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The Brigadier

Bio:

Having lived a life in the military, specifically UNIT, Sir Alistair Gordon Lethbridge Stewart had died peacefully and in bed. However, an old enemy of his and the Doctor’s, now in female form and calling herself Missy, had taken his body and converted him into a Cyberman. However, he kept his emotions and helped the Doctor thwart her plans yet again.

After leaving for parts unknown, he fell through a time-hole and discovered Rusty the Dalek alongside humans. He did something contrary to his usual man of action attitude and talked with them. After successful negotiations, he and Rusty formed a new UNIT, the Unified Nebular Intelligence Task force. Now, he fights as Tech support and Military advisor for the Vortex Riders.

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Kamen Rider Vortex Kamen Rider Vortex Movie Chapters

Chapter 16

With what’s been recently made clear to us, the people in the palace were in something of a panic. Sailors Mercury, Venus, and Neptune had a hard time keeping the people calm. Endymion called us and Sailor Moon, now wearing a pink gown and going by her name Usagi, instead of her childhood name of Chibiusa. “As I understand it, you know these…Cybermen…personally,” observed Endymion.

“I don’t, but the rest of my team do,” I explained. “They can explain it better than I can. Batman, why don’t you tell him since you’ve been trying to develop dossiers about them.”

“Very well,” rasped Batman. “Like us, the Cybermen come from another universe. The current models we see are the result of two models coming together. The more prominent model came from their prime universe, orbiting Earth from its twin planet, Mondas. Some disaster caused Mondas to drift and the Mondasians were getting weaker, their lifespans getting shorter. The Mondasian scientists and doctors developed prosthetic organs and limbs until they were almost completely replaced with metal, becoming nothing more than brains in suits. The other model was from a universe parallel to that one and had a similar story, just that a psychopathic genius forged them on that version of Earth in its present day. The two models came into contact and upgraded each other until they became a newer model that can adapt to anything. The model we faced was slightly different to the ones we’ve just met today. Shocker Rift must have had a hand in that.”

“Shocker Rift?” asked Endymion.

“A terrorist organization,” explained Lacey. “One that recruits other bad guys from other universes, living or dead. Queen Beryl would make a good recruit for Shocker Rift.”

“What do they do?” asked Usagi. “Tell me, what did they do to my mother?!” This was going to be harder to tell her.

“They’ve removed all emotions and slaved her mind and knowledge to their hive mind, the Cyberiad,” replied Joshua.

“Josh!” hissed Lukas.

“And lying to her would make any difference?!” argued Joshua.

“He has a point,” burbled Sludgiona. “And, if the Cyber-Slammers are any indication, they can upgrade ANY life-form, not just humans.”

“They mentioned that life-forms like you can’t be upgraded,” mumbled Flora.

“Yet,” answered Sludgiona.

“You think you’ll be used as a test subject?” asked Tonje.

“Are we just going to ignore the fact that we just told a man and his daughter that an important woman in their life is considered dead?!” snapped Lexicon. We were snapped out of our argument to see Usagi crying into her dad’s shoulder. We were kicking ourselves for that.

“Maybe…I mean, she only just became that today…” mused Lacey.

“What are you talking about?”

“The Source might help free Neo Queen Serenity from Cyberman control,” explained Lacey. Endymion and Usagi gave their undivided attention to her after that. “I said MIGHT,” warned Lacey.

“What’s this Source you’re talking about?” asked Usagi.

“The Source of Chaos,” replied Lacey. “Believe it or not, I’m a new Horseman of the Apocalypse.” Usagi and Endymion leapt from their seats. “Relax! The Apocalypse isn’t happening now,” assured Lacey. “In any event, we all have these crystal spheres that work as a manifestation of each aspect of the apocalypse. I have the Source of Chaos, since an apocalypse usually has people running and screaming. Since I have that source, I can utilize its powers.”

“How can you do that?” I asked.

“If there was just enough chaotic energy,” continued Lacey, “in theory, something new could be created. Now, if Neo Queen Serenity’s Star Seed could be coaxed out of Cyber-Leader Gi and into a body that was exactly like her original before she was upgraded…”

“We might stand a chance against the Cybermen!” realized Usagi.

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” urged Endymion. “What’s the risk?” Lacey hesitated before answering.

“I’d…rather not tell you…” she floundered.

“What’s the risk?!” insisted Endymion. Lacey sighed.

“The energy would cause the Star Seed to crack, killing her forever,” she finally explained. That killed the mood.

“Lovely,” I murmured.

“There has to be another option!” begged Usagi.

“The only other option is to kill her outright,” replied Sludgiona.

“We’re NOT resorting to murder!” hissed Batman.

“Her soul has been ripped from her original body and her body is now altered beyond what we know,” replied Sludgiona. “The only way she’ll know peace is to kill her with honor.”

“What kind of twisted view is that?!” I snapped.

“It’s the Tarlaxian way,” dismissed Sludgiona. “The soul cannot rest if its original body is altered in any way.”

“Out of the question!” I insisted.

“And using the Source will guarantee that she’ll live?!” argued Sludgiona.

“It looks like that’s the best option!” shouted Usagi.

“Your Highness, think about this,” urged Lacey. “There’s a chance that she’ll die in the process.”

“If I see her die,” insisted Usagi, “at least I want the knowledge that we’ve tried to save her.”

“…Very well,” sighed Lacey.

“Then we need to find out where the Source is,” I declared. “After that, we need to find the Cybermen’s base.”

“I believe Ami can help in that regard,” offered Endymion.

“Perfect,” I answered. “Lukas, Flora, see if you can help her. Batman, Joshua, Usagi, we need to coordinate an attack plan. Lexicon, keep watch over Endymion. Sludgiona, Tonje, I need you to help guard the gates with those assigned to watch duty.”

“Look at you,” praised Joshua, “becoming a leader.”

“…Thanks,” I mumbled, blushing and smiling a bit.


“All the necessary equipment for searching the city is online,” reported the Cyber-Deputy.

“Excellent,” I replied. I turned to the Communications Officer. “Inform the fleet that we’re ready to begin.”

“Leader, the Source has yet to be located!” reminded the Cyber-Deputy.

“Do you question my authority?” I asked.

“We should, at least, wait before communicating,” suggested the Cyber-Deputy.

“And will you answer for the delay?” I inquired. The Cyber-Deputy understood that I will not be questioned but did not yet understand the logic. As the Communications Officer set up the console, I explained. “Our energy reserves are limited. To search now would only be an expenditure of unnecessary power. We must conserve energy until the Source is located. The Vortex Riders will find it. They are led by one who has never traveled with the original Riders, a tactical error on their part. Once it is confirmed that they have located the Source, we shall take it in time for the fleet to arrive and annexation can begin.”


It took all day, but our battle plan was laid out for tomorrow. I wandered the halls of the palace, not getting any sleep. I went onto a balcony and sat on the bench near the railing. I sighed and looked around, seeing the firelight from campfires for those that made it into the palace for safety. A glance to my left caused me to gasp in shock! Batman was perched on the railing, looking at the skyline. “The Cybermen really did a number on Crystal Tokyo,” he observed. “Not even the Joker could top this.”

“Do you HAVE to perch yourself like that?!” I protested.

“Yes,” replied Batman. I rolled my eyes and waved it off.

“Please yourself,” I grumbled. We sat there for a while.

“…The Feudal Nerd Society is hiding something from you new guys,” remarked Batman.

“How they hid Vortech’s identity as the enemy back in your first adventure with them and Megumi had an emotional collapse when she realized her mistake?” I quizzed. The fact that Batman looked stunned told me that was what he was talking about. “Joshua and Emily told me about the vote to keep that incident secret. I heard Megumi voted no since she didn’t want a repeat.”

“They told you?” asked Batman. “I thought the consensus was they WOULDN’T tell you.”

“It was stinging their conscience,” I explained, repeating what they told me. “I don’t know who else they told yet. They told me this about a week ago.”

“I was half expecting this to be awkward,” mused Batman as he surveyed the area.

“In this instance, that would disrupt the board on our side,” I replied.

“…The board?” asked Batman. I winced when I realized my error.

“I have a tendency to think of everything as a chess game,” I answered. “It’s caused some conflict with my friends over in Korea.”

“I see,” replied Batman.

“That’s why I was so nervous to lead,” I continued. “Whenever I DO lead, it always turns into a chess game.”

“Maybe that’s not a bad thing,” countered Batman, “just as long as you remember who’s who on the board.” That was a bit strange but I started to understand where he was coming from.


“Annexation can begin,” I relayed to the Communications Officer once the console was up and running the next day. “Repeat, annexation can begin.”

“Leader, I must repeat my objection to the transmission of incorrect data,” urged the Cyber-Deputy. “Our force does not yet hold the Source.”

“You are outside your function,” I reproached.

“Initial transmission received,” called the Communications Officer.

“Repeat once more, then relay the response,” I ordered. The Communications Officer was in the initial stages of carrying out my orders before an alarm sounded. “Report!” I ordered.

