me down off.
“Off!” I growled! “I said…”
“We don’t need to move, not yet,” interjected Batman.
“…Dude, WHY?!” I argued.
“Oh, yeah!” mused Lance in a faraway voice.
“You too?!” I hissed.
“Well, they MUST have seen it done,” replied Battle.
“What are you…oh…OH!” I realized the mistake Shocker Rift made! Unfortunately, so did Adaptus!
“Disconnect the Apocalypse Riders!” she called.
“Are you malfunctioning?!” shouted Rogue.
“Disconnect them NOW!” insisted Adaptus. Just then, with just one hand, all Apocalypse Riders threw the Combatmen holding them aside!
“It doesn’t matter now!” laughed Rogue. “The Foundation of All Universes will be mine!” He continued laughing and laughing and laughing.
“The Horsemen are in total control of the Sources!” elaborated Adaptus. “They have some plan to set you back!”
“Impossible!” dismissed Rogue. “If they value their friends’ lives, they will obey!”
“NOW!” called Death.
“DAI SUPER CHARGE!” I announced. I managed to get a hand free and spun the wheel twice. My armor bulked up and exploded off of me to get my captors off while revealing my new form as Kamen Rider Vortex! My former captors were knocked into Batman and Gandalf’s, so they got up and fought off the others so everyone could be freed. Death and her friends put both hands on the Sources and gave more energy to them.
“WAIT! NO! STOP! THAT’S TOO MUCH!” wailed Rogue. Too late. The energy the Sources were putting out separated the Foundation of All Universes into four fragments once again and scattered them to four different directions. “No! No! Nonononono NOOOOO!” wailed Rogue before he slumped to his knees. “…What just happened?!” he asked uselessly.
“Did you really think we’d let you have the Sources without having a back-up plan?” asked Apocalypse.
“We had our suspicions that you would try and control us with a hostage situation,” explained Death, “so we asked Megumi, during prep, to keep her Vortex form on standby.”
“I have to admit,” I supplied, “I was a little confused when they asked that, but I can’t argue with the results!”
“So, when the time came,” finished War, “we’d upend your plans and cause some severe damage to your tiny empire!”
“I’VE HEARD ENOUGH!” roared Rogue as he performed his poses. “DAI SUPER CHARGE!” His armor then changed into dark purple and black as it bulked up before exploding off of him, turning him into Kamen Rider Rift! He summoned his Rift Breaker as I summoned my blade and we clashed viciously! “Why do you insist on interfering?!” roared Rift. “We are bringing order to chaos!”
“Have you learned nothing from Vortech?!” I protested. “You can’t have order without chaos! Read some Berlin! You might learn a thing or two!”
“I presume you’re talking about the idiot that babbled on about ‘positive’ and ‘negative’ liberty?!” growled Rift.
“Hey, that man got away from Stalinist Russia and got a safe distance away from the Nazi invasion of Britain!” argued Guard.
“I may need to read his work,” mused Kämpfer.
“You’re not going to survive that long!” roared Rift. He holstered his guns before pulling the triggers and leaping into the air. I then spun the wheel and leapt into the air; my target identified.
“Final attack!” announced my belt.
“RIDER VORTEX KICK!” I shouted.
“RIDER RIFT KICK!” shouted Rift. He was aiming for the Sources while I aimed for his belt. Our feet temporarily connected as we pushed against one another in the air.
“How do modern Riders DO that?!” asked Ichigō.
“Still trying to figure that out,” replied Sengoku. We continued pushing and pushing and pushing until…my foot went past his and smashed the Rift Driver! He fell, exploding, then tumbling out of the explosion as Adachi Hiro. The ruined remains of the Rift Driver fell after him. He scrambled to pick them up in a panic.
“Driver! Driver, say something!” he wailed.
“Hiro…”groaned the Rift Driver, “these are…my last words. …First of all…screw you! You never…valued my advice. Second…I should never have…found your universe. It looks like I just caused…chaos all around the place…by you reverse-engineering…me. Third…you ARE obsessed with her! As such…you no longer deserve…my power!” The Rift Driver then, for lack of a better term, died. Hiro still cradled the remains of his old belt.
“I say this only one last time,” I declared, “surrender!”
“…Abandon Foundation Prime,” Hiro ordered over the comms. His men looked at him. “All ground forces, return to the ships. We cannot take this universe with the Vortex Riders as they are with the numbers we have. Abandon Foundation Prime.” They were beamed aboard their remaining fifty ships. The ships then departed Foundation Prime as we were beamed aboard the Virginia. Turretorg was commanding the vessel while we were on the ground.
“Vortex, Touché,” he declared, “I return command to you.”
“Thank you, Turretorg,” I bid.
“A very fine command,” praised Touché.
“Thank you, Ma’am,” replied Turretorg.
“I believe that’s Foundation Prime all safe and sound,” mused Guard.
“Let’s not declare that until we confirm it,” advised Clash.
“Scorpainia,” I called over the channel, “any analysis on the enemy fleet?”
“They’ve retreated,” replied Scorpainia. “As Guard mentioned, all is well.”
“…How did you…?” I asked.
“The Communications Officer left the channel open,” answered Scorpainia.
“Ah,” I replied. I then turned to my friends. “Minna-san, it looks like our work is done.” We all powered down as I took command. “Helm, set course for Vorton, all possible speed.”
“All possible speed, you got it,” replied the helmsman. The fleet then took off for Vorton. Richard looked a little concerned.
“Hey, are you okay?” I asked.
“My thoughts drifted to X-PO’s trial,” explained Richard.
“…Yeah, way to remind us,” I grumbled. “How’s the trial going to play out?”
“Similar to the Japanese system,” replied Richard, “but there will be a jury of 12 Cendeberons.”
“The best jurors in the multiverse,” I recalled. “Remind me who Elkrandek is? All I heard from you is that he’s a Tarlaxian.”
“Actually, he’s an immigrant,” corrected Richard. “I think Joshua would know him better as the Deer Imagin.”
“The WHAT?!” I yelped, recalling the time Heather went to various universes to make a new body for herself with functioning ovaries. The attempt failed, but it DID leave the Imagin with a chance to stay alive even though she doesn’t remember him. “WHY would Scorpainia…? Get me Scorpainia!” The Communications Officer got her. “Scorpainia, I DID tell you about the Deer Imagin, right?”
“Elkrandek, as he prefers to call himself,” replied Scorpainia, “is trying to get away from such dark thoughts. He’s passed the Bar Exam and has been an excellent defense attorney. He’s defended Turretorg when he was accused of murder and resorted to stay clean in his pursuit of defending his client.”
“…Well, if he’s changed, there’s nothing I can say about it,” I resolved.
It was a new day in our new Castle Nerd Skull outside After Academy’s city limits. The Horsemen, their heralds, and our newest members had joined us as we sat down. Our new members were from the same universe the original F.N.S came from. We went from 16 to 31 almost overnight, 18 girls and 13 boys. Our new members were Lady Colleen Doyle of Waterford, Ireland, Lord Alesandro Ortiz of Fortaleza, Brazil, Sir Liam McIntyre of Scotland’s capital, Edinburgh, Duke Victor Young of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and Duchess Deung Moon-kyung (Asian name order, so, in the western name order it would be Moon-kyung Deung) of Jeju-si, South Korea. They were wearing a newer transformation belt, similar to a Vortex Driver, called the Chronicle Driver. Much like a Vortex Driver, it summons armor based on a character, but uses something called an Armor Bio, a small, book-shaped trinket that tells the story of the person it’s based off of. The Chronicle Driver pops a shelf out from the top with a small space for the Armor Bio to fit. The Rider then inserts the Armor Bio into the space and slides the shelf down into the Driver. It won’t summon the suit until the Rider presses a button on the Driver’s top. If it’s the Rider’s personal Armor Bio, or Armor Auto-bio, the Rider would say “Henshin!” before pressing the button. Pressing the button again would initiate the final attack. Colleen was Kamen Rider Slam, Alesandro was Kamen Rider Striker, Liam was Kamen Rider Highland, Victor Was Kamen Rider Range, and Moon-kyung was Kamen Rider Lance. Colleen adjusted her braid as Michael’s cat, Kit-10, scooted by. “Colleen?” I asked. “Your report?” She snapped out of her reverie as she shook her head.
