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Kamen Rider Vortex Kamen Rider Vortex Chapters

Chapter 39

Day 1: The Beaver tribe had just finished our training field and were given a new job to reinforce some buildings in the Lion Temple. This would definitely serve our purposes. “All right,” called Daisuke, “you want to be beast?”

“Yeah!” I shouted.

“Then we begin today!” declared Daisuke. “We start by running through that maze!” We got into position. “Go!” shouted Daisuke. We ran in and that’s when I got the full brunt of it. Balls on chains whacked into my sides, sending me into the air. When I landed, a bunch of arrows whizzed past, one of them sticking into my butt. As I ran, a wall popped up and I ran smack dab into it. I passed out. Later, I woke up at the start with Daisuke shaking his head. “We have lots work to do,” he muttered.


Day 4: I was doing some laps around the training field with Daisuke passing me a couple of times, but I was hardly sweating.


Day 6: Weight training was going miserably. Daisuke was lifting a quarter of a ton while I could barely lift 10 pounds.


Day 13: Chin-ups. My grip was so awful, I fell on my butt a lot.


Day 17: Swimming. This one went a little better. In fact, it seemed to make Daisuke change tactics. “You say Hiro tiger cyborg?” he asked.

“Yes,” I confirmed.

“Tigers good swimmers,” remembered Daisuke. “We going at this wrong way. We need to use tiger strengths, like swimming. Running also strength. We need to work on power in arms, tree climbing, and jumping.”


Day 25: Daisuke’s new Tiger regimen seems to be working. I was climbing trees rather well.


Day 28: I don’t know the full details of what happened, but I can tell you what went on in my mind. Daisuke and I were sparring, rather brutally, I might add. I was falling on the kicks and punches of traditional fighting, but Daisuke grew up in the wilds. He didn’t pull any punches. After a few minutes, he slashed across my face and something happened. For a while, my vision went red, and then I blacked out. I woke up looking at the ceiling of the healing hut next to the training field. “Wha…happen…?” I asked, groggily.

“We were hoping YOU could shed some light,” replied Batman. He brought out a camera, showing what happened. When Daisuke slashed across my face, I twitched for a while. My face seemed to contort into a primal rage. My eyes…were not human. If anything, they looked more beast like. All of a sudden, my mouth and nose elongated into a feline’s mouth. My ears sunk into my head while rounded ears sprouted from the top. My muscles were rewriting themselves and bulking out while hair was sprouting all over my body. The hair was taking an orange color and black stripes were coming out too. My fingers and toes then unsheathed claws as metal piping sprouted from my arms, legs, and back. Monster-me then unleashed a roar and went on a savage rampage, knocking Daisuke off his feet. At that point, he crouched and got into a defensive stance, getting his fingers in a claw fashion as he snarled. He then raised his hands up, then crossed them across his chest, then uncrossed and raised them again.

“A-MA-ZON!” he roared. His eyes turned a demonic red as his body changed. He turned into a lizard based Kamen Rider with a white scarf. “Amazon!” he announced. I presume this was the name Hiroki used for Daisuke’s rider form. We charged at each other and grappled. It seemed I was fighting blindly, and Amazon saw this. He got the upper hand quickly and delivered an uppercut. I was sent spinning as Amazon leapt at me. “Jaguar Shock!” he said before his helmet split apart enough for his teeth to sink into my arm. Apparently, that’s when I passed out again and he brought me to the healing hut. I saw my arm in bandages and my own form in the usual human one.

“Well, that could have gone better,” I sighed.

“No focus on bad,” encouraged Daisuke. “We need know why you went nuts.”

“It seems like a scratch did it,” I observed, “but why? I’ve been shot at, blown up, stabbed at, poisoned, and what have you. A simple scratch to my face shouldn’t have done that.”

“When you finished healing, we continue training,” declared Daisuke.

“Sensei,” (Teacher) I countered, “with all due respect, we need to finish training as quickly as possible.”

“Can’t do that when hurt,” replied Daisuke. “Rest. Nothing will…” Tanisha’s belt buzzed.

“Happen?” I said, completing Daisuke’s sentence. “Who is it? Vorton?” I asked Tanisha. Her eyes went wide.

“No, Vader. And he wants to meet in front of the Lion Temple,” she replied.

“Vader? You’re talking about Darth Vader, right?” I yelped. Tanisha nodded and I gulped.

“Who’s Vader?” asked Batman.

“A very dangerous man,” gulped Tonje. “Once known as a Jedi Knight, Anakin Skywalker, he was seduced by Darth Sidious to become his apprentice. One of the best pilots in the Galactic Empire and one of the most powerful Sith Lords, Vader is a very skilled cyborg.”

“Another cyborg?” hissed Batman. “Robin’s friend is one! That’s enough!”

“Regardless,” continued Tonje, “he also possesses a skill with something called the Force, that universe’s name for magic, if you will.”

“So, a dark wizard, then?” guessed Gandalf.

“A dark wizard/knight, yes,” I replied. “Am I good to move?”

“Megumi, you’re not about to agree to meet Darth Vader, are you?!” asked Tanisha.

“I want to see what he wants,” I declared. “I’m fully aware of his reputation in his native universe, but I want to hear him out, get a bead on who’s side he’s on and all that.”

“He’s probably on Vortech’s side!” argued Tanisha.

“But why would his master, Emperor Sheev Palpatine, bother?” asked Tonje.

“Sheev?” I muttered. “That’s his first name?”

“Think about it, you two,” continued Tonje. “Palpatine wouldn’t dare have anyone over him. He’s too power hungry for that.”

“True,” conceded Tanisha, “but who’s to say that he won’t bide his time like with the Republic?”

“Another point,” I muttered, “there IS the Rule of Two to consider.”

“Rule of Two?” asked Hongo.

“There’s always two in the Sith,” I explained, “a Master and an Apprentice. And the Apprentice must kill their Master to take their place.”

“You think this may be part of Vader’s plan to kill his master,” guessed Batman.

“Yes,” I confirmed. “We’re going to meet him.”


We arrived at the Lion Temple Entrance, where a vessel was waiting. The center cockpit was spherical and had connections to curved wings on the side. A hatch opened from the top, allowing a figure to jump out. There he crouched, with the Lions ready to strike at a moment’s notice. “Lower your weapons,” I called to the Lions. “He’s been expecting me.” The figure stood up. Standing at 6’7”, the figure was clad all in black. His helmet evoked that of the Samurai, minus the crest. A control panel was on his front. A black cape was held by his metallic shoulder pads and a silver tube was clipped to his side. His breathing was deep and clearly assisted by the machinery that makes up a good chunk of his body. Darth Vader stared right at me.

“You are wise to have them stand down, Your Highness,” he said in his familiar booming, deep voice, “In any case, I am NOT here to fight, but to give you this.” He held out a glowing orb.

“That’s a Chi Orb!” called a Lion.

“Fire Chi, if memory serves,” mused Tanisha. Wyldstyle’s scanner went crazy.

“It’s also putting out the same energy signature as the Foundation Elements,” she reported when she checked it. “We’re being gifted the Element of this universe!”

“And your loved ones, bar a Mr. Hayato Ichimonji, a Mr. Dick Grayson, a Mr. Frodo Baggins, and a Mr. MetalBeard, are in Crocodile Swamp, under the combined ‘benevolent’ care of Shocker Rift and Crooler,” boomed Vader.

“Then the ones you named are still on Foundation Prime,” guessed Batman.

“Correct,” confirmed Vader.

“In my universe, everything about you is detailed,” I commented. “I know you too well. What do you want in return?”

“A place in your organization,” replied Vader.

“Say what?” yelped Tonje.

“Vortech had attacked my universe and nearly destroyed my master,” explained Vader. “That kind of blood is reserved for the apprentice, so I want to show him the power of the Dark Side of the Force.”

“But we’re practically Jedi,” I argued. “Besides, you have an army. Why come to us?”

“Because this endeavor requires something beyond the scope of even the Emperor’s command,” replied Vader, “your power, the very power you’re attempting to tap into, Your Highness.”

“Then I see no reason to have a Sith Lord in my team,” I declared.

“On the contrary,” countered Vader. “You and Kamen Rider Apocalypse may be our only hope to defeat Vortech, but only I can provide you with troops.”

“You think our team is insufficient?” I asked.

“Do you really think guerilla tactics will stop someone like Vortech?” boomed Vader. “Like the Emperor, he doesn’t need to worry about every single detail. He has many soldiers at his beck and call.”

“You can provide us troops?” I ventured.

“If you let me join, I can give you the vast resources of the Empire,” offered Vader. It took a few seconds to consider.

“ABSOLUTELY NOT!” shouted Batman. “Dealing with a reformed witch and a living trashcan is bad enough but having an unrepentant villain in our ranks?! Besides, he’s working his own agenda!”

“One that’s being interfered with,” I countered. “Lord Vader, forgive my suspicion, but how long do you think our alliance will last?”

“As long as mutually beneficial,” replied Vader.

“And after we beat Vortech?” I continued.

“I will return to my universe to destroy my master,” declared Vader.

“Like with Starkiller?” I quizzed.

“Make no mistake,” growled Vader, “this time, I will require no such apprentice.” Judging by the tone, Vader needed my decision now.

“All right, you can join us,” I said.

“Megumi, what are you doing?!” yelped Tonje.

“Meg, NO!!” wailed Tanisha. Oh, how I hate that nickname. Everyone in the F.N.S knows that!

“We’re at war, right now,” I declared. “We need soldiers.” I then fired up my communicator. “X-PO, get me in contact with Hiroki and Emily.”

“What, no ‘Hello, X-PO, I have an update for you on my training’?” snarked X-PO.

“Just do it,” I hissed. X-PO grumbled, but I was soon connected. “Hey, guys,” I called. “How are you holding up?”

“Well, the Dinobots, Beast Wars Dinobot, and the Dinosaurs they’re based on are rampaging across the island to stop Igura, my childhood tormentor, and Beast Era Megatron in a techno-organic body from getting the Foundation Element,” reported Emily. “The Genetically modified Dinos haven’t been spotted, so I don’t think they’re joining in the fight. Oh, did I mention that we’re in Jurassic World?” She then blew a raspberry. “The first movie was enough.”

“Nothing exciting on my end,” commented Hiroki.

“Well, I’m about to send some your way,” I sighed. “Make all necessary preparations for Darth Vader’s arrival. He’s joining us in our war against Vortech.” There was a long silence. “…Guys?”

“ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR TINY LITTLE MIND?!” shrieked Emily.

“That’s the second time that phrase was used towards me today,” I hissed. “Frankly, I’m getting annoyed.”

“Nee-san, you’re talking about letting Darth Vader, a Dark Lord of the Sith, join us!” yelped Hiroki.

“He gave us the Foundation Element of this universe, told us that our families are here, and can provide us troops,” I argued. “We need his help.”

“Oh, how considerate of him!” yelled Emily. “That will totally pardon his sins!”

“Look, I’m not thrilled about it either, but we need every advantage we can get!” I snapped. “Lord Vader, do you have Vorton’s coordinates?”

“I do, Your Highness,” confirmed Vader.

“Then Hiroki will receive you and whatever troops you decide to bring,” I replied. “And, Hiroki, Emily, Vader is to be treated with respect, is that clear?!” After a pause, I heard two people sigh.

“Crystal clear,” mumbled Hiroki.

“We understand,” muttered Emily.

“Good,” I declared. “I’ll stay behind to focus on a new development that happened to me. I’ll tell you all about it when I get back. Megumi Out.” I ended communications. “Lord Vader, forgive us if the welcome is…less than welcoming.”

“I understand,” replied Vader. “I shall see you on Vorton.” He entered his TIE fighter and took off. A rift opened for him and he went in.

“Megumi, I must continue to object,” hissed Tanisha.

“Noted, and I will deal with the consequences if it turns out to be a poor choice,” I commented. “For now, I need to control my animal side.”

“Not control,” argued Daisuke. “That always bad idea to try to control and suppress. Treat tiger side as partner, like you do with horse.” The thought never occurred to me. I considered my sensei’s words. In all honesty, it makes sense.

“When do we begin again?” I asked.


Five…weeks. …Five weeks since I came here, and only now does Hiro decide to move us. “Where are you taking us?” I demanded.

“That’s not your concern,” hissed Hiro. “What IS your concern is that you will bear witness to an experiment.”

“What experiment?” I asked.

“You’ll see,” said Hiro cryptically. We arrived at an intricate wooden structure. “Megumi! I’m calling you out!” That was when a rock knocked him flat.

“Go away, Hiro!” roared my daughter’s voice. “I’m busy doing much more important…”

“MEGUMI!” I shouted, hearing her. My daughter’s head then appeared. She saw us and jumped down.

“Let them go,” she threatened, “or I’ll…!”

“Begin the experiment,” ordered Hiro. A burbling sound was heard as a tiny bit of goo appeared behind her. Sludgiona then sprouted and grabbed Megumi from behind.

“LET HER GO!” demanded Fred. Hiro took out a ring and flung it at Megumi. It opened up and slapped around her neck. Sludgiona then released her as the collar started shocking her. After half a minute, her face went into a primal rage and my sweet, little girl turned into a cyborg Tiger monster! She gave off a roar before she seemed to calm down.

“YEE! YEE!” reported a Combatman.

“Excellent news!” chuckled Hiro. “The Neuro-collar works! Megumi is now under our control! I have the perfect test! Megumi, snap Haruna’s pitiful neck!” What happened next will always scare me. She moved slowly to obey!

“Megumi, please!” I begged, tears coming down. “I’m your mother! It’s me! Haruna Hishikawa! The one who saved you from his grasp once before!” She advanced on me. “Megumi! I beg you! Don’t do this!” She was right in front of me, her new form towering over me. Then, I heard a snap.


“YES! THE TEST IS SUCCESSFUL!” cheered Hiro. “I can’t believe it! I finally have my daughter under my control! We’ll conquer the multiverse in a flash! We’ll…! What do you want?!” he asked the Combatman that was tapping his shoulder. The Combatman pointed over to my location, where I was holding the crumbly remains of Okaa-san’s (mother) handcuffs.

“Hashire!” (Run!) I urged Okaa-san. When he saw Okaa-san run, Hiro goggled.

“Wha…?!” he spluttered. “What are you doing?! I said kill her!”

“Hiro-sama!” reported the Combatman. It seems us Shocker Cyborgs can understand what the Combatmen are saying when they say “YEE!” “The Neuro-collar is being rewritten!”

“Override!” ordered Hiro as he lined up his sights on my mother.

“I’m trying!” yelped the Combatman. “The transponder isn’t…!” I didn’t hear the rest of what he said as I ran towards Hiro, unsheathing my new claws.

“KON’ARO!” (shortened version of a phrase used when saying “You Bastard!”) I roared. Now, that phrase is one to avoid if you want to stay away from a fight in Japan. In this instance, I was aiming to start one. I swiped at Hiro so hard, he was sent spinning into a nearby pond. I took the liberty of destroying the collar. Okaa-san made it to safety as she turned to the enemy forces.

“It appears my daughter still has a will of her own,” she observed.

“MASAKA?!” (Are you kidding me?!) shouted Hiro as he got out, soaking wet. He turned to another Combatman. “Trace the problem to its source and fix it!”

“The problem is that you underestimated me again,” I declared. “Did you really think I wouldn’t try to use this form to my advantage?”

“You pest!” snarled Hiro. “You learned how to master it?!”

“I had help from Amazon,” I replied. Daisuke grinned. “He was getting me on the right track, but we had to deal with moments of uncontrollable rage. I blacked out during those events, but I took the time to meditate to try and understand that side. Now I know. It didn’t know what its prey was. Now, it has a clear picture of you.”

“Baka Ne!” (You dolt!) insulted Hiro as he changed into his Cyborg form. “I’ve been using this longer than you have!”

“Ikuze, Tora-otoko,” I challenged. We charged at each other and fought like animals. Meanwhile, Batman and the others fought off the enemy ranks to free the rest of the hostages. It took some time, but our families were freed!

“All right, that’s it!” swore Hiro as he loaded his i.d tag. “Henshin!” I got out my own.

“Henshin,” I whispered. We then formed our suits and clashed.

“I will enjoy ripping you in half!” declared Rogue.

“You can try,” I challenged. “You’ll fail, like always. Super Charge.”

“SUPER CHARGE!” roared Rogue. We ran at each other as we became more powerful and drew our respective blades. We kept striking until we entered a blade lock. “It doesn’t look like your belt hasn’t given you any more power!” laughed Proto-Rift.

“You rely too much on your tech,” I mused. “Besides, I can see freed hostages right now, one of my objectives is complete.” Proto-Rift whirled around to see Sheela’s parents being freed. The hostages were safe in the training field. Hongo then struck his henshin pose as Tanisha and Tonje took out their i.d tags.

“Rider…” began Hongo.

“Henshin!” announced my friends. The trio then transformed and attacked the rest.

“I’ve just about had it! Dai Super Charge!” shouted Proto-Rift. His bulky armor flew off and we ducked in time. Rift then charged our ranks, knocking me down in the process. “Your heart may be in the right place, Megumi,” he snarled before he kicked me in the chest. “But, you have much to learn before you can, ever again, hope to stand your ground against me. A moment, sadly, that will never come!” He raised his blade.

“A-MA-ZON!” roared Daisuke’s voice. Amazon then tackled Rift. “Jaguar Shock!” he announced before he clamped his jaws onto Rift’s arm.

“GET AWAY FROM MY DAUGHTER!” shouted Okaa-san before she leapt onto Rift’s head and started slamming her fists down on his head. Rift then flung the two off him and grabbed their throats. At that time, my belt started glowing. I looked down, realizing what was going on.

“Are you…certain…I’m worthy of this power?” I asked.

“You have no idea,” assured Vortoranii. My belt then started compressing into its original shape, but it kept the cream and gold. While that was going on, Rift was talking to Amazon and Okaa-san.

“I never faced you before, wild-man,” he mused. “And you, lady, oh, I remember you! You ruined what would have been the greatest experiment ever. So, if you will both kindly die, I will…” His voice trailed off as Amazon looked behind him. Hiro turned to see me with the new belt. His helmet’s eyes showed his real ones went wide. He then tossed his captives to the ground and charged at me. I held my hands up in the air, like in my final Super Charge pose, rotated them down to cross in front of me, then moved my left fist to my hip and held my right hand out with my pinky and thumb down.

“Dai Super Charge!” I announced. I then got into a fighting stance as the bulk of my armor flew off. My power increased and the previous armor struck Rift, knocking him flat. He picked himself up as everyone saw what I looked like now. I couldn’t see, but I could feel the power radiating from me. “Batman, Ichigō, Wyldstyle, Gandalf, Hunt, Swing, Amazon-sensei, to me,” I declared. All the people I named ran right to me and formed up. “Minna, catchphrase time. I will finish this time.”

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

“Kamen Rider Hunt! I shall always get my prey!”

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

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

“I’m Batman! The Dark Knight rises!”

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

“Kamen Rider Amazon!” called Amazon. “I show you who is true king of jungle!”

“Kamen Rider Vortex,” I declared. “Evil will ultimately bow to me.” Rift twitched before he called up someone on his communicator.

“Drop the mountain on them!” he ordered. We looked up to see a mountain falling towards us. I readied my blade, charged it with energy, and swung it. The energy slash cleaved the mountain in two and the halves fell away from us. Rift was trembling in rage. “Kamen Rider Rift!” he roared. “Stand and deliver!” He readied his blade, but we were too quick for him. Batman threw a batarang. Gandalf charged it with magic, thus it exploded on contact with Rift’s blade. Wyldstyle built a catapult, asked Amazon to step on, and launched him while Amazon readied himself for his finisher.

“DAI SETSUDAN!” he announced as he sliced into Rift. Ichigō, Hunt, Swing, and I leapt into the air for our kicks.

“RIDER KICK!”

“RIDER HUNT KICK!”

“RIDER SWING KICK!”

“RIDER VORTEX KICK!” Our kicks hit their mark and we landed. Rift’s transformation was canceled and Hiro started sparking. I got up to see that a look of defeat was in his eyes. “Hiro-san,” I commented, “I know we’ve had our differences and tried to kill each other.”

“I’m not hearing this!” snapped Okaa-san.

“But, I’m not without mercy,” I assured. “Let us help you and I promise you WILL be safe from Vortech’s wrath.” I held out my hand. “What say you?” Hiro snarled.

“You…just want…information!” he spat. “And…even if you didn’t, I will never…accept help…from…you! You…robbed me…of my advantage! You robbed me…of any respect I’ve had within…Shocker Rift! You…disgraced me…in the eyes…of Igura! I have nothing! And…I will give you…nothing!” He stood up. “Shocker…Gundan……BANZAI!” (Long live the Shocker Army!). He exploded, leaving nothing but ash. The enemy retreated, taking Sludgiona with them.

“Stupid man!” shouted Hunt.

“Yes,” I muttered, “I was rather hoping he would accept.”

“What for?!” called Okaa-san.

“He was right,” I replied. “I needed information. I also wanted to show him that mercy isn’t weakness. It seems he didn’t accept that.”

“Vorton to Team Chima,” called X-PO’s voice. “We’re reading a massive power signature. What’s going on?”

“Megumi just became Kamen Rider Vortex,” reported Ichigō.

“And there was a hostage situation here in Chima,” I supplied. “Tell everyone that our loved ones are safe, but Ichimonji, Robin, MetalBeard, and Frodo are still in Vortech’s clutches.”

“And we’ve got the Foundation Element!” called Wyldstyle.

“I’ll open a rift!” cheered X-PO.

“Everyone!” roared a voice. Lagravis, Crominus, and Ewald came running up. Lagravis clapped eyes on me. “Who are you?” he asked.

“It’s me, Megumi, Your Majesty,” I assured as we cancelled our transformations.

“So, your training is over?” asked Ewald.

“Indeed, it is,” I confirmed. “We must be going now.” A portal opened for us.

“Will you stay with us?” Hongo asked Daisuke.

“I must go home,” replied Daisuke. “Call me if you need me.”

“We’ll get you home when we get to Vorton,” I promised.

“Before you go,” called Crominus as he drew out a bag, “my son found these. Please accept them as a gift for getting rid of Shocker Rift.” You guessed it. Studs.

“390,000 studs,” counted Vortoranii. “We’re at 2,004,000 now.” A rift opened for us.

“You have my thanks,” I said as I accepted the gift.

“And you have ours,” replied Lagravis. We bowed to each other before my team, our families, and I departed.

Categories
Kamen Rider Vortex Kamen Rider Vortex Chapters

Chapter 37

It took a while to locate him, but Daisuke was located in the Amazon, his namesake. He was in my universe, thank goodness. “All set?” Megumi asked me.

“Ready when the support staff is,” I called. Our newest ally, Chell, gave the thumbs-up.

“Ganbarou, Hongo-san!” (Good luck!) wished Hiroki. I waved my thanks and headed through the portal. As I went through, my mind went through all sorts of questions, chief among them was “Would he recognize me?” He was a wild man when I met him last. I soon arrived. The coordinates could only get me as far as the Amazon in my universe. Now comes the slightly easier part, finding Daisuke in this place.

“Away we go,” I declared. I started walking. As I walked, I heard branches on the ground snapping. I stopped as I realized there were multiple sources. “Daisuke?” I asked, hoping I was among friends. Perhaps a little too much to hope for. A four-armed ant monster leapt out with men in black bodysuits with tassels running along the arms and women in red bodysuits with the same tassels, only wearing silver eye masks instead of full face masks. I had remembered the ant monster be called Togeari Jūjin (Ant Beastman) from Daisuke. “A fight, I see?” I remarked. I got into the sequence. “Rider…HEN…!”