“Interference,” replied the Communications Officer. “Transmission and reception affected.”

“From what source?” I requested. “Provide more information.” The Communications Officer checked.

“The source is a completely unknown form of sound,” he finally reported.

“Open the monitor facility,” I ordered. The sound then played throughout the base.

Fighting evil by moonlight,

Winning love by daylight,

Never running from a real fight,


She is the one named Sailor Moon!” continued the theme song.

“Mom had an anime about her adventures?” repeated Usagi.

“Two of them,” I answered. “Both of them were dubbed into English. Although one was more flawed than the other. I mean, in the anime that came out in the 90’s, Uranus and Neptune were cousins instead of lovers.”

“COUSINS?!” protested Uranus.

“The idea of gay lovers was still far-fetched back then,” I went on. “I don’t mind telling you, as someone with a girlfriend, I’m not too thrilled about that either.”

“I’m straight and I’m not terribly thrilled,” remarked Joshua.

“Well, the Cybermen should be thoroughly confused,” I declared. “Good thinking, Mercury.”

“That’s the disadvantage of a machine mind,” replied Sailor Mercury, “they’re single-minded.”

“It’s gone into a loop,” reported Batman.

“Perfect,” I answered. “Let’s go.” We headed off to search for the Source. We searched the west side of the castle to no avail.

“Anyone found it yet?” asked Batman.

“That’s gonna be a no on that one,” I sighed.

“The Cybermen have already broken through the first iteration and are starting the second one,” reported Lexicon.

“Earlier than anticipated,” I gulped.


Sweet dreams are made of this.

Who am I to disagree?

I traveled the world and the seven seas.

Everybody’s looking for something.

The jamming was now in a second loop. The Communications Officer turned to report. “The fleet is still not receiving our transmissions, Leader,” he answered.

“Is there ANY pattern to the jamming?” I asked.

“It is meaningless,” the Communications Officer replied.


“West side’s not giving up anything,” sighed Lacey.

“East’s no better,” replied Sailor Mars.

“I’m getting nothing from the…” Joshua trailed off.

“Joshua?!” I yelped. “Joshua, report!”

“The Source has been located in the north!” cheered Joshua. “I repeat, the Source is in the north!”

“Excellent move!” I praised. “We’ve castled the king! Stay put! We’re on our way! The Cybermen can now deal with the audio-based pawns at their leisure!”


Kako no ishi wa Uso de wa azamuke nai (Lies cannot fool the will of the past.)

Kanjiro sō Nexus Future (Feel it in your bones! The Nexus Future!)

Now, Over “Quartzer”

Mabayui sekai (That dazzling world…)

Misete (Enchant me)” The jamming was now in a third loop. The Communications Officer worked fast to try and undo the jamming. His fingers were moving quickly across the console. Without the communications console, we could not contact the fleet or our forces searching the city. Just then, the noise stopped. The Cyberiad was finally at an acceptable collective processing speed. “Transmission channels are clear again,” reported the Communications Officer.

“Excellent,” I replied. “Resume search for…”

“Leader,” interrupted the Cyber-Deputy, “the Vortex Riders and Sailor Senshi are on a direct course for a warehouse near the Tarlaxian scout ship’s position in the north. The Cyber-Slammers have abandoned their post, thus allowing them passage.” I could feel the Cyber-Slammers trying to explain themselves through the Cyberiad, a fruitless endeavor.

“Betrayal,” I declared. “Delete them.” The Communications Officer transmitted a code which activated the explosive payloads within the Cyber-Slammers.


“What was that?!” yelped Sailor Venus.

“I think the Cybermen didn’t like how their Cyber-Slammers fared against us and ‘deleted’ them,” I guessed.

“…I REALLY don’t like them!” snarled Sailor Mars.

“Nothing about the Cybermen is likeable,” answered Lukas, recalling his first encounter with them.

“There’s the warehouse!” called Tonje. We entered the warehouse and found the Source in a crate.

“That’s the one!” confirmed Lacey as she held it.

“Surrender it to us,” called a voice. We turned to see Cyber-Leader Gi with a group of Cybermen standing in the doorway.

“SCATTER!” I shouted. We took off in various directions, causing the Cybermen to pursue us. Cyber-Leader Gi went after me. In the words of the Cybermen, excellent.

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Kamen Rider Vortex Kamen Rider Vortex Movie Chapters

Chapter 17

We had Cybermen chasing us all around the warehouse, some of us going through doors a la Scooby Doo. The Cybermen then decided waiting outside the doors would curb that. What their logic centers didn’t count on was that we would all meet at another door that they weren’t watching. We tip-toed past the Cybermen and sighed once we thought we were far enough. …Did you know Cybermen can hear beyond what we can? They heard us sigh and resumed the chase. I doubled back once I was sure I had gotten them off my back. The plan required me to use a bit of the Source’s power and I needed that in my hand. I’m the only one that can control it, being a Horseman of the Apocalypse. I noticed that the Sailor Senshi were having a hard time using their attacks against the Cybermen. They must have used Usagi I’s knowledge. They managed to get the Sailor Senshi down to the ground and were about ready to shoot them! Better act now! “STOP!” I shouted, getting the Cybermen’s attention. “HARM THEM IN THE SLIGHTEST AND I DESTROY THE SOURCE!” I tightened my grip on it to emphasize my point.

“Give us the Source, Lacey,” boomed the Cyber-Deputy.

“Never!” I answered.

“Then we shall kill you and take it,” declared the Cyber-Deputy. “In any event, your threat is meaningless.”

“Meaningless?!” I repeated. “How?!”

“How could you have destroyed the Source?” asked the Cyber-Deputy. Oh, son, you just invited me to teach!

“Well,” I answered as I began my lecture, “what I would have done is to place the Source neatly here,” I set it down in front of me, causing the Cybermen to observe it, “and use a pinpoint attack on it, thus causing the chaotic energy in it to be released. Now, of course,” I nodded to Sailor Mars, “I’m having trouble figuring out what pinpoint attack to use on it.”

“You were a fool to admit your plan,” if I didn’t know better, I’d say the Cyber-Deputy was boasting. “We shall not permit you to attack the Source.”

“Maybe not me, no,” I mused as Sailor Mars got the idea and managed to get her hands free so she could mime pulling an arrow back on its bow.

“MARS FLAME SNIPER!” she shouted. A fiery arrow launched itself at the Source. The Source then absorbed the attack, the que for me to pick it up and thrust it at the Cybermen. The Source then spat out more powerful fire arrows right at the Cybermen’s chest units, making them give out their death rattle before falling to the floor. The Sailor Senshi then picked each other up. I came up to help them.

“The tiniest tad of warning would have been good!” griped Sailor Moon.

“Don’t be rude!” chided Sailor Jupiter.

“It’s all right,” I assured. “Let’s just focus on helping out Moon-kyung.”

——————————————————————————————–

Cyber-Leader Gi stopped her attack and looked over the railing to see the end result of what happened. “Things crumbling around you?!” I taunted.

“These losses are acceptable,” dismissed Cyber-Leader Gi. I picked up a loose stone, big enough to fit in my hand. “…A rock?” asked Cyber-Leader Gi. “You possess only one projectile.” More Cybermen approached.

“Then the question becomes,” I taunted, “who’s next and who’s lucky?”

“You cannot do much damage to us with only one projectile,” called a Cyberman.

“Maybe,” I remarked, “but one of you is gonna get it. So, who’s it gonna be?”

“Destroy her,” ordered Cyber-Leader Gi. I chucked the rock at her head, causing her to fall off the cat walk, while ducking, making the other Cybermen shoot each other in the chest unit, eliciting the death rattle. I looked over the railing and grabbed a hanging rope, climbing down it while the others converged onto Cyber-Leader Gi’s currently still body. I was hoping I didn’t kill her. Lacey checked for life signs.

“Okay, the organic bits are still alive, but the metal ones suffered some damage during the fall,” she reported. “They’re in a protective lockdown until the damage is fixed. If we’re gonna do it, we need to do it NOW!”

“…Sailor Moon, strike the Source,” I directed. Sailor Moon nodded, then summoned a wand with a gold crescent moon on it, then twirled before making a giant circle with it.

“MOON HEALING ESCALATION!” she called. The attack then struck the Source and Lacey channeled the energy around Cyber-Leader Gi. She started thrashing around in pain as the Source’s energy coursed through both her organic and metallic systems. Just then, she was surrounded in bright light. I could barely make it out, but it looked like Cyber-Leader Gi was turning into two women, one in a dress, the other in Cyber-armor. The glow faded and the two women were floated gently to the ground. One was Cyber-Leader Gi, the other…the woman we sought to free. Sailor Moon ran up to her and moved her up, shaking her to wake her. “Mama! Mama, wake up!” she begged. Just then, the woman groaned and slowly opened her eyes.

“…Chibiusa?” she whispered.

“MAMA!” cheered Sailor Moon as she hugged her tightly. Neo Queen Serenity, Usagi Tsukino I was all right! She was freed from the Cybermen’s influence.