“Sorry, My Lady,” she apologized. “The Chronicle Riders haven’t heard a peep out of them.”
“Quite frankly,” sighed Liam, “I don’t think we’re gonna find anything.”
“I know Hiro of old,” I replied, prompting the Scotsman to roll his eyes.
“Och, haur we gang!” he protested, exaggerating his usual accent.
“I beg your pardon?” I asked.
“Every time we say Hiro’s not gonna do anything,” explained Liam, “you go on about how Hiro doesn’t let things go that easily, how he will stop at nothing to have the multiverse under his rule. Well, I’ve been looking everywhere, and I have NO proof that he has something in the works!”
“Always a contentious one, aren’t you?” sighed his House Head, Pestilence.
“The Vortech Wars are over!” protested Liam. “Hiro’s learned not to mess with powers outside his understanding! We can relax! YOU, of all people, can relax!”
“Hiro is NOT one to be underestimated,” Death argued in her usual whisper. “I will not let you go through with being so lax about this.”
“Come on, you can’t be serious!” countered Liam. Moon-kyung just sighed, deciding to defuse the situation with a question unrelated to our conversation.
“Could the pizza guy be any later?” she sighed.
“They ARE taking their sweet time,” remarked Kit-10. “However, I don’t think we should be TOO harsh on them. They’re rather swamped, what with the two-year anniversary celebration of Vortech’s defeat coming up.”
“Oh, yeah, that,” I remembered.
“Well, it looks like we’re starting Bad Movie Night WITHOUT pizza,” sighed Richard. “Let’s kick things off with Michael Bay.”
“What have you got to offer?” I quizzed.
It was Revenge of the Fallen, the second Bayverse Transformers movie. “Well, that was something,” I remarked.
“Rather tame, compared to other bad movies I’ve seen,” commented Emily.
“As a feline-based robot,” observed Kit-10, “built by a Time Lord and a flying box, I can safely say that it was the most unrealistic thing I’ve had the ‘pleasure’ of gracing my visual sensors with.”
“Was Devastator’s wrecking ball scrotum really necessary?” asked Victor.
“Were Skids and Mudflap necessary?” quizzed War. “I swear they existed to be nothing but black stereotypes, UNNECESSARY black stereotypes.”
“My turn!” called Colleen.
“It’s not gonna be Monty Python’s Life of Brian, is it?” asked Hiroki. “I STILL feel let down after that whole thing.”
“No, it’s actually a movie from Japan,” replied Colleen. “Shuriken Sentai Ninninger vs. ToQger The Movie: Ninjas in Wonderland.”
“WHY?!” wailed Hiroki.
“Please, no!” I begged. Just then, there was a knock on the door. “Great, the pizza’s here!” I cheered.
“Two and a half hours!” protested Emily. “And we’re pretty far from city limits!”
“Cold pizza’s better than no pizza,” remarked Richard as he got up. Alesandro snorted.
“You only say that because you have no taste buds,” he snarked. Richard approached the door and opened it.
“Okay, my good man, what do I owe you?” he asked.
“Your ears,” remarked the voice.
“…You’re not pizza,” replied Richard.
“A PO robot’s saucier than pizza,” boasted the voice. “We need to talk.”
“Guys, X-PO’s here,” called Richard.
“Let him in!” I bid. Richard and X-PO entered the t.v. room. X-PO had various documents in his claws. “Good to see you again, X-PO!” I called.
“Nice to see you too,” returned X-PO. “I wish the circumstances were better.”
“What’s up?” asked Emily. X-PO laid out the documents.
“Let’s just say that Shocker Rift may be up to something,” he began. “Scorpainia sent out some explorers to gather data on five key universes. I’ve been monitoring for the reports but, for whatever reason, neither side has contacted each other.”
“So? It could be background interference,” I countered.
“I thought so too,” replied X-PO, “until Batman reported seeing Shocker Rift Saucers fly through one rift and out another.”
“I don’t see Shocker Rift,” guessed Tanisha, “as people who would just buzz a populated area.”
“No, they aren’t,” I agreed.
“And you’d be right,” confirmed X-PO. “I’ve managed to get ahold of why the Tarlaxians were exploring other universes. Turns out, they’re scouting for a potential Tarlax 15 in case they need to move again.” He waved a claw over the documents to indicate that what he talked about was in them.
“Should we even be looking at this?” asked Victor. “This seems like top secret stuff.”
“They’re marked with the Secret Seal,” observed Famine as she munched on a chocolate bar. “Not even we Horsemen have the clearance needed to see it. Only the reigning monarch and a few trusted Tarlaxians are allowed access.”
“I wouldn’t worry so much,” whispered Death. “It’s not like anyone’s gonna post this on social media.” Charline’s eyes went wide as she hit the back button on her tablet. “…Seriously?” asked Death.
“As I recall, you guys have the most experience in travelling the multiverse and have a new ship that can go between dimensions,” remembered X-PO.
“Yes, the Virginia can go to other universes,” I confirmed. “You were there when we remodeled it from its sphere to an actual ship.”
“When do we leave then?” asked X-PO.
“I don’t recall inviting you,” I remarked.
“Megumi, the multiverse has a vested interest in seeing that it’s protected,” argued X-PO. “As someone who wants that interest to succeed, I’m coming with you.”
“That’s nice, X-PO,” I countered, “but I’m a little worried about a portal operator abandoning his post.”
“Megumi, did you really think I wouldn’t get my replacement as I went with you?” asked X-PO. “Elphaba, Chell, Rusty, the Brigadier, they want to see Vorton again.” I opened my mouth to argue again, then sighed.
“I suppose you can do more on this adventure,” I conceded. “In fact, I think we all need our robots. Kit-10, see if you can get Lexicon, Pup-X5, and R9-D7. Veterans of the Vortech Wars, who wants another journey around…?”
“WAIT!” called Moon-kyung. “Who said anything about JUST you veterans? I wanna go!”
“Wait a minute!” I began.
“There may be people in need of help,” interjected Victor. “I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to see them hurt.”
“Nobody does,” I agreed, “but…”
“And you’re gonna need someone who knows their way around weapons,” interrupted Liam.
“I’ve used weapons!” protested Richard.
“Besides, we want to see what the multiverse is like!” called Alesandro.
“You can see it just fine in…” argued Livia.
“And I SO want to meet Batman and the others!” cheered Colleen.
“GUYS!” I finally called. Everyone quieted down. “I appreciate that you new guys want to see the multiverse but we don’t know what’s going on in those universes. This could all be for nothing.”
“I have to side with the newbies,” interjected Emmanuel. “This may be the perfect opportunity to show the multiverse off if there’s nothing going on. The last time we went through the dimensions, it wasn’t exactly ‘happy-fun-time’. I’d like to go when we’re not being shot at.”
“Besides,” remarked Death, “if it IS nothing, then we just fix the trouble and help the explorers reestablish communications with Tarlax 14. And, on another note, we’ve been getting a…feeling.” That caught my attention.
“Feeling?” I asked.
“Yeah,” confirmed Lacey. “The five of us have had a feeling that the aspects we represent, war, plague, chaos, starvation, and death, are going out of whack. Sometimes it’s because of some interdimensional power, other times, it’s just someone not in their universe. We’d like to check if it’s the latter as we hope.”
“…All right,” I decided, “we’ll split up into teams according to our houses. X-PO, you’re with my house. Kit-10, once Gandalf joins us, you’re going with War and her students. I want R9-D7 to go with House Pestilence when Hongo arrives. Pup-X5 and Wyldstyle will go with Famine’s house. Lacey, do you mind taking Batman and Lexicon?”
“Don’t mind at all,” replied Lacey.
“Then let’s get Batman, Hongo, Wyldstyle and Gandalf,” I declared. “I have a feeling we’ll need them.”
I was hosting a party at Wayne Manor, my birthday party, to be exact. 35 years, and still a member of Gotham’s high society. A woman with a distinctive feline feel to her dress approached me. It was Selina Kyle, AKA Catwoman. “Hey, lover,” she purred. “Happy Birthday.”
“Thanks,” I replied. I noticed the necklace she was wearing, a ruby inside a distinct cat’s eye design. “Which museum did you ‘borrow’ that from?”