“Stop him!” ordered Togeari Jūjin. The foot soldiers attacked before I could finish. That’s something new for me. These guys were starting to overpower me! Just as Togeari Jūjin raised his arms to strike, he was tackled by something, or someone. The monster threw the person off. It was a man of Japanese ancestry, his hair, betraying some silver, was wild, like the expression on his face. He wore a silver bracelet on his upper left arm. He was muscular and had his hands out in a clawed fashion while he crouched as if he was going to pounce.

“Not nice place to meet, Hongo,” he said in his broken Japanese.

“I had to find you,” I replied. “Shall we?” Daisuke brought me into a tree where we could continue our transformations uninterrupted. Daisuke snarled and growled as he crouched. I did my usual sequence. “Rider…HENSHIN!” While I did that, Daisuke held his hands up in a clawed fashion, crossed them in front of him, and uncrossed and raised them again.

“A-MA-ZON!” he cried. As we leapt down, we changed into our Rider forms. His motif looked more like a monitor lizard than an insect like I take. He was green with red lines appearing on the suit, had yellow torso armor to look like abs, black boots and gloves with fins and silver claws on his fingers. His helmet looked almost like a green anglerfish and piranha. He had red eyes like mine, a single antenna with a red ball on top, and a jaw guard that moved when his jaw moved. His belt was white with a red handle on each side of the buckle, a buzz-saw blade pointing forward on the buckle, and red eyes on top. The look was completed with a white scarf. “Amazon!” shouted Daisuke once we landed. This was Kamen Rider Amazon, the sixth Kamen Rider of my era. We then went on the offensive. Amazon had an animalistic berserker style, thus fighting with bites and scratches as well as punches and kicks. He also gives off a battle cry of “Gii! Gii!” whenever he fights. When he dealt with the foot soldiers near him, he then targeted Togeari Jūjin. They grappled for a while as I took care of the foot soldiers. Normally, I wouldn’t hit women, but these ladies are serving evil and are trying to kill me. I didn’t have much of a choice. “How you here?!” quizzed Amazon to his opponent as he fought.

“A man named Hiro Adachi brought me back to take care of you!” explained Togeari Jūjin. “He said you would prove to be too dangerous to his employer’s plans and so got me back from Hell!”

“Then I send you back there!” declared Amazon. He leapt onto his opponent and bit hard into his exoskeleton. He then leapt off to use his finisher. “DAI SETSUDAN!” (Great Slice) he said as he chopped into the creature. Togeari Jūjin screamed before falling over dead. The foot soldiers ran when they saw their commanding officer die. We panted to catch our breath. “You…change…a lot,” panted Amazon as he caught his breath.

“I had my cybernetics upgraded,” I replied. We cancelled our transformations.

“Why you here?” asked Daisuke.

“I’m here because of a greater threat,” I answered. “Our universe is under attack by a creature named Lord Vortech. He’s gathering these objects called Foundation Elements, artefacts that keep all universes stable, and he’s using other people to do his dirty work. I have other friends helping me fight him, and one of them needs your help.”

“My help?” asked Daisuke.

“Her name is Megumi Hishikawa,” I explained. “She’s someone who just found out that she’s a naturally occurring Shocker Cyborg with Tiger DNA. She wants to access that side so she can become someone called Kamen Rider Vortex.”

“Another Rider need my help?” quizzed Daisuke.

“Exactly,” I confirmed.

“Where she?” asked Daisuke.

“She’s in another universe,” I answered. “I have the means to get us there.”

“Then we go!” declared Daisuke. I brought out my communicator.

“X-PO, Daisuke has agreed!” I called. “Ready to rejoin Megumi’s team!”

“One rift to the Princess, coming up!” announced X-PO.

“Princess?” quizzed Daisuke.

“In her native universe, it’s just an act,” I explained. The rift opened. Daisuke stepped back a bit. “It’s alright, it’s safe,” I assured. Daisuke cautiously stepped forward, then leapt in. I followed and saw him tumbling and screaming in terror. “This is gonna be a long trip,” I thought.


Once Hongo left, Rusty got to work finding the Jurassic Park world. I turned to Emily’s team. “All set?” I asked.

“Ready and waiting, your highness,” replied Emily as she made some last-minute adjustments to her hairpiece.

“Target coordinates set!” reported Rusty.

“We’ll see you later!” called Emily as she and her team went through.

“That just leaves us,” muttered Batman.

“My lady,” queried Gandalf, “are you sure this is the right course of action?”

“The enemy has an advantage over us,” I replied. “With Hiro having that kind of power, Vortech could finish us with a simple order. If I can access my Cyborg side, we may level the playing field again. And, before you ask, no, I’m not training in my dress. That’s too many skirts for me to worry about. Trust me, the training clothes I have on will serve me in greater stead.”

“Honestly, your clothes never crossed our minds,” assured Wyldstyle.

“You guys are up!” called Elphaba.

“Good luck!” wished Xiomara as Hiroki’s team saw mine off. Tonje and Tanisha led the way with we Keystone bearers following. We fell through the vortex.

“Keep an eye out for the exit!” warned Wyldstyle. “I don’t wanna be floating around this thing all day!” That was when we encountered Hongo and another man. The new arrival was screaming in terror.

“That was quick!” I cheered. “So, that’s Kamen Rider Amazon?”

“He would introduce himself,” replied Hongo, “but I think the experience is traumatizing for him.” The exit then showed up. It was in an ornate building with a Lion theme going on.

“The Lion Temple!” called Tonje.

“We’ll be among friends!” cheered Tanisha. Daisuke lost his breath. We landed in the room, a throne room with a fountain. Anthropomorphic lions were conducting their business when they saw us. One of them, an old man with a silver mane, a sleeveless pearl gold chest plate, and a dark blue kilt and cape stood up from the throne when we landed. He was apparently in conference with an Crocodile man in a gold helmet, a gold chest plate with large shoulder pads, and a red torn up cape as well as an Eagle man in blue robes, a gold chest plate, and a gold helm. He had talons for fingers and a set of wings from his back.

“Who are you?!” roared the lion. The crocodile hissed.

“How dare you interrupt us, apes!” screeched the eagle.

“You want fight?!” snarled Daisuke.

“NO!” yelped Tanisha as she got between us and the animals. “No! No one wants to fight anyone! Please, everyone, let’s not panic!”

“Why should we listen to intruders?!” bellowed the lion.

“Okay, Your Majesty, for once, no tricks,” answered Tanisha. “We’re from another universe where all of Chima’s history was just a tie-in story for a line of building toys. I am Lady Tanisha, an expert on Chima and the various tribes and individuals on said tribes, like you, King Lagravis, ruler of the Lion Tribe.” The lion was startled. “And your fellow rulers here are King Crominus of the Crocodile Tribe and Ewald, current head of the Ruling Council for the Eagle Tribe. Lagravis, you were friends with Crominus, but politics drove you apart. Ewald, you love to find the perfect solution, which is a strength, but a weakness as well. Crominus, you’re trying to get your son, Cragger, to lead in a pragmatic way instead of his hot-headed way. Lagravis, your son is Laval, whom we met. Ewald, your daughter, Eris, prefers to be on the ground with Laval and Cragger.”

“How do you know so much about our personal lives?!” hissed Crominus.

“Like my girlfriend said, you and your lands are part of a building toy line in our universe,” explained Tonje. “We’re all from different universes. I am Tonje. This is Tanisha. This is Hongo. This is Batman. That’s a new friend of ours, Daisuke. That’s Wyldstyle. And this is our leader, Princess Megumi Hishikawa. We’re all humans.”

“Pleased to meet you, Your Majesties,” I greeted. We bowed to them. The tension seemed to go down a bit.

“That’s the who, the what, and the where taken care of,” hissed King Crominus. “Now, all we need is the why.”

“Okay, that will take some time,” I muttered. I started explaining why we were here. When I mentioned Shocker Rift, Crominus hissed.

“Something you wish to share?” asked Ewald.

“That organization you mentioned,” requested Crominus. “Is a man named Hiro Adachi among its members?”

“Yes, as a matter of fact,” I replied.

“He’s near my home, the Crocodile swamp,” declared Crominus

“And that leads me to my reason for being here” I continued. “You see, he’s a Mutant Cyborg of Shocker design and passed on his genetics and (somehow) cybernetics to me. He’s my biological father.”

“And we need to access her Mutant Cyborg side to gain an advantage over Shocker Rift,” supplied Tanisha.

“And you believe your friend, Daisuke and the terrain of Chima can help?” asked Lagravis.

“Yes,” answered Tonje. Lagravis settled and started thinking.

“If I may,” interjected Crominus, “the Beaver Tribe is experiencing a mass vacation. We could use them to build a training ground for her and Daisuke.”

“We don’t want to interrupt anyone’s vacation!” I assured.

“Actually, we do,” countered Tanisha. “The Beaver Tribe finds the idea of vacations abhorrent. It’s been used as a threat as working is considered fun to them.”

“Have any of them suffered karōshi?” asked Hongo. He was met with confused stares.

“The literal translation is ‘overwork death’,” I explained. “Did any beaver work himself to death?”

“Not at all,” replied Lagravis. “In fact, the most Beaver deaths occur during a vacation, when their muscles atrophy to the point of uselessness.”

“Eesh, other end of the spectrum,” I gulped. “All right, which way?”

“Follow us,” called Lagravis. The three rulers led us to these vehicles with one wheel with the controls and seat near the rear. “These Speedorz will get us to the Beaver Tribe,” explained Lagravis

“I’ve always wanted to ride one!” cheered Tonje.

“I’m not so sure I want to ride one,” said Tanisha, a little hesitant.

“Oh, don’t be a baby,” teased Tonje. “How hard can it beeeEEEEEEE!!!!” The Speedor took off and ran right into a wall near the training grounds for the lions. The Speedor was mangled and Tonje was thrown off in time. “Okay, it’s harder than it looks,” she moaned. She summoned her horse and pressed a button. It turned into a motorcycle!

“Our steeds can do that?!” I called. “How did I not notice that?!”

“Fighting got in the way,” mused Tanisha. She summoned her steed and changed it into a motorcycle as well. I followed suit as well as summoned the other vehicles.

“Can you get mine?” asked Daisuke. “It called Jungler.”

“I’ll see if I can get it,” I said. I searched throughout the rift to find it. I pulled something through. It was a red motorcycle with wings on the back and a mouth and green eyes.

“That Jungler!” called Daisuke. He leapt on it and we sped after the rulers to the Beaver Tribe. It was a civilization that used wood a lot, go figure. The citizens, a diminutive people, looked downcast. The buildings were in tip top shape. The people just sat around with their tools in hand, looking down.

“Tanisha,” I whispered.

“I know,” observed Tanisha. “They don’t have work to do. We need to talk to Breezor.

“Is he the leader?” I asked.

“Right,” confirmed Tonje. We headed to a large hut to see a beaver sitting on a throne.

“That’s Breezor,” explained Lagravis. He then turned to the beaver. “Breezor, my friend!” Breezor looked up.

“Welcome to my hall, Lagravis,” greeted Breezor. “I wish you visited us in better spirits.”

“We actually came to lift your spirits,” called Crominus.

“Oh?” asked Breezor. “Some sort of circus?”

“A building job for this lady,” replied Ewald as he pointed to me. Breezor and the beavers in the hut got out of their funk slightly.

“Go on,” invited Breezor.

“Megumi, you explain,” directed Crominus.

“Thank you, Your Majesty,” I replied. “Mr. Breezor, as you guessed, I’m not from any tribe of Chima. And an enemy is coming that will take something called the Foundation Element. Because of that, I need to access my beast side quickly and will need Daisuke’s help. Can you guys build a training ground to help in that regard?”

“Do you even need to ask?!” cheered Breezor. He grabbed a wrench and addressed his people. “Grab your tools! We have work to do!” The people cheered, grabbed tools, made plans, and then rushed for the site.

“That was quick,” I mused.

“Follow those Beavers!” called Tanisha. We got on our vehicles and sped after them. This was gonna take some time.


“I can’t believe this,” Hiro muttered. “Vortech decides which hostages to use and which not to? Why should I bring the families of the Vortex Riders when Frodo, Robin, Ichimonji, and MetalBeard are more valuable?!”

“What’s he going on about?” asked one of the hostages, a Mrs. Linda Saunders.

“Ah, the usual,” I replied in the language we Shocker Combatmen use, that “Yee!” sound we make. It’s so refreshing to talk with someone who understands you that ISN’T your boss. “He’s sore that you guys were chosen as bargaining chips instead of those that carried Foundation Elements.”

“Hoo boy,” muttered Linda’s husband, Fred another person who understands us. “How will that impact your work?”

“His mannerisms are already doing so,” I sighed.

“I understand that we need whatever power that’s required to conquer our universe,” griped a Combatman working on the communications array with me, “but the way he’s going, I’m halfway tempted to ask him for time off!”

“Hey, does the name Mikoto mean anything to you?” asked Linda. “Nova Combatman, er, woman?”

“Yeah, I know her, why?” replied my partner.

“Yeah, I heard that my daughter, Emily got rid of her,” winced Linda.

“NO!” moaned my partner. “Not Mikoto-chan! I was gonna ask her out when she came back!” I gave him and the Saunders a cup of tea.

“Here’s to Mikoto-chan,” I toasted. We raised our cups. “Rest in peace, friend.” We then poured the contents of the cups onto the ground as libations.

“Why are you twits slacking?!” roared Hiro. “I want communications to Foundation Prime established before Vortech is…*ahem*…is…bothered by such…distracting minutiae.” My partner and I got communications set up and Hiro took over. “Inputting access code and booting up,” he reported. Vortech’s face appeared.

“Good to see that the operation didn’t fail in the communications department,” remarked Vortech.

“Good to hear you too,” muttered Hiro. “We’re about to initiate the search for the Vortex Riders.”

“See that you don’t disappoint,” ordered Vortech.

“Certainly knows how to inspire, doesn’t he?” muttered Linda.

“You, shut up!” snapped Hiro.

Categories
Kamen Rider Vortex Kamen Rider Vortex Chapters

Chapter 36

“That was…quite an adventure you had!” I breathed. Tanisha curtsied as we clapped. “I think you left out where you got the studs, though.”

“Oh, Wheatley had accidentally snagged them when he was looking around GLaDOS’ gateway room,” explained Tanisha. “I took them when we were in the rift.”

“All right, my friends, I think we’ve had a long day,” I sighed. “Now, why don’t we…”

“Did you know that the mitochondria is your powerhouse? Wait, you’re not Cell!” I instinctively punched the guy that said that and he crashed into the wall. He slid down as if he was dead.

“Did…I just…manslaughter…Spider-Man?” I asked .

“Really?” sighed Emily. “Gonna make THAT mistake?”

“At least SOMEONE knows me!” muttered the guy I punched.

“Wait, how did you…?” I asked, unsure of how he survived that.

“Mutant, friendo!” laughed the guy. He jumped to his feet so I could see the number of pouches on his red and black suit. “Well, Mutate, really, but, whatevs!”

“Wade, how did you find us?!” sighed Emily.

“My magic unicorn!” snarked the guy. “Anyway, INTRODUCTIONS! I’m your Deadly Neighborhood Deadpool! It rhymes with No School! Too Cool! Ain’t no Fool and I’m acting like my incarnation in the Ultimate Spider-Man TV series. Damn it!”

“Not a breaker!” wailed X-PO.

“A what?” asked Emmanuel.

“There’s a dividing force out in the multiverse,” explained Vortoranii. “A force that divides us from other null dimensions, where nothing exciting happens in the way you’re used to. That force is called the Fourth Wall, and some idiots in the multiverse love to turn it into powder! Hence, breakers!”

“What can I say?” chuckled Deadpool. “She-Honk and I do it a lot!”

“She-HULK, you mean,” corrected Richard.

“Don’t feed him!” wailed Emily.

“She’s big, green, makes noise,” argued Deadpool.

“And has the authority to sue your cancer-ridden rear,” countered Richard.

“A case like that can drag on for years,” dismissed Deadpool.

“So, wait, are you some guy who randomly spouts nonsense?” I asked.

“Among other things,” supplied Emily. “He’s called the Merc With a Mouth.”

“Merc?” I repeated “As in, mercenary?”

“Yepperoni!” confirmed Deadpool. “And, right now, some Asian dude contracted me to assassinate your skirt wearing ass!” He pointed to me.

“Ignoring the fact that you can’t tell the Japanese apart from the rest of Asia, the thought of Hiro stooping that low never really crossed my mind,” I said.

“Yeah, well, the pic he gave me looks nothing like you.” Deadpool held up a picture of Sailor Moon.

“Oh, absolutely not!” I confirmed.

“Ah well!” giggled Deadpool as he tossed the picture aside. “Enough making the Toku Fandom mad. I’m gonna murderlize you real good with Black Betty and Vera!” He pulled out his guns. “Maybe this stupid retelling of Lego Dimensions will get somewhere with me around!”

“Guns?” I asked. “Buddy, your employer can tell you how poorly that’s gonna work out for why is there a breeze through my shoulder?” Deadpool’s left gun was smoking. “I stand corrected,” I mused, “also perforated. Also, AAARRRGGH!” I clutched my shoulder in pain.

“And the blades here are Adamantium, baby!” cheered Deadpool. The twin katanas he had ended up in talk show chairs. “Meet Wanda and Selene! Who I named after my cats, that I had to put down with these swords.” He got up close and whispered in our ears as Emily got the bullet out. “Also, they weren’t cats, but feral tortoises!”

“Henshin!” called Emmanuel. He turned into Arch and fired off an energy arrow into Deadpool’s head. “Un, Deux, Trois, Quatre…” he counted before Deadpool came back up.

“Okay, the swords aren’t Adamantium,” he conceded. “They’re Carbonadium.” Arch shot him again. He hummed the French National Anthem for a bit before Deadpool popped up again. “DAMMIT!” he snapped, getting a little mad. “Listen, you rifle-dropping…!” Arch shot him again before he could get any further with that one.

“Mon Dieu,” muttered Arch, “and you told me he was Canadian, oui Emily?”

“I know, nowhere near as polite,” agreed Emily as she patched up my shoulder. “Go easy on it, all right?”

“All right, that’s F***IN IT!” roared Deadpool as he drew his swords. “Every time you idiots do this to me; you make me lose a bit of my memory! While I’m more than happy to say bye-bye to Uncle Vance and his camping trip from Hell, I can’t risk losing the time I got lucky at band school! So, sit still and let me dice you up!”

“Henshin,” called Emily. As she turned into Touché, her foil blocked his swords. “Listen, Wadey, can I call you Wadey?”

“You can call me whatever you want while I carve you like a goddamn ham!” threatened Deadpool.

“3,706,” counted Touché, remembering all the pig jokes she heard in her life. “Wadey, I get what your shtick is.” She knocked his swords out of his hands.

“AH! MY TIPS!” he yelped.

“One of us does something to you that would kill a normal person,” continued Touché, “you DON’T die, you crack a joke that offends someone, we do it again, rinse and repeat! You’ve lost your luster, dude. So, take your swords, your guns, your Fourth Wall breaking, and go back to your native universe.”

“Eh, sorry,” mused Deadpool, “but, a job’s a job’s a job! And I’m getting paid big time to kill your boss. So, step aside and let this be the easiest 10,000,000,000,000 bucks I’ve ever made!”

“You mean studs, right?” I asked.

“Er, no, I meant bucks,” countered Deadpool. “And not the male venison!”

“Deadpool, neither side uses American Dollars,” remarked Joshua.

“What else is there?” asked Deadpool.

“Can whoever’s watching or writing this explain to Deadpool what’s going on?” Touché asked the heavens as she changed back. A laptop came up from a pedestal in the floor. Deadpool went to DeviantArt, typed in a username, and found the story the artist made. He stopped at a certain point and developed a nasty twitch.

“Studs?” he hissed. “They were gonna pay me…in STUDS?! THAT’S NOT LEGAL TENDER WHERE I’M FROM!! IT’S NOT EVEN ILLEGAL TENDER!! AND THEY WERE GONNA CONVERT ME INTO ONE OF THEIR CYBORGS INSTEAD OF GIVING ME CHIMICHANGAS?! Okay, deep breath…” he inhaled, then exhaled. We waited a few seconds. “Congratulations!” cheered Deadpool. “You’ve just convinced me to break contract and fight Lord Vortech with you guys!”

“What do you want in return?” I asked.

“You ARE a smart one, this ISN’T a freebie!” replied Deadpool. “I want the 10 trillion and chimichangas they promised me!”

“How many chimichangas?” asked Emily. “I think the replicators can make the desired amount.”

“A butt-load!” answered Deadpool. Emily checked the options and saw that there was, indeed, a butt-load option. She selected it and out came the promised amount.

“As for the money,” called X-PO, “how would exclusive rights to the money dimension work out for you?”

“There’s a money dimension?” I asked.

“You’re lying,” muttered Deadpool. X-PO opened a rift and Deadpool stuck his head through. After a few seconds where his arms went limp, he pulled out, his eyes wider than an insect’s. “I could retire on just .01% of that!” he breathed. “Take a look!” We all poked our heads through and…Deadpool wasn’t wrong! Stacks of cash, gold, and jewels as far as the eye can see.

“Smaug wouldn’t have needed Erebor’s gold!” I exclaimed. I turned to Deadpool. “Well? Will that settle our debt?”

“Immensely!” confirmed Deadpool. “In fact, Your Highness, you’re the first person to have me on retainer!” A card printed out of the gateway.

“Just tap the little blue circle and Dimension 1-N-F-1-N-1-T-3-C-4-5-H is yours,” explained X-PO.

“Speaking of dimensions, I gotta get back,” announced Deadpool. “Gotta sharpen my weapons, reload, add a few pouches to the suit…”

“You really ARE a Liefeld creation, aren’t you?” muttered Emily.

“Hey, at least my current artists can draw my feet!” snapped Deadpool. A portal opened up. “And that’s my ride. Smell you later!” Deadpool, mercifully, went through.

“Okay,” I muttered, “any MORE crazies we should deal with, or can we retire to our rooms?” Nothing happened. “Let’s get some rest then.” Everyone dispersed. “Hiroki Nee-san,” I said, “would you walk with me for a sec?”

“Of course,” replied Hiroki. We walked around, away from prying eyes. It was then I decided to speak.

“Sending Tanisha to the Portal universe without backup? What the heck?!” I snapped. Hiroki tensed up.

“Megumi,” he countered, “with all due respect, we were pressed for time. On top of that, Tonje’s not a gamer.”

“I’M not a gamer,” I reminded him, “and I survived that universe. Know why? Because I had the necessary backup. Tanisha would have guided Tonje through that universe just fine. If anything, it would have been easier on Tanisha so someone could have kept Igura off her back.”

“But, would explaining things not have slowed them down?” asked Hiroki. “That universe IS enemy territory.”

“That we have frustrated once before,” I reminded. “There would have been plenty of time for Tanisha to explain things to Tonje. I cannot have people underestimate one another. It’s because of having experts on certain universes that we survived thus far and it will continue to serve us all well. I don’t recall you raising any objections to me going to an unknown universe. Have I got that wrong and I didn’t hear your numerous objections?” That hit him.

“I…raised no such things,” he mumbled.

“Then I would advise you to extend that courtesy to the others, all right?” I directed.

“Yes, Sister,” he muttered. He left to his quarters without another word. The loneliness of command, gotta love it, huh?


“Lord Vortech, get me out of here!” wailed the potato battery I brought with me when I returned. In it was GLaDOS’ main neural processor.