“You had us worried, Meatball Head!” shouted Sailor Mars.

“Oh, and you wouldn’t do the exact same thing?!” argued Neo Queen Serenity.

“Not without backup!” replied Sailor Mars.

“Just admit it!” snapped Neo Queen Serenity. “You’d have gone at them alone!”

“Would not!”

“Would too!”

“Would not!”

“Would too!”

“Would not!”

“Would too!”

“GUYS!” shouted Sailor Moon. “More pressing matters?! The people still under the Cybermen’s control?!”

“Your Majesty,” I interjected, “do you remember anything about the Cybermen’s endgame?”

“That’s the thing,” replied Neo Queen Serenity, “I’m aware of Cyber-Leader Gi’s personal thoughts. She was bent on making herself the Cyber-Planner of a new Cyberman Empire, separate from Shocker Rift’s influence.”

“The Cybermen aren’t content with Shocker Rift?” I asked.

“No, they view their service to Hiro as a step back, as does everyone else within the organization aside from the original Shocker. The ones that hate their servitude the most are these creatures called…Deylex?”

“Daleks,” I corrected, “and I can understand why. So, Shocker Rift is near the edge of civil war.”

“Shocker Rift chose this universe because of the Source,” continued Neo Queen Serenity, “but the Cybermen went along with it to establish it as the capital of their new empire. That’s where recent events come in and I DON’T need the Cyberiad to help me along.”

“What did they do?” I asked.

“They infiltrated Crystal Tokyo and first went after the ones that came from such a highly dense population that no one, in general, would notice,” Neo Queen Serenity went on. “They selected certain Cybermen to go into other parts of the globe and take the population there. They converted Earth about a year ago. The whole process took a month. When the authorities were made aware of it, it was too late. The Cybermen had a stranglehold on Earth. We made the palace a refuge for people to escape the Cybermen. The last act I had decided on before going after the Cybermen alone was to declare Earth unsafe. The automatic quarantine lasts for a hundred years unless I give the order to end the quarantine. Until the Cybermen are gone, I’m not comfortable with ending them yet.”

“I think a solution is available,” mused Lacey.

“You mean you can get rid of them?!” gasped Neo Queen Serenity. Before Lacey could answer, a laser shot flew between me and Sailor Moon. We all turned to see Cyber-Leader Gi standing upright with some sort of pistol in her right hand. It looked like a flip phone with the number pad and screen facing her and the ends on a joint keeping them at 120⁰ from each other. It had a cylinder on each end, one of them acting as a gun barrel.

“Sorry,” gulped Lacey, “I thought freeing Her Majesty would get rid of her.”

“Give me control of the Source,” demanded Cyber-Leader Gi.

“I can’t!” replied Lacey.

“Then I will kill Neo Queen Serenity,” threatened Cyber-Leader Gi.

“Didn’t you hear me?!” argued Lacey. “I can’t, even if I wanted to! The Source will only fry your sense of logic if you try to control it!”

“I am still connected to the Cyberiad,” replied Cyber-Leader Gi. “The Cybermen still control this planet. You kill me, the Earth dies. The choice is yours.” We all hesitated.

“…Guys, it’s over,” I declared. Everyone turned to me. “She’s right, we can’t win this one. We can only surrender.”

“Shocker Rift will…” began Cyber-Leader Gi.

“Not to Shocker Rift,” I interrupted. “The Cybermen.” She didn’t catch my wink to Lacey.

“…Most rational,” complimented Cyber-Leader Gi.

“What do you need done?” asked Lacey as she held the Source.

“The Cybermen must claim its power,” ordered Cyber-Leader Gi. “Order the Source to spread it across the Cyberiad.”

“It’s going to need both Neo Queen Serenity AND Sailor Moon’s power,” replied Lacey. Cyber-Leader Gi turned to the two.

“Donate your power to the Source,” she ordered.

“You can’t…!” protested Sailor Moon.

“Do you understand Cyber-Leader Gi’s instructions?” asked Lacey. The women turned to her to see her wink at them.

“…Perfectly,” muttered Sailor Moon. “Moon Healing Escalation.” Neo Queen Serenity gave her power as well as her daughter. The Source pulsed as it was overflowing with power.

“Now, do YOU understand her instructions?” Lacey asked the Source. “Yes, I believe you do.”

“Your jamming device,” demanded Cyber-Leader Gi. It was my aPod, far superior to any iPod. I surrendered it to Cyber-Leader Gi. “A new era begins for the multiverse,” she declared as she clenched her fist and crushed my aPod. After this, I’m gonna have to either save up for my own or beg my girlfriend, Malffurem, for a new one. “Imagination,” droned Cyber-Leader Gi, “freedom, pleasure, all will fade. This world will become the new Mondas. Deploy the Source.” Lacey let the Source hover into the air before it took off outside. “We shall watch its progress,” declared Cyber-Leader Gi. She pulled out a small console and set it up so we could see the Source. It moved into the stratosphere and started pulsing, sending purple light around the globe. Cyber-Leader Gi had a monitor that displayed the status of all Cybermen on the planet. The Cybermen across the globe started glowing purple. Then…it happened…the purple light dissolved the metal of the Cybermen and replaced it with flesh, restoring the human population of Earth! “…No,” muttered Cyber-Leader Gi.

“Yes,” I declared.

“But…how?!” floundered the currently confused Cyber-Leader.

“Simple,” I dismissed.

“The Source was under my control!” insisted Cyber-Leader Gi. “I ordered it to surrender its power to all Cybermen!”

“Ah, but Neo Queen Serenity and Sailor Moon’s power lies in healing,” I explained. “The Source can only act and amplify the power it is given.”

“When you gained control of the Source through me,” supplied Lacey as the Source returned to her hand when it finished turning the Cybermen back into humans, “I asked them if they understood you. I didn’t say anything about obeying you.”

“Now, with there being only ONE Cyberman and a whole planet of people that knows how dangerous you can be,” finished Neo Queen Serenity, “life can resume as we hunt for you! Earth is now safe for travel again!”

“…You’ve made your last and fatal mistake,” declared Cyber-Leader Gi as she pressed 2, 3, and 5 on the keypad, the first three prime numbers. She then held it to her ear. “Henshin,” she declared before closing the angle of the gun so both long sides could join together. She then inserted the contraption, plugs first, into a harness on her waist. Handles popped out the side and eyes and a mouth opened, making the buckle look like a Cyberman’s head.

“Adaptus: online,” called a Cyberman’s voice before she glowed gold. The glow faded to reveal a Kamen Rider style Cyberman, with black handles.

“Kamen Rider Adaptus,” she announced in the Cybermen’s usual voice. “Hostile elements will be deleted.” She pressed the right eye on her buckle, then the left, then the mouth.

“Summoning Gunblade,” reported the belt. A Cybergun appeared with blades running along the top and bottom of the barrel.

“Right, fight time, everyone!” I announced. We all got ready.

“Henshin!” we called. My belt shouted “Open! Turn! Imagine! The Spear of Lance!” as we transformed and converted our weapons from melee to range. We all scattered and fired. Adaptus slammed her fist into the ground causing us to lose our balance.

“Of all the types of people to be a Kamen Rider!” groaned Outback. The Sailor Senshi were firing off their attacks too, but to no effect. Adaptus just kept on fighting. Neo Queen Serenity was off to the side, feeling hopeless.

“I thought I’d never wish for my powers back,” she sighed, “but now I need to protect my people and I don’t have the means to do so! What can I do?! I want to help!”

“Might I suggest this?” burbled Sludgiona. She tossed Neo Queen Serenity a device…the same device I was wearing around my waist!

“What are you waiting for?!” I called. “Make sure you say ‘Henshin’!”

“I’ve seen Black and Black RX in my day!” remarked Neo Queen Serenity as she put her new Chronicle Driver on. “I know what to say!” She held out her Armor Auto-bio and opened her Chronicle Driver. “Henshin!” she called before inserting the Armor Auto-bio and closing the belt.

“Open! Turn! Imagine!” called the belt. “The Staff of Crescent!” Her new Rider persona looked similar to her old outfit when she was Sailor Moon.

“No,” floundered Adaptus. “That is…illogical! You…cannot fight!”

“Can and will!” countered Neo Queen Serenity. We all grouped up.

“Kamen Rider Outback! Better watch your back, mate!”

“Kamen Rider Swing! I’ll be taking your legs!”

“Kamen Rider Kämpfer! Your defeat will be certain at my hands!”

“Kamen Rider Herald B! I bring news of your defeat!”

“Kamen Rider Apocalypse! Your world shall end!”

“Kamen Rider Lance!” I announced. “The softest bloom can be the deadliest!”

“I’m Batman! The Dark Knight rises!”

“I am Sludgiona, the slimy creator!”

“I am Lexicon! There is historical precedence for your failure!”

“I am the Pretty Guardian who fights for love and Justice!” pronounced the current Sailor Moon. “I am Sailor Moon! And now, in the name of the moon, I’ll punish you!”

