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.