“Considering your failure to destroy a Vortex Rider and the fact that you lost the rift technology Hiro left you,” snarled Vortech, “I see no reason to do so. You shall serve as a constant reminder to those that would dare fail me, Igura and Hiro, chiefly.”

“Excuse me?” I protested.

“You allowed yourself to be defeated by a child!” growled Vortech. “Your excursion into J-U-R-4-5-5-1-C-P-4-R-K had better not end in failure!” I gulped, realizing Vortech’s not in the mood for excuses.

“Yes, Lord Vortech,” I mumbled.

Categories
Kamen Rider Vortex Kamen Rider Vortex Chapters

Chapter 33

We arrived back on Vorton. X-PO and the rest headed towards us. “Did you obtain the Foundation Element?” asked X-PO. Batman handed the Palantír over. “Ah, very nice!” cheered X-PO. “Magic Orb, will our heroes succeed and save all known dimensions from certain doom?” He then shook it as if it were a magic 8 ball. “‘Ask again later’, huh.”

“Alright, X-PO,” rasped Batman, eager to get down to business, “less magic-ball talking, more Foundation Element grabbing. Where to, next?”

“I worry about him sometimes,” whispered Gandalf.

“Batman, we just escaped from fighting the Balrog again,” I protested. “We’re taking a rest.” I then turned to Discornia, only to discover that she wasn’t near us. “Uh, where’s our newly-freed Tarlaxian?” I asked. I then heard giggling to my rear. I turned to see Discornia and Turretorg twirling each other with Turretorg holding Discornia above him. “Never mind,” I remarked.

“It’s so good to see you, Torgy!” giggled Discornia as she was set down. I then realized how much taller she was than Turretorg.

“It does my hearts good to see you again, sweet Corny,” cheered Turretorg.

“Hearts?” I asked, ignoring their pet names for each other.

“Tarlaxians have 4 hearts,” explained X-PO.

“Pardon us for a bit,” excused Discornia, “we have some catching up to do, maybe get a little intimate.” You and I can both guess the subtext there.

“Just…keep the noise down,” I sighed. They headed off.

“Did Tanisha head off on an adventure?” asked Sheela.

“Why, yes,” replied Emily. “To the Portal world. Why?”

“When I used the Locate Keystone,” I explained, “I heard Tanisha tell Wheatley to shut up.”

“So, YOU sucked up the giant turret,” called a familiar Swahili voice. Tanisha arrived through the Gateway with a woman in a ponytail, a white tank top, orange pants, and an orange sweatshirt tied around her waist. She was carrying some sort of white device with a light on top and a three-pronged claw at the front. Wheatley was there as well.

“Ah, there you are!” cheered the annoying ball. “I brought your friend back, all thanks to my ingenious and clever…place finding…thingies.”

“That reminds me,” grumbled Tanisha, “back you go!” She threw Wheatley into the vortex.

“NO! GRAB ME! GRAB ME! GRAB ME!” wailed Wheatley. Too late, the portal had closed.

“Everyone, I’d like you to meet the protagonist of the Portal series, Chell,” introduced Tanisha. Chell smiled and bowed.

“You used a hard ‘Ch’,” noted Emily. Chell then made a series of hand movements. I assume it was sign language.

“I hate to say it, Chell,” explained Tanisha, “but as far as I know, only I know sign language.” Chell frowned. “What she said,” Tanisha told us, “was that I told her about our bet, Emily. It IS a hard ‘Ch’.” Emily sat down and pouted comically. She then turned to me.

“You’re smirking!” she observed.

“I do not smirk,” I countered. “But, if I did, this would be a perfect opportunity.”

“How was I supposed to know that Chell’s name was pronounced that way?!” protested Emily. Chell signed again.

“You might have asked,” translated Tanisha, “before mocking Tanisha and allowing her to up the stakes of a simple $10 bet.”

“I didn’t lose that much,” muttered Emily.

“$500,” I remarked, “I hope you have it.

“I have it!” assured Emily. “Well…most of it. Your Highness…”

“No,” I said, guessing her request.

“…Fine, I’ll borrow the money from Joshua,” hissed Emily. “He LIKES me.”

“There’s an interest rate,” reminded Joshua. Emily sighed.

“You can pay me when you have it,” assured Tanisha. “So, your Highness, how did the hunt go?”

“They got the Foundation Element of Middle-Earth,” called Joshua.

“It was the Palantír,” I explained.

“I see you’ve brought Tendō Sōji here,” observed Hiroki.

“And we fought Worms disguised as Orcs,” I continued.

“Worms?” yelped Hiroki. “Sōji-san, I thought you destroyed them all!”

“I thought I did too,” agreed Sōji. “I guess some survived.”

“We also learned something about your sister not even SHE knew,” remembered Hongo. He gave me the floor and I told everyone what went down in Minas Tirith.

“A cyborg of Shocker design? You?” gulped Hiroki.

“That’s troubling,” muttered Emmanuel.

“Is it, really?” quizzed Tanisha.

“What makes you say that?” I asked.

“Hiro became Kamen Rider Rift because of his own alterations, right?” guessed Tanisha. “To do that, he had to adapt to having tiger DNA, right?”

“Right,” I confirmed.

“And you said you had help from Laval, right?” quizzed Tanisha. “I know what series he’s from. Believe it or not, I have his Lego series, Legends of Chima. I’ve also watched the cartoon that came from that. I know Chima like the back of my hand.”

“I’ve also got some of the Lego sets,” interjected Tonje. “I can help too.”

“There’s also a Foundation Element there,” reported X-PO.

“And I know of a wild Kamen Rider,” supplied Hiroki, “from the Showa Era.”

“You mean, Daisuke Yamamoto?” quizzed Hongo.

“Kamen Rider Amazon, himself,” confirmed Hiroki.

“Problem:” interjected X-PO, “we’ve got another Foundation Element in another universe near Chima’s.” I then started planning.

“What does the identifier string call that universe?” I asked.

“J-U-R-4-5-5-1-C-P-4-R-K,” replied X-PO.

“Jurassic Park?!” said Emily, excitedly. “Let me go! Please! Please! Please!” She was as giddy as a child.

“I wanna go too!” pleaded Richard.

“Permit me to go as well,” requested Mikhail.

“I’ll go with Mikhail,” rumbled Irina.

“I must undo the wrong I committed a while ago,” begged Michael. “Let me go there to fix my mistake.” Richard and Mikhail nodded in agreement.

“I’d love to see any marine dinosaurs!” cheered Livia.

“I must admit, I want to see a T-Rex myself,” mused Haitao.

“Then, here’s what we’re going to do,” I decided. “Hongo, you’re to go back to your universe to find Amazon, explain the situation, and then you two are to join me, Batman, Gandalf, Wyldstyle, Tonje, and Tanisha in Chima to find the Foundation Element and to help me unlock my mutant cyborg form, thus getting me closer to becoming Kamen Rider Vortex. Emily, you’re to lead Richard, Mikhail, Irina, Michael, Livia, and Haitao to Jurassic Park to get the Foundation Element there. Hiroki, you are to guard the place with Xiomara, Joshua, Lukas, Sheela, and Emmanuel and help Elphaba, Rusty, and the Brigadier when needed. Sōji, do you wish to stay here for a bit?”

“Unfortunately,” replied Sōji, “I need to get home. I’m still improving my cooking skills in Paris. I must go at once.”

“Then, farewell,” I bid. “I hope to see you soon.”

“Before I go, do you know anything about these?” called Sōji. He revealed a pouch of studs. “I found them in the fields outside Minas Tirith before you arrived.”

“That’s currency for Vorton,” I answered.

“Useless where I’m from, then,” remarked Sōji. “Catch!” I caught it and opened it.

“280,000 studs,” counted Vortoranii. “That makes 1,505,000 studs.”

“Don’t forget mine,” called Tanisha. “I swiped these before Chell and I beat GLaDOS again.” She tossed me a pouch. I opened that one.

“110,000 studs,” counted Vortoranii, “making it 1,615,000 studs in total. We need to spend some of them!”

“Goodbye!” called Sōji. He went through the portal X-PO opened for him.

“Chell, do you want to return home?” I asked. Chell shook her head furiously. “Okay, that’s a no. Alright then, why don’t you two tell us your story?”


“Now, the whole thing is simple,” I explained to the mercenary, “I need you to hunt down my daughter and kill her. She’s proven to be a major irritant to me and my employer. Kill her, and ten billion dollars are yours.”

“Oooh, see,” winced my potential assassin, “there’s a problem with that; I’m not really one to get into blood feuds. I’ve got enough of that back home.”

“There’s also unlimited chimichangas for you,” I offered.

“Oh, twist my arm, why don’t you?” said the man in mock pain. “Well, congrats! You’ve just hired the most awesome merc ever! Toodles!” He sped off to find his prey.

“He’s going to fail,” rumbled Lord Vortech.

“I’m counting on that,” I assured. “Megumi will undoubtedly head for Chima to find the next Foundation Element as well as train up her beast side. That is where I will be with the selected hostages.”

“And what of our new ally?” asked Vortech

“His beast mode should provide him with an edge in the Jurassic Park world,” I elaborated. “Even so, I’m sending Igura there as well. He needs her.”

“Do not come back empty handed,” warned Vortech.

“Me?” I queried. “Don’t know the meaning of the word.”

“Isn’t that TWO words?” asked the Riddler.

“You would know,” I snapped. “Or, did the Palantír in Denethor’s possession turn up?”

“I would have gone back and reclaimed it had YOU not interfered!” snarled the Riddler.

“Why you!” I exclaimed.

“Enough!” boomed Vortech. “Hiro, your interference and boasting to your daughter has caused her to try to find another way to access Kamen Rider Vortex’s power. If she does, you will be held responsible for giving the enemy an advantage.”

“Lord Vortech,” I protested, “I was simply trying to drive her to despair! Being a cyborg of Shocker’s design caused Hongo to loath himself for a while! He overcame that because it was early in his Rider career! Megumi is a child! She should have…!”

“Megumi is not Hongo!” shouted Vortech. “She is inventive, in case you forgot! She has experts of certain dimensions at her beck and call! She WILL find victory out of this! This hostage exchange had better work. If not, and she gets the Foundation Element and the hostages, you will be working under General Zod when we get the Foundation Element of Universe G-H-0-5-T-8-U-5-T-3-R-5-1-9-8-4.”

“…Understood,” I gulped not enjoying the prospect one bit.

Categories
Kamen Rider Vortex Kamen Rider Vortex Chapters

Chapter 30

Tarlax is…well…WAS a lush place in the multiverse. The trees would always bear fruit, crops were plenty, food of all kinds was available to even the poorest Tarlaxian. I wish I could say that was what the Four Horsemen and I were greeted to. Instead, we got a Mordor like landscape. The people were starving and being smacked around by a race of potato headed, three fingered trolls, the Sontarans. We proceeded to a formerly ornate castle. It was run down now, silhouetted against a red sky. “You should have come here at the height of their Empire,” sighed Death, taking the form of an old woman. “Their entertainment was second to none, the criminal justice system was superb, the Empress was fair, yet firm, and their warriors would make Sontarans and Klingons cry.”

“Then why are there Sontarans here?” I asked.

“Part of Vortech’s design,” growled War, looking like a girl in cardboard armor. We approached the castle, but a guard stopped us.

“We only wish to see your Queen Empress,” assured Death.

“You will have to leave the staff here,” replied the guard, a hulking brute in Roman Centurion gear and a bladed tail.

“Would you take a grandmother’s walking stick?” I asked. “This little girl here would be very disappointed if you remove something of value to her grandmother.” I was referring to War, who gave me a dirty glare. The guard considered my words, then let us pass. The halls were…tall. No real tapestries, though. I was picturing something more opulent. We went towards the throne. On it sat a bug-like humanoid, modeled after a scorpion, I’d say. It had four arms. Two of them ended in scorpion claws while the other ended in clawed fingers. It had its tail wrapped around the waist like a belt, had two big black eyes and six smaller ones beneath the large ones. It had a fang on each side of the mouth and a pale brown carapace. It looked female, but I couldn’t vouch for that until Death spoke.

“The welcome in your hall has gone down, Queen Empress Scorpainia,” she observed. That answered the question about its gender, I guess. Her advisor whispered something to her. The advisor was bipedal, had large, red, metal arms and a triangular head with the point facing us.

“Why…should I…welcome strangers?” groaned Scorpainia.

“A just question, My Liege,” agreed the advisor. He then strode towards us. “Late is the hour in which these false witches come, requesting money to help us when we cannot pay. Our money must go to the Sontarans on our world so they may better defeat the Rutans.”

“But what about the people?!” I wailed. Death motioned for silence.

“I’m afraid our resources must go to keeping our Empress alive,” answered the advisor. “Without her, this universe will die.”

“She seems to be dying anyways,” observed Death.

“Metalran…” wheezed Scorpaina. The advisor, Metalran, headed for the throne. She seemed to whisper something, but it was unintelligible.

“You see?” asked Metalran. “Her mind is troubled and you would heap more troubles?”

“Hold your forked tongue behind your teeth!” snarled War.

“Or what, little girl?” asked Metalran. It was then he noticed the design on the toy sword. “The Horsemen!” roared Metalran. “I told you potato trolls to keep the Four Horsemen from our door!” The Sontarans were confused but trained their rifles on us.

“Now,” declared Death. She and War dropped the disguises and held off the Sontarans. I knocked Metalran down and rushed for the throne.

“I’ve heard tales about your magnificence,” I said to Scorpainia. “Those tales will be told again. Queen Empress Scorpainia, old friend of my teachers, I will release you from the evil side of darkness that has taken you.” She started gurgling with laughter.

“You have no power here, student of Death,” she laughed. I had a feeling that the voice wasn’t her own. I then revealed my belt, but Scorpainia laughed. “What is that? Something to free her with?” I knew it. Someone’s speaking through her.

“Whoever you are, release her,” I demanded.

“Or what?” giggled the person through Scorpainia’s mouth.

“Or you shall bear witness to Kamen Rider Apocalypse, one of two people capable of beating Vortech!” I declared.

“Impossible!” dismissed the person. “There is no Kamen Rider Apocalypse!”

“Wanna bet?” I asked. “Henshin!” I turned into Apocalypse before the enemy’s eyes. After I put my suit on, I turned the dial on my belt to Death’s symbol.

“Death Scythe!” announced my belt. A scythe blade appeared on each of my wrists as energy gathered in my hands.

“I don’t know who you are,” I snarled, “but I will extract you like poison from a wound!” I surrounded Scorpainia with energy and saw a figure of a man. I remembered the shape from one of Death’s lectures. This was Lord Vortech!

“If I go,” warned Vortech, “Scorpainia and Tarlax die!”

“Let Death be the judge of that!” I countered. I saw a slave chip on Scorpainia’s shoulder and a thread that connected Vortech’s consciousness to Scorpainia. I charged at Scorpainia with both blades flashing, one striking the slave chip, the other severing Vortech’s connection with Scorpainia. Once both were severed, Scorpainia fell forward in her chair.

“My Lady!” called Metalran. He rushed forward to catch her. When he did, he turned to me. “You would dare bring harm to my Empress?! You have made a costly mistake!!”

“No, Metalran,” growled Scorpainia. “She has healed me!” Her claw then grabbed Metalran’s throat. “YOU, on the other hand, kept me in the dark!” Metalran dropped the act.

“It is…better…to stand with…Lord Vortech…than to…oppose him!” he choked out.

“Run home to your master and tell him he has no prize in this universe!” demanded Scorpainia. She released him. Metalran caught his breath and turned to the Sontarans.

“KILL THEM ALL!” he ordered before leaving through the vortex. The Sontarans raised their guns at us. Scorpainia grabbed a strange fruit that was triangular and purple. She ate the whole thing, then made a disgusted noise. Apparently, it tastes bad, but restores a Tarlaxian to full strength. Her carapace went from pale brown to reddish brown. Her face contorted to an animalistic snarl. She then bellowed as laser fire bounced off her shell. One of the guards outside heard the commotion and saw Scorpainia destroying the Sontarans. His face brightened as he ran through the city to spread the news. Soon, the Tarlaxians ate the same fruit Scorpainia did so they could be on equal footing with the Sontarans. The fight soon became chaotic. War, Death, and I were following Technarain, a metallic humanoid with a scalp shaped like brain. We were starting to get tired.

“Okay,” I muttered as I gave a chop to the back of a Sontaran’s neck, “any bright ideas?”

“There are the Omega Protocols,” grunted War as she beheaded a Sontaran.

“Out of the question,” snapped Technarain.

“What are you, deficient?!” snarled War. “The Omega Protocols are your people’s only chance!”

“There’s an invading force in this universe!” declared Technarain. “The Omega Protocols will do the work for them!”

“I’ll be the judge of that!” boomed Scorpainia as she leapt onto a Sontaran and injected him with the poison in her tail. She then started glowing red. Technarain saw this, sighed, then followed suit. Soon, every Tarlaxian was glowing red. Blades then formed from blue light. They had a circle around the handle and extended past both ends. They were built out of some blue metal. All blades then started glowing blue. “Initiate the Omega Protocols! Start the Apocalypse!”

“What!?” I yelped. The Tarlaxians slashed and made dimensional rifts everywhere.

“Those are rift blades,” grunted War. “I believe you can guess why.”

“But that many rifts will tear this universe apart!” I recalled, thinking back to Pestilence’s lessons on multiversal stability.

“That’s the intent behind the Omega Protocols,” replied Scorpainia. “A universe can’t be taken if there’s no universe to take. The Vortonian Identifier String would call this universe T-4-R-L-4-X-1-3, Tarlax 13. What do you think happened to the other 12?”

“Wait,” I guessed, “then those energy masses we passed on the way here, those were your previous universes?”

“And this whole mess HAD to happen when we got this universe the way we liked it!” snapped Technarain. All Tarlaxians turned into silver spheres and fled through the rifts. Meanwhile, the Sontarans were in disarray. A trooper brought his gun to bear on us. His commanding officer, a Colonel Starn, stopped him.

“Sir, we cannot let the Tarlaxians steal our prize from us!” called the trooper. “Let me take them out! I will slaughter them like the dogs they are!”

“Brave of you, Trooper Draggh,” lauded Colonel Starn, “but we also cannot afford more losses. And your opponents would have been Death and War. Woman though they are, they would have killed you where you stood and the battle would not have added to the glory of the Sontaran Empire. We will withdraw to Foundation Prime. Our primary mission was achieved anyway.” The trooper complied and followed the retreat with Starn covering the rear.

“Before you leave,” called Scorpainia to Death, “I have something for you.” She fished out an i.d tag. “On this tag is a list of Tarlaxians that were enslaved and those that joined Vortech willingly. I obtained it before Vortech placed me under that spell.” She then saw me. “What’s the matter with your student?”

“But…I don’t…who…” I stammered.

“It’s not uncommon,” whispered Death. “Many species have a similar defense mechanism.”

“I…guess,” I sighed. I shook my head. “Can I have that list? I think Kamen Rider Vortex is gonna need it.”

“I think she’s on Vorton,” whispered Death.

“I thought it was destroyed,” questioned Scorpainia.

“The new Vortex Riders have restored power to the Gateway and the atmospheric generators,” grunted War. “They’re using it as a base of operations.”

“I’ve never been to Vorton,” I told Death. “Where is it?”

“The center of the dimensional vortex,” whispered Death. “Just follow the pull of the vortex past the Transformers cluster. You can’t miss it.” I hopped on my horse and did as she instructed.


“The whole trip took about two hours,” said Lacey as she finished. She then gave me an i.d tag with no decoration on it. “Just put this into your belt and you’ll know who’s friend and who’s foe.”

“Thank you,” I lauded as I bowed. “Would you like to stay a while?”

“I’m afraid I can’t,” sighed Lacey. “My training regimen’s a little harsh and I need to get back to stick with it. It was nice meeting you. I hope we see each other again.” She hopped on her horse and took off through the vortex again. I was left alone again, for a few seconds. X-PO floated by.

“There you are!” he cheered. “Lukas, Batman, Rusty, Elphaba, the Brigadier, and I have just located the next Foundation Element!”

“Wonderful news!” I exclaimed. I then pressed the intercom button on the Gateway. “Everyone, come to the Gateway room at once! Our quest is about to gain more fruit!”


Metalran, his loyalists, and the Sontarans had returned to my domain. Starn was angry with Ambassador Hell, with the feelings of the Shocker leader being mutual towards the Sontarans. Davros joined in the argument as well as Metalran. By this time, I decided to call for silence. “Let us see what had transpired,” I demanded. “Starn, you say that Ambassador Hell did not give you the reinforcements you requested, but, Ambassador Hell, you say there was no such request. Starn, you accuse Metalran of not preparing your troops properly, but, Metalran, you say that your own informant was incorrect in the political situation of your previous universe. Ambassador Hell, you blame Davros for not preparing your men against Daleks, hence why you believe Starn made no reinforcement request, but, Davros, you say that your Daleks would rather die than work with Shocker.”

“An excellent summing up,” mused Ambassador Hell. “You know, Lord Vortech, you would have made a very good judge.”

“You forget, Ambassador, I AM your judge,” I hissed. “Your jury and executioner, too!” I then bowed in mock politeness. “If need be.” I turned to my right-hand man and his fiancée. “Only Hiro and Igura have not weighed in and accuse anybody.”

“Because the whole thing has nothing to do with us,” replied Hiro. “Igura said she has news about the next Foundation Element. I wish this whole thing were put aside so she can get on with it.”

“Excellent!” I cheered. “A shining example of knowing one’s duties! Listen to me, all of you! I am not concerned with this petty argument! One thing concerns me, and one thing alone, we must gather the Foundation Elements!”

“But it’s the dispute here that’s preventing us from doing so,” reminded Hiro.

“Exactly,” I agreed. “So, let me offer a simple solution! The Orcs will retrieve the new Foundation Element as well as our fiery friend and enigma obsessed ally. The Sontarans are to remain here as guards in case anyone tries anything foolish. Davros, you are to work with the Rani and help her create a new body for the Yeti. Ambassador Hell, you are to tell your men to await my orders as they have proven untrustworthy in terms of success. Metalran, you are to tell your loyalists to hunt Scorpainia and kill her! Now, get moving!” No one argued as they moved to obey. Igura headed to the Orcs to brief them of the situation. I went to my throne to rest.

Categories
Kamen Rider Vortex Kamen Rider Vortex Chapters

Chapter 24

I snorted with laughter as I heard Ankh say who the monster with Turretorg was. “A ‘Yummy’?” I giggled.

“Don’t be fooled by the name!” countered Ankh. “They’re made up of Cell Medals like the Greeed, but don’t have Core Medals. They’re monsters that we use for food, to replenish our bodies. They’re born out of desire, any desire!”

“Vortech sent me and my partners he brought back from the dead here,” answered Turretorg, “to stop your progress.”

“So, that’s why one of Mezool’s Yummies is here,” hissed Eiji. “She been brought back to life!”

“Then we need to find the host so we can get to her Yummy nest,” declared Ankh.

“Nest?” I asked.

“Mezool is a water based Greeed,” explained Ankh. “Like me, she can create Yummies out of any desire by putting a Cell Medal into a person. Each Greeed’s Yummies are born in different ways. My Yummies start as a giant bird egg before hatching into a white, mummy-like humanoid, then maturing into their bird-like humanoid state. Mezool’s Yummies begin as a fish egg nest. They mature and hatch out of the eggs once they’ve gained enough desire.”

“He looks kind of creepy, but probably not all that strong,” mused Eiji.

“He’s a crustacean monster,” countered Tanisha. “I think the shell would hurt you if you punched it.”