“Har har,” hissed Selina. “Babs gave it to me. Check with her if you don’t believe me.”
“I may do that…later,” I remarked. “Where’s Harley? I thought she was coming with you.”
“She was,” answered Selina, “but something came up. Some sort of emergency with Pamela. She called in the entire Suicide Squad. From what I heard; it was something to do with Little Shop of Horrors.”
“She’s probably mad the plant didn’t win,” I guessed. We then danced for a while, then the party started winding down. Alfred was bidding the guests goodbye, thanking them for coming. Selina stole a kiss before leaving.
“She’d make a fine Mrs. Batman,” sighed Alfred.
“Maybe,” I dismissed. I headed up to my study to see a rift open. “Okay, what now?!” I protested. Just then, Tonje stepped through.
“God kveld,” (Good evening) she greeted.
“At least you aren’t a saucer,” I remarked. “What’s going on?”
“There’s some multiversal trouble going on concerning Tarlaxian explorers,” explained Tonje. “The Horsemen are thinking that it’s putting their respective aspects out of whack. Want to come?”
“Sure, crime’s been at an all-time low since the Joker stayed with Hiro,” I answered. “Let me just get changed.” I stepped into a wardrobe and let machines change me into my costume. Once I had my cowl adjusted, I stepped out as the Dark Knight. “Let’s get going,” I rasped.
“May I persuade you to take a sandwich, Master Bruce?” asked Alfred.
“I’ll get something on the way,” I replied. My father-figure sighed.
“Then, good luck,” he bid.
Sitting on the outskirts of Bricksburg isn’t my idea of fun. When all the realms in my universe finally came together, I thought it would mean something more, but there were those that don’t want to build something new, sound a little too similar to Lord Business. I idly looked around to see numbers around objects and just made a small motorcycle that didn’t even make noise. I sighed. Somehow, it was more fun during the Vortech Wars. “Maybe I SHOULD be a DJ,” I mused to myself.
“I’m sure you’d be good at it,” called a voice. I whirled around, constructing a giant staff with a boxing glove on both ends, and leveled my new weapon at the person behind me. “…Bonjour,” gulped the guy.
“Emmanuel?!” I yelped. “What are you doing here?!” I lowered the staff, letting Emmanuel relax.
“Trouble in the multiverse,” he replied. “Want to come?”
“Let me just let my friends know where I’m going,” I answered. I quickly found a paper and pencil and scrawled a note, then built a machine that carried the note to my friends. “Let’s get going! I was getting bored!” I urged Emmanuel.
“We French call it Ennui,” chuckled Emmanuel as he led me to the rift he used.
I was enjoying the clean air of the Shire. After Sauron and Saruman stayed on with Shocker Rift, Mordor was left empty. Gondor easily claimed it and made it into something better. Frodo enjoys his life as a former Ring-bearer, although the wound he received from Weathertop still smarted. There was peace in Middle-Earth, a peace long enjoyed by all races. The Elves no longer saw a reason to move to the Undying Lands. I was enjoying a pipe of Longbottom Leaf, a favorite of Merry. I then heard footsteps coming towards me, the footsteps of someone of the race of Men. Hobbit footsteps are highly distinctive. I turned around to see an old friend from the Vortech Wars approach me. “Good Morning, Young Hiroki,” I called. Hiroki arched an eyebrow.
“What do you mean?” he asked. “Do you wish me a good morning; or mean that it’s a good morning whether I want it or not; or that you feel good this morning; or that it is a morning to be good on?”
“…I can see why Bilbo paused after I said that 60 years ago,” I muttered. “In any case, his answer’s the same as mine, all of them at once. And a very fine morning for a pipe of tobacco out of doors.”
“I would join you in just contemplating the scenery,” replied Hiroki, reminding me that he doesn’t smoke, “but I’m afraid I have pressing business that requires your help. We think we’ve found Shocker Rift.” At that point, I became alarmed. Not wanting to show it on my face, I emptied my pipe and accepted Hiroki’s help in standing back up.
“I presume your sister sent you,” I guessed.
“Exactly,” confirmed Hiroki.
I was still getting used to that new…“Rider Check-in” that Sento had made. It’s a social media platform for Kamen Riders. I could never seem to get it to sync with my phone. As I was fiddling, I heard the familiar “YEE!” of a Shocker Combatman. I then heard a crowd screaming in terror and saw the crowd running from an old Shocker Monster I once fought, Shiomaneking, a fiddler-crab based cyborg with a massive claw for a left hand. “Why do YOU always come back?!” I snapped when I saw him.
“Shocker obviously sees a use for me, Takeshi Hongo!” laughed Shiomaneking. He commanded various Combatmen to attack. I knocked a few aside, then put my left fist to my hip as I thrust my right arm to the other side. I slowly rotated the arm to the right.
“Rider…” I began. I then closed my right hand and placed it at my hip while thrusting my left arm to the right. The shield around my belt opened as the fan started turning. “HENSHIN!” I called. I jumped and the suit formed, changing me into Kamen Rider Ichigō, the first Kamen Rider! I knocked more Combatmen aside and went straight for Shiomaneking. He fired his flammable foam, almost setting me on fire, but I rolled out of the way. Shiomaneking raised his claw, ready to strike.
“HENSHIN!” announced a voice. We looked up to see Touché tackle him. She then got him into a headlock. “Konnichiwa!” (Hello!) she called.
“Konnichiwa, Touché-san,” I returned. “Social call?”
“I wish!” replied Touché. “What animal is this guy based off of?”
“The fiddler-crab,” I answered.
“Mmm, crab!” she sighed. “Really good with butter. Now, I’ve only heard of people keeping fiddler-crabs as pets, so I guess this mook won’t be good.”
“YOU’RE INSANE, GAIJIN!” (foreigner) shouted Shiomaneking as he broke the hold and flung Touché aside. Touché had her foil out in ranged mode and fired, keeping Shiomaneking from regaining balance.
“My turn!” I called as I leapt into the air. I then stuck my foot out. “RIDER KICK!” I shouted as my foot connected with Shiomaneking. He started sparking as I landed behind him.
“Shocker Gundan BANZAI!” (Long live the Shocker army!) he proclaimed before exploding.
“Wow, he was THAT dedicated to the cause,” muttered Touché.
“And this isn’t the first time I’ve beaten him,” I remarked as we cancelled our transformations. Emily’s dress expanded as her armor disappeared and she adjusted her hairpiece. “Last time I fought him was with Takeru. Even then, he fought him with a Super Sentai team, Doubutsu Sentai Zyuohger, (Animal Squadron Beast King Ranger) I believe they were called.”
“Much as I’d like to hear about past Kamen Rider battles,” interjected Emily, “I’m afraid we don’t have the time. Like I said, this isn’t a social call. Shocker Rift is making a move. Want to fight them like old times?”
“Delighted,” I replied.
“Then, let’s go!” cheered Emily as she led me to the rift.
“Report,” I ordered from the saucer.
“Sources located,” reported Dalek Drone 2248292.
“Projections indicate,” supplied Metalran, “that key forces will reveal where the sources are.”
“And the journey through Hell?” I asked.
“YEE!” (The girl has been located!) reported a Combatman.
“Excellent,” I praised. Igura then entered the bridge.
“The device is prepared,” she reported.
“More good news,” I replied.
“Battle computer estimates an 87.4% chance,” called Dalek Drone 2248292, “that the Vortex Riders will intervene.”
“If I know Megumi,” I countered, “we can, at least, up that to 97.3%. However, I give you my word, there’s a 0% chance of victory for her!” I activated the comms to the transporter. “Sauron, proceed to conquer 5-P-L-4-T-0-0-N! Dalek Drone 8872345, move off to D-1-5-N-3-Y! Joker, proceed to T-3-4-M-F-0-R-T-R-3-5-5-2! Cybermen, you’re cleared for 5-4-1-L-0-R-M-0-0-N! Once Hell’s been cleared, she will…”
“Danger!” warned Dalek Drone 2248292. “Danger! Target is stronger than believed!”
“YEE! YEE!” (ALERT! HEATHER IS SLAUGHTERING HER WAY OUT OF HELL!) reported the Combatman.
“More than that, she’s flown by our fleet!” called Igura. “She’s caused an energy shockwave! This fleet is now in danger!”