“Protected by Mercury, the planet of water!” announced Sailor Mercury. “The Guardian of Wisdom! I am Sailor Mercury! Douse yourself in water and repent!”

“Protected by Mars, the planet of fire!” called Sailor Mars. “The Guardian of War! I am Sailor Mars! In the name of Mars, I’ll chastise you!”

“Protected by Jupiter, the planet of thunder!” proclaimed Sailor Jupiter. “The Guardian of Protection! I am Sailor Jupiter! I will let you feel so much regret, it will leave you numb!”

“Protected by Venus, the planet of beauty!” cheered Sailor Venus. “The Guardian of Love! I am Sailor Venus! Allow me to punish you with love!”

“Protected by Pluto, the planet of underworld!” called Sailor Pluto. “I am Sailor Pluto!”

“Protected by Neptune, the Planet of Oceans!” announced Sailor Neptune. “Guardian of the Deep Sea! I am Sailor Neptune!”

“Protected by Uranus, the Planet of the Wind!” proclaimed Sailor Uranus. “Guardian of the Heavens! I am Sailor Uranus!”

“Protected by Saturn, the planet of Ruin!” called Sailor Saturn. “Guardian of Silence! I am Sailor Saturn!”

“Kamen Rider Crescent!” finished Neo Queen Serenity. “In the name of the solar system, I will punish you!”

“NOW!” I called. The Vortex Riders spun their wheels while Crescent and I pressed the button on top of our buckles.

“Final attack!” called the Vortex Drivers.

“Final Pen Stroke!” cheered the Chronicle Drivers. We leapt into the air and performed our kicks.

“RIDER OUTBACK KICK!”

“RIDER SWING KICK!”

“RIDER KÄMPFER KICK!”

“RIDER HERALD B KICK!”

“RIDER LANCE KICK!”

“RIDER CRESCENT KICK!”

“RIDER APOCALYPSE KICK!”

“Everyone!” called Sailor Moon. “Lend them your energy!” The Sailor Senshi charged us as our kicks hit Adaptus, causing her to be knocked back and reverting back to Cyber-Leader Gi. She dialed a number on her phone and held it to her ear.

“Cyber-Leader Gi, requesting immediate evacuation,” she called. “Repeat, immediate.” A portal opened for her and she dove headfirst into it.

“And that, as they say,” I declared as we all powered down, “is that.”

“I need to call Papa,” realized Sailor Moon. She activated her communicator.

“Sailor Moon,” came Endymion’s voice, “we’re getting reports that the Cybermen have turned back into humans!”

“They’re true, I promise,” assured Sailor Moon. “We also got someone back!” She handed the communicator to Neo Queen Serenity.

“Hello, Mamo-chan,” she greeted. This time, there was love in her voice.

“…Usako?” breathed Endymion. “Is it…I mean, are you…?”

“I’m back,” confirmed Neo Queen Serenity. “We can end the planetary quarantine. I’ll be home straight away.”

——————————————————————————————–

We returned to the palace and told Endymion what happened. The people that took refuge heard the story and cheered. They were free and were released back into Crystal Tokyo to find their loved ones. Endymion and Neo Queen Serenity were still together as we told him what happened with Cyber-Leader Gi. “A Kamen Rider?” he muttered. “I thought they ended that franchise with the movie, Kamen Rider J.”

“You mean you don’t know about the Heisei Era Riders?” asked Lacey.

“Heisei Era Riders?” asked Neo Queen Serenity. “There were Kamen Riders that were called Heisei Riders?”

“Yeah! They got that name in the year 2000, 19 years before Emperor Hirohito abdicated. Oh, wait, you took the throne in the 21st century in this universe. Is there a tv show called Kamen Rider Kuuga in your universe?”

“No, I don’t think so,” mused Neo Queen Serenity.

“Hey!” protested Usagi II. “Who took the cookies?!” Neo Queen Serenity looked up at the ceiling, looking very nervous. “…Mama,” hissed Usagi II.

“Let her have this,” suggested Rei, Sailor Mars. “She’s been the Cybermen’s prisoner for too long. For once, she can eat whatever she wants.”

“I do that anyway!” snapped Neo Queen Serenity. “I AM Queen!”

“A chubby one,” muttered Rei.

“I heard that!” snapped Neo Queen Serenity. “Who’s the one who ate those cupcakes before this all went down?!”

“How did you know that?!” shouted Rei. “Spying on your own subjects! There ought to be a law against that! Maybe I SHOULDN’T let you have cookies!”

“At least I didn’t wear heels in battle!” argued Neo Queen Serenity.

“Your boots had just as much of a heel as my shoes do!” countered Rei.

“You’re always trying to annoy me!” accused Neo Queen Serenity. “Don’t you remember that time I saved your life?!”

“Yeah, I remember!” replied Rei. “Wasn’t that when you tripped and fell on your face?!”

“Oh yeah?! Well, next time, I won’t even bother!” declared Neo Queen Serenity.

“Fine!” answered Rei.

“Fine!” confirmed Neo Queen Serenity.

“Fine!” finished Rei. The two ladies then folded their arms, turned their backs to each other, and hmphed. Ami, Sailor Mercury, let a small giggle loose. Batman leaned to Usagi II.

“Are they always like this?” he asked.

“Ever since they met in High School,” groaned Usagi II. “When I travelled back in time as a little girl, I saw them fight like that firsthand.”

“…Time travel?” moaned Batman, not liking the subject.

“Ami-chan,” remarked Neo Queen Serenity, “might I ask what’s so funny?”

“You just went back to basics real fast,” she replied. “I’d have thought being Cyber-Leader Gi would be traumatizing.” Neo Queen Serenity then went deep in thought.

“…I hurt everyone as her,” she mumbled.

“That wasn’t you, Usako,” insisted Endymion.

“I don’t know about that,” argued Neo Queen Serenity. “I DO have a sense of order. The Cybermen may have amplified that, but it was still my desire to create order. That desire made people look the same and I do NOT want to inflict that kind of harm again.”

“Mama, you’re not Cyber-Leader Gi,” replied Usagi II. “You’re not a Cyberman of ANY rank. The best way to not be a mindless drone is to wake up and enjoy life in both its order and its chaos.”

“…I need to bring her back into this universe,” decided Neo Queen Serenity. “Moon-kyung, do you mind if I join you?”

“Your Majesty, I would be honored,” I replied. “That is, if your family’s okay with it.”

“…Keep her safe,” instructed Endymion.

“Will do!” I replied. I then called up Vorton. “Guys, mission accomplished! We’re ready to go home!”

“Understood,” came Megumi’s voice. “I’ve asked all of us to meet in the Gateway Room. We have…something to discuss.” The portal opened and we all headed off to meet with Megumi and the rest of the F.N.S. I was introduced to Jason the Inkling, Mickey Mouse, Princess Peach, and Dell Conagher, the newest additions to the team, much like Neo Queen Serenity, Usagi I, was. She introduced herself. I noticed that Victor and Alesandro were standing at the back, glaring at us. “I’ll get right to the point,” began Megumi. “I hid the fact that I didn’t tell Batman, Hongo, Wyldstyle, and Gandalf about Vortech and also hid the fact that I had an emotional collapse after that. I told you guys that we never kept secrets, but that was the fattest lie I’ve ever told. I know Emily and Joshua told Liam and Moon-kyung, but that doesn’t excuse what I did, or rather, DIDN’T do. Colleen Doyle, Alesandro Ortiz, Liam McIntyre, Victor Young, Deung Moon-kyung, I’m sorry for hiding this from you. I should have just obeyed my conscience and told you. Whether or not you decide to stay with us, know that I will always consider you a member of our family and, as such, try to do right by you.”

“…I appreciate that,” replied Victor.

“We all do,” supplied Colleen.

“…Arigatou gozaimasu,” (formal Thank You) thanked Megumi as she bowed, a little misty eyed. “Now, Richard, your team found something?”

“It’s related to the vote we took on whether or not we’d tell the new guys,” he explained. “Pup-X5 noticed that the results of the vote were tampered with.”

“Tampered?!” yelped Emily.

“Yeah, what raised a red flag for me,” read Pup-X5’s tablet, “was that Emily and Joshua swore up and down that they voted no, but the results say yes. I took another poll and found major discrepancies. The only ones that matched were those who actually said no, Hiroki and Xiomara.”

“You two?!” protested Megumi. “Why you two?!”

“They didn’t need to know EVERYTHING!” argued Hiroki.

“Right now, that’s not the point,” interjected Richard. “We need to figure out why we got the wrong results.”

“Techies, you know what to do,” directed Megumi. We all headed off to figure out this mystery.