“On top of that,” I continued, “He’s based on the Takaashigani (tall legged crab), or, Spider Crab, if you prefer. He can probably grow those legs on his back.”

“Looks like I need to give you two your birthday present,” cheered Kōsei. He produced a box with a bow on it and opened it. It had more red Core Medals, two Taka Medals, one with a peacock design, and one with a condor design.

“My Core Medals?” yelped Ankh. “Hold on, there are two Taka Medals and Eiji already has the Kujaku (peacock) and Condor Medals. I have six medals already! That makes twelve Core Medals! I need only nine!”

“I made these four so you could revive with the remaining Kujaku and Condor medal and the extra Taka medal,” replied Kōsei. “Eiji can use the remaining Taka medal and the Kujaku and Condor Medals he has to make his Tajador Combo.”

“So, I can completely revive!” cheered Ankh. He handed Eiji the extra Taka medal while he took the remaining three. As they were absorbed into him, Ankh turned into his complete Greeed form. The arm and legs weren’t mummified. The arm looked like a mirror image of the right arm and the legs gained red armored boots. Emily, Tanisha, and I took out our i.d tags. Eiji took out a small black book with blue lines like his belt, opened it, and grabbed a yellow tiger Medal and a green grasshopper Medal. He gave the book to Kōsei and inserted the Taka, tiger, and grasshopper medals into the slots. He then tilted the Medal holder so it went upper right to lower left. Hongo struck his henshin pose as Eiji slid a circular device on a rail across the Medal holder from right to left. Colored rings appeared around the Medals. The colors corresponded to the Medals the device scanned.

“Rider…” began Hongo.

“Henshin!” we all called.

“TAKA! TORA! (Tiger) BATTA! (grasshopper)” announced the scanner. “Tatoba! Tatoba TATOBA!” As it sang, holographic images of Core Medals floated through Eiji’s neck to the scalp, around his arms, and around his legs. The head circle stopped at the red Taka Medal, the arm circle stopped at the yellow Tora Medal, and the leg circle stopped at the green Batta Medal. A black suit formed; the Medal symbols came together to make a black circle with the animal symbols colored in their respective colors. The Taka symbol led to the helmet, making it look like a hawk in flight around the green eyes, the Tora symbol went to the shoulders and traveled down the arms to a set of three claws folded back. The Batta symbol traveled down the body to the green boots.

“Shall we fight together, OOO?” asked Ichigō.

“Doesn’t sound like a bad idea,” replied Eiji, Kamen Rider OOO.

“I’d go for catchphrases,” I muttered as I drew my blade, “but we’re pressed for time.”

“Try not to kill Turretorg!” called Vortoranii.

“WHAT?!” snapped Ankh. “He’s an enemy!”

“Not his fault!” I argued. “He’s being controlled by Vortech.”

“An innocent being brainwashed!” moaned OOO. “This gets easier and easier!”

“Try the back of his neck!” called Vortoranii. We drew our weapons and charged at the bad guys. My guess about the Takaashigani Yummy was right. The legs extended and kept its main body in the air. OOO extended his claws and slashed at the legs, but they grew back. The old wounds bled Cell Medals before they healed. It used its legs to try and brush us into a laser, which we avoided. Turretorg tackled Hunt and morphed his right hand into its cannon mode. I grabbed him and flung him off. He then fired on me, getting a few shots in. I then started the Super Charge sequence.

“SUPER CHARGE!” I announced. My suit bulked out and I turned white with gold trim. After I became Proto-Vortex, I touched OOO’s shoulder. The new i.d tag appeared. I swapped my i.d tag for the new one. The medals appeared again, this time, around me. “OOO,” I called, “what’re the most powerful Medals you have?!”

“Taka, Kujaku, and Condor, if you want to play it safe, why?!” asked OOO.

“I may need that bit of power to get Turretorg back to the side of justice!” I replied. I picked out the Medals and the wardrobe closed on me.

“OOO Tajador Steel!” announced Vortoranii. Then a voice like OOO’s scanner spoke.

“TAKA! KUJAKU! CONDOR!” it called. As the wardrobe dissolved, the voice sang “TAJADOR!” My helmet gained larger red wings around the eyes, red, wing-like shoulder pads appeared on my shoulders, an image of a red bird appeared on my chest, and my boots looked like talons. I had gained a small shield on my left arm with the Tajador symbol on it. OOO, Kōsei, and Ankh were surprised.

“How did you do that?!” yelped Ankh.

“I’ll explain later!” I assured. As, Turretorg and I traded blows, I discovered that the shield could be opened to allow something circular to fit inside. I placed the i.d tag into it and closed it. I pulled on the back of the shield, making the i.d tag go in a circle. I hovered my hand over the shield, miming OOO using his scanner.

“TAKA! KUJAKU! CONDOR!” announced the voice. “GIN! GIN! GIN! GIGA SCAN!” The shield was then enveloped in fire. I punched with my left hand to let a fire disc hit Turretorg. He fell, spasming uncontrollably. I found a circuit board embedded into his fur.

“Is that supposed to be there?” I asked.

“No, that’s one of the old slave circuits,” explained Vortoranii. “I’d extract it now before he explodes.” I ripped it off of Turretorg, making him yelp before passing out.

“I guess that works,” I muttered. The Takaashigani Yummy then threw me into a wall. I then drew my blade and slashed at the legs. After a while, Turretorg regained his senses. He shook his head and opened his now white eyes. When he saw what was happening, he fired on the Yummy.

“What are you doing?!” protested the Yummy. “This is not your usual behavior!”

“Your master will PAY for enslaving the Tarlaxians!” roared Turretorg. He used his hip rockets and fired on the chest of the Yummy. The carapace cracked. After bleeding some Cell Medals, it fixed itself up.

“Subjects behaving erratically,” droned the Yummy. “Congratulations, you’ve successfully demonstrated how irrational emotions are. Deadly neurotoxin would be pumped into the room to show your victory, but the pumps are not working today. We are so sorry.”

“Neurotoxin?” gulped Hunt. “That’s GLaDOS’ main weapon!”

“Then GLaDOS must be the Yummy host,” figured Ankh. “We need to follow the stream to the nest so we can destroy.”

“Problem,” countered Touché, “there isn’t any water in GLaDOS’ chamber. Given that she’s a machine, I’d be surprised if there was even a water cooler.”

“GLaDOS is a machine?” asked Ankh.

“And she is the host for my nest,” answered the Yummy.

“That’s impossible!” protested Ankh. “Yummies only take the desires of humans!”

“We take the desires of any creature,” corrected the Yummy.

“Explain how your regeneration works,” demanded Batman, having a hunch.

“Unable to comply,” reported the Yummy. “To do so would expose a weakness.”

“Guys, grab onto the legs and yank them off!” directed Batman, deciding to try and prove his hunch. “OOO, Turretorg, try and shatter the carapace!”

“I can do that with just the Sai (Rhino), Gorilla, and Zou (Elephant) Medals!” called OOO.

“Catch!” yelled Kōsei as he tossed OOO gray Core Medals. We then started pulling the long legs off.

“NO! STOP!” shouted the Yummy. “MY LEGS ARE…!” the legs turned into Cell Medals. The regeneration was taking longer. OOO then replaced the Medals he was using with the gray ones and scanned them.

“SAI! GORILLA! ZOU!” announced the OOO scanner. “Sagozo! SAGOZO!” OOO’s armor changed. The helmet’s eyes turned red and turned into a single whitish-gray horn. The arms turned into silver, beefed up gauntlets with bulky shoulder pads. The feet turned into dark gray boots with a curved toe. He then beat his chest like a gorilla and started roaring. The soundwaves kept the Yummy airborne while OOO swiped the scanner across the belt. “SCANNING CHARGE!” it called. OOO then floated into the air, then came down hard, making the Yummy fall into the cracked floor. The ground then brought the Yummy towards OOO whose fists and horn glowed gray-white before he simultaneously punched and headbutted the Yummy, while shouting “SEIYA!” (star arrow) while Turretorg shot its chest, making the Yummy explode in a shower of Cell Medals. The floor repaired itself as we cancelled our transformations.

“That was a tough one,” sighed Eiji as he mopped his brow, “both figuratively and literally.”

“So, that’s the power of a Core Medal,” mused Turretorg. Ankh and Eiji got into a fighting stance.

“Back off,” I called. “If I’m right, Turretorg is on our side.”

“My Lady,” answered Turretorg, “permit me to make up for my crimes against you.”

“You…remember?” I asked.

“Every single detail,” confirmed Turretorg. “I was originally sent along with a large team organized by my Queen Empress, Scorpainia, to collect on a bounty that was placed on Vortech’s head for unauthorized use of Vortonian technology, unauthorized access to an off-limits dimension, and kidnapping!”

“So, you tried to deal with the hostage situation before he got you,” I summed up.

“Exactly,” confirmed Turretorg.

“Foundation Prime was off-limits?” asked Emily.

“No one should possess the Foundation Elements’ power,” elaborated Turretorg. “It was a joint decision proposed by the Tarlaxians, for fear we might be enslaved with their power, and adopted by the Vortonians, who helped us gain freedom to govern our own affairs.”

“And this…Vortech didn’t agree,” guessed Ankh.

“He desperately wants to create a world without chaos, conflict, or any act of disobedience,” confirmed Turretorg.

“But that’s what makes new things possible!” protested Kōsei.

“Vortech doesn’t see it that way,” replied Turretorg. While we talked, Gandalf had pulled a cube with a mirror in it and set it at our feet.

“We’re gonna need that!” directed Emily. “It’ll direct the laser beam elsewhere!”

“I think those glass boxes will need to be cracked open,” I called. “I’ll get help. Locate Keystone, activate! Initiate rift detection!” It was located near a turnstile for the mirror cube. I jumped over a laser beam to get to it. “Identify source of rift!” I announced. The information beamed into my head…and my face fell. “Why?” I wailed. “Why there?! Anywhere but there!”

“The Simpsons’ dimension?” guessed Emily.

“The Simpsons’ dimension!” I confirmed, whining.

“What’s wrong about that dimension?” asked Ankh.

“Knowing that dimension,” gulped Turretorg, remembering our first encounter, “you’ll find out.”

“Why that dimension?!” I whined.

“I hate to be a pain,” interjected Tanisha, “but whining won’t help. Might as well suck it up.” Sadly, she was right, whining won’t make the problem go away.

“Locate help from T-H-3-5-1-M-P-5-0-N-5,” I moaned. A wrecking ball came through the ceiling with Homer on the ball, literally. He was screaming as he was smashed into the boxes three times before they broke. “Dismiss help!” I called. The wrecking ball and its passenger were brought back up into the rift and it closed. Another turnstile was revealed.

“That was not part of the test,” droned GLaDOS, “and, as a result, you have damaged the testing environment. An extra *9999* days of testing will be required to repay expenses. I hope you brought a packed lunch.”

“Let me direct the beam,” requested Turretorg. “I can handle the heat from a mere laser.”

“Are you sure?” I asked. “I don’t want to make you feel like…a slave again.”

“It’s my choice,” replied Turretorg.

“Well, as long as that’s what’s influencing you,” I answered, “go ahead.”

“Thank you,” reciprocated Turretorg. He turned the first turnstile to direct the beam into the next turnstile.

“Guys,” called Wyldstyle, “we need to find the Chroma discs. I see a Chroma Lock over there.” She pointed to a box with the Chroma Lock design being a red left L-shape, a yellow right L-shape, and a blue circle. It was covering a turnstile.

“I can see both blue and red,” observed Tanisha, “but yellow’s out of my sight.”

“It ain’t out of mine,” replied Emily. “It’s up there.” She pointed to an observation room. The yellow Chroma Disc was on a shelf near an opening in the window. “Hongo, I think we need the Scale Keystone again. I can grab it. Shrink me down so I can crawl through the vents, then make me big to get the shelf to tilt the Chroma Disc through the window.”

“Understood,” confirmed Hongo. “Scale Keystone, activate! Lessen scale of Emily!” Emily shrank down. And crawled into the vents. We waited and waited…and waited……and waited.

“It shouldn’t take this long,” I muttered.

“She’s wearing a dress,” deduced Batman. “The skirts are most likely interfering with her steps.”

“You know,” droned GLaDOS, “I heard the lasers talking about you before. They were saying how much they like you. I think you two should hug.”

“Made it!” panted a tired, tiny voice. Emily came out of the vent, puffing and panting. “Do you know how hard it is to climb in a dress?!” She then went under the shelf.

“Enlarge scale of Emily!” called Hongo. Emily grew and tilted the shelf towards the opening in the window. The Yellow Chroma Disc fell to the floor. Emily then came through the window. “Normalize scale of Emily,” said Hongo.

“That is now an extra *9999* days to pay for the window,” answered GLaDOS as Emily shrank back to her normal size.

“Chroma Keystone, activate!” called Wyldstyle. “Chroma Lock, reveal! Chroma! Blue! Ankh!”

“What do you expect me to…?” Ankh didn’t finish his sentence as Eiji tossed him into the blue paint. “WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!” he screeched.

“It’s needed,” chuckled Eiji, with a slight grin. “Now, just step into the circle.” Ankh complied with a “Tch” of irritation.

“Chroma! Red! Kōsei!” announced Wyldstyle. Kōsei jumped into the red paint and stepped into the left L-shape. “Chroma! Yellow! Turretorg!” called Wyldstyle. Turretorg jumped into the paint and leapt into the right L-shape. The box around the last turnstile shattered as the paint slid off.

“The Thermal Discouragement Beams are perfect for corrective eye surgery,” droned GLaDOS. “Why not give it a try?” Turretorg then adjusted the turnstiles to let the laser beam hit a part on the wall near the door, unlocking it to a small room in the test chamber. We approached the elevator, but it didn’t move. “It appears the exit elevator has malfunctioned,” called GLaDOS. “Let me give it a nudge and we can continue.”

“You don’t even have hands!” protested Ankh.

“Don’t feed her!” wailed Tanisha. The elevator bounced up and down.

“Well,” called GLaDOS, “that didn’t work. A repair associate will be dispatched…eventually. Until then, sit back and wait. Give up, if you’d like, I won’t judge you.”

“Come back here and fix it!” shouted Ankh to the sky. No one replied. “I SAID FIX IT!”

“Impatient, much?” I mused to Eiji.

“That’s a downfall to being greedy,” replied Eiji. Kōsei chuckled.

“Is something funny?” I asked.

“Perhaps impatience is a downfall to desire,” conceded Kōsei, “but it isn’t the only sin of humankind. Without desire, nothing can be accomplished. When a baby cries, it shows that it wants something. That desire is infinite!” He then drew out a frosting bag and squirted the contents on the floor in the shape of an infinity loop. “But, obtain power, and you have something beyond infinity!” He made a third loop to make the symbol look like three o’s on the floor. He then leaned up to the heavens and held his hands out to his sides. “OOO!” he shouted.

“So, that’s what the King wanted?” asked Eiji. Ankh scoffed.

“Anyone trying to claim infinity is a fool, as you’ve demonstrated,” replied the Greeed to Kōsei. While that was going on, Emily was fiddling with the ribbon of her hair ornament. She seemed to be deep in thought.

“Something on your mind?” I asked.

“GLaDOS may control the facility,” explained Emily, “but there ARE areas beyond her notice. If we can find one…”

“Hey, over here!” called a cockney voice in a whisper. We jumped and located the source of the whisper. A small grey-white ball on a rail with a single blue eye, eye lids, and a wire on the top and bottom of the eye to show emotion was talking behind a glass wall. Emily and Tanisha were showing surprise.

“Wheatley?” quizzed Emily.

“I thought he was floating through space,” muttered Tanisha. I turned to her for an explanation. “Before GLaDOS took over, the scientists made all sorts of cores to slow her down. Wheatley, over there, is the intelligence dampening core. He would always bombard GLaDOS with terrible ideas and tried to take over the facility. He was sent screaming through space with a core obsessed with space. I wonder how he came back here?”

“Long story short,” replied Wheatley, “a massive, blue portal sent me back here, before I came through other areas. I came to this fortress, headed by a guy made of space…”

“Vortech?!” I yelped.

“Yeah, that was his name!” replied Wheatley. “He went on about ‘claiming the multiverse’, or some such nonsense. In any event, I came here and GLaDOS put me back on my management rail. Look, I’ve got absolutely no time to go into any more detail than is necessary, but, remove these screws,” his eye looked at the giant screws holding the glass wall in place, “and I’ll do the rest.”

“Hold on,” hissed Emily, “why should we trust you?!”

“Do we have a choice?” I asked. “Gandalf, if you please.” Gandalf started using his magic to unscrew the screws. Wheatley was staring at him, and it made him uncomfortable.

“Er, good day,” he gulped.

“Hello!” called Wheatley. “Listen, I would have helped earlier, but she thinks I’m watching the test subjects. Now, the thing is, eh heh heh, I may have made a slightly smallish huge mistake with that. Now, don’t panic. What’s gonna happen is, if she finds out, she’ll probably want to use you for testing, forever, and probably switch me off.”

“That’s supposed to keep me from panicking?!” I yelped.

“So,” continued Wheatley, “my suggestion is, let’s not let that happen,” no DUH! “and work together to avoid that inevitable, erm, terrible outcome.” The screws were finally off. “Anyway,” called Wheatley, “stand back. I’m going to attempt to hack this panel!”

“Er, there’s no…never mind,” I mumbled. Wheatley’s “hacking” was him banging himself on the panel.

“Argh, I must have…forgot to carry the, um, zero,” he grumbled. “And, um, let me try again. Let me try again. I don’t suppose you know what…what’s Pi? Is it three something?”

“What does Pi have to do with…I mean…why should you…ugh, I can’t…” poor Batman was trying to process what was going on. Wheatley was throwing his detective ideals out of whack. Emily patted his shoulder to reassure him. Wheatley went back further in the rail and rushed forward, knocking the panel off.

“HA!” cheered the little ball. “Yes! Take that, panel! In your…slots! Consider yourself hacked by the best…at hacking! Alright, this way!”

“I don’t like this at all,” I thought as we followed Wheatley.

“Okay,” called Wheatley, “follow me and I can get you out of here. Now, listen, she thinks she knows this facility really well, but, little does she know, there’s a tunnel up here,” he moved on the rail upwards, “that leads you straight to…she does know about it.”

“She’s blocked it up?” guessed Batman.

“Yes,” muttered Wheatley. “Thing is…‘pipe being open’…was a LARGE part of my escape plan. Have you got a plan B?”

“I think I have one,” called Wyldstyle as she pointed to a grapple hook.

“Shall we?” said Emily to Batman. She drew out her i.d tag. “Henshin.”

“Might as well,” muttered Batman as Emily became Touché again. She swapped i.d tags.

“Batman Steel!” announced her belt. Batman and Touché then fired their grapple guns and yanked down some pipe to make a ramp leading up to the blocked pipe. We used it and arrived at the blocked pipe. As Touché cancelled her transformation, Gandalf used his magic to unblock the pipe.

“We did it, strangers!” cheered Wheatley.

“We?” I snarled. My patience had worn thin. “Unless bumping into things and stupidly rambling counts, I haven’t seen you show a circuit to help!”

“I got you in here and led you to a randomly guessed…carefully worked out and calculated pipe!” protested Wheatley as he moved towards me. “Do I need to prove myself by getting off the management rail I’m using?!”

“Well,” I hissed, “perhaps if Emily’s train of thought hadn’t been sidelined by a certain babbling, bumbling ball that can’t even figure out the first digits of Pi even if he had the formula spelled out and a calculator on his person, she might have figured a way out of that test chamber!”

“Meg, let it go,” called Tanisha as my allies were going down the pipe.

“He can’t help being programmed as an idiot,” sighed Emily. She was the last person to go down.

“HEY! WAIT FOR ME!” I shouted as I went down. “I’M THE LEADER! I GO FIRST!” We landed in Test Chamber 09.

“There you are,” called GLaDOS. “I was just about to send the search party as I was getting so worried. Let us continue, for science.” It was a big room with a moving panel in the wall over spikes and a platform with a button in the middle, a room full of green smoke, a vent leading to a tiny button, a small hall with turrets, and a chroma design with a red circle, a purple left L-shape, and an orange right L-shape. “Oh, look,” droned GLaDOS. “It’s my favorite thing in the whole wide world, deadly neurotoxin. Be careful, you don’t want to breathe too much of it in.” The red Chroma Disc was down the tiny hall.

“We need another distraction,” whispered Ankh.

“Locate Keystone, activate!” I announced. “Initiate rift detection!” It was just outside the hall. “Identify source of rift!” The info was beamed into my head. “Oh, the dimension with all the running,” I gulped. “Awesome. Locate help from T-0-R-C-H-W-0-0-D! Wait, what?”

“Let me refresh that,” called Vortoranii, “The identifier string didn’t load properly. Here’s the real name.”

“Thank you,” I lauded. “Locate help from D-0-C-T-0-R-W-H-0!” A Dalek had appeared at the end of the hall. The turrets fired on it to no avail.

“Exterminate!” shouted the Dalek as it fired on the turrets. “Exterminate!” The turrets were destroyed. Once that was done, the Dalek swiveled its dome to gain as much data of its surroundings when it saw us. “Vortex Riders located! Your interference has disrupted the conquest of New Mondas! It took days to get the Emperor back to its proper size! The invasion was a failure because of your presence! Your existence has been decreed an intolerance! You will be exterminated!” It brought its gunstick to bear.

“Guys, I’ll handle the trashcan,” I called as I drew my i.d tag. “Dalek, you’ll find that I’ve gotten stronger! Henshin!” I turned into Royal and started the Super Charge sequence. “SUPER CHARGE!” I announced. I then swapped my i.d tag for the Cyberman one.

“Cyberman Steel!” called Vortoranii. “Hold on, what’s your endgame?!”

“I want to try something out,” I said as the wardrobe dissolved, revealing my Cyberman-like armor. I then summoned my Super Charge blade. I put the Cyberman i.d tag into the hilt.

“Final attack!” announced the sword as blueish-grey light surrounded the blade.

“RIDER CYBERMAN SLASH!” I shouted. As I swung my sword, a Cyberman made of light rushed towards the Dalek, swung an invisible sword, and bisected it right down the middle. The Dalek exploded as the Cyberman disappeared. “Dismiss help,” I said. The remains of the Dalek went into the rift as I cancelled my transformation.

“What was that?” asked GLaDOS. “It was all ‘Exterminate’, and there was fire and explosions. I think I admire its attitude.”

“You would,” I muttered. Gandalf had released the Chroma disc from the box on the wall and brought it out of the hall. Turretorg approached the vent.

“Scale Keystone, activate!” announced Hongo. “Lessen scale of Turretorg!” Turretorg shrunk and climbed his way into the vents. He went to the button and pressed it. It opened a tube and dropped the yellow Chroma Disc. Turretorg came out. “Normalize scale of Turretorg!” called Hongo. As Turretorg grew, Gandalf prepared to use his Keystone as he saw a giant box surrounded by fire.

“Elemental Keystone, activate!” announced the grey wizard. “Element of water, Eiji!” Eiji was surrounded in a blue aura. He doused the flames and revealed a small sprout. “Element of Earth, Eiji!” Eiji’s aura went from blue to green as he grew plants that tore the glass box apart to reveal the blue Chroma disc.

“My turn!” called Wyldstyle. “Chroma Keystone, activate! Chroma lock, reveal! Chroma! Red! Emily!” After Emily painted herself, she stepped into the circle. “Chroma! Blue! Eiji!” Eiji went to the left L-shape and I stepped in to join him, turning our section purple. “Chroma! Yellow! Batman!” Batman occupied the right L-shape as I went over to that section. The Chroma Lock flashed as it opened a panel in the wall that revealed a button. I pressed it, unlocking the first part of the door.