“Spatio-temporal feedback building!” warned Dalek Drone 2248292. “Two of our ships have been destroyed! Three more losing hull integrity!”
“Advise our base that Heather has gone rogue!” I ordered.
“YEE!” (At once!) called the Combatman.
“Deploy an escape rift!” I ordered Dalek Drone 2248292. “Activate full shielding and advise the remainder of the fleet to do the same!”
“I obey!” obliged Dalek Drone 2248292.
“Order all forces to hold off on conquest until we’re at a safer location!” I directed Igura.
“Yes, Great Leader,” she replied as she relayed the instructions.
“Escape rift passes through shockwave,” reported Dalek 2248292. “Stability not guaranteed!”
“Three more ships gone!” reported Igura. “five more failing in hull integrity!”
“Advise the remaining ship to follow us,” I ordered. Dalek Drone 2248292 transmitted the instructions to the remaining ship.
“YEE!” (Escape rift collapsing behind us!) called the Combatman.
“Increase speed!” I ordered. A transmission from the last ship came through.
“Trapped in rift!” called the Dalek on the other end. “Alert! ALERT! GYAAAGH!” The ship was destroyed as we escaped to our base.
“Report!” I barked.
“Hull integrity at 75%,” called Dalek Drone 2248292. “We are the only survivor of Heather’s journey past us.”
“What kind of rage is she packing?!” yelped Igura.
“YEE! YEE!” (Her trajectory has been calculated. She’s making a beeline to 5-U-P-3-R-M-4-R-1-0.) reported the Combatman.
“Even though she’s going to the universe we want her to be in, she’s most likely too focused on Emily,” I muttered. “Inform the invasion forces that we proceed as normal.”
“I obey!” obliged Dalek Drone 2248292. It transmitted the necessary instructions to our invasion forces. If Heather manages to bungle this, no biggie. We’ll still have that universe’s source in our grasp. More stable than a Foundation Element.
“Your Majesty?” asked Turretorg as he entered my office. I turned to him.
“Is there any word?” I quizzed.
“No, Ma’am,” replied Turretorg. I groaned in desperation.
“We were supposed to hear back from them over two hours ago,” I muttered. “Are we receiving ANYTHING?”
“We got OUR communications systems up,” reported Turretorg. “We just received a signal from each ship. They’re delayed, of course, but we’re gotten readings from the ships and their crews.”
“And my call to After Academy?” I inquired.
“X-PO already made them AND the Vortex Riders aware of the situation,” explained Turretorg. “During the little security blackout an hour ago, he snuck in and stole the documents relating to this problem.”
“I’d turn him into scrap for that,” I snarled, “but we don’t have the time. What about my proposal to Sludgiona to make more Keystones?”
“For now, it’s at your discretion, if you want them made,” replied Turretorg.
“Contact some observatories,” I ordered. “Give them the coordinates. See if we can’t get a better picture of what’s going on out there. If we haven’t heard back in a couple hours…I want production on the new Keystones to begin.”
“Yes, Your Majesty,” confirmed Turretorg. He hurried off to obey.
Two days. That was all it took to get Foundation Prime’s coordinates. I was given the coordinates and put them into my belt. All Vortex Riders assembled in the Gateway Room. Xiomara got off her phone. “I just got a call from Death,” she reported. “All Apocalypse and Herald Riders are meeting us there; they just need the coordinates.”
“I’ll text them to her,” declared Lacey as she whipped out her phone. She sent a text, then waited a bit for Death’s confirmation. She didn’t wait long. “They got it,” reported Lacey.
“Now, it’s all you,” directed Richard. I took a breath, then drew my i.d tag.
“Henshin,” I announced. “Dai Super Charge.” I became Kamen Rider Vortex and concentrated on the destination. A rift opened for us and we went through it to Foundation Prime!
Where we landed in Foundation Prime was NOT Vortech’s base. It was a small island accommodating us all, even Death and the rest of the Apocalypse and Herald Riders. It was good to see Lacey’s old classmates. I cancelled my transformation as we looked around. Wyldstyle saw some sort of temple citadel. “Uh, shouldn’t we be over there?” she asked.
“Yes,” hissed Batman. “So much for that toaster’s calculations!”
“Finding an exact point in the multiverse,” countered Charline, “is not as easy as it looks. This was probably the best X-PO could give us.”
“It could have been worse,” supplied Gandalf as he held a rock over the edge of the island. “Just a little way off and…” he released the rock, but the result wasn’t what he thought. Ground came out of the undulating waves of white and joined with the island we were on. “…That was unexpected,” muttered Gandalf. Wyldstyle jumped on the new ground to test its integrity.
“It’s solid!” she reported. She picked up another stone. “Hang on a second!” She tossed it over the edge, but no ground rose to meet it. It fell into the waves and vaporized. “Ah, you know,” mused Wyldstyle, “we should probably watch where we step.”
“Not a bad idea,” I replied as I turned into Tora-Onna and raised my foot, inching it towards the edge.
“What are you doing?” asked Hongo.
“Treading softly,” I replied. As my foot neared the edge, a path popped up for us. “This way,” I declared. We continued on the path until large islands appeared with a vent on one, a blank space on the other, and floating steps with three pads making up each step, leading up to the islands. There was a bridge of three cubes at different heights in between the islands. “We’re tackling the vent first,” I directed.
“Scale Keystone, activate!” called Hongo as we approached. “Let’s see, who wants to get the dangling bit?”
“Er, I’ll get it, if it’s not too much trouble,” whispered Flora.
“All right, lessen scale of…what’s your name?” asked Hongo.
“Flora,” replied Flora.
“Lessen scale of Flora!” called Hongo. Flora shrunk, then took her position under the vent. “Enlarge scales of Flora and Death!” announced Hongo.
“So I’m transferring the patch?” whispered Death as she and Flora grew.
“That’s correct,” confirmed Hongo. “Now, who’s going inside the vent and rewiring everything?”
“Allow me,” offered Lukas.
“Lessen scale of Lukas!” called Hongo. Lukas shrunk and started crawling around as Death transferred the patch as needed. Soon, Lukas managed to rewire everything, leading to pressure plates popping up on the cubes.
“My turn,” declared Batman.
“Be our guest,” I replied as Hongo got everyone back to their correct heights.
“Shift Keystone, activate!” announced Batman. “Cyan, above the center cube! Magenta, above the left cube! Yellow, above the right cube! Shift! War! Yellow! Shift! Pestilence! Magenta! Shift! Famine! Cyan!” The Horsemen that were called out soon went through the portals and they landed on the pressure plates. The cubes lit up and threw their passengers off. The cubes sunk into the white waves and something rose in their place. Xiomara, Hongo, and Emmanuel were surprised.
“GOZER?!” yelped Hongo. It was the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man!
“How did HE get out?!” asked Emmanuel.
“Get ready!” warned Xiomara as the three got into their henshin poses.
“Hold on!” I halted. I picked up a stone and threw it at Gozer, or rather, the statue of Gozer. The stone bounced off and “Gozer” didn’t even flinch.
“Oh, it’s NOT Gozer,” sighed Richard in relief.
“Yeah, but it IS farther and higher from us!” hissed Emily.
“I see some moving platforms!” called Sophie. There were three of them, and one was flaming, one was icy, and one was electrified.
“I think I see a control panel for them!” reported Brendan.
“I’ll take care of it!” insisted Charline. “I’ll just need to get on the fire platform. No biggy.”
“What is your name?” asked Gandalf.
“Charline,” replied Charline.
“Elemental Keystone, activate!” announced Gandalf. “Element of fire, Charline!” A red aura surrounded Charline and she safely stepped onto the flaming platform. She made it to the other side and fiddled with the controls, allowing the platforms to go normal. We took turns getting to where Charline was. The rest of Flora’s classmates introduced themselves to Gandalf as we waited. When we all joined together, more platforms came up. I stepped on one and it turned red before falling back into the white sea. I hopped onto another one and it flashed green as it stayed.
“Okay, falling platform time,” I gulped. I used my feet like radar, checking which ones were bad so we could cross safely. After a few more guesses, we made it to a large island with Lex-bots, mummies, Chen’s goons, and flying monkeys! Oh my! “Well, I DID suspect the enemy would throw resistance our way,” I muttered.