Categories
Kamen Rider Vortex Kamen Rider Vortex Chapters

Chapter 14

I had the same dream again, my friends’ corpses accusing me of failing them, Richard’s hand making contact and decaying me, and the dream ending when the decay reaches my jaw. I woke up again. This is absurd, I thought talking to Gandalf would help! I did my usual dress routine and headed to the gateway. I saw Gandalf and Wyldstyle talking to each other over tea. Gandalf was talking about the time a friend of his, Radagast the Brown, outran a pack of Orcs on dog-like creatures called Wargs while Radagast was on a sled pulled by rabbits. “I had never known Rhosgobel Rabbits to outrun Gundabad Wargs!” laughed Gandalf. “In hindsight, it was rather funny!”

“This was the guy that lived in a crooked house?” asked Wyldstyle in a tone asking for confirmation.

“Well, he’s odd, I grant you,” admitted Gandalf. “He’s led a solitary life.”

“I hate to interrupt,” I called, surprising the two, “but sleep won’t come to me. I had a horrible dream.”

“Was it a dream where our corpses were accusing you of failing us and Richard grabbing you and infecting you with decay, but the dream ends with the decay reaching your eyes before you wake up?” asked Wyldstyle. I arched an eyebrow.

“Yes, except change that to the decay reaching my jaw,” I replied.

“I woke up when the decay reached your neck,” answered Gandalf. Okay, this can NOT be coincidence.

“Was that true when your corpses were accusing me of failing you?” I asked.

“Not remotely,” assured Gandalf.

“You haven’t failed us by any stretch,” confirmed Wyldstyle.

“Well, there’s that bit of ammo if I dream that dream again,” I mused. “May I join you? I don’t think there’ll be sleep for me tonight.”

“Go ahead,” invited Wyldstyle. I sat down and poured some tea as we sat on the gateway pad.

“So,” I began, “I know of Batman and Hongo-san’s backstories when they couldn’t sleep…”

“Why do you say Hongo-san?” asked Gandalf.

“San is an honorific like the English Mr. or Mrs.,” I explained. Gandalf understood. “In any case, why don’t you tell us your tale? What made you use magic?”

“Actually,” began Gandalf, “I’ve had magic my entire life. I am a Maia spirit, the plural of which being Maiar, sent to Middle-Earth, by the Valar of Valinor, to keep watch over the free peoples that live there and aid them where possible against Sauron, a fallen Maia. We were an order of five called the Istari. Although Sauron’s power was great, the Valar had already seen the tragic consequences of direct interference at the end of the First Age when they brought their total strength against Morgoth, known also by his first name as Melkor and as Sauron’s former master, resulting in the destruction of a country touching the sea called Beleriand and reshaping the world. The Valar also knew of the corruption and lust for power from even the Maiar’s use of magic as evidenced by Sauron. So, the Valar sent us, the Istari, to help Middle-Earth, but were forbidden from using our full power or attacking Sauron directly. Thus, we take the form of old men so we could speak to both elves and Men as equals to win their trust. Our leader was known as Curumo and was sent by a Vala known as Aulë. He was a wise and respected figure in Middle-Earth and was declared the leader of the White Council, a group of Elves and Wizards to combat the threat of Sauron. I was called Olórin in my younger days and was sent by my teachers Manwë, Varda, Nienna, and Irmo. I had originally considered myself too weak and frightened to be of any use in the fight against Sauron, but my teacher saw potential in me and ordered me to go. There was one that was originally not considered to go with the Istari, but joined us at the insistence of his teacher, Yavanna. He was known as Aiwendil, but later called himself Radagast the Brown. He spends his days looking after the plants and animals of Middle-Earth. The last two were a pair of blue wizards called Alatar and Pallando. Only Alatar was asked to go, but his friendship with Pallando allowed them both to go and renaming themselves Morinehtar and Rómestámo. I believe they were responsible for starting a magic cult or two in Middle-Earth.” Gandalf lit his pipe while Wyldstyle and I processed the info.

“That’s…quite a lot,” I gulped. “I wish I had met Curumo. He sounds like a nice guy.”

“He was,” answered Gandalf, “but power corrupted him. You’ve already met him, but he called himself something else.” He faced us. “He rode atop a giant snake in the previous dimension we were in.”

“Saruman?!” I yelped. “Never mind.” I turned to Wyldstyle. “What about you? What’s your story?”

“Not really as elaborate as Gandalf’s,” replied Wyldstyle. “I was 9 when things went sour for Master Builders. I said to my mom that I could see numbers and had an urge to build every single day. The robot Mom had bought heard that and tried to take me to jail when Mom intervened. My dad, an alcoholic, had left us, so we couldn’t depend on him to help us. Mom told me to run. I hesitated, but Mom ordered me to run again and I did. The robots surrounding my home leveled it and took my mom to jail. From what I heard, she never told Lord Business what happened to me and so suffered. I don’t know how. I suffered from insecurity and changed my name a lot. A man named Vitruvius helped me master my Master Builder powers and helped me start the resistance movement against Lord Business. From there, I discovered Emmet, dragged him along for the ride when he found the Piece of Resistance, and helped him discover his Master Builder powers to fight Lord Business and stop his Kragle plan.”

“Kragle?” asked Gandalf.

“A substance that freezes you in place,” I explained.

“Interesting backstories,” rasped a voice. We jumped to see Batman standing with the rest of our group.

“How long have you guys been there?” I asked.

“Long enough,” replied Hongo.

“Is it morning already?” quizzed Gandalf.

“It would appear so,” I replied. “Breakfast, everyone?” They all agreed. We had pancakes this time. After breakfast, we mounted our vehicles. “All set?” I asked. Everyone confirmed. “CHARGE!” I shouted. The portal opened and we all went through.


We travelled through the vortex a bit. A bit longer…longer……longer……… “Shouldn’t we have arrived by now?!” asked Wyldstyle.

“Yes,” answered Batman. “Something’s up.”

“Wyldstyle, check your relic scanner,” I said. Wyldstyle pulled out the scanner and took a reading.

“Uh, not good!” she gulped. Our hearts sank.

“So, what do we do?” asked Gandalf.

“Well, I suggest you mind your heads!” called a voice with a Scottish accent. That’s when something whizzed over our heads. What was it? You’re not gonna believe this, but it was a blue box. I kid you not! It read “Police Public Call Box” on the top on all four sides, had a light on the top, which was blinking in rhythm to the noise it made. At best, I could say the noise was a Vworp or a whoosh. The box had two windows on each side, with the front having two signs. One of them read “Police Telephone. Free for Use of Public. Advice and Assistance Obtainable Immediately. Officers and Cars Respond to Urgent Calls. Pull to Open,” and was square shaped while the circle sign read “St John Ambulance.” While the doors told the person outside to pull to open, judging by the way the doors were pulled open from the inside, I’d say the outside person had to push to open. The person was an old man with short, wavy hair, the fiercest expression I’ve ever seen, eyebrows that could tell stories without a mouth, and a set of navy blue clothes with black clothes. “Hold on a sec!” called the man. He shut the doors and we heard his voice from the box. “Not that you have a choice in the matter. You’re stuck in a rift loop!” The box matched our speed but stayed ahead of us. The doors opened again and the man fired a grapple gun, specifically Batman’s! “Grab on!” encouraged the man. Was he gonna pull all 20 of us into that tiny box?!

“There’s no room!” I shouted.

“Oh yes, there is!” cheered Michael as he grabbed the line. I saw that and thought him mad!

“Are you out of your mind?!” I shouted.

“Just trust me!” called Michael. “We’re about to go on an adventure through time and space!” I blinked. Off his rocker, but I grabbed on and ordered everyone to do the same. Our horses grabbed on with their mouths, Hongo passed the line through the spokes of his bike and Batman hooked the end of the line to the Batmobile’s front. We were all pulled inside. When I got my bearings, I couldn’t believe what was inside! You would think that being a small box, it would have a small inside! What I saw was some sort of large interior with a set of panels done in a hexagonal shape with a central cylinder going up to the ceiling and some sort of mechanism going up and down inside!

“Er, what happened to three-dimensional Euclidian geometry?!” yelped Lukas.

“The Time Lords tore it up, threw it in the air, and snogged it to death!” cheered Michael. “Thus, a human’s entire understanding of physical space is transformed by Time Lord transportation! Our grasp of the universal constants of physical reality is now changed…forever!”

“Okay, you’re impressed by my home, thank you!” snapped the man in a dismissive tone. “Come on! Don’t just sit there! You’ve got a bunch of monsters to meet!”

“Who are you?” demanded Batman. “What did you do to us?”

“Is he always like this, Megumi?” asked the man. Wait, what?! “I assumed I just caught him at a bad time before.”

“Uh, what?!” stammered Wyldstyle. The man took the relic scanner and waved some sort of wand with a green light on the end over the thing. He put the wand away, earning a groan of disappointment from Michael.

“I’m the Doctor,” introduced the man. “I locked on to your scanner. Remember that.”

“Before?” I asked.

“You said before,” observed Batman.

“Is this some sort of time mess?” asked Hongo. “There IS a Kamen Rider that can help in that regard.”

“Well spotted, Batman, Megumi, and Hongo. Go to the head of the class!” commented the Doctor. “This is the TARDIS.”