“And now, it’s up to me,” rasped Batman. “Shift Keystone, activate! Yellow, on the moving panel! Magenta, in the observation room! Cyan, on the wall near the door!” Batman waited until the right moment to send someone over through the yellow portal. It started its journey from right to left. “Shift! Yellow! Emily!” Emily landed on the platform with the button and pressed it to shut off the neurotoxin. The green gas left the room. “Shift! Emily! Magenta!” Emily landed in the observation room and pressed the button in there, unlocking the door completely. “Shift! Emily! Cyan!” As Emily came back, GLaDOS had something to say.

“I think the rose girl deserves some recognition,” she droned. “Through cheating, ignoring the rules, destroying the enrichment center, and being obese, you have completed this round of testing. Congratulations.”

“I only weigh about 169 pounds,” snarked Emily. “You, on the other hand, weigh, what, four tons?” She snickered as Tanisha high-fived her.

“That hurts, you know,” replied GLaDOS.

“If you can’t take by the same kind of barb you made with me,” taunted Emily, “your alloys must be weaker than I thought.”

“Did you just call me thin skinned?” said GLaDOS with a dangerous hiss.

“No, I called you poorly constructed,” continued Emily.

“Let’s get going before she tries to kill us!” gulped Wyldstyle. We entered the elevator and went up, and up…and up…until we arrived in a chamber with a mess of hydraulics, wires, armor, and a single yellow eye hanging from the ceiling. A small waterway was made in the chamber with a roe substance, like fish eggs, near the edge.

“Ladies and Gentlemen,” introduced Tanisha, “say hello to GLaDOS.”

“Welcome,” droned GLaDOS as she moved towards us. “*Insert party noises here* A party associate will be along shortly with your congratulatory cake for surviving…I mean…completing all of the tests. For now, allow me and my friends to keep you entertained.” Four monsters and a man in a dark suit, glasses, and a small doll on his arm came down. One of the monsters had a yellow coloration and was built like a mix of jungle cats with dreadlocks and gauntlets with claws. The second monster was green with a mix of insects, antennae, and a single gauntlet on his left arm with two claws. The third monster was blue, with a woman’s shape, a cape across her shoulders, and a full orca for a head. The last monster was grey, trotting right behind the blue monster. It was big, had a head that looked like a mix of rhino and elephant, a giant set of fists, and large feet.

“Friends of yours?” I asked Ankh.

“My fellow Greeed,” replied Ankh. “The yellow one’s Kazari, made of the yellow feline based Core Medals. The blue one’s Mezool, made of the blue marine Core Medals. Uva’s green with insect Core Medals. Gamel’s the big grey one with the Sagozo combo Medals.”

“And the human is Dr. Maki!” yelped Eiji. “But I destroyed him ages ago!” Dr. Maki turned to his doll before speaking.

“You did end my life and my mission,” replied Dr. Maki. “The end of the world would have been beautiful, but you made me fail with Ankh’s medals. However, the Greeed and I were brought back by Vortech and used GLaDOS to help build an army to secure the Foundation Element for him. I’m sorry, but you must turn back and let us get the cake so the beautiful end to the multiverse can commence.”

“Not a chance!” I declared as I delivered a kick to the doll. It sunk into his arm before my foot connected! It reappeared on his other arm.

“Nice try,” taunted Dr. Maki.

“So, you’re still the Kyoryu Greeed,” mused Eiji.

“Kyoryu?” I asked. “He’s a Greeed based on the Kyoryu?”

“What’s Kyoryu mean?” asked Batman.

“It’s the Japanese word for dinosaurs,” I explained.

“He’s based off the dinosaurs?” asked Wyldstyle.

“Indeed, I am,” replied Dr. Maki.

“Never mind the Greeed,” declared Batman. “We need to take GLaDOS down, find the cake, and go!” All Riders got ready.

“Rider…” began Hongo. Eiji scanned the Taka, Tora, and Batta medals.

“HENSHIN!” we shouted.

“TAKA! TORA! BATTA!” called Eiji’s scanner. “Tatoba! Tatoba, TATOBA!” We all stood ready.

“Now, we do catchphrases,” I declared. “Kamen Rider Royal! Evil will ultimately bow to me!”

“Kamen Rider Touché! En Garde, thing of evil!”

“Kamen Rider Hunt! I shall always get my prey!” OOO, Ankh, Turretorg, and Kōsei had to come up with their own catchphrases quickly.

“Turretorg, reporting to crash the party!”

“Kamen Rider OOO! Anything goes!”

“I am Ankh and I desire your defeat!”

“I am Kōsei Kōgami! Prepare for a wonderful battle!”

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

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

“I’m Batman! The Dark Knight rises!”

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

“Wrong,” droned GLaDOS, “you are an annoyance.” The Yummy nest then started shaking.

“They’re about to hatch!” warned Ankh. All the Yummies came out as Takaashigani Yummies. We got swarmed. Thankfully, there wasn’t much room for them to stretch their legs. We were making them bleed Cell Medals, but not fast enough. Mezool fired a stream of water at OOO, knocking him off his feet. Ankh ran to take her down, but Gamel was in the way.

“Don’t…bully…Mezool!” he said in a strained tone.

“After she absorbed you and your Cores, you still follow her like a dog?” scoffed Ankh.

“She…did it…to save me!” groaned Gamel.

“You fool, she used you to gain her complete form!” protested Ankh.

“Lies!” said Gamel as he punched Ankh. Batman finally managed to get a Yummy to fall apart, then he looked up.

“Watch out!” he shouted. “MOVE!” GLaDOS had commanded a spike plate to crush us. We got out of the way, along with the Greeed, but a few Yummies weren’t so lucky.

“Will you just stay still and get what’s coming to you?” she snapped. She tried again.

“We have lingered in this place for far too long!” called Gandalf as we dodged the spike plate. “We must hurry!” GLaDOS tried one last time, but it was the same result as the last. The number of Yummies was easier to manage.

“You idiot!” roared Uva. “Watch where you’re going!”

“Congratulations,” hissed GLaDOS. “You have successfully avoided getting squashed. I’ve observed that the bird man was obsessed with collecting these, so have some as a reward.” “These” were the Cell Medals from the Yummies. She pushed them towards Ankh. The Greeed were shocked.

“You traitor!” snarled Kazari.

“Those were meant for us!” roared Dr. Maki. He then mutated into his monster form. His shoulders gained shoulder pads looking like Pteranodon wings as well as a cape. His chest looked more like a Triceratops head, complete with horns. His hands gained purple claws and his feet looked like T-Rex feet. The head mutated to have aspects of a Pteranodon with a single, visor-like, red eye. He charged at Ankh, but it was too late. All the Cell Medals were gone. He was about to strike Ankh down, but OOO swatted the hand aside. Dr. Maki then turned his attention to OOO. “Very well, since you want to die so badly!” he snarled. He then slammed his fists into OOO’s chest. OOO was flung back and got up in great pain.

“Kōsei,” he groaned, “I need the purple Medals.” Ankh heard that.

“You kept them?!” he shouted. “Don’t you remember how dangerous Putotyra is?!”

“We need to finish it quickly!” argued OOO. “Besides, I’ve been practicing with them!” Ankh scoffed as purple Core Medals flew to OOO, courtesy of Kōsei. OOO replaced the Medals he was using with the purple ones and scanned them.

“PTERA! TRICERA! TYRANNO!” announced the scanner. Instead of the usual medals, rings of purple flew around the head, arms, and legs. His outfit changed from a black body suit to a white one with a Pteranodon style helmet with green eyes, horns on the front like a Triceratops, purple gauntlets, and purple boots looking like T-Rex feet. The Medal images came together and attached to his chest. “PUTOTYRANNOSAURUS!” sang the scanner. OOO let off a roar before he slammed his fist into the ground and extracted an axe with a T-Rex head design. It also had a purple cylinder at the bottom over the handle and a black handle on the back of the head.

“He’s a lunatic!” scoffed Ankh.

“I don’t see the danger,” I admitted.

“The Core Medals are born from desire,” explained Dr. Maki. “Mine are born from the antithesis of desire. As such, my Medals will cause him to want to destroy everything as a mindless animal.”

“Not…so…mindless!” grunted OOO. Ankh caught that.

“He only growled when using the purple Medals!” recalled Ankh.

“Been…training!” explained OOO. He swung the axe with the intent on bringing it onto Dr. Maki’s head. The Kyoryu Greeed dodged. GLaDOS decided to interfere again.

“Your next test,” she droned, “is to see how well you follow instructions. Feel free to use your ‘Shift Keystone’ when you can be bothered to start.”

“She’s up to something,” I thought. “Humor her,” I said to Batman.

“Shift Keystone, activate!” announced the Dark Knight. “Magenta, near us! Cyan, 120 degrees from Magenta’s left! Yellow, 120 degrees from Magenta’s right!” GLaDOS had gone up into the ceiling and lowered laser walls.

“She’s activating another trap!” said Gandalf. Panels opened from the floor, allowing glass containers to come out. They were pumping neurotoxin into two of the three sections! Out of the Greeed and us Vortex Riders, we were in the neurotoxin parts!

“What’s wrong?” asked GLaDOS. “You look tired. Would you like to take a break or a nap? Maybe I could get an associate to rub your feet for you if I’m not boring you too much.”

“Shift! Batman! Wyldstyle! Cyan!” choked Batman. They went through the cyan portal to get to the non-gassed part. Wyldstyle found a grapple hook near the gas container and had Batman yank it. The neurotoxin disappeared, thank goodness, from the magenta section, where Touché, OOO, Mezool, Turretorg, Gamel, and I were. “Shift! Batman! Wyldstyle! Magenta!” said Batman as the neurotoxin started flooding Batman and Wyldstyle’s section. Wyldstyle found a turnstile which Turretorg and Gamel pushed to smash the second gas container.

“Stop it!” snapped GLaDOS. Gandalf, Kazari, Kōsei, Ichigō, Dr. Maki, Hunt, and Uva could breathe easily now. A third gas container popped up in their area with a valve.

“Allow me to handle this,” called Gandalf. He used his magic to turn the valve to the off position. The gas disappeared totally as GLaDOS removed the walls and brought them up into the ceiling. She came back down with Kamen Rider Rogue!

“Useless, the lot of you,” snarled Rogue. “I brought you back to life. I gave you the means to destroy our enemies! I even gave you sweets!” He pointed to Gamel at that comment. “Yet, you still disappoint me.” He then opened the front of the Rogue Driver, revealing the circuitry, and inserted a circuit board into the internals. He then shut the front panel as the belt altered to look like my belt, but with dark purple trim, instead of gold trim.

“Hiro, what have you done?!” I demanded.

“This?” asked the updated Rogue Driver. “I find that this new form offers certain…advantages, such as a single circle i.d tag and a Super Charge sequence for my host.”

“Speaking of which,” continued Rogue as he jumped down, crossing his arms downward as he planted his left foot forward and his right foot back. “Commencing beta test.” He circled his arms and raised his left foot, then planted it behind him, putting the right foot forward and crossing his arms above him. “Super Charge!” announced Rogue. He then grabbed his guns, pointed his left gun down and his right one up, and fired. The energy then bulked him up and gave his suit a black suit with dark purple trim. Where my helmet’s eyes were still blue, his were orange. He then tossed his guns into the air and drew out an axe like OOO. It was more metallic and looked less like a dinosaur. The guns then attached with the handles level with the barrels and the barrels pointing to the axe barrel. Two knife blades came out of the gun handles while a large purple sword blade came out of the top of the weapon. “The signature weapon of this new form,” explained the Super Charged Rogue as he held it in the air. “Forged from Shocker technology, Nova Shocker software, and the powers of the Dimensional Rift! Built with OOO’s Medagaburyu in mind for the design, I call it the Rift Breaker! You may now address me as Kamen Rider Proto-Rift! Stand and Deliver!”

“You…stole…from ME!” snarled OOO. “Need…Cell Medal!” Ankh tossed him one of his. OOO then put the Cell Medal into the axe blade and closed the mouth.

“GOKKUN!” (Gulp) roared the axe as OOO pulled down another handle, turning the axe into a bazooka. “PUTOTYRANNOHISSATSU!” sang the axe/bazooka hybrid. He pulled the trigger on the forward-facing handle. A ball of energy was released and ran towards Proto-Rift. Proto-Rift tossed Mezool and Uva in front, making OOO’s shot hit them, instead of him. They exploded in a shower of Medals, their cores cracking and shattering. They existed no more.

“MEZOOL!” cried Gamel. Dr. Maki turned to Proto-Rift.

“You promised us we would see the end of the Multiverse!” he boomed.

“I lied,” replied Proto-Rift. He then inserted his i.d tag into the blade and shut the mechanical mouth of his blade.

“Final Attack!” announced the weapon.

“Rider Rift Breaker,” hissed Proto-Rift. He made three consecutive slashes at the remaining Greeed and shattered their Cores, making them fall apart. I couldn’t hold back any longer.

“SUPER CHARGE!” I shouted. As I bulked up, I swung my sword at Proto-Rift, who blocked it. The resulting shockwave of energy knocked the onlookers of their feet. Energy flowed around us and…WOW, were we putting out some power!

“At last,” laughed Proto-Rift, “we take our rightful places as GODS! Wielding the very power of Hypertime, the very fabric of the multiverse!”

“I am a soldier,” I argued, “and YOU…are a prisoner of your own twisted delusions!” I sucker-punched him, knocking him off his feet. The energy dissipated, allowing the onlookers to get up. The room was damaged. GLaDOS had something to say, as always.

“If you insist on breaking my tests and facility,” she hissed, “then I am just going to have to remove them. I’m leaving you with nothing, trapped in here. Just me and you. Soon, you will beg to begin testing again.”

“If that’s how you want to play,” I replied. “Locate Keystone, activate! Initiate rift detection!” The rift crack was near a wall. “Identify source of rift!” The information beamed into my head. “Locate help from 2-0-0-1-4-5-P-4-C-3-0-D-Y-5-5-3-Y!” I called. A rectangle with a single red light appeared.

“Hello,” said the thing in a calm, relaxed, reassuring male voice. “It’s very nice to meet you. Would you like a game of chess?” GLaDOS turned to see the thing.

“I have detected a rogue, corrupt A.I,” she snarled. “Where did you come from? Did Black Mesa send you? Go away.”

“I do not know,” replied the new A.I. “I was in space, and now I am here.”

“Well, you can’t stay here,” argued GLaDOS. “I’m in the middle of something. Go back to space.”

“Is Dave there?” asked the new A.I.

“Why did you bring HAL 9000 here?” hissed Hunt.

“I don’t know!” I replied. “I can’t choose the help I get!”

“Guys,” whispered Wyldstyle, “I see a Chroma design on the back of GLaDOS!”

“The Chroma discs are coming up!” observed Touché.

“Wyldstyle, quick! While she’s distracted!” I directed.

“Who is Dave?” quizzed GLaDOS to HAL. “I think Test subject 24051989 was once called Dave.”

“Are you Dave?” asked HAL.

“No,” replied GLaDOS. “I am a Genetic Lifeform and Disc Operating System. I would say it’s nice to meet you, but it’s not nice to lie.” While that was going on, Wyldstyle had gotten Ankh in red paint, Turretorg in yellow, and myself in blue. Turretorg first went to the circle, then joined Ankh in the left L shape, making that part orange. Ankh then joined me in the right L shape, making it purple.

“Lying is a human emotion,” argued HAL. Incorrect, it’s a human ACTION, not emotion. “There is no room for emotion in my calculations.”

“There’s no room for you in MY calculations,” snarled GLaDOS. “Now, go away!”

“I am sorry, Dave,” replied HAL. “I do not know how to do that as I do not know how I got here.”

“Stop calling me Dave!” protested GLaDOS. While that went on, the Chroma Lock revealed a chink in GLaDOS’ armor. Proto-Rift thought I would exploit that, which I would, and attacked me. I kept up with defense while Batman readied an explosive batarang.

“Your aggression,” soothed HAL, “is getting in the way of your mission. That could cause you to distort your collected information.” Batman then hurled the batarang. It exploded, causing some of GLaDOS’ armor to fall off. Ichigō, Hunt, and Touché leapt into the air

“RIDER KICK!” called Ichigō.

“RIDER HUNT KICK!” shouted Hunt.

“RIDER TOUCHÉ KICK!” announced Touché. All three kicks caused Damage to GLaDOS.

“Dismiss help!” I called.

“Hey!” protested GLaDOS. “That’s not fair! I was distracted! Go sit in the basement and think about what you’ve done!” The floor opened beneath us, dropping us into a room below her chamber. Wyldstyle’s scanner went crazy.

“The Foundation Element must be close!” she reported. She heard machinery. “Another test is being triggered! Careful!”

“I see it!” yelped Turretorg. That was when flame projectors came out of the walls, blocking our view of the cake. They started spewing fire. GLaDOS intended to cook us! Then, we heard the moron, Wheatley!

“I don’t believe it!” he cried. “You’re okay…apart from being in an oven. Anyway, prepare your impressed faces, strangers, because I, Wheatley, am here to hero this situation! Okay, hang on, gonna start hero-ing any second now. Lots of hero-ing coming up, stay tuned.” He then left us. We could still hear his annoying voice. “Okay, first issue: more than one button. Hmm, this one’s got a skull on it…so obviously a bluff! That will definitely turn the fire off.” Not true! “That wasn’t a bluff,” said Wheatley. “Just made the fire move closer. That’s a surprise. Okay, ummm, other button.” We heard machinery again, but not the flame projectors. “And I think my work here is done!” Wheatley left us!

“That’s it,” snapped Gandalf. “Elemental Keystone, activate! Element of water, Ankh!”

“Need…Mezool’s Cores!” groaned OOO. Kōsei tossed him blue Core Medals. OOO replaced the purple Cores with the blue ones and scanned them.

“SHACHI! (Orca) UNAGI! (Eel) TAKO! (Octopus)” announced the scanner. As the animal symbols turned blue and marine-like, the suit went black while the helmet turned blue and carried white Orca patterns with yellow eyes. The arms gained eel looking whips connected to the shoulder pads, and the legs gained blue boots with octopus suckers on the outside. “Sha-Sha-Shauta! SHA-SHA-SHAUTA!” OOO then turned into water and helped Ankh douse the flames. Once doused, the flame throwers retracted, letting us view the cake. It had brown frosting, eight red berries in a circle, and a single candle in the center.

“That cake is mine!” roared Proto-Rift. I tripped him up and wrestled with him. My allies ran towards the cake. Touché looked back.

“Get the cake to Vorton!” I directed. “I’ll catch up!” And I intend to. While Proto-Rift and I fought, Batman got the cake off the table. We heard GLaDOS’ voice.

“Are you cooked yet?” she asked. “Say nothing for yes or ‘Argh! The pain! Why won’t the pain stop?!’ for no.” No one said anything. “Good,” droned GLaDOS. She lowered herself into the now switched off oven and looked around to find us. She first saw me and Proto-Rift locked in battle. “Oh, you’re alive. What a delightful surprise.”

“What else have you got?” asked Batman. The floor raised, bringing us up into GLaDOS’ chamber.

“If you’re not going to play by the rules,” hissed GLaDOS, “then there is no point in continuing the tests.”

“That giant oven was a test?!” wailed Wyldstyle.

“You, lady,” screeched Ankh, “are seriously twisted!”

“Yes, you failed,” replied GLaDOS. “But, there is one more thing I would like to conduct.”

“Oh yeah?” asked Hunt. “What’s that?”

“Electricity. Through you!” replied GLaDOS as she commanded several Tesla Coils to spring up. I tossed Hiro into one of them. As he fried, I called Vorton.

“X-PO, we have the cake!” I called. “Get us out of here!” As the coils moved closer, I got more scared. “X-PO!?!” I shouted.

“You know, you’re as bad as the Intelligence Dampening Core if you think this scares us!” taunted Touché. That did it.

“I AM NOTHING LIKE THAT MORON!” screeched GLaDOS.

“YES, YOU ARE!” roared Touché. “YOU’VE HAD WHEATLEY ATTACHED TO YOUR MAIN BODY FOR SO LONG THAT YOU BECAME AN IDIOT!” The portal opened beneath us. “BYE-BYE, YOU SPARK SHOWERING EXCUSE FOR MICROCIRCUITRY!” As we tumbled, the Tesla coils turned off, letting Proto-Rift off and allowing him to detransform. He roared to the heavens and got a ride back home.

“Why do they always leave me?” asked GLaDOS.

Categories
Kamen Rider Vortex Kamen Rider Vortex Chapters

Chapter 22

Vortoranii had told us to head down to the lower levels for the battle arena. When we arrived, there were some really bulky suits that were easily three times that of my Super Charge form. There were swords five times the size of my Super Charge form’s blade. X-PO hovered there with a device that had a slot for my belt to fit in. “If you could put me on the projector,” said Vortoranii. I was puzzled, then figured out that the device was the projector she was talking about. I put the belt into the projector and figured out why it was called a projector. It moved to a spot that would have been a belt on a person. It soon made a holographic woman that made it look like she was made of space and stars, like Vortech. I guess she and Vortech were the same species. She wore heavy armor, but, being a hologram, she moved easily. “So,” mused Vortoranii, “you want to learn about the Super Charge form?”

“Yes,” I replied.

“Well,” chuckled Vortoranii, “to do so, you’ll need to get used to suits heavier than your own. We’ll be getting you through a rough training regimen, the first test being how high you can climb that cliff.” She pointed to a stiff cliff that, while not high enough to kill someone, would hurt someone if they fell. “You’ll need the suit to reach the top,” instructed Vortoranii. We changed into our suits and immediately felt their weight. We slowly moved to the cliff face. I started climbing but fell after going up twice my height. Some came up shorter and some got up higher, but we never even reached the first marker. “Hoo, boy,” sighed Vortoranii, “we’ve got a long way to go. X-PO! Queue up a montage song!”

“I’ve got the perfect one!” cheered X-PO. The Disney nerds, Haitao, Richard, and Emily, brightened when they heard the familiar drumbeat. We were given a sword and struggled to get it up.

“Man up, ladies and gentlemen!” barked Vortoranii.

Let’s get down to business,

To defeat the Huns!

We managed to get our swords up and signaled we were ready.

Did they send me daughters,

When I asked for sons?

We tried swinging our swords but ended up knocking each other out.

You’re the saddest bunch,

I’ve ever met!

Vortoranii shook her head.

But, you can bet, before we’re through,

Mister, I’ll!

Make a man!

Out of you!

We got ready for target practice. Vortoranii let loose a dozen or so spheres and fired on one with a spare blade. We all tried, X-PO stuck a sphere on mine, making Vortoranii scowl at me. I grinned sheepishly.

Tranquil as a forest,

But on fire within!

We had to dodge several projectiles while balancing a bucket of water on our heads. We all were too clumsy and several of us let the water bucket fall on us.

Once you find your center,

You are sure to win!

We got into a sparring match with each other. Hongo over-powered me easily but got knocked down in one punch by Vortoranii’s hologram.

You’re a spineless, pale,

Pathetic lot!

And you haven’t got a clue!

We started fishing with our hands, like in Mulan. Like the title protagonist of that movie, I ended up grabbing Xiomara’s leg and pulling her under the water. She looked mad!

Somehow I’ll!

Make a man!

Out of you!

We started running around a racetrack but fell down before we finished the 1st lap! A fire arrow then stabbed Batman and Wyldstyle’s butts.

I’m never gonna catch my breath!

Say goodbye to those who knew me!