“Then let’s clear it!” declared Hongo as he struck his pose. We drew our i.d. tags, Lacey and the Horsemen fastened their belts, and Flora and her classmates drew out black flip phones and pressed the enter button. “Rider…” began Hongo.
“Henshin!” we all said. Flora and her classmates slid the phones into a special slot on the belt buckle and they slid open. A colored light flashed that matched their petticoats’ colors. They were surrounded by the same light and suits formed, giving them the motif of black armored Roman Centurions. Their eyes matched their petticoats.
“Kamen Rider Herald P!” began Flora.
“Kamen Rider Herald Y!” called Brenden.
“Kamen Rider Herald O!” announced Charline.
“Kamen Rider Herald G!” cheered Amelia.
“Kamen Rider Herald B!” introduced Sophie.
“We bring news of your defeat!” they all finished as we charged. We managed to fight them off and a path appeared for us. It led to a structure with three Vortech faces. Each one lost some parts and the ones on the end had paths that were dominant in either fire or electricity, but some parts of the path swapped to the other and crawled towards us. As we cancelled our transformations, Gandalf took the stage.
“Elemental Keystone, activate!” he announced. “Element of fire, Gandalf! Element of lightning, Sophie!” They were surrounded in their respective auras and traveled down the paths with great care. They soon arrived at their faces while Sheela took the one in the middle. When the faces were reassembled, they slid back to reveal parts of a Chroma Lock design. Gandalf had a red circle, Sheela had an orange left L-shape, and Sophie had a purple right L-shape. The paths Gandalf and Sophie took soon went to normal as the Chroma Discs came into play.
“Chroma Keystone, activate!” called Wyldstyle. “Chroma Lock, reveal! Chroma! Red! Sophie! Chroma! Blue! Gandalf! Chroma! Yellow! Sheela!” They went into their respective paint blobs and joined us to make the Chroma design. Gandalf went into the right L-shape while Sheela went to the left one. Sophie first went into the circle, then joined Gandalf, then joined Sheela. Stairs appeared for us to get to the top of the structure to show three more cubes with pressure plates on top. They did something unusual. First, the right cube flashed, then the left, then the center.
“It’s a pattern,” observed Batman. “I got this. Shift Keystone, activate! Yellow, above the right cube! Magenta, above the left cube! Cyan, above the middle cube! Shift! Amelia! Yellow!” Amelia landed on the right pressure plate. “Shift! Amelia! Magenta!” Amelia landed on the left one. “Shift! Amelia! Cyan!” Amelia landed on the last one, then was tossed back to us as the cubes moved aside to make a path for us. Then, the DeLorean flew in and landed!
“This isn’t Hill Valley!” called the driver, Marty. More road then appeared for him. “Well, back to the future for me,” shouted Marty as he engaged the Time Circuits. He then got up to 88 miles an hour and vanished with only flaming tire trails to prove he was there. As we traveled down the path, more trick platforms came up. I led the way, a rather winding way, over to another arena island, this time with Orcs, Cybermen, Lord Business’s robots, and Jackal mummies!
“Rider…” began Hongo.
“Henshin!” we all announced. We soon got underway with the fight. The enemy just kept coming and coming and coming! It was ridiculous!
“Come on!” whispered Death. “Fall already!” Soon enough, she got her wish as the enemy forces stopped coming. A path extended for us and another vent with three floating cubes appeared.
“Scale Keystone, activate!” called Ichigō. “Lessen scale of Herald O! Enlarge scale of Gandalf!” The respective targets grew or shrank. Herald O crawled into the vent while Gandalf transferred a patch as needed and lifted hanging pieces. Herald O had thrown Chroma discs out of the vents. A floating version of the Chroma Lock appeared in the air. The circle was red, the left L-shape was purple, and the right L-shape was green. “Normalize scale of Herald O and Gandalf!” announced Ichigō. Everyone returned to normal.
“Chroma Keystone, activate! Chroma lock, reveal!” called Wyldstyle. The design appeared. “Chroma! Royal! Red! Chroma! War! Yellow! Chroma! Famine! Blue!”
“I never thought I’d see the day!” laughed Herald O. “My House Head has turned yellow!”
“You’ll be doing 500 laps around the Academy for that joke!” snarled War as all requested Riders stepped into their paint. I stood in the circle, then joined Famine in the left L-shape, then she joined War in the right L-shape. A path was unlocked, leading to the cubes as they rotated. We all arrived at the end of the path and Batman got ready.
“Shift Keystone, activate!” he announced. “Magenta, beneath the left cube! Cyan, beneath the center cube! Yellow, beneath the right cube!” Beneath? Batman explained. “There are gravity generators on the switches. If I time them right, my targets will land on the switches and be fine.” He waited…waited…“Shift! Apocalypse! Yellow!” Apocalypse landed on the generator switch and stayed on it as Batman predicted. He waited some more…“Shift! Gandalf! Cyan!” Gandalf went through. Batman waited a little longer…“Shift! Wyldstyle! Magenta!” She landed on her switch and they were all thrown off to allow plants to grow on the cubes. A path popped up beneath the cubes as a dragon made of fiery sparkles, like it came out of fireworks, flew towards us.
“Not again!” yelped Gandalf. “And this time, it’s not that fool of a Took and his friend!”
“DUCK!” I warned. As if I needed to! We got out of the way of the dragon as it set the path ahead of us ablaze.
“…My turn, I see,” mused Gandalf. “Elemental Keystone, activate! Element of water, Royal!” A blue aura surrounded me as I forged ahead, dousing the flames as I went. When I reached the end, the path just stopped.
“Maybe I can find something,” I muttered. “Locate Keystone, activate!” I said. “Initiate rift detection!” I didn’t get very far as the rift was at the edge. “Already?” I asked. “All right. Identify source of rift!” The information beamed into my head. “Locate help from W-1-Z-4-R-D-0-F-0-Z!” Two turns from the Yellow Brick Road appeared. We traveled down the path and arrived at an area with a wall going straight up. I then felt something in my head. “Another rift?” I muttered. “Initiate rift detection!” I then found it. “Identify source of rift!” I said. The info beamed into my head. “Oh no,” I mumbled. “HER place! Locate help from P-0-R-T-4-L!” Platforms from that world appeared, allowing us to scale the wall. We then arrived at platforms that vanished if you stepped on the wrong one again. My turn. I led the way, and a path appeared when we scaled it, leading all the way to the citadel. “A straight shot from here!” I assured everyone. I then bumped into a guy. He was Japanese and had a pink camera hanging from a strap around his neck. “Gomen!” (short sorry) I apologized. The guy didn’t respond, he just looked at me.
“Tsukasa Kadoya!” breathed Sengoku.
“Someone I should know?” I asked.
“He’s better known as Kamen Rider Decade,” explained Sengoku. “He can turn into his nine previous predecessors.”
“Actually, I turn into all of the Heisei Riders now,” said Tsukasa as he pulled out a belt. The center of it was pink and had symbols around a circular window in the center. It had the word “Decade” in all caps on top.
“Hold on, I thought the Decadriver was white!” protested Sengoku.
“It’s been upgraded,” replied Tsukasa.
“If you can turn into past and present heroes,” I praised, “you must be well renowned.” Tsukasa said nothing. “I am Megumi Hishikawa, Queen of the Feudal Nerd Society and Kamen Rider Royal/Vortex.” Still nothing. “…I seek any available help to defeat Vortech!” I said loudly. Nothing again. “You are clearly a hero! Will you join us in our fight?!” Nothing once more. “…You make me sad. So be it. Let’s go.”
“Stay where you are!” demanded Tsukasa.
“Pardon me?” I asked.
“No one passes me!” declared Tsukasa.
“I have no quarrel with you, fellow Kamen Rider,” I assured, “but we must get to the citadel.”
“Then you will die!” threatened Tsukasa. Will we now?
“I don’t respond well to threats on my life!” I snarled. “Tsukasa Kadoya, I command you to stand aside!”
“I move for no one!” replied. Tsukasa as he took a card out from his coat.
“Kisama!” (Japanese way of calling someone scum or bastard) I growled. “Who do you think you are?!”