“Short for Time And Relative Dimensions In Space!” cheered Michael. The Doctor blinked, then continued.

“It travels in time,” he went on. “We’ve met you lot before, but you haven’t met us yet. That’s time travel for you.” While the Doctor was explaining, Gandalf touched a panel, got a shock, briefly turning him into Gandalf the White, before he returned to being grey.

“You’re lying!” accused Batman.

“No, here’s your grapple gun,” explained the Doctor as he tossed the instrument to Batman.

“Clearly a copy,” dismissed Batman as he pulled out his own grapple gun.

“Again, no,” hissed the Doctor, a little irritated. “Like I say, time machine! Not a 3-D printer! Just give me your grapple gun later.”

“Doctor,” I said, “you said ‘We’ve met you before’ as if there’s another person.”

“Doctor, can I release the button now?” asked a voice. It came from a Japanese man in a teacher’s suit. He had a pompadour hairstyle, not usual to anyone from Japan. Hiroki arched an eyebrow.

“Kisaragi Gentarō?” he quizzed in Japanese name order. “What are you doing here?”

“The Doctor said I was needed to help some people,” explained Gentarō. “He said that holding this button down would help the TARDIS get into the rift loop you guys were stuck in, otherwise the harmonics core would implode.”

“That was an act,” muttered the Doctor. “There’s no such thing as a harmonics core, at least, not yet. You said you couldn’t understand gobbledygook, so I had you do something to keep you occupied.”

“You could have said for me to not touch anything!” protested Gentarō as he released the button.

“Given what Kengo said about you,” argued the Doctor, “I couldn’t take any chances, even after you told me not to listen to him. Pretty feeble attempt to change history. You’ve only ensured that events in your timeline will happen.”

“But…I never did that…” muttered Gentarō.

“Again, time travel,” said the Doctor as he tossed a device to Gentarō. The device had four slots in different shapes, had red tab switches under the slots, and had a handle on the right side. Gentarō’s eyes went wide.

“But…this thing was destroyed!” he yelped. “I threw it into molten steel!”

“You gave it to me earlier, after I first met you,” explained the Doctor.

“Where did my future self get it?” asked Gentarō.

“He just got it when you caught it,” commented the Doctor.

“Ah, a causal loop!” called Michael. The Doctor got up from the console.

“So, you know about the bootstrap paradox?” he asked. “Go ahead, share it with the class.”

“With pleasure!” cheered Michael as he grabbed a chalkboard and a piece of chalk. He drew a stick figure and made a curved line downwards and writes 1700’s. “So, the situation is this: a time traveler that loves Johann Sebastian Bach decides to meet his musical hero and so goes to the point when Toccata and Fugue is first composed. When he asks around, he realizes that there’s no one by the name of Bach.

“The time traveler is distraught and decides to copy the music FOR Bach. History goes on with barely a quiver. He returns to his time,” he draws another curved line going up back to the stick figure, “and is left with a conundrum. Someone is going to be inspired enough to travel back in time to hear Toccata and Fugue but will be distraught and so copy down all of Bach’s music.” He picked up an electric guitar.

“So, where did Toccata and Fugue come from?” he asked. He strummed the opening notes of Toccata and Fugue in D Minor. “This is an example of a causal loop, or bootstrap paradox, named after Heinlein’s book, By his Bootstraps which demonstrates this rather well in terms of a book. The time traveler is inspired by the music and ends up ‘writing’ the music.

“In effect, the time traveler inspired himself. He copied ‘Bach’, who copied the time traveler, who copied ‘Bach’, who copied the time traveler, and so on and so forth ad infinitum, without a beginning.” Emily raised her hand and Michael pointed to her.

“Won’t that mean that the results fade, in this instance, the music?” asked Emily.

“Not at all,” explained Michael. “Aristotle once said that you don’t have to prove ‘immediate knowledge’, so Bach’s Toccata and Fugue must have been written in order to exist. As demonstrated by this figure here,” he pointed to the drawing, “the reason that the music exists is why the traveler went on this journey. To him, it’s a straight line. To time, on the other hand, he went in a circle.

“Now, of course, a bootstrap paradox is not particularly useful, it simply IS. We’ve side stepped the question of ‘who wrote the music?’ by rendering the concept of beginnings moot. We are given a totally different sort of answer, which is the same as not answering.

“Such an answer makes me miss my companions of old,” mused the Doctor. “It holds together, but it’s also infuriating.” I raised my hand and Michael called on me.

“I hate to muddy the waters,” I asked, “but what about alternate timelines?”

“Essentially, the theory goes,” explained our teacher, Michael, “that there MUST have been a sequence of events in which Bach, or some other third party, let’s not make this more complicated than it is, wrote the music. However, that timeline was derailed by something that didn’t happen in the original history of events and so the time traveler is forced to intervene. So, what changed in the original timeline?

“Maybe the arrival of the time traveler himself? Perhaps Bach was too busy throwing his wig at the Doctor when he tried to explain the bootstrap paradox to the composer. Maybe meeting a fanboy put him off music all together. Whatever the reason, the time traveler must intervene.

“But, what happens in the new timeline, when someone decides to meet his hero, Bach? And in the timeline that follows that one? And so on and so forth? Time changes from a line stretching to infinity to a branching tree stretching to infinity.” Richard raised his hand and was called on.

“Doesn’t that imply that the theory begins with the assumption of an original composer and that composer is Bach?” asked Richard.

“Yes indeed,” confirmed Michael. “Which is what we’re trying to prove. The Greeks call it ‘begging the question’.”

“They can call it what they like,” exclaimed Gentarō as he rubbed his head, “I’m calling it a massive headache!”

“So, class,” asked Michael, “what did we learn?”

“Paradoxes, in general, can keep someone awake,” I muttered.

Toccata and Fugue in D Minor is an awesome tune,” said Emily.

“Time travel and logic are not friends,” commented Lukas.

“To use my words,” supplied the Doctor, “it’s all wibbly wobbly, timey wimey, stuff.”

“Well, whatever happened,” mused Gentarō, “I’m glad my old friend, the Fourze Driver, came back for now.”

“Fourze Driver?” I asked. “Are you a Kamen Rider?”

“I sure am!” cheered Gentarō. “I’m the Rider who will befriend everyone I meet!”

“That may prove challenging if you meet people that hate me,” remarked the Doctor. The TARDIS’ noises became louder until I heard a thud. “Ah, we’ve landed. Okay, out you go.” We were shoved out of the TARDIS. We had landed in a control room of some sorts. Batman looked out the window to see a probe float by.

“Where are we?” he asked.

“Does it matter?” replied the Doctor. “Call it, I don’t know, ‘Dave’!” Batman shook his head as the Doctor handed a piece of paper to Wyldstyle. “This is my phone number, you’ll call it when you get into trouble and I’ll help you out. I’m nice like that.” Wyldstyle felt creeped out when the Doctor winked.

“Aren’t you coming with us?” asked Gentarō.

“Look, normally I’d come along with you,” explained the Doctor, “but if I cross my own time-stream here, it’ll rip a hole in the universe so big you could drive his ego through it.” He pointed to Batman who snarled at that comment. “Anyway, good luck.” He scurried into the TARDIS and took off by fading away with what Michael called a Vworp. I checked over my team and saw Gandalf just staring at where the TARDIS was. Poor guy, he was out of his element. The wizard blinked a few times before speaking.

“Can someone explain to me what’s going on, please?” he had asked. Wyldstyle’s scanner started blinking.

“Not really, no,” she replied, “but, I think another Keystone’s here.” I yelped.

“I forgot to ask who controls the Elemental Keystone!” I cried.

“Be at peace, my lady,” assured Gandalf as he held up his left hand as it wore a Keystone Gauntlet. “Wyldstyle helped me puzzle this thing out.” Judging by his expression, I’d say Gandalf had found some familiar ground to work with.

“Guys,” called Emily, “the transmitter’s in that tube.”

“Blast,” hissed Gandalf. “It’s blocking out the Keystone. I cannot use it.”

“And there’s ice everywhere,” muttered Hiroki as he shivered. “Some of it is blocking out a grapple hook.”

“We’ll have to get the transmitter out,” declared Batman. Gandalf looked around.

“This place is unlike anywhere I’ve ever seen,” he mused. “Let us hurry and find the Keystone.”

“Search for the controls to open the tube,” I said. We started looking around, but most of the controls were dead. I heard something metal falling. It turned out to be Wyldstyle and Hongo bringing a ladder down. “Let’s hope any controls up there will prove functional,” I said.

“Maybe we don’t need to use buttons,” observed Wyldstyle. She pointed to a piece of machinery on top of the transmitter’s prison that could be knocked loose.

“I think one batarang should do it,” rasped Batman. He threw one and it knocked the tube open, allowing the transmitter to be blown out.

“Allow me to handle this,” called Gandalf. “Elemental Keystone, activate!” He was surrounded in a light that shifted from blue, to cyan, to red, to green, to blue again, and so on. “Let’s see,” muttered Gandalf, “let’s have you try fire on the ice, Sir Richard. Element of fire, Richard!” Richard was surrounded in a red light.