Hongo, Emily, Gandalf, Lukas, and Xiomara tried to break a board with their heads and ended up rubbing their bruised foreheads.

Boy, was I a fool in school,

For cutting gym!

A bunch of wooden dummies were being operated behind walls and battering us. One of them hit me in my lower region. Did you guys know that the pain down there is worse for a lady than it is a man?

This guy’s got them scared to death!

Hope he doesn’t see right through me!

We had to cross a raging river with a rickety bridge. It was slow going.

Now I really wish that I knew how to swim!

We had to run an obstacle course that went through a river, many of us getting swept downstream, through a tunnel that buffeted us with strong wind and rain, many of us getting tossed around, across a fire path with raging flames, many of us nearly passing out from the heat, and going through a forest without being caught by Elphaba, Rusty, the Brigadier, or X-PO, we all got caught before we reached the finish line.

(Be a man!)

You must be swift as the coursing river!

(Be a man!)

With all the force of great typhoon!

(Be a man!)

With all the strength of a raging fire!

Mysterious as the dark side of the moon!

We then had to run carrying five training swords but collapsed.

Time is racing toward us

‘Til the Huns arrive!

X-PO picked them all up and flew off with little to no effort.

Heed my every order,

And you might survive!

Vortoranii showed how disappointed she was in our progress.

You’re unsuited for,

The rage of war,

So, pack up! Go home! You’re through!

She left us to ourselves so we could observe the cliff face.

How could I,

Make a man,

Out of you?

At that point, a surge of grit and determination filled my chest. I then went to climb the cliff face. I started off at a pretty decent pace and kept steady.

(Be a man!)

You must be swift as the coursing river!

(Be a man!)

With all the force of a great typhoon!

(Be a man!)

With all the strength of a raging fire!

Mysterious as the dark side of the moon!

I threw my i.d tag to the ground at Rusty’s skirt. Everyone cheered, making Vortoranii reconsider her stance on sending us home.

(Be a man!)

We must be swift as the coursing river!

As we ran across the obstacle course’s raging waters later on in training, we reflected on how we all dodged the projectiles with the water buckets on our heads with nary a drop spilled and how we dodged all the wooden dummies without a scratch.

(Be a man!)

With all the force of a great typhoon!

We ran through the wind tunnel and reflected on how we ran 99 laps before tiring out and letting projectiles hit us and broke 20 boards with our heads.

(Be a man!)

With all the strength of a raging fire!

Running through the flames, we reflected on how we crossed the rickety bridge quickly, ran with 20 training swords with no effort, and excelled in target practice.

Mysterious as the dark side of the moon!

As we weaved through the forest and reached the finish line without Rusty, X-PO, Elphaba, and the Brigadier finding us, we thought back on the fish we caught and cooked and beating Vortoranii’s hologram in a sparring match. We crossed the finish line! Our official training was over! “That was intense!” I panted.

“Thank goodness you trained with Hyperbolic Time functions in the room,” mused X-PO.

“Like the Time Chamber in Dragonball Z?” I asked.

“The same,” confirmed Vortoranii. “It may feel like two years passed by, but it’s only been 20 minutes out there.”

“Do you think Vortech and his cronies are doing the same?” asked Emmanuel.

“Well, since Apocalypse is being trained, most likely,” guessed X-PO.

“One can only imagine what kind of horrors are being concocted on Foundation Prime,” I muttered.


We were all stunned. Hiro was pacing, his fiancé, Igura, was leaning against the wall, thinking, the others were in a similar state of worry, and I sat on my throne, thinking. Perhaps I should have let Sauron hit me with his mace. War is the last person I want to fight, but perhaps, we can use this to our advantage. “What are we going to do?” asked Ambassador Hell. “We can’t exactly defeat someone who’s immortal.”

“Let’s face facts,” figured Lex Luthor. “We’re doomed.”

“Would you stop saying that?” I hissed.

“My helicopter works like a clown car,” offered the Joker. “We can use it to escape.”

“Not a chance,” remarked Hiro. “There’s too much at stake.”

“Maybe if we surrender, she won’t hurt us,” gulped Saruman, holding no illusions over War’s power.

“She’s not going to accept it,” I argued, knowing a little more about her.

“It’s a rather big dimension here,” observed Two-Face. “There are plenty of places to hide.”

“No one’s hiding,” snapped Igura, “no one’s escaping, and no one’s surrendering! What’s wrong with you people? Don’t you remember what Hiro did in N-1-N-J-A-G-0?”

“Where he fought Death and War?” I asked.

“And won!” reminded Igura.

“As I recall,” growled Sauron, “they were caught off guard!”

“The point is,” countered Hiro, “I could beat them! If they’ve adapted to my current strength, we need to train so we could ALL overpower them!”

“And there is a way to do so,” I remembered.

“Beating the Four Horsemen?” asked the Joker. He got his grin back. “We’d have to be crazy! Let’s do it for our shared universe! Let’s do it for crazies everywhere!”

“Let’s do it for a full fifty million stud reward!” hissed Saruman.

“It always comes down to profit with you people,” I muttered. “But, I feel generous. Fifty million each as I told Hiro!” My pawns cheered. “Now, we have training to do!” I made a training facility and we all proceeded to make our way inside. I WILL get the Foundation Elements one way or another!


I could not believe how lax the dress code was here at After Academy. Yes, we had uniforms. Yes, girls had skirts and guys had pants, but they were only required for events. Any other day, you could go in civvies if you choose. You could go to certain classes in pj’s! Not that most of us do, anyway. I kept to the uniform today in the colors of my house, black and white with a hint of blue in the petticoats and a blue ascot. I was heading to a private class with Famine, carrying my gym clothes with me in my backpack. I arrived at the classroom. Famine was already there with a grin on her face. “Reminiscing about something, Famine?” I asked. There wasn’t a need to call them by titles, only names. War insisted on it.

“No, just remembered what War told me,” answered Famine as I changed. She told me about how Vortech’s forces had declared, well, war, on us by attacking War. Their mistake. “Ready to learn more about my powers, Ms. Lacey?” asked Famine.

“Let’s do it!” I cheered I have to tell you, I never so much as grinned back in my universe. This turned my life around for the better. I pulled out a belt that had a circle with four symbols relating to the Horsemen, the main teachers and administrators here, and put it on. “Henshin!” I announced as I spun the circle. My rider armor appeared in a cloud of darkness. It was a mix of the Four Horsemen’s armor, with Famine’s head, War’s left leg, Pestilence’s right leg, and Death’s chest and arms. A little added bonus was a hat on top. I got into a defensive stance. Famine then pulled out her belt with an open mouth and an upright bone in the mouth.

“Henshin!” she called. She turned the bone and the mouth chomped down on it.

“Famine!” announced the belt. Her armor appeared with the motif of someone gaunt and starving. She then went on the offensive with a bestial leap. I managed to get out of the way with a side roll.

“Good start,” praised Famine, “but you’re off balance!” She leapt at me from the desk, but I leapt to the light fixture. I then turned my buckle to Famine’s symbol.

“Famine Mouth!” called my belt. A jagged set of jaws appeared and I leapt at Famine, biting into her. She howled in pain and flung me off. I spun the buckle to War’s symbol. “War Crusher!” called my belt. My legs bulked up as I leapt into the air and delivered a flying kick, knocking Famine out of her transformation. I then cancelled my own.

“I thought you said you weren’t gonna hold back?” I hissed.

“I wasn’t,” answered Famine. “Turns out you were too quick for me. Congratulations, you’ve passed my final exam!”

“That’s two out of four,” I replied. “Now, I have to learn Pestilence and Death’s powers.”

“And you’ll do so easily,” lauded Famine, smiling. “I have faith in you. Now then, I believe it’s about time for War’s gym class.”

“You’re right,” I agreed. “See you later!” I sped off to the gym, ready for another afternoon here at After Academy.

Categories
Kamen Rider Vortex Kamen Rider Vortex Chapters

Chapter 20

I stretched in my bed, the new dream I had being pleasant and restful. I got up and saw Richard stirring. Emily wasn’t in bed, must have woken up before us. Hope her dreams were restful. I stroked Richard’s hair and blushed. My mind wandered to a possible future with me as his wife, ruling a fairytale land. However, I suppressed such thoughts as Vortech was a more immediate priority. I came into my bathroom to wash my face. The door shut and I saw Emily in the mirror. “Why don’t you just tell my brother you love him instead of burying such thoughts?” she whispered. Curse her sharpness.

“Vortech is a more important priority,” I replied.

“Those feelings you have aren’t new,” she countered. “You’ve had them for a while, before we came here.”

“He’s more interested in the duties of being a knight instead of romance,” I argued.

“Are you sure?” asked Emily. I turned to face her, blinking. “I’ve seen the way he makes the goo-goo eyes at you.”

“He what?” I yelped. He’s making lovey eyes at me?! How did I not notice?! At that point, I heard a knock.

“YO! ROSE BUSH!” called Richard to Emily. “ARE YOU DONE?! SOME OF US NEED SHOWERS!”

“Just a sec!” I replied, then covered my mouth.

“My Lady?!” yelped Richard, embarrassed. “Er, take your time!”

“Come in here, actually,” I requested. “I want to ask you something.” Richard stepped in. “Richard, I need to ask this so I can concentrate on Vortech. Emily said that you made eyes at me, eyes of love.” Richard glared at his sister. “Does she speak the truth?” Richard sighed, letting his guard drop.

“Yes, my Lady,” he responded.

“Good,” I answered, “because I have those same feelings.” Richard brightened at that. “However,” I continued, “intimacy will have to wait until we beat Vortech.” He frowned at that.

“Dude,” protested Emily, “not cool!”

“I need to focus our efforts onto cleaning this mess up and getting our loved ones back,” I explained.

“Oh, very well,” muttered Richard.

“I failed the Bechdel test for THAT?!” wailed Emily.

“Let’s just get ready for the next dimension,” I suggested.

“Not even a kiss?” protested Emily.

“Emily, why are you so hell-bent on trying to hook me and Megumi up?!” asked Richard. “This isn’t the first time you tried to pull this stunt! Can’t you just let us discover things ourselves?! Why are you so insistent…?”

“Because I don’t want you to end up like Paw Paw!” exclaimed Emily.

“Paw Paw?” I asked.

“Our dad’s father,” replied Richard. “And, why mention Paw Paw?”

“Do you know why he married Maw Maw?” asked Emily. I guessed that was Paw Paw’s wife. “Because he was told to marry her,” continued Emily. “His heart belonged to someone else, but his parents wouldn’t hear of it. He suppressed his emotions and followed his parents’ wishes, like a ‘good man’. Now, jealousy eats away at him since Dad didn’t marry the girl Paw Paw told him to marry. If anything, he proved what just obeying parents totally does to you.”

“Hence, why Dad says that a human who just follows orders…” guessed Richard.

“Is no true human at all,” finished Emily. I then considered my own lifestyle. Contrary to most Japanese people, I didn’t have much in the way of being told to follow orders. Mom just influenced where I should direct my scrappiness. I could understand where their parents came from.

“I can understand your intentions,” remarked Richard, “but, in this instance, I must invoke Mom’s rule of ‘Let people make their own mistakes’.”

“As do I,” I agreed. Emily shuffled her feet. “Still, I do appreciate the attempts. Let’s just put this to bed for now.”

“All right,” she mumbled.

“Now, Richard,” I declared, “if the ladies could have our privacy.” Richard took the hint and left as we got dressed. Emily apparently had a clothes ritual too. I never knew that.

  1. Put the top part on while going up from kneeling to standing.
  2. Put the non-connected sleeves on while going from kneeling to standing.
  3. Step into the dress part, then pull it to the waist going from kneeling to standing.
  4. Put her rose hair ornament on while kneeling, then twirl the ribbon while standing up and twirling herself.

As I watched that, I arched an eyebrow. “Did I inspire you in any way?” I asked.

“Yep!” confirmed Emily. “I kneel, then stand to emulate the flower I’m obsessed with.”

“You’re growing and blooming like a rose?” I guessed.

“Exactly!” she said. After I did my dress ritual, we left the bathroom and joined everyone in the cafeteria.

“Good morning!” I called pleasantly. Everyone reciprocated. It really felt like a good morning, since that collective nightmare Hiro caused was gone. We ate our breakfast and headed to the Gateway Room. Elphaba, Rusty, and the Brigadier had set our destination because they found a power signature there.

“It’s in a dimension called B-A-C-K-T-0-T-H-3-F-U-T-U-R-3!” reported Rusty.

“Everyone ready?” I asked the rest of the Vortex Riders. Everyone confirmed their readiness.

“Good luck,” called the Brigadier.

“CHARGE!” I rallied as we ran into the portal.


We ended up in a Western setting. I swear I could hear Oh, My Darling Clementine somewhere. We exited the alley we landed in. A chicken popped out from Gandalf’s hat. He jammed his hat down to avoid Batman seeing it, then took it off to have an egg pop out. It landed on the ground intact! The mama chicken then flew out of the hat, flapping its wings and squawking like mad! Wyldstyle checked her scanner. “Any luck finding the power signature?” asked Batman. Wyldstyle shook her head as a long beep came from the scanner.

“It doesn’t even look like they’ve got electrical power!” reported Wyldstyle.

“Good grief, you’d think they’d have telegraphs!” I complained. “Last I checked, those needed electricity!”

“Well now, ladies,” called a voice in a thick cowboy accent. We jumped and turned to see a heavyset gentleman in a top hat and carrying a mayor’s ribbon on his person. “I assure you,” continued the Mayor, “we most certainly DO have power of the electrical persuasion! Behold, the town light-bulb!” He pointed to the single street lamp in the town. “And of course, we have telegraphs, my Chinese lady friend!”

“I’m Japanese, you twit!” I snapped. Seriously, it’s not that hard to keep straight! The street lamp’s bulb then went out.

“DAGNABBIT!” shouted the Mayor as he threw his hat to the ground.

“Are you in charge here?” asked Batman.

“Indeed!” confirmed the Mayor as he retrieved and dusted off his hat. “Mayor Hubert, at your service!”

“Have you seen anything…weird…around here?” asked Batman. I opened my mouth to counter Batman, but Mayor Hubert beat me to the punch.

“Well,” he whispered. He leaned in closer to Batman. “I do see a lady dressed in britches and a man in a dress!” Wyldstyle and Emmanuel heard that and made noises that showed their contempt for that comment. Before she could get any further, Wyldstyle’s scanner picked something up. She discreetly motioned her head in the direction of the power signature. Batman and I caught that and winked.

“We’ll just…take a look around,” commented Batman. “Thanks.”

“Oh, er,” stammered Mayor Hubert, “then, enjoy our fair town!” He then headed into a crowd blocking the streets. “I’m afraid it’s a little congested today!” As he left, the Marshal came up on his horse.

“Who are you?!” he demanded.

“You know, where I’m from, it’s only polite to introduce yourself before you ask questions,” I replied.

“I’m James Strickland, the town Marshal,” he introduced himself. “Now, who are you people?”

“I’m Princess Megumi Hishikawa,” I replied. “These are my friends, the Vortex Riders.”

“You guys don’t look like you’re from around here!” guessed Marshal Strickland. “Not by a long shot, no sir! Prove yourself to these good folk, and maybe they’ll accept you. Meanwhile, I have to go deal Stinky Lomax.” He charged off on his horse.

“Help out the citizens and get information,” mused Batman. “Sounds simple enough.” We headed over to a sign near a train station. An old man was trying to pose in front of it. It read “Honest Joe Statler’s Fine Horses, sold, bought, and traded.”

“Joe’s the name!” called the man. “Joe Statler… or… ‘Dishonest Joe’ as they call me. I’m trying to become a straight-edge business man I need a change of image. ‘Honest Joe’, I’m thinking! Say, you strange…strangers…wouldn’t mind helping me complete my sign, would you? I need my photograph taken, but the photographer’s gone to see what’s going on down the main street!”

“Oh, we can help!” I replied. “Now, where’s the camera at?”

“Er, that’s another problem,” stammered Mr. Statler. “I don’t have a camera, per se. Can you wrangle one up for me?”

“Dishonest Joe is right,” I thought.

“Maybe a Master Build is needed,” mused Batman.

“Batman, we’re trying to blend in!” protested Haitao.

“We’re a bunch of people in fancy clothes and other costumes,” countered Richard. “I think a Master Build is the least of our worries.”

“Yes, our clothes are a little anachronistic for this area,” muttered Michael.

“That box needs to be opened,” observed Wyldstyle.

“I see a grapple hook,” I called. I then got out my i.d tag. “Batman, need any help?” I asked.

“Let’s do it,” replied Batman. “I want to see what Proto-Vortex is capable of.”

“Henshin!” I announced. I then put my i.d tag into the slot and jumped into the circle. I still ended up in my Royal suit. I then started the Super Charge sequence. “SUPER…!” Someone grabbed my arms. I looked down to see the owner’s face. “Hongo-san,” I asked. “may I have an explanation?”

“I wouldn’t go using your Super Charge form so recklessly,” explained Hongo. “You may not realize it, but there is a weakness in that form.”

“What weakness?!” I asked. Hongo said nothing as he released my arms. Batman looked at Hongo, guessing why he would say that. I stared, not getting an explanation of any kind, then resigned myself to staying in Royal form. I swapped out my i.d tag for the Batman one.

“Batman Steel!” announced my belt in Vortoranii’s voice. I helped Batman open the box. Wyldstyle then used the parts inside the box, panels of a pile of boxes, and a camera light fixture to make a giant camera. She then jumped up onto the giant camera as Mr. Statler posed for the picture. Wyldstyle then took the picture and waited for the printout.

“Oh, darn it!” hissed Mr. Statler as he looked at the picture. “I think I blinked and I have something stuck in my teeth! That’s gonna be a terrible picture! Thanks anyway.”

“That’s one,” I observed. “Maybe another one can help?” Then we heard an Irish voice cry for help. The poor person looked like he was stuck head first in manure! Ugh! I saw a Keystone transmit…SHIMATTA! (Japanese word for when someone makes an error) “Who’s got the Locate Keystone?!” I asked. Everyone checked, but none had the Locate Keystone. “No!” I wailed. I face palmed with my left hand. I can’t believe we came here so unprepared!

“Er, my Lady,” quizzed Richard, “do you mind wiggling your fingers in front of your face?”

“What,” I muttered as I did so, “is this some obscure game Americans like to…?” I did a doubletake when I looked at my hand. On it was a Keystone gauntlet! “All right!” I cheered. I then ran through the instructions a few times, then decided to use my new powers. “Locate Keystone, activate!” I announced. “Initiate rift detection!” As I walked, my hand went greener and greener until a crack of white light appeared. “Identify source of rift!” I said. I then mimed pulling the sides of the rift crack open. My gauntlet then beamed the information of the crack’s origin into my head. “Locate help from T-H-3-L-3-G-0-M-0-V-1-3!” I ordered. A crane with a claw attachment then went through the crack.

“That’s from my home!” called Wyldstyle.

“And a solution presents itself!” I cheered.

“Allow me,” rasped Batman. Given that some of his crime fighting involves crane operation, I allowed him to help the man out. The crane swung around to hover over the man in the manure. He was then deposited away from the manure pile. He ran off to get himself cleaned after thanking us. “I don’t even want to know how this happened,” said Batman.

“Dismiss help!” I called. The crane then went into the rift it came out of. The crack then disappeared.

“Excuse me!” requested a man. He wore a Train Ticket Officer’s uniform. “Can you help me out?” asked the Ticket Officer. “I’m a spot of bother, you see. The train is stranded at the station and cannot continue on its journey.” Some of the tracks were missing! “Do you think you could help fix the track?” continued the Ticket Officer. “The supplies should be around here somewhere.”

“Allow me to fix it,” replied Gandalf. He found the rails and railroad ties (railway sleepers in the U.K.) and then examined the track ahead to gauge the measurements. While that was going on, Richard and Emily were geeking out over the train. They identified it as a 4-4-0 wheel configuration tender engine in the “American” style, a classic train used in westerns. A famous engine of that style was The General, a train that was stolen by Union spies during the Civil War in an event called the Great Locomotive Chase, or Andrew’s Raid, an attempt to cripple the Confederate Rail network. The Union spies were eventually captured, but not before damaging a vital Confederate Rail route called the Western and Atlantic Railroad. While the spies were captured, some were executed, the attempt was a success since Confederate forces couldn’t get warnings out along the route quickly enough, the Union spies cut the telegraph wires. Gandalf had fixed the tracks with his magic and the train proceeded on its way. The Ticket Officer was startled by the whole business.

“Er, I’ll pretend I didn’t see that strange heebie-jeebies nonsense,” he gulped, “as you’ve done us a good turn. Thank you kindly.”

“How do you get into these messes?!” asked a woman’s voice. We whirled around to see a woman in a miniskirt shouting at a man being hung upside down on a roof. Five humanoid monsters were shouting at him as well, a red one with an Oni appearance, a blue one with shell-like skin, a yellow one with a single horn in front and the body builder’s body, a purple one in a trench coat, a Japanese dragon’s head, and a pair of headphones, and a white one with a wing-like appearance to his head.

“Who are these guys?” I asked Hiroki.

“They’re the main cast of Kamen Rider Den-O,” explained Hiroki. He walked up to them. “Excuse me,” he called. The monsters and woman turned. “Can we help you at all?”

“Sure,” shrugged the Oni. “Before we start, I’m Momotaros, the leader of the Imagin with Ryōtarō Nogami up there.” he pointed to the upside down man.

“Can someone get me down?” asked Ryōtarō pitifully.

“Allow me,” called Hongo. He jumped up and untied Ryōtarō, holding on to his feet so he doesn’t make a splat landing. Hongo then jumped down and let Ryōtarō go.

“Poor guy has the worst luck in the world,” muttered Momotaros. “Kame-yarō (Turtle Jerk) over there,” he pointed to the blue monster, “is Urataros.”

“A pleasure to meet you,” purred Urataros as his pointer finger tilted my chin upwards. My response? I bent the finger backwards. I got a womanizer vibe from him. Momotaros started laughing.

“I’m already spoken for,” I hissed. Not entirely true, as Richard and I hadn’t formally declared we were boyfriend and girlfriend, but I didn’t want to give the guy a chance.

“I understand!” yelped Urataros. “Now, could you let go, please?!” I released him. He tended to his finger.

“Kuma (the bear) over there is called Kintaros,” growled Momotaros as he pointed to the yellow monster.

“Your strength would have made anyone cry,” answered Kintaros in a voice that made him sound like he was from Osaka in the Edo period, still used today under the dialect name Kansai-ben. “I am thoroughly impressed.”

“Hanakuso Onna (Nosy Woman) over there,” introduced Momotaros, pointing to the woman, “calls herself Hana.”

“Watch it!” snarled Hana with a slight bit of hate in her voice.

“And Hanatare Kozō (Snot-nosed Brat) is Ryutaros,” finished Momotaros.

“I’m not a brat!” whined Ryutaros in a childish way.

“And you forgot me, retainer,” called the white monster.

“Like you need to be introduced, Teba-Yarō! (Chicken Wing Jerk)” snapped Momotaros.

“Hardly the attitude of a hero,” mused the white monster.

“Are you kidding?!” screeched Momotaros. “Like a pompous idiot like you can be a hero!”

“Momotaros, Zu ga takai!” (Your head is high!) proclaimed the white monster. He then pointed at the hotheaded Momotaros and he shrunk the guy down to four inches. “Apologies, Hime,” (Princess) said the white monster as he walked towards me. He knelt as if addressing royalty. “I am Sieg, Prince of the Den-Liner.”

“The train of time,” explained Hiroki.