“Tōrisugari no Kamen Rider da,” (Just a passing-through Kamen Rider) answered Tsukasa as he revealed the card. It had a magenta helmet on it with green eyes and what looked like black cards going through the head with the middle one having a yellow light. “Oboeteoke!” (Remember that!) He then pulled on the sides of the Decadriver, making the pink part rotate 90⁰ to the left and reveal a slot on top. “Henshin!” announced Tsukasa as he inserted the card.
“Kamen Ride,” called the Decadriver. He then closed it, making the pink part rotate back. “Decade!” announced the Decadriver. Images of Kamen Riders appeared before they joined to Tsukasa, forming a suit. It was magenta and the helmet from the card appeared. Kamen Rider Decade was ready. He dusted his hands before attacking me. We engaged in a punch-block duel for a while until he grabbed the book device on his left hip and unfolded parts of it to make a sword. I summoned my sword and we dueled like that for an hour.
“I can do this all day!” I boasted.
“Somehow, I doubt it,” replied Decade. He then shoved me backwards and opened the Decadriver again, swapping the card for a new one.
“Attack Ride,” called the Decadriver. He closed it again. “Slash!” He slashed downwards, causing sparks to fly off of me. I then punched him, getting his i.d. tag.
“You turn into the other Heisei Riders, correct?” I remarked. “Wait ‘til you get a load of me!” I swapped my i.d. tag for the new one and two images of Decade’s head appeared. One of them had pink eyes and had a card on his forehead. I chose the standard helmet.
“Decade Steel!” announced Vortoranii.
“Kamen Ride: Decade!” called the Decadriver’s voice as the wardrobe closed on me and changed my suit armor. I evoked Decade once it opened. I then mimed put a card into an imaginary Decadriver. “Attack Ride: Slash!” I then slashed across Decade’s chest and knocked him backwards.
“You’re right,” I commented. “I AM pressed for time. I have a fight with Vortech, not you. He intends to destroy our worlds to make a new one. If me and my friends don’t stop him, your days as a Kamen Rider are over.” Decade was giving me full eye contact, then started laughing. “What, may I ask, is so funny?” I demanded
“Even when it’s YOUR goals on the line, you still think about others!” laughed Decade. “You win!” I temporarily lost my balance.
“Eh?!” I called.
“I was testing you!” replied Decade as he picked himself up. “I thought a newbie like you would only be concerned about YOUR goals and no one else’s. But, instead, you place your friends at the forefront. You placed ME at the forefront! I’m joining you. Only a hero can defeat Vortech.”
“…You smug, self-righteous b*****d!” I said, angry at him.
“I’ve been called worse,” dismissed Decade. “Come on, he’s this way.” He led us right to the entrance of Lord Vortech’s citadel.
“Shut it down! Shut it down!” shouted Batman as we arrived on Vorton. Rusty closed the portal.
“A ‘please’ would be nice,” snarked X-PO. No one dignified that with a response. “Relax, it’s already shut down. What’s the problem?”
“No problem,” panted Wyldstyle as she handed off the Diamond Scarab. “Nothing. No. Unless you count LORD VORTECH BEING THERE?!”
“I certainly would!” declared Gandalf.
“Vortech was there?!” yelped Tanisha as my team and I cancelled our transformations.
“Yeah, I noticed he was around,” muttered X-PO.
“…Pardon?” I hissed as venom tinged my voice.
“What?” asked X-PO. “Look, do you guys really think he wouldn’t try to settle this himself after his minions failed him?”
“You didn’t think to tell us that, why!?” I asked.
“We can dismantle him later,” stopped Elphaba. “Take it from someone who was a bad guy once, getting your hands dirty means a master-plan’s in the works.”
“Elphaba’s right,” replied Batman. “Vortech’s up to something. We need to rescue our friends now.”
“Indeed,” concurred Gandalf.
“We can’t exactly do that,” reminded Emily, “until we map out Foundation Prime’s location.
“Well,” replied X-PO, “here’s how you make a map where I’m from. I’ll use the Foundation Elements to calculate the dimensional coordinates of Foundation Prime.”
“How long will that take?” I asked.
“That’s the bad news,” winced X-PO. “It’s gonna be two days.”
“WE DON’T HAVE THAT LONG!” shouted Wyldstyle.
“Actually, we probably have longer,” replied Sheela. We all turned to her. “Think about it, why would Vortech want to let a Foundation Element slip through his fingers? He wants us to feel some victory before he strikes.”
“That,” supplied the Brigadier, “or he’s waiting for us.”
“In either case,” finished Lukas, “he’s going to wait as long as we do.”
“Which means,” I realized, “he wants us to witness his victory. Well, we’re not going to let him win. I want everyone to take the two days needed to prepare for the fight. The Vortex and Apocalypse Riders need to be there to beat him anyways. Once we have the coordinates, I’ll get us there.”
“Not going through the Gateway?” asked X-PO.
“We can’t afford to do so,” I replied. “Vortech may use it to get here and take the Foundation Elements we have. I’ll get us there.”
“This is it, then,” mumbled Okaa-san’s voice. She and Lacey came in. Lacey was in a new dress Mom had made for her. “My baby girl,” said Okaa-san, her voice quivering in sadness and fear.
“Okaa-san, I’ll come back,” I promised. “We’ll ALL come back. I promise on my honor as the reigning monarch of the Feudal Nerd Society, we WILL come back, and we WILL come back victorious!”
“We’re gonna hold you to that,” replied Mr. Archer. “It’s not just your life or your brother’s life at stake, but ALL our children’s’ lives.”
“Trust me, their lives will be handled with great care,” I assured.
“…All right,” said Mr. Archer.
“Well now,” mused Emily, “on to some questions. What dimension did you go to?”
“Scooby Doo’s world,” I replied.
“SCOOBY DOO?!” yelped Emily. “AW MAN! I would have died to go there!”
“And I managed to do a bit of burglary on Vortech’s person,” I continued. I pulled the bag out. “And we’ve got more studs here,” I pulled out the bag from the fountain.
“The amount you stole from Vortech,” counted Vortoranii, “was 100,000. And that bag has 745,000. Now we have 4,246,000.”
“Is that good?” asked Wataru.
“It’s enough to buy your own universe,” replied Vortoranii, “just not enough left over to start an economy with.”
“…Our own universe?” I said, intrigued. “We may need to look into that when this is over.”
“Oh boy, Megumi’s thinking on godhood!” teased Richard.
“Am not!” I protested. “I’m fine with being a queen!”
“I don’t know,” chuckled Lacey, “being a god has its perks.”
“All hail Megumi the Eternal!” teased Lukas.
“Oh shut up!” I laughed.
“Okay, enough,” called Okaa-san. The teasing broke up and Wataru snickered.
“You guys are ridiculous,” he observed.
“That’s part of our charm,” I replied. “Will you be staying with us?”
“I cannot,” answered Wataru. “The Fangires are coming back for some odd reason. But, I will join you in the final battle.”
“Maybe you can gather the other Riders we’ve encountered,” requested Hongo.
“Who are they?” asked Wataru.
“Here,” called Lukas as he handed a pen and paper to Wataru.
“We met Wizard,” I began in the order we met them, “Bravo, Fourze, Den-O, OOO, W, Brave, Kabuto, Amazon, Ghost, Ex-Aid, Para-DX, Poppy, Drive, Gaim, Build over there,” I pointed out Sento as he worked with Rusty on the Gateway, “and now you.”
“Got it!” affirmed Wataru.
“Tell everyone,” instructed Hongo, “to meet at Arakawa Nature Park when the call comes out.”
“Arakawa Nature Park, right,” confirmed Wataru. “Sayonara, minna-san!” The Gateway opened for him and he headed home.
“Right,” I declared. “Let’s get started!”
I arrived back on Foundation Prime to see Igura leaning against a wall. “I don’t see anything in your hands,” she observed.
“Lost the Diamond Scarab to the Vortex Riders and Kiva,” I replied. “As of right now, I am in urgent need of good news. Tell me you have something of value.”
“Something,” answered Igura, “and someone.” She stepped aside to reveal a man I had hired gather Foundation Elements for me on this adventure!
“Hiro?!” I asked.
“And I bear a gift for you,” answered Hiro as he produced an over-sized key. “The Foundation Element of D-1-5-N-3-Y. And I have something else as well.”
“Do tell,” I invited.