“Now this is interesting,” he chuckled. He then summoned a fireball. When his face lit up, he put his hands together and fired a torrent of flames at the ice, melting it quickly. The ice exposed the grapple hook and wires that needed to be connected. Richard grabbed his i.d tag while I grabbed mine.

“Henshin!” we announced. After the transformation sequence, Gentarō gawked.

“You guys are Kamen Riders?!” he gawked.

“We sure are!” confirmed Guard. He then swapped out his i.d tag for the Batman one.

“Batman Steel!” announced his belt. I swapped mine out for the Gandalf one.

“Gandalf Steel!” called my belt. As we settled into our new armor, Batman and Guard got the grapple hook to come loose while Gandalf and I got the wires connected. Batman and Guard’s part caught fire while Gandalf and I had no mishap.

“Element of water, Batman!” announced Gandalf. A blue aura surrounded Batman. He summoned a water ball, then put his hands together and doused the flames. Wyldstyle took the pieces and made an electrical coil. “Hm,” mused Gandalf, “most of us are used to a Keystone’s power except Gentarō. Would you like to try?”

“Sure!” confirmed Gentarō. “Since I don’t have my switches on me now, I’ll go with the Keystone, whatever it is.”

“Element of lightning, Gentarō!” announced Gandalf. Gentarō was surrounded by a cyan aura, generated lightning from his fingers, and zapped the coil.

“Elec on,” he joked. The door opened and revealed a humanoid, silver creature walking towards us with an arm outstretched. It had silver handles going up from where ears would be to the top of the head, a slight “tear-drop” design to the holes that work as eyes, and a blue light in the center. Iron Man should sue. It stomped forward for a bit, then slowed down, then fell. I cancelled my transformation to roll him over. The light in the chest had gone out.

“Well,” I jested, “low batteries?”

“We should move,” gulped Michael, looking a little scared. I arched an eyebrow but got everyone to move. We arrived in a room that had a hidden alcove in the wall, frozen over. A Keystone transmitter was being guarded and I could see security cameras around that area. Richard was still in Batman Steel, so he turned invisible and headed to the transmitter. He managed to lower the guard and turn off the cameras.

“Elemental Keystone, activate!” announced Gandalf. “Element of fire, Gentarō!”

“Fire on!” called Gentarō. I had no idea why he was doing that, but, oh well. He melted the ice on the alcove doors. It seemed to be missing a design.

“Hey, this image looks like that space man robot we saw!” observed Wyldstyle. “It looks incomplete, though. Maybe completing it is the key.”

“I think I can help in that regard,” replied Gandalf as he used his magic to complete the image. The alcove opened to deposit machinery at our feet. I heard stomping and saw one of the strange robots fire at some debris blocking the way with a concealed laser weapon, then stomping back to a window. Wyldstyle saw some cables on the ground and got an idea.

“Loose cables everywhere?” she muttered. “If we can create a generator, we can power up the base.”

“If this isn’t their base,” gulped Michael, indicating the robots.

“What are you so afraid of?” I asked as we helped Wyldstyle gather materials. “They’re robots. We can take them if they’re hostile!”

“If they were just robots,” replied Michael, “I wouldn’t be so worried.”

“Element of water, Gandalf!” announced Gandalf. He was surrounded in a blue aura and doused the fire on the stairway the robot shot at. He climbed up with Wyldstyle as she opened the windows to reveal a barren, star studded landscape. The surface almost looked lunar. There was a probe next to a platform. Gandalf was about to go outside when I told him that that area had no air. There were areas with an atmosphere, according to the computer terminals I had read, but the area we could immediately see was not one of them. Gandalf had then used his magic to move the probe onto the platform, which moved on tracks to bring the probe inside. Wyldstyle needed it near the alcove, so Gandalf had a solution. “Element of lightning, Richard!” Richard was surrounded by a cyan aura and moved towards an electric coil to bring the probe down. We cannibalized the parts to make a generator and two backups with the cables used to send power.

“Job done,” called Batman. “Now, let’s power this place up!” He flicked a switch on the main generator. An unearthly hum indicated that it was working but needed a little more juice. I saw an electric coil in the alcove and requested the use of lightning from Gandalf.

“Element of lightning, Megumi!” announced Gandalf. I felt a buzz as the cyan aura flowed over me. I fired a lightning bolt at the coil. It fell off a giant version of the full torso unit of those robots. Arms were attached by machines and legs came up from panels in the floor. They attached to the hips. A light in the center came on, showing blue. Again, Stark, sue! A giant head with the same teardrop eyes, single mouth slit, and handles from the ears to the scalp came crawling in on cables that held it up. The cables buried themselves into the neck, completing a giant version of those robots we saw. The eyes and mouth flashed orange and the eyes stayed on. The mouth switched off and only turned on when it spoke in a robotic monotone.

“Upgrade complete,” it boomed. It turned down to look at us. “Organic lifeforms detected,” it observed. The robots then stopped stumbling. They straightened themselves so that the chests were held high and the arms were out, poised and ready for action at a moment’s notice. The feet were shoulder width apart and they stomped with the left foot leading and the knees bending at a 45-degree angle. They marched with purpose until they took their positions. Two of them flanked the doors of the alcove. Two of them guarded a door to a hallway above the alcove. One of them was at an airlock leading to the outside where the probe was. There were two at the door we came through to get here and one at each of the five computer terminals. Two of the robots at the terminals had black handles. The two flanking the giant’s alcove had…an organic brain?! Are these guys just brains in humanoid jars!?

“Hey, check this out!” called Gentarō. He pointed to a tube that suspended 40 switches. A robot at a computer terminal with black handles flicked a switch and opened the tube. The switches were deposited into a black box with an image of their head on it.

“These devices are called Astro-switches,” reported the robot to the giant. “They harness an unknown energy called Cosmic Energy to summon equipment. We can manufacture such a device.”

“Excellent, Cyber-Leader 449,” praised the giant. “And what of the final experiment on the new rebreathers?”

“It is initiating now,” replied the robot that reported, Cyber-Leader 449. At that point, I saw two astronauts stomp outside. What were they doing? They started undoing the locks to their helmets while in an airless environment! I rushed for the airlock, but the robot guarding it stopped me. All Vortex Riders rushed for the airlock but were halted as two robots fired a warning shot.

“Now look,” I hissed to the robot that stopped me, “I don’t know what you’re planning, but those people need to get inside!”

“They will not return inside,” boomed the giant. We all asked various versions of the phrase “why not?” “They are performing the final test for new rebreathers so we can breathe in any environment, even in the vacuum of space,” replied the giant.

“But we have to get them in!” I insisted. I tried to get around the airlock’s guard, but it grabbed my shoulder. They’ve got quite the grip.

“There is really no point,” droned the airlock guard. “The doors will not open until the test is complete.”

“But, don’t you care about those people?!” I shouted.

“‘Care’? No,” replied the giant. “Why should we ‘care’?”

“Because they’re people!” Hongo shouted, “and they’re going to die!”

“I do not understand,” quizzed the giant. “There are people dying all over the universe, yet you do not ‘care’ for them.”

“Test complete,” reported the second Cyber-Leader. We turned to the window to see the astronauts with their helmets off. They had the handles of these robots.

“Bring them inside,” boomed the giant. The airlock guard then released me, turned to the keypad, typed a code at a very fast pace, and opened the outer door. The astronauts marched like the robots into the airlock. The doors then shut to let the inner doors open. They marched inside.

“Upgrade successful,” reported one of the astronauts to the giant.

“Report for complete conversion,” ordered the giant. The astronauts marched to another room. I tried to stop them, but the airlock guard held me back. “You are wondering where you are,” observed the giant. “From the fragments of security footage our cameras picked up, you were left here by the Time Lord known as the Doctor and he did not tell you where you are, is that so?”

“Yes,” I hissed, not even bothering to disguise the newfound contempt I had for these creatures.

“You are one of many fragments of our ancestral home world,” replied the giant. “It is called…”

“Ancestral home-world?” interrupted Michael. “You mean Mondas?!”

“Correct,” confirmed the giant. “You were under the impression that Mondas had vaporized?”

“Yes, that’s what the UNIT files left by the Doctor said,” lied Michael. Good thing he didn’t reveal we were from a different dimension.

“The Doctor is incorrect,” replied the giant. “Mondas simply exploded.”

“What was Mondas like before you came to power?” I asked.

“Eons ago, Mondas was Earth’s twin planet,” relayed the giant. “But the arrival of a new celestial object that became Earth’s moon interfered with the orbit, thus making us drift to the far reaches of space. We had returned to Earth’s orbit to drain its energy, but that was when the Doctor first interfered, thus making our planet explode. Now, we are gathering the fragments of our home and using artificial materials to make a new world. We are 45% completed but will require more fragments to complete the equator and southern hemisphere. If needed, we will extract parts of Earth and take its population to increase our numbers. However, another race is interfering and will stop at nothing to destroy us. We had met a version of our kind from another universe where they came from Earth to become the next level of humanity. They had crossed into our universe and we upgraded each other to take the shape you see before you. That has doubled our efforts, but the work still goes slowly.”