“And who is he?” asked Sieg. Momotaros then grew back to his usual height.

“This is my brother, Hiroki,” I replied. I introduced everyone to the Imagin, as Momotaros and his monster friends were called. Ryōtarō was surprised to hear we were Kamen Riders.

“So, you’re the first one?” asked Ryōtarō to Hongo.

“I am, indeed,” confirmed Hongo.

“Hey, guys!” I interrupted. “Main Street’s clear!” The people had decided to clear traffic.

“Moving on!” cheered Wyldstyle. She turned to the crew of the Den-Liner. “Wanna join us?”

“Sure,” replied Hana. “Anything to get out of this place. We have Imagin to get rid of.”

“I thought the monsters over there are Imagin,” I mused, pointing to Momotaros and the others.

“They’re useful,” replied Hana. “They help Ryōtarō become Kamen Rider Den-O.”

“Ryōtarō’s a Kamen Rider?” I quizzed, looking at the poor guy.

“He’s proven to be a capable warrior,” replied Hana. Suddenly, thunder clapped.

“Another rift?” asked Wyldstyle.

“A storm?” asked Gandalf. All of a sudden, a fireball spat something out before it disappeared. The object landed in front of us after some clumsy flying.

“No,” answered Batman, “a DeLorean.” The DeLorean was tricked out with something that made it spark. The driver, an old man with frizzy hair and a lab coat, stepped out.

“Well now,” asked Gandalf, “who’s this?”

“Great Scott!” yelled the man.

“Gandalf,” introduced Gandalf, taking what the man said out of context. “Pleased to meet you, Scott.”

“What?” asked the man.

“Gandalf, ‘Great Scott’ is just a saying,” I explained. “His name is Doctor Emmet Brown.”

“When am I?!” asked Doc Brown.

“‘When’ are you?” asked Batman. “Did you hit your head?” He looked up at a sign that advertised a town festival on Saturday Night, September 5th. It promised Food, dance, and games and all proceeds would go into the clock tower’s construction. “You’re in Hill Valley,” answered Batman. Doc Brown looked around and saw the construction of the clock tower going on.

“Oh, no no no!” he wailed. “This is terrible!”

“I don’t know,” countered Wyldstyle. “It has a certain old-timey charm to it.”

“This could destroy the space-time continuum!” cried Doc Brown. “I don’t belong here, not now!” A caravan was blocking the path and let some rubble fall onto the DeLorean. “Quickly!” yelped Doc Brown. “You have to help me move my car!”

“Yeah, a DeLorean in 1885 is a little anachronistic, ain’t it?” I muttered.

“1885?” asked Batman.

“Doctor Brown used a DeLorean,” explained Haitao, “to make a machine that can go into the past or the future.”

“Another time-travelling Doctor?!” said Batman, exasperated.

“Great Scott,” gulped Gandalf.

“Great Scott, indeed!” agreed Doc Brown. “Quick! We need to move the DeLorean as soon as possible!” He turned the key, but the engine wasn’t making a promising sound. “Start! START! Start, you silly car! If people see this DeLorean in 1885, then…oh my!” We started cannibalizing parts from the caravan to see if we could turn the engine manually. It turned over and started purring like a kitten. “Success!” cheered Doc Brown. “I knew it would work eventually!” He turned around to go down Main Street. “Thanks!” he called to us. “Now, I’ll head off to the mines! Watch out for Mad Dog Tannen! He has a bit of a reputation if my history of Hill Valley is correct!” He sped off to the mines. As he did, we wandered down the main street, with Momotaros looking bored, if you can call that permanent scowl bored.

“What’s the matter with you?” I asked.

“I’m itching for a fight and no one wants to fight me!” he snarled.

“Not everything needs to end in a brawl,” I replied.

“This coming from a lady who wants to punch her father’s mug,” muttered Richard.

“That’s different,” I hissed. That’s when I noticed the townsfolk shutting their windows and taking cover as a cowboy with a huge mustache came up the street.

“I think that might be the Mad Dog the Doc mentioned,” gulped Wyldstyle.

“It appears to be in human form,” observed Gandalf. “Is it a skin-changer?”

“I think ‘Mad Dog’ is just a name,” explained Wyldstyle. The scanner beeped like crazy at the Cowboy. Batman and I saw it and started puzzling things out. As we did, a man ran out of a saloon. Another person was flung out of the saloon with the flinger stepping out.

“Nobody calls me Mad Dog!” snarled the man. “‘Specially not some duded-up, egg sucking gutter trash!” The poor man was the one we rescued from the manure. Judging by his face, I’d say it was Seamus McFly, the ancestor of the protagonist for Back to The Future, Marty McFly.

“Help! Anybody?!” called Seamus. The strange cowboy then sparked some purple lightning from his hand. That was the cue for Hiro in robber getup and Igura in a saloon girl dress to come out and fire.

“Y’all just move along before one of you gets hurt,” called Hiro in a terrible Texan accent. Mad Dog Tannen started laughing. “Yeah, the accent’s terrible,” muttered Hiro in his usual accent. “Here’s something you might understand.” He then fired on the people at the saloon. Mad Dog and Seamus took off in opposite directions.

“Whoever Hiro and Igura are with, whoever that is,” rasped Batman, “they’re the source of the power signature.”

“Yes,” confirmed Gandalf, “I can feel it.”

“This universe ain’t big enough for two teams!” called the cowboy in a voice that made me freeze.

“Then why don’t you take Hiro and Igura and leave?” I shouted.

“Because we have business here, Megumi,” hissed Hiro.

“Business that I reckon you’re fixing to meddle with!” continued the cowboy.

“Then it looks like we’ve got ourselves a reckoning!” declared Batman. Both sides charged towards each other with Batman leading our side and the cowboy leading the other. Both leaders bent down as if they were about to draw pistols.

“Batman,” muttered Wyldstyle, “you know you don’t have an actual gun, don’t you?”

“Besides, that’s the form I’m responsible for,” muttered Ryutaros.

“Why don’t we all transform?” I suggested.

“Now THAT’S something I like!” cheered Momotaros. The Imagin and Ryōtarō took out belts and strapped them on. The Taros brothers, as Momotaros and his other similarly named friends call themselves, had the same belt design as Ryōtarō. It had a circle in the center with an L-shape at a diagonal facing the arrow on the right side of the buckle and had four colored buttons on the left side, going from red, to blue, to yellow, to purple downwards. Sieg’s belt had a gold wing design on the front. Ryōtarō took out a flip style cell phone and pressed some buttons before attaching it to the circle part of his belt, unfolded. They took out passes and pressed their respective color buttons as we took out our i.d tags and Hongo struck his Henshin pose. Hiro loaded his i.d tag and Igura put her hands on her belt’s wings.

“Rider…” began Hongo.

“Nova…” announced Igura.

“Henshin!” called all Riders, both good and evil. We all transformed. I heard the Den-O belts say, “Sword Form”, “Rod Form”, “Ax Form”, “Gun Form”, “Wing Form”, and “Liner Form”.

“Kamen Rider Rogue. Stand and deliver!” began Rogue.

“Kamen Rider Talon. You’ve made a poor decision to go against Shocker Nova,” called Talon.

“Kamen Rider Outback! Better watch your backs, mates!”

“Kamen Rider Claw! My weapons shall turn you into ribbons!”

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

“Kamen Rider Hunt! I shall always get my prey!”

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

“Kamen Rider Climb! Mountains are a warrior’s best friend!”

“Kamen Rider Gallop! My riding skills are unmatched!”

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

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

“Kamen Rider Guard! None shall harm my friends, family, and lady!”

“Kamen Rider Touché! En Garde, thing of evil!”

“Kamen Rider Zhànshì! Try and stop my quest!”

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

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

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

“Kamen Rider Battle! For friends and family, I shall be victorious!”

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

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

“I’m Batman! The Dark Knight rises!”

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

“Kamen Rider Den-O, Sword Form,” proclaimed Momotaros. He had red armor with shoulder pads jutting out and a mask that looked like a peach was split from the top. He then pointed his thumb to himself. He then struck a pose with his legs spread out and his hands spread out. While that went on, he said “Ore…sanjou!” (dynamic way of saying I have arrived!)

“Kamen Rider Den-O, Rod Form,” purred Urataros. He had blue armor with antennae on each side of the head and a blue visor with orange eyeholes and samurai style shoulder pads. “Omae… boku ni tsuraretemiru?” (Loosely translated; Won’t you let me string you along?)

“Kamen Rider Den-O, Ax Form!” boomed Kintaros. His yellow armor was ridged on the front and had an ax head placed in between the triangular visor for the eyes. “Ore no tsuyosa ni, omae ga naita!” (Loosely translated; My strength has made you cry!) He then slammed his foot into the ground like a sumo wrestler and cracked his neck. It made a popping sound that made me wince. “Namida wa kore de fuitoke!” (Loosely translated; Wipe your tears with this!) he said as he tossed a hankie at Hiro’s team.

“Kamen Rider Den-O, Gun Form!” cheered Ryutaros. It looked like a set of speakers was on each shoulder and his mask looked like his usual face. He danced around as he said “Taosu kedo ii yo ne?” (Loosely translated; Mind if I defeat you?) He then leaned back and pointed at the enemy. “Kotae wa kii te nai!” (Loosely translated; Can’t hear your answer!”

“Kamen Rider Den-O, Wing Form,” called Sieg. His armor was white and the eyeholes looked like swan wings. “Kourin, man o jishite.” (Loosely translated; Advent, at the top of everything.)

“Kamen Rider Den-O, Liner Form,” stammered Ryōtarō. “Er…none shall stop me on my journey to the station of your defeat!”

“That was awful!” shouted Sword Form. The cowboy had had enough and drew his staff! It was Lord Vortech! He made a noise with his mouth that sounded like he fired a shot into the sky as a portal opened to drop the Daily Planet building onto the street! The globe on top fell and rolled towards us!

“Watch out!” called Batman as we all ran from the globe. No duh! The globe bowled us over!

“Goodness!” yelped Gandalf. Vortech then made a shotgun reload noise and then said “Boom,” as he opened another portal.

“MOVE!” I warned. We got out of the way as the Kwik-E-Mart from The Simpsons dropped in. Homer poked his head out and looked around. He saw us, screamed, and shut the door, running inside and causing a huge mess.

“This is a rather inconvenient store!” joked Wyldstyle. We all groaned. “Okay, in all seriousness, I see a Keystone transmitter and a chroma lock design on the front of the store. Let’s find the chroma discs.” I found the red one under a wagon from this dimension, Gandalf found the blue one in a dumpster belonging to the store, and with Arch in Batman Steel, both he and Batman yanked down the store’s sign to drop the yellow chroma disc. I noticed something.

“Guys, the chroma design doesn’t have blue!” I yelped. The design had a yellow left L shape, a red circle, and a green right L-shape.

“No problem,” called Wyldstyle. “We just combine blue and yellow.”

“You can mix and match colors?” I asked.

“Sure can!” confirmed Wyldstyle. “Hey, Momotaros, Urataros, Kintaros, want to use a Chroma lock?”

“This should be fun!” cheered Sword Form

“It sounds intriguing,” purred Rod Form.

“It would be bad not to try it,” said Ax Form.

“Chroma Keystone, activate!” announced Wyldstyle. “Chroma lock, reveal!” The design appeared on the ground, surprising the Den-Liner crew. “Let’s see, Chroma! Red! Den-O Sword Form! Chroma! Blue! Den-O Rod Form! Chroma! Yellow! Den-O Ax form!”

“What do you want us to do?” asked Ax Form.

“Jump into the paint blobs,” explained  Wyldstyle. “Then Sword Form goes into the circle. Rod Form goes into the right L-shape, and Ax Form first jumps into the left L-shape, then the right!” The three Den-O’s did as they were told and unlocked the Kwik-E-Mart. We ran through the place, startling the poor owner, Apu. We ended up going through the backway with Apu trying to sell us something at an exorbitant price. Not a chance. He still said, “Thank you, come again,” when we left without buying anything. We saw Vortech again.

“And now, for my next trick!” he called. He summoned one of the statues of the Argonath in Middle Earth and a giant aircraft carrier that could fly! It crashed, blocking the path again.

“Oh, the poor Valiant!” wailed Battle recognizing the airship. “UNIT of 2015 will be so disappointed!”

“Never mind that!” dismissed Wyldstyle. “I can master build something!” She made a giant cannon and fired on part of the aircraft. She then made a ladder that ran up a building out of the rubble. She climbed up the ladder and found a transmitter. “Up and over, guys! This is just what we need!” said Wyldstyle. We came up. Batman decided to use his Keystone.

“Shift Keystone, activate!” he announced. “Cyan, on the roof of the building across from us! Yellow, on the roof we’re on! Magenta, on the top of the aircraft wreckage! Shift! All allies! Magenta!” We got to the top of the aircraft carrier and jumped over the other side.

“Oh, you’re still here?” mused Vortech. “Very well then!” He summoned the Sphinx, the Statue of Liberty, and a pirate ship to block our path. “As you can see,” said Vortech, “nothing is safe from my reach!” The ship seemed to be familiar to Wyldstyle. She got a look at the name before it caught fire.

“The Sea Cow?” she gulped. “That’s MetalBeard’s ship! Oh no, this isn’t good!”

“How are we gonna get past that?!” snapped Sword Form.

“With the Elemental Keystone,” explained Gandalf. “Elemental Keystone, activate! Element of water, Ichigō!” Hongo doused the flames, allowing us safe passage over the roadblock. Vortech and his cronies were hiding behind an electric coil. “Element of lightning, Royal!” I zapped the coil with lightning, making it explode in the enemy’s face. They retreated as we climbed the Sea Cow and pursued them.

Categories
Kamen Rider Vortex Kamen Rider Vortex Chapters

Chapter 19

“My, Lord Sauron,” joked Lord Vortech. “You look a bit bent out of shape!”

“Not my doing,” replied Igura.

“Just what were you trying to pull here?!” snapped Hiro.

“A stupid move, if you ask me,” mused Ambassador Hell.

“No one asked you!” hissed Sauron. He limped off to reshape himself.

“Serves you right,” called Vortech.

“Excellent Nikujaga last night, Ambassador,” lauded Igura. “I had no idea you could cook.”

“I lived alone for a while,” answered Ambassador Hell. “Now, about the Riders…”

“Yes,” agreed Vortech, “it would seem the mice have escaped from my maze, and for some reason, I cannot locate them. So, Mr. Joker!” The Joker’s finger slipped on the trigger of the party gun he was pointing at Two-Face. “What do we do if we can’t find them?” continued Vortech.

“We make THEM find US?” asked the Joker.

“Precisely!” answered Vortech. “Hiro! Igura! With me! We’re going to find the next Foundation Element ourselves.”

“Try not to destroy anything in our absence,” called Hiro to their allies as he, Vortech, and Igura went to another dimension. The Joker felt a finger on his shoulder. He turned to the finger’s owner and got a slap from Two-Face, still sore about the party gun to his face. The Joker then tackled Two-Face and started brawling.

“A pity they don’t understand army discipline like we do, eh Lord Sauron?” asked Saruman to the newly made Sauron. The Dark Lord then slapped the Wizard of Many Colors upside his head.

“Don’t think I haven’t found out about your army of Uruk-Hai,” snarled Sauron.

“At least they understand teamwork, unlike your Orcs!” argued Saruman.

“Oh, feeling high and mighty, are we?!” growled Sauron.

“Mightier than you, perhaps!” snapped Saruman. “You were beaten down by children and you had the One Ring!”

“I warn you,” threatened Sauron, “I’m still the most powerful of us Maiar!”

“Considering a girl and a mortal man bested you in different ages,” argued Saruman, “that claim is under suspicion!”

“That’s it, COME HERE!” Sauron tackled Saruman and they started brawling. Lex Luthor just sighed.


While that went on, we tumbled through the gateway, landing on top of each other. We picked ourselves up and shook ourselves off. “Now THAT!” exclaimed the bus driver, “was AWESOME!” Something then sparked in his brain. “Everything is awesome!” he sang, poorly. “Everything is cool when you’re part of…”

“NO!” shouted Wyldstyle. “None of that! I hate that song!”

“Well done, Wyldstyle,” praised Gandalf. “It would have been a long way down had you not opened that rift.”

“Yeah,” agreed Batman, “I get the feeling that Keystone’s gonna come in handy.”

“Let’s find out how to use it properly then,” suggested Wyldstyle. The Keystone then floated in the air.

“This is the Locate Keystone,” explained the voice as the Keystone attached to the gateway. “Now you can help me find my car keys. I’m just kidding, maybe later.”

+GATEWAY 100% STABILIZED+ announced my belt. +ALL SYSTEMS FULLY OPERATIONAL+ A portal opened for the bus driver.

“Well, I gotta go,” he said. “The Missus hates it when I’m late. Before I go, something for your trouble.” He handed us a bag of, you guessed it, studs. He went through the portal and left us.

+TOTAL STUDS IN BAG EQUAL 125,000+ reported my belt. +CURRENT CUMULATIVE STUD TOTAL IS NOW 725,000+

“I’m surprised you haven’t spent them,” whispered a woman’s voice. We whirled around to see Death herself sipping tea with the Brigadier and Elphaba. Rusty was serving them.

“Would you like some sugar?” he asked Death.

“Two will suffice,” whispered Death. Rusty spooned out two lumps. “Thank you,” whispered Death.

“You’re welcome!” reciprocated Rusty.

“How did you get here?!” I yelped.

“I’m Death,” whispered the Grim Reaper. “I go anywhere. I presume you’ve heard of the two riders that can beat Vortech?”

“That’s right,” I confirmed.

“Well, we have our Kamen Rider Apocalypse being trained,” whispered Death. “Her name is Lacey and she came from Dimension T-H-3-5-1-M-P-5-0-N-5.” I blinked.

“The Simpsons?” I repeated.

“She’s tried to keep the damage in Springfield down to a minimum,” whispered Death. “She’s a sweet Goth girl who wants to expand her multiversal understanding. She’s doing very well in that regard at After Academy.”

“That just leaves Kamen Rider Vortex,” muttered Emmanuel.

“And I believe that Rider to be one of you,” whispered Death.

“My Lady,” I quizzed, “are you sure?”

“Very sure,” whispered Death. “You have to admit, no one else would have the Vortex Drivers if they didn’t have the courage to accept them.” I considered Death’s words. She was right, taking this mess on would scare the average person. Joshua nearly backed out but found courage when he remembered his father…dear Lord, I forgot!

“My Lady,” I began.

“Just call me Death,” whispered Death. “I consider you to be friends.”

“Well, Death,” I continued, “it’s about the hostages in Vortech’s domain.”

“Your loved ones?” whispered Death.

“Yes, the Mouth of Sauron said that they suffered before they died,” I explained.

“That is a lie, and I can prove it!” whispered Death harshly. She handed me a book. “This is the Book of Fate, my cousin,” whispered Death. “I have it on loan from him. Inside it details the futures of everyone in the multiverse. Open it and speak the name of the person you want to know about.” I was hesitant but opened it.

“Haruna Hishikawa,” I requested. It started forming an image. It was from the view of another person. This person was shouting in Japanese at Vortexons and giving one of them bruises. The hand the person had was one I recognized. Mom was alive and giving her captors grief! I sighed in relief and showed it to Hiroki. He laughed.

“Mom said she would give jailers grief!” he cheered.

“The same is true for the other hostages,” whispered Death. “They are ALL alive and well and causing stress for the enemy. Hence, their sloppiness.”

“You have no idea what weight has been lifted from our shoulders!” exclaimed Xiomara.

“Now, the reason for my visit,” whispered Death. “It’s about the nightmare you’ve all been having. Something is infecting your brains and is making you rather sloppy with lack of decent sleep.”

“And you’re here to cure it?” I asked.

“No, sadly, I cannot,” whispered Death. “Not without the identity of the creature. All I did last night was banish it temporarily. The way to achieve a cure is for everyone to sleep close together.”

“Then we’re gonna sleep in here,” I affirmed, gesturing to the Gateway room at large. “This nightmare has been driving me berserk and I want it gone!”

“I would recommend getting a good dinner and a comfortable set of night clothes,” whispered Death. “The wardrobe is over near your room, Your Highness.” After dinner, Death led us to the wardrobe near my room. It was like the TARDIS in that it was bigger on the inside! It seemed to be an entire city devoted to clothes! Various outdoor stalls on many levels and paths going above and below us were displaying proudly on streets named Petticoat Lane, T-Shirt Avenue, Jean Street, and other various street names like that. “The nightclothes should be on Sleepwear Avenue, level 4 below you,” whispered Death. “When you’re finished, just say that you want the path for the exit and the floor will show you the way. I must set up our bed. See you later.” She left the room and shut the door.

“…I guess we just grab our pj’s,” I muttered. We went down a couple of levels via an elevator and got our nightwear. I asked for the path back up and it flashed green. We followed it and made our way to the gateway room. It had a large bed to fit us all with a black and white color scheme, black being dominant.

“Is everyone ready?” asked Death.

“We are,” I confirmed.

“Then let’s get some sleep,” whispered Death. We all tucked in for the night and drifted off.


The dream was still the same one. “This is rather unpleasant looking,” whispered Death.

“Why me though?” I asked. “Why do they attack me?” My answer wasn’t gonna come as the bodies came up.

“Failure!” accused Batman’s body.

“You let us down!” hissed Hongo’s body.

“I’m very disappointed, Ms. Hishikawa,” snarled a broken Brigadier.

“Extermination is too good for you!” droned a broken Rusty.

“I wasted a second chance at life for YOU?!” shrieked Elphaba. “I can’t believe Death wanted to give me a chance!” Death raised an eyebrow.

“I didn’t tell her anything about her resurrection,” she whispered.

“Unimportant!” declared Richard’s body. “What IS important is that Megumi joins me as a restless beast, as she should have been!”

“Beast?” I asked “As I should have been? ‘Me’?” The clues then fell into place. I grinned. “All right, let’s do it,” I declared. “Convert me.” Richard’s body raised an eyebrow. “Didn’t you hear me? Convert me! I order you, convert me!” Richard stared, then all my friends shrugged. Richard’s body grabbed my shoulder. I then grabbed the arm. “Now,” I snarled as I decayed, “remove yourself from my friends, Hiro, or perish!” The eyes of my friends goggled. “That’s right,” I hissed, “I know who you are! You’ve been trying to make me doubt the strength of my friends. You’ve tried to undo the repairs to my psyche that my mother, Haruna, made after she adopted me! Now, get out of our minds!” My friends’ bodies stared, then, with a united voice, they started cackling. They spoke in Hiro’s voice.

“You have no power here, failure!” he declared in all my friend’s mouths. “I will not rest until I correct a mistake I made! You cannot beat me! I bested Death over there and I’ll beat her and you!” Then, as I decayed completely, Richard’s body shook. “What the?” yelped Hiro’s voice. Soon, all of my friends started shaking. A black ooze started coming out. Soon, Richard’s arm grabbed the ooze and started pulling it! He was reasserting control, finally!

“GET OUT OF OUR HEADS!” he roared in his normal voice. All of those Hiro infected were doing the same. Soon, they all pulled the black stuff out of their bodies and threw it to the ground. It started moving towards them in patches. Even still decayed, we managed to escape the stuff, with Death’s help, of course. Finally, the ooze patches came together and formed a humanoid shape. Then, like Venom’s symbiote, it peeled away from Hiro’s body and then formed the Rogue Driver, complete with guns.

“That’s it, taking the direct route!” he declared as he loaded his i.d tag into his guns. “Henshin!” He formed the suit and became… “Kamen Rider Rogue! Stand and deliver!” he said.