“Look there,” replied Hiro as he pointed to a screen. I did so, a little disappointed at what I saw.
“Dimensional coordinates?” I muttered.
“VORTON’s dimensional coordinates,” Hiro explained. “The main base of operations for our enemies.”
“Vorton?” I asked. “I thought I had left it a lifeless rock in space.”
“Evidently, X-PO had a hand in restoring the life-support systems,” replied Hiro.
“And you didn’t get any of THEIR Foundation Elements?” asked Igura.
“They harassed me for too long,” explained Hiro. “I had little time to make my escape. On top of that, X-PO didn’t remember Foundation Prime’s coordinates.
“Hence why you were in D-1-5-N-3-Y,” realized Igura.
“It matters not,” I assured. “Let’s see, X-PO is most likely using the Foundation Elements they have to calculate Foundation Prime’s coordinates. Let me see, they have Chen’s staff, the cake, the Palantír, the PKE meter, the game token, and the Diamond Scarab. More than enough to find us. It will take two days for him, so we will prepare for them to siege us while YOU, Hiro, will take THEIR Elements once they are inside the base!”
“Understood,” said Hiro, grinning manically.
“Are you sure?” I asked young Flora.
“Positive, Your Majesty,” replied Flora as she fiddled with her now purple ascot. “Lacey herself told us.”
“With the Vortex Riders mustering,” muttered Brendan, “Tarlax needs to be ready.” I had considered his words.
“Miss Kendall,” I asked Amelia, “how goes the new project you and Sludgiona are working on?”
“Not well,” sighed Amelia. “They’re too unstable. If we gave them to the Vortex Riders now, they would explode at the first opportunity.”
“I am NOT giving them bombs to put on their waists!” I snarled. “We’ll have to proceed without the project. Miss Moore, tell the Horsemen we’re training for the final fight. Miss Elmira, put my warriors through some drills.”
“Got it!” called Sophie as she headed back to After Academy in a swish of blue petticoats.
“On my way,” answered Charline as she headed to the camp. We may be monstrous, but the Tarlaxians will not let the multiverse fall! I, Queen Empress Scorpainia, rightful ruler of the children of Tarlax, disciple of the Four Horsemen we Tarlaxians worship, swear this!
Lacey and Flora had informed me of what’s going on in their respective locations. The Heralds were a bit miffed that they weren’t inducted into the F.N.S but conceded that they hadn’t interacted with Megumi all that much. So, it begins. The final stretch of this war is approaching us. I pray my allies, no, my FRIENDS, can save their loved ones. I smoothed out my dress as I walked towards the selectively-permeable wall leading to my balcony. There was a slight tingle as I passed through it and I was greeted with a clear night. I hoped it was a good omen. This war has proven to be rather long. War was busy training her troops in the courtyard below. I had hoped for a peaceful solution with Vortech, hoping he’d never find Foundation Prime, but it was a vain hope. Even I, Death herself, can make mistakes on an incalculable magnitude.
“I was the princess,” muttered Kaitlyn.
“The TARDIS is not a toy!” shouted 70-year-old me.
“Er, where IS the Den-Liner crew?” I asked.
“After we came back,” explained Joshua, “the Den-Liner came here to pick them up. They’re already gone.”
“And WE need to go as well,” continued 70-year-old me.
“It’s nice to know that my future is in good hands,” I replied.
“You were the one who made that choice,” observed 70-year-old me. She opened up a time rift. “Goodbye, Megumi.”
“Goodbye, Megumi,” I bid as we both bowed. They all soon went back to their original time. “Oof! My head!” I complained. “Time travel’s just one nuisance after another!”
“Speaking of time,” interjected Richard, “it’s against us. Heather’s probably finishing it up now!”
“Get Emily and have her join us in the Gateway Room,” I directed. “Batman, Hongo, Wyldstyle, Gandalf, Lacey, with me.”
“Not that I want to question you,” argued Richard, “but are you sure sending Emily after Heather is a good idea?”
“Heather may attack in a blind rage,” I admitted, “but she can cause damage. I want a medic with us. Besides, it might be the best way for Emily to get closure on Heather. I can just imagine her face now as she lords victory over her old nemesis and high school bully.”
“Very well,” conceded Richard. He headed off to find Emily as the rest of the team joined me. Lacey called up Death on her phone and informed her we would meet her at After Academy. After she finished the call, she gave the technical team the coordinates and they set the Gateway for that location. Rusty gave the thumbs-up as Emily joined us.
“Ready to close the book on her?” I asked.
“Do you even need to ask?” replied Emily.
“Let’s go, then!” I declared. The rift opened and we charged through.
After Academy is certainly opulent, I can tell you. The Four Horsemen joined us a few seconds later. “Had to confirm something,” whispered Death.
“And?” I asked.
“Nothing you need to know just yet,” whispered Death. “Come. We have work to do.” We made our way to a cave on the outskirts of the school and had examined all of the bits and pieces of technology strewn about the place.
“Does she even know what half this stuff is?” I asked.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if she found out,” muttered Emily. That got our attention. “Heather has more in common with the Daleks than just her racism. She’s a genius in terms of mechanical skill.”
“A pity she didn’t put it to good use,” I lamented.
“There she is!” whispered Hongo. Heather was busy using a solder on something, her knockoff Apocalypse Driver, in all likelihood. We then saw her put the tool down.
“Done!” she cheered. “It’s finished!” I nodded to my team.
“So are you!” roared Emily.
“You!” snarled Heather as she turned to us.
“Heather, you don’t want to do this!” I warned.
“What I don’t want,” insisted Heather, “is interference from you freaks!” She came at us with wild punches. Hongo struck his pose and we got our i.d. tags out. The Horsemen and Lacey we’re ready as well.
“Rider…” called Hongo.
“Henshin!” we all announced. We changed and the fight began. Heather tried to slam her fists on to my head, but Apocalypse kicked her in the stomach. Heather tried to change her target to Apocalypse and did a roundhouse, but Apocalypse jumped out of the way so Ichigō could catch her foot. He then flipped her into the air, leaving her open to Batman’s knife-hand jab to the gut. Gandalf held her in the air with his magic while Wyldstyle made a giant fist out of the rock and slammed it onto Heather. Death then grabbed her legs and tossed her to War, who kicked her over to me. I drove my knee into her spine. While she was trying to pull herself together, Famine bit her arm, leaving a gaping wound for Pestilence to fire a gas at her. She briefly broke out in spots, but they vanished on account of the fact she was already dead. Touché then grabbed her hair.
“For everything you ever did to me and for those people you’ve killed!” she declared. She grabbed her nemesis by the throat and tossed her into the cave wall. “It’s over, Heather,” commented Touché. “You’ve lost. Your small-minded obsession towards purity is weighing you down.”
“IT IS NOT SMALL-MINDED!” roared Heather as she held up her knock-off Apocalypse Driver. “PURITY IS WHAT KEEPS US GOING! CAN’T YOU SEE THAT?!”
“Heather, don’t do it!” warned Apocalypse.
“SHUT UP!” bellowed Heather. “I’m coming back and no one’s gonna stop me!” She then put the Driver on…and felt the consequences. She was zapped multiple times and convulsed in pain while a bright light filled the area. It expanded to cover us all and blind us. When we regained our vision, well, I can’t speak for everyone’s belief in their sight, but I CAN speak for my own, because I couldn’t believe it! There, wearing a photo-negative version of the Apocalypse Driver, was an equally photo-negative version of Lacey! Heather picked herself up and examined herself. She was still transparent. “No!” she yelled. “No, this is all wrong! IT’S SUPPOSED TO BRING ME BACK! I’M SUPPOSED TO HAVE A FULLY FUNCTIONING BODY!”
“You have an annoying talent for whining,” replied a voice. It sounded like Apocalypse’s voice, but with a slight echo.
“How are you doing that?” I asked as we cancelled our transformations.
“Who are you talking to?” asked Lacey.
“…You,” I replied, confused. “You made your voice go all echoey.”
“No,” contradicted Lacey. “I didn’t say anything. And I can’t make my voice have an echo.”
“Well, it WAS your voice,” replied Richard.
“No, it was mine,” corrected the voice again. At that moment, we all turned to Lacey’s Negative Clone.