“That still doesn’t answer who or what you are!” cried Sheela.

“They’re called the Cybermen,” explained Michael.

“Cybermen?” I asked.

“Correct,” confirmed the giant Cyberman. “I am one of currently 16 Cyber-Kings. We answer to the Cyber-Planner. These Cyber-Controllers,” he indicated the Cybermen with exposed brains, “answer to me as other Cyber-Controllers answer to the other Cyber-Kings. The Cyber-Leaders answer to the Cyber-Controllers. The Cyber-Deputies answer to the Cyber-Leaders. The rest answer to the Cyber-Deputies. We were like you once, but our scientists realized that our race was getting weak.”

“Weak? How?” asked Gentarō.

“Our life span was getting shorter,” elaborated the Cyber-King. “So, our scientists and doctors created spare parts for us until we could be almost completely replaced.”

“But…that means you’re not even like me!” shouted Hongo. “You’re practically robots!”

“We are cyborgs like yourself,” argued the Cyber-Kings. He must have taken a scan of us. “We just do not have genetic modification. As the Cyber-Controllers can clearly show you, our brains are like yours, except certain weaknesses have been removed.”

“What weaknesses?” asked Irina.

“You don’t consider emotions a weakness, do you?” Mikhail quizzed.

“Emotions are a weakness that must be removed,” replied the Cyber-King. “We are doing organic life a favor by doing so.”

“That’s awful!” I shouted. “You mean, you wouldn’t care if someone was in pain?!”

“There would be no need,” answered the Cyber-King. “We do not feel pain.”

“We do!” I yelled.

“That will be changed when you are converted,” boomed the Cyber-King. “You will become like us.” That concluded negotiations as I grabbed a pole and drove it into the head of a Cyber-Controller. It fell with a loud death rattle.

“Judging by her actions,” said Batman, “I don’t think so.”

“Hostility detected,” answered the Cyber-King. “Failure to comply with upgrading is not an option.”

“It is for us!” called Gentarō as he put the Fourze Driver to his waist. It formed a belt strap on its own. Gentarō then split the case in half and attached each half to the sides of his belt. He pulled out four Astro-switches. They were of different colors and numbers. Number 1 was orange, number 2 was blue, number 3 was yellow, and number 4 was black. Gentarō inserted the switches right to left from 1 to 4 as the belt announced what the switches were.

“Rocket! Launcher! Drill! Radar!” announced the Driver. He then flicked the tab switches down. Hongo struck his initial henshin pose as we got out our i.d tags. “3! 2! 1!” said an electronic countdown from Gentarō’s belt. While that went on, he struck a pose that had his left foot forward, his left hand across his front, and his right hand on the handle.

“Rider…!” began Hongo.

“Henshin!” we all shouted We all transformed and got ready for battle. Gentarō’s Rider form looked like it was made from the material needed for an astronaut’s suit and had a conical helmet with a black diamond in the middle with orange insect eyes and a pair of small antennae. He had gauntlets around his wrists and ankles. The right arm had an orange circle on its gauntlet, the right leg had a blue X shape on its gauntlet, the left leg had a yellow triangle on its gauntlet, and the left arm had a black square on its gauntlet. He looked almost like a space shuttle. Gentarō crouched down.

“Uchū…” he began before popping back up and spreading his limbs out, “KITĀĀĀĀĀ!” (Space is here!)

“Fourze kitā!” (Fourze is here!) cheered Sengoku.

“Fourze?” I asked. I turned to the new Rider. “That’s your Rider name? Fourze?”

“That’s right!” confirmed Fourze. He turned to the Cyber-King “Kamen Rider Fourze! Taiman harasete morau ze!” (Let’s settle this man-to-man!)

“You will not escape,” boomed The Cyber-King as more Cybermen entered the room. “We knew that somebody like you would come here. Now you must be upgraded.” We started attacking the Cybermen, but they anticipated our moves. I then decided to slap my Cyberman. It titled its head as if it were trying to process what I was trying to accomplish.

“There is no logic in your actions,” it observed. “We can introduce that into your brain when you are upgraded.”

“Oh, but there IS logic to that slap,” I argued. I held up the new i.d tag. “Check this out!” I did the i.d swap and summoned the wardrobe.

“Cyberman Steel!” announced my belt. Apropos, given what it was made of. The new armor had the handles of the Cyberman’s head. I had the blaster out and had the boots on as well as the chest unit. Tony, I take it back, don’t sue! I fired on my Cyberman right in the chest unit.

“Cyberman firepower is being used against us!” reported a Cyber-Leader. “Unable to upgrade!” The rest of my people go the idea and activated their own Cyberman Steel. That was the final straw as the number of Cybermen went down.

“They are incompatible!” boomed the Cyber-King. “Delete! Delete! Delete!”

“What does that mean?!” quizzed Fourze.

“It means they’re going to kill us instead of upgrade us!” yelped Battle.

“You know,” mused Fourze, “I think I have an idea!” He took out the Rocket and Radar switches and took a cellphone out with a red front with an N and a blue bottom with an S. Both ends had a switch on each end. Fourze opened the phone and split it in half. He inserted the red switch into the right arm slot.

“N Magnet!” announced the belt. Fourze then put the blue end into the left arm slot. “S Magnet!” He then pressed a button on the switches where the phone halves were. “N/S! Magnet on!” called the belt. Machinery appeared, resting on Fourze’s shoulders. It had a twin barreled gun on the back and a helmet that went over the head with Fourze’s antennae and eyes on it.

“Fourze, Magnet states!” announced Fourze. He grabbed the phone halves and pressed concealed buttons on them, firing magnetic bursts at the Cybermen.

“Alert! Alert! Cannot upgrade! Cannot Upgrade!” cried a Cyberman.

“Let’s see,” muttered Fourze, “let’s have you guys on your king’s arm!” He moved the Cybermen and magnetized them to the left arm of the Cyber-King. The weight brought it down to our level. We soon used the strength of our Cyberman Steel and ripped the arm off.

“What is the meaning of this?!” boomed the Cyber-King. “Your species belongs to us! Your species will become like us!” More Cybermen marched in. “Delete! Delete! Hostiles will be deleted! Delete the rogue elements! Delete!”

“We get it!” called Fourze. “You want to kill us!”

“Those who are not compatible for upgrade will be deleted,” droned a Cyberman before Fourze tried the same trick again.

“You are incompatible! Delete! Delete!” boomed the Cyber-King.

“Would you just shut up!” I shouted as I touched Fourze, gaining his i.d tag and swapping it out with the one I was using. I selected the magnet states.

“Fourze Magnet States Steel!” announced my belt.

“N/S Magnet on!” called the voice of Fourze’s belt. I had gained the same magnetic shooter backpack and almost fell over.

“How do you walk around in this thing?!” I yelped.

“It’s meant to be stationary,” explained Fourze. I then regained balance and helped Fourze as I mimed pulling the triggers on the handles. We sent the Cybermen onto the Cyber-King’s remaining arm. We then tore that thing apart!

“NO!” it defied. “You will perish under maximum deletion!” It started sparking. “Upgrade process is…FAILING?! What have you done?! This is not possible! The Cybermen are superior! We are the Cybermen, and you are inferior!”

“We have it on the ropes!” I called.

“Allow me!” replied Fourze. He pulled the handle on the side of his belt. Three klaxon alarms sounded.

“Limit Break!” announced the belt.

“Rider Super Electromagnetic Bomber!” shouted Fourze. He flipped the cover off the red phone half and pressed the button. The guns on the back came off and united in front of him in the shape of a u-shaped magnet. The new weapon fired as a railgun would and destroyed the torso and legs. All that was left was the head. It removed itself from the remains and scurried up the stairs into the hallway above its alcove. The vortex riders returned to their original form, while Fourze returned to Gentarō. We pursued it with Cybermen coming out of the walls, literally! The Cyber-King’s entered a room then shut the door as it entered a hallway. We couldn’t near enough to the keypad as the Cybermen swarmed us. We were starting to tire out!

“Anyone have a plan?!” I asked. Then I noticed one of the enemy’s numbers waved at us. “What the?” A Cyberman caught it.

“Explain your actions,” it quizzed. “It does nothing to delete these rogue elements.”

“What, myself included?” it asked in a synthesized man’s voice. Wait, what?!

“What is the meaning of this?!” asked a Cyber-Leader.

“Sorry, old chaps,” replied the rogue Cyberman, “but these people must pursue the Cyber-King.” It then fired on the rest of the Cybermen!

“Rogue unit detected!” reported the Cyber-Leader. “Delete! Delete!”

“Quickly!” called the rogue Cyberman as it opened the door. “Through here!” We entered the door with the Cyberman behind us. We escaped and got out into an area with air. We released our transformations and started catching our breath. This dimension had a lot of running involved.