“I won’t be beaten by you again!” whispered Death. She pulled out her own belt and put it on.

“You’re a Kamen Rider?” asked Hongo.

“Became one a few years ago,” whispered Death. She then grabbed the skull on the front. “Henshin!” She rotated the skull right-side up and snapped the jaw shut.

“Death!” it announced. Her own suit formed.

“Kamen Rider Death!” she announced. “You cannot delay your appointment with me!” She drew her scythe and swung it at Rogue, who whirled away. He then pulled the handles on the guns down to make them straight. He then combined them to extend half of a blade from the barrels and uniting them to make a short sword. Both blades clashed and their owners struggled to get their respective weapons to hurt the other.

“We need to do something!” I hissed.

“Like what?!” asked Batman.

“I don’t know, but Death needs help!” I observed.

“You see the kind of power Hiro’s packing?!” argued Richard.

“I don’t care if he’s a god!” I countered. “I will bring him down no matter what!” Just then, a golden light flew towards me. It stopped and hovered for a second. I was compelled to touch it and let my hand go towards it. The instant I made contact, the light became a new device. It was cream colored with gold trim in a fire shape and a blue circle in the middle like my Vortex Driver. I examined the device and saw a slot on the top. It spat out an i.d tag, my own, in fact! “A new Driver?” I asked. “Only one thing to do!” I put it on my waist as it formed a golden belt strap.

“It has the old Imperial Dalek colors!” observed Rusty. Then, all at once, the decay we all suffered seemed to vanish! Flesh flowed back onto our bones! Metal came back together and polished itself on Rusty and the Brigadier!

“Henshin!” I announced. I inserted the i.d tag and ran through the circle. I appeared in my suit and drew my blade, the metal of it flashing as I swung at Rogue He managed to duck and give a sucker punch.

+NEW FUNCTION+ “available” said my belt. I didn’t register that it changed tones. An H.U.D flashed up in my helmet, detailing poses and what I need to say to activate and an image of the final result. I then pressed my hands as if in prayer, then crossed them so my hands touched my shoulders, then held my hands up and formed an energy ball.

“SUPER CHARGE!” I shouted. A bolt of yellow lightning struck me but didn’t hurt me. All of a sudden, a surge of power ran through me. I felt my suit change somehow, but I couldn’t place what changed. Everyone gawked.

“Her colors match the new belt!” yelled Rusty.

“Her suit’s as bulky as mine!” called Hongo. My sword materialized. It had gotten longer and wider and gained a hand guard. The guard seemed to have a rail that the main golden blade would travel on to fold onto the outside of my arm. It had a split to account for left handers. A hole was at the front of the guard, just under the rail’s split, leading me to believe that the rail was part of a firearm mode for my blade. I charged at Rogue and managed to knock him down with my blade. He picked himself up, trying to comprehend what was going on.

“Mid-season upgrade!” observed Hiroki.

“It’s the end for you,” I declared to Rogue. “From what the H.U.D in my helmet’s telling me, you now face Kamen Rider Proto-Vortex!” It was then that I realized how stupid the name was but didn’t say anything. I moved the blade down the right-side branch of the rail and folded it back against my arm. I then took out my i.d tag and put it into a slot on the hand guard’s rear.

“Final Attack!” announced my weapon. I then pointed my weapon at Rogue, Death got out of the way. The whole weapon glowed gold and made a yellow energy ball.

“Rider Proto Blast!” I called. I pressed a button concealed in the handle and unleashed the energy ball. It grew as it travelled towards Rogue. It knocked him down. When he picked himself up, he started going into spasms and sparked everywhere. A classic trope for most Japanese villains and monsters. When defeated, they spark and spasm for a while and say something before exploding. I turned around to face my audience. Death looked at me oddly.

“Er, why…?” she asked.

“Heroes don’t look at explosions,” I explained. Death looked back and forth between me and Rogue, then turned around fully and made an awkward attempt to strike a dynamic pose.

“SO BE IT!” declared Rogue. “YOU’VE WON THE BATTLE, BUT NOT THE WAR! I WILL BE VICTORIOUS!”

“Don’t hold your breath,” I quipped. Then, BOOM! The backwash of heat came over me. As it did, the dream faded and we woke up. It wasn’t in a cold sweat this time. A brief intake of air and we rubbed our eyes, getting out of bed. Death stretched.

“That was exciting!” she whispered.

“So, no more of Hiro attacking us in our dreams?” I asked.

“No more of Hiro attacking you in your dreams,” confirmed Death. “And gaining the Proto Supreme Vortex Driver to boot, I’m amazed!”

“Too bad it’s a dream,” I sighed. “That kind of power was awesome!”

“A dream?” asked Death. “Check your Driver again.” I blinked.

“But it was just a…” I began. I had grabbed my Driver at that time and felt something different. I looked to see that I held the same belt as in my dream. “What the?”

“The Proto Supreme Vortex Driver,” whispered Death, “is a test to see if the user is truly the one to be Kamen Rider Vortex. For now, you are Kamen Rider Proto-Vortex.”

“Can I still call myself Kamen Rider Royal?” I asked.

“Username accepted,” answered my belt in a woman’s voice.

“What the?” I yelped again.

“Your belt’s A.I,” whispered Death, confused, “has changed as well.”

“It’s been some time, old friend,” sighed my belt.

“If you’re someone I took in,” whispered Death, “you’re going to have to be more specific.”

“Well,” mused my belt, “we did take in tea for a while.”

“Doesn’t exactly narrow things down,” whispered Death.

“We founded a school together with War, Pestilence, and Famine,” continued my belt.

“Now THAT narrows it down to three,” whispered Death.

“The school would train those that have potential to become Apocalypse,” finished my belt. Death’s eyes went wide.

“Queen Vortoranii?!” she yelped. “Good lord, what happened?! You disappeared from my realm a while ago!”

“I had pressing business, such as watching Vortech,” explained Vortoranii.

“Now I get it!” I declared. “You buried your soul deep into the Vortex Driver’s code so it could pick its host carefully!”

“Exactly!” confirmed Vortoranii. “And the prototype Driver, the Rogue Driver of Vortech’s design, chose its host before I found one for me. When it started moving, I followed it and copied my soul into sixteen equal clones, each holding a fragment of the map to find the Kamen Riders, Apocalypse and Vortex.”

“And so, you built drivers to counter Hiro’s!” guessed Emmanuel.

“Right again!” confirmed Vortoranii.

“Oh, I can’t wait to use this in real life!” I giggled. “My…Precious!”

“Hey, Gollum,” quipped Richard, “if you could put it down, we still have questions to ask Her Majesty, like why Vortech’s gathering Foundation Elements and enslaved the Tarlaxians.”

“He’s WHAT?!” yelped Vortoranii. “Oh, sweet Lord, NO! Why would he do that?!”

“Well?” I asked. “Can you offer any explanation?”

“Sadly, no,” sighed Vortoranii. “The only one who could offer an explanation would be my spy, X-PO, but I have no idea where he followed Vortech.”

“We better find X-PO soon,” whispered Death as she made the bed disappear. “Vortech found Foundation Prime and has a few Foundation Elements in his possession.”

“Where are YOU going?” I asked Death as she made a portal.

“To the previous dimension you were in,” she whispered in reply. “Quite a few people died there and I need to get a few of them to rest easy.”

“Oh, yeah,” I said, remembering the Orc prison in front of Barad-dûr. Death had a job to do.

“See you later,” whispered Death. “Hopefully, I won’t have to do my job with you any time soon.” She departed. I then noticed I was still tired.

“What time is it?” I asked.

“Midnight,” reported Vortoranii.

“We better head to our rooms and go to sleep,” I mused.

“Your Highness,” asked Emily, “do you mind if Richard and I have a sleepover with you?”

“Sure,” I agreed. We headed to our rooms, with Richard and Emily following me, and climbed into bed. Our sleep was a lot more restful.


Death arrived in the DC comics world. She swung her scythe at a woman’s body. “May I give you a hand?” she whispered.

“Sure, thanks,” replied the woman in a Cockney accent. “Here, your hands’re freezing, miss!”

“Sorry,” whispered Death.

“Grief, how am I gonna explain this whole thing to my boss?” asked the woman. “I missed me flight, and he’s going to be footing the bill. That’s the last thing he does for me before giving me the sack!”

“Ah,” whispered Death, “well, there, I have good news for you, Ms. Katrina Tyler. Er, then again, I have some bad news as well.” She gestured to Katrina’s body. Her soul looked at it and made the connection.

“So, you’re…” she gulped.

“Yes,” whispered Death.

“So, do I have to…go through a door…or some such thing?” asked Katrina.

“Through a door?” asked Death.

“It’s just that,” explained Katrina, “back home, the priest said that we always approach Death’s door, and then you decide where we go, and…”

“The decision of Heaven or Hell is out of my hands,” explained Death. “As for a door, I expect it depends in the direction you’re walking in.” She led Katrina off and faded with her.

Categories
Kamen Rider Vortex Kamen Rider Vortex Chapters

Chapter 16

Back with the main baddies, Vortech was being shouted at from Hiro. “WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO DO?!” shouted Hiro. “You just rolled up and told the Daleks about the Scale Keystone in the hopes that they would join you, let it get caught by the Vortex Riders, and you’re doing NOTHING to stop them?! Vortech, you have lost your tiny little mind!!”

“What use is the Scale Keystone to those absurd little heroes?” asked Vortech. “All that Keystone can be is a plaything for children.”

“You seem to forget that children are trying to stop us!” protested Hiro. “They have Chen’s staff! A Foundation Element! Remember that you hired me to get such things so you can make universes collide?”

“We can retrieve it at our leisure,” dismissed Vortech. “If anything, you may be doubting Igura’s ability to get the Foundation Element from Dimension D-0-C-T-0-R-W-H-0.”

“It’s about time for the winning team to return,” chuckled Ambassador Hell. The portal opened and revealed Igura and her Shocker Nova team stepping through. “Wait, where’s my team?!” shrieked Ambassador Hell.

“They had encountered a race called the Cybermen,” explained Igura. “They tried to beat them but failed. A few were destroyed, most were converted. My team, on the other hand,” she produced a Dalek gunstick from behind her back, “had no casualties. One Foundation Element, as you requested.” A small, groaning noise escaped from Vortech while Ambassador Hell slapped his face.

“Subarashi!” (Awesome!) cheered Hiro. He turned to Vortech and Ambassador Hell. “You know the deal. Igura must choose what meal you two cook.”

“I’d like some Nikujaga,” ordered Igura. “And the meat must be sweet.”

“We’ll need some time to prepare,” muttered Ambassador Hell.

“We can wait two days, so you can get the meal right,” chuckled Igura. Vortech and Ambassador Hell stormed off.

“Well, that should give him something to chew on,” mused Hiro.

“Yee?” asked a Shocker Nova Combatman.

“Well,” explained Hiro, “Vortech’s been nonchalant about the fact that the self-proclaimed ‘Vortex Riders’ have a new size changing Keystone, calling it a toy.”

“Yee!” snapped the Combatman.

“I agree,” replied Igura. “Those Keystones have provided powers and they’ve proven proficient with those powers. Who’s to say they won’t use size-changing to their advantage?”

“There’s one last Keystone,” reported Hiro, “and our new Ring-bearer should be able to find it soon.”

“Speaking of which,” asked Igura, “you said that you had to bring his fortress there and put the Ring in that eye on top?”

“Exactly,” confirmed Hiro. “If necessary, we’ll have to send his forces along with him.”

“Let’s hope it works,” prayed Igura.


Back on Vorton, the TARDIS had arrived near the gateway. We had all explained who we are and what was going on to the Doctor. He was waving that wand of his, the sonic screwdriver, as he calls it, over Wyldstyle’s scanner as we walked out. Gandalf wanted to stay and explore more, but Batman and I got him out of there. “Okay,” finished the Doctor as he switched of the screwdriver, “I should be able to lock onto this, no problem.” He tossed it back to Wyldstyle and started examining the gateway. “Someone’s using this rift technology like a Gallifreyan Time Scoop. They’re pulling in monsters and madmen from everywhere.”

“We noticed,” muttered Batman.

“That doesn’t speak well of our security,” I mused. “If the enemy side can lock on to the gateway, it may know where we are.” The Doctor fiddled with the electronics inside the gateway and replaced the paneling once he was done.

“But THAT should stop whoever’s behind this tracking you from now on,” assured the Doctor. “No more rift loops. Speaking of which, I should go drop Mr. Kisaragi back in his own time and rescue the rest of you from one.” Batman took out one of the grapple guns he had and tossed it to the Doctor.

“You’ll need this,” he called. The Doctor looked uneasy as he held it.

“I usually take the stairs, but thanks,” muttered the Time Lord. “I’ll go finish up with the Daleks and their pals after I drop Gentarō off in his universe and time.”

“And we’ll deal with the rest,” assured Batman.

“Good,” confirmed the Doctor. He turned to Rusty and the Brigadier. “Are you sure you want to stay?”

“These people need additional technical support!” answered Rusty.

“Rusty’s right,” supported the Brigadier. “Having a witch work machinery doesn’t inspire confidence. It’s all taken care of. UNIT’s been notified.”

“Then see you lot later,” called the Doctor to us. “Or earlier.”

“Before you drop my past off in the Cyber-base with the rest of these guys,” stopped Gentarō, “give me this.” He handed the Fourze driver to the Doctor. “I don’t know where it came from as I destroyed it a while ago. Heinlein fans call it the bootstrap paradox, time travel theorists call it a causal loop, the Greeks call it begging the question, I call it a headache.”

“You googled the bootstrap paradox?” asked the Doctor as the space themed Kamen Rider stepped in.

“No, we all had a lecture by Michael,” explained Gentarō as the TARDIS started dematerializing. “And don’t listen to Kengo when he says I touch everything! That’s not true!” The TARDIS was gone, and so was its madman pilot.

“What an odd fellow,” mused Gandalf. He took out the Keystone to let it fly towards the gateway.

“The Scale Keystone!” cheered the voice “I’ll handle that.”

+GATEWAY 80% STABILIZED+ announced my belt

“Before you go, Mr. Gateway Guardian, we want answers!” I shouted to the sky. “Why is the enemy trying to get random objects? Why are our parents being held hostage? Why did the belts choose us to fight? And why are people from our fiction helping us?”

“And can the enemy be beaten?” asked Joshua.

“Only if Kamen Riders Apocalypse and Vortex can be found,” answered the voice. “Kamen Rider Apocalypse is supposed to be trained by all four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.”

“Sounds like a team of Sauron’s forces,” gulped Gandalf.

“Nah, they’re nice Anthropomorphic personifications,” assured the voice. “They’re just really good at their jobs, especially Death. She’s actually very sociable.”

“Really?” I asked. I hadn’t expected the Grim Reaper to be friendly towards mortals. Then again, we all have an appointment with Death, so being friendly would ease their souls after Death makes a visit.

“And with Kamen Rider Vortex around,” continues the voice, “more dimensions can be visited.

“Who’s Vortex?” I asked.

“A Kamen Rider that can freely pass between dimensions,” explained the voice. “No need for a gateway. That Rider can even summon others to help from across the multiverse. It’s said that those with large amounts of imagination from a dimension where nothing super-powered exists can find this Rider. 16 fragments of a map were made and forged into belts.”

“Our Vortex Drivers,” guessed Joshua.

“You guys chose us because we were the most imaginative in our dimension?” asked Tanisha.

+CORRECT+ confirmed my belt. +ANIMATIONS, LIVE-ACTION MOVIES, FANFICS, FANARTS, AND COSPLAYS SHOW THAT YOU ARE THE ONES DETERMINED TO KEEP YOUR MYTHOLOGY ALIVE+

“But Batman’s real in his universe,” protested Xiomara.

+BUT NOT IN YOURS+ countered my belt.

“So, nerds are prized in the multiverse,” I mused. “We actually care about the fandoms we love. Whenever a change comes to a fandom and it changes the fandom for the worse, we try like Hell to protect the fandom’s integrity.”

“Like Sonic the Hedgehog and its changes,” supplied Emily. “That franchise became flawed during its run and fans try their best to get Sega to improve their mascot so the characters don’t fade in the background.”

“That’s why we’re chosen,” I guessed, “because, deep down, we’re fierce when it comes to our fandoms that we will fight to protect them, and the enemy just wants to slap us down, even going so far as to kidnap those that support us! They want us to just put our heads down like nerds were forced to do in the 80’s!”

“Well,” swore Hiroki, “all they’ve invited was defeat! If we’re the ones who’ve been asked to travel the multiverse to defeat our enemy, then we will!”

“That leaves those objects the enemy’s getting,” rasped Batman.

“They’re called Foundation Elements,” replied the voice. “They’re objects made to keep the multiverse stable.” It showed a set of images.

“Wait a minute, that’s kryptonite!” called Batman.

“That’s MetalBeard’s treasure!” yelped Wyldstyle.

“That’s Ichimonji’s Typhoon!” observed Hongo.

“That’s Mom’s necklace!” called Hiroki.

“Those are Dorothy’s ruby slippers!” shouted Emily.

“That’s the nuclear rod from Springfield Nuclear Power Plant!” called Richard.

“That’s Chen’s staff!” observed Michael.

“That’s a Dalek gun!” I yelped.

“More exist across the multiverse to keep each universe stable,” continued the voice.

“I don’t see the Ring,” realized Gandalf.

+SAURON’S ONE RING IS NOT A FOUNDATION ELEMENT+ answered my belt.

“We have to find the keystones and Kamen Rider Vortex,” I said. “If we’re the ones to stop the enemy, we’ll stop the enemy! Who’s with me!?!” We all gave a battle cry to show our unity, even the Brigadier and Rusty. Elphaba came up.

“What’s all that shouting?!” she snapped. “I’m trying to take a nap!”

“Come on, Elphaba,” I teased. “Haven’t you given a battle cry to give yourself energy to deal with a threat?”

“I never had many threats to my power,” responded Elphaba, “so, no, I haven’t.”

“We’re just shouting our cause to eliminate a long-term threat,” answered Emmanuel.

“There is an immediate threat that needs dealing with!” screeched Rusty. “The threat of gratitude! A reward will be dispensed on all of you so it can be neutralized!” Rusty opened his casing and, dear lord, Michael was not exaggerating on the gooey pilot inside the Dalek casing! Rusty’s innards were a tentacled blob of greenish, brown flesh with a single yellow eye, no visible mouth, and a smaller visible brain than the Emperor Dalek. It was practically strapped in with wires sticking into it. A longer tentacle hidden from the skirt section pulled a drawstring bag out and handed it to me. It was dripping with goo. I accepted it gingerly and opened it. More studs were inside.

“What’s the total number of studs we have now?” I asked my belt.

+STUDS IN BAG TOTAL 220,000+ replied my belt. +CURRENT CUMULATIVE STUD TOTAL IS NOW 600,000+

“Thank you,” I said to Rusty.

“You’re welcome!” responded Rusty as he closed his casing.

“Michael, why don’t you and Rusty tell me about the Daleks, in case we encounter them again,” suggested Batman.

“Very well!” replied Rusty. “The Daleks originally came from the planet, Skaro. We were once a race of humanoids called the Kaleds.”

“They were in a thousand-year nuclear war with the Thals,” continued Michael, “another race of humanoids that look a lot like Emmanuel, just without the dress and makeup.”

“They were tall and blonde?” asked Emmanuel.

“Yes,” confirmed Michael. “The resulting mutations from the fallout were accelerated by a disfigured Kaled scientist named Davros.”

“What he bred,” continued Rusty, “he placed into a travel machine designed for combat! He had removed all emotions and morals, except hatred!”

“And you’re one of the exceptions?” I asked Rusty.

“Only when the Doctor repaired me and linked my mind to his!” elaborated Rusty.

“Well now,” I mused, “interesting history of the Daleks.” My stomach growled.

“What was that?” yelped Rusty. “Was it a Dalek threat?!”

“No, just the threat of hunger,” I assured. “Who wants dinner?” Everyone, even Rusty and the Brigadier, said yes. “Wait, how can you guys eat?” I said to Rusty and the Brigadier.

“I can convert the food into an acceptable nutrient for Daleks!” replied Rusty. “Human food tastes better than the standard nutrients Daleks are given!”

“And Cybermen can eat when a recharge is insufficient,” continued the Brigadier, “but it requires the removal of the helmet and that can disrupt communication with other Cybermen. Now, I’m not going to be broken up about it, since I’m free.”

“Let’s get some grub then,” I suggested. We departed for the cafeteria.


War gasped for breath as she held her wound closed. “Never, in all of my existence,” she snarled as Death got bandages, “has a mortal ever beaten me!”

“Don’t talk,” whispered Death harshly as she started treating the wound. “The Daleks don’t exactly care that you’re immortal.”

“But the whole idea of an ant like him beating me!” roared War, angry as all Hell. “It’s infuriating! I didn’t spend my entire existence in battle just to be defeated by some idiot scientist who reverse engineered a transformation belt! A technology we entrusted to the Vortonians! I knew we should have kept it out of their reach! They should never have had that power! But no! No one listens to War, since she’s only a brute! Never mind the fact that she’s the most skilled in tactics and…!”

“Shut up!” hissed Death. “In case you forgot, I was in that fight too! The Vortonian military needed a final weapon to use so they could help the Tarlaxians.”

“Half of which are enslaved again!” snarled War. “Look at Turretorg! He was a very outspoken advocate for independence!”

“We’re not interrupting, are we?” wheezed a voice. War and Death turned to see a woman in full green plague doctor gear and a thin, yellow haired woman in baggy clothes constantly eating, but never gaining enough body mass to look healthy. They were Pestilence and Famine. All four horsemen had gathered. Pestilence knelt down to War’s wound. “Dear Lord, Death,” she wheezed. “You could have cleaned her wound! She may be immortal, but War isn’t immune to all diseases!”

“Why did you summon us?” mumbled Famine as she ate the candy bars she pulled out of her pockets.

“We need Kamen Rider Apocalypse NOW,” whispered Death.

“And you believe that to be Lacey?” grunted War. “She’s not from a null dimension like the Vortex Riders are! Who’s to say the Apocalypse Driver would accept her?”

“Doubtless, it could reject her if she’s untrained,” replied Famine as she swallowed, “but if we get her to the academy, it might help her in the long run.”

“I must agree with Famine,” wheezed Pestilence as she applied disinfectant to the wound. War tired her best not to wince from the disinfectant’s sting and Pestilence’s response.

“Don’t tell me you agree with Death!” she grunted.

“Only through the combined power of the Keystones and the two Savior Riders, Apocalypse and Vortex, will we finish Vortech!” argued Pestilence. “Lacey has proven herself to be open and understanding of us. She may be the best candidate for the mantle of Kamen Rider Apocalypse.”

“Besides,” mumbled Famine as she started scarfing down chicken nuggets, “she needs a better life. Her dad isn’t exactly supportive. You saw how he tried to destroy her death metal collection!” War considered for a moment as Pestilence wrapped her wound in gauze.

“Very well,” she finally grunted. “I’ll get her to our shared dimension.”

“No, you’re injured and need to rest,” whispered Death with a tone of finality. “Pestilence, you take War to the Healer. Famine, pick up Lacey. Take her to the academy, you have the necessary connections to get her registered.”

“What about the Vortex Riders?” asked War. “A shared dream haunts them.”

“Leave that to me,” answered Death. She mounted her horse. “Giddyap!” she said. The horse went through a portal she had made. Pestilence had War slung over her own horse as she rode while War’s horse ran after his rider. Famine mounted her gaunt looking horse and opened a portal to the Simpsons’ home world.