“…Did YOU speak?” I asked.
“I should hope I did,” remarked the clone. “I have been dormant for eons since the dawn of eternity. I exist as a voice for the Void.”
“The Void?” whispered Death. “Oh, this is brilliant!”
“The Void,” wheezed Pestilence, “is the counter to the multiverse. While everything exists here, nothing, and I do mean NOTHING, exists in the Void.”
“I have been born,” continued the Lacey Clone, “as a guardian of the Void. Specifically, I guard the multiverse against the Void. There must be a balance between everything and nothing. Even if Vortech were to succeed in his plans, the Void would remain.”
“That’s why there should be only ONE Apocalypse Driver!” hissed Death as she turned to Heather. “I warned you about what would happen if you went through with this! You ignored me and easily half the multiverse! Even Caan could see what your machinations could have wrought, and he’s a Dalek!”
“I will NOT be condemned to never having offspring!” shouted Heather. “If the multiverse won’t let me have children, I will happily burn it!”
“That CAN’T happen!” insisted the Lacey Clone. “The power would be uncontrollable! You’d be erased along with the multiverse before you had a chance to breed!”
“You’d destroy the multiverse just to make all life like you?” asked Emily. “You sound like a Dalek.”
“Being barren is unbearable!” protested Heather. “Being DEAD is unbearable!”
“Heather Richards, your unholy crusade nearly destroyed everything!” declared the Lacey Clone. She snapped her fingers and a fiery hole opened up beneath Heather. She grabbed the edge before she fell. “All of Hell wants a word with you!” hissed the Lacey Clone.
“NO! YOU CAN’T SEND ME DOWN THERE!” screamed Heather as she tried to pull herself up. The Lacey Clone stepped on her hands.
“The decision was already made by both Man and God,” she insisted. She then kicked Heather down to Hell.
“I HATE YOU!” roared Heather as her screams mingled with those of the Damned. The Lacey Clone shut the hole and there was silence.
“That was…utterly terrifying!” mumbled Hongo.
“That’s the point of monsters like her,” replied the Lacey Clone. “In any case, it’s good to see you all, finally.”
“…Finally?” asked Lacey.
“The Void has had a consciousness of its own,” explained the Lacey Clone. “It’s been waiting to explore the multiverse without causing imbalance. Heather’s attempt to come back to life was the chance it needed. So, I have a belt that gives me a suit just like you guys do. I guess you could call me Kamen Rider Void.”
“What about your civilian name?” I asked. “I don’t know about the rest of us, but in my head, I’ve called you Lacey Clone. Do you have a different name?”
“…You know, I think I just thought of one,” replied the Lacey Clone. “Call me Sandra, Sandra Noman.”
“Noman?” asked Lacey. “That means ‘not a person’. Are you sure you want that?”
“I’m of the Void,” replied the newly christened Sandra. “I think it’s appropriate.”
“Well, all right,” I sighed. “In any case, can we count on you in the final fight against Vortech?”
“I must disappoint you,” answered Sandra. “My powers are too out of control and getting a handle on them will take time, long after the final fight against Vortech. I must apologize.”
“Will you at least consider joining After Academy?” whispered Death.
“It sounds like an excellent school,” mused Sandra. “I might join it. I’m on the fence about it, though.”
“If you DO want to,” wheezed Pestilence, “you need merely ask us.”
“And no hurry in choosing a house,” assured Lacey.
“Thank you, all of you,” replied Sandra. “Until next time.” Black mist then surrounded her until she and the mist vanished.
“That…was intense!” I breathed. “There IS one more thing I need to do.”
“What’s that?” asked Lacey.
“Lacey and Horsemen,” I called, “how would you like to be members of the Feudal Nerd Society?”
“We haven’t had new members in a LONG time!” cheered Emily.
“It’s only been a year since Sheela joined us,” I replied. “It’s all your choice.”
“I’d be a fool NOT to join!” declared Lacey.
“I suppose it won’t hurt,” whispered Death.
“Eh, why not?” grunted War.
“This could be fun,” wheezed Pestilence. “Count me in!”
“I want in on this!” mumbled Famine as she finished her protein bar.
“What about you guys?” I asked, turning to Batman, Hongo, Wyldstyle, and Gandalf.
“I must respectfully decline,” replied Gandalf. “But, thank you.”
“Sorry, I have to say no as well,” remarked Batman.
“Yeah, sorry,” muttered Wyldstyle. “When this is over, I’m gonna be busy with the Master Builder Academy.”
“And I must say no was well,” answered Hongo. “I do apologize if I have disappointed you.”
“Like I said,” I assured them, “it’s all your choice. I understand.”
“But, if you want to reconsider,” offered Emily, “just come find us.”
“Thank you,” replied Batman.
“Now, kneel, Lacey and Horsemen,” I instructed. I’m probably one of few people the Horsemen ever kneeled to. I drew my blade and tapped their shoulders as if I were knighting them. “And rise, Dame Lacey Thanatos, Duchess Death, Dame War, Lady Pestilence, and Lady Famine!” They rose as new members of the Feudal Nerd Society!
“Now comes the real question,” declared Lacey, “who do I see for a dress?”
“My mother can help in that regard,” I answered.
“She’s made the costumes for the entire F.N.S,” explained Emily. “She’s always open to ideas.”
“I’ll ask her for help when we get back,” declared Lacey.
“Speaking of,” I remarked. I then called up Vorton. “X-PO, mission accomplished. Heather is no more and the knock-off Apocalypse Driver DIDN’T destroy the multiverse. Boy, have we got a story to tell you all!”
“One rift home coming up!” cheered X-PO. “And we’ve found the next Foundation Element!”
“We’ll remain here,” whispered Death. “But, we’ll join you in the final battle! Good luck!”
“Thank you!” I called as we jumped through.
“I revealed myself to be Kamen Rider Shade when we got back,” answered Kaede once Livia finished.
“So you DID resort to magic one time!” called a voice. It was 70-year-old me!
“I didn’t actually follow through with it!” wailed Kaede.
“You were about to use magic!” argued 70-year-old me.
“This is monumentally bad,” gulped Michael.
“How so?” I asked.
“Caan’s returned, mentally, to his old Dalek ways,” explained Michael. “Hating other lifeforms, that’s bad enough, but he’s now in a form he considers impure. He’s being driven mad by his own flesh. The stink of his ancestral Kaled genes. He hates his own existence and that makes him deadlier than ever.”
“Not exactly something Daleks want to do,” mused Rusty, “hating their flesh.”
“Can you guys give any hint on him?” I asked my future and her children.
“No need to worry about him,” assured 70-year-old me. “He’ll die a few years from now.”
“It’s gonna be a surprise for him,” replied Kaede.
“Caan isn’t exactly someone to underestimate,” muttered Michael.
“Maybe,” I commented, “but enough about that Dalek, let’s talk about Haitao and Joshua! Where are they?”
“Right here, Your Majesty,” called Joshua. “Boy, do we have a story to tell you!”
“I really don’t see why you’re making such a fuss, after she failed you,” I said to Vortech.
“Making a fuss?!” snapped Vortech. “Caan, she’s got intimate knowledge about our operations!”
“She’s not interested in us anymore and she hates the Vortex Riders as much as we do,” I assured Vortech. “We’re fine.”
“Forgive me if I’m skeptic,” replied Vortech.
“Trust the one who looked into the Time Vortex, we’re fine!” I insisted.
“Has anyone found Heather?” asked War.
“She’s building too near Hell’s outskirts,” I whispered.
“I felt it too,” wheezed Pestilence. Famine mumbled a response.
“Don’t talk with your mouth full!” I whispered sharply. Famine mumbled “Excuse me,” and swallowed whatever she was eating.
“So why aren’t we there?” she said before chowing down again.
“Sonic’s presence concerns me,” I responded, fear creeping into my soft voice. “If he’s the Sonic from THAT universe, it could prove catastrophic if the Vortex Riders find out.”
“You mean…you think Sonic may be the Sonic from the combined universe resulting from Clusters C-Y-8-3-R-T-R-0-N and 5-3-G-4?” War grunted.
“The same,” I replied. “If it is, we may experience the Convergence a lot sooner than we’re ready for.”
“I wish you didn’t say that,” wheezed Pestilence.
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!”
